The 2016 ISIL Games: Closing Ceremony Pt.3

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 2; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-2016-isil-games-closing-ceremony-pt2.html

Who Loves Money: This sequence was to launch the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) new Internet broadcasting platform called simply "The Olympic Channel."

It featured a performance by Norwegian DJ "Kygo." His name is not to be confused with "Kigo" which in the poetry of 2020 Summer Olympic host Japan is a word associated with a type of season. For example Cherry blossoms (Sakura) are associated with spring. Nor is to be confused with "Kigo.net" who make Internet hosting software - including for web channels.

However I think that main significance of Kygo's inclusion here is that he was the first artist to achieve 1 billion streams on "Spotify." Obviously the IOC would like to replicate that level of success with their streaming service. Or at least they will until they discover how little money that made him.

Kygo was joined on stage by American singer Julia Michaels to perform their song "Carry Me." If you are not familiar with Julia Michaels you may well be familiar with some of her work. She is primarily a songwriter for acts such as; Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Nick Jonas, Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears to name but a few.

What I found interesting about Ms Michaels performance is that she wore an all-in-one, sequined green bodysuit which gave her the appearance of a lizard.

Behind the Zionists and the Illuminati probably the third most popular conspiracy theory is that an alien race of lizard people called "Reptilians" secretly control the World's economy. IOC head Thomas Bach is of course a Reptilian. As is International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) head Sebastian Coe.

While the song was being performed a short taste of this new Olympic Channel was broadcast featuring Olympians from many different nations dancing about and desperately trying to seem interesting. If this is what the Olympic Channel is going to be like I certainly won't be subscribing.

What we were seeing on screen was then brought to life as Kygo and Julia Michaels were joined on stage by four Olympians from different nations dancing about and desperately trying to seem interesting. They were;

• Shaunae Miller: This runner from the Bahamas with the brightly coloured hair is considered something of a big personality. She won Gold in the 400m not by running but by diving across the line.

• Yusra Mardini:  Something of the darling of the IOC's new refugee team this Syrian rather famously pushed a boat containing 18 other irregular migrants for three hours across the Aegean Sea.

• Some Japanese Bloke: Sadly I did not catch the name of the Olympian representing 2020 host Japan. So I'm going to arbitrarily declare it to be Kazuki Yazawa - a trainee Buddhist monk who represented Japan in the Slalom Canoe.

• Pita Taufatofua: While carrying Tonga's flag during the Opening Ceremony this extremely oily Taekwondo fighter became a viral hit on the Internet. The IOC would clearly like to replicate that level of success with its Olympic Channel.

The launch of the Olympic Channel is actually part of a much wider media strategy by the IOC as it tries to carve out a place for itself in the post Cold War, globalised era. 

The IOC has of course sold broadcasting rights across the globe since the infamous 1936 Berlin games. However it has only sold them on the basis that the games will be broadcast on free-to-air channels. That has now changed and the IOC is now going to be prepared to sell broadcasting rights to pay-per-view channels. 

By launching an Internet broadcasting platform the IOC also seems to be positioning itself to cut traditional TV broadcasters out of the equation entirely and be the sole broadcaster of the games on a Netflix-style pay-per-view Internet platform.

Rather going against their principles of sport for the honour of sport which prevents the athletes being paid the IOC clearly think that they're going to make a lot of money off of this. Rather like the way college athletes are exploited in the US. 

However I think the IOC are taking a very big risk here. 

After all the Olympics has always been the refuge for the sports no-one would pay to watch. 

Its strength comes from the fact that it is given blanket coverage on free-to-air channels every four years effectively forcing people into sports they wouldn't normally watch in the hope of inspiring them to take up that sport rather than follow it as a spectator. 

If you put the Olympics behind a paywall I think you're going to struggle to find people prepared to watch it.

For example athletics already has the Diamond League that absolutely nobody is prepared to pay to broadcast. You only need to look at the trouble the Olympics has attracting top-flight competitors from sports that can stand on their own two feet such as Tennis, Golf and Football to the games.

In fact based on the last couple of games I've got the impression that plenty of people would be prepared to pay to stop the Olympics being broadcast.

However it certainly gives us something to talk about.

At around 17:45 on 30/8/16 (UK date) I'll try and pick this up after dinner.

Edited at around 20:00 on 30/8/16 (UK date) to add above and below; 

Sieg Heil: Officially this sequence was inspired by the pre-historic cave paintings in Brazil's Serra da Capirvara National Park. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the eastern state of Piaui along the Serro do Caparao mountain range.

These Brazilian games have very much picked up the baton for the 2012 London games. The final Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony of those games was very much inspired by the ancient tribes of Britain. It made great reference to the vast array of tribal art which is often wrongly lumped together under the term; "Celtic." A large theme of the ceremony was trying to explain the difference between Celts and say, Picts.

The sequence began with a woman representing famous Brazilian archaeologist Niede Guidon searching with her hurricane lamp through the dark, cavernous expanse of the arena. Niede Guidon is of course the woman who first discovered the Serra da Capirvara cave paintings and continues to be the head archaeologist in charge of the National Park.

As 'Niede Guidon' made her way around the arena some of the famous cave paintings were video projected onto the arena floor along - rather inexplicably - some giant hands. I will get onto those later but right now my hand seems to need to be firmly clasped around US President Barack Obama's hand in order to stop him wandering out into traffic or something similarly stupid.

The lighting in the arena then changed to bright reds and orange hues. This not only represented the blazing hot sun you get in parts of Brazil such as the Serro do Caparao mountains it also represented the rising red sun at the centre of 2020 Olympic host Japan's national flag. 

The arena was then filled with hundreds of performers. Their costumes of a sort of sunshade over their heads and a sort of cloak of straw seemed very much inspired by the outfits Japanese labourers - known as "Coolies" - wore when they first arrived in Brazil to replace the newly freed slaves. It is due to this period of migration that Brazil has such a large ethnically Japanese population.

These performers then proceeded to march around in formation.

This was a technique very much used during the ceremonies of the 2014 winter games held in Sochi, Russia. In response to this the UK complained extensively that it was difficult for people in the arena to understand what was going on.

As such Brazil's use of the technique seemed intended to show support for Russia. The oversized, rectangular sunshades helped to make the shapes being formed very clear to see. Rather mimicking Russia's sarcasm in response to Britain's complaints.

Primarily though I think it was intended as reference to US popstar Beyonce. Particularly her "Formation" tour that was launched at the 2016 Super Bowl. 

That performance made frequent reference to Malcolm X and Huey Newton's separate Black Panther Party (BPP). As with the BPP itself the Super Bowl performance and the tour is heavily inspired by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) song; "The Broad Black Brimmer." 

As a result one of the first formations the Closing Ceremony performers created was the "X" used by Beyonce in the Super Bowl performance.

One of the next formations they created was a triangle with a circle inside. This seemed intended as a reference to the; "Eye of Providence" which is sometimes referred to as; "The All Seeing Eye." It's probably most famously used as part of the Great Seal of the United States on the $1 bill.

As with the Star of David and the Pentagram the Eye of Providence has its roots in Freemasonry. However in the twisted world of Internet conspiracy theories it is often associated with the Illuminati. There is a long running joke that Beyonce, Jay-Z and all those working for their Roc Nation record label are members of the Illuminati.

The Illuminati were a real group founded in Bavaria, Germany in the 17th Century. Their name is Latin for; "The Enlightened." Very much part of the Enlightenment movement of the time they worked to promote Secularism and against "Obscurantism" - what would be known today as political spin - and to prevent abuses of state power.

Beyonce, Jay-Z and the rest of the Roc Nation family support Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and particularly the Black Lives Matter movement. Through this they have systematically worked to promote the lie that people like Michael Brown were innocent men murdered by the police. This seems to have been done to destroy the rule of law and constitutional protections that prevent abuses of state power.

As such to refer to Beyonce, Jay-Z or any of the others as members of the Illuminati can only really be intended as a form of mockery. After all they are clearly a very dark force who are completely dependent on obscurantism.

At around 21:15 on 30/8/16 (UK date) I'll try and pick this up again tomorrow but it's getting so dark the Reptilians must be upon us again.

Edited at around 15:00 on 31/8/16 (UK date) to add;

With Beyonce and the rest of the Roc Nation family very clearly not being members of the Illuminati the mystery is who on earth is making them famous. The answer to this is sadly a lot more dull.

It is the US government or perhaps the state that does all the work to make Roc Nation family successful. This is an example of what is termed "Soft-Power."

Unlike "Hard-Power" which is tanks, guns and nuclear missiles soft-power is used to allow nations to get what they want through more peaceful means such as diplomacy. The purpose of using celebrities be they popstars, movie stars or sportstars is primarily to get people to look fondly on the nations these celebrities come from. After all you're far more likely to do a favour for someone you like rather than someone you dislike.

The Opening Ceremony actually touched on this issue through a sequence dedicated to the song "The Girl From Ipanema." That suddenly became a smash hit across the western World just three months the US overthrew the Brazilian govt and imposed a military dictatorship. It strikes me that the purpose of making the song a smash hit was to make people look fondly upon Brazil and its newly installed dictatorship.

Another good example is a song called "Winds of Change" by The Scorpions. This was blasted out across East Germany from West Germany throughout 1989. Along with a number of other factors it helped breed the conditions that caused East Germans to call for the Berlin Wall to fall thus ending the Cold War.

