The 2018 Winter Olympics: Opening Ceremony Pt.5.

A continuation of Part 4; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/the-2018-winter-olympics-opening_14.html

The Olympic Rings:

It is protocol that each Opening Ceremony must include a sequence in which the logo of the Olympic movement - five interlocked rings - is revealed.

In the past this may simply have been a sheet being pulled off a statue of the rings. Or simply the unfurling of a banner bearing the rings. Over the years though it has grown to become a lot more elaborate.

This sequence actually began at the end of the previous sequence.

That sequence featured a large number of performers all carrying the traditional Korean gift of peace made up of light and water.

In an Augmented Reality (AR) display those lights turned into doves - a traditional western symbol of peace. Those 'doves' then flew out of the arena and to the top of a near-by mountain.

Essentially AR is the layering of one level of electronic images on top of another layer of electronic images.

I think the most widely know example is the "Pokemon Go" Smartphone game. In the game you go to a specified GPS location. You then hold up your Smartphone in video mode and if you're lucky the Pokemon computer game characters will appear.

The problem with AR is that it only works if you are viewing an electronic image. If you're viewing a non-electronic image - real life as it used to be known - you don't get to see the electronic images layered on top.

So the people watching the Opening Ceremony live in the arena would not have seen these AR doves flying away.

The plan was that to assist them there would be hundreds of these small, birdlike drones flying from the arena to the mountain. Showcasing the RoK's technological superiority over particularly Japan these drones were to be controlled by a 5G wireless network.

As it happens these drones never appeared. They were cancelled at the last minute.

The official reason for this is that too many ticketless spectators had gathered under the drone's flightpath. This meant that organisers could not ensure their safety so the sequence was cancelled.

This official explanation led people to speculate whether the cancellation of the drone sequence was really the result of the; "Olympic Destroyer" cyberattack which the Opening Ceremony was being subjected to.

The Olympic Destroyer malware seems to have been designed by an Existential philosopher. Possibly a Korean Taoist. Its purpose was to delete the system files on any computer it infected.

One of the big talking points about Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the point at which computers become sentient like humans. However using a bit of artistic license system files are what make a computer understand that it is a computer.

If you delete the system files then the computer loses its sense of self as a computer. It starts thinking it's a bookcase, a coffee table or just a useless lump of plastic and metal that needs to be thrown out of the nearest window at the earliest opportunity.

Therefore by design the Olympic Destroyer malware was extremely destructive and had the potential to take the global broadcast of the Opening Opening off air.

However the only damage it actually did was to stop the barcode/QR code on the passes of certain members of the press being read at the gate. Preventing them from accessing the stadium.

Exactly the sort of thing you'd do if you want to be talked about by members of the press.

The "Beaten Black & Blue" sequence of the Opening Ceremony featured the contrast between Hard Power and Soft Power.

In military/espionage circles there is a new form of power being discussed; "Sharp Power."

The term was coined in November 2017 by the very right-wing American "US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) think-tank. Really in an effort to generate some press coverage for themselves. As a result what Sharp Power means is really being defined as we talk and as I write.

However it seems to be the precise application of information to achieve a specific objective. Where once you would send a missile today you would send a Tweet.

Amongst spies it has long been accepted that you can manipulate people into doing things a whole range of appalling things.

One very famous example is the death of Iraq weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. By systematically destroying his entire life and then giving him a period of quiet to reflect on all that he'd lost the UK intelligence services manipulated him into committing suicide.

Residing in the UK I went through a similar experience during the September 2004 school siege and then massacre in the Russian city of Beslan.

The Beslan School Massacre as it became known was referenced in an episode of the US TV Show; "The Unit" in an episode entitled; "In Loco Parentis."

On the anniversary of the Beslan School Massacre an elite school in Virginia attended by children of many of America's business and political elite is attacked by Chechen Islamist terrorists.

In this context it is useful to remember that in the TV show the terrorists are shown using Simonov SKS rifles.

The same type of rifle used during what has become known as the "Congressional Baseball Shooting" which took place in Virginia in June 2017. A Bernie Sanders campaign worker gunned down Republican members of Congress.

Following mass shootings in America liberals always call for the ban of; "Assault Weapons." The AR-15 has become a byword for assault rifle. However legally "Assault Weapon" is defined as a rifle with a pistol-grip and a magazine capacity of over 10 rounds.

