diff --git a/deluge/core/torrent.py b/deluge/core/torrent.py
index 65811f0a3..9c2e875d3 100644
--- a/deluge/core/torrent.py
+++ b/deluge/core/torrent.py
@@ -244,12 +244,20 @@ class Torrent:
                 client = str(peer.client).decode("utf-8")
             except UnicodeDecodeError:
                 client = str(peer.client).decode("latin-1")
-                
+            
+            # Make country a proper string
+            country = str()
+            for c in peer.country:
+                if not c.isalpha():
+                    country += " "
+                else:
+                    country += c
+
             ret.append({
                 "ip": "%s:%s" % (peer.ip[0], peer.ip[1]),
                 "up_speed": peer.up_speed,
                 "down_speed": peer.down_speed,
-                "country": deluge.xmlrpclib.Binary(peer.country),
+                "country": country,
                 "client": client,
                 "seed": peer.flags & peer.seed
             })
diff --git a/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py b/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
index c523f3f90..d2e812e0c 100644
--- a/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
+++ b/deluge/ui/gtkui/peers_tab.py
@@ -217,10 +217,9 @@ class PeersTab:
         client.get_torrent_status(self._on_get_torrent_status, torrent_id, ["peers"])
 
     def get_flag_pixbuf(self, country):
-        country = str(country)
-        if not country.isalpha():
+        if country == "  ":
             return None
- 
+            
         if not self.cached_flag_pixbufs.has_key(country):
             # We haven't created a pixbuf for this country yet
             try:
@@ -266,13 +265,14 @@ class PeersTab:
                 # Create an int IP address for sorting purposes
                 ip_int = sum([int(byte) << shift
                     for byte, shift in izip(peer["ip"].split(":")[0].split("."), (24, 16, 8, 0))])
+
                 if peer["seed"]:
                     icon = self.seed_pixbuf
                 else:
                     icon = self.peer_pixbuf
                 
                 row = self.liststore.append([
-                    self.get_flag_pixbuf(peer["country"]), 
+                    self.get_flag_pixbuf(peer["country"]),
                     peer["ip"],
                     peer["client"],
                     peer["down_speed"],