An example that I am particularly familiar with though is Roc Nation family member Rihanna and her 2013 Diamonds World Tour. I spent a year detailing the myriad of complex things the US was trying to achieve through this. However I think it can be summed up as an attempt to sow conflict ahead of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) in order to prevent global action being taken to combat Climate Change.

Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour really began at the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 London Para-Olympic games.

Obviously there is a high level of concern about what the US has been trying to achieve with its soft-power efforts under President Obama. For example just in July through the song "Sledgehammer" Rihanna was used to protect the Turkish dictatorship from a popular uprising. You only need to look at the behaviour of that dictatorship since to realise what a horrific mistake that was on the US' part.

Then of course there is Black Lives Matter. This has caused riots as far afield as France, Britain and even Australia. As such if Obama wasn't also destroying his own country at such an alarming rate we would assume that we'd done something to offend America and Black Lives Matter had been invented to punish us.

Rather demonstrating why Obama seems to need a full time careworker despite this extensive mockery on Sunday (28/8/16) the MTV video awards were used to give Rihanna a special award for helping to preserve the Turkish dictatorship.

The rest of the show was really dedicated to celebrating Beyonce and her role in the Black Lives Matter movement. With Drake using the awards to declare his love for Rihanna last night was dedicated to her former lover Chris Brown who was involved in some strange stand-off with the police.

Of all the people watching the Closing Ceremony I am probably the one who has been most emotionally invested in Rihanna in the past. However not even I can be bothered to give much of a damn about any of that. After all by forcing her into a relationship with Drake the US is clearly having an extremely negative effect on Rihanna. However the US seems to be having an extremely negative effect on the entire World at the moment.

One of the next formations the performers created was the Swastika.

Strictly speaking though the performers only formed a series of squares. The swastika was 'accidentally' formed by the gaps between the lines of the squares. This is a reference to the way that Nazis and neo-Nazis often used coded imagery to disguise their political affiliations.

A prime example of this is the US backed Azov Battalion in what used to be Ukraine but is now the Northern or Shamali Province of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Azov Battalion use as their logo an interlocked "N" and "I" signifying "National Identity." The fact this looks like a slanted swastika is apparently a complete coincidence.

As they did with Ukraine during the 2014 Sochi games the US and UK hijacked these Rio games to use them as a celebration of ISIL.

In talking about ISIL I often compare them to the Nazis. This is much more than me going; "The Nazis are unpopular. If I compare them to ISIL that will make ISIL unpopular too." There are actually a number of ideological similarities between ISIL and the Nazis.

The first of these is the notion of ethnic or religious superiority. The Nazis of course believed that Aryan race was superior and members of the inferior races such as the Jews and deviants like homosexuals and the disabled should be exterminated.

ISIL are less clear on who they consider to be superior using a very narrow and perverted definition of Sunni Islam. They are though clear about who they consider to be inferior and in need of extermination - Jews, Christians, Yezidis, Hindus, Buddhists, Shia Muslims, homosexuals, the disabled and of course even Sunnis who don't believe in their perversion of Islam.

The second thing the Nazis and ISIL have in common is this nihilistic need for constant destruction.

The first years of the Nazi regime were spent consolidating itself within Germany. It then set out to conquer western Europe before being stopped at the English Channel in 1940. Rather than sitting still the Nazis responded by launching attacks eastwards against Russia before being stopped in 1943. In order to feed the need for destruction it was at this point the Nazis started its industrial scale genocide.

Initially ISIL set out to conquer Syria - the "Levant" region of the groups name. When they were stopped from doing so they too turned their attentions eastwards and attacked Iraq. When their advance into Iraq was halted ISIL also started ramping up its genocide, shifted its focus to terror attacks in Europe and even began smashing cultural artifacts in places like Palmyra all to feed this need for destruction.

The third big thing ISIL and the Nazis have in common in this quasi-religious obsession with almost the supernatural.

ISIL obviously claim to be an Islamic group. However they practise no form of Islam any Muslim recognises. Their desire to conquer the Levant is based on this mythological prophecy that doing so will see God descend to earth to led an apocalyptic war against all those ISIL consider inferior.

One thing that's probably less well known about the Nazis is that they were obsessed with the occult and the supernatural as they saw it manifested in all religions. It's not just Indiana Jones movies. The Nazis did actually dedicate a lot of effort to uncover the Biblical Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail in the belief it would give them superpowers and eternal life.

The Swastika is actually a prime example of this. Far from being something the Nazis invented the symbol has long been used in both the Hindu and Buddhist religions as almost a prayer of good luck or good fortune. The Nazis simply stole it thinking that it would bestow good fortune upon.

If you are going to travel to Japan for the 2020 games one of the things you should prepare yourself for is that you may happen upon buildings with absolutely giant swastikas painted upon them. The Buddhist temple where Kazuki Yazawa is training to become a monk being a prime example.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Japan's wartime past. Its simply due to the fact that Japan's Buddhists had been using the swastika for tens of thousands of years before the Nazis stole it. Therefore there no goodreason why they should give up a core element of their religion because of what happened during what - in historical terms - was little more than the blink of an eye.

The final shape the performers formed was the phrase; "RIO 2016." This obviously got a huge cheer in the arena.

The sequence ended with a yellow circle of light representing the sun being projected on the arena floor. In the centre of that circle was projected a lizard.

This seemed to be a reminder that Beyonce etc aren't backed by the Illuminati. They're Reptilians.

16:40 on 31/8/16 (UK date).



     









 

Operation Featherweight: Month 26, Week 1, Day 7.

On Wednesday (25/8/16) Turkey launched an invasion of Syria focused on the border town of Jarablus using a mixture of both regular and irregular troops.

Displaying their usual levels of journalistic integrity when it comes to Syria much of the western media reported that this operation was being conducted against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Turkey however has been quite clear that this invasion codenamed "Euphrates Shield" is to shield ISIL positions west of the Euphrates River.

It should come as little surprise then that ISIL not only welcomed Turkey's intervention on its behalf but openly celebrated it.

On Friday (27/8/16) ISIL released a video that had been shot in the group's de facto Syria capital Raqqa. It begins with the beheading of five men that it claims are members of the Sahawat group of Sunni tribes in Iraq's Anbar province who have been fighting ISIL.

The video then goes on to show five Kurdish prisoners being lined up in front of five of ISIL's child soldiers - known as the "Cubs of the Caliphate." After telling all Kurds to prepare their coffins and dig their graves each child then shoots a prisoner in the head killing them.

The nine minute video then ends with am adult ISIL fighter promising to kill all Shia's in the Qardaha, Tartus and Latakia parts of Syria. To emphasise this point he and three other adults then shoot and kill four Shias.

The children used as executioners are identified as coming from Uzbekistan, Egypt, Tunisia, a Kurdish area and Britain. The video is entitled "The Nations Are Uniting Against You" and seems intended to send that message that through Turkey the World has united behind ISIL against the region's Kurds, Shias, Christians, Yezidis and even Sunnis.

Early in the day on Friday morning ISIL launched twin suicide attacks against a refugee camp in the Kurdish region of Makhmour in Iraq. Fortunately it was foiled with only the attackers being killed. This came just five days after Kurdish security forces stopped a child on Sunday (21/8/16) before he was able carry out an ISIL suicide attack in Kirkuk, Iraq.

Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to display almost psychic powers when he preempted this attack by falsely claiming that an ISIL child suicide bomber had been responsible for the attack on Erdogan's rival People's Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish city of Gaziantep the previous day.

With ISIL not only welcoming but celebrating Turkey's intervention to support them in their cause it almost goes without saying that they offered no resistance. Turkish forces were able to secure Jarablus in a matter of 12 hours whilst sustaining no casualties. Also missing from Jarablus was the civilian population that had fled in the face of Turkish forces.

Having seized Jarablus Turkish forces then increased their invasion force and began advancing towards the city of Manbij which sits around 35km (20 miles) south of Jarablus. Considered a key node in ISIL's supply lines between Raqqa and Turkey Manbij was finally liberated from the group on August 13th (13/8/16).

Although I don't think anyone is under any illusion of what Erdogan's true objective is Turkey claims that the purpose of this latest advance is to rid the area of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The problem with this is that the PKK is a Turkish political party. Rather like other Turkish political parties such as the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) it has a paramilitary wing - the People's Defence Forces (HPG). The Turkish media is forbidden from referring to the HPG in an attempt to convince people that the PKK is the paramilitary group and the HDP which oppose Erdogan is its political wing.

The force that is operating against ISIL in northern Syria is the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). This coalition operating in a Kurdish majority area does contain a Kurdish element known as the People's Protection Forces (YPG) which is supported by all of Syria's Kurdish parties including the Democratic Union Party (PYD). However the SDF is a broad coalition of forces including;

The Quinta Brigada: Taking their name from the 15th Brigade of the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War this is a brigade of international fighters who have volunteered to go and do what their own governments lack the courage to do.

During the recent Olympics British fighters in the brigade declared that they were splitting - Monty Python style - forming their own Bob Crow Brigade and going on strike. Now deceased Bob Crow was the RMT union leader who threatened to bring the 2012 London Olympic to a halt through strike action. So it should be pretty obvious what the British military thinks of them.

The Syriac Brigade: This is a brigade of fighters made up of the Assyrian or Syriacs who like the Kurds are indigenous to this part of northern Syria.

The Manbij Brigade: This is a brigade of Shia ethnic Turks from in and around the Syrian city of Manbij.

The Al-Sanadid Brigade: This is a brigade made up of members of the Arab Shammar tribe that is native to northern Syria.

