International Flags

These things may be the most boring flags of all. Nine times out of 10, they’re white, with lots of text and maybe some totally meaningless symbol.

Minimalist

As Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland, CA, with these flags, there’s no there there. 

Honestly, these things are so bland and meh that they barely register.

Eurasian Economic Union

That’s it? It looks like two different-colored smudges.

The EEU? Apart from sharing an acronym with the European Economic Union, this EEU looks like a weak attempt to recreate the Commonwealth of Independent States. In particular, it includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Tellingly, it was first proposed by primo Kazakh nut job and president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Supposedly, someone won $1,250 for coming up with this baby.

Intra-Parliamentary Union

A wreath, a temple, and a date. Wow, talk about being coy.

Now, this might be okay if this was an organization that anyone had ever heard out before. Never heard of the IPU? Here, I’ll let them toot their own horn:

We are a unique organization made up of national parliaments from around the world.  We protect and build global democracy through political dialogue and concrete action.

We are a vibrant and growing group. We currently have 178 Member Parliaments and 12 Associate Members. We work closely with the United Nations and other partner organizations whose goals we share. Today, we are the organization that most closely reflects world public opinion.

Actually, this group may be legit. It was the first “permanent international political organization and provided the origins for multilateral cooperation between nations today,” and predates the League of Nation and the UN. Its 2 founders would both win the Nobel Prize.

Color Contrast

Ergo, lack of it being a bad thing. I devoted a wholepost to country flags with this particular diagnosis. International flags, though, seem to make a specialty of it.

International Energy Agency

This is so light I can’t imagine anyone could even read it from 10 yards away.

The IEA is a very tony 1^st world kind of club. It was developed in response to the Oil Crisis of the ‘70s, and seems to be involved in all sorts of energy-related stuff.

World Canals Conference

And here we have the other end of the spectrum. Not only is this super busy, but white text on an extremely light blue background makes parts of this flag completely invisible.

The WCC is an event sponsored by Inland Waterways International, and brings together “hundreds of canal enthusiasts, professionals and scholars from around the world, to exchange good practices on canals, including the protection of historic canals or features, revitalization of canal systems, harbour sites, canal trails and amenities.” As someone who has biked the C&O and plan to bike the Lehigh Canal, I salute these folks.

Busy, busy, busy

International Space Station

Continuing our busy theme ... This looks more like a refrigerator magnet.

I think we’re all familiar with the ISS. I think it’s still out there.

Corporate Letterhead

Now we’re talkin’. This is what I associate with international flags. Boring white backgrounds, lots of text … Heck, these aren’t flags. Stationery maybe. Definitely not flags though.

International Finance Corporation

Word count: 7. Colors: 2.

The IFC? Whoa, I think you’ve heard of these boys. No, not the cable channel. The Intrafraternity Conference? Not exactly. Arm of evil organization that rules the world? Yup, that’s the one.

Iter

Word count: 8. Colors: 2.

Iter? Iter?!?! What the hell is an “iter”?

Unbelievably, it’s not an acronym. In fact, it’s Latin, for “the way.”

Equally unbelievably, this is not a cult. Instead, it’s “one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today. In southern France, 35 nations are collaborating to build the world's largest tokamak.”

So, what the hell is a “tokamak”? Well, according to their website, it’s a “a toroidal apparatus for producing controlled fusion reactions in hot plasma.” But of course.

World Economic Forum

Word count: 11. Colors: 2.

And all in upper case.

Ohmigod, these are the Davos people. These really are the people who rule the world.

So, honestly, I have to ask … Is there a correlation between the boringness of your flag and the degree to which you dominate the world? If so, I’d like to propose the following:

What is it? 

That “totally meaningless symbol” I mentioned at the beginning of this post? That would be these.

So, I’m seeing a G? And a 7?  And another 7?

Sure enough, this is the flag of the G77 Information Trade Network. Who? What? Well, typing that into Google (at least that G77 bit), gets me the following:

• G77 pill (a narcotic)
• G77 command not found (a computer error)
• G77 countries

And that last one leads me to the actual organization itself. And all that is is a group of developing nations. It’s usually known as the Group of 77. Though it actually started with that number of members, they’ve pretty much doubled since then.

