...

According to  Lt. Gen. Viktor Sevastyanov, the Commander of the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army of the Russian Southern Military District, the interception was carried out only after the US reconnaissance plane flew about 10 kilometers closer to the state border of Russia. The Poseidon was forced to change its trajectory, move away from Russia's airspace, and the Russian fighter jet escorted it as it returned to the base.

Sevastyanov pointed out the professionalism of the Su-30 crew, adding that this was the standard practice of preventing the violation of the air border.

"Our pilots, in actual fact, helped US colleagues avoid an international scandal that would have broken if they violated Russia's state border», Sevastyanov said.

In the wake of the incident, CNN reported citing Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza that Russia's Su-30 had made an "unsafe" intercept of a US P-8A Poseidon maritime, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.

US European Command Spokesman Juan Martinez explained that the maneuver was dubbed "unsafe" since the Russian jet made a close approach with full afterburners on, while the P-8A was "conducting a routine operation in international airspace."

Speaking to Sputnik about the incident, Vladimir Kozin, a professor at the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, referred to the Pentagon's claims about "unsafe" Russian "behavior" as just "noise."

"There were no dangerous interceptions, and will not be any. Our pilots are responsible people, and understand that any dangerous interception can end badly for both sides. Therefore, instead of raising all this noise, the US military should just stop its provocative flights near our territory," the military expert said.

He added that recently the US has been actively engaged in aerial espionage missions all along Russia's borders and that if Pentagon wants to avoid similar incidents in the future, the US should halt that practice.

The Russian Defense Ministry has noted a major uptick in US and NATO flights near Russian territory in recent months. In mid-November, the Ministry reported that jets were scrambled three times in one week to chase away foreign recon planes. In the seven day period, twelve spy planes were caught approaching Russian airspace, including six on the western borders, three in the Russian Arctic, one on the southwestern flank and two from the east. A week before that, 17 foreign aircraft were reported to be patrolling the border, with Russian planes scrambled twice to intercept. 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201711291059522476-su-30-interception-us-...

What are the US planes doing there? Looking for evidence of doping in the Russian Vodka?

The Russian Olympic Team's suspension from the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea is an orchestrated and politically-motivated decision, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee ruled to disqualify the Russian team from participating in the games following a probe into the country's alleged "systematic doping manipulation." According to the IOC, so-called 'clean' Russian athletes that choose to participate must compete under the Olympic Flag, and the Olympic Anthem will play in the event that they receive medals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his disagreement with the decision. "All of this looks like an absolutely staged and politically motivated decision. We can see it, and for me there is no doubt about it," he said, speaking to workers at an automotive plant in Nizhny Novgorod where he also announced his intention to seek reelection at the upcoming 2018 elections.

As for the terms of the IOC decision, Putin said that it would be up to individual Russian athletes to decide if they would participate as neutral competitors. "We will certainly not declare any boycott. We will not prevent our Olympians from competing if they want to take part as individuals," he said.

Denying claims of the existence of a Russian state-sponsored doping program, Putin said that the testimony of former Moscow anti-doping lab director Grigory Rodchenkov, whose allegations led to investigations which culminated in the IOC's decision, raised more questions than they answered. The final decision was "mainly based on the testimony of a person whose moral and ethical attitudes and psychological state raise many questions," Putin said, without referring to Rodchenkov by name. "Most of the accusations are based on claims which have not been proven and are largely unfounded," he added.

Putin noted that Russia was partially to blame for the situation, and called for anyone actually found guilty of violating the IOC's anti-doping rules to be punished, but added that the body used the allegations in a "dishonest" way to issue a blanket ban against the entire Russian team.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/sport/201712061059761847-putin-russia-olympic-ban/

The EU is expected to extend sanctions against Russia on Thursday, December 21. Since they were introduced in 2014, sanctions as well as Moscow’s food exports ban have been a headache for European farmers, who have repeatedly protested against them. Sputnik takes a look at some of the most remarkable moments from those protests in recent years.

During a meeting of European Union agriculture ministers on January 23, 2017, milk farmers gathered in Brussels to protest against the EU's policies towards the industry. As a consequence of Russian counter-sanctions, the EU's milk industry saw milk prices collapse as a result of the surplus. During the protest, a ton of powdered milk was sprayed against the European Council building.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201712211060173855-eu-sanctions-russia-fa...

 But in the Western media, especially in the English hegemony, you will see a small item that the sanctions against those nasty Ruskies have been extended (to please the US masters)... Little mention will be made of the European farmers' revolts...

The whistleblower who exposed the programme, Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, is currently in hiding in the US. Rodchenkov – the former director of Moscow’s anti-doping centre – is the subject of the Netflix documentary Icarus, which was nominated for a Bafta on Tuesday.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/12/ioc-accused-of-backroom-de...

There is no way one can believe Dr Grigory Rodchenkov is telling "the truth" but it makes what is called in the mediocre mass media de shit and the political circles "good copy". As the director of Moscow anti-doping centre if what he says is true, he was the man responsible for deed and should have been charged for the swindles of urine sample — if those were ever performed. There has not been any "corroboration" of his allegations and many Russian athletes are clean, in the same way as competing US athletes are also clean. Russia should be able to sport a team of athletes at these winter games. The whole thing is a political vendetta against Putin for having resisted the US empire — nothing else. 

