Current Events

The Olympics are not even half over, but Russia seems to be suffering a collective panic attack over the lackluster performance of its athletes. “Russian Olympians Lose Historic Superiority” was the front-page headline on Thursday in Kommersant, an influential newspaper. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the firing of Russia’s sports minister and the head of the Russian Olympic Committee.

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The gloom seemed to thicken on Friday as Russians woke up to the news that their superstar figure skater, Yevgeny Plushenko, took only the silver. Even worse, Russia's powerhouse men's hockey team faltered against Slovakia, falling to the former Soviet satellite, 2-1, in a shootout.

Favored Russians have floundered in the biathlon, and the women’s hockey team was trounced twice by a collective score of 18 to 1. (It is best not even to mention pairs figure skating results around here.)

Among the few areas where Russians could still earn a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, the mass circulation tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets said, is excuse-making. Athletes have blamed the weather, the facilities and even the humidity for their lapses.

After Australian aboriginal groups accused a Russian ice dancing pair of mocking aborigines, Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, suggested that they were the target of an international plot to force them to alter their performance.

“I think that this is a well-executed strategy directed against our athletes,” Mr. Piseev told Russian television from Vancouver.

In Russia, international athletic competitions — particularly the Winter Olympics, in this frozen country — are considered one of the last prominent international arenas to showcase the country’s strength. The anxiety has been heightened because Russia will host the next Winter Games at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2014.

The governing United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, released a statement on Thursday suggesting that there could be repercussions for athletic officials if Russian athletes continued to fall short in Vancouver.

The Olympics are not even half over, but Russia seems to be suffering a collective panic attack over the lackluster performance of its athletes. “Russian Olympians Lose Historic Superiority” was the front-page headline on Thursday in Kommersant, an influential newspaper. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the firing of Russia’s sports minister and the head of the Russian Olympic Committee.

[...]

The gloom seemed to thicken on Friday as Russians woke up to the news that their superstar figure skater, Yevgeny Plushenko, took only the silver. Even worse, Russia's powerhouse men's hockey team faltered against Slovakia, falling to the former Soviet satellite, 2-1, in a shootout.

Favored Russians have floundered in the biathlon, and the women’s hockey team was trounced twice by a collective score of 18 to 1. (It is best not even to mention pairs figure skating results around here.)

Among the few areas where Russians could still earn a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics, the mass circulation tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets said, is excuse-making. Athletes have blamed the weather, the facilities and even the humidity for their lapses.

After Australian aboriginal groups accused a Russian ice dancing pair of mocking aborigines, Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, suggested that they were the target of an international plot to force them to alter their performance.

“I think that this is a well-executed strategy directed against our athletes,” Mr. Piseev told Russian television from Vancouver.

In Russia, international athletic competitions — particularly the Winter Olympics, in this frozen country — are considered one of the last prominent international arenas to showcase the country’s strength. The anxiety has been heightened because Russia will host the next Winter Games at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2014.

The governing United Russia party, led by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, released a statement on Thursday suggesting that there could be repercussions for athletic officials if Russian athletes continued to fall short in Vancouver.

Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have intercepted live video feeds from Predator drones, a key weapon in a Pentagon spy system that serves as the military's eyes in the sky for surveillance and intelligence collection.

Though militants could see the video, there is no evidence they were able to jam the electronic signals from the unmanned aerial craft or take control of the vehicles, a senior defense official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence issues.

Obtaining the video feeds can provide insurgents with critical information about what the military may be targeting, including buildings, roads and other facilities.

Shiite fighters in Iraq used off-the-shelf software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The interception, first done there at least a year ago, was possible because the remotely flown planes had unprotected communications links. [...]

The military has known about the vulnerability for more than a decade, but assumed adversaries would not be able to exploit it.

Following the wreath-laying ceremony, Rabbi Reuvan Bulka, the honorary chaplain of the Canadian Legion delivered the benediction.

"We who ride on the coattails of our heroes can best show our gratitude by standing up for the values they continue to defend by nurturing in Canada an enveloping culture of respect, of harmony, of inclusion, a great country worthy of their great sacrifice," Bulka said.

"This is our sacred trust, our unshakable perpetual obligation, our way to actively remember," he said.

Scores of veterans, current members of the military, police officers and cadets then paraded past the reviewing stand where Charles, Camilla, Jean, Morley and other dignitaries stood.

The close of the ceremony brought a flood of onlookers forward to place their poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,

More than 100,000 Canadians soldiers have died in conflicts since 1899, including:

• More than 240 in the Boer War.
• More than 66,000 in the First World War.
• More than 44,000 in the Second World War.
• 516 in the Korean War.
• 121 in peacekeeping missions.
• 133 in Afghanistan.

More than 600,000 Canadian soldiers volunteered to go overseas for the Great War. In addition to those who died, 172,000 were wounded.

Only one Canadian veteran from the First World War is still alive — John Babcock, 109, who was born on an Ontario farm and lives in the United States.

Wander my friends, wander with me
Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally
Despite our weariness,
we'll follow the road
Over hills and valleys
to the end of the journey

Come on my friends and sing with me
Fill the night with joy and sport
Here's a toast to the friends who have gone from us
Like the mist of the green mountain,
gone forever

Somali pirates in two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel early Wednesday after apparently mistaking it for a commercial boat, the French military said. The French ship gave chase and captured five suspected pirates.

No one was wounded by the volleys from the Kalashnikov rifles directed at La Somme, a 3,800-ton refueling ship, French military spokesman Rear Adm. Christophe Prazuck said.

La Somme "was probably taken for a commercial ship by the two small skiffs" about 250 nautical miles (290 statute miles) off Somalia's coast, Prazuck said.

"They understood their mistake too late," he said.

One skiff fled, and La Somme pursued the second one in an hour-long chase.

"There were five suspected pirates on board. No arms, no water, no food," Prazuck said.