So, I see an O, and an I … and 2 other I’s … and …

Hey, it must be the OIII – you know, the O triple I? The Organization of International something something?

Actually, it’s the Organization of World Heritage Cities.

The OWHC is “an international non-profit, non-governmental organization of 250 cities in which sites of the UNESCO World Heritage list are located.”

I haven’t a clue what the flag is supposed to represent.

Weird

This next set doesn’t have anything in particular in common except for just plain weirdness.

United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women

Ah, yes, the UNIRTIAW. Catchy that.

INSTRAW though? Honestly, I have no idea how they got that.  Au francais?

According to Wikipedia, these folks have:

been the leading United Nations body of the research, knowledge management and capacity development of gender equality and women's empowerment. The Institute's participatory and innovative approaches to research have produced gender disaggregated data and research results that have served to better inform the design of training and capacity-building programmes and to strengthen stakeholder capacity to address and effectively integrate gender perspectives in all policies, programmes and projects. UN-INSTRAW works in partnership with governments, the United Nations System, civil society and academia.

Catchy, no?

International Railwaymen’s Sport Union

Is he train surfing? Isn’t that dangerous?

The organization? Their website very helpfully tells us that the USIC (they take their acronym from the French version of the name) is “an international railways sporting association with members from various countries.”

Red Crescent Society

This flag is for the Iranian version of Red Cross.  That’s supposed to be a lion.

World Anti-Doping Agency

Cucumbers?  Green seeds?

Oddly, the second guess is correct. Why green seeds? Haven’t a clue.

I think we’re all familiar with the WADA, especially with the Winter Olympics coming up.

Good

It seems only fair that I put in one here that I actually like.

St John Ambulance

Unfortunately, though, this group sounds more like a rock band from the late 60s. In actuality, they’re an organization that promotes first aid training and the provision of ambulance and other services in local communities.

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Doppelgangers – Stars & Things

This week, we’re covering whatever’s left that didn’t fit in any of our other categories.


Australia / New Zealand 

So, Australia’s the one with the white stars, and New Zealand’s the one with the red ones. How could anyone ever possibly confuse them?

Truth be told, even the Aussies and Kiwis know there’s a problem. There have been tons of committees and resolutions and work groups and so on in both countries to come up with 
something a little different.

Here’s my favorite proposal from the Land Down Under:

And for Kiwiland:

That’s a silver fern there, by the way. According to Wikipedia, it’s “a species of medium-sized tree fern, endemic to New Zealand. It is a symbol commonly associated with the country both overseas and by New Zealanders themselves.”


Curacao / Nauru

More stars! Now, here, Curacao’s the one with two stars, Nauru’s the one with just one. 

The yellow stripe in the Nauruan flag represents the equator. The one in the Curacaoan flag does not.


Bahrain / Qatar

Bahrain’s the shorter one with the bright red. Qatar’s is the longer one with the … oh, I don’t know … let’s call it maroon.

Interesting story that. Officially, it’s the blood of some such group of martyrs. Historically, it was the color of jujube, a species of date. It may also simply be what happens when bright red is out too long in the hot desert sun.

It’s actually not too surprising that these two are so similar. They’re right next to each other in the Arabian Sea, and “the histories of the two states have overlapped and occasionally collided since the 18th century” (Flags of the World).

Jujubes!

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Doppelgangers – Central America

Same story as last week. Central America, when it broke free from Spain, was originally a single country. It favored three horizontal stripes of blue, white, and blue. As did all of these guys …


Nicaragua

I’m including this one first as it’s the closest to the flag of that original Central American nation. 


El Salvador

That’s it? Really? Wow.

You know, El Salvador used to have something quite distinct:

Why did they have to change?


Honduras

Well, it’s longer and has some stars on it. Guess that’ll just have to do.

That said, there’s something about this one that always drove me crazy … Why are the stars so widely separated? Here’s my redo:

Heck, you could even make the whole thing shorter.


Guatemala

Hey, horizontal stripes! Well played, Guatemala, well played.

