Boris Becker

[dutchfire]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/19/boris-beckers-diplomatic-passport-is-a-fake-says-car

The Central African Republic has denied that Boris Becker is one of its official diplomats and said a passport the former tennis star claimed should give him diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in the UK is invalid.

This would normally have been the strangest story I would read all day, but sadly it is currently 2018.
Incorrectly claiming diplomatic immunity in court seems like a rather risky legal strategy.

Does this story make sense to anyone here?

 

[The_J]

It would've made sense if it was April 1 o_O.

 

[Bootstoots]

I ran across the CAR in one of my recent Wikipedia voyages. Its dictator, inspired by Napoleon, proclaimed it the Central African Empire in 1976 and spent the equivalent of 1/3 of its annual revenue on an extravagant coronation for the new Emperor. He was overthrown in a French-backed coup in 1979 and the Republic was restored. Of course it remained a dictatorship, but it's what's on paper that counts.

"Central African Republic" sounds like a placeholder name to me. In my ignorant Murican opinion, they should rename it to something more interesting.

 

[Ajidica]

@Bootstoots, you ever seen footage of Bokassa's Imperial Coronation?

 

[Bootstoots]

I like how unhappy everyone looks, especially the new Queen. Or one of them, anyway, given that he had 17 wives in all.

 

[ori]

the most interesting thing there is how fractured the central african repubiic's government appears to be with the president and the ambassador in belgium playing along and supporting the claim of some official diplomatic post being attached to becker and the foreign minister first denying that any such post was offered and then through his spokesperson claiming outright fraud with regards to the diplomatic passport presented by becker.
that said becker is a moron who squandered his wealth most likely by being reckless with it and listening to advisors not having his best interests as a primary aim and now being somehow convinced that claiming diplomatic status would somehow make a civili litigation matter go away.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I ran across the CAR in one of my recent Wikipedia voyages. Its dictator, inspired by Napoleon, proclaimed it the Central African Empire in 1976 and spent the equivalent of 1/3 of its annual revenue on an extravagant coronation for the new Emperor. He was overthrown in a French-backed coup in 1979 and the Republic was restored. Of course it remained a dictatorship, but it's what's on paper that counts.

"Central African Republic" sounds like a placeholder name to me. In my ignorant Murican opinion, they should rename it to something more interesting.

Ah, good old Bokassa.
I think he was also a cannibal, ate some of his political opponents and served others to guests who didn't know what kind of meat they were eating.
I miss 20th century dictators. They don't make them like that anymore. Saddam Hussein and Ghadaffi were the last real characters. Not like tnat fat asian dude or the nerdy optometrist.

About Becker: He's a typical example of what happens when someone of mediocre -and I'm being generous here- intellect attains fame and fortune in his teens thanks to a very narrow and diminishing skill set and never really learns that money isn't just something you always have.