An early rival for the AK-47 the Simonov SKS is an assault rifle without pistol-grip and a 10 round magazine. If the US were to ban assault weapons like the Simonov SKS it would also have to ban all hunting and sporting rifles.

As within every other episode the school siege in The Unit is brought to a successful conclusion by the unit's leader - Sergeant Major Jonas Blaine. Played by Denis Haysbert. If I were black I think he might be my grandfather.

In the US TV series; "24" Denis Haysbert played US President David Palmer. Making him a black US President people actually liked.

Alongside the Olympic coverage South Korean TV is currently running an "American Idol" talent show to find a new lineup for the K-Pop band; "Bangtan Boys (BTS)." The reason why BTS need a new lineup is that their existing line-up have all been conscripted into compulsory military service.

This Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS) show is also called; "The Unit."

I'm starting to think that alongside a lot of US troops South Korea also gets a lot of US TV shows.

Not only can spies manipulate people into committing suicide they can also manipulate people into committing things like mass shootings.

You simply put them into the same vulnerable emotional state. Then rather then implanting the idea they should kill themselves you instead implant the idea they should kill other people.

You only need to look at the number of times that mass shootings end with the shooter also killing themselves to see how the two scenarios are similar.

In order to successfully carry out one of these manipulation operations you need almost complete control over every aspect of the target's life. Therefore in the past they have really been limited to the intelligence agencies in the country where the target resides.

However more and more of our lives are being lived internationally online. Here I am in the UK writing about an Opening Ceremony which occurred in the RoK. I suspect it will be read by people as far afield as Iraq, Syria, Russia, Israel, the US etc.

Therefore it has become possible for intelligence agencies to carry out this type of manipulation operation in other people's countries.

Although not strictly speaking manipulation we are starting to see this sort of thing from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and their associates in Al Qaeda.

In May 2017 online ISIL magazine Rumiyah instructed followers to use online listing sites like Craigslist to lure in victims to kill. After luring them in under the guise of renting a room or whatever the person is then murdered.

In June 2017 an ISIL supporter in Melbourne, Australia did just that. Yacqub Khayre hired a prostitute online and instructed her to meet him at an apartment in the Brighton area of the city. He then killed her and the apartment building's doorman leading to a two hour stand-off with police.

Khayre had never travelled to Iraq or Syria and had never been trained by ISIL. In fact he appears not to have even met another ISIL supporter. However over the Internet ISIL were able to inspire and direct his attack.

Then of course there is the July 22nd 2016 (22/7/16) mass shooting in Munich, Germany. This happened of the site of the 1972 Munich Olympics which famously were stopped after a terrorist attack by the Black September group.

The 2016 Munich Shooting occurred two weeks to the day before the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The big talk at the time was whether Russia would be allowed to compete, would be banned entirely or partially banned.

So the Munich Shooting seemed very much like an Islamist terror attack.

However the shooter - Ali Sonboly - illegally obtained his weapons and his motivations of the so-called; "Dark Web." This is a mysterious, international forum where no-one knows who anyone is and there are very few ways of checking if they're who they claim to be.

Due in no small part by a strong desire on the part of the German government not to declare it a terror attack no evidence was found to prove it was a terror attack. Therefore no retaliatory action was taken. Which is what normally happens in a war.

The reason why the German government were desperate not to recognise the Munich shooting as and Islamist terror attack is because such attacks are intended to divide society between Muslims and non-Muslims. Due to Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel's disastrous immigration policies Germany society was already deeply divided at the time.

In an effort to prevent reprisal attacks against Muslims Germany even put around the rumour that Ali Sonboly was a quasi-Christian White Supremacist influenced by Anders Breivik. This is despite the fact that Ali Sonboly was a brown, Iranian Muslim. A group traditionally hated by quasi-Christian, White Supremacists.

The term; "Sharp Power" has only existed for three months. So there are no confirmed instances of it ever being used. However I can imagine what a Sharp Power attack would look like.

You hack into the computer control system for a school's electrical system. You then create a short circuit triggering a fire. You then disable the sprinkler system and lock all the doors to maximise the number of adorable young children killed.

