theleftcoast.ca

The following was forwarded to us and we felt it worthy of sharing (source unknown…)

Let me begin by saying that I was one of the many Vancouverites who was perhaps a tad more than a little nervous about bringing the 2010 Winter Olympics to our city. I was concerned about the traffic and the cost as well as my perception that that the Olympics are a two week party for the rich elites. However, seeing the overwhelmingly positive impact the Games have had on our city, I can honestly say that I am a convert. I believe that the Games have brought Metro Vancouver people together in an effort to host the world.

However, they have not been perfect. I was not a big fan of the Opening Ceremonies, I liked them, I didn’t love them. But the abuse being heaped upon the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games by a few international scribes is getting more than a little annoying. In particular, the UK rag, the Guardian has taken a couple shots at our Games.

The headline for Lawrence Donegan’s Guardian piece claims that the “Vancouver Games continue downhill slide from disaster to calamity.” What a load of rot. I actually rue the fact that I am adding a link to their website, but you really should read what they have to say about our city’s hosting of the 2010 Olympics. It is rot, pure and simple.

Now a link to the Russian’s Soviet era propaganda machine, Pravda has been sent my way. Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, a character that the bloggers at Simply Jews call “a western lackey of Pravda” has written another rather odious piece called “Vancouver: Mutton Dressed as Lamb.” At the risk of seeing or feeling your internal temperature go through the roof, click on the link and read his drivel.

Among other issues Bancroft-Hinchey claims Canada has problems with Arctic boundaries and that we live in the shadow of our larger neighbour to the south. He also claims that Canada has an inferiority complex, ”born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps.”

He then goes on to discuss the “abject cruelty” of Canadian soldiers in international conflicts. Perhaps not so coincidentally he does not raise the issue of the Chechen Wars. The Chechen Wars were Russian invasions of the state of Chechnya. The first Chechen War was responsible for the deaths of between 30,000 and 100,000 civilians. It also injured more than 200,000 and displaced some 500,000 people whose cities and villages were left in ruins. None of which is mentioned by Bancroft-Hinchey.

One has to wonder how the former Soviets are doing with their venue construction for the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held in Sochi, Russia. I have heard anecdotally that the contract to build a rail connection to access the quaint little resort community has already been granted. The successful bidder? Canada’s own Bombardier.

Anyway, the attacks from a these fringe members of the international press really do seem to be unwarranted. Thoughts? Care to comment?