The WADA Russian athlete ban

Serious as this is I wasn’t going to cover this – until this story appeared

In Deep WADA: Famous Russian Pranksters Learn Truth Behind Doping Scandal

A pair of notorious Russian phone pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus managed to trick high-ranking World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) officials into revealing the truth behind the doping scandal that threatens the professional integrity and reputation of Russian athletes

Sputnik,

22 July, 2016

After pranking celebrities and top-ranking politicians, including Sir Elton John, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the two Russian pranksters set their sights on those involved in the current doping scandal.

The entire prank was in fact conducted on May 28 during a prank show at the Russian TV channel NTV, but for ethical reasons and in order to avoid influencing the doping scandal investigation, NTV's administration chose to postpone airing this particular program.

First, one of the prankers, Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan), called the head of WADA Craig Reedie and, posing as Ukrainian Minister of Sports Ihor Zhdanov, inquired whether the ongoing investigation might allow for the revision of the results of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Reedie replied that so far he didn’t see any proof of Russia's alleged wrongdoings, and also let slip that almost all media accusations regarding the violations at the Sochi lab originated from the US – namely, The New York Times.

Next, Alexei Stolyarov (Lexus) called the head of the USADA Travis Tygart and, again pretending to be Zhdanov, asked him to revise the results of the biathlon competitions that took place during the Sochi Olympics, where the Ukrainian athletes fared worse than their Russian counterparts.

Tygart promised to do all he can and said that he hopes that the medals redistribution takes place before the Olympic Games in Rio.

When 'Zhdanov' inquired whether the Russian national team should take part in the Rio Olympics at all, the USADA chief replied that if he was the one calling the shots, Russia's athletes would’ve been banned from all competitions for 12 months.

Finally, Lexus called Ihor Zhdanov himself and, this time masquerading as WADA chief Reedie, offered to make the Ukrainian anti-doping lab the primary facility of its kind for Eastern Europe and make it responsible for handling doping samples from other countries in the region, including Russia.

The Ukrainian minister was delighted by this offer and soon shared the details of his conversation with the viewers of Ukrainian television. However, after he learned that it was in fact a prank call, he hurriedly announced that it was a provocation masterminded by Russian secret services.

Both prankers however have refuted allegations that they had help from any security agencies, Russian or otherwise, when performing these prank calls.

The entire show will be aired on Russian TV channel NTV on 7:30 PM (GMT).

Wishful thinking (Saker rant)

Vineyard of the Saker,

21 July, 2016

Caveat one: Wishful thinking is considered bad, pollyannish, naïve, deluded, etc. Fine. I will plead “guilty” to all of these and boldly proceeded to express some terminal wishful thinking. I will do that because I do believe that it is sometimes important to set aside such otherwise precious things as realism and the so-called “real world” and to unabashedly proclaim that the world we live in is not the world we wished to be living in and that while we might break under the weight of reality, we sill are capable of remembering the ideals we hold dear. And then maybe, our wishes, at least some of them, will come true.

Caveat two: I won’t bother explaining the facts. Those who by now failed to understand what is happening will not be convinced otherwise anyway, as for those who understand, they don’t need me to rehash it all.

Let me begin by a confession. I support the western sanctions against Russia. I love the Magnitsky Act. The day the Eurovision was won by a Ukronazi manipulated Tatar in clear violation of the Eurovision rules, I was delighted. Likewise, I whole-heartedly support the campaign to denounce homophobia in Russia. I think that the NATO summit in Warsaw was a stunning success and I applaud the deployment of NATO battalions in Poland, the Baltics and, frankly, all around the Russian border. I think that Victoria Nuland and Mc Caine should be the next recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize and, of course, I totally support the complete expulsion of all Russian athletes from the Olympic Games.

I support all of the above because they all serve to show the true face of the AngloZionist Empire, something which the Russian people greatly need.

The latest decision by the three judges of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) – one Italian, one Brit and one American – is a perfect example of the truly cosmic level of hypocrisy and double-standards which is not only customary, but the hallmark of the Empire’s application of so-called “western values” towards Russia. It is also a casebook example of the use of “soft power” which goes even beyond strategic psychological operations.

