Search
Recent comments
- provoked....
3 hours 11 min ago - colonialism 2.2....
3 hours 27 min ago - I am the storm....
11 hours 28 min ago - biden is a crook....
11 hours 34 min ago - disinfo française......
13 hours 3 min ago - colonial warming.....
13 hours 11 min ago - deserter or double asgent?....
17 hours 1 min ago - bibi's interest.....
20 hours 5 min ago - war and money....
21 hours 29 min ago - lost trust....
23 hours 2 min ago
Democracy Links
Member's Off-site Blogs
balls-up at tennis orstraya.......
The presence of a Russian flag in the stands at the Australian Open has prompted organisers to ban them from Melbourne Park.
Key points:- The flag was visible behind fans on court 14 during a match between Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl and Russian Kamilla Rakhimova
- Tennis Australia said fans were initially allowed to bring the flags in if they did not cause a disruption
- Russian and Belarusian players have been playing under no flag in many sports since the invasion of Ukraine last February
The red, white and blue stripes of the Russian flag were visible in the crowd during the first-round match between Kateryna Baindl and Kamilla Rakhimova on day one of the tennis major.
Tennis Australia (TA) said the display during the Baindl-Rakhimova match prompted a change to its policy at the tournament.
"Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open," TA said in a statement.
"Our initial policy was that fans could bring them in but could not use them to cause disruption. Yesterday we had an incident where a flag was placed courtside.
"The ban is effective immediately.
"We will continue to work with the players and our fans to ensure the best possible environment to enjoy the tennis."
Ukraine's Baindl defeated Russia's Rakhimova 7-5, 6-7(8/10), 6-1 on court 14, where viewers saw a Russian flag hanging on a fence during the match.
On the same day the ban was announced, a Russian flag was held up by fans in the stands at John Cain Arena during the match between Russian Andrey Rublev and Austria's Dominic Thiem.
That match started before the ban was in place and finished after it was announced.
Belarusian fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka said she respected TA's decision.
"If everyone feels better this way, then it's OK," she said,
"I have zero control on it. What can I say? They did it, OK? No flags, no flags."
Russian and Belarusian opponents have not been able to play under their countries' flags in a number of sports, including tennis, since the invasion of Ukraine began in February last year.
Ukraine's ambassador to Australia and New Zealand saw the flag and called on Tennis Australia to take action.
Players from Russia and Belarus were banned from playing Wimbledon in 2022, which led to that tournament being stripped of its ranking points by tennis's governing bodies.
Former Australian ambassador to Ukraine Doug Trappett — who served in the role from 2015 to 2016 — said the Australian Open and Tennis Australia should have done the same, drawing attention to a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that killed dozens.
STOP HERE.... THE "MISSILE ATTACK" WAS MOST PROBABLY A STRAY BADLY-AIMED UKRAINIAN DEFENCE MISSILE THAT HIT THE BUILDING...
OKAY, EVEN ONE ADVISOR TO ZELENSKY SAID THAT THE UKRAINIAN MISSILE HIT A RUSSIAN MISSILE HIGH UP AND BOTH FELL ONTO THE BUILDING.
MEANWHILE THE KIEV GOVERNMENT IS A FASCIST NAZI GOVERNMENT THAT HAS BEEN ODIOUS TOWARDS UKRAINE'S 35 PER CENT OF RUSSIAN/UKRAINIANS, ESPECIALLY IN THE EAST. PUTIN ONLY INTEVENED UNDER THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER 2202 (Russian military operation to enforce Security Council Resolution 2202 and protect the entire Ukrainian population from its "integral nationalist" — READ NAZI, BANDERITE — government). WE ALSO KNOW THAT THE MINSK AGREEMENTS DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE RUSSIANS LIVING IN UKRAINE WERE FRENCH AND GERMAN BULLSHIT....
- By Gus Leonisky at 17 Jan 2023 - 4:53pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
- Login or register to post comments
pushing german shit uphill....
There is a gap in international law that currently doesn’t allow the West to prosecute Russia for “aggression”against Ukraine, so a “new format” is needed, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday. She made the comments in a speech to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, while visiting the Netherlands.
“We talked about working with Ukraine and our partners on the idea of setting up a special tribunal for crimes of aggression against Ukraine,” Baerbock said, according to the state broadcaster DW.
Such a body would be based on Ukrainian law, but could include international elements “at a location outside Ukraine, with financial support from partners and with international prosecutors and judges, so that impartiality and legitimacy are guaranteed.”
Baerbock said she had discussed the idea with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba last week, describing the proposal as “not ideal, not even for me,” but saying it was necessary “because international law currently has a hole in it.”
Elaborating on Baerbock’s speech, the German Foreign Ministry later tweeted that international law “has an accountability gap with regard to the crime of aggression.” They called for modifying the Rome Statute – the treaty that established the ICC – to allow prosecution of aggression when only the victim state falls under the court’s jurisdiction.
While the ICC can try to investigate and prosecute alleged atrocities in Ukraine, neither Moscow nor Kiev have ever ratified the Rome Statute to recognize its jurisdiction. Ukraine has since given “special dispensation” to the ICC to prosecute war crimes on its territory, per DW.
The government in Kiev has called for putting the Russian leadership on trial for war crimes as one of the preconditions for any peace talks. Moscow has dismissed such demands as “nonsense” and said that any such tribunal would be entirely illegitimate,
The ICC was modeled after the ad-hoc tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which relied on NATO countries to fund its investigations and trials, and enforce its verdicts. In 2002, before the Rome Statute went into effect, the US Congress passed a law prohibiting any Americans from cooperating with the ICC or extradition of US citizens for trial there. The American Service-Members’ Protection Act (also known as The Hague Invasion Act), also authorized “all means necessary and appropriate” to release any detained Americans – or their allies – from the ICC.
READ MORE:
https://www.rt.com/news/569972-germany-war-crimes-ukraine/
READ FROM TOP.
BAERBOCK IS A NAZI..... and DW is blind....
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....
open-ish......
Earlier in the day, Russia’s Andrey Rublev also complained to the umpire about spectators during his tie against Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland. Two men at the Kia Arena could be seen waving a Ukraine flag in the direction of the No 5 seed.
“The flag, for me, it’s OK,” Rublev told the umpire early in the second set during his 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3 win. “But they are saying bad words to me.”
READ MORE:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jan/19/melbourne-park-fans-australian-open-tennis
READ FROM TOP.
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....