Daily Archives: January 27, 2022

Epicurus and Natural Selection – Discovery Institute

Posted: January 27, 2022 at 11:58 pm

Image: Artemis, goddess of the hunt, with nymphs; a fresco from Pompeii, by ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Editors note: We are delighted to present a new series by Neil Thomas, Reader Emeritus at the University of Durham, Charles Darwin and the Ghost of Epicurus. This is the third article in the series.Look here for the full series so far. Professor Thomass recent book isTaking Leave of Darwin: A Longtime Agnostic Discovers the Case for Design(Discovery Institute Press).

The ancient voices of Epicurus and Lucretius, whose resonance in antiquity right up to the middle of the 19th century was but meagre, have been hugely amplified by the appropriations of post-Darwinian mediators who have, in effect, co-opted the atomist philosophy and adapted it for consumption by the modern worldon the back of the Darwinian hypothesis of natural selection. Such voices have rendered considerably less audible the voices of the ancient teleologists whose ideas successfully supported Western civilization for two millennia. Atomism as instrumentalized by Epicurus and his successors was, as David Sedley remarked, a vital weapon against divine creation.1The atomists contention that all was due to accident was touted not as what it was an unsubstantiated philosophical lucubration without any empirical back-up but taken at face value and used as a means of freeing fellow citizens from what was taken at the time to be multiple divine persecutions.

One can understand and even sympathize with the atomists argument from a purely tactical point of view. From all that we know from Homer, the gods and goddesses of popular conception were little but fallible human beings writ large. They had the same vices as their mortal counterparts and had little enough to do with the later human tendency to project moral ideals into that non-finite and unconditioned realm imagined to be that of the divine. The classical pantheon, lacking the moral credibility that goes with an identification of gods with ideals of purity and moral sublimity, had become a source of embarrassment to thoughtful Greeks. Lucretius contended that the gods inspired fear rather than allegiance and were more to be propitiated than venerated.2

Hence Epicurus was an atheist in the original sense of the word of being an anti-theist, one who rejected the baleful and destructive values of the Athenian pantheon. His was more a declaration of war against the flawed moral nature of the gods (technically termed theomachy or misotheism) than it was a statement of outright disbelief (a-theism).3He was often in fact referred to by his contemporaries as Epicurustheomakhos.4Today we have thankfully come a long way from the times of child sacrifice and other cruel propitiatory rites, yet the anachronistic thought of divine persecution has curiously been rescued from near-oblivion in our own day by the atheistic proselytizing of Richard Dawkins.

When some two decades ago Dawkins paid to have a somewhat underwhelming motto Theres probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life emblazoned on the side of London buses, many were bemused and prompted to ask themselves what precisely they might have to be worried about. The sentiment seems more than a little anachronistic. It is as if Dawkins were living in the time of Epicurus when conceptions of the gods as capricious, amoral, and unhelpful to humankind were commonly held. The slogan appeared to represent a projection of Dawkinss own thinking rather than an effective means of outreach to the generality of people.5It is perhaps not too difficult to imagine him clothed in an Epicurean toga with an imposing-looking scroll in hand intoning the message of Absolute Truth in his latter-day guise of Grand Pontiff of Humanity.

However much Dawkins lays himself open to parody,6there is no denying that this latter-day avatar of the ancient atomists has achieved some degree of traction through his indefatigable channeling of the spirits of Darwin, Epicurus, and Lucretius. Indeedcountless instances of Epicurean notions abound in modern, advanced thought. In Jacques MonodsLe Hasard et la Necessit(Chance and Necessity), for instance, the author advances a number of arguments which are quintessentially Epicurean/Lucretian, to such an extent, it has been observed, that it would be an exaggeration, but a pardonable one, to say that no leading principle of significance separates Monod from Lucretius than that the former merely knows more chemistry.7

In fact, David Sedley has gone so far as to claim that the atomists, with their faltering anticipations of Darwinism, may for the majority of readers have emerged as todays winners by proxy.8Quite so. Darwin, largely innocent of formal philosophy himself, was nevertheless able to pull off a dazzling intellectual coup against the major thinkers of repute in the Western tradition going back over two millennia and to single-handedly rehabilitate the reputation of a philosophical school once almost universally excoriated. The coup is particularly notable since Darwin succeeded where all the argumentative brilliance of David Hume had struck little fire. So how did Darwin pull off this astounding philosophical manoeuvre?

Next, For Darwin, Timing Was Everything.

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Coming to Broadway this spring, a bevy of Jewish themes and writers – Forward

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From Richard Rodgerss melodic music to Arthur Millers tragic dramas to Stephen Sondheims brilliant scores, Jewish artists have been essential contributors to Broadway theater.

