In Soviet Russia, Sports Chowdah Updates YOU- USA Leads Medal Count in Sochi; Team Canada/USA to Duke it Out On The Ice; Topless Lebanese Skiier in Hot Water; Bruins Shut Down Sens Before Olympic Break; BC Takes The Fifth in Beanpot; Syracuse Falls to Boston College

I swear, I'm not boycotting the Olympics- although a casual glance of this blog since the Winter games got underway in Sochi might lead one to that conclusion. On the other hand, Wyatt Earp of Support Your Local Gunfighter is keeping track of the compelling human-interest stories concerning the athletes competing in Sochi.

WINTER OLYMPICS- Despite the highly publicized gaffes such as reporters checking into hotels still under construction and a technical miscue during the opening ceremonies, the Winter Olympiad at Sochi got off and running last week.

US Snowboarder Sage Kostenburg won the first gold medal of the games in the men's slopestyle event back on Feb 8th. Well beyond the halfway point of the 2014 Sochi games, Team USA currently leads the overall medal count with 23 (7 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze). Both Russia and the Netherlands trail the USA in the medal count by one while Norway has the most gold medals with a grand total of nine.

Of most interest to me is the Team USA Men's hockey- which got off to a stellar start with a 7-1 thumping of Slovakia on Feb 12th for their Olympic debut. On Saturday, the USA needed a controversial disallowed goal and OT to get past a heavily favored Russia team, with St Louis Blue Center TJ Oshie becoming something of a cult hero with his game-winning shootout goal to give Team USA the 3-2 win.

On Wednesday, Dustin Brown got the game-winning goal for Team USA as they cruised past the Czech Republic by a 5-2 final while host Russia was eliminated from medal contention by Finland in a 3-1 loss. Team Canada got by a very game Latvia, winning 2-1 to set up a semifinal contest with Team USA on Friday. The winner of the USA/Canada men's game will go on to face the winner of the Sweden/Finland men's semifinal game for the gold.

For those of you who can't wait until Friday for some good ol' USA-on-Canada puck action, the women's hockey gold medal game will feature the USA taking on Canada on Thursday at 12:00 ET for all the marbles. The game will be televised on NBC and streamed on the NBC Olympics website.

ELSEWHERE IN THE OLYMPICS- Lebanese downhill skier Jackie Chamoun has reportedly raised the ire of politicians in Beirut after topless pictures of her were circulating online. Lebanon's interim Sports Minister reportedly called upon the Lebanese Olympic Committee to launch an inquiry and 'take the required steps to avoid harming Lebanon's international reputation'.

Chamoun has her defenders both inside and beyond Lebanon's borders, and after condemnation from Islamic clerics and demand for a parliamentary inquiry, social-media savvy Lebanese took to twitter and Facebook- sometimes posting pictures of them topless or seminude- using the hashtag #StripForJackie.

NHL- Of course, all these NHL All-Stars mean that there's no NHL for nearly 3 weeks. In fact, we're still nearly a week away from the resumption of NHL play- and that is a single game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes that was postponed earlier in the year due to a blizzard before being rescheduled to Feb 25th.

Thanks to the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have a grand total of five games in the month of February- including a Feb 26th matchup against the Sabres at the First Niagara Centre. After a quick 1-game road trip to St Louis, the Bruins returned home to the Garden to face off against the Ottawa Senators for the final game before the Olympic break. The B's jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly- and they never looked back, adding on to their lead with goals from Bobby Ryan, Jarome Iginla, Carl Soderburg, Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic to cruise to a 7-2 victory.

Although the Bruins head into the 3-week long break leading the Atlantic Division, they're still 5 points behind the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead.

While we still have to wait for a whole week for the next Bruins game, the good news is that it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network on Feb 26th with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET.

NCAA HOCKEY- For the fifth straight year, the Boston College Eagles are the Beanpot champions, having defeated Northeastern during the Beanpot Finals on Feb 10th.

Although Boston College got out to a 1-0 lead, Northeastern managed to tie the contest back up at 1-1 in the closing minutes of the second period. However, BC senior forward Patrick Brown would get what would prove to be the game winning goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation before the Eagles added on with an empty netter from Junior Johnny Gaudreau with less than two minutes to go in the game and another tally from Brown.

