Tag: winter olympics
Biden Convenes More Than 100 Nations For World Democracy Summit

Biden Convenes More Than 100 Nations For World Democracy Summit

Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden, who took office amid the biggest US political crisis in decades, hosts representatives of more than 100 countries for a democracy summit Thursday that is drawing fire from China and Russia.

The event, held by video link because of the coronavirus pandemic, is billed by the White House as US leadership in an existential struggle between democracies and powerful autocracies or dictatorships.

"Make no mistake, we're at a moment of democratic reckoning," said Uzra Zeya, the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights.

"It's no secret that democracies around the world are facing increasing challenges from new and novel threats. Countries in virtually every region of the world have experienced degrees of democratic backsliding."

The summit, running Thursday and Friday, will feature opening remarks from Biden at the White House and is set to gather representatives from some 100 governments, as well as NGOs, private businesses, philanthropical organizations and legislatures.

But the fact that Biden continues to face a shocking challenge to US democratic norms from Donald Trump and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election provides a troubling backdrop for the summit.

And even before summit attendees could meet, tensions erupted simply over who should be on -- and off -- the list.

China and Russia, which Biden sees as champions of the autocracies camp, were pointedly left out, something they say is stoking an ideological "rift."

"No country has the right to judge the world's vast and varied political landscape by a single yardstick," wrote ambassadors Anatoly Antonov of Russia and Qin Gang of China in a joint essay last month.

Further prickling Chinese sensibilities, the Biden administration has invited Taiwan -- the democratically ruled island that mainland China considers part of its territory, albeit not yet under its control.

On Monday, the Biden administration also announced it would not send US government officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February in protest at human rights abuses, including "genocide" against the Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang.

Australia, Britain, and Canada have joined the diplomatic boycott, although the countries' athletes will still compete. Again, Russia joined China in criticizing the decision.

Deciding when other countries should be excluded from the summit for human rights abuses or vote rigging hasn't been any less fraught.

For example, Pakistan and the Philippines are in, while EU member Hungary's nationalist government is out. Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro is invited, while the leader of NATO member Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been shunned.

Democracy Problem At Home

The most awkward element to the summit, however, is the fact that Biden is struggling to restore faith in democracy at home, let alone on the other side of the world.

Trump refuses to recognize the results of the 2020 election, in which Biden defeated him.

With the help of sympathetic media outlets, including the powerful Fox News, the former Republican president continues to spread lies about fraud to his tens of millions of supporters.

And with shockwaves from the January 6 storming of Congress by Trump supporters still reverberating, there are growing fears over the 2022 legislative elections and the 2024 presidential vote in which Trump may seek a comeback.

Bruce Jentleson, who teaches political science at Duke University, said the summit was "never a good idea."

"Our problems here are much worse than in any other Western democracy. We had our Capitol building attacked, an attempted coup. We haven’t seen that happen in Paris, or at the Bundestag, or at the EU headquarters in Brussels," he said.

"If we want to compete, we've got to do our best and that is really more up to us within the country than somehow getting 100 leaders together and saying, 'We like democracy.'"

Wounded Vets Take Their Place On Paralympian Team

Wounded Vets Take Their Place On Paralympian Team

By William Douglas, McClatchy Washington Bureau

SOCHI, Russia — As members of the U.S. Army, Rico Roman and Jen Lee are part of America’s first line of defense. As members of the U.S. Paralympics Sled Hockey team, Roman and Lee are the last line of defense.

Roman is a rugged defenseman-turned-forward who took to sled hockey because it reminded him of the hard-hitting football he played while growing up in Portland, Ore. Lee decided to strap on goalie gear because it brought back memories of playing in the net as a kid in San Francisco.

Neither man envisioned he would become a world-class athlete competing in the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, March 7-16. But neither man envisioned losing a limb, a devastating event that can alter the trajectory of one’s life.

But don’t plan any pity parties for Roman and Lee. They’re turning tragedy into triumph by playing a sport they never dreamed of playing that’s taking them to places they never thought they’d go.

“I didn’t watch hockey, I don’t come from a hockey state,” said Roman, 33. “Never did I know there was a Paralympic team. I never, never, never, never thought I’d be traveling and playing for the U.S.A. team.”