This years spring season is a testament to that legacy, with a list that includes Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish playwrights and librettists. I talked to three: Harvey Fierstein, a winner of multiple Tonys who has revised the book for the first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl; Paula Vogel, who is reexamining her Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive for its 25th anniversary and its Broadway debut; and Richard Greenberg, whose 2003 Tony Award-winning play Take Me Out tells of what happens when a Major League Baseball player comes out as gay.

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Harvey Fierstein.

First premiering in 1964, Funny Girl tells the partly biographical story of Fanny Brice. The daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants, Brice rose from the tenements of the Lower East Side to show-business fame in the Ziegfeld Follies in the first decades of the 20th century only to languish in a doomed relationship with an infamous gambler. In the original production, Brice was portrayed by Barbra Streisand, who soared to stardom from Flatbush, the then-Jewish neighborhood where she grew up. The revivals star is Beanie Feldstein, whose movie credits include Lady Bird and Booksmart.

While critics raved about Streisand, they were much less enthusiastic about the musicals book. I dont think it was ever really a classic book, Fierstein, 67, said in a recent telephone interview. I think they sort of gave up after Act One and just made it a Barbra Streisand concert for Act Two. It had its problems.

So what has he done to improve things? When you rewrite, when you reshape, when you come in like this, the idea is to not give up any of the stuff that people want to see. Youre coming in to fix something and hopefully not leave fingerprints, so that nobody really knows what it is you did.

Asked what exactly hes changed, Fierstein said, Ive restructured it somewhat, taken a song out, added a song, moved things around, but in such a way that you will get every thrill that you want from what you remember. There are things that have never been in Funny Girl before that hopefully will be delightful.

Its a terrific show, he said. That score is such a fabulous score it includes the classic Streisand hit People and its a good-hearted show. Its a heartbreaking relationship between two people who really wanted something to work out and it didnt.

Why has it taken so long for a Broadway revival and why is now the right time? The show has had its problems and nobody really felt like taking it on, Fierstein said. But we did. We did it in London. I rewrote the show and we put it up at the Menier Chocolate Factory where it was a huge hit. And we moved it to the Savoy Theater and then we took it on tour and then the plan was to bring it to New York. But then the pandemic hit and it delayed everything. But here we are now.

Funny Girl was originally composed by Jule Styne, with the lyrics by Bob Merrill and a libretto by Isobel Lennart. The revivals director is the Tony-winning Michael Mayer (known for Spring Awakening), completing the all-Jewish creative team.

Fierstein, who has won four Tony awards in four different categories, played the iconic Jewish storyteller Tevye in the 2004 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. His Jewish heritage, he said, shows in the way that he thinks, in the way that he writes being Jewish figures into it all.

I was born and grew up in Bensonhurst, he said, referring to the Brooklyn neighborhood. I lived Jew-centric, because on one corner was the Jewish Community House and on the opposite corner was the Yeshiva of Bensonhurst. The rabbi walked past my house six times a day. I grew up in a household that spoke Yiddish. My mother and her friends rolled bandages for the Israel Defense Fund in the basement and for cancer care, and there was a woman with the tattooed numbers on her arm from the Sobibor concentration camp, so I grew up with that reality of the inhumanity against the Jews.

Sure, hes also an atheist. But as he sees it, that has nothing to do with his Jewish identity. Im a very Jewish person. Somebody said to me, How can you be Jewish and an atheist? I said, I guess youve never really met Jews. He laughed. Because if you took three rabbis and put them in a room together, one of them would be an atheist. Just so they could have a conversation. Jews have to have something to argue about. Its just our nature.

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Paula Vogel.

Paula Vogels How I Learned to Drive won a Pulitzer Prize when it premiered Off Broadway in 1997. Now the show, which explores a sexually abusive relationship between a young woman and her uncle, is making its Broadway debut with its original stars, Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse, and its original director, Mark Brokaw.

Vogel, 70, whose father was Jewish, is no stranger to Jewish themes. Her recent play Indecent riffed on Sholem Aschs God of Vengeance, an early-20th century play about a daughter of a Jewish brothel keeper who falls in love with one of her fathers prostitutes.

Like the iconic How I Learned to Drive, the play frankly addresses topics that are hard to talk about. Indeed, theater theorist Jill Dolan has noted that Vogel gravitates toward sensitive, difficult, fraught issues. Vogel, reached by phone for an interview, agreed.

I think thats true of every artist, the playwright said. This is what theater is made for for us as a community, to examine the fraught issues that are hurting us.

