Month: July 2008

Hockey arena finished for Vancouver 2010. Russian's having problems with Sochi arenas for 2014.

Some Olympic news because I’ve been lazy. Apparently the Thunderbird Arena is done and ready for action in Vancouver. This will host the mens and womens hockey, but also contains a practice rink.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is getting involved with the construction of facilities in Sochi. Putin demanded that three sites for Olympic venues be moved because of environmental concerns and reprimanded the Sochi games preparations chief for weak assurances that construction would be finished on time.

Yes, it is six years away, but if you’ve ever done business in Russia, you know that six years is ‘last minute’ for them sometimes, especially when it comes to government work.

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Was Jean Pierre Gontard the source of the Betancourt ransom story?

UribeThe LA Times is reporting that the Colombian government is pointing their finger at Geneva-based Jean Pierre Gontard as the source for the Swiss radio report claiming a ransom for the release of the hostages. Left-wing blogs are reporting that Gontard was well on his way to arranging a negotiated release for the hostages when they were trumped by the military operation last week.

Gontard’s name is also mentioned in connection with the seized laptops, with some in Colombia accusing him of ‘unauthorized contacts’ with FARC. Chinese media is reporting that Gontard supposedly gave $500,000 to the FARC.

Perhaps the Colombia government doesn’t like this guy and wanted to tar him with this accusation. It will be difficult for him to resume a negotiator (for anything) if he is considered a leaker of information.

My bets are still on FARC supporters in Europe, either left-wing groups or drug dealers pushing through the story to help keep FARC alive.

But I’m still looking around for other theories.

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Man arrested (with burns) in London stabbing / arson case

This is a positive development I’d say.

The BBC News is reporting a suspect arrested over the killing of two French students is being treated for burns to his hands and face.

It’s been interesting watching some murder cases now that I’m a father. I find that I’m actually thinking about things in more a legal sense, not so much guilty or not guilty, but in the sense ‘how to make someone whole’ (a key to Torts law) after there has been a murder.

I think to all that someone spends raising a kid, spending money on clothes and toys that have no long-term value, but are merely expenses paid as part of development. Countless hours and dollars go into this effort, and when there is a murder, it is like an investment totally lost.

How do you even begin to pay for that? There is no rhyme or reason to the numbers. Is the loss of a PhD candidate any more than the loss of a prostitute? The world may say ‘yes, a PhD candidate will offer more one day’ but to a parent, the answer is the same–it is a total loss.

And in this case, a loss over a Playstation? What is going on in the UK?

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Not a slam-obit on Jesse Helms

A friend of mine from my early days in Washington has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post. The Jesse Helms You Should Remember. It was written by the White House’s chief speechwriter Marc Thiessen who previously served as Jesse Helm’s press secretary. It tells a different story of Jesse and some of the things that the mainstream media omitted from his obituary. ]]>

US Removes Iraqi WMD and gives it to Canada

Associate Press about the recent removal of ‘yellowcake’ Uranium from Iraq and over to Canada. The Iraqi government sold this remnant of the Iraqi nuclear program to a Canadian Uranium processor who will turn it into nuclear fuel for power plants. American military forces had to come up with a way to transport this through the insanity of some militia-controlled areas and then across the ocean without the insurgents getting wind of the convoys.

More on just what Yellowcake is and is not, and you may remember that word coming up as part of the Valerie Palme affair.]]>

Modern vs. Contemporary

Washington Post. “Contemporary is the latest thing. It’s the stuff of Pottery Barn. It’s current,” said Jacobsen, a Georgetown designer. “Modern is not. It is a specific movement and way of life that is rooted in a different period of time. It drives me crazy when people mix up the two.” Well now I stand corrected.

What I do know is that I basically hate the design style of most Washington places. Dark woods, heavy colors, Victorian era everything. If I had the money I’d love to renovate a townhouse into an ultra-modern minimalist masterpiece, shocking the neighbors as they roll in yet another faux antique chair. But to be honest, as a guy who wears the same shirts he did 10 years ago and buys the same brand/model shoe every two years (I like what I like)–I don’t think home design is high on my list of priorities right now.]]>

The Betancourt ransom conspiracy theories

So did they pay $20 million for her and others? We’ll probably never know. But as I was thinking about the different ransom theories I recalled a story about an American food critic in the South of France (you’ll see where I’m going in a minute). So this food critic arrives in the South of France to some dingy bed and breakfast type place and they direct him to this local restaurant. He goes in there and orders a number of dishes and they all come back pretty awful. This is a guy who has eaten just about everything the world has to offer, from the finest restaurants in Europe to the wildest tin shacks in China and Africa. The restaurant staff ask him how his meal was and he offered up some criticisms of this and that and how it could be better. Later when he tells the hotel staff of his unpleasant dinner, they call the restaurant to ask “what happened?”. The owner picks up the phone and tells the hotel staff ‘he came in here and was upset that is ‘didn’t taste like McDonalds’?” Guffaw, laugh and the hotel and restaurant employees just put it off to him being an American. Of course that wasn’t true, but it shows how easy it is to come up with something if you just fall back on your preconceived notions of what does and doesn’t happen based on which parties are involved. So as it relates to the Betancourt story, you have to start to ask ‘why’ would someone leak a story like this? Is it to back up their pre-conceived notions that the evil and corrupt Americans are behind everything that goes on in the world? Of course the Americans paid this money. It’s all part of the modis operandi. I mean, after all, these hostages were front page news (not) and returning them will deliver votes in November for McCain, who just happened to be in Colombia. Or is it because some Swiss diplomat, tired of the non-neutrality policy of the Swiss and annoyed at playing a role of world mediator decided to risk his entire country’s role and stature in the world by divulging something sensitive about a negotiation? (note: this is the country that negotiated the PLO-Israeli truce over a period of years without a peep to anyone). Or maybe the opposite–maybe they want to be involved in more negotiations so sending a message to the world that the US is paying millions is a great way to get more people taken hostage Or maybe it is something like this: FARC, a leading supplier of drugs to Europe and the United States, is suffering a massive military setback from this operation. Not necessarily tactically, but from a perception standpoint. Troops will desert, drug production will go down, money will be lost. So someone plants an innocent story on the other side of the world saying ‘no, it wasn’t because they were tricked, but because someone was paid off.’ FARC commanders show this to their under-educated troops and the desertions don’t take place, the drugs continue to be made, and the money and profits continue to flow in Europe and Colombia. Conspiracy theories are generally pretty stupid, but easy to create. Just look at this one I thought up while thinking about a food critic and McDonalds. We’ll see what else comes to light this week…]]>