...

Suggesting that WADA has effectively also become "a platform for IOC critics to assemble," Verbruggen argued that this "obviously" has had a negative impact on the fight against doping. 

"My analysis is readily supported when looking at those that oppose the plans to create a new, non-political and efficient WADA," the sports administrator noted.

Verbruggen also criticized WADA's calls to impose a last minute blanket ban on Russian athletes during the 2016 Rio Summer Games, which he said created a "very problematic situation" because the agency did not follow up its allegations with the timely provision of information it said it had on the alleged Russian violations.

Earlier this month, Fancy Bears released IOC correspondence appearing to show that Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren had been given a "clear political order" to file a report to ensure Russia's expulsion from the 2016 Games.

Last month, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian National Olympic Committee over what it said was state-sponsored "systemic manipulation" of the anti-doping system, allowing only 'clean' athletes to compete in the 2018 Games, and only under the neutral Olympic flag. Russian President Vladimir called the decision "politically motivated," adding that it was "mainly based on the testimony of [Grigory Rodchenkov,] a person whose moral and ethical attitudes and psychological state raise many questions."

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/sport/201801151060774639-verbruggen-letter-to-io...

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Doping tests of Russian athletes during the Olympic Games in Sochi were transmitted during the day, rather than at night, when they were allegedly replaced, as the WADA informant, ex-head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov claims, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

The Russian Investigative Committee has gathered enough evidence to disprove the claim of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) informant Grigory Rodchenkov’s claims that Russian athletes’ doping samples were swapped, spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said on Wednesday.

This information disproves the testimony of Rodchenkov that samples taken from Russian athletes during the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 were stored after being collected and  at night were replaced with so-called "clean" samples, so that they would be examined for the presence of illicit drugs after the switch, she told reporters.

READ MORE: WADA, IOC Ruling Against Russia 'Over-Politicized' — Scientific Association

During interrogations of more than 700 athletes, coaches, and medical workers from the Russian national teams and others involved, no one acknowledged that in 2013-2014, when preparing for the competition, the informant had used a "steroid cocktail Duchess."

The Russian investigation remains open for cooperation with foreign competent authorities, public international organizations, including WADA, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, and also counts on mutual assistance from them, Petrenko added.

In November 2015, after WADA suspended the work of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov resigned, and in January 2016 he moved to the United States. Later he told the New York Times about the "doping program" in Russia and became an informant to WADA, which was the beginning of a major international scandal.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201801171060818463-russia-evidence-rodche...

It is most likely Grigory Rodchenkov lied for cash...

The Fancy Bears hacking group has published a report on its website accusing Canadian national sports organizations of conspiring against Russian athletes at the behest of the country’s government.

The report, called "Canada uses every trick in the book to own the podium," notes that Canada launched the Own the Podium (OTP) program in 2005 after the country's poor performance in the first two Olympic Games the country hosted.

The Canadian Olympic Committee, which funds the program along with the government, according to Fancy Bears, pledged to make Canada the top medal-winning nation at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. That mission was accomplished, but Canada once again failed to crack the top three of the medal count at the London 2012 Games, in Sochi in 2014 and in Rio in 2016.  

Earlier in January, Fancy Bears released IOC letters appearing to show that Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren had been given a "clear political order" to prepare a report so damning it would lead to a ban on Russia's entire team at both the Rio de Janeiro Games and the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games, without leaving room for athletes to be dealt with individually.

Russian President Vladimir called the decision to ban Russia from the Olympics "politically motivated," adding that it was "mainly based on the testimony of [Grigory Rodchenkov,] a person whose moral and ethical attitudes and psychological state raise many questions."

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201802081061455075-fancy-bears-canada-conspiracy/

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Canada showed that sending out your best is a winning strategy, easily taking the gold. The United States was third, led by Mirai Nagasu...  

Who was second, I wonder? Ah Russia ! But we are not allowed to say this in our headlines in the USA... Mind you I suppose the Russians had someone called "John Smith" in their non-team?...

Read from top, especially not pierre de coubertin's deal...

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PYEONGCHANG (Sputnik) - The International Olympic Committee commission recommends to lift the disqualification of the Russian Olympic Committee following the analysis of all doping samples of Russian athletes during the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea’s Pyeongchang, Olympic Athlete from Russia Implementation Group Chair Nicole Hoevertsz said.

“The OAR Implementation Group recommends that the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee not be lifted at the closing ceremony on February 25, 2018, and conditions applying to the OAR delegation remain in place … The Implementation Group recommends lifting the Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension once all results of the doping tests of the OAR athletes during the Olympic Winter Games of Pyeongchang 2018 have been confirmed as negative,” Hoevertsz told the IOC session on Sunday.

She noted that for the purposes of historical files the results and medals earned by the OAR athletes at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games would remain recorded as OAR.

Meanwhile, IOC President Thomas Bach said Sunday that the International Olympic Committee Executive Board has recommended not to remove the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee until the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games.

“The IOC Executive Board decided not to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee for the closing ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018 … The suspension of the ROC is considered to be lifted once the Doping-Free Sport Unit has confirmed that there are no additional anti-doping rules violations by members of the OAR delegation,” Bach told the IOC session.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/sport/201802251061967557-ioc-recommends-lift-rus...