The 5-straight titles for BC is the first since the 1999-2000 season when the BU Terriers had won their 6th straight. Boston College came into the 2/10 Beanpot final ranked the #1 program in the USA according to a USCHO poll.

NCAA HOOPS- As awesome as a fifth straight Beanpot title for the men's hockey program might've been, the BC Eagles made headlines on Wednesday night when they toppled previously undefeated Syracuse in OT at the Carrier Dome. Sophomore Olivier Hanlon led BC with 20 points and three assists.

The Eagles went on a 29-12 run in the second half to take a 46-42 lead and Junior Lonnie Jackson had 10 points, making three out of his four free throws in OT to help BC go on to their 62-59 win. The win by Boston College means that the Wichita State Shockers are now the sole undefeated Division I men's basketball program in the nation.

At Least 23 Reported Killed In Twin Bombings of Iran's Embassy in Lebanon

Hussein Mala/ AP

More islamist-on-islamist violence; almost certainly a spillover from the Syrian civil war.

Iran's cultural attaché to Lebanon was among more than 20 people reported killed in a terrorist attack targeting Iran's Embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Beirut is considered a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Islamic militia Hezbollah and their political arm collapsed the Lebanese government as recently as 2011.

A lesser-known Al Qaeda affiliated group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming the bombings were retaliation for Hezbollah and Iran's support for the government of Bashr Al-Assad in Syria. Forces loyal to Assad have been fighting deserters from the Syrian army and Al Qaeda-aligned militants in a grinding, prolonged insurgency that has dragged on for nearly two years.

A Lebanese security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle that carried two kilograms (4.4lbs) of explosives. He blew himself up at the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility, the official said.

Less than two minutes later, a second suicide attacker driving a car rigged with 50 kilograms (110lbs) of explosives struck about 10 metres away, the official said.

Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi identified the dead diplomat as Sheikh Ibrahim Ansari. Speaking to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, he said Ansari took his post in Lebanon a month ago and was overseeing all regional cultural activities.

Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said 23 people were killed and 146 wounded in the blasts.

Syrian officials indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia.

'Each of the terrorist attacks that strike in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reek of petrodollars,' a Syrian government statement said, in a clear reference to oil-rich Gulf Arab countries that have sided with the Syrian rebels.

'People aren't sacred anymore. We aren't safe,' said a mechanic whose store windows were shattered by the blasts.

He declined to be identified because he did not want to be seen as involved in sectarian tensions that have split the Lebanese over Syria's conflict.


'People fight outside (Lebanon), but send their messages through Lebanon. With bombs. It's their SMS service,' he added.

Lebanese security officials confirmed the two bombings were both suicide attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Earlier this year, a car bombing in a Hezbollah-controlled suburb of Beirut killed 27 people and injured more than 300. Syrian troops had occupied Lebanon as recently as 2005 until the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri triggered a wave of mass protests dubbed the Cedar Revolution that ultimately put pressure on the Assad to withdraw his army from Lebanon.

Israel Launches Airstrikes Deep Within Syrian Territory

Syrian military facilities under the control of forces loyal to Syrian president Bashr Al Assad were struck by the Israeli air force in multiple raids over the weekend.

The first airstrike reportedly targeted Damascus International Airport where long-range missiles from Iran and reportedly destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon were targeted.

The second strike was considerably more dramatic.



On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck Syria's Jamraya Military research center- where Western observers believe Assad's military develops unconventional weapons. The facility is also home to a Presidential Guard brigade said to be commanded by Bashr al-Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad.

Damascus was shaken by repeated explosions coming from the north-western suburbs.

Amateur video footage and eye witness testimony suggested rocket attacks had hit weapons dumps, triggering dramatic orange-flamed blasts.

The area houses numerous military facilities, including the Jamraya research centre, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence".

A state TV bulletin said: "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army."

Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.

He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.

In addition to being located on the outskirts of Damascus, the Jamraya facility is located close to the Lebanese border, which makes facilitating the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah fairly easy.

While Israel has seemed reluctant to involve itself in Syria's ongoing civil war, this weekend's strikes were meant to send a message to Bashr al-Assad and Hezbollah's main benefactor, Iran. The missiles that were reportedly destined for Hezbollah were Iranian-made Fateh 110 ground to ground missiles, which have a range of 200 miles.