Then in the aftermath of the fire you use Social Media to circulate "evidence" such as leaked emails, fake news stories etc showing that political leaders caused the deaths of the children because they were corrupt and taking bribes.

You then sit back and watch as the nation which was threatening you militarily tears itself apart.

Although the UK Labour Party's 2017 arson attack on Grenfell Tower is similar in nature it doesn't technically count as Sharp Power. It was done domestically and it was done physically rather the using computer hacking.

As for the type of fake news claim you could circulate on social media?

You could certainly try something like the tale of an innocent young black man named Micheal Brown being murdered by racist police. While having his hands up in surrender and begging; "Don't Shoot!"

That of course was the conclusion of the US Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) report into claims of Russian attempts to rig the 2016 US Presidential Election;

"Russian broadcaster RT is trying to undermine faith in US democracy. By reporting on what the Democrat Party are doing."

Although I don't think it was an intelligence operation another example of the type of rumour you could use was on display in the RoK. During the downfall of Park Geun-hye.

South Korean society in general and its education system in particular is extremely competitive. Almost from the moment they are born South Korean children's entire lives revolve around doing well in the Suneung - the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT).

If you do not do well in that exam you do not get into a good university. If you do not get into a good university you will not get a career with one of the big Chaebol - like Samsung. It is no understatement to say that your entire life will then be ruined.

At the start of this long series of posts I joked you could tell the Olympics were in the RoK. You have to complete a class even before school. South Koreans very much get that joke.

As with all societies all South Koreans have at one point been children themselves. Many of them also have children of their own. So everybody feels it has a stake in the education debate.

One of the revelations that came out about Park Geun-hye is that she abused her role as President to get the daughter of her friend Choi Soon-sil into a top university. That is despite Chung Yoo-ra having terrible Suneung scores because she'd chosen to play with horses rather than study morning, noon and night.

It was the moment that revelation broke you knew the entire population of South Korea was suddenly united in their hatred of Park Geun-hye.

17:15 on 15/2/18 (UK date). I'm clearly not going to be finished today am I.

Edited at around 19:55 on 15/2/18 (UK date) to add;

The Olympics themselves are really an exercise in Soft Power.

Soft Power can really be built around anything people enjoy. Across the world sport is a popular pastime so this is often used.

A good example are the English Premier League Arsenal F.C. They are nicknamed; "The Gunners." Gun violence is also a popular pastime in certain parts of west Africa. So the Gunners are very popular team amongst certain West Africans desperate to prove how macho they are.

In the old days if they were very lucky these West African Gunners could even get a letter published in one of the Arsenal fanzines. All they needed to do was write a lot of other letters first telling the editors all the best gossip about their local politicians. I suppose in this Sharp Power age "Arsenal FanTV" has taken over from the fanzine.

As for wonky-eyed Turkish Gunner Mesut Ozil inviting Rihanna back from Senegal in west Africa to go to a gangbang with the Blueshirts from Dun Laoghaire. Well that might be the Emirates Stadium sending a different sort of message.

Although if you are employed by that particular black woman then reading invitations is clearly not your strong point.

Europe of course has an annual, week long Soft Power competition in the form of the Eurovision Song Contest. That does away with all the running and jumping nonsense of the Olympics. Everyone simply does their own Olympic Opening Ceremony. Due to the sheer number of competitors those opening ceremonies are limited to three minutes.

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest was really a continent wide celebration. A celebration of how happy everyone was that the US Presidency of Barack Obama was finally over. And a celebration that he was not being replaced by Hillary Clinton.

In reference to Obama's National Security Adviser Susan Rice Russia's immediate neighbour Finland performed a song with the chorus; "Blackbird, Blackbird Go Away."

The Italian principality of San Marino took things even further. They were represented by Jimmy Wilson. Up until then he was best known for playing Barack Obama in the stage musical; "Hope." We all very much enjoyed giving Barack Obama no points whatsoever.

The UK's rather unusual entry was the WannaCry computer virus. This ransomware attack generated many headlines but did absolutely no damage the day before the Song Contest Grand Final.

The name of the virus was very much aimed at supporters of Hillary Clinton. As they are now at the time they were all blubbering away ranting about Russian Hacking.

The WannaCry malware was built using off-the-shelf North Korean code. This was to make clear that one particularly dangerous thing Obama had done was provide the DPRK with missile control software. In order to build them up as a regional threat as part of his "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy.