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In a landmark ruling in February, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest legal authority in such cases, reversed the life bans of 28 Russian sportsmen and gave them back their medals, many of them from the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

But it was only this week that a 160-page summary of the session exposed exactly how the allegations that led to the exclusion of entire Russian teams in various sports from Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 failed to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Between 2005 and 2015, Grigory Rodchenkov headed Moscow's anti-doping testing lab before resigning in the wake of the scandal and eloping to the US, where his words laid the foundation for the portrayal of "state-sponsored" doping in Russia involving athletes, coaches, and officials at all levels. He remains in an American witness protection program and testified via Skype "behind a screen, which concealed the entirety of his upper body save for his forearms and hands" according to CAS.

He maintained that there was a "Sochi plan" designed to pump Russian athletes with performance-enhancing drugs and then swap any contaminated samples for pre-stored urine during the 2014 Games. He also described that he was the inventor of the Duchess Cocktail, a powerful mix of PEDs allegedly distributed to a list of Russian athletes. Many were later excluded from competing on the basis of the Duchess list.

However, when cross-examined, Rodchenkov admitted that he "never: (a) distributed the Duchess Cocktail; (b) seen an athlete take the Duchess Cocktail; (c) witnessed instructions being given to athletes and coaches to use the Duchess Cocktail; (d) seen an athlete give a clean urine sample; or (e) seen an athlete tamper with a doping sample." He also admitted that no test of the effectiveness of the Duchess cocktail was ever conducted, and when asked about its exact make-up, which has been a matter of some contention, he "stated that he needed five minutes to explain, and therefore refrained from doing so."

He also repeated claims that a team of officials, nicknamed "Magicians," had developed a technique for opening tamper-proof sample bottles in order to manipulate them and clear Russian athletes, but added that he personally "never observed first hand any bottles being opened or de-capped" and did not know the "precise method" used by them.

The exiled official turned out to be a star witness for the Russian appellants in the case. In its conclusion, it said that his assertion of the guilt of Alexander Legkov, the Sochi gold-winning skier who led the appeal, constituted a "bare assertion which is uncorroborated by any contemporaneous documentary evidence." On the use of Duchess by a specific athlete, which a specific official reportedly told Rodchenkov about, the panel ruled that it is "hearsay" of "very limited" value. As to his claims of a Sochi plan, ahead of which clean urine samples were delivered to him, CAS stated that the witness's words were "not corroborated by any further evidence."

Richard McLaren, the former head of WADA and author of the eponymous report, whose list of names were used to ban hundreds of competitors, freely admitted that their inclusion did not "mean that they committed an anti-doping rule violation," and that he was "merely asked to identify those who may have benefited from the systems." The Canadian professor added that his report was, in any case, "just the starting point for further work" and was severely restricted by budgetary and time constraints.

In view of questions over Rodchenkov, McLaren was asked if his report was, in essence, based on his single testimony. The expert objected, saying that he sought to "corroborate everything" and explained that the Russian scientist's evidence had been confirmed by "four individuals who provided information on condition that their identities would remain confidential."

An outburst of righteous fury.

"Rodchenkov has done his dark deed. We have suffered colossal damage," said renowned skater and coach Irina Rodnina, one of those namechecked in the fugitive's accusations. "Since these claims have surfaced we have tried to play by the rules against those without rules."

"Rodchenkov lied about doping in our country, which was to be proved. I recommend that a commission is assembled that would gather all false publications about Russian athletes in the Western media, and sue them for defamation," tweeted Igor Lebedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Duma.

"It's clear Rodchenkov is mixing up his stories, and his new testimony is evidence that the previous ones were fabrications," said Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's press secretary.

A polite silence. Aside from specialist websites writing about Olympic sport, no major Western outlet has covered the story.

This is particularly telling in view of the fact that the entire doping scandal was not started by investigators, but German documentary makers from ARD, who managed to create the biggest Olympics upheaval since the fall of the Soviet Union with the help of little more than interviews with two other runaway Russian insiders, the Stepanovs.

Since then, there has been a consistent barrage of accusations, all of them reported without question within the wider context of Moscow's new image of an international rogue state, from Crimea to the US voting booths to the running track.

Just a fortnight ago, Rodchenkov gave an interview to a Norwegian TV station wearing a ski mask and a balaclava, and his words were spread verbatim by dozens of outlets from the New York Times to Fox News.

Only last month, hundreds of millions around the world tuned in to watch Icarus, a film in which he was portrayed as a heroic whistleblower, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary.

The officials have been similarly reticent.

When the original ruling was published, IOC chief Thomas Bach stepped in to say that it was "extremely disappointing and surprising" and demanded that CAS reform itself.

Meanwhile, the American anti-doping agency USADA, which earlier said that the February ruling had "sabotaged the integrity of the Games" despite not being at the CAS hearing and added that "the whole mess stinks" and that "the nightmare for clean athletes continues," has not been quick to retract its statements or turn away from Rodchenkov.

In any case, Russia's anti-doping agency remains under suspension, without accreditation to enter its own testing centers, and although the country will be allowed to compete under its own flag at Tokyo 2020, several of its teams will have limited allocations.