Although the Assad regime and Syria's state-run media have claimed that Israel is acting in concert with the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups, Israel actually stands to gain very little from the uncontrolled collapse of the Assad regime on their doorstep.

Syrian Armor Masses Outside of Opposition Stronghold of Homs After Hundreds Reported Killed in Shelling

Syrian forces continued their bombardment of rebel and Free Syrian Army positions in the western city of Homs Thursday and overnight into Friday. Opponents of the al-Assad regime in Damascus fear that this would be a final push by Damascus to crush organized opposition to the regime.


Recently bolstered by the late-January arrival of a substantial arms shipment from Russia and a Russian and Chinese veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the al-Assad regime for the violent crackdown of anti-regime demonstrations that have been taking place since late 2011, Syrian forces are said to have killed at least 200 rebel fighters and civilians in Homs this week. The al-Assad regime initially denied the artillery and rocket barrage even took place before claiming that the Syrian army was deployed to Homs at the urging of local residents earlier this week. While Syrian forces were shelling neighborhoods in Homs, Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Russia's head of foreign intelligence met with president Bashar al-Assad in Damascus for three hours on Tuesday.

While Syrian tanks and APCs probed the rebel defenses in Homs- Syria's 3rd largest city- civilians and wounded fighters were evacuating the city of Homs to the Wadi Khaled area some 50 miles southwest of the city, others have sought refuge across the border in northern Lebanon.

Also on Friday, two explosions rocked the northern city of Aleppo (Syria's largest city). State run TV said the explosions targeted two security compounds in the city and would not specify the number of casualties.

Shortly after this weeks UN Security Council vote, the State Department closed down the US Embassy in Damascus and evacuated all diplomatic personnel.

Days of Rage: Antigovernment Protests in Lebanon, Egypt

EGYPT: As anti-government protests entered their fourth consecutive day, the entire nation of Egypt went into Friday morning with no internet or SMS text messaging. This unprecedented step by the Mubarak regime was taken in an effort to hinder realtime communications among the protesters as the unrest has started spreading to other parts of the country.

Egypt's four primary Internet providers -- Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr -- all stopped moving data in and out of the country at 12:34 a.m., according to a network security firm monitoring the traffic. Telecom experts said Egyptian authorities could have engineered the cutoff with a simple change to the instructions for the companies' networking equipment.

The Internet appeared to remain cut off Friday morning, and cell-phone text and Blackberry Messenger services were all cut or operating sporadically in what appeared to be a move by authorities to disrupt the organization of demonstrations.

Egyptians outside the country were posting updates on Twitter after getting information in voice calls from people inside the country. Many urged their friends to keep up the flow of information over the phones.

The developments were a sign that President Hosni Mubarak's regime is toughening its crackdown following the biggest protests in years against his nearly 30-year rule.

The shutdown comes as former International Atomic Energy Association head Mohammed El Baradei arrived in Cairo from Vienna on Thursday. The former UN nuclear watchdog [and a piss poor one at that- NANESB!] said that the Mubarak regime was on its last legs and has expressed a willingness to serve in some capacity on a post-Mubarak interim government.

[OK, kindly indulge me as I put on my conspiracy theorist hat. I didn't give much thought to any external factors playing a role in Egypt's unrest until I heard El Baradei's name mentioned. I'm well aware the Mubarak's autocratic rule combined with the rising prices of food and high unemployment by themselves would set up conditions for unrest.

With that said, if I wanted a nuclear-armed Iran, I would've had El Baradei continue to serve as the IAEA head- North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs had advanced considerably under his watch. Perhaps there's some quid-pro-quo involved or perhaps El Baradei really was just that inept and incompetent as IAEA head.

Also, Mubarak is in his 80s, so you wouldn't exactly need a Machiavellian advisor to realize that your golden opportunity to seize power would come sooner rather than later. Even if I did fully believe that Iran was stirring up unrest in Egypt so they could install El Baradei as a puppet leader of a client state, even they likely would've been caught off guard by the nature of this week's protests and are perhaps attempting to move up their timetable after events in Tunisia earlier this month.

This would not be unprecedented for Iran's ruling mullahs- take a look at Lebanon since 1979. Also keep in mind that the Iranians named a street in honor of Sadat's assassin.