The Al-Shaitat Brigade: This is a brigade made up of members of the Arab al-Shaitat tribe which is native to northern Syria.

Commandement des Opérations Spéciales: This is a brigade of French Special Forces troops that operated as part of the SDF in the liberation of Manbij.

SOCOM: This is a brigade of American Special Forces troops that operated as part of the SDF in liberation of Manbij.

The SDF also includes a number of Arab brigades that used to be part of the now defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA);

The Euphrates Volcano Brigade: These were the first former FSA group to work alongside the YPG helping to found the SDF.

The Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigade: As the name suggests this a brigade of Arab fighters originally from Raqqa who are obviously very keen to see it liberated from ISIL.

The Northern Sun Brigade: This is a brigade of Arab fighters from Syria's Aleppo province in which Manbij and Jarablus sit.

The Al-Qassas Brigade: This is a brigade of Arab fighters originally from Deir er-Zour to the south-east of Raqqa.

The Jarablus Brigade: This brigade of Arab fighters is originally from Jarablus.

It is worth noting though that none of these brigades comprise of what traditionally considered to be brigade strength.

In its efforts to drive these Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians and Shia Turkmen from their homes Turkey is primarily using its formal army backed by its airforce.

However it is also using a small group of around 300 irregular forces which it refers to as the "Free Syrian Army" but is referred to by everybody else as the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB).

Unlike the SDF's Manbij Brigade however members of the STB are not Syrians of Turkish ethnic origin. Instead they're simply just Turkish.

Probably their most high profile member is Alparslan Celik of the (Ottoman) Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror division. Celik is from the Turkish city of Keban where his father was the Mayor representing the MHP. The STB is simply another name for the Grey Wolves - the paramilitary wing of the MHP.

The fact that Celik has still not been prosecuted for his role the war crime of machine gunning two Russian pilots after the ejected on November 24th 2015 (24/11/15) is just a further example of Turkey failing to meet its obligations under international law.

In a bizarre act of appeasement to Erdogan following the invasion the US called on the YPG brigades of the SDF to withdraw to the eastern banks of the Euphrates River. On Thursday (26/8/16) the YPG brigades of the SDF began to comply with the US' request. The US has today  formally acknowledged that there is no YPG presence west of the Euphrates.

Despite this Turkey has continued its advance towards Manbij attacking Arab elements of the SDF as it goes. However unlike where is supposedly faced off against ISIL in Jarablus as it has attacked Arab SDF forces Turkey's invasion force has been met with resistance. Particularly around the village of Amarinah which sits 8km (5 miles) south of Jarablus on the route to Manbij.

Sadly Turkish forces have responded to this Arab resistance with astonishing levels of brutality. On Thursday (26/8/16) they launched a chemical weapons attack on Amarinah's civilian population using Sulphur Mustard gas. Sadly this is something that the Sultan Murad division who make up the bulk of STB forces in and around Jarablus are notorious for.

Although it was the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) who claimed responsibility two previous Sulphur Mustard gas attacks have been launched against civilians in the Shaikh Maqsood district of Aleppo City from Sultan Murad occupied positions in the past five months. The fact that both the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations (UN) have been wilfully blind to these attacks only serves to further underline the extent to which Erdogan is reliant on US protection.

On Sunday (29/8/16) the Turkey a conducted an airstike against the village of Bir al-Kusa which is around 13km (8 miles) south of Jarablus. This appears to have been a complete massacre with independent sources putting the civilian death toll in excess of 35. Today video footage has emerged of members of the Sultan Murad division kidnapping, tying up and then beating local children.

If Erdogan's claim that he simply wants to expel the PKK from west of the Euphrates wasn't bizarre enough Turkey is most certainly not limiting its aggression to the west of the Euphrates.

On Saturday (27/8/16) Turkey briefly sent troops and armoured vehicles to invade the city of Kobane. That sits 25km (15 miles) east of the Euphrates. Today Turkey has conducted artillery and airstrikes against the city of Qamishli. That stands 300km (180 miles) east of the Euphrates. Also today Turkey has conducted airstrikes against Kurdish positions in Gara. That's so far east of the Euphrates its in Iraq.

Turkey saw its first casualties of this invasion on Saturday (27/8/16) when Arab SDF forces destroyed three Turkish tanks killing one soldier and injuring several others.

The rumour I have heard is that these losses were incurred through the use of  "Kornet" anti-tank missiles. This Russian made weapon is widely used across the region including by Turkey itself. Ironically these particular missiles may have come from Turkey's looting of the Libyan arsenal back in 2011 in order to arm ISIL only for the SDF to capture those weapons.

This is obviously an extremely concerning area for Turkey. Although US President Obama is still refusing to grant the official designation the SDF is widely considered the ground force of Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) in Syria. As a result many particularly European nations have supplied them with advanced weaponry such as the similar MILAN anti-tank system while Obama was busy handing out TOW anti-tank systems to Al Qaeda.

So on Saturday (27/8/16) night Turkey staged a rocket attack against the Diyarbakir military airbase from which it is providing ISIL with air support. In a complete violation of the laws of war Turkey has decided to shield this airbase from attack by locating it next to a civilian airport.

The purpose of staging this attack was to put pressure on CJTFOIR to stop supplying the SDF with weapons with which to fight ISIL. The idea being to whip Turkish people further into an anti-American frenzy by giving them the entirely false impression that weapons supplied to the SDF are being given to the HPG to be used against Turkey.

If that is the path Erdogan wishes to go down the flip side of that argument is that under UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2170 CJTFOIR would well within its rights to start directly supplying the HPG with weapons to destroy ISIL's airforce

Today the US has issued a statement calling the fighting between Turkey and the SDF unacceptable and declaring that it must cease.

Although this statement is long overdue - many think it should have been issued as far back as June 2015 - it is far from robust as it needs to be. For example it includes no timeframe and it seems to equate Turkey's wholly illegal invasion with the SDF's inherent right to self-defence. Therefore there is an extremely high risk that Erdogan will interpret this to mean that Turkey can maintain some form of military presence in Syria.

As I've been saying to the past year the key to the defeat of ISIL is the cutting of their supply line between Azaz in the west and the Euphrates River in the east.

Moving the Turkish border deeper into Syria within that area is the complete and exact opposite of what it required. Not to mention a gross violation of international law.

Perhaps if Obama didn't rely on Erdogan as his only source of information on events in Syria he may have worked that out for himself by now.

17:30 on 29/8/16 (UK date).






  

Operation Featherweight: Month 26, Week 1, Day 3.

At around 04:00 (GMT) yesterday (25/8/16) Turkey launched an invasion of northern Syria. Its objective was to capture the town of Jarablus that sits right on Turkey's border on the western banks of the Euphrates River.

The US currently has Special Forces troops embedded with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) in the city of Manbij which sits around 30km (20 miles) south of Jarablus. They estimate that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had a force of around 1,400 fighters in Jarablus.

The Turkish invasion force was made up of 1,000 regular Turkish troops and 200 members of the Syrian Turkmen Brigades (STB). This is an irregular and therefore illegal division of the Turkish military that has been operating inside Syria since 2012.

One of their largest divisions are named after Murad IV - Sultan of the Ottoman Empire between 1623 and 1640. Other division are named after other Ottoman Sultans such as Mehmet the Conqueror and Selim II.

In total the Turkish invasion force was made up of 1,200 men. Although better equipped this saw them significantly outnumbered by an ISIL force 15% larger. As a result you would have expected this to be the start of a long and brutal battle. Although slightly larger the battle for the similarly sized Manbij raged for 72 days.

However the Turkish invasion declared that they had secured full control over Jarablus just 12 hours later at 16:00 (GMT) after sustaining no casualties.

This raises the obvious question of what happened to all these ISIL fighters?

There are two possible explanations;

Firstly the ISIL fighters simply merged into the STB force. This has been a constant problem.

For example in July 2014 the 1000 Dawud Brigade of the now defunct Free Syrian Army (FSA) defected to ISIL in Idlib province. In January 2015 some 3,000 members of 7 FSA divisions defected to ISIL.

Even fighters supposedly screened and vetted by the CIA have not been immune. In September 2015 the US had to shut down its Train & Equip program after the Division 30 fighters they'd trained merged with Al Qaeda just a few hours after crossing into Syria from Turkey.

It has also been a growing problem as ISIL have continued to lose ground both in Iraq and to the QSD in Syria. Barely a week goes by without the UK's Channel 4 News excitedly showing fleeing ISIL fighters being welcomed with open arms into the ranks of the STB. Of course due to their own peculiar bias they're constantly trying to convince viewers that is a good thing.

Such is the extent of the revolving door between ISIL and the supposedly "moderate" forces that make up the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition such as the STB that they can in no realistic way be considered an anti-ISIL force.

After all an ISIL fighter's ideology or the threat that they pose will not have changed simply because they have changed the name of their organisation.

To anyone with even half a clue this lack of distinction between ISIL and the Army of Conquest would have highlighted the need for Combined Joint Task Force: Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) to give its full and sole backing to the QSD. This would have allowed this coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian forces to filter the Islamist extremist elements out of Syria.

I guess though there must be a concern that once you remove the Sunni extremist elements there won't actually much opposition to the Syrian government left.

Secondly ISIL may simply have left handing control of Jarablus to the Turks in much the same way they repeatedly handed the towns of Marea and Cobanbey back and forth with the STB at the command of Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The calculation being that STB control of an area would have absolutely no negative impact on ISIL's operation whatsoever. Erdogan would simply use the STB to keep the guns and oil flowing.

