Edge of civil war in Ukraine

I don't doubt it, there's a lot of racism all round the former Soviet Union and its satellites, but this thread is using anti-Semitism as a reason to attack the protesters. I would imagine that those who want a more open, less dictatorial government are less likely to support racism than those who want the opposite.

agreed. sadly in Russia the protestors are not going to get the benefit of any negotiation. I fear the worst...especially in light of the impending Olympics as the focus of world's micro-attention presents a stage.

My fantasy is that a bunch of nations boycott including USA. Russia can no longer provide a secure environment for the athletes, their entourage/trainers and the hundreds of thousands of attendees. Realistically I think, however, there is zero chance of a single nation boycotting.

Just to add to this, if you don't want to have to guess at aspect ratios (e. g. you don't want to stretch the image), look at the original size of it, usually by right-clicking and hitting properties. Let's say the image is 5000x250, both of these numbers are divisible by either 5 or 10 so try by 5 (1000x50) and, if that's still too big, try by 10 (500x25). Just use a calculator, and round up any fractions to the nearest number.

The fear is that excessive violence will be used against the protestors which would make Ukraine like Belarus. There's a country where the president can only look to Russia for support.

I think an individual's desire to get a gold medal probably overrides a lot of considerations, they're very driven people after all.

However the individual may not have the final say. They posses a visa that the State Department or equivalent of some nation could say is blocked to travel to the Ukraine due for reasons of national best interest or some such status. Just saying.

I suppose a nation could, but diplomatically that would be a real escalation, a kind of cold war lite. We're still going, and that's after Russian agents murdered Alexander Litvinenko in London.

The games are taking place in Sochi, that's closer to Georgia than The Ukraine.

As far as the relative distance from Sochi, it's a bit of a blue to me and I'm not sure how much that specific distance matters as far as the bearing on providing appropriate maximal security goes. Terrorists say from pissed off Chechen variety, intent on seeking out a massive world stage would travel anywhere to do their dastardly deeds. I fear that this is a ticking time bomb, no pun intended.

Furthermore if I recall correctly, he was the fugitive officer of the Russian FSB secret service who specialized in tackling organized crime. I'm not sure of the relevance to this other than Russian agents may likely have been his poisoners.

Thanx whole lotta scads, Jes!

and thanx for the tutorial, osso

All the evidence points to Russian secret services. They won't extradite the prime suspect.

The threat of Chechen terrorists is completely unrelated to the Ukraine protesters. Any boycott should be about the treatment of gays not fear of terrorism.

Every major sporting event anywhere in the world is a potential terrorist target. I bet Putin locks down Sochi tighter than a gnat's chuff.

FWIW, the biggest sporting event of all as far as total number of world's eyeballs and endless news cycles...is either the Olympics or the World Cup...take your pick. Who knows which stripe of terrorist will decide this is their stage for maximum havoc. Who knows what and which protestors or terrorist groups could cause someone's death. This is what I call nit-picking and obfuscation.

Furthermore, a boycott will not affect Russian policy and sway Putin one iota. Just athletes handling it in a more subtle but different way with armbands and speeches will elevate the Russian mistreatment and spread the word to portions of the world that might not know about it, as admittedly ineffective as that act would be. However a boycott would not yield any useful Russian policy change. they don't respond to outside pressure regarding the internal domestic national politics.

Bottom line is their is a civil war in the Ukraine and there is going on now an even bigger world stage being given with questionable safety and security.