Legkov told Russian television how he felt when he was forced to miss the Olympics this year despite being cleared, because the IOC chose not to invite any athletes whose names had been linked to doping scandals, regardless of guilt.

"I was preparing for Pyeongchang like a madman, I give it my all. I had better results in tests than even those ahead of Sochi. In a moment all that was ruined," said the skier.

"No one was listening to us. We insisted on our innocence right from the start. But we lost those years of our careers. We trained our whole lives to be able to do this," Maxim Vylegzhanin, who won three silver medals at Sochi and had them restored by the same decision this year, told RT.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Russia "defend[s] clean athletes," while former sports minister and hockey legend Viacheslav Fetisov said that "now we have a chance of winning our cases in court," as long as "there is a firm position, and facts to back it up." The Russian Luge Federation and several individuals say that they will launch lawsuits, which may mention Rodchenkov by name.

"It's evident that McLaren just took Rodchenkov's words at face value. The CAS decision confirms that now. The guilt of the athletes, if it was present, should have been determined with evidence. This did not happen. We await more legal proceedings," said Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov.

But several top officials say it is too little, too late, not just for those sportspeople who missed the last Olympics, but for Russian sports as a whole.

"This will change nothing," said Nikolay Durmanov, the ex-chief of the Russian anti-doping agency. "Yes we can enjoy some moral satisfaction, but in the eyes of the world Russian sport has been painted a rich black color, and there is nothing we can do to wash that reputational stain off this generation. This was an information war waged against us."

Read all:

https://www.rt.com/news/425357-rodchenkov-cas-lawsuit-doping/

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Last year, the Disciplinary Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC DC) issued rulings that 44 Russian athletes were guilty of Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

Many of these athletes had been preparing intensely for the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Some 39 Russian athletes quickly filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), claiming their innocence. The hearings proceeded rapidly.

On February 1, 2018, the CAS announced its decisions: they partially upheld 11 appeals and entirely upheld the appeals of the other 28 Russian athletes. The decision rocked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). IOC President Thomas Bach said the decision was "extremely disappointing and surprising."

A week ago, on April 23, the CAS published the full decisions for the first two of 39 Russian athletes. The documents explain the facts, evidence and reasoning behind the CAS decisions to partially or totally uphold the cases of the Russian athletes. The appeal by Aleksandr Zubkov was partly upheld. Alexander Legkov's appeal was entirely upheld, his Sochi Olympics medals returned and his records reinstated.

The CAS decision revealed that McLaren made qualitative changes to claims made in his reports, which had formed the basis for the Russian bans. In his second report, McLaren concluded: "Over 1,000 Russian athletes competing in summer, winter and Paralympic sport, can be identified as being involved in or benefiting from manipulations to conceal positive doping tests."

This claim featured in news headlines around the world. In the UK, The Guardian story headlined: "McLaren report: more than 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping conspiracy." The BBC said "Russian doping: McLaren report says more than 1,000 implicated." The New York Times story ran: "Report Shows Vast Reach of Russian Doping: 1,000 Athletes, 30 Sports."

The CAS decision on Alexander Legkov reveals that McLaren has changed his "key finding." As described on page 68, "Prof. McLaren went on to explain that, in this respect, if his investigation obtained evidence that a particular athlete may have benefited from the scheme, then 'It didn't mean that they did benefit. It didn't mean that they committed [an] anti-doping rule violation.'"

Sixteen months ago, international media had headlines stated that over 1,000 Russian athletes benefited from a vast state-run doping conspiracy. Now, McLaren says he did not really mean to say that… he meant that they "may have" benefited.  There is a major difference between saying that someone "might have" committed a crime versus saying they did commit a crime. The former is speculative. The latter requires evidence.

The CAS looked at the evidence rather than simply accepting McLaren's speculations and assertions.

In contrast with IOC President Bach's statement, David Own at Inside the Games believes the CAS arbitrators are to be congratulated. "They seem to have made every effort, most properly in my view, to follow the evidence that was presented to them, while endeavoring to shut out the overheated geopolitical atmosphere still enveloping any issue pertaining to Vladimir Putin's Russia." He says the CAS decisions have helped buttress CAS credibility as an independent, objective and legally fair institution.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/425828-russian-athletes-ioc-cas/

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In February, scientists updated the coordinates of the magnetic North Pole a year ahead of schedule after finding that it has been accelerating on its way from Canada to Siberia. The news has prompted scholars to consider what will occur when Earth faces a geomagnetic pole reversal, i.e. the flipping of the position of the magnetic north and south.

Dr Hugh Ross, Canadian astrophysicist, pastor and old Earth creationist, has commented on the recent reports about the possible consequences of a pole reversal for life on our planet.

"If we lose our magnetic field for a significant period of time, it would have catastrophic consequences for animal life on planet Earth. One thing we notice is we got our strong dipole magnetic field just before God created the first animals. I mean the timing is remarkable", Dr Ross said, speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network.

...

Ultimately, Ross said he hoped that the scientific and media reports on a possible pole flip would "get the attention of the world's governments" and push them "to take some steps to prepare, just like we prepare for fire disasters or flood disasters. This is something that we know is inevitable".

