Month: August 2008

SOMETIMES, OUR BEST IS NOT ENOUGH
By Chris Cochrane, [email protected]

TheChronicleHerald.ca
Thu. Aug 14 – 6:10 AM
Canada

A GLANCE at the Beijing Olympics medal standings shows results that
are obviously frustrating to our athletes, the Canadian Olympic
Association and the millions of fans here at home.

After Wednesday’s competition in China, the Canadian team was without a
medal. Even Armenia and Kazakhstan had a couple of medals. Kyrgyzstan,
Togo and Uzbekistan each won a medal. Heck, even Tajikistan —
I’ll admit I thought Tajikistan was a region, not a country — has
a stinking medal.

But nothing for Canada so far.

Our Olympic brain trust was hoping for a medal haul in the
mid-teens. Undoubtedly, medals will eventually come our way. Yet this
has been, even by modest Canadian standards, a terrible start.

Instead of talking about medals, most Canadian stories coming out of
Beijing are about disappointing results. Many of them have to do with
frustrated athletes who believe they weren’t given proper funding or
other means of support to reach their potential at these Olympics.

That talk started early when Adam Trupish, the lone member of the
Canadian boxing team, was blasted out of the Olympics in his first
bout and quickly took his own verbal swipes at the Canadian Olympic
Association. Trupish blamed a lack of financing and support for the
woeful state of our boxing team, once one of the biggest contributors
to Canada’s summer medal haul.

Veteran Canadian kayaker David Ford was kept from a medal only by
what appeared to be a controversial deduction. Like Trupish, he wasn’t
happy with the way Canada operates its Olympic business. Under the new
Canadian Olympic funding system, 41-year-old Ford lost his funding for
training. Here’s how a Canadian Press story relayed his situation:
"Ford was given three reasons for the funding cut: He was too old,
his performances over the past two years weren’t good enough and his
sport wasn’t culturally significant enough in Canada.

"I made the final and I finished sixth at an Olympics — that’s not
bad but it wasn’t why I came," Ford, the world champ in 1998 and ranked
22nd entering the Olympics, said in The Canadian Press story. "Losing
funding and things like that, I missed the last training camp here
as a result and everyone ahead of me didn’t, so you’ve got those
questions in the back of your head. ‘Did I do everything I needed to
do to be prepared here?’ I did what I could with the resources I had."

Fencing medal hopeful Sherraine Schalm may eventually be best
remembered for her colourful description of how it felt to lose at
the Olympics, but she voiced similar complaints about the lack of
funding and coaching help she received in preparation for the Olympics.

Sometimes, our best simply may not be good enough. For example, a Sun
Media story from Beijing noted that despite the lack of medals coming
from the pool, where there were such high expectations for Canadian
swimmers, the members of our swimming team had recorded 24 personal
bests and established 17 new Canadian records. What that says is that
our swimmers are performing better than they ever have before, but
it’s simply not good enough at an Olympic Games where other nations
obviously are willing to prepare their athletes better.

The new Road to Excellence program, which will see millions of dollars
invested, is supposed to improve life for Canadian summer athletes
and make our teams more competitive for the next Olympics, the 2012
London Summer Olympics. Until then, I guess we’ll have to accept
complaints from disappointed fans and the frustrations of our elite
athletes as understandable facts of life in a country that simply
hasn’t supported our Olympians at the same level as other nations.

It’s obvious that Canada will now be hard pressed to reach a medal
count in the mid-teens. But all is not lost. With a strong second
week maybe we can catch, or pass, powerhouse Tajikistan.

WE’RE GETTING BEATEN BY TOGO

National Post
August 14, 2008
Canada

National Post

Our women’s softball team or men’s baseball team may yet redeem these
Olympics for Canada. And there is still a chance, beginning Thursday,
that our rowers (often our strongest team at the Summer Games) and
men’s divers will capture a few medals. Many of the sports we are best
at — canoeing, kayaking, track and field, trampoline and sailing —
come in the Beijing Games’ second week. But seldom in recent decades
have our teams gone so far into Olympic competition — six days and
counting — without winning a single medal. What’s wrong?

After day five of competition, 50 countries had medalled, but not
Canada. Such sporting powerhouses as Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Togo had each managed at least a bronze,
while we had racked up a big goose egg.

Azerbaijan had three medals. So did Zimbabwe, a nation that’s been
racked with political chaos and mass starvation for years. War-torn
Georgia was 10th overall with two golds and a bronze. Even North Korea,
where citizens have been known to boil twigs for food (although,
presumably state-chosen athletes have been given a better diet)
had seven medals.

