I think it is fair to
say that generally the Winter Olympics are smaller then the Summer Olympics and
at both the para-Olympics are smaller still. Also the para-Olympics tend to be used
to discuss a smaller number of some of the political issues that were raised
during the Olympics in a lot more detail. A lot of those more detailed
discussions require a lighter touch then I can provide here. As a result I may
not be giving daily updates on events. Also while the UK Channel 4 is broadcasting a lot - by para-Olympic standards - of coverage it seems scheduled around my sleep pattern making it difficult for me to watch.
That said the big
story from the games today has once again been the weather. Basically today in
Sochi the temperature has been around 20*C. That means that it has been slightly
warmer then it was in the UK over the weekend where we were celebrating by
sunbathing and having barbeque's. This warm weather has caused a lot of problems
at the alpine venues where it is leading to soft, slushy snow. This type of
snow creates more friction making it more difficult to ski on raising the risk
of crashes and there have certainly been a lot of crashes. Therefore on the
opening day of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) meeting in Bonn, Germany the intention seems to be to promote
discussion about the dangers created by warming weather.
However through
recent events in Ukraine, Rihanna's continuing death march across western Europe
and the associated search for Malaysian airlines flight MH370 it is quite clear
that the US has no intention of discussing climate change at either the Sochi
games or the UNFCCC meeting. As a result there has been a lot of effort -
including the opaque timing system which sees time move at different speeds for
different athletes - to push Team USA athletes into gold medal positions in
order to sarcastically make them the centre of attention during the climate
change day of events. Team USA got wise to this and started fighting back with many
of their competitors either getting themselves disqualified by skiing outside of
the course or simply crashing.
The two biggest of
these crashes involved Alana Nichols in the women's sit-ski Super G and Stephani Victor also in the women's sit-ski both of whom were air-lifted to hospital. However rather then being
strictly medically necessary this seems like an attempt to create drama so Team
USA could later put out a statement that Nichols and Victor both were
"conscious and responsive" - the sub-text being that the US is
conscious of the threat of climate change and responsive to efforts to tackle
it. As always though I suspect that people will notice the US' actions rather
then their words.
It has since emerged
that both Nichols and Victor have sustained concussion and facial injures. As a
result I don't think it will be long before one or both post Twitter/Instagram
photographs showing their injuries. These will look remarkably similar to the
pictures of Rihanna's badly bruised and swollen face that were released
following her assault at the hands of Chris Brown. We are of course all supposed
to believe that the US is forcing Rihanna into a relationship with Drake in an
effort to contain the threat posed to her by Chris Brown. The US is obviously
hoping we'll overlook the facts that Chris Brown should be in prison at the
moment let alone under a restraining order and that Rihanna's career is pretty
much ending with every passing second.
Amid the carnage at
the alpine centre Team GB managed to win its first ever Winter para-Olympic
gold medal through Kelly Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans in the visually impaired
women's Super-G. Team GB's Jade Etherington and guide Caroline Powell also took
bronze in the same event. As with women's skeleton bobsleigh and curling at the
Olympics visually impaired women's skiing and again curling are the events that TeamGB have
been targeting in Sochi and Jade Etherington in particular being the darling
of the British team. Therefore these medals primarily represent the skill and
effort of the people who won them along with the resources that have been made
available to them. However with Rihanna and Drake in London it is quite clear
that the UK is desperate to be the centre of attention during the UNFCCC
meeting and everybody seemed happy to oblige.
Also the reason why Kelly Gallagher is visually impaired is because she suffers from Albinism which is one of the more interesting impairments on display. Although the most common type of Albinism (Oculocutaneous) is caused by a faulty gene meaning that essentially the body cannot produce melanin which provides the pigment to skin and hair. However there are rarer forms where there is no genetic fault meaning that melanin is produced but due to failures in chemical transmitters within the body the cells simply refuse to accept that melanin. As such Albinism encompasses the issues involved in the physiological basis for homosexuality in a way that other impairments simply don't.
Furthermore people can react quite powerfully towards Albinos. For example in certain parts of Africa (eg Tanzania and Burundi) where extremely white skin is very rare it is believed that Albinos possess magical powers and they're often killed so their body parts can be used to make potions. Also there is a mistaken belief that sex with an Albino women can cure HIV/AIDS leading to a lot of rapes and HIV infection. As a result discussions about Albinos also bring in the issue of attitudes towards disability and HIV/AIDS and rape/general violence against women.
As for that UNFCCC
conference I should point out that it is the first of several such meetings
intended to lay the ground work for the big COP20/CMP10 Summit at the end of
the year. As such while it is something I will have to try and follow in great
detail it is unlikely that I will have much to say. That's because there isn't
actually a tangible objective of this meeting although there is a great
potential for time wasting, obstructiveness and downright disruption.
Although I'm not sure if it was intentional the timing of the UNFCCC meeting
and the para-Olympics coinciding does pose a valid question about the political
future of the Olympic movement. That's because although obscure hints and
signals can clearly be displayed at the para-Olympics if you really want to
know what is going on at the UNFCCC meeting you can simply watch the live webcast
and download the relevant documents.
Although it is off
topic while I'm here I should clear up something I mentioned on Twitter
earlier. For the past couple of days there has been a stand-off between the
Libyan government and a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) ship that
is loading up on oil being illegally sold by rebels in the west (Zintan area)
of the country. Today the US State Department drew further attention to the
situation by issuing a statement. Although Libya's quite reasonable threat to
sink the ship which has invaded their territorial waters is new the illegal
sale of oil by rebel groups is not. In fact this practise started during the
war and has continued every since destabilising the country by both stealing
revenues from the government and making the rebels stronger and better armed.
From the start I've been saying that turning Libya into a failed state with
local warlords selling the nations oil at knock-down prices was the entire
point of the western military intervention. Obviously significant parts of the
international community are disgusted by the intervention in Libya and very
angry at nations such as the US.
I suppose that in a
way the Libya situation does have some relevance to the UNFCCC meeting because
unless we switch to renewable energy sources there are going to be more wars
like the one in Libya as the world powers battle over the remaining reserves of
non-renewables such as oil. However the State Department's comments strike me as
an extremely convoluted and inflammatory way of making this simple point.
20:30 on 10/3/14 (UK date).
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