Anxiety and the professional tennis player
A year ago, I wrote about my concern that professional tennis players' mental health issues may be under-addressed. One of those issues, anxiety, is worth a more thorough exploration, since its prevalence is obvious among many players.
We see it all the time--choking, getting tight during a match, losing successive "winnable" matches, alternating between firing aces and hitting a series of double faults. Dinara Safina, aka Thrill Ride (on this blog), perhaps the WTA's most quotable player, once said, when asked about her failure to be mentally tough: "If I would know explanation, then of course I would do it on the court." She also said: "...First to find the reason what's going on, what are the mistakes, and then to work on them. Not to go blindly on the court and killing your ass for like five hours. Sometimes it makes no sense."
And it does "make no sense" until a player addresses the anxiety that is behind repeated errors, choking and erratic serving. Anxiety is natural to all of us, but--like every other emotion--too much of it creates problems. Anxiety among tennis players (and the rest of us) has many causes:
1. Childhood trauma
This is undoubtedly the main cause of excessive anxiety. A child who feels unsafe because of emotional, physical or sexual abuse, or because of poverty or war or constant re-locating, will grow up to be an anxious adult.
2. Adult trauma
Living through traumas such as accidents, assaults, natural disasters and war is likely to create posttraumatic anxiety. Having unresolved past trauma (such as childhood trauma) makes someone more likely to develop symtoms.
3. Poor coaching
A coach is like a parent. If s/he manages the player through constant criticism, harsh words or lack of praise, the player will respond with anxiety about her performance. (Safina knew a thing or two about that.)
4. Left-handedness
Left-handed people, as a rule, feel more fear than right-handed people. The "fear" part of the brain, on the right side, is reversed--and therefore dominant--in left-handed individuals, who are more apt to be afraid of making mistakes.
5. Cultural expectations
Certain expectations are placed by our cultures on various groups. These expectations can involve gender, nationality, profession, etc. Not "living up to" these expectations can create anxiety. To make things worse, these expectations tend to be very unhealthy, and ignore the individual's right to evolve at her/his own pace. They also tend to reflect values that are harmful to human psychological growth.
The good news is that anxiety is fairly easy to reduce. The bad news is that people often do not seek treatment, or the only treatment they receive is from medication. I don't know how much (good) anxiety treatment pro tennis players are getting, but I suspect it isn't enough. There are a number of treatment modalities (I use them in my own practice) which can significantly reduce anxiety and create the relaxation response in its place.
Limerick for Indian Wells
There was a director named Ray
Who chose a press conference to say
Lady players should please
with their looks (on their knees).
And he's still the director today.
Back in the desert
Perhaps our favorite pic from Wednesday: Welcome back, #Venus #BNPPO16 pic.twitter.com/3zyKInJ0BT
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 10, 2016
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
From "A Horse with No Name," by Dewey Bunnell
Maybe. The BNP Paribas Open comes at a time when many questions abound, and some may have painful answers. The biggest one, of course, concerns a player who isn't even there, but whose name has dominated the headlines for the last several days. More about that later.
If it weren't for the Sharapova controversy, we might be hearing more about defending champion and world number 5 Simona Halep, who--not that long ago--was world number 2. Halep has faltered repeatedly at big moments for much of the past year. As defending champion, the pressure is on, and Halep's recent history indicates that she doesn't buy into pressure being a privilege.
Halep is now working with coach Darren Cahill, but her propensity to change coaches makes me wonder how long that relationship will last. Since the season began, the defending champion has been dealing with a chronic illness and an achilles injury. She canceled her scheduled surgery in order to play for Romania in Fed Cup competition, and then later declared herself free of pain and injury. Whether she had the good sense to avoid an unnecessary surgery, or whether the inevitable is just being postponed, is something we cannot know.
If Halep is illness- and injury-free, then she has a chance to turn her career around. But there's something mentally fragile about the Romanian star, whose talent on a court is stunning. And then there's the reality of having had an incredible season (2014) and having to face one's new celebrity and all the expectations that go with it. Here's hoping 2015 was Halep's season to make that adjustment.
Meanwhile, the new world number 2, Angelique Kerber, steps into the desert as the Australian Open champion. In a recent interview, Kerber said that, after her early Doha loss, she took some time off to relax, and that she feels ready and confident at the BNP Paribas Open.
World number 1 Serena Williams has returned to Indian Wells, and this year, Venus Williams has also returned after a 15-year absence. Unfortnately, in 2015, Serena's long-awaited return to the event ended with her retirement in the semifinals because of a knee injury. That gave Simona Halep a walkover, and then Halep beat Jelena Jankovic in the final.
Of interest in the draw: Serena and Venus could face each other in the quarterfinals. There's also a potential meeting between Kerber and Johanna Konta, which could be good, and it's also likely that Doha champion Carla Suzarez Navarro will be waiting for Kerber in the quarterfinals.
There could also be a quarterfinal clash between Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova, though there are some pesky players in their part of the draw who could cause trouble. Chief among them is the eternally unpredictable Svetlana Kuznetsova. Under "normal" conditions, Lucie Safarova would be considered a major threat in that section, as would Dominika Cibulkova. They still could be, but both players have been recovering from physical challenges. I'll add Madison Keys to that list, too.
