Vladimir Putin – Page 21

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

February 26, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A cheering crowd, a returning martyr, an ethereal blond woman in a wheelchair, her head wrapped in iconic braids.

It’s a clip straight out of Central Casting. But some say the abrupt appearance of once-imprisoned Ukrainian political leader Yulia Tymoshenko in Kyiv’s Maidan square may not be the trailer to a happy ending.

Since Ukraine’s protests broke out three months ago, the opposition has been largely leaderless. But whether Tymoshenko is a comeback kid, or yesterday’s woman, is up for grabs as the country struggles to find its balance after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych.

“People were horrified by her political persecution, but when she was jailed there was no massive uprising,” said Marta Dyczok, a Ukraine expert at Western University, who is in close touch with the Maidan protesters. “That’s the key thing to remember.”

Tymoshenko, 53, was serving a seven-year prison sentence for abuse of office when parliament changed the criminal code to free her last week. The charges sprang from her negotiations with Russia over a gas deal, and many felt they were politically driven by her rival Yanukovych. As his popularity plummeted, sympathy for Tymoshenko rose and reports of brutal treatment and neglect of her health problems in jail sparked an international outcry. (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday, February 20, 2014

February 20, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, February 20, 2014

Shadow cast over Sochi as Ukraine violence shatters Olympic truce

An outburst of deadly violence in neighbouring Ukraine is casting a pall over the final days of the Winter Olympics.

Host Russia began the Games with a call for a worldwide truce during the Olympic period, but by Wednesday it was trading blame with the United States and European Union over the bloodshed in Ukraine, which killed at least 25 people on Tuesday and Wednesday. Russia has steadfastly backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych throughout the three-month-old crisis, while the U.S. and EU have encouraged the opposition that is now battling police in the streets of Kiev.

“Those are terrible scenes,” Mark Adams, a spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, said, referring to the television images of the fiery streetfights. “The Olympic truce is an important, symbolic thing for us – I’m not sure really that it plays much part in what’s going on there but clearly we hope that the situation will be solved as quickly and with as less bloodshed as possible.”

The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said its athletes had asked for permission to wear black armbands in competition, as a gesture of mourning for those killed in Kiev. However, the Ukrainian team said the IOC rejected the request, citing the Olympic Charter’s ban on any kind of political or religious statements on athletes’ clothing.

The fighting began Tuesday after Ukraine’s parliament refused to table an opposition effort to alter the country’s constitution to curb Mr. Yanukovych’s powers. But the struggle for Ukraine dates back to Nov. 21, when Mr. Yanukovych – under heavy Russian pressure – shocked his country by walking away from an EU trade deal in favour of closer ties with Moscow.

Posted at PRI’s the World

The stakes are high for all sides. Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a belligerent statement Wednesday accusing “radical opposition leaders” of trying to violently seize power in Ukraine. “We do not see a coherent response from European politicians and institutions, which refuse to recognize that the responsibility for the actions of the radical forces in Ukraine lies on the opposition.” (Continue: The Globe & Mail)

Friday, February 14, 2014

February 14, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, February 14, 2014

Evgeni Plushenko shocks Sochi, retires before short program

Is Evgeni Plushenko done?

If so, the majestic Russian figure skater exited the spotlight with Evgenian stagecraft: Gold and gone.

The veteran show-master had just come out under the klieg lights at the Ice Palace to perform his short program in the men’s singles competition. He looked clearly out of sorts, rolling his shoulders, wincing, kneading the small of his chronically ailing back.

He motioned to the judges for a moment’s indulgence. Most spectators thought perhaps there was something awry with Plushenko’s music. But he stopped again, hands on hips, shaking his signature block tresses.

Couldn’t go through with it, in too much pain, apparently, and waved goodbye instead to the suddenly hushed crowd.

The 31-year-old had fallen on a quad during practice Wednesday, after leading Russia to gold in the inaugural team event on the weekend. He landed awkwardly again — looked more like a strain in the groin muscles — on a triple Axel in the warm-up Thursday night.

Left the ice, spoke to his coach and departed, stomping down the tunnel into the medical room.

“Do not judge him by tonight,” pleaded long-time coach Alexei Mishin, facing down reporters in the mixed zone. “Judge him by his history. Be kind.”