The claims of Russian hacking in the US election are based entirely on a private company hired by the Democrats called; "Crowdstrike."

There is no evidence that Democrat computers were even hacked let alone hacked by the Russians. No law enforcement agency or any other agency has ever examined their computers. In fact the only people who have examined the computers are Crowdstrike who continue to be employed by the Democrats.

Despite the lack of evidence the US cybersecurity agency - the National Security Agency (NSA) - signed off on Crowdstrike's claims giving rumours of Russian hacking undue credence.

Crowdstrike went on to examine the WannaCry code. They concluded that North Korean code means North Korean origin. Despite it being a very obvious wind-up the NSA again signed off on Crowdstrike's work.

On that day the NSA lost whatever respect it had left amongst its peers.

Shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest Russia was subjected to a sustained cyberattack. This used a more vicious version of the WannaCry malware named WannaPetya. A tiny bit of this cyberattack Russia bled out into Ukraine.

Today (15/2/18) the UK has declared that the WannaPetya cyberattack against Russia was in fact a Russian cyberattack against Ukraine.

In true theatrical style used a Muslim politician to make this announcement. People say he's Lord Ahmed. I think he's more of a pantomime dame.

So yesterday (14/2/18) and today (15/2/18) have been declared; "Cyber Day" at the Olympics where there is one hell of a time difference.

Curiously though no-one in America seems to be interested in the Olympics today.

At around midday (GMT) yesterday (14/2/18) there was a shooting incident at the NSA headquarters at Fort Mead in Maryland, US. Fortunately no-one was killed in this attack on the NSA.

At around 19:30 (GMT) yesterday (14/2/18) there was a mass shooting at a school in the Park (Chung-hee) Land area of Florida, US. On this occasion 17 people were killed.

So from what I've had time to watch the US media has spent the day mourning all the adorable children killed.

The alleged shooter has been captured alive and identified as Nikolas Cruz. A Philadelphia Eagles fan.

The fact Cruz is Hispanic initially led to some speculation that he was one of the Democrats beloved DREAMER illegal immigrants.

However it has been confirmed that he was motivated by some far-right, White Supremacists nihilist ideology. Possibly inspired by Anders Breivik.

Rather like Munich shooter Ali Sonboly this has caused some confusion. Obama's Black Lives Matter have been trying to convince people that Hispanics are not white.

However I seem to remember much of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, the 2016 Summer Olympics, the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest and now the 2018 Winter Olympics were spent mocking that claim.

It was even mocked extensively by Hispanic Americans during the 2016 Oscars. They responded to the #OscarsSoWhite campaign with the #NotYourMule. To protest black Americans trying to exploit them in an effort to get fast-tracked into the Academy.

Even Chung Yoo-ra was forced to make Samsung pay for her mule.

On their way out of the stadium the AR 'doves' arranged them into the formations of the main Winter Olympic sports. Rather like Japanese AR did during its little sequence in the 2016 Summer Olympic Closing Ceremony.

However unlike the Japanese AR which was stationary the South Korean AR was in motion. Clearly far superior.

Once the AR doves reached the top of the mountain they triggered actual, real-life, human skiers and snowboarders to start skiing down the mountain. This sequence was filmed by small drones using the 5G wireless network that was unaffected by the "Olympic Destroyer" cyberattack.

As they were making their way down the mountain these skiers were wearing Smart-Fabrics. The sort of thing that lights up - possibly controlled by 5G wireless - and could even charge your Smartphone using kenetic energy. They were also wearing traditional ski goggles.

This promoted conversation about how AR could be incorporated into future live events. Possibly by giving the audience something like the; "Oculus Rift" or "Google Glass."

They could even use something like the fancy glasses Sergeant Bob Brown uses to provide footage from inside the school shooting in the; "In Loco Parentis" episode of "The Unit." Scott Foley who plays him certainly scrubs up well.

I'm not making any promises but the Closing Ceremony gift bag could be impressive.

Finally the skiers arrange themselves into the shape of the Olympic Rings and use flares to show the colours.

At the same time AR Olympic Rings appear above them.

So Japan may have been the first people to use AR in an Olympic ceremony.

The South Koreans did the first AR Olympic Rings.

21:35 on 15/2/18 (UK date).