(NY Times, registration required) Forfeits at Cricket World Cup Won't Be the Last... At the current cricket World Cup, New Zealand declined to set foot in Kenya, and England refused to play its match in Zimbabwe. Those decisions had nothing to do with the possible war in Iraq but rather with conditions in the two host countries. New Zealand managed to play into the second round despite the forfeit, but England was eliminated yesterday as a direct consequence of not showing up in Zimbabwe. [...] The cricket forfeits, however, have direct implications for international tournaments. Planners must consider the potential for politics, protests and downright violence years down the pike.
The NY Times deigns to even notice that cricket exists? ... whatever. Although why they think that Americans would care utterly escapes me. But I digress, already.
The real glamour event upcoming is, of course, the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. That is just going to be one big, luscious, tempting target for terrorists of all stripes. It's close to the Middle East, so Israeli athletes will likely be targeted in their own right. The American athletes will, of course, have a large, "Just shoot me/kidnap me/blow me up now" target on their backs, as well. Maybe a few British and Australians, too.
It's not as if there isn't cause for concern. In a rare public rebuke, the IOC has criticized Athens for being so very behind on venue construction. It's looking increasingly as though several venues will be unable to hold their test events prior to the Olympics themselves; the test events would enable them to identify shortcomings in security and other areas. (After all, if the stadium isn't actually there before the event, you can't see the blind spots, can't identify or eliminate hiding places, can't make sure that all the security cameras are where they need to be ... you can't even be sure that the event area itself has everything you need to stage the event.) Athens strengthened its antiterrorism laws in response to some very sharp and pointed criticism (and, more importantly, the loss of the centennial games to Atlanta and the millenial games to Sydney, with security being a stated major concern both times) Athens also seems to be under some misapprehension that a trial of some captured November 17 Group terrorists will show that their security is effective; why a trial in and of itself would have anything to do with effective security, I'm not sure.
Posted by iain at March 05, 2003 01:05 PMComments