And this, she said, is where her fathers Jewish heritage has influenced her as a playwright and as a person. What I knew from my fathers side of the family is that all topics were ripe for conversation at the dinner table. No topic was barred. The whole purpose of having dinner was actually to have the arguments and the conversation. The food was nice too. But just this notion that if something is troubling us we need to examine it, we need to talk about it, we need to look at what our values are. And then we need to take action.

Vogel is thrilled by this revival of How I Learned to Drive, noting that female playwrights rarely see their work revived during their lifetimes.

Rather than doing this as a revival, we are doing it as a reexamination, she said. Were going to get back into the room and were going to apply and share the insights and experiences weve had as artists and as human beings living in this world for the last 25 years.

While 2022 is very different from 1997, the plays central preoccupations will still ring true with modern audiences, Vogel said. In a way, this is asking us to reexamine as audience members what Im afraid never goes away, which is the use of sex as a kind of power as an obsessional power.

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Richard Greenberg.

Richard Greenbergs Take Me Out is another revival with modern themes. When we first started talking about reviving Take Me Out it was several years before it happened I thought, this is great, Greenberg, 63, said in a telephone interview. It will be a diagnostic or an image of how far weve come. And then things happened, and people started saying to me things like, Its so relevant now again.And I thought, thats good for me but terrible for the world.

I didnt expect it to have the relationship to the present it does, Greenberg added. When we first did the play I thought wed better do it quickly because there will undoubtedly be an active Major League Baseball player who comes out any minute now. And that still hasnt happened. And the sort of fascistic trend in this country was not something I was expecting back then. And the kind of astonishing bald-faced racism.

How has his Jewish heritage influenced his life, his writing, the way he looks at the world? Its probably not quantifiable, but its pervasive, he said. We were quite secular. I did have a bar mitzvah. But all of history courses through us. And my parents, my family, were absolutely Jews.

There was the sound of the way they talked, he said. They were either first- or second-generation children of immigrants. And you could hear it in the wit. You could hear it in the language. You could hear it in the constructions. You could hear it in the sprinkling of Yiddish that was supposed to keep me ignorant but didnt, because I figured out what they were saying. The sound of the way the people I grew up with spoke has been going out of the world, and sometimes Ive written plays just because I wanted to hear it again.

A revival of Neil Simons 1968 comedy hit, Plaza Suite, starring husband-and-wife team Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, will also debut this spring. In the three-act play, three couples, portrayed by Broderick and Parker, occupy the same Plaza Hotel suite at different times. John Benjamin Hickey is the director.

For Simon, who died in 2018, almost everything he wrote was implicitly, if not explicitly, Jewish. The speech patterns and rhythms, subject matter and concerns of his work were New York Jewish, as was he, so much that he once said Jewishness was so deeply embedded in me and so inherent in me that I am unaware of its quality.

Billy Crystal, who hails from Long Island, stars in and co-wrote the libretto for Mr. Saturday Night, the new musical version of Crystals 1992 comedy-drama film about the troubled life of a stand-up comedian. Music is by three-time Tony winner Jason Robert Brown and lyrics by Tony nominee Amanda Green.

The revival of David Mamets 1975 American Buffalo, about a junk shop, the American dream, American greed and a buffalo nickel, will star Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss. Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross.

These revivals all differ from their originals in one big way: Theyre all premiering in a world plagued by coronavirus. Commenting on the situation, Vogel put what felt like a very Jewish emphasis on community.

In the midst of Covid, plays need to give us a journey thats collective, Vogel said. Weve been isolated. Weve been bearing the trauma and isolation alone. And to come together as an audience and have a common journey, where we go through the dark and enter into the light, I hope is going to be uplifting.

Funny Girl begins previews March 26 and opens April 24 at the August Wilson Theater.

How I Learned to Drive begins previews March 29 and opens April 19 at Manhattan Theater Clubs Samuel J. Friedman Theater.

Take Me Out begins previews March 10 and opens April 4 at Second Stage Theaters Hayes Theater.

Plaza Suite begins performances February 25 at the Hudson Theater, opening March 28.

Mr. Saturday Night begins previews March 29 and opens April 27 at the Nederlander Theater.

American Buffalo begins previews March 22 and opens April 14 at Circle in the Square Theater.

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Coming to Broadway this spring, a bevy of Jewish themes and writers - Forward

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AP sources: NHL to withdraw from Olympics after COVID …

Posted: at 11:57 pm

The NHL is not sending players to the Beijing Olympics over concerns that the pandemic will disrupt the leagues ability to complete a full season.

Two people with direct knowledge of discussions told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the league informed the NHL Players Association it was exercising its right to withdraw from the Beijing Games because there was a material disruption to the season.