Let me immediately make a disclaimer here: I do not believe that there is a world-wide conspiracy to try to hurt, weaken or defame Russia. Though it is possible, never say never, but I find it unlikely that the judges as the Eurovision or the CAS were paid to take their decision. This is not how this works.

What happens in this: the Empire uses some of its assets to begin a Russia-bashing/Putin-bashing campaign. At the same time, Russian actions inside Russia (such as the law on registering foreign agents) and outside Russia (08.08.08, Crimea, Donbass, Syria) are presented as horrible violations of human rights and international law. And if Putin is supported by 80% or more of Russians, it must be because he is a ruthless KGB agent, because he stuck all his opponents in jail or even killed them and because there is no free press in Russia.

And then you bring in one single German presstitute, Hajo Seppelt, to make several documentaries with no evidence whatsoever about how the doping in Russia is organized by the Russian state and that is enough to start an international campaign which, unsurprisingly, gets the support of the sports federations of the countries most likely to benefit from the absence of Russians. Truth be told, besides the poor Brazilians, who are on the US “hit list” anyway, nobody needs Russia in the next Olympics, especially not after the Russian triumph in Sochi.

That kind of “psychological preparation of the battlefield” is quite enough to take your typical western spineless bureaucrat (that is what these judges are) to know what is best for him and vote the right way. That, and the unspoken understanding of what will happen to you if you, shall way say, go the “Scott Ritter way”: you will end up like him.

This is why I support all these anti-Russian moves: because each time the latest double-standard is applied to Russia the number of people in Russia who believe in the decency of the AngloZionist Empire shrinks. This is why I spoke of a “much deserved slap in the face” of Russia when the Eurovision thing happened. Not that I want the Russian people to be humiliated, not at all, but I do want them to wake up and put pressure on the Kremlin to do the right thing.

And here is, in my wishful thinking, what I believe Russia ought to do:

Withdraw from any and all venue which are under AngloZionist control. Stay at the UN were Russia and China have veto power at the SC, and get out of any organization or venue which is clearly controlled by AngloZionist interests. And yes, there will be a price to pay for that. But what is taking place today between the Empire and Russia is a war, albeit a new kind of war, one which is 80% informational, 15% economic and 5% military. And you cannot fight a war without taking losses and paying a price. Besides, the last time around the West attacked Russia lost millions of her people, so I don’t consider it too much a price to pay to have Russian athletes or singers removed from AngloZionist controlled events.

Not only that, but Russia is big and rich enough, especially in talented people, to organize her ownevents, not only in sports and music, but also in many other international activities. Why not have a Russia based international human rights organization to compete against the CIA or Soros controlled ones? Oh sure, the western media will ridicule it just as they ridiculed RT. But they sure ain’t ridiculing RT anymore – because of the immense success RT has had internationally (did you know that one of the first measures taken by the new pro-US Argentinian government was to yank the licenses of RT and Telemundo in Argentina? So goes democracy…).

Yeah, I know, there are numerous lobbies inside Russia who made their wealth on working with (for?) the West. From the “economic bloc” in the Medvedev government to the big money movers in sports, the idea of simply pulling out from AngloZionist controlled venues will encounter tremendous opposition in Russia. But here is the good news: the vast majority of the Russian people are not tied in this system and they don’t have a “where I sit is where I stand” interest in accepting slap after slap after slap from the Empire. So the key to it all is to empower the regular people and weaken the grip of the financial elites. Exactly what Putin has been doing since he came to power.

Will that ever happen? So far, the approach Putin has take is not to slam the door and leave. Instead he simply facilitated the creation of new venues (he did that with Russian money reserves for example). So, who knows? He might do something similar this time around. But I personally think that no Russian athlete should go to Rio, not with a “neutral” label, not even with a Russian flag. I would apologize to the Brazilians and tell them that this is nothing personal, but that Russia cannot go. Why? Because even if “only” Russian track and field athletes are collectively sanctioned, then all the others risk the same treatment the next time around. Besides, call me passé, but I believe in such antiquated notions as honor, solidarity and dignity. I cannot imagine one athlete going while knowing that other, innocent ones, have been banned. It would be the ultimate victory for the AngloZionists if they succeeded in splitting up Russian athletes into two categories: banned ones and humiliated one. Personally? I would much prefer to be in the first group than in the second one.

Wishful thinking?

Probably.

The Saker