The Turkish invasion was of course timed to coincide with US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Turkey. The thinking being that this would help suppress public condemnation of Turkey's declaration of war. That visit has now ended meaning that I can now speak slightly more freely and constructively.

The first thing about Biden's visit is that it should never have happened.

The moment that Erdogan ordered the Turkish military to open fire on US Special Forces troops in Manbij on Monday (22/8/16) it should have been immediately cancelled. And everybody in Turkey should have been left in no confusion as to exactly why it had been cancelled.

As if going ahead with the visit wasn't enough of a screw up true to form Biden then proceeded to screw up even worse.

Ever since he crushed the July 15th (15/7/16) rising against his dictatorship Erdogan has been whipping the Turkish people up into an anti-American frenzy publicly accusing the US of trying to oust him.

In what I assume was an ill conceived attempt to quell rather than worsen this aggression Biden publicly declared that the US had no prior knowledge of the rising.

For those who are paranoid and deluded enough to believe in Erdogan that will only serve to further consolidate the conspiracy their poor, damaged minds. After all if the US had been behind the rising you'd expect them to deny it.

What Biden should have done is simply tell the truth and confirm that the US had prior knowledge that an increasing section of Turkish society were becoming deeply alarmed at Erdogan's conduct and were planning on stopping him from damaging the nation further.

Biden should then have detailed all things the US over a three month period to help Erdogan crush the rising. After all we all saw the US network CNN give Erdogan airtime to call his supporters to the streets.

Biden should then have explained that the US had supported Erdogan because despite the concerns of his countrymen the US remained confident that Erdogan continued to be committed to the shared values of the US.

The implication being that if Erdogan moved away from those shared values he would also move away from the US' protection and details of the Turkish arms shipments - including the nerve agent Sarin - to ISIL and Al Qaeda would be passed to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Despite Erdogan's attempts to use Biden as some sort of bodyguard the international reaction to Turkey's declaration of war was literally earth shattering.

Erdogan has been threatening to launch this invasion of Syria since mid-2015. What has stopped up until now is the deterrent provided by Russia.

Simply Erdogan understood that the moment Turkish troops set foot in Syria they'd be wiped out by Russian airstrikes. Russian military doctrine allows for the use of small tactical nuclear weapons as a normal part of combat. So about an hour after a Turkish military invasion of Syria there simply wouldn't be a Turkish military.

Back in June the European Union (EU) renewed its sanctions against Russia imposed because of the deterrent it provides to ISIL. This was done almost on the command of Germany against the pleading of many EU states led by Italy.

As a result Russia decided that it can't be bothered doing the hardwork to protect the EU so repaired its relationship with Turkey removing the deterrent enabling the long planned invasion to go ahead.

Roughly two hours before Turkish tanks rolled into Syria a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy killing at least 159 people and almost completely destroying the town of Amatrice.

The shock and horror at this earthquake along with the scenes of devastation it created serve as convenient metaphor for the effect that this Turkish invasion will have on Jarablus and the wider efforts to defeat ISIL and their allies.

As I mentioned yesterday if this Turkish invasion goes unchecked it could well lead to the collapse of the Syrian government and the creation of a Somalia-style Islamist failed state on the shores of the Mediterranean.

As you may have picked up on through the suspension of Hope Solo from the US national team there is growing concern even within the US that in the last months of his Presidency the agonisingly vain Barack Obama may have decided to make his legacy the creation of this failed state.

If the Syrian government is overthrown the first effect is that the majority of the Syrian people who support the Syrian government will have to flee as refugees to Lebanon. Due to the sectarian nature of this supposedly "moderate" opposition the conflict will likely spread to Lebanon.

This will force the Syrian refugees already in Lebanon along with the new refugees from Syria and the population of Lebanon to flee to Europe as refugees. We're talking in terms of 30 million new refugees - roughly half the population of the UK.

We already know that Erdogan is using refugees as a weapon against the EU and the ISIL and their associates are using the refugee routes to smuggler fighters into Europe to launch attacks.

So it's unlikely to be long before we have to get used to scenes of devastation like those in Amatrice in Europe. Just not from earthquakes but from terror attacks as ISIL try to follow through on their promise to conquer Rome.

About 8 hours later there was another 6.8 magnitude earthquake. This time striking in Burma/Myanmar. That provided rather an interesting case study that hopefully should show Putin the error of his ways.

Burma is run by a particularly nasty dictatorship. It was they who changed the name to Myanmar. Despite this the Burmese military junta has suddenly become America's best friend in the World.

The reason why the US has suddenly decided to overlook this nation's appalling human rights record is that it wants to politically and economically isolate China. It is trying to do the same thing to Russia.

However you will have noticed that China is not really involved in the Syria conflict and certainly isn't providing the same level of deterrent to ISIL and their allies that Russia has done.

Therefore it should be obvious to Putin that regardless of what he does in Syria the US is going to press for the sanctions to remain.

What Russia needs to do is win friends within the EU so they will disregard the sanctions in much the same way everyone completely ignored the longterm US sanctions on Cuba. Due to the destruction he has caused in Jarablus with his little tantrum I for one am not feeling much warmth towards Putin at the moment.

The UK has also been particularly vocal. Yesterday a member of the elite Royal Marines regiment was arrested on suspicion of helping dissident Republican terrorists in Northern Ireland.

The area between Azaz and the Euphrates River that Erdogan uses to supply ISIL is sometimes referred to as; "Garvaghy Road."

The actual Garvaghy Road is in the town of Portadown in Northern Ireland. It was key to the Northern Irish peace process that religious extremists were prevented from marching down Garvaghy Road calling for a genocide of the local civilian population.

As part of the discussions over Syria's Garvaghy Road there has been something of an increase in dissident Republican activity in Northern Ireland.
 
A non-Syria related of this came on the infamous July 12th which is the traditional day for marches in Northern Ireland. This year it fell just five days after the July 7th (7/7/16) terror attack against police officers in Dallas, Texas, US. Initially considered controversial because the attacker was killed by a bomb disposal robot.

So on the so-called "Glorious 12th" (12/7/16) these "dissident Republicans" left a simple pipebomb outside the BBC offices in Belfast. This gave the BBC the opportunity to video and broadcast globally a bomb disposal robot at work. It's really not that different to shooting someone with a gun.

The arrest of a member of a regiment so elite that a cousin of mine whom I speak to only every three years or so couldn't gain security clearance to join is the UK signalling that this 'terrorist' activity is in fact the fully permitted work of the British Crown.

It is a way of declaring that that these 'terror attacks' in Turkey are in similarly the work of the Turkish head of state - Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It's since emerged that Turkey started gathering it's invasion force on August 19th (19/8/16). As such the bombing in Gaziantep the following day (20/8/16) was a scripted part of the invasion plan allowing Erdogan to murder a large number of members of a political party that opposes him in the process.

Erdogan's commitment to democracy has continued today. A convoy carrying Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu - leader of designated official opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was fired on by Turkish police in Savsat. The police who are famously extremely loyal to Erdogan have blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). 

The fact the attack occurred at completely the opposite side of the country to Turkey's Kurdish region doesn't seem to have bothered them in the slightest.

At around 17:20 on 25/8/16 (UK date) I try and pick this up after dinner but funnily enough my Internet connection has started to go a little sketchy.

Edited at around 18:55 on 25/8/16 (UK date) to add above and below;

Unfortunately in order to cover these coded conversations the UK Ambassador to the UN has taken to rather comically imitating the extremist rantings of the US everytime they call a Security Council session for everyone to publicly pledge their support for ISIL.

The problem is that as often happens to those blinded by their own egos Obama is somewhat lacking in the observational skills department. In fact Obama seems to be so lacking in any discernible skills rather than the role of President he seems better suited to the role of tramp or some sort of bum.

Speaking of which a British company is testing this strange Hybrid Air Vehicle known as "Airlander 10." Although they abandoned the project before completion this design was originally developed by the US military as a observation/intelligence gathering aircraft. Due to it's passing resemblance to Kim Kardashian the Airlander 10 has been nicknamed "The Flying Bum."

Yesterday a few hours after the Turkish invasion had began the Flying Bum suffered a seemingly catastrophic lack of support that sent it into a nosedive causing it to smash into the ground. Something Skateboarders would refer to as; "A Facepalm."

Later yesterday afternoon 5 men of Sri Lankan origin drowned off a beach in Camber Sands, Sussex, UK. Initially some thought they'd been chucked off the side of a people smuggle boat to highlight the 30 million extra refugees Obama seems intent on sending Europe's way. As it turned out that wasn't the case. Although it had been that sort of day.

The refugee issue of course was officially raised today with the rescuing of 6 irregular migrants from the Varne sandbank off the Kent coast.

Today Germany has given its latest update on Erdogan's refusal to grant access to German troops stationed at USAF airbase Incirilk as Turkey is obligated to do under its NATO member. Due to this continued obstruction that pre-dates the July 15th rising Germany feels that it can no longer consider Incirilk to be a NATO base and is to withdraw its forces to an alternative location in the region.

This comes less then a week after the US was forced to relocate between 50 and 90 nuclear to Romania from Incirilk over fears that Erdogan may attempt to seize them in order to supply them to ISIL.

During his speech yesterday Biden called on the QSD to withdraw from Manbij, Tishrin and all positions west of the Euphrates. This call was apparently reiterated by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Despite having achieved the aim of clearing Jarablus of ISIL in a recording breaking 12 hours Turkey has so far made no attempt to withdraw its invasion force. In fact it has strengthened its force with 10 more tanks today and as I write is firing on retreating QSD forces as it advances towards Manbij - a key part of the supply route to ISIL's de facto capital Raqqa.