The people spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because an announcement had yet to be made. An announcement was expected Wednesday.

The decision is an abrupt turnaround from September, when the NHL, union, International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation struck a deal to put the best players in the world back on sports biggest stage after they skipped the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. The fast-spreading omicron coronavirus variant forced the scrapping of those plans.

A week ago, the NHL attempted to halt the spread of the omicron variant by reintroducing more restrictive COVID-19 protocols, which included daily testing and limiting player gatherings, especially on the road.

Then a sudden rash of postponements brought the total to 50 this season, a daunting number to reschedule and complete an 82-game season while taking an Olympic break for more than two weeks in February. The NHLs bottom line is at stake, with the league and players drawing no direct money from competing at the Winter Games.

The decision comes long before the league faced a Jan. 10 deadline to pull out without financial penalty. As a result, the mens Olympic hockey tournament will go on without NHL players for the second consecutive time.

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, the likely U.S. Olympic starter, expressed displeasure Tuesday with the decision not to go and called the rash of postponements overkill.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby already was bracing for the possibility of the NHL not participating and, at the age of 34, ending what could be his final chance to represent Canada at the Olympics one more time.

These are opportunities and experiences of a lifetime that you dont get very many of as an athlete, and you might only get one, said Crosby, who won Olympic gold with Canada in 2010 and 2014. It just might happen to fall in your window and if it doesnt happen to work out, its unfortunate.

While the NHL and NHLPA agreed on Olympic participation last year as part of a collective bargaining agreement extension, the deal to go to Beijing was contingent on pandemic conditions not worsening.

Unless the Beijing Games are postponed a year like Tokyos, a generation of stars including American Auston Matthews, Canadians Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, German Leon Draisaitl and Swede Victor Hedman will need to wait until 2026 to play in the Olympic mens hockey tournament for the first time.

Its a thing youve been looking forward to for a very long time, Hedman said. For us to not be able to go, its going to hurt for a while.

The NHL was full go on the Olympics until the delta and omicron coronavirus variants began spreading around North America earlier this month. Before Calgarys outbreak in the first half of December, only five games needed to be rescheduled and one was already made up.

The NHL did not participate in the Olympics until 1998, which started a string of five in a row through Sochi in 2014. The season was not stopped in 2018, leaving mostly professionals playing in Europe and some college players to make up the national rosters in South Korea, where the IOC was reluctant to pay for insurance and expenses.

Russia, which won gold at the Pyeongchang Games, immediately becomes the favorite without NHL players leading the Americans thanks to an influx of homegrown talent playing in the Kontintental Hockey League.

Several NHL players already had expressed hesitations about participating, including Vegas goalie Robin Lehner, who pulled his name out of consideration to represent Sweden. Lehner cited mental health reasons in noting the potentially lengthy quarantines for athletes who test positive during the competition.

Im very disappointed and it was a tough decision for me as its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Reality is that what have been said about how its going to be is not ideal for my mental health, Lehner wrote in a text.

McDavid referred to the potential five-week quarantine requirement as unsettling.

Im still a guy thats wanting to go play in the Olympics, McDavid said. But we also want to make sure its safe for everybody. For all the athletes, not just for hockey players.

Pittsburghs Mike Sullivan will be missing his first opportunity to serve as coach of the U.S. national team. He had been holding out hope for NHL participation earlier Tuesday.

Were all human beings right. Emotions are a part of it. My hope is that we all have a chance to participate, said Sullivan, who served as an assistant coach on Peter Laviolettes staff at the 2006 Olympics. Its an unbelievable honor to represent your nation in the Olympics, its the honor of a lifetime quite honestly. And so I know I dont feel differently than a lot of people that pull their nations sweaters over their heads.

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AP Sports Writer Will Graves contributed to this report.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Previous govts to blame for Indias Olympics medal drought …

Posted: at 11:57 pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday blamed previous governments for Indias Olympics medal drought in hockey, saying the country had to wait for it for decades due to indifference towards the sport.

Indias mens hockey team had won a Bronze in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year, 41 years after the country won a Gold in the category in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

At a public meeting after laying the foundation stone for Major Dhyan Chand Sports University here, Modi said, The previous governments did not give importance to capabilities of the youth. It was the responsibility of the government that the mindset of society towards sports be changed. But, the opposite happened and a feeling of indifference towards most sports started increasing. The result was this that hockey, in which during the colonial era talented people like Major Dhyan Chand brought laurels to the country, in that we had to wait for decades to win a medal, he said.