In February, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey updated the location of the magnetic North Pole, calculating that the pole is leaving the Canadian Arctic and moving toward Russia at a rate of over 55 km per year, up from just 15 km per year in the year 2000. This movement is said to be caused by a perpetual tug of war between magnetic field patches in northern Canada and Siberia, with the patches under Russia currently taking the upper hand.

https://sputniknews.com/science/201904261074500780-magnetic-pole-flip-im...

God has nufin' to do with this capers. Gus believe the Ruskies have built a giant magnet under the tundra to disturb the yanks and their magnetic women. 

Meanwhile, on a nuke icebreaker...

The North Pole is one of the most amazing places on our planet. Just imagine a trip to this kingdom of snow and ice. Here you can truly breathe in fresh polar air, see rare animals, drifting perennial ices and take unforgettable photos on the “Top of the World” itself.

Our expedition will travel to the North Pole from the city of Murmansk on the largest and most modern Arctic nuclear-powered icebreaker - “50 Years of Victory”. As part of the cruise, we will reach the North Pole, as well as go through the Arctic to the most northern point of Russia — the legendary archipelago Franz Josef Land. On the Zodiac expeditionary rubber duckies, we will land on these picturesque shores, still in contact with the original nature and we will explore the Arctic from a bird's eye view from a helicopter.

http://expedition-cruises.club/north-pole?

And they get you to tow the boat to the spot:

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By Dmitry Sudakov

 09.12.2019 22:29

WADA wants to bury Russian athletes alive

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended Russia from all international competitions - including Olympic Games and world championships - for four years. Russian athletes will receive the right to participate in them if it is confirmed that they are "clean." However, they will be able to perform only under the neutral flag (including at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022). In addition, Russia will not be allowed to host major world championships, nor will it be able to apply for them, while Russian officials will not be able to attend them. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) will lose the right to test athletes for doping.

Russia will thus miss: 

2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo

2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

2022 World Cup in Qatar

2021 World Student Games  

2023 World Student Games

Because of the ban, Russia probably will not be able to host the 2020 World Chess Olympiad, 2020 and 2021 World Ice Hockey Championships, the 2021 Women Hockey World Championship, the 2021 Beach Soccer World Cup, the 2022 Volleyball Men's World Championship, the World Wrestling Championship in 2022, the 2023 Summer Universiade-2023, the World Ice Hockey Championship in 2023 and other competitions. Their venues will be rescheduled, while Russian athletes will be able to take part in those tournaments only in neutral status, if proved clean.

145 athletes, whose doping samples disappeared from the database of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, were thus removed from competitions. The names of the athletes remain unknown. Russia delivered the database to WADA in January 2019 in order to lift all restrictions on participation in international competitions. Having studied the base, WADA experts came to conclusion that someone had made changes to it. The story continued until the beginning of 2019, although by that time the Russian Investigative Committee had seized the base as material evidence on the case of the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov.

The head of RUSADA, Yuri Ganus, called WADA's new claims a "tragedy." Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called it an "anti-Russian series." Ganus suggested that it was Russian sports officials, who authorized changes to the database of doping samples to protect the reputation of former athletes, who currently take high positions. PM Dmitry Medvedev called WADA's sanctions "a continuation of the anti-Russian hysteria that has taken a chronic form."

WADA originally wanted to bar Russian athletes from international sports competitions entirely. The head of the WADA Compliance Review Committee (CRC), Jonathan Taylor, said that the agency was seriously considering a possibility to remove Russian athletes from competitions entirely, but former athletes assumed that representatives of a new generation of Russian athletes should have an opportunity to participate in competitions."

Russia may appeal against WADA's decision within 21 days. In the next ten days, the RUSADA Supervisory Board will announce whether Russia is going to file a lawsuit at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev believes that Russia should fight, but the head of RUSADA, Yuri Ganus, said that Russia would have no chances to win such a lawsuit.

Almost a year ago, Yuri Ganus warned President Putin of the imminent sanctions. However, the Kremlin simply said that Ganus was overreacting as he was not familiar with the process to deliver the data to WADA.

The report from the CRC said that there was a whole team working at the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, for the purpose to conceal changes in the database before delivering it to WADA. It is believed that the team was editing the data related to the winners of the Sochi-2014 Games, who retained their medals following the trial.

As a result, WADA found inconsistencies between the two versions of the databases from the Moscow laboratory. WADA received the first version of the database from Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the agency, who had fled Russia. The second version was received from the Russian authorities in exchange for restoring the status of RUSADA. During the interval, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation sealed the laboratory as part of the federal investigation. The Russian authorities of the Russian Federation claim that nobody had manipulated the database.

Читайте больше на https://www.pravdareport.com/sports/144128-wada_russia/

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Well, after the success of the Soccer World Cup in Russia, the West had to find ways of crapping on this country which for all intents and purposes is as clean as the USA and most other countries — apart from the French who are doped to the eyeballs on National Pride. Ethiopians are naturally born runners and thus should be excluded from the Olympics. Coca-Cola, sugar, coffee, chicken buckets and triple-burgers should be banned as they are doping substances that end up clogging toilets (mind you the cofeeeee in the USAAAAA is total crap). Muslim countries should be banned for not allowing their female athlete to compete naked. In regard to Orstraya, we need a handicap point system as our elite training sessions have been reduced to coughing fits in smoke hazards. The brazilians should be banned for speaking in a funny Spanish lingo and the italians cannot compete naturally. 