Manbij is of course the city that was liberated from ISIL on August 13th (13/8/16). You may remember this from the inspiring videos broadcast across social and conventional media showing women burning their Burqas and cutting off their beards in celebration of their liberation.

Manbij is also the city that;

US citizen Levi Shirley, 25 of Colorado, 
US citizen Jordan McTaggart, 21 of Colorado, 
US citizen Will Savage, 27 of Maryland,
UK citizen Dean Evans, 22 of Reading

Along with many others died to liberate. 

20:00 on 25/8/16 (UK date).
 
 



 

Operation Featherweight: Month 26, Week 1, Day 2.

Certainly since the summer of 2015 the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has rested on anti-ISIL forces ability to control a roughly 100km (60 mile) strip of Syria's border with Turkey.

Stretching between the town of Azaz in the west and the Euphrates River in the east this is sometimes referred to as "Garvaghy Road" or "Erdogan's Pocket." It is used by Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan to supply ISIL with weapons. In return ISIL use the route to smuggle oil to Turkish refineries that are controlled by Erdogan's son-in-law Bilal.

In July of 2015 the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD) expanded the roughly 12,000km^2 (7,200 miles^2) buffer-zone it controls by liberating the town of Sarrin from ISIL. This left the QSD in complete control of the area between the border with Iraq in the east and Sarrin on the eastern banks of the Euphrates.

Their logical next step would be to cross the Euphrates and liberate all ISIL positions to the west of the river.

In response to ISIL supply lines coming under threat in this way Erdogan drew up plans to use the Turkish military to invade northern Syria to stop the QSD's advance and keep ISIL's oil and weapons flowing.

Preparations for this formal Turkish invasion of Syria reached such advance stages that it was even given a codename - "Cerabulus" - and a prospective "D-Day" - December 16th (16/12/15). It was preceded by a smaller partial Turkish invasion of the Bashiqa region of northern Iraq close to Mosul - ISIL's de facto capital in the country.

Under intense international pressure Erdogan was forced to abandon the Cerabulus operation and the Turkish invasion force was withdraw from Iraq on December 19th (19/12/15).

With the threat of Turkish invasion lifted the QSD were able to cross the Euphrates River liberating the Tishrin Dam and surrounding town from ISIL on December 30th (30/12/15). However the US refused to support the QSD in advancing any further in liberating Erdogan's Pocket from ISIL.

In April 2016 the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) who are centred around the city of Afrin in north-west Syria began to advance of ISIL positions in and around Azaz. They succeeded in liberating the town of Tall Rifat which sits around 16km (9.5 miles) south of Azaz. Thus they has breached the western border of Erdogan's Pocket.

Erdogan responded to this by using the Turkish military to shell the YPG stopping their advance in their tracks allowing ISIL to remain in control of the area.

On May 31st (31/5/16) the QSD finally got permission to launch an operation to liberate the town of Manbij from ISIL. Manbij sits around 30km (17 miles) north-west of Tishrin on the western banks of the Euphrates. Despite granting permission US support for this operation was slight to non-existent.

Due to a curious but longstanding agreement between US President Obama and Erdogan aircraft belonging to the US-led anti-ISIL coalition - Combined Joint Taskforce: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) - aren't really permitted to carry out airstrikes in this area surrounding ISIL's de facto Syrian capital Raqqa. 

The US did allow the QSD to be supplied with ammunition to conduct the operation. However that ammunition would only be delivered by the US and would only be delivered on an almost day-to-day basis.

As a result the operation to liberate Manbij - a city just 8km^2 (5 miles^2) - has been painfully slow. It was only completed on August 13th (13/8/16) - 75 days and two months after it had begun.

The logical next step in cutting ISIL's supply-lines would be for them to advance roughly 30km (20 miles) north to the town of Jarablus. The problem is that Jarablus sits directly on Turkey's border with Syria.

As a result there has been a high degree of concern that if an operation to liberate Jarablus were to begin Erdogan would respond by using the Turkish military to fight alongside ISIL just as they did in Tall Rifat back in April.

While the US continued to dither in making Erdogan's mind up for him Erdogan moved to make Obama's mind up for him.

Today Erdogan has used the Turkish military to formally invade the Syrian town of Jarablus.

Erdogan is making absolutely no attempt to disguise the fact that this operation is to reinforce ISIL's presence in Jarablus against QSD attempts to liberate Jarablus. The operation is even codenamed "Euphrates Shield."

The launching of the operation has been timed to coincide with US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Turkey. The thinking being that the US will be too afraid to condemn Erdogan's actions whilst sharing a press conference podium with Erdogan.

Sadly this act of Turkish aggression against US interests in the region has been far too easy to predict.

On Saturday (20/8/16) Erdogan supporters - a group that very much includes ISIL - carried out a bomb attack against a wedding of members of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish city of Gaziantep. This killed 54 people including 40 children.

The HDP are the only Turkish political party not to support Erdogan's purge of every aspect of Turkish civil society following the failed rising against him on July 15th (15/7/16). Therefore in conducting this attack Erdogan was simply able to murder a large number of his political opponents.

However through his silencing of the media and the persecution of his political opponents Erdogan has been rather successful in brainwashing the Turkish population into the sort of delusionally psychotic state in which Erdogan himself operates.

In this mindset groups as violently and clearly opposed to each other such as ISIL, the QSD and the Syrian government are in fact all secret allies conspiring against Erdogan.

Therefore few in Turkey would make a distinction between an ISIL attack and any number of largely fictional groups that Erdogan has warned are lurking behind every corner.

Erdogan though couldn't resist throwing his core support base a little bone by claiming on Sunday (21/8/16) that the Gaziantep attack had been carried out by a child bomber. It hadn't.

This claim was intended to show that Erdogan had prior knowledge of an ISIL attack that was to be carried out by a child suicide bomber in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk later that day. Fortunately that attack failed.

The purpose being to gloat to Erdogan's Islamist base that they would be soon joining their Muslim Brothers ISIL in open war.

On Monday (22/8/16) Erdogan used the Turkish military to shell positions in Jarablus. This was intended to serve as a warning to the QSD and the US that Jarablus was most certainly in the range of Turkish guns and Erdogan would not hesitate to use them to keep the town under ISIL control.

However the shelling of Jarablus was primarily used as a cover for the shelling of Manbij.

This is ironic because Erdogan refused to participate in the liberation of Manbij claiming that it was out of range of Turkish guns. When the US offered to position longer range Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) in Turkey for the operation Erdogan refused them permission.

Erdogan's shelling of Manbij should have been taken as a clear and direct threat to the US because it was American Special Forces troops that were coming under fire.

On Friday (19/8/16) the US scrambled aircraft when US Special Forces came close to being fired upon in the city of Hasakah on the southern boundary of the QSD buffer-zone. This was an absolutely appalling decision by the US that displayed a complete lack of understanding of the situation on the ground in Syria.

It also sent the fatal message to Erdogan that the US seemed to be looking for an excuse to abandon the anti-ISIL operation completely in order to act as ISIL's airforce against the Syrian government.

Once the US had made that mistake though it became utterly essential that they issued the same warning to Erdogan once he opened fire on US troops in Manbij.

Having failed to take appropriate and timely remedial action against Erdogan Obama has now played himself corner. The closure of Erdogan's Pocket and the cutting of ISIL's supply-lines is simply non-negotiable.

The worse case scenario from the current situation is that ISIL and their associates grow stronger and the Syrian government falls creating a nihilistic radical Islamist failed state on the shores of the Mediterranean. If Obama even suggests that those surrounding him seem to have no option other then to shoot him dead on the spot.

The best case scenario is that this conflict which is now well into it's fifth year simply continues for all eternity. That means the immense human suffering the UN Security Council claims to be so concerned about continues eternally. The flood of irregular migrants into Europe continues eternally as does the severe terror threat to Europe and beyond.

As such I am struggling to see what option CJTFOIR has other than to range its forces to expel the Turkish invasion force from Syria and seal Erdogan's Pocket. With Turkey nominally being a NATO member that is not a situation someone would wish on their worst enemy.

I can only assume then that Obama has finally accepted that Hillary Clinton won't be replacing him.

So he's decided to drop a massive turd on the Presidential desk for when Donald Trump takes over like some sort of petulant child.

16:05 on 24/8/16 (UK date).

The 2016 ISIL Games: Closing Ceremony Pt.2

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 1; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-2016-isil-games-closing-ceremony.html

Carmen Miranda: With the Brazilian flag raised the arena floor was thrown open to Brazilian popstar Roberta Sa in the guise of Carmen Miranda.

A long time before to the song "The Girl From Impenema" which featured in the Opening Ceremony Carmen Miranda was many people's only introduction to the strange and exotic land of Brazil.

After becoming one of the first recording and movie stars in the Brazil in the late 1920's Carmen Miranda moved to the US first performing on Broadway in the show "The Streets of Paris" in 1939. She made her first Hollywood movie "Down Argentine Way" in 1940 and appeared in 26 other US & TV Shows making the highest paid woman in all of America in 1945. Just ten years later she died at the age of only 46.

One of Carmen Miranda's most famous movies is 1943's "The Gang's All Here." The Dropkick Murphys' song of the same name does not appear on the soundtrack.

However if you were to watch videos by that Massachusetts based band on Youtube  I'm sure that eventually you'd catch sight of Boston City Hall. This rather neatly combines the natural, flowing libertarian lines of the Modernist movement that famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer helped found with the ruler straight, authoritarian Brutalist designs that followed.