Modi went on to say, The world hockey has moved from natural fields to AstroTurf. By the time we woke up, it was too late. And from training to team selection, at every level, there was nepotism, the game of caste, corruption at every step. There was discrimination and there was not an iota of transparency. Hockey is just an example. This was the story with every sport. Previous governments in the country could not prepare an excellent eco-system for evolving technology, changing demands and evolving skills, he said.

Also read: 'Meerut will make local sports talent global': PM Modi lays foundation stone of sports uni

Also read: India will fight Covid-19 pandemic with full caution, vigilance: PM Modi

Click here for IndiaToday.ins complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

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What Olympics? Advertisers lie low ahead of Beijing Winter Games – Reuters

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An illuminated installation is pictured ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

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Jan 27 (Reuters) - Just a week before the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, U.S. television viewers can be forgiven for forgetting the date, or even that it is taking place in Beijing, China.

Unlike any Games in recent memory, the nearly 20 official international and national Olympic sponsors have laid low, ducking the press and viewers by holding back on the advertising blitz that typically kicks off months ahead the "let the Games begin" pronouncement.

By Wednesday, only two spots had launched, both of which focus on athletes with no mention of the host country, with which the United States is feuding on diplomatic and economic fronts.

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Over the course of the Games, ad agency executives and advertisers told Reuters that viewers should expect ads to continue to downplay the location and ignore any hint of politics to avoid drawing attention to geopolitical conflict and the hot glare of the Chinese government.

Corporate sponsors and advertisers for the Beijing Olympics, which begin on Feb. 4 and run through Feb. 20, have come under fire for what human rights groups say is the enabling of Chinas alleged abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the country. China denies those allegations.

Global Olympic sponsors were grilled by a bipartisan congressional panel in July, which accused the companies of putting profits ahead of accusations of genocide in China.

The halo is tarnished, said Mark DiMassimo, founder of New York-based ad agency DiMassimo Goldstein, which represents brands that are not official sponsors but plan to air commercials during the Olympics.

He said his clients decided to strip from their campaigns mentions of traditional Olympic themes - friendly competition, global unity and good sportsmanship - shortly after the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics last month.

Bridgestone Corp (5108.T), an official sponsor of the International Olympic Committee, this month began airing a commercial featuring U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen, an Asian American, who advocates for authentic representation in skating, "no matter who you are or where you come from."

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), the official airline of Team USA, is airing two commercials spotlighting skiers, snowboarders and figure skaters who defy gravity in their events.

German financial services firm Allianz will have a film featuring winter athletes that will play on social media in the United States, a spokesperson said. Last year, Allianz filmed a short video about U.S. Paralympic athlete Matt Stutzman.

When Reuters asked the global and Team USA sponsors about marketing plans for the Olympics, only two responded, one of which declined to comment.

BIG DEPARTURE

This years response is a big departure from Olympics past, when advertisers crafted ads that embraced the spirit of the Games and honored the culture of the host country.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) last year aired a commercial for the Tokyo Olympics in which Japanese citizens showed famous parts of the city such as the Shibuya Crossing over a Teams call, sharing a piece of Tokyo for people who could not be there due to the pandemic.

A Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) ad for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics featured animated birds stealing straws from Coke drinks to build a replica of the famed Birds Nest stadium. But that was then.

With the political controversy and the pandemic once again preventing spectators from traveling to the Games, viewers this time around can expect to see fewer mentions of the host city, said Jeremy Carey, managing director of ad agency Optimum Sports, a unit of Omnicom Media Group.

Its a challenge, quite frankly, he said. The connection isnt as prevalent as it would normally be.

Focusing on the athletes competing on the global stage is considered the safest strategy for brands, experts said.

Were trying to steer clear of the geopolitical implications around (the Olympics), said Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N). Chipotle will run ads during the Olympics promoting real food for real athletes, and feature the preferred orders of competitors like U.S. ice hockey player Hilary Knight.

Any attempt for a brand to associate themselves with the Beijing Olympics could backfire, DiMassimo said. You just dont know. You put (the commercial) on, and it might explode.

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Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; editing by Kenneth Li and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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China is demanding the U.S. end its ‘interference’ in Beijing Olympics – NPR

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A man wearing a hat baring an American flag and face mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks by a masked security guard near lanterns decoration on the remnants of a city wall in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Andy Wong/AP hide caption

A man wearing a hat baring an American flag and face mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks by a masked security guard near lanterns decoration on the remnants of a city wall in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

BEIJING China is demanding the U.S. end "interference" in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin next month, in an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott imposed by Washington and its allies.

The Foreign Ministry said Minister Wang Yi made the demand in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday Beijing time.