South Korea, a nation roughly as prosperous as our own, was third
overall with 13 medals — including six gold and six silver — just
behind China and the United States. And Australia, which culturally,
demographically and economically may be the country most similar to
Canada in the whole world, was sixth with 12 shiny baubles. If the
South Koreans and Australians can do so well, why can’t we?

It’s true we are a cold-weather country. Australia and the Koreas
cannot hold a candle to us at the Olympic Winter Games. But many of the
sports of the Summer Games are held indoors — badminton, basketball,
boxing, diving, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming and others. They
do not require year-round outdoor training and competition for their
athletes to reach world-class standards. And few other cold-climate
nations have been shutout so far in Beijing. Russia had 12 medals
at the end of five days and Finland, Sweden and Norway all had at
least one.

Before the Games began, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) was
projecting our team would place 16th or better. It was assuring
reporters we could do no worse than the 12 medals — three gold, six
silver and three bronze– we earned in Athens in 2004, which itself
was Canada’s worst showing at a Summer Games in nearly 20 years. Now
both of those goals look unrealistically optimistic.

It’s likely true that the new federal and corporate funding
for summer competitors — and programs such as the COC’s Road to
Excellence — came too late for these games. As Mike Chambers, the
COC president, said on Tuesday, "It’s not going to have a big impact
(in China). It will be felt in 2012," in London. And our national
sports organizations’ embrace of the "Own the Podium" program, in
anticipation of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, has shunted their
summer counterparts aside to some extent.

Still, a country as young, prosperous, healthy and intelligent as
Canada should be doing better, now. We have heard for years that our
athletes will shine at the next Summer Games or the one after. It’s
time to stop putting off success until tomorrow while making excuses
today.

If a lack of training facilities is the problem, let’s ensure that
athletics funding is better targeted. If we need better coaches, let’s
broaden the search beyond our borders. Is our national attitude the
problem, or our athletes’ attitude? Are we and they too content with
their personal bests rather than world records and Olympic wins? Is
it the fault of our national sports associations and executives?

It cannot just be funding, although the inadequacy and inconsistency
of the money athletes in training receive is undoubtedly part of
the problem.

It’s time we as a nation did some soul searching — not to mention
some expert strategic planning — so that in London in 2012, Chambers
or his successor is not sitting before another group of disgruntled
journalists spinning daydreams about future glories.

FINDING ‘PEACE’ IN IRAN
By Mark D. Tooley

FrontPage magazine.com
August 14, 2008
CA

The long-time Religious Left and pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation
(FOF) is dispatching a battery of clergy/activist delegations to Iran
to forestall the suspected impending U.S. war against the mullahs’
nuclear program.

Horrified by America’s bellicosity, the earnest peace pilgrims are
struggling to forge friendship with the Iranian "people."

One FOF visit was in May, one is currently ongoing through mid-August,
another will be in November, and still another early next year. There
have been six other FOF pilgrimages to Teheran since 2006. So far,
the Iranian people are receiving the earnest FOFsters with warmth and
appreciation. The Iranians are supposedly learning from FOF that not
all Americans are hateful, militaristic and eager for war against Iran.

"We are convinced that there should be a group working to oppose a
war or attack or invasion of Iran," explained United Church of Christ
(UCC) minister Patricia de Jong of Berkeley, California. "We would
love for the UCC to take leadership in building this movement." After
returning from the FOF’s May trip to Iran, she explained to the UCC’s
news service: "As Christians, we just cannot allow ourselves to be
part of any attack or invasion by our government." She and another
UCC clergy who went to Iran are preparing a resolution for their
denomination’s convention next year opposing any U.S. action against
Iran’s nuclear activities. No doubt the resolution will go through
the UCC jamboree like greased lightning.

The Iranians are a "loving and welcoming and kind people," the
FOF delegation from May is reporting back after an extensive
investigation. "The thing that was most striking for me," de Jong
breathlessly shared, "is that the governments of our two countries are
not necessarily where the people of our two countries are. The Iranian
people we met were eager to know us, eager to open their lives to us,
eager to find out who we are and eager to be friends."

Another FOFster on the May Iran trip was the Rev. de Jong’s husband,
author and fellow clergy Sam Keen, who wrote Faces of the Enemy,
which naturally was turned into an "award-winning" public television
series. "Before the beginning of the Iraq War, U.S. churches fell
down on the job," Keen fretted to the UCC news service. "This time,
if we don’t get ahead of this issue of waging war, if we allow war
to happen without severe, severe protests, we in the church will lose
all kinds of moral authority."

