StefanMUC

What's Russian for "sour grapes"? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/russia-planned-cyber-attack-on-tokyo-olympics-says-uk

Thing is, PP is reeling from its corruption scandals and VOX are fascists. So Spanish politics is pretty effed up anyway, and we're not even discussing the topic of Catalonian independence (again). While I think this idea of Barcelona/Pyrenees hosting Winter Olympics is basically feasible, especially in view of the all-hailed Agenda 2020, there's way too many hurdles to overcome politically to make this happen in 2030 already. And the IOC will probably have at least SLC if Sapporo gets cold feet depending on what happens with Tokyo next year, so there's probably not a great appetite to go for

In reality, the biggest enemy of the US is the US. Or rather that part of the country still hanging by 250 year old rules totally unfit for the 21st century.

As long as participants don‘t need to pick up visa at Saudi consulates abroad, all will be fine I guess? OCA is probably as spineless as the mother in Lausanne, so good luck with choosing between Ebola and Covid19.

Yes, that and also sports organisations tend to shy away from having to face scrutiny, so bigger chance they'll favour shoddy deals with Lukashenko and co. On that note, the Belarus athletics federation just elected Ivan Tikhan (hammer thrower, multiple doping offender) as its president. Still looking much more forward to our own hosting of the European Championships in 2022. Some budget cuts were already made due to corona (e.g. makeshift facilities rather than renovation work at the rowing/canoe venue), but I hope the events will go ahead as planned and even with an audience.

While I agree in principle, it‘s the IOC position that angers me most. They throw their arms in the air declaring they can‘t do anything, while in the past they did take action when they saw fit. And Iran already gave them concrete reason for a ban before the execution when their athletes boycotted (had to boycot) Israeli opponents. That was very much within IOC area of influence and yet nothing happened.

Not since last night anymore. The next six weeks will surely all be about the Supreme Court, and nobody will care about China for a while.

Who is he up against? Michael Cohen for the Stormy Daniels Treaty? Yeah right....are people really so dumb in the Trump cult?

The IOC apparently says that it was unrelated to a sports event and Iran‘s NOC had asked not to execute him. That absolves them apparently as the IOC „does not want to punish athletes for coming from a certain political system“. Absolutely ridiculous as they had rightfully suspended South Africa for Apartheid and let Russians start as neutral athletes only. But if anyone hoped they would take issue with China‘s Uyghur or HK policies, that illusion is really gone. Iran is far less important for the IOC and yet they do not want to take even the faintest action. Thomas Bach - the man wi

The latest headache for the IOC will be Iran, after the wrestler got executed today. There, the US could put pressure on Bach to take action more easily and likely than against China. If Iran gets expelled, the IOC can present itself as guardian of human rights and create a PR spin for Beijing. Of course, they also still let Lukashenko run the Belarus NOC.

If the IOC meant serious business with Agenda 2020, Ljubljana would be a top candidate. It is more or less on a similar level in size to the two previous winter hosts (counting Gangneung with Pyeongchang) and distances to mountain venues are smaller than in Vancouver. Slovenia also has excellent winter sports infrastructure and fan culture overall, so in theory it would make a really good host. Economy is of course small, but it‘s an EU/Euro country and politically relatively stable (other than having an Orbán fan as PM). That said, having been to both, Sarajevo would always win my h

Failed businessman, mostly. And I hope we won‘t need to discuss any Trump travel plans for February 2022 after 3 November 2020.

While I was very much in favour of Almaty in that miserable two horse race, given that it has more of a winter sports tradition and a favourable geography, it's also true that Nazarbayev was already getting old and in the meantime he has stepped down, though with relatively little succession trouble so far, and nobody knew in 2015 that Kazakhstan - at least for now - could be a less controversial and more stable choice than Beijing.

Why listen to fools that sat on their hands instead of stopping the wannabe dictator? I hope Americans don't just vote (if allowed to vote to begin with!) for a change in the WH, but that they also flip the Senate. Trump would never have been able to ruin the US so much if it hadn't been for so many sycophants like Moscow Mitch etc. If Biden is wise enough, he won't let himself get bullied by far-right extremists on whatever topic.

Nobody has a crystal ball. The dubious Russian vaccine is another PR move, we don't know how much politicised the virus will still be (Trump/China will at least drag on until November, and if the worst happens - i.e. another term for Nero burning down Rome - even longer), and whether the second wave will come and how it will hit. If today was not 14 August 2020 (BTW, 100 years today since opening of the Antwerp Olympics), but let's say 14 May 2021, my answer would be Yes, it's cancelled. But we simply cannot tell now, it's all just fluid.