The U.S. has said it will not send dignitaries to the Games, which begin on Feb. 4, in a protest over China's detention of more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, along with crackdowns on human rights elsewhere in the country.

The boycott does not prevent U.S. athletes from taking part in the Games, which are being held under strict anti-pandemic restrictions. China has also protested what it says are calls within the State Department to withdraw staff and their dependents from the embassy and consulates around China over the tightening rules.

According to a news release posted on the ministry's website Thursday, Wang also called for an end to U.S. support for self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

Wang also complained that the U.S. hasn't altered tough political and economic policies toward China under the administration of President Joe Biden, despite its expressed wishes for a less confrontational relationship.

A brief statement from the State Department said that Blinken and Wang exchanged views on how to manage strategic risk, health security and climate change. It did not mention the Olympics or Taiwan. Blinken underscored the economic and security risks posed by Russian aggression against Ukraine, the statement said.

The phone call follows the appointment of veteran diplomat Nicholas Burns as the new U.S. ambassador to China, a position that has remained empty for more than a year.

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13 Chicago area athletes competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics – Axios

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Axios on facebookAxios on twitterAxios on linkedinAxios on emailJason Brown of Team USA grew up in Highland Park. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Team USA

The Chicago area will be well represented in Beijing when the 2022 Winter Olympics begin next week.

Women's hockey: The defending gold medal-winners will include six (SIX!) players from the area, including:

The men's hockey team will not include any Blackhawks, per the NHL prohibiting its players from participating due to COVID-19.

Figure skating (singles): Jason Brown (Highland Park) will participate in Men's Single Skating after winning bronze in the 2014 Olympics at 19 years old. He didn't make the team in 2018.

Figure skating (pairs): Alexa Knierim (Addison) will participate in pair skating.

Speed skating: The U.S. Speed Skating team has high expectations in Beijing. They could take home their most medals in two decades.

Ski jumping: The Chicago area produced three Olympic ski jumpers. Kevin Bickner, Patrick Gasienica and Casey Larson are all from the famed Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove.

What's next: The Olympic Games begin next Friday, February 4.

Data: TeamUSA; Map: Axios Visuals

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Amid pandemic and protest, Olympics return to a changed China – Reuters

Posted: at 11:57 pm

BEIJING, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Beijing Winter Olympics kick off in a week, putting sports at centre-stage following preparations that have been clouded by diplomatic boycotts and the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced the Games into a tightly sealed bubble.

Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, and some venues from 2008 will be re-used, including the Bird's Nest stadium, where the opening ceremony will again be overseen by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou.

Almost everything else is different.

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Where the 2008 Summer Games dazzled in what was a rising China's arrival on the world stage, the Winter Olympics will be staged by a country that has grown far wealthier, more powerful and, under President Xi Jinping, more authoritarian and increasingly at odds with the West.

In the COVID-19 era, China has isolated itself with a zero-tolerance policy, cancelling nearly all international flights, meaning Olympic athletes and others must fly directly into a Games bubble on charters.

As in 2008, the Olympics have again cast a spotlight on China's human rights record, which critics say has worsened since then, leading Washington to call Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims genocide and prompting a diplomatic boycott from the United States and other countries.

China rejects allegations of abuse and has repeatedly lashed out against the politicisation of the Games.

"The 2008 Olympics were a powerful source of soft power for China as it aspired toward global influence. In the past year, China's reputation has dipped significantly in the western world," said Rana Mitter, a professor of Chinese history and politics at Oxford University.

"The Chinese Communist Party will be hoping that the Winter Olympics 2022 can do something to reverse this position."

However, the Games are set to kick off amid rising geopolitical tension, with troops mounted at the Ukraine border by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to be in Beijing, as is U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

A DIFFERENT TIME

On the streets of Beijing, the summer carnival buzz of 2008 has been replaced by resignation over restrictions imposed to head off the spread of COVID-19 from recent small clusters, including the more transmissable Omicron variant. read more

There is also disappointment among would-be spectators unable to buy tickets because none will be sold to the public. Instead, events will be attended by what are expected to be sparse, curated crowds subject to strict COVID-19 controls.

The Games will take place inside a "closed loop" that is much tighter than at last summer's Tokyo Games and will be tested by Omicron, which is running rampant in many western countries that are winter sports powers.

Some delegations, worried about information security, have warned members to bring burner phones.

Athletes and rights groups have also warned about risks of speaking out on politically sensitive topics while in China.

The scandal involving Chinese tennis star and former Olympian Peng Shuai, who accused a retired senior politician of sexually assaulting her and then disappeared for several weeks, added fuel to criticism of China's hosting of the event.