Missouri peace activist Lily Tinker Fortel was still another FOF
delegation member who gushed about Iran’s hospitality. The savvy
Iranians whom FOF met in May readily understood the difference
between Americans and its sinister government, showing " wisdom
and understanding, [and] an absence of blame for the horrendous
things Iran has gone through since the US was engaged in a covert
CIA operation to overthrow their democratically elected government
under the leadership of President Mosaddeq in 1953."

For the Religious Left, all of the Iranian regime’s monstrosities,
including the tens of thousands of its opponents whom it has murdered,
are inconsequential compared to America’s supposedly sinister
role in Mosaddeq’s overthrow 55 years ago. In the Religious Left
pseudo-cosmology, the United States replaces human sinfulness as the
ultimate explanation for all earthly turmoil.

In this vein, Fortel implored: "We must work to recognize that the
current conflict between our governments should not trump our human
ability to care for each other and to see past the stereotypes and
generalizations that we are too often presented with in the lead-up
to war." She met "hundreds of Iranians" during her FOF trip, and they
all demonstrated "love" and "understanding," despite the "current
political climate between our two governments."

Fortel was amazed by the color and life of Iranian street life,
including the "the stylish tunics on young women, the way they
wore their scarves; we were amazed at the fashion of young men;
we saw our first gas station and the cars lined up waiting to fill
up with their weekly ration of fuel." She didn’t explain why an oil
exporting country was rationing gasoline, which might have despoiled
the wonderment of her narrative. Fortel preferred to discuss the
"delicious kabobs" at Tehran’s Hotel Howeyzeh.

The FOFsters met with the Armenian Church’s Archbishop in Teheran. He
reported that since Iran’s 1979 Islamist revolution, "migration
has become an unfortunate phenomenon." Why are Armenian Christians
leaving Iran? Fortel, in her blog, did not elaborate, and probably
FOF has little interest in that topic. FOF was more interested in
the Archbishop’s criticism of Israel and the United States. "Iraq has
become another Vietnam for the United States," Fortel reported him as
saying. "The Bush administration is playing a tragic role, bringing
war and hatred." No doubt, all the eagerly listening FOFsters nodded
vigorously. "Tea was served," Fortel concluded of the meeting with
the Archbishop. "Then, delicious pastries."

There was some acknowledgment among the FOFsters that Iranians are not
entirely at liberty to speak their minds to visiting foreigners. "These
people have suffered hugely from government policies and the Iran-Iraq
war," admitted Mennonite peace activist Susan Mark Landis. "We know
people’s cell phones are tapped and their Internet usage watched,
that arrests are arbitrary and the prison horrendous, that talking
too much is costly."

FOF’s May trip to Iran was led by Jewish Rabbi Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb,
who reported that Iran’s Jewish community "appears to be doing well,
worships freely, and sponsors six day schools with a population of
five hundred children attending." But she admitted there is among
"many people a desire for more freedom and it has been difficult to
wear hijab, and at the same time, I am finding Iran a very vibrant
and sophisticated society composed of people who want to be seen as
human beings able to determine their own future."

Before leaving for Iran, Rabbi Gottlieb condemned Senator Hillary
Clinton for suggesting decisive action against Iranian nukes. "I am
deeply concerned that Senator Clinton, a national political figure,
discussed the prospect of military action against Iran and even
stated, ‘we would be able to totally obliterate them’," Gottlieb
complained. "This is a time for finding common ground between our
two nations, not threats. When our elected leaders choose belligerent
rhetoric over dialogue, it is up to us as everyday Americans to serve
as civilian diplomats."

FOF claims a "distinguished history of successful ‘behind the
scenes’ friendship and solidarity delegations to regions in political
conflict." Such successes included multiple trips to the old Soviet
Union, to Vietnam during the 1960s; to Central America in the 1980s
and "Palestine/Israel" more recently. Currently FOF is also sending
regular delegations to Colombia, "the most militarized nation in
Latin America."

Over its 90 year history, FOF has strenuously upheld a consistent
record of naivety and mindless anti-Americanism, finding favor
with an endless and unsavory gallery of tyrants and warlords, FOF’s
pacifism notwithstanding. Iran’s mullahs, and countless other rogues,
can be grateful.

WAR IN GEORGIA: HOW THE UK MEDIA TOLD THE STORY
By Rachael Gallagher, Patrick Smith, Meabh Ritchie

Press Gazette
14 August 2008
UK

The week-old conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia
has already claimed its first journalist fatality after Dutch
cameraman Stan Storimans, working for RTL News, was killed in a
Russian bombardment of the city of Gori on Tuesday.

According to the International News Safety Insititute some five
journalists and media workers have been killed covering the troubled
region.