Carmen Miranda of course collaborated with the Brazilian composer Ary Barroso. His song "Isto Aqui, o que É?" was used in one of the final sequences of the Opening Ceremony adding a nice symmetry to proceedings.

Famously Carmen Miranda's signature was an elaborate hat made up of all sorts of brightly coloured and exotic fruit. This itself was a reference to the common practice at the time of Brazilian women - often widows - who would sell fruit they kept balanced on their heads. If you could wink in the right way pineapples weren't the only type of exotic fruit some of these women were prepared to sell. If you get my meaning.

In American pop-culture there is a long-standing joke about Mexican immigrants selling oranges of freeway on ramps. As we all know everything south of Texas is just Mexico.

As Roberta Sa danced images of Carmen Miranda's famous bowl of fruit was projected on to the arena floor around her. This video projection also included a representation of her shadow that seemed black, inky and blotish.

This was a reference to the famous "Rorschach" inkblot tests that were used in early psychology. This seemed to be a warning that unlike the Opening Ceremony which told a story this Closing Ceremony would instead show a series of random images and ask the viewer to interpret them. This was a technique that was used extensively during the 2012 London Olympic ceremonies.

In writing about the Rio Opening Ceremony I talked about how the athletes were asked to plant their seed in giant seed banks as a way to unsettle them and put them on edge. Far from being something unique to Brazil this type of mild hazing is considered an accepted part of the home advantage that comes as reward for going to the effort of staging the games.

During the 2012 ceremonies the UK used a combination of fire, explosions, smoke and discordant medley's of seemingly random musical genres. This bordered on the type of psychological disorientation techniques used in enhanced interrogation/torture. By comparison Rio's seedbanks were laid back and quite harmless.

At times the inkblots surrounding the Carmen Miranda dancer seemed to very closely resemble the animation projected onto the back of the stage during Iceland's 2016 Eurovision Song Contest entry "Hear Them Calling" by Greta Salome.

Amongst Eurovision watchers that was widely viewed as a passionate support of the US' decision to re-open the Cold War Keflavik Air Base in Iceland in order to "keep Europe safe from the ever growing threat of Russian aggression." It was so passionate you began to wonder whether it was all just sarcasm.

Although they were dumped out of the Song Contest in the first semi-final the entire World sort of fell a little bit in love with tiny Iceland during June's Euro2016 football tournament. Their fans terrifying Thunderclap chant seems to have been copied by football fans the World over.

Particularly by Brazil fans who changed the grunt to a shout of "Zi-Ka!" to freak out mad as a box of frogs Team USA goalkeeper Hope Solo.

For those familiar with Eurovision Sweden's shock victory over Hope Solo's women's football team may well have seemed like an effort to keep Europe safe from the ever growing threat of American aggression. We wish the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) the best of luck.

To add insult to that injury it seems that Hope Solo may now have a rival in the "Just say the first thing that comes into your head" stakes in the form of China's 'Human Emoji' - swimmer Fu Yuanhui.

However at around 20:35 on 23/8/16 (UK date) I feel I'm definitely going off on a tangent. I'll pick this up tomorrow. 

Edited at around 18:45 on 26/8/16 (UK date) to add above and below;

Parade of Nations: Rather than leaving the stage the Carmen Miranda tribute simply melted into the background to help set the mood during the Parade of Nations.

As with the Opening Ceremony it is a matter of International Olympic Committee (IOC) protocol that the Closing Ceremony must feature the flags of the competing nations along with athletes from those nations being paraded in the arena. 

However it is traditional that whereas the Opening Ceremony is a formal introduction of the host nation and the competing nations to the World the Closing Ceremony is a much more informal celebration of what has just taken place. For example the Closing Ceremony for the 2012 Para-Olympics was in many ways just a free Coldplay concert for the athletes.

As such it is normally only the flags of the nations that are paraded. The athletes are allowed to sort of meander in as they like in no particular order. The spectacle of athletes from different nations mixing freely together is to promote the notion of sportsmanship - that after the contest is over both winners and losers shake hands and remain friends.

Brazil very much kept with this tradition. In order to accommodate the athletes who were brought in early to watch the rest of the ceremony fold up chairs were arranged for them around the arena floor. This obviously reduced the amount of the arena floor that could be used as a stage. With the athletes not being obligated to actually sit in these chairs this did have the effect of making it look as though there were thousands of empty seats for at least half the ceremony.

This obviously raised the issue of the thousands of empty seats that had been display in the arenas at what had been far from a sellout games. The situation for the upcoming Para-Olympics looks like it will be much worse. At the time of the Closing Ceremony they were talking in terms of only 12% of Para-Olympic tickets being sold causing a massive budget shortfall and the possible cancellation of the event entirely.

However all these empty seats also promoted discussion about Olympic legacy.

The Rio games are rather picking up the conversational baton from the 2012 London Olympics. Having built a massive 80,000 athletics stadium in east London to host the games London quickly discovered that there is absolutely no other use for an athletics stadium in east London. Eventually it was agreed that the Olympic stadium which is officially known as; "The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park" would become the home of West Ham Utd football club.

West Ham played their first game at their new home on the day of the Closing Ceremony against Bournemouth. They played their last game at their old home of the Boleyn ground against Manchester Utd on May 10th (10/5/16) during the Eurovision Song Contest's first semi-final. Kick-off in that match of course had to be delayed due to what I would term comedy levels of crowd violence that saw the windows of the Manchester Utd team coach smashed in.

What made the Boleyn ground so legendary was that the crowd was sat right up alongside the pitch creating a fantastic atmosphere. I once explained this to a Manchester Utd "supporter" who'd never been to a live match by saying; "It's great. You can call a player a w*nker. And they'll hear you." 

Originally designed as an athletics stadium the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park of course has this great big running track between the stands and where a football pitch would go. This created a lot of concern that this would ruin the atmosphere if it were to be used as a football stadium. 

In order to solve this they've added temporary seating over the running track that can be folded away should it ever be used as an athletics stadium again. This is what the temporary seating during the Closing Ceremony was supposed to represent.

Although they were free to mingle amongst themselves rather than being ordered in national formation the athletes still arrived in the stadium along the ruler straight runway/landing strip lined by stewards that was used in the Opening Ceremony. This spectacle of a disorganised rabble dressed in casual sportswear trampling all over what would be the playing area gave the entire parade the air of a pitch invasion by football hooligans.

The crowd trouble at the closing of the Boleyn ground was to some extent staged as a reference to the April 26th (26/4/16) ruling that the 96 Liverpool fans crushed to death in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster had been unlawfully killed. Although it took 27 years for British Courts to finally deliver justice the Hillsborough disaster almost immediately saw standing terraces banned in the UK and all seater stadiums introduced.

The principle of all seater stadiums is not really that everybody has to sit down. Instead its to ensure that everyone has an assigned roughly 1 metre/yard^2  in which they can watch a match without being crushed to death. The problem is that all seater stadiums do rather spoil the atmosphere during matches. As a compromise the Scottish Football Association is trialling a new form of terraces in which everyone has an assigned roughly 1 metre/yard^2 area to stand.

During the Closing Ceremony enough seats were provided for the athletes and they were each assigned a numbered seat. However they were under no obligation to actually sit in that seat or indeed sit at all. This was the Closing Ceremony's take on the terracing issue.

So basically even during the Closing Ceremony the Brazilians got bored and started talking about football instead.

With the athletes parading down this runway/landing strip before being channelled to their seats along with the sheer number of athletes involved it did take rather a long time for the Parade of Nations to end. 

With hindsight of what followed I did slightly get the impression that this was deliberate in the hope I would get bored and go to bed. After all nothing spoils a Rorschach test like someone shouting out the answers.

Unfortunately my preparations for the Closing Ceremony went to the extent of taking an early evening nap so I'd still be wide awake at 3AM. However as a compromise I did start rather making up my own ceremony. Seriously it wasn't until the following day that I realised Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an appearance. Let alone that he came dressed as one of the Super Mario Brothers.

In order to keep the atmosphere flowing during the parade a series of performances took place on the stage adjacent to the runway/landing strip.

The Carmen Miranda dancer was of course the first of these. She was replaced by a - I assume - Brazilian band whose name and setlist continue to elude me. I did notice though that they featured an accordion player. This struck me as a reference to Russian Polka music

As I've mentioned the London 2012 ceremonies employed extensive psychological disorientation techniques in attempt an unsettle those attending. However by not deploying Polka during the 2014 Sochi ceremonies Russia declined to use similar techniques despite clearly having the tools to do so. 

That obviously says a lot about British aggression versus Russian hospitality.

Although this apparently nameless band never really left the stage the focus soon shifted to a demonstration of the traditional Brazilian "Frevo" style of dance. This actually has something of an interesting history.

The Opening Ceremony featured a short reference to Capoeira. This is often mistaken for a form of dance. However it is actually a type of combat sport like Karate or Judo.

Around the start of the 19th century rival gangs would fight each other during Rio's famous Carnival using a mixture of Capoeira and knives/swords. When the police started cracking down on this the gangs would disguise their weapons as umbrellas and their Capoeira as dancing. Thus Frevo was born.

Following the principle that you can crowbar pretty much anything into discussion of these type of ceremonies I'm sure that during this spectacle of umbrellas being waved about during a parade I could make some reference to Northern Ireland's Orange Order. They're the guys who like to march along places like Garvaghy Road in their uniform of bowler hats, sashes and umbrellas.