Sport, especially "amateur" sport, has become a massive business to sell beer, shoes with advantageous springy soles, cars that contribute to global warming, and governmental propaganda, amongst other pop-corny thingies.

So, Russia, you can stand with your head high, proud to be Russia. WADA prefers to trust a two-faced traitor, Grigory Rodchenkov, rather than do a proper investigation which would prove that WADA is a useless entity. One cannot fight crap with the truth. This is why they (WADA and the West) are afraid of (from MAD magazine, modified by Gus)  fair competition:

Zaitseva, 42, has retained the quirk from her past life. The Russian with blonde curls and narrow eyes was once one of the world’s best biathletes, an Olympic champion. Her success put her in the near-constant sights of doping-control officers.

She took special precautions to make sure that she never consumed anything that was prohibited. "As an athlete, I was responsible for what went into my body, which is why I always carried my own water bottles with me,” she says. "That way I could make sure that no one slipped anything into it.” When Zaitseva ended her career in January 2015, after hundreds of competitions and countless doping tests, she was considered a clean athlete.

Banned for Life

In the coming days, three judges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, will determine whether that claim still holds true. In 2017, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the Russian athlete for life over violations of anti-doping regulations. The IOC claimed Zaitseva had profited from a system of fraud that concealed massive Russian doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi at the behest of the government.

Zaitseva says she has "never, ever, ever, ever, ever” doped in her life, "and if I have to, I will gladly repeat that a million times.” Zaitseva appealed the decision together with two other female athletes who were also banned by the IOC.

On the surface, the proceedings seem like just another chapter in the endless Russian doping scandal that has gripped the sporting world for more than five years now. But the credibility of the most important key witness to the mass fraud is on the line, and if the court sides with the Russian athletes, it could trigger a domino effect, given that other cases are still pending. The three biathletes also filed a $30-million (27-million-euro) lawsuit in New York against Russia’s former anti-doping laboratory director, who lives in hiding in the United States. In their suit, they claim they are the victims of defamation and that their names, victories and honors have been vilified for no reason

Several pieces of evidence in the files from the Swiss proceedings that DER SPIEGEL has viewed in recent weeks seem not only to substantiate Zaitseva’s claims of innocence, they also appear to raise questions about the overall credibility of the investigation into the Sochi conspiracy and whether too much faith was placed in the account provided by the whistleblower in the scandal.

An Old Conflict Flares Up Again

The case has long been a political issue. In recent years, forensic scientists and special investigators have been poring over urine samples and scientific evaluations in hopes of a resolution, and parliaments and heads of state have either condemned or categorically denied Russia’s systemic fraud. It has rekindled a conflict between East and West and between hopelessly overburdened sporting associations.

What is certain is that many Russian athletes have been cheating the system. Russia’s track and field federation has been suspended from international competitions since 2015. In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), recommended the Russian flag and national anthem be banned from the Olympic Games and other major events for four years in response to the tricks used by Moscow in its efforts to hinder the investigation into the doping scandal.

This includes events that allegedly took place in Sochi. What is known about them is largely attributable to the descriptions and records of a key witness: Grigory Rodchenkov, 61. The chemist headed Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory until 2015, when he moved to the United States. There, he shared his account of what allegedly happened in Sochi with the New York Times. In his version of events, the urine of Russian medal candidates contaminated with banned substances at the Winter Games were secretly swapped with clean urine, presumably with the help of Russia’s secret service, the FSB. Rodchenkov has led such an exuberant life that Netflix even made the two-hour documentary film "Icarus” about it.

WADA appointed a special investigator, and subsequent analyses of Russian urine samples from Sochi revealed indications of urine tampering. Ultimately, the IOC felt the circumstantial evidence was strong enough to sanction the athletes. In several affidavits, Rodchenkov provided the names of athletes who were allegedly doped in Sochi and presented lists of competitors who, he claimed, were provided with protection by the Sports Ministry. Three years ago, this led the IOC to sanction 43 athletes and remove them from the results lists of the Sochi Olympics.

Almost all of those cases were appealed, and 28 were successful in getting the decision overturned. The decisions to reverse the sanctions were made due to insufficient evidence. Three rulings are still pending - the one for Zaitseva and the other two biathletes.

A "Made-Up Story”

Zaitseva claims that Rodchenkov’s portrayal of events is a "made-up story.” In a video call from Moscow, she says she has never seen him in her life. So why does he mention her explicitly in documents, in one case even describing a meeting with her? "I have no explanation for all these lies,” Zaitseva says, "except that he must be crazy.”

Rodchenkov claims that Zaitseva doped using EPO, a blood booster, and that, like many Russian medal candidates, she was given what was called the "Duchess cocktail,” a mixture of three anabolic steroids.

"None of it is true," says Zaitseva.

Wolfgang Pichler also believes the story about "this cocktail is total rubbish.” The Bavarian is considered one of the world’s best biathlon coaches and known as a champion of doping-free sports. After German reunification, he campaigned against the German Ski Association accepting former East German coaches who had been suspected of involvement in the regime’s doping programs. In 2009, he also demanded the exclusion of Russian biathletes from the Olympic Games following doping revelations. Then he became Russia’s head coach in 2011, and later took over a five-person training group that included Zaitseva.

Read more:

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/evidence-casts-new-doubts-on-...