Jon Williams, world news editor for BBC News, said the safety situation
during the conflict was "catastrophic".

He added: "Journalists aren’t being targeted, but if you’re flying
a plane it’s difficult to distinguish whether somebody is a fighter
or a journalist."

Covering the conflict placed huge challenges on news organisations
after it broke out at the same time as the Beijing Olympics opening
ceremony on Friday.

The Independent claimed to have the first two newspaper correspondents
in the worst-hit area of Tskhinvali in South Ossetia, Kim Sengupta
and Sean Walker.

The Guardian’s Moscow-based correspondent Luke Harding cut short
a holiday to jet into Georgia and has been reporting from Gori and
Tbilisi. Stringer Tom Parfitt reported from North Ossetia on Monday
and Helen Womack reported from Moscow.

The Times has reporter Tom Halpin in Gori, Georgia.

Telegraph Moscow correspondent Adrian Bloomfield travelled to Georgia
in time to file copy from the front line for Saturday’s paper.

Reuters carried extensive coverage from the conflict, helped by its
Georgian and Russian-based staff.

On Tuesday this week, just before the Russian suspension of
hostilities, a Reuters reporter’s vehicle narrowly escaped several
bomb blasts near Gori while the agency’s journalists reported seeing
piles of dead bodies in the streets.

The agency already had two text reporters and a photographer in Tbilisi
and claims to have been first in recognising that the clashes in
South Ossetia were more serious than the frequent skirmishes between
pro-Russian separatists and Georgian troops.

Correspondent Margarita Antidze sent reports with a South Ossetian
dateline on Saturday. Tbilisi happens to be home to one of Reuters’
most experienced war cameramen, David Chkhikvishvili.

Known as "Big Dato" to his colleagues, he has been based in Georgia
since 1993 and has reported from Chechnya, Nagorno Karabakh, Macedonia,
Afghanistan and Kosovo.

It was his spectacular video images of Georgian rockets being launched
into the sky towards South Ossetia that made most TV bulletins on
Friday morning.

Reuters then added an extra text reporter and a TV crew from Moscow
and, once fighting broke out, brought in staff from London and Istanbul
as well as a satellite uplink to transmit live video.

The Reuters World Desk in London, depleted by staff holidays and at
the same time working on the Olympics, worked through the night on
economic and security analysis pieces on the Friday.

The BBC World Service was already covering the build-up to the conflict
at midnight last Thursday, ahead of most other news organisations
who were focusing on the build-up to the Olympics. The BBC was lucky
to have a permanent BBC correspondent based in Tbilisi – Matthew
Colin. He was joined by the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Richard Galpin
on the Friday, and by 6pm BBC News was broadcasting live from Tbilisi.

Saleem Patka, editor of BBC Worldwide’s main news programme World
Briefing, said: "The World Service was across the story much sooner
than most other outlets, we’d been covering the build-up when it
all blew up. Nobody was talking about it, but we were because it is
one of the areas we keep an eye on, when it all kicked off we were
the place people could turn to for expertise. We’ve got specialist
experience because we have a regional specialist Steven Eke who can
give background at the drop of a hat."

Sky News has bureaux in China and Moscow, and the Moscow office had
been tracking the developments in South Ossetia for some time. "We
were ready and had the necessary accreditation to go south," said
head of foreign affairs Adrian Wells. "As soon as it became clear
that a conflict had broken out into gunfire, our team of three at
the Moscow office headed down."

A team of four were sent from London, including chief correspondent
Stuart Ramsay, senior foreign news editor, a cameraman and a freelance
satellite engineer.

RED SQUARE DEFENDED AGAINST GEORGIANS

Kommersant

Aug. 14, 2008
Russia

The hope to rally near St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow in support of
Georgia on the day of national mourning for victims of South Ossetia
didn’t materialize. Instead, leaders of Caucasus diasporas met to
condemn Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

August 13 was the day of national mourning for victims of South
Ossetia’s war. A group of activists headed by Rusudan Strelkova
chose exactly that day to rally on the Red Square, near St. Basil’s
Cathedral, in solidarity with Georgia. The respective information
was released by one of the radio stations yesterday morning.

Strelkova urged the supporters to show up near St. Basil’s Cathedral
at 5:00 p.m. wearing white clothes symbolizing the call for peace. She
endeavored to attract the Union of Georgians in Russia to the rally,
to no avail though.

"We don’t know her and don’t trust her. Besides, if a crowd gathers
in the Red Square with transparencies it will be an unsanctioned
action with all consequences," people in the Union of Georgians in
Russia explained.