Alternates

So, how about this one:

Or this:

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Doppelgangers – Northwest South America

These really aren’t pan-anything flags. I guess you could call them regional flags. Truth be told, it’s more like a breakup, with all sides laying claim to the kids and the house.

Let me explain … Back when the Western hemisphere was mostly owned by Spain, the northwest part of South America was a single colony, called New Granada. They tried to make a go of it as the brand-new nation of Gran Colombia, but that soon broke up into 3 separate entities – all of which tried to lay claim to the same flag.


Colombia

This is the cleanest version, so I’m showing it first.


Ecuador

Same deal, but with a picture, some flags, and a really big bird.

Well, it sure beats what they came up with in 1797:

Venezuela

Okay, so, even stripes, stars, and a little doohickey in the upper right-hand corner. Et voila!


Alternates

Interestingly, each of these countries sported some very different looks earlier in their histories. Here, for example, is Colombia’s:

And Ecuador’s:

And Venezuela’s:

Seeing as these are all pretty unique .... Let's go with them.


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Doppelgangers – Pan-African II

Ready for some real craziness? Yes, we do have the same colors as last week. This week, though, we’re going horizontal!


Ethiopia

Unfortunately, the vertical idea was kind of already taken – by Ethiopia, the original source of the pan-African colors, no less.


Ghana

So, flip it upside down, add a star, and call it a day.

That black star is something of a pan-African symbol too, by the way. It comes from a shipping line established by African-American black nationalist Marcus Garvey. It also appears in the flags of Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome & Principe.


Bolivia

Alright, how did these guys get in here? As you may know, Bolivia is in South America, not Africa. And, no, they were not copying Ethiopia.


Lithuania

Well, at least they mixed up the order of the stripes. I’ll give ‘em credit for that.


Myanmar

Is it me, or did they just take the Lithuanian flag, put in the washer a few hundred times, then cut a big pointy hole in it? 

Not sure what was wrong with the old flag:

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Doppelgangers – Pan-African I

Red, yellow, and green are known as the pan-African colors. They come from the flag of Ethiopia, the only country in Africa to largely keep its independence during the colonial era. Given that, these colors became very popular when the many former European colonies started gaining their independence after World War II. A little too popular, if you ask me.


Guinea

Guinea was a former French colony, and elected to simply swap the colors of the tricolore with the pan-African ones. Easy.


Mali 

Okay. I see Mali’s simply taken Guinea’s flag and flipped it around. Creative!


Senegal

Ooh, look – this one has a little star!


Cameroon

And now for something completely different ... Yup, we’ve got a star, plus we switched the colors all around. Yeah baby!



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Doppelgangers - Pan-Arab II

Red, white, and black are the traditional colors of the German Empire:

Oddly, though, all the countries in this post are Arab, just like last week. These flags can all be traced back to 1952, when Egypt overthrew their king in favor of a republic. That, in turn, would inspire a whole slew of imitators.


Yemen

Yemen represents the purest (read, “most boring”) expression of this motif.


Iraq

I see Iraq has livened things up by throwing some words on there. I’m guessing these say something like – oh, I don’t know – “Iraq.” 

Well, shows what I know. This one actually says allahu akhbar – “God is great.” Huh. Never heard that one before.


Syria

And this one has some little stars (apologies to Doctor Seuss and his Red Fish, Blue Fish). Two of them, to be exact.

Wondering where they came from? Interesting story … Turns out Syria and Egypt were once united, from 1958 to 1962. Egypt (see below) has moved on. Syria? Still pining away, I guess.

Even more interestingly, this was the original flag in this whole set. As you can see, it actually combined the same original colors as in the flags from last week. It’s only when Egypt moved on that green became less central.


Egypt

Egypt has livened things up with the ol’ “eagle of Saladdin.” The ol’ whuh? 

So, Saladdin was this Arab dude from the Crusades. He, like, beat up on a bunch of Christians. That’s his shield and stuff.


Alternates

So, anybody up for mixing things up a little (though I'm thinking that might be frowned upon in the Arab world)? How about these two ideas:

Feel free to throw some stars or eagles or writing on either of them.



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• < Doppelgangers - Pan-Arab I

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