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A decision not to allow swimming caps designed for afro hair at international competitions - such as Tokyo 2020 - could be reconsidered, after backlash.

Soul Cap said Fina, the water sports world governing body, had told them the hats aren't suitable because they don't follow "the natural form of the head".

The comments sparked criticism from many swimmers with some saying it would discourage black people from the sport.

Fina now says it's "reviewing the situation" regarding the products.

In a statement, it said it understood "the importance of inclusivity and representation".

"Fina is committed to ensuring that all aquatics athletes have access to appropriate swimwear for competition where this swimwear does not confer a competitive advantage," it added.

It said it would speak to Soul Cap about using the hats at Fina's development centres, which train swimmers around the world. 

• Why some 'black girls don't swim'
• Afro swim cap Olympic rejection is 'heartbreaking'

Soul Cap makes caps to fit over and protect dreadlocks, afros, weaves, braids, and thick and curly hair.

Afro hair is naturally drier than other hair because it has fewer cell layers. The sodium hypochlorite - or bleach - found in swimming pools can dry it out more, leading to damage.

Young black swimmers told Radio 1 Newsbeat they were "disappointed and heartbroken" by Fina's words last week. 

Kejai Terrelonge, 17, said hair-care is one of many barriers she's faced as a black swimmer.

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-57687096

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When Russian athletes stand on the podium after winning an Olympic gold in Tokyo, they hear a Tchaikovsky piano concerto rather than their national anthem.

And some of them also hear questions. 

More than 300 athletes across 30 sports are competing as the Russian Olympic Committee rather than as their country as part of sanctions for doping scandals.

They are fourth in the medal table, with 10 golds and 34 medals, but their success has not sat well with some of their fellow competitors who believe they should not be at the Games because of the country's doping record.

American swimmer Ryan Murphy said Friday's 200m backstroke final was "probably not clean" after he lost his Olympic title to Russian Evgeny Rylov.

While Murphy later rowed back on his comments, saying he was speaking about doping generally, Rylov said the American was entitled to his thoughts given Russia's doping past.

British swimmer Luke Greenbank, who won bronze in that race, said: "It's obviously a very difficult situation not knowing whether who you are racing against is clean.

"Obviously, there's a lot of media around the Russian federation coming into the Olympics. It's frustrating seeing that as an athlete, having known that there is a state-sponsored doping programme going on and more could be done to tackle that."

American rower Megan Kalmoe had said the previous day that "seeing a crew who shouldn't even be here walk away with a silver is a nasty feeling" after Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Oriabinskaia's medal in the pairs.

Meanwhile, tennis player Daniil Medvedev reacted angrily earlier this week when he was asked whether Russian athletes at the Olympics carried a "stigma of cheaters".

"It's the first time in my life I'm not going to answer a question and you should be embarrassed of yourself - I don't want to see you again," the world number two told the reporter. 

The Russian Olympic Committee tweeted after Murphy's comments in the pool that its athletes were in Tokyo "absolutely rightfully".

"Whether someone likes that or not," it added. "You need to know how to lose. But not everyone does.

"The old hurdy gurdy [musical instrument] is once again playing the tune about Russian doping. Someone is diligently turning the handle." 

These are the third successive Olympics at which Russia's athletes have been restricted in the way they are able to compete. 

In 2014, revelations of a doping scandal came to light, eventually leading to a report in 2016 finding that Russia had operated a state-sponsored doping programme for four years across the "vast majority" of summer and winter Olympic sports. That included tampering with tests at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, where as hosts they finished top of the medal table.

At the Rio 2016 Olympics, Russians competed across a range of sports but track and field athletes were banned, while at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games athletes with no record of doping were allowed to compete under the name Olympic Athlete from Russia.

There will be only 10 track and field athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee in Tokyo, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe saying earlier this week that the country - whose athletics federation remains suspended - should be grateful to have anyone at all given their long history of "obfuscation" and little progress over doping.

"The debate around the table was quite a tough one," he said. "There were colleagues of mine who questioned whether any neutral athletes should be there. It was decided by the task force that 10 was an appropriate number and the council endorsed that." 

At the Tokyo Games, the International Testing Agency (ITA), an independent body from the International Olympic Committee, is overseeing all doping controls. 

The ITA said on Friday more than half of the expected 5,000 doping tests at Tokyo 2020 had already been conducted but there is no information yet on any positive cases. 

It said the most tested sports so far have been aquatics, rowing, athletics, cycling and weightlifting, while the most tested teams are those of the United States, Australia, China, Britain and the ROC. 

There is no Russian flag on the outfits worn by ROC competitors at these Olympics, although they are allowed to wear blue, red and white tracksuits as long as they do not have the word 'Russia' on them or any other national emblems.

If they win a medal, then a flag featuring the Olympic rings and three flames is lifted during the ceremony.

And if they win gold, Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 is played rather than their thunderous national anthem.

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/58023171

Read from TOP! Many of the athletes from all the countries are borderline on "doping". To some extend because the Russian athletes performing at the Olympics  HAVE BEEN TESTED MANY TIMES FOR DOPING SUBSTANCES AND HAVE BEEN FOUND CLEAN, they might be the "cleanest" athlete in the competition... Read from top again...