After the Frevo demonstration the band were joined on stage by DJ Mika Mutti who is a famous Brazilian electronic music DJ. However rather than being trapped behind turntable he likes to play his music from a brightly coloured electronic almost accordion strapped to his chest. I though felt it also resembled the "Simon" electronic game from many 1980's childhoods.

The use of an electronic accordion onstage alongside a traditional accordion raised the contrast between old and new. Within the Olympic movement there is a bit of a rivalry between the traditional sports such as gymnastics and skiing and the new sports like snowboarding and sports climbing.

The wearing of a brightly light electronic device also brought in this issue of smart fabrics that is very fashionable at the moment.

If it is a nation that is in love with its gadgets it is Japan. Not only does Brazil have a very large ethnically Japanese population Japan is the next summer Olympics host. This ceremony may have mentioned that once or twice.

Finally it fell to the band with no name to play mood music until all the athletes had found their seats and the Parade of Nations drew to a close.

21:00 on 26/8/16 (UK date).











 

The 2016 ISIL Games: Closing Ceremony.

When they're allowed to take place the Olympics are never about sport. Instead it is to provide a forum to gather all the nations of the World together to discuss political issues they consider important.

This means that during the Olympics itself there are a huge range of topics being pitched by different nations that consider them important. These then are normally streamlined down to a handful of issues that are discussed in detail during the Parallel or "Para-Olympics."

This year though a handful of nations led the USA and the UK decided to hijack the Olympics and turn it into a celebration of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and associated radical Islamist terror groups. This was primarily done by trying to get Russia - as a longterm opponent of ISIL and associates - banned from the games.

The problem was that of the 207 delegations at these games only around a half-dozen such as the US, the UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar support ISIL. As a result rather than being a vast range of topics being discussed it was really a case of everybody sitting there twiddling their thumbs whilst watching the US and the UK have some sort of psychotic episode.

Through the Opening Ceremony and stunts like the diving pool turning green with algae the Brazilian hosts did try to present an alternative topic in the form of the environment and the battle against Climate Change.

The problem is that back in April 2016 almost all of the Olympic nations signed up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) so-called "Paris Agreement."

As a result no-one was really in much of a mood to discuss how being weaker than the Kyoto Protocol it replaces the Paris Agreement actually sets back efforts to combat Climate Change by some 20 years.

Also unlike the Kyoto Protocol the Paris Agreement has no expiry date. As a result it is far from clear when we will be able to start work on recovering from the set-back.

One issue that did gain a degree of traction during the games was that of Cybersecurity or computer hacking. This was primarily due to the major effort the US put into hacking absolutely everyone.

Although I was never taken offline throughout the games the traffic between my computer and my Internet server has been slowed down dramatically. At times if often felt as though I was operating on an old fashioned 28k dial-up modem. Due to all the extra reading I have to do during an Olympics that was extremely annoying.

The Russian news broadcaster RT was subjected to mass and repeated Distributed Denial Of Service (DDOS) attacks throughout the games. Making the wild assumption that everyone shares the radical Islamist agenda it's been pumping out to its citizens beyond raising the general topic the US thought that launching this anti-Russian attack would boost its popularity during the games.

Back on August 13th (13/8/16) it was announced that the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA)  Anti-Doping Administration & Management System (ADAMS) had been hacked to find the location of Russian athlete Yuliya Stepanova. With Stepanova being central to their efforts to have Russia excluded from these games in carrying out this hack the US were hoping that Russia would be blamed further smearing their reputation.

On August 11th (11/8/16) the Australian Swimming team claimed that its website had been hacked. This came in the midst of a rather spectacular feud between Australia and China with Australia's Mack Horton accusing Sun Yang of being a drugs cheat.

At one point China responded by calling Australia a vast offshore prison. A particularly sensitive topic with Australia being forced to close its off-shore immigration detention centres in Papua New Guinea.

The feud between China, Australia and Brazil's Japanese population really served to highlight the problem with the BBC's - the British Olympic broadcaster - coverage of the games.

Simply put they didn't cover the games. Instead they covered the British athletes, their relatives, friends, neighbours, dogs etc. Therefore if it didn't involve a British athlete the big stories of the games were completely ignored by the BBC.

The most important thing to remember about the Closing Ceremony though is that it took place during a horrid rainstorm. As a result all the performers in the open roofed Maracana Stadium got absolutely drenched and the audio kept getting drowned out and carried away by the wind.

The Video Countdown: It is a tradition that all Olympic ceremonies begin with a short video sequence which prominently feature a countdown from 10 to 1.

The purpose is to allow all the local broadcasters who are taking the official  International Olympic Committee (IOC) video feed to co-ordinate their coverage so they don't miss the start of the ceremony itself.

During the Opening Ceremony though Brazil broke with that tradition by showing a video without a countdown and then having the countdown projected onto the arena floor as part of the ceremony.

This was done to promote discussion about the way that broadcasting technology has progressed making the need for this type of countdown obsolete. In turn that prompted discussion about whether the Olympics themselves have become obsolete.

During the Closing Ceremony Brazil continued with this break with tradition. Although there was a short video sequence it was followed by the countdown being video projected onto the arena floor.

The video sequence featured actual archive footage of Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. This was interspersed with modern aerial footage of Rio which had been digitally aged to make it appear as though it was archive footage.

This was obviously a little nod to the sequence in the Opening Ceremony in which Santos-Dumont took us on an aerial tour of Rio during a video sequence. It also helped emphasise the passage of time.

That was further emphasised when the action moved back into the arena. Before the countdown was projected onto the arena floor first an old fashioned pocket watch was projected with its hands spinning forward at alarming speed. Officially this was a reference to how Santos-Dumont had to use his pocket watch to navigate after the instruments on his prototype plane failed.

Unofficially though it was intended to pose the question of whether the Olympics time has passed. After all due to things like the development of aviation the World is a much more globalised place. As a result there doesn't seem to be any need to gather nations together every four years for an Olympics to have the political discussions that take place at a host of dedicated political summits every year.

Although he made his first flight some three years after the American Wright brothers claim to have made the first powered flight in 1903 Santos-Dumont is still recognised as the first man to fly. That's because unlike the Wright brothers his flight was witnessed and verified by an independent and competent governing body - the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

This issue of verification by an independent and competent governing body is a hugely important one at these games.

In their effort to punish Russia for its opposition to ISIL by banning them from the games a number of governing bodies - particularly the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) who govern track & field events and swimming's Fédération internationale de natation (FINA) - introduced a presumption of guilt for Russian athletes. 

This was challenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which ruled that this was wholly unfair. Particularly as it held Russian athletes to a completely different standard to all other athletes. As a result if any governing body continued using this standard they could not be considered to be either independent or competent.

FINA did reverse its policy to an extent. However the IAAF adamantly continued to apply a presumption of guilt to Russian athletes banning them from the games.

Therefore if the results of the track & field events were challenged CAS seems to have little option other than to completely dissolve them stripping athletes of their medals and any World or Olympic records they may have set.

Quite why the IAAF has been prepared to tolerate the corrupt and incompetent leadership of Sebastian Coe for this long remains something of a mystery to all.

Rio - The Movie: The Closing Ceremony proper began with a performance by "Barbatuques" who are something of a Brazilian musical collective who specialise in lighthearted and comedy songs. Globally they are probably most famous for appearing on the soundtrack of the 2011 animated movie "Rio."

If you have young children or have friends who have young children I am sure you are more than familiar with the movie Rio. For many people it is their first introduction to Rio de Janerio where these games are being held.

The fact that Rio is an animated movie also brought what was a big theme from the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. I think that people who put on Olympic ceremonies outside of Europe are secretly very jealous of the fact they don't get to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps rather than putting up with all this tedious sport we could replace the Olympics with a Global Song Contest.

Although I think it took me two days to discuss all the ways animation was discussed at Eurovision a particularly important contribution came from Israel.

In discussing racial integration as a way to combat terrorism the Israelis highlighted that foreign movies tend to be dubbed into Hebrew and then subtitled in Arabic. When it comes to children's movies such as Rio this is hugely discriminatory against Israeli Arab parents who can't take their children to see those movies because they can't yet read.

As Barbatuques were performing on stage a group of brightly coloured performers took to the arena floor. With the help of video projection they arranged themselves in a series of complex formations to tell a story.

This combination of performers in tight formation and video projection onto the floor was technique that was employed extensively during all the ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia.

Following the Opening Ceremony the UK complained that this made it difficult for people in the arena to follow what was going on. This led to something of a feud with the Russian organisers making the video projections progressively and sarcastically bigger and clearer in each ceremony.

Obviously the UK wasn't actually complaining about the Opening Ceremony being hard to understand. Instead they were simply exploiting it like the gay-rights issue to damage Russia's reputation in response to its long standing opposition to ISIL and associates. That the Brazilians made such use of the Russian technique could be viewed as a sign of support to Russia.

The story the performers in this ceremony were trying to tell was of Rio and its famous landmarks. This began with the sun, sea and sand of the Rio's famous beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema.

They then moved on the the Arches of Lapa or Carioca Aqueduct. This is an 18th century aqueduct that runs through the centre of Rio. It was built to carry water from the Carioca River to the city's residents. This is obviously highlights the importance of water for life which in turn touches on the issue of Rio's water pollution.

However as with all the other locations mentioned it can trigger discussion about any one of array of memories someone watching might have associated with that location. For example I seem to remember hearing somewhere that every weekend people gather at the Arches of Lapa to join in a mass line-dancing party of the sort seen during the Opening Ceremony.

