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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| caniff wrote: |
Foreign reporters should be able to hire a translator when asking questions of the president of a country. |
I think the president just doesn't like the reminder before the international press he can't do what the leaders of the 10 nation ahead of him can do. Having to wait a bit for a translator while trying to get your words out to the world is small potatoes.
Sure, most major news services could easily find someone within their organizations who are bilingual, but all the same it looks bad. And it did end up looking bad and cost Korea the Olympics. I'm not sure why Roh figured his presence would do anything for the bid. Most Koreans don't find him any more impressive than a dryer sheet. A monolingual Korean who can only wear a suit and smile isn't going to do anything for a bid. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
| caniff wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
They were foolish to start building the thing already.
"Pyong chang"- the white elephant that never hosted the games". |
Kind of like the English Villages. |
There is a dire need for sensible planning laws and proper consideration of multi-million dollar developments here.
at the moment all sorts of crazy, wasteful and ill thought-out projects go ahead here on the fanciful whim of some loon in government. |
If Koreans actually complete and decide to use some of the buildings for winter sports, it may look good, if and when they decide on another bid. Unlike the Olympic stadium, which is hardly used now... I wonder why they built a new WC stadium in Seoul, when they had a massive sized Olympic stadium at their disposal? |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
China, Russia, I wonder who's next? Nigeria? No, has to be Indonesia......
I am sure that there was a lot of money "transferred". This is the Russian way of doing business and nothing have changed but that there are Kremlin Oligarchs as oppossed to those who had pretentions to just Oligrachs.
DD |
Racist. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:42 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
| ddeubel wrote: |
China, Russia, I wonder who's next? Nigeria? No, has to be Indonesia......
I am sure that there was a lot of money "transferred". This is the Russian way of doing business and nothing have changed but that there are Kremlin Oligarchs as oppossed to those who had pretentions to just Oligrachs.
DD |
Racist. |
Biased maybe, Racist, not really. |
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Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:48 am Post subject: |
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Exactly. Russians aren't a race. Bigoted or narrow-minded would be a stretch even, but certainly not racist.
Bribery is a accepted way of doing business in many countries besides Russia anyway. They don't call Korea, "The land of the White Envelope" for nothing.  |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Exactly. Russians aren't a race. Bigoted or narrow-minded would be a stretch even, but certainly not racist.
Bribery is a accepted way of doing business in many countries besides Russia anyway. They don't call Korea, "The land of the White Envelope" for nothing. |
My opinion after having lived in both countries, is that Russia has a far more pervasive problem of "influence peddling", without a doubt. Corruption statistics back me up but I'm not going to hunt them down. That doesn't discount the fact that Korea does have its own problems with graft/corruption/bribery. But nothing racist or biased when going by facts. Just the truth.
[ just looked it up out of curiosity. Russia 148th place S. Korea 43rd in terms of corruption/transparency. Big difference. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781359.html ]
My point was that the Olympic committee continues to award countries based on their influence and bank book and not taking into account the effect this will have on the poor Mum and Pop, Joe and Jane. Lots of people screwed over in China and only the money floating to the top.....
BJWD, he gets a hard on whatever I post. His problem, not mine.
DD |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:26 am Post subject: |
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| Guri Guy wrote: |
Exactly. Russians aren't a race. Bigoted or narrow-minded would be a stretch even, but certainly not racist.
Bribery is a accepted way of doing business in many countries besides Russia anyway. They don't call Korea, "The land of the White Envelope" for nothing. |
I was obviously being sarcastic. dd likes to throw big words around. |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:45 am Post subject: |
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Let me go out on the proverbial limb here: Could it possibly have anything to do with Korea's (in)famous lack of charm, warmth, and hospitality? 
I wouldn't try to first guess much less second guess anything ddeubel says. He changes subject in the same paragraph and sometimes the same sentence. Sort of reads like a bad Asimov sci-fi story, only worse. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
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| Putin being here was very important," said French IOC member and former ski champion Jean-Claude Killy. "He worked very hard at it. He was nice. He spoke French -- he never speaks French. He spoke English -- he never speaks English. |
Interesting article. And let's recall Roh's bright idea was to ask the foreign press to ask their questions in Korean or he wouldn't answer them. |
Should it be a surprise? Putin graduated from law school with a degree in international law and Roh hasn't. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
Let me go out on the proverbial limb here: Could it possibly have anything to do with Korea's (in)famous lack of charm, warmth, and hospitality?
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You mean the selectors spent a day or 2 walking round Seoul in the run up? |
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freshking
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 6:59 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe a little off topic, but I thought Roh could speak English. That doesn't mean he had to in this case, but it certainly would have made Korea look more welcoming. |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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freshking wrote:
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| Maybe a little off topic, but I thought Roh could speak English. That doesn't mean he had to in this case, but it certainly would have made Korea look more welcoming. |
Keep in mind this is the country where no matter where you go people continue to speak Korean to you even after it's painfully obvious you don't speak any of it. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:19 am Post subject: |
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| stevemcgarrett wrote: |
Let me go out on the proverbial limb here: Could it possibly have anything to do with Korea's (in)famous lack of charm, warmth, and hospitality?
I wouldn't try to first guess much less second guess anything ddeubel says. He changes subject in the same paragraph and sometimes the same sentence. Sort of reads like a bad Asimov sci-fi story, only worse. |
The Friday Financial Times has a page feature about what Asian city stood the best chance at being the financial capital of Asia. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, and Seoul. It gave very low marks to Seoul. Three major downsides: poor English, crap government regulation, and an anti-foreigner sentiment. Scorching.
It occurs to me one of the reasons for giving Russia the Winter Olympics is it might offer Western Europe a lever of control over Russia for the foreseeable future. It works a bit like this: Western Europe is increasingly in Russia's thrall via energy. Russia has been using the threat of turning off the gas to its former Soviet states ("if you elect the anti-Russian president, we're going to turn off the gas") but there's no guarantee it won't do that to Poland or other Eastern European nations in the EU.
So, since the Winter Olympics is largely Western Europe, America, and Canada, Russia sure can't risk another 1980 style boycott. It's going to have to play nice over the next half decade if it doesn't want to lose the billions its going to be investing in the games. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
China, Russia, I wonder who's next? Nigeria? No, has to be Indonesia......
I am sure that there was a lot of money "transferred". This is the Russian way of doing business and nothing have changed but that there are Kremlin Oligarchs as oppossed to those who had pretentions to just Oligrachs.
DD |
DD, you need to watch The Simpsons more.
The monument should be in Tianemen Square, iwth Olympic banners...
"June 4, 1989, nothing happened here." |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:13 am Post subject: |
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mindmetoo wrote:
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| The Friday Financial Times has a page feature about what Asian city stood the best chance at being the financial capital of Asia. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, and Seoul. It gave very low marks to Seoul. Three major downsides: poor English, crap government regulation, and an anti-foreigner sentiment. Scorching. |
Yep, served up on the plate sizzling. The Koreans just don't get it; the Chinese do. The Russians are catching on, slowly but surely. The Malaysians already have; the Indonesians never will either.
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| It occurs to me one of the reasons for giving Russia the Winter Olympics is it might offer Western Europe a lever of control over Russia for the foreseeable future |
This argument was also advanced in the days leading up to nomination for China to get the Games. It has some merit, if only to get autocrats there to actually care what the West thinks about their international image.
Woeful Korea is too busy keeping an eye on the Japanese. Not surprisingly, the middle school English curriculum in Chinese urban areas in the east is superior to that in Korea, and in some respects even Japan. |
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