Plushenko, Olympic champion in 2006 and twice silver, including four years ago in Vancouver, has had a dozen surgeries on his problematic back. Injury caused him to miss all of the 2013 Grand Prix season, though he competed at nationals and came second.
The fall in practice, said Mishin, had opened up a three-inch gash, just above one of the operation scars on his back, where he now has plastic rather than bone.

“Yesterday I fell on the quad toe in training and I felt a problem in my back,” Plushenko explained when he reappeared to address journalists. “Today I went into training to see what I could do but I couldn’t jump. I skated maybe seven minutes maximum. I tried and tried and tried today.” (Source: Toronto Star)

Thursday February 6, 2014

February 5, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday February 6, 2014

Bringing Olympic Spirit back to the Games. The West’s Media Campaign against Russia

As the Olympic torch draws closer to Sochi, an international media campaign is in full swing, attempting to question Russia’s ability to provide a safe and tolerant environment for the athletes and guests of the Winter Olympics.

Beijing Complaints

Setting aside the issue of whether the complaints about Russia’s human rights record or the alleged terrorist threats in Bigger Sochi region are legitimate, we should point out a couple of official goals of Olympism according to the Olympic Charter:

“Promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity” (item 2) and

“Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement” (item 6).

Therefore a respectful attitude towards any nation participating (to say nothing about hosting) the Olympics should be an integral component of what we call the Olympic spirit. It seems this rule is kept when the torch is about to hit the streets of London, Vancouver, Salt Lake City or Sydney, despite the wealth of opportunities to mourn the exterminated native Britons, Indians, and Aborigine tribes.

Even the 1936 Summer and Winter Games organized in Berlin by the Sports Office of Nazi’s Third Reich were considered to be quite in keeping with the Olympic Charter despite racist “Reich Citizenship Law” and the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor”, adopted by the Reichstag in September 1935. For the global powers of the time (UK&US), over half a million German Jews being instantly stripped of their citizenship was not a sufficient pretext to suspend two (!) Olympic events in a country that would wage a world war in less than three years!

In contrast, the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics were unilaterally boycotted by the Western countries, undermining the basic principles of Olympic Charter for the first time in modern history. Given the latest confessions by Zbigniew Brzezinski about CIA’ role in making Soviet military contingent enter Afghanistan and consequent launch of anti-Soviet Al-Qaeda project, the pharisaical US-inspired boycott in 1980 today looks even more disgusting in retrospect.

http://www.mackaycartoons.net/yahoo_files/2010/huh2010-02-26.html

Olympic Mascot Barbs

Another dimension of hypocrisy was evident quite recently, on the very day of the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when a provocative bloody move against South Ossetia was ordered by the former Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, who undoubtedly secured Washington’s blessing in advance. The offensive anti-Russian media hysteria that spoiled the Beijing Olympics that year was later revealed to be absolutely baseless and slanderous. Who was called to account for that? Who apologized to the Russian people and the befuddled international community? (Source: Global Research News)

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

December 19, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, December 18, 2013

U.S. delegation to Russian Olympics includes gay athletes

The United States’ delegation to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia won’t include a member of President Barack Obama’s family or an active Cabinet secretary, but it will include openly gay athletes – a clear jab at Russia’s recent anti-gay laws.

Billie Jean King, the tennis legend, will join figure skater Brian Boitano at the games’ opening ceremonies on February 7, the White House said Tuesday.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, White House aide Rob Nabors and the U.S. ambassador to Russia will round out the delegation to the Sochi games.

King was one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay in the 1980s.

Two weeks later, a group led by Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will attend the closing ceremony. Speed skaters Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden, as well as openly gay hockey player Caitlin Cahow, will also attend.

“In the selection of this delegation, we are sending the message that the United States is a diverse place,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday, pointing to Napolitano, a former Cabinet secretary, as evidence of the delegation’s distinction.

It’s the first time in more than a decade the President, vice president, first lady or former president hasn’t attended an Olympic opening or closing ceremony. First lady Michelle Obama led the delegation to 2012’s Summer Olympics in London, and President George W. Bush made the trek to China for Beijing’s games in 2008. (Source: CNN)