While Peng later said her social media post was misunderstood, the Women's Tennis Association, concerned for her well-being, suspended tournaments in China.

One U.S. Olympian told Reuters that she would not be speaking out on human rights because she believed doing so would put her safety at risk.

"I think China has shown - with Peng Shuai most recently - that they are willing to go to really extreme measures to silence any sort of rhetoric that they find displeasing," she said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.

A Chinese official said recently that behaviour by athletes that violates the Olympic spirit or Chinese rules could be subject to punishment, although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made it clear that athletes are free to express their opinions in press conferences and interviews within the bubble, but not in competition or medal ceremonies.

SAFE CHOICE

Beijing was awarded the right in 2015 to host the 2022 Winter Games after several bid candidates dropped out, including favourite Oslo, leaving just the Chinese capital and Almaty, Kazakhstan. Despite little winter sports tradition and even less snow, the IOC selected Beijing as the safe choice.

China rewarded that confidence with efficient preparation despite concerns about the environmental impact of massive snowmaking. read more It has delivered on cleaning Beijing's notoriously smog-prone skies and planted vast numbers of trees.

Unlike Tokyo's Summer Games, delayed a year by COVID-19, there has never been much doubt that the Beijing Games would take place - no matter what.

"I feel like the 2008 Olympic Games was very grand, it was a spectacular show to the world," said Ye Wenxiaoyu, a 20-year-old Games volunteer. "This year's Winter Olympics will be very simple and very low-carbon - but of course, this will not affect how wonderful it will be."

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Reporting by Tony MunroeAdditional reporting by Michael Martina in Washington and Gabriel Crossley and Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Editing by Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Amid pandemic and protest, Olympics return to a changed China - Reuters

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When the Winter Olympics become a moral quandary – KUOW News and Information

Posted: at 11:57 pm

What does it mean to be a good person?

It's not a question you'd expect someone to be asking themselves when they're deciding whether or not to watch the Olympic Games.

But this year, that question's feeling more relevant than ever.

The Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Winter Olympics is just over a week away.

Traditionally, these events bring a lot of political good will. But not this time around.

The U.S. and several other countries have announced their diplomats won't be attending the games over China's record of human rights abuses. But athletes and coaches are still encouraged to attend, and the games will still air on television.

That leaves many wondering, should I watch this year? Or should I be boycotting the games too?

Soundside spoke to four people that are determining that for themselves.

In fact, that's how Phil Shyrock got involved.

"Curling has really gone from this esoteric thing I wanted to try once upon a time to something that kind of dominates my life from a social perspective."

The sport brought Shylock new friends, including current club president, Lori Markham. It also brought a deeper connection to the Olympics - the US national curling coach goes to Granite Curling, and both Markham and Shylock are friends with other Olympic curlers as well.

So, when they consider whether or not to watch the games, it comes down to supporting their curling family.

"It feels a lot like nobody cares about what the athletes have done to get to that point," says Markham. "That makes me angry. Does it prevent me from watching? No. But when in the quiet moments when I'm by myself, and I'm thinking about it, those are the things that I think about."

To Markham and Shyrock, choosing between their friends or their political beliefs feels unfair. How do you decide what's right? Or what to stand behind?

For both curlers, it's about the personal connection they've made through the sport, and seeing a sport they love on the big screen.

For Alex Tang, being a good person means paying attention.

Tang is a teacher at Seattle Central College. He attended the 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, and organized supporting demonstrations here in Seattle.

He says you can't separate the games and the politics. Even if you're an athlete.

"They're being complicit in regards to what is happening with human rights injustices and violations, and China and what the Communist Chinese party is doing." Says Tang. "And it's just really upsetting for me. Because while I understand their position, like they've been training all their life, you need to look at the optics and the political welfare between the US and China. And I see where these athletes are coming from. But there's a bright line, there's a line that should not be caught crossed."

Tang watched the Olympics last time they were in Beijing, back in 2008.

But he says this year, he'll be keeping his distance.

Ludlow is a 2006 Olympic alpine skier. Nowadays she's a leadership consultant and childrens book author.

And she says many of these athletes have been working towards these games for years. You want to take the chance to be in the Olympics when you have it - because it might not happen again.

"Particularly as a winter athlete, you only have a small window of time when your body is at its peak form. For many of these athletes, these Beijing Olympics are going to be their shot, whether it's the only Olympics they go to, or the only Olympics that they'll go to when they're kind of in peak physical form."

Ludlow says she will be watching this year's Olympic Games. Because, she says, the world deserves a moment of unity. Even if it comes with political tensions.

