Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday to withdraw Russia from the International Criminal Court, which rules on such grave charges as genocide and crimes against humanity… Putin’s decree, published on the Kremlin’s website, comes a day after the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee approved a resolution condemning Russia’s ‘temporary occupation of Crimea’… Read more.
Russia
China Buying the Global Influence Russia and US Fighting For…
Egypt’s new capital city moved a step closer to reality with the announcement that Chinese developers will largely fund the mega project. The China Fortune Land Development Company (CFLD) agreed to provide $20 billion for the currently unnamed city, after a meeting between heads of the firm and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. This… Read more.
Truth about Viral Image of (Another) Syrian Boy
A boy, covered in blood and in obvious shock, became the “image of the war” in Syria last week. It “sent shock waves around the world,” evoking conscience-stricken calls for the international community to “act now” to prevent a recurrence. The media abandoned all pretense of objectivity as it validated this reaction. On Monday’s edition of… Read more.
Rio Olympics: Day 8
Swimming This was the last day of competition. Michael Phelps insists it was his last too. Which constrains me to reprise what I wrote in this regard on the last day of competition at London 2012: He insists that he will now rest on his laurels, and who can blame him. But I fully expect… Read more.
IOC Failure to Ban Russia Proves It’s in Putin’s Pocket
I was in the vanguard of those calling on the IOC to ban the entire Russia team from the Rio Olympics. I argued in “Track Officials Ban Russians from Rio Olympics for Doping,” June 18, 2016, that: I suspect Track and Field athletes are being punished for the sins of Russian athletes in every other sport.… Read more.
Clarion Call to Ban All Russian Athletes from Rio Olympics for Doping
On June 16, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published a damning report on state-sponsored doping among Russian Track and Field athletes. On June 18, a month ago today, I published “Track Officials Ban Russians from Rio Olympics for Doping,” in which I argued that athletes in other sports had to be doping too. ______________________ I suspect… Read more.
Track Officials Ban Russians from Rio Olympics for Doping
Last November, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published a report, which found that Russia perpetrated state-sponsored doping to enhance the performance of Track and Field athletes. It made two major recommendations: The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport’s governing body, should suspend all Russian athletes from international competition. The Russian Athletic Federation (RusAF)… Read more.
Bombing ISIS Smacks of Masturbatory Violence
No doubt Russia needed to retaliate after ISIS blew up a Russian plane, killing 224. No doubt France needed to do the same after ISIS terrorized Paris, killing 129. The problem is that both Russia and France have retaliated in a manner that will do nothing to stop ISIS from launching similar attacks … or war-stricken… Read more.
In Putin’s Russia Even Athletics Is a Criminal (Doping) Enterprise
Putin and his cronies used the $51-billion Sochi Olympics as an egregious kickback scheme. Nothing betrays this fact quite like Sochi already looking like a crumbling, desolate North Korean settlement just weeks after the end of the Games. (“Prokhorov, Russian Owner of NBA Nets, Exposed,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 26, 2014) I wrote the above… Read more.
Obama Amassing Coalition to Do in Syria What Bush Did in Afghanistan/Iraq…
And Putin is trolling him with a coalition of his own … to do the same. American-trained Syrian fighters gave at least a quarter of their U.S.-provided equipment to al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria early this week, the U.S. Central Command said late Friday. In a statement correcting earlier assertions that reports of the turnover were… Read more.