Roman and Lee are in the Charlotte, N.C., area with the rest of the U.S. sled hockey team. They’re at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail, N.C., through Saturday training in preparation to defend their 2010 Gold Medal in Sochi.

The U.S. sled hockey team’s road to Sochi will be highlighted Monday in “Ice Warriors: USA Sled Hockey,” a one-hour documentary.

About 1,600 athletes and team members from 47 countries will participate in the Paralympic games. They’ll compete in five events: alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon, sled curling and sled hockey played at the same venues used for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Hockey hurts. The vulcanized rubber puck that travels at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, sharp blades, and hard sticks, almost always seems to find sections of unprotected flesh to strike.

But hockey also heals, body and soul. And for Roman, Lee and other members of the U.S. sled hockey team, the game provided the right medicine at the right time.

“I think a lot of people thought, hey, our goal would be to try to walk again, or even run,” Lee said. “Getting involved in this sport, to get out there, move around, play for the national team and represent your country and play all over internationally, it’s really cool.”

Roman, an Army staff sergeant, is the first war-wounded veteran to join the U.S. national sled hockey team. On Feb. 22, 2007, he was on his third tour in Iraq, finishing work at a security checkpoint at Sadar al Yusuf. He decided that his Humvee would lead a vehicular caravan back to base.

His vehicle hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and the blast severely damaged both of Roman’s legs. The pain in his left leg grew so unbearable that he opted to have it amputated just above the knee a year later.

While recovering at the Brooke Medical Center at Fort Sam Hood in San Antonio, Tex., Roman was approached by members of Operation Comfort, a nonprofit group that provides rehabilitative and therapeutic programs for wounded veterans.

Roman took up hand cycling, using specialized bikes for disabled users, and wheelchair basketball. When Operation Comfort staffers suggested sled hockey, Roman shook his head.

But once they convinced him to visit the ice rink, they couldn’t get him out. He joined the San Antonio Rampage, a sled hockey team comprised of military veterans. He joined the U.S. national sled hockey team in the 2011-12 season.

“I was hooked,” he said. “Now I go to Brook Army Medical Center and I try to recruit guys to come out and try it. And they tell me the same thing I said ‘I don’t play hockey, I don’t watch hockey.’ I go, ‘I said the exact same thing you told me right now and now I’m on the Paralympic team heading to Russia.’”

Forwards Paul Schaus and Josh Sweeney are the other war-wounded veterans on the U.S. team. They’re both Marines and bilateral leg amputees following IED explosions in Afghanistan in 2009.

Army Staff Sergeant Jen Lee is teammates with Roman on the Rampage and the U.S. squad. He enlisted in the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

The 27-year-old ended up at the Brooke Army Medical Center after a motorcycle accident resulted in his left leg being amputated above the knee. But the operation didn’t dim his athletic competitiveness.

He embraced the adaptive sports recommended by Operation Comfort as part of his physical therapy regimen. His hockey experience as a kid convinced to give sled hockey a try.

Lee quickly found a home between the pipes. In 2011, a year after he joined the Rampage, Lee was chosen for the U.S. national team. He helped guide the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2012 International Sledge World Championship and a silver medal at the 2013 world championships.

“I guess you’ve got to be weird to stop pucks, but I really enjoy it,” he said. “I’m the kind of person that if I play an away game I love to hear the crows get upset that I’ve made a magnificent save or a great save.”

The U.S sled hockey program is serious business. The national and Paralympics team is coached by Jeff Sauer, the retired University of Wisconsin and Colorado College coach.

In a 31-year career, Sauer racked up 655 wins, two NCAA Division I hockey championships, 123 NCAA tournament berths, six Western Collegiate Association playoff titles and two WCHA regular-season crowns.

AFP Photo/Loic Venance

Photo Of The Day — February 11

Photo Of The Day — February 11

Canada’s Charles Hamelin (R) embraces his girlfriend Marianne St-Gelais after winning the gold medal in the Men’s Short Track 1500 m Final at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 10, 2014. (AFP Photo/Damien Meyer)