Whaddaya think; too tinfoil hat?- NANESB!]

LEBANON: Sunni Muslims and supporters of ousted Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri burned tires and blocked roads in Lebanon on Tuesday to protest the takeover of the Lebanese government by Hezbollah.

Angry protesters in the northern city of Tripoli also torched a satellite van belonging to the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera TV Network, which Hariri's supporters have referred to as 'Hezbollah TV'. The series of protests came shortly before 68 out of 128 members of parliament named Telecom mogul Najib Mikati as Prime Minister-designate.

At issue will be the the Mikati government's willingness to accept the results of the United Nations Tribunal's investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri- Saad's father. The Tribunal had completed the investigation and handed down a series of sealed indictments widely believed to implicate Hezbollah earlier this month. Hezbollah has denied any role in the assassination 2005 Valentine's Day car bombing that killed Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in Beirut and claims Israel was behind the assassination [even though Hezbollah and their Syrian and Iranian benefactors would benefit most from the elder Hariri's death- NANESB!].

Lebanese, Tunisian Governments Collapse.

Ministers from the Islamic group Hezbollah and their allies withdrew from the 30 member coalition cabinet in Beirut while the Lebanese prime minister was in Washington D.C. meeting with President Obama at the White House this week. This has effectively collapsed the Lebanese government.

Eleven ministers from Hezbollah and their allies pulled out of the 30-member coalition cabinet Wednesday after Prime Minister Saad Hariri refused to discredit a United Nations-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Hariri tribunal is expected as soon as next week to indict two to five members of Hezbollah for roles in the assassination, according to officials briefed on the court's work.

The announcement of the resignations coincided with Prime Minister Hariri's meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington. An opposition minister said they wanted Mr. Hariri to "meet Obama as the former prime minister of Lebanon."

Successive U.S. governments have supported Mr. Hariri and his father in a bid to build a secular Western-leaning government on Israel's northern border. The Obama administration had viewed the White House meeting as an important symbol of support for the Lebanese leader

The new developments underscore the re-emergence of Syria as a formidable power broker in Lebanon and its crucial role—along with Iran—in steering Hezbollah, a political and militant party on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist groups.

"On big regional and strategic matters Iran has the first word but in Lebanon's internal affairs, Syria calls the shots," said Okab Sakr, a parliamentarian for Mr. Hariri's bloc.

In the short term, it is unlikely that Hezbollah, will resort to violence, as it did in 2008, in a dispute over security and the use of the movement's telecom network, analysts say.

Hezbollah's ministers on Wednesday stressed that withdrawing from the government was within their democratic rights.

Mr. Hariri's office said he was cutting his visit to Washington short and heading home, where he would meet with President Michel Suleiman to discuss the next steps.

The developments in Beirut has put Israel's military on alert, as Hezbollah has used southern Lebanon to launch rocket attacks into Israel as recently as 2006.

Reuters photo

Elsewhere, the president of Tunisia has fled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after demonstrators protesting high unemployment and food prices began rioting and clashing with police.

President Zine al-Abadine Ben Ali seized power in a bloodless coup in 1987, and leaked diplomatic cables from the US Embassy compare Ben Ali's family and inner circle to a mafia family.The leaked cables seemed to confirm what many Tunisians had already suspected about the ruling party and first family.

Clashes between authorities and protesters and police crackdowns had killed 23 in Tunisia this week, although some human rights groups say the total could be as high as 66.

The final moments of Mr Ben Ali's long dominance of his country will be remembered for the drama on the streets as protests that have raged across the country for four weeks, finally reached the capital on Thursday.

Demonstrators ignored a curfew, and took no notice of a promise by Mr Ben Ali that night not to seek a sixth term of office in 2014. Instead of returning home, they took to the streets and the roof-tops, even of government buildings and the interior ministry, hurling stones at symbols of authority.

Ben Ali named Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi Tunisia's interim head of state before leaving the country. An aircraft thought to be carrying Ben Ali departed from Tunis and landed on the Italian island of Sardinia, but that turned out to be a decoy.

Although Tunisian airspace was briefly shut down, British Travel agency Thomas Cook began evacuating an estimated 3000 Britons on vacation in the North African country.

Although the interim government announced plans for a special election within 60 days, rioters continued looting businesses and torched the capital city's main train station on Friday.