The footage showing an Argentine Olympic hockey player training on “Argentinian soil” (ie the Falklands/Malvinas) is of course tastless….but it is also a major propaganda success.

There are two issues here.

The first issue is that there are two sides to Imperialism and post-Imperialism. I suppose there is an attitude in the “imperial powers” ……France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Russia……and a very different attitude in (say) Algeria, India, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Indonesia, Estonia.

I would go so far as to say that there are actually three attidues in the former Empires. One is an unapolgetic belief that the imperial power brought some form of civilisation to the conquered. A second attitude is that imperialism was a blot on an otherwise “decent” history and that the people liberated from imperialism after WW2 should just “get over it”. A third attitude is to over-compensate (in Guardian-reading vegetarian muesli for breakfast style) and condemn imperialism.

Even among previous colones, there is maybe an attitude that is unforgiving…a negative historical legacy. And a second over-compensating attitude which is perhaps too forgiving.

I deplore Imperialism. I hope that I oppose it in itself, rather than merely from my perspective as an Irish citizen.

My default position is that I am neutral but that the Falklands-Malvinas are properly Argentinian. There are of course close ties between Britain and Ireland. Less well-known perhaps is that there are nearly one million people of Irish descent living in Argentina, the fifth largest Irish heritage community in the world. Among the leaders for the fight for Argentine independence (from Spain) was Admiral William Brown from County Mayo. Among the “Irish” community in Argentina was a certain Ernesto Che Guevara Lynch……yes THAT Che Guevara…..one of our own.

Of course Britain defeated Argentina in the 1982 Falklands-Malvinas War. Of course I was neutral. Or should have been. But it was Imperialism against anti-Imperialism. So really I was on Argentinas “side”. Of course it should have been difficult to side with an Argentinian fascist, General Galtieri…..but as Britain was being led by Margaret Thatcher….well was there really a choice for an Irishman?

Argentina is now of course a democracy. And still claims the Malvinas-Falklands. Britain wont talk. Latin America supports Argentina.

The “open door” policy whereby Britain has effectively surrendered control of its own borders for the duration of the Olympics…..nobody competing at the Games can be refuesed entry….therefore gave Argentina an excellent opportunity for a diplomatic or publicity coup. And a little “mischief”.

An Argentinia athlete…..the hockey guy…….was filmed training on the disputed islands …….running past landmarks and stepping on a British war memorial. At the end of the advertisement, the theme is proclaimed. “To win on British soil……..we train on Argentinian soil”.

This of course has angered the folks on the Falklands-Malvinas …all 3,500 of them. And their (mostly) conservative supporters. Frankly I cant warm to them….they strike me as living in time warp. It is still vaguely a few years after World War Two in Port Stanley. The folks there seem to think nothing has changed. They all look like (at best) they would vote UKIP or (at worst) BNP. …….or UUP or DUP.

Yet the Daily Mail and Daily Express working themselves up over all this is………also amusing but ultimately futile. The offending athlete cannot be denied entry into Britain. Neither can the Argentinian Olympic team.

It is just one of the many issues that were not presented to the people of London as the downside of hosting the Olympic Games. Unavailabiliy of tickets to ordinary people, corporate hospitality, a grossly under-estimated budget and anti-aircraft missiles on top of blocks of flats in London’s East End is only the start of it.