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In a Tuesday tweet, open borders advocate and losing GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush accused President Donald Trump’s “exclusionary immigration” policies of holding back America’s medal count at the Tokyo Olympics.

The former Florida Governor’s August 3 tweet revealed that he somehow imagines Trump’s immigration policies have prevented U.S. athletes from achieving even greater heights.

“I wonder how our medal totals would be if we had an exclusionary immigration system which we have had for the last few years. My heart swells for all of our medalists, including those whose families have come from far off lands to love our country,” Bush wrote.

The claim that our medal count is off, though, makes little sense. Even as he wrote his tweet, the U.S. was the leader in medals, taking 79 total, with 25 golds, 31 silvers, and 23 bronzes. Only China came close with 32 golds, 22 silvers, and 16 bronzes for a total of 70 medals.

Perhaps Jeb was misled by the fact that two of the most high-profile, woke U.S. athletes were shut out of the top prize when the U.S. Women’s National Protest Team and anti-American hammer thrower Gwen Berry were skunked?

Read more:

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2021/08/04/jeb-bush-trumps-immigration-policies-would-mean-fewer-olympic-medals-usa/

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«THE ART OF WAR»

The five broken circles

by Manlio Dinucci

The United States now systematically applies to China the treatment that it has hitherto reserved only for Russia. In doing so, they forced the two leading military powers in the world to strengthen their alliance, which relativized that of the North Atlantic.

The 2014 Winter Olympics - which opened in Sochi, Russia, on February 7, on the eve of the explosion of the Ukrainian crisis with the putsch in Maidan Square (February 18-20) - were defined in the anti-Russian media campaign as the "Olympics of Czar Putin". President Obama and Deputy Biden, followed by others, boycotted them accusing Russia of violating the human rights of LGBT people. Same scenario today with the Beijing Winter Olympics, defined in the anti-Chinese media campaign as "the Games of power of Xi, the Great Olympic helmsman" (La Re-pubblica, February 3). President Biden boycotted them, accusing China of violating the human rights of the Uighurs. Following the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, Lituania, Estonia and Kosovo (a well-known human rights defender, indicted for trafficking of human beings and human organs) declared a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Olympics.

The boycott is part of Washington’s strategy of "containment" of China. China has not simply remained the "factory of the world" in which U.S. and European multinationals have relocated for decades much of their production, earning huge profits. China has realized its own productive and technological development and, on this basis, projects such as the New Silk Road: a land (road and rail) and sea network between China and Europe through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Within this framework, economic relations between China and Russia have strengthened, especially after the sanctions imposed by the United States and the EU on Russia. Trade between the USA and China remains strong, but since many products on the US market are manufactured in China by US multinationals or supplied by Chinese companies, the USA has a deficit in bilateral trade of over 300 billion dollars annually. China has also strongly reduced its investments in the US. Even more serious for Washington is the fact that the dollar share of China’s foreign exchange reserves has dropped significantly and that China is looking for alternative currencies to the U.S. currency to use in international trade, endangering the hegemony of the dollar.

Unable to stop this process that can put an end to the economic dominance of the United States, Washington throws the sword on the scales. Economic "containment" becomes military "containment". Admiral Davidson, head of the Indo-Pacific Command - the region that in Washington’s geopolitics extends from the west coast of the U.S. to that of India - has asked Congress for $27 billion to build a curtain of missi-listic bases and satellite systems around China. "We must begin to approach China from a position of strength," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In this framework is part the Aukus, the strategic-military partnership formed by the United States, Great Britain and Australia with "the imperative to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific". The United States and Great Britain will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, armed with missiles certainly also with nuclear warheads, such as the U.S. Trident D5 that can carry up to 14 independent thermonuclear warheads. These submarines under U.S. command, approaching the coasts of China and Russia, could hit in a few minutes the main targets in these countries with a capacity of over 20 thousand Hiroshima bombs.

As a result, China and Russia are strengthening not only their economic but also their political and military cooperation. In their joint statement in Beijing [1], Presidents Xi Jin-ping and Vladimir Putin stressed that "Russia and China oppose attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their adjacent regions" and that they "oppose further enlargement of NATO." The U.S.-NATO strategy of tension and war, which brings back to the confrontation between opposing blocs, breaks the five intertwined circles, the Olympic symbol of the five continents united for "a better and peaceful world”.

Manlio Dinucci

Source

Il Manifesto (Italy)

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https://www.voltairenet.org/article215580.html

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See also: 

https://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/32403

https://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/42686

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Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) president Stanislav Pozdnyakov has questioned the timing of the positive doping test which is threatening the future of figure skating star Kamila Valieva.

Valieva, 15, is fighting to remain at the Beijing Games after international testing officials announced on Friday that she had returned a positive result for a sample taken during the Russian national championships on December 25.

The sample was analyzed at a laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Stockholm, Sweden. According to a statement from the International Testing Agency (ITA), the result for the banned heart drug trimetazidine was only reported on February 8 – one day after Valieva had helped the ROC to gold in the figure skating team event in Beijing, where they finished ahead of the rivals from the USA and Japan.   

After being informed, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) then imposed a provisional suspension on Valieva, which she successfully appealed on February 9 – leaving her clear to train and compete in Beijing.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/sport/548997-roc-questions-kamila-valieva-doping-result/

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