"I feel like the world actually deserves to have this one positive occasion that we can all actually look to for inspiration. After all the Olympic values are excellence, respect and friendship. I mean, if we can look to that demonstration of courage and effort and skill, and passion and remarkable athleticism in their purest form, we have an opportunity to draw inspiration from that. I think that our world could really benefit from that right now."

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When the Winter Olympics become a moral quandary - KUOW News and Information

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My Toughest Game At The Olympics – Sports Illustrated

Posted: at 11:57 pm

You can put this on the record. Those guys are such great humans, such great people. Weve developed a great bond over the last few years and I was really looking forward to that journey with them.

John Morris is speaking passionately about the Australian mixed doubles team.

The two-time Olympic champion has one regret about the upcoming Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Okaytwo regrets. The first is that he wont get to coach Australias youthful Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt in Beijing, as hes been doing all season. The second is that his upcoming battle against them, which is scheduled near the end of the mixed doubles round robin on Feb. 6, will take a toll on him.

This journey isnt over, even though I cant coach them there, but that will no doubt be my most difficult game to play at the Olympics, said Morris. I have trouble playing against great friends who I have a lot of respect for, and its hard for me to get that killer instinct with really good friends and I consider those two really good friends of mine.

So that will be my toughest game to play, mentally. But at the end of the day, Im wearing the red and white and Im playing for my country, and that trumps all.

Morris is following in his fathers footsteps. The famous curling coach nicknamed Earle the Pearlwho has coached both his son and Homans womens team in the pastalso coached the Australian mens team back in the mid-2000s, a squad that included Hewitts father.

In fact, that teamskipped by Hugh Milliken with Ian Palangio throwing last stonesmissed a shot to beat Randy Ferbey and knock him (and Pfeifer) out of the 2005 world playoffs in Victoria, B.C. The Canadians finished in a wild six-way tie at 8-3 and eventually won the championship.

That game in Beijing will be a great game to watch, no doubt, adds Morris. Theyve really developed a lot this year as curlers. Besides that game against them, Ill be cheering wholeheartedly for them.

Morris was with Gill and Hewitt at the Olympic Qualification Event in Leeuwarden, Netherlands in early December when the Aussies rolled to seven straight victories, including a sudden-death Olympic qualifier ov er Korea.

As Gillswinning stone settled and the Aussies began to celebrate, Morris grabbed fellow Australia coach Pete Manasantivongs in a reverse bear hug before dashing down to ice level.

Steve Seixeiro-WCF

Moments before, Gill and Hewitt had called a time out before their final throw. Morris suggested Gill throw a different turn on her winning stone, based on familiarity of the running path and speed. She took the advice and the shot wasexecutedperfectly.

We asked (Morris) to coach us because we wanted to be coached by the best, said Hewitt, 27. Were grateful he played a big part in helping us qualify for the Olympics. His experience and knowledge has been crucial for us growing as athletes.

Its so great to have a coach who you can go on adventures with off-ice too, and hes treated us like family.

Gill and Hewitt bade farewell to their friends and family members back in September of 2021, and have been based near Morris in Canmore, Alta. ever since. Even the appointment of Morris and mixed doubles teammate Rachel Homan to the Canadian Olympic Team hasnt changed the preparation routine very much.

If he stares, he cares Steve Seixeiro-WCF

Theyre still training with me, and we pretty much leave (for Beijing) on the same day, said Morris. Its perfect, weve even got some good hard games against them. Its almost like were training partners, which I think is ideal.

Morris has been sharing a cabin with Homan and Pfeifer in an isolated area of Canmore. Over the past two weeks the squads new Twitter feed has proudly displayed a variety of alternative Olympic training techniquesice fishing and snowshoeing among them.

Such is the high-performance life in a pandemic.

We knew it would be a high possibility we could be competing against John at the Olympics and we were prepared for it, said the 22-year-old Gill. We are so excited to compete against John and Rachel, I think it will be a really fun game. Theyre a great team and we always want to play against the best to get better ourselves.

Were having a really good time, keeping it light, said Morris back in December.

I think Canadians and Australians are kindred spirits that way. We enjoy a lot of the same things and are pretty laid back.

Its been a really good relationship and Im really proud of them.

Twitter

Morris is grateful to the Canmore Golf and Curling Club for providing the Canadians and Australians with private ice in isolation.

Its tough to find a great facility and great conditions, but here it is,Morris said.These friendly matches are helping get us both battle-ready in lieu of no trials or events leading up to the Olympics.

Departure is just a day or so away. How about some medal predictions, John?

No way, its such a deep field this year, Morris said. Its going to be such a great Games to watch. Every games going to be an absolute battle.

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