But the enforcement officers responded to Strelkova’s calls in no
time. The Red Square was closed at roughly 3.00 p.m. with all tourists
advised to move to Alexandrovsky Garden or Manezhnaya Square. Two
trucks with police officers were on alert near the Historic Museum
and the plans were to open the Red Square no sooner than 11:00 p.m.

Also yesterday, spokesmen of the Caucasus diasporas gathered in the
Moscow House of Nationalities to discuss military actions in South
Ossetia. The event was attended by chiefs of Georgian, Armenian, South
Ossetia’s and Azerbaijan’s diasporas. After two-hour debates, the
leaders called to put on trial Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili
and condemned his "treacherous aggression."

But despite all efforts of Moscow Georgians to wear off the conflict,
it is burning on cultural level. Georgian famous singer and actor
Vakhtang Kikabidze rejected Russia’s Friendship Order and cancelled
the Moscow concert dedicated to his 70th anniversary. The event was
to be held in the Kremlin October 5.

IRANIAN CLIMBERS ASCEND MOUNT ARARAT

IranMania News
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Iran

LONDON, August 14 (IranMania) – A five-member team of mountaineers
from Maragheh, East Azarbaijan, had ascended Mount Ararat in Turkey,
secretariat of Mountain Climbing Board of Maragheh said, IRNA reported.

Mohammad-Reza Monaseb-Fam said the team includes Javad Salam- Zadeh,
Taqi Asqarvand, Farshid Sarbaz, Masoud Yossef-Pour and Jafar Ebadi.

The 5,165-meter Mount Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey. This
snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone is located in Igdir province,
near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of the Iranian and
32 km south of the Armenian border.

FOOTBALL MATCHES IN MEMORY OF "THE LISBON 5" HELD IN NOR JUGHA

Noyan Tapan

Au g 13, 2008

NOR JUGHA, AUGUST 13, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. The opening
ceremony of football matches in memory of the Lisbon 5 took place in
Nor Jugha on July 27. Tehran’s Aliq daily reported that the matches
was held under the patronage of Central Board of Nor Jugha’s "Ararat"
Armenian Cultural Union.

The opening ceremony was attended by primate of Isfahan diocese Bishop
Babken Charian, representatives of the Diocean, Religious Councils
and other national bodies, as well as by hundreds of Armenians.

The opening ceremony started by the entry of a group bearing the
pictures of 5 fighters of the Armenian Revolutionary Army: Vatche
Daghlian, Ara Kuhrjulian, Sargis Aprahamian, Simon Yahniyan and
Setrag Ajemian.

The matches were held for six days, with "Aghtamar" and "Bruntsk"
groups reaching the semifinals. The final match ended in a 3-0 score:
"Aghtamar" won.

HRANUSH HAKOBIAN MEETS WITH PARTICIPANTS OF 6th All-ARMENIAN YOUTH CONGRESS

Noyan Tapan

Au g 13, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 13, ARMENIANS TODAY – NOYAN TAPAN. The chairwoman
of the State Committee for Relations with the Diaspora of the RA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hranush Hakobian on August 9 met with
young Diasporan Armenians participating in the 6th All-Armenian
Youth Congress.

During the meeting she spoke about the problems of the Armenian youth,
underlining the importance of the role of young people in promotion
of relations between Armenia and the Diaspora. She presented the
activities of the Committee for the Diaspora and the youth programs
to be implemented.

H. Hakobian said that the primary task of the Ministry of the Diaspora
to be created in October within the framework of youth programs is
to bring every Armenian under 30 to Armenia at least once.

At the conclusion of the meeting, H. Hakobian answered questions of
young Diasporan Armenians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA HAS EXTENDED HIS CONDOLENCES TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT IN CONNECTION WITH TRAGIC EVENTS IN SOUTH OSSETIA

arminfo
2008-08-13 20:25:00

ArmInfo. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Russia
Dmitry Medvedev had a phone talk today.

The press service of the President of Armenia reports that on behalf
of the Armenian people Sargsyan extended condolences in connection
with the tragic events in South Ossetia, which have caused heavy
casualties among Russian civilians and servicemen.

Medvedev told Sargsyan about the negotiating process. The presidents
agreed to conduct additional consultations in case of necessity.

ARMENIA HAS NO INTENTION TO QUIT CIS: FOREIGN MINISTRY

ARKA
Aug 13, 2008

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenia has no intention to quit the CIS,
reported RA Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanyan. "The CIS
is Armenia’s long-term political choice, and the country has been
cooperating with the Commonwealth for the past years," he said.

The Deputy Minister pointed out that last year Armenia signed a
concept of further cooperation with the CIS.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared Tuesday Georgia would
leave the CIS.