Since 2008, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo has been seeking the arrest of Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir for his alleged involvement in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 2003 in Darfur. He might want to pop in on the United Nations Human Rights Council — Al-Bashir is about to be one of its members.
Continue reading “Genocidal Sudanese Warlord To Join U.N. Human Rights Council”
This Olympics has seen a number of clearly bad calls by referees or judges. Some sports like gymnastics allows judges to review videotapes in resolving a challenge such as was the case where the American team successfully challenged the awarding of the bronze medal to the Russian female gymnast on the balance beam. (I loved watching U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, her husband, Bela, shouting demands for a challenge from the stands to ensure a review in favor of U.S. gymnast Aly Raisman. I have previously admitted to watching solely for the legal challenges). I was struck, therefore, to learn that they do not use instant replay in volleyball — one of my favorite sports to watch at the Olympics. This arose when the Chinese judge made an erroneous call in favor of the American men’s team against the Italians. The Italians were understandably upset since the instant replay clearly showed the American ball falling outside the line (though I was disappointed, as an Italian, to hear that the team is infamous for badmouthing referees). Yet, despite the instant and clear evidence of a bad call, the decision stood.
Continue reading “Question of the Day: Why Do Certain Olympic Sports Resist Instant Replay?”
It appears the fight over Lebensraum is now being waged over liquor store shelf space. An American couple has triggered a free speech controversy in Italy after complaining about the sale of wine with the image of Hitler on the label or other labels for “Mein Kampf” wine or wine with the motto “Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer” (one people, one empire, one Fuhrer). Michael Hirsch, a lawyer from Philadelphia, complained about the sale of such items. In Italy, prosecutors are looking into the matter for possible criminal charges. The question is whether the producer should have a right to supply such bottles and customers should have the right to buy such bottles.
The Vatican has taken the extraordinary measure of rejecting Bulgaria’s ambassador due to a prior book in which he depicted gay sex. Kiril Marichkov is a 39-year-old lawyer with two degrees, married to an Italian woman, and speaks five languages. He is also the grandson and namesake of the man appointed Bulgaria’s first ambassador to the Vatican after the collapse of communism in 1990. However, none of that matters to the Vatican which is upset with some of the scenes in his successful novel, Clandestination.
Continue reading “Vatican Rejects Bulgarian Ambassador Due To Prior Book Depicting Gay Sex”
Various news organizations have been reporting an exodus of the superrich from France — often buying homes in England or surrounding countries to avoid the expected 75 percent tax rate proposed by the Socialist government of President François Hollande. While the rate would apply only to those making one million euros a year or more, I view it as a mistake. I admit that I tend to have great reservations about heavy tax hikes during economic crisis. We have debated the value and potential harm of such hikes on this blog. However, a 75% rate is in my view insane. As rational actors, top earners are likely to simply leave the country as they are doing. Hollande came into office on a wave of sentiment to soak “Les riches” and Hollande himself proclaimed “I don’t like the rich.” It is a bit too Robespierrean for my tastes as an economic policy.
Continue reading “Off With Their Riches: France Prepares A 75% Tax Rate For Top Earners”
It appears that after years to clearly cultivating a cult of personality with action-hero photo ops and staged acts, Putin is still uncomfortable with kisses from his subjects . . . well at least on the hand. Putin seemed truly alarmed when a Russian Orthodox priest tried to kiss his hand while visiting a 14th century monastery on Russia’s northern Valaam Island. It was a particularly telling moment after Putin created an alliance with the Church to support his authoritarian government. Putin has particularly pleased the Church leaders after his government continued a widely condemned prosecution of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot after they carried out a brief demonstration in a church.
Continue reading “Not On The First Date: Putin Recoils As Russian Priest Seeks To Kiss His Hand”
Last night I was watching the women compete in the vault exercise and watched as one gymnast stopped her run and returned for a second try. I was surprised to hear that females are allowed to stop in their run, but males are not. Why?
Tunisian blogger and political reformer Sofiane Shurabi has been arrested by the government for drinking in public during Ramadan. We recently saw how Saudi Arabia issued warnings to non-Muslims that they were expected to respect the food and drink limitations of Ramadan in public. This arrest comes with added suspicion of a political agenda since Shurabi was a scathing critic of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and an opponent to the rising control of Islamic parties over the country.
Continue reading “Tunisia Arrests Leading Critic For Drinking In Public During Ramadan”
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The sign above the gym floor contains one word, “Gold.” It’s a stark, relentless reminder to the children beneath it as to just what their mission requires. China’s obsession with winning Olympic gold has turned gymnasiums into dungeons for its youngest and most promising athletes. Starting at age five, children are subjected to strenuous training techniques like hanging on rails with their arms extended backwards, swinging on beams, and being given painful lessons on what it takes to beat all comers and particularly Americans. And the work seems to be paying off at the London games, as 16-year-old Ye Shiwen swam her way to a world record in the 400 meter individual medley beating the old record by almost one second. Her teammate, Sun Yang, won the 400m freestyle. Both attribute their success to “hard work and training.” And in China, that’s no sports cliché.
Seven protesters are suing Toronto police for $1.4 million, claiming they were unfairly arrested and abused after being profiled by police, who looked for such things as “hairy legs.” That allegedly was one of the ways used to spot protesters — presumably those women with shaven legs were allowed to pass freely by the officers.
In Germany the country is setting records in its reliance on alternative energy sources like solar power and record wind power installations. Japan is now building the country’s biggest solar park which make it one of the world’s largest markets for solar power (Newscientist). Here in the United States, of course, we continue to let the world take the lead in such efforts. Mitt Romney’s campaign has announced that he intends not only to reject calls for greater investment in our wind power industry but to actually kill federal support for wind power.
Continue reading “A Cold Wind Blows: Romney To Kill Support For Wind Power In The United States”
With all of the attention given the horse of the Romney family competing as the ultimate dark horse at the Olympics, there seemed little discussion of the far more relevant question: why is this still an Olympic sport?
Continue reading “Question of the Day: Why Is Dressage An Olympic Sport?”
It is always painful to watch a politician run out of steam, but that is precisely what happened to London Mayor Boris Johnson who wanted to zip line into an Olympic function.
Continue reading “No Gold: London Mayor Left Dangling In Zip Line Mishap”
Yesterday many of us watched in agony as South Korean Olympic weightlifter Jaehyouk Sa snapped his elbow while trying to life 357.15 pounds. The injury again raised the question of whether weight lifters are trying to push weights beyond their physical limitations.
There is another interesting legal controversy in the Olympics (I watch just for the challenges and appeals). The Chinese have again been accused of cheating — this time in Badminton. Onlookers booed and heaped abuse on Chinese players as they clearly threw matches to secure a better draw later in the competition. This reportedly prompted the South Korean team to also intentionally lose – resulting in an embarrassment for the entire field. Eight female players have now been charged with the novel offenses of “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.” The charged players include China’s world champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang. China’s long-serving head coach Li Yongbo denied any such effort even though observers said it was obvious and obnoxious. [UPDATE: all of the players have now been disqualified from the competition]
Continue reading “Say It Ain’t So, Yongbo: Chinese Accused Of Cheating At Badminton”