The next landmark referenced was the Christ the Redeemer statue. This obviously triggers discussion about religion - particularly Catholicism.

However you could also use it as an opportunity to start talking about the unofficial 2014 World Cup song "Jungle" by Jay Z which references the statue. In the song Jay Z also boasts he's going to drink Champagne out of the World Cup. As the World Cup isn't actually a cup this had roughly half the World's population shaking their heads and quietly muttering; "Idiot."

The performers then arranged themselves into the SugarLoaf mountain and its cable cars. The only reference that triggers in me is the "Blame it on Lisa" episode of the TV show "The Simpsons" in which the Simpson family visit Rio.

Throughout all this the performers were dressed in colourful feathers like some extremely exotic birds. The main plot of the movie Rio is a love story between two Spix Macaws and their avian friends.

The video projection made frequent reference to the blazing sun. This was often represented by an orange or yellow circle. This was a little nod to the fact that Brazil is now handing the Olympics over to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo games. The Japanese flag is the red circle of the sun against a white background. Also on occasion the projected circles seemed to radiate out from a central point. This was a reference to Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake.

The final landmark if you can call it that was the tropical Rainforest. During this phase the video projections showed multi-coloured lines. Officially these were meant to be tree branches. However they also seemed to resemble the "Agitos" logo of the Para-Olympics as a reminder that the games are only half-way through.

The sequence ended with the performers forming the famous Olympic rings.

At around 17:55 on 22/8/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up after dinner. I'm really not planning on spending two weeks on it.

Edited at around 19:15 on 22/8/16 (UK date) to add;

Tender Affection: Following Barbatuques onto the stage was famous Brazilian musician and political activist Martinho da Vila. He performed a song called "Carinhoso." This is a famous Brazilian torch song that is known by everyone and sung by many. The title roughly translates as; "With tender affection."

Apart from introducing the World to another aspect of Brazilian culture this seemed also to be a reference to Brazil's large ethnically Japanese population and the fact that Japan is the next summer Olympic host.

One thing that many visitors to Japan are going to have to get used to is their Logographic written language. Here hundreds of thousands of different symbols or pictures are used to form words and phrases. You could almost say that the pictures tell the story.

For example in written Japanese you can't simply write that you love someone. Instead you have to write the symbol for the person you love such as a father, another symbol indicating the type of love it is. However the one constant is a symbol roughly meaning "Tender Affection."

In preparation for the games the British hired sports journalist Charlie Webster to cycle to Rio to act as an ambassador for the games. During that trip Ms Webster contracted Malaria and was taken seriously ill in hospital on the day of the Opening Ceremony.

In order to reassure people she was recovering Ms Webster published a picture on social media of herself in hospital. In that picture you can clearly see the Japanese symbol for Tender Affection tattooed on her arm.

I of course have similarly grammatically nightmarish tattoo. I must say that I didn't particularly enjoy watching this ceremony because it did seem to turn into yet another tour of my tattoos, battle scars and distinguishing features.

Alongside da Vila on stage two performers made small, see-through glass balls dance on their hands and arms. On the floor of the arena were video projected images of space such as stars. Towards the end of the song a small group of children entered the arena wearing clothes made of smart fabrics that lit up.

As the technology has progressed to make them possible this type of smart fabric has become something of a fashionable talking point recently. At the May 2016 Met Gala in New York City, US the actress Claire Danes wore a Zac Posen designed gown that incorporated fibre optic cabling in the fabric to make it light up.

It's claimed that Team USA's dress uniforms featured a similar technology although I can't say I've seen it in action. Then of course there were the light-up shoes Team GB wore to the Closing Ceremony. But more of that later.

With it being such a fashionable topic light-up smart fabrics were used throughout the Opening Ceremony and elsewhere in this Closing Ceremony. However in this particular sequence along with the projections of space they were intended as a reference to the launch by China on August 16th (16/8/16) of the Quantum Science Satellite (QUESS). The first of its type.

I can't pretend that I fully understand the science of quantum communication. However it is based on using sub-atomic particles such as photons to transmit data. Basically it's like fibre optic technology just without the cabling. Apart from the vast amounts of data it can carry the main attraction is that it is extremely secure. If you attempt to hack into the signal the photons simply destroy themselves.

China has obviously taken great pride in launching the first ever quantum communications satellite. It claims that it marks the shift between China being a nation that simply uses technology that other people have invented to a global leader in technological development.

The fact that China is now billing itself as one of the most developed nations on earth further underlines the failure of the Paris Agreement which still classes and will forever class China as "developing" and therefore free to grow its Greenhouse Gas (ghg) emissions as much as it likes.

Brazilian Flag & National Anthem: Seamlessly this sequence progressed into that bit of IOC protocol - the raising of the national flag of the host and the singing of the host nation's national anthem.

The children who had emerged during da Vila's performance quickly formed into a choir to sing the national anthem.

Apart from containing smart fabrics the children's costumes were virginal white. Possibly being the same choir that sang the Olympic anthem during the Opening Ceremony this was another reference to that ceremony's theme of child sexual abuse and child prostitution.

As the flag was being raised another Brazilian flag was video projected onto the arena floor. As the sequence ended this flag made of light broke apart into hundreds of pieces.

Rather like the photons in a quantum communication system would do if you attempted to hack into it.

20:30 on 22/8/16 (UK date).

The 2016 ISIL Games: Opening Ceremony Pt.7

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 6; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-2016-isil-games-opening-ceremony-pt6.html

The Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron: Probably the most exciting bit of IOC protocol is that every Opening Ceremony must feature the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. This marks the end of the Olympic torch relay in which the Olympic flame is brought from Greece where it is lit by the sun.

The Olympic torch relay has its origins in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was invented by Adolf Hitler as a way to demonstrate the way the Nazi Reich would stretch across Europe. As with so many things from that games the IOC liked the idea so much they decided to keep it.

This final leg of the torch relay was begun by Gustavo Kuerten a famous Brazilian tennis player who won the French Open three times in 1997, 2000 & 2001. He is commonly known by the nickname "Guga."

Halfway across the arena floor Guga handed the torch to Hortência Marcari.

Sometimes known as "The Queen" Marcari is regarded as possibly one of the greatest female basketball players of all time. For Brazil she won the Silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

It then came time for Marcari to hand the torch to the person who would light the cauldron itself.

Initially this was supposed to be Brazilian footballing legend Pele. However like all men of conscience and substance he decided to boycott the ISIL games.

As such dubious honour fell to Vanderlei de Lima a Brazilian long distance runner.

Vanderlei de Lima is probably most well known for the time he was leading the marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Suddenly he was attacked by reasonably well known attention seeking Irish irritant Cornelius "Neil" Horan - the former Priest rather than member of the band "One Direction."

Unable to recover following the attack de Lima could only manage a third place finish securing himself the Bronze medal.

In response to the good grace in which he took the attack that ruined his Olympic dream de Lima was also awarded the "Pierre de Coubertin" or "True Spirit of Sportsmanship Medal."

At the risk of giving away all of the Olympics' secrets the Olympic cauldron is actually fuelled by natural gas. This is of course a fossil fuel the burning of which releases Greenhouse Gases contributing to Climate Change.

With the need to defeat Climate Change being a key theme not only of this ceremony but these games the Rio cauldron was noticeably much smaller than any that has been used before. This was done intentionally to reduce the amount of fuel needed to keep it burning thus reducing the Greenhouse Gases it emits.

The cauldron itself resembled literally a cauldron or cooking pot. This was an intentional reference to the efforts that developing nations are making to reduce their Greenhouse Gas emissions.

In many developing nations it is common that people will live in a single roomed hut. At the centre of that hut you will a large wood burning fire both to heat the hut and to cook on. In an effort to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions there is a big effort to provide each household with a metal stove.

These work by using a small amount of fuel to heat the metal of the stove which in turn heats the room and provides a cooking surface. By reducing the amount of wood needed to produce the same effect these stoves reduce deforestation and Greenhouse Gas emissions.

After it had been lit the cauldron was lifted up to form the centrepiece of a vast golden kinetic sculpture by American artist Anthony Howe. This sculpture was intended to represent the sun.

The contrast between the fossil fuel burning cauldron and the natural energy of the sun was intended intended as a plea for the World to move away from Greenhouse Gas emitting fossil fuels towards non-polluting, renewable energy sources such as solar.

I have seen many pleas of this type in my time. This was by far the most beautiful.

Through its use of circles and orbs of different sizes the sculpture was also in keeping with the ceremony's central theme of geometry. Particularly the environmental impacts of Brazil's Brutalist system of economic and dormitory cities.

Constantly moving this kinetic sculpture also invoked a "Hypnowheel."  This was a reference to the 2012 London Olympics from which Rio was picking up the baton.

The London Olympic cauldron was supposed to resemble a campfire the sort of which you can spend hours hypnotically staring at. Throughout the host broadcasters studio coverage this campfire cauldron was shown constantly burning in the background.

This was intended to promote discussion about the way the TV has replaced the traditional fire around which families gather for social warmth. I think it was Winston Churchill who referred to TV as; "The idiot lantern."

Rio's cauldron sculpture picked up on this idea and used the contrast between families in developing nations gathering around a fire in single room huts and families in developed nations gathering around TV's to promote discussion about the ways in which we use energy and how that energy is produced.

The ceremony then ended with a mass firework display.

20:15 on 18/8/16 (UK date).