Also of note: Ekaterina Makarova and Lucie Safarova formed a team to play in Indian Wells. They are already out of the tournament, but should they continue to play together, they have the potential to do well. Makarova and Elena Vesnina were a successful team, but upon Makarova's return from a long injury layoff, the pair did not reunite.
I'm now going to be the laziest blogger ever and say that my sentiments about the Maria Sharapova issue are summed up beautifully by Todd Spiker, so I'll just let him speak for me. I'll add, however, that while I expect so-called tennis fans to speak from positions of ignorance and prejudice, it still distresses me (though I expect this, too) when the news and sports media do it. The amount of misinformation and distorted information that has been spewed by tennis writers and commentators has been really disheartening. Equally disappointing have been a couple of the player reactions--one full of pompous self-righteousness (not to mention hypocrisy), and the other just plain vicious and crazy.
We will never know all of the facts behind this situation, nor will we ever know all of the motivations--from all parties involved. Historically, as I see it, Sharapova certainly has a better character rating than the ITF, but that doesn't mean she didn't do anything wrong. I hope for a fair accounting and a fair judgment. In the meantime, thank goodness, we have Indian Wells.


The Game: West Side
August 17, 2019 August 4, 2019 Captive BalanceComment(0)
Over the years, The Game has established himself as one of the best rappers from the West Coast. He has managed to drop one hit song after the other and “West Side” is another one. The track has a hard-hitting beat that matches Game’s aggressive flow. Check it out below.
Tagged hip hop, rap, the game, west side
TweetMusic videos over the years have become a form to be reckoned with. Some are mini-movies while others are complete works of art and 2014 has been a year of both these categories. From living in a dream to dancing for self-love here are the top 10 music videos of 2014. 10. Childish Gambino: Sweatpants […]
Rejjie Snow: Cookie Chips feat. MF DOOM & Cam O’bi
Tweet“Cookie Chips” is a new song from Scottish rapper Rejjie Snow. The track features MF Doom and Cam Obi. It has been some time since Rejjie has released a new song and I have been waiting patiently for new music after like his last album Dear Annie. Hear the new song below.
The Starting Line: Anyways
February 3, 2016 Captive Balance
Tweet I discovered really good news only yesterday: The Starting Line are releasing a 7″ this Friday called “Anyways”. I have been a fan of this band for quite a long time especially when pop punk was huge during the 2000s. I have even followed vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli’s side project “Vacationer” which is in the […]
Nothing: Our Plague
The Twilight Sad: Chewing Gum


ABM Selected as Preferred Supplier and Installation Partner for BMW i Center EV Charging Stations
Friday, November 22, 2013 9:29 AM - New York, US
ABM, a leading provider of facility solutions, has been selected by BMW of North America as its preferred electric vehicle (EV) charging station installation and service partner for its BMW iCenters across the United States and for BMW i Retailers across Canada. Each of the charging stations will be part of the ChargePoint® network.
BMW will release the company's first full production, all-electric vehicle, the BMW i3, in early 2014, with the BMW i8 to follow later in the year."Our collaboration with ABM and ChargePoint will provide our BMW i Centers with the charging infrastructure expertise and preparation for the arrival of the BMW i3 and BMW i8 in the United States and Canada," said Robert Healey, EV Infrastructure Manager of BMW of North America.
ABM will provide installations and BMW i branded ChargePoint charging stations for participating BMW i Centers across the United States and Canada, and will serve as BMW's preferred service provider for these charging stations. In all, ABM will support over 300 participating BMW i Centers. To date, ABM has sold and/or installed over 700 commercial, public and workplace EV charging stations across the United States.
"We're honored to have been selected by BMW to play a key role in its entry into the EV market," said Ken Sapp, ABM Energy Solutions Vice President. "ABM prides itself as an industry leader in the development of North America's EV infrastructure. We look forward to bringing our expertise and best practices to BMW locations across the U.S. and Canada."
The EV charging stations at each BMW i Center will be part of the ChargePoint Network, the largest and most open EV charging network in the world, with more than 14,000 charging locations.
"ABM has been a key ChargePoint partner for many previous station installations and we are thrilled to collaborate with them on our newest venture with BMW," said Pat Romano, CEO of ChargePoint. "This latest partnership will help grow the public charging network for all EV drivers and give potential car buyers the confidence that they can plug-in on the go."
Through the use of the ChargePoint Network, drivers will also have access to a mobile app that provides EV drivers with real-time information, including availability of charging locations across the country.
"ABM is proud to undertake this strategic partnership alongside BMW as part of its commitment to industry-leading innovation in the electric vehicle market," said ABM Executive Vice President Tracy Price. "We look forward to assisting BMW in setting the sustainability standard in the automotive market."
About ABM
ABM (NYSE:ABM) is a leading provider of facility solutions with revenues exceeding $4 billion and 100,000 employees in over 350 offices deployed throughout the United States and various international locations. ABM's comprehensive capabilities include facilities engineering, commercial cleaning, energy solutions, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, parking and security, provided through stand-alone or integrated solutions. ABM provides custom facility solutions in urban, suburban and rural areas to properties of all sizes — from schools and hospitals to the largest and most complex facilities, such as manufacturing plants and major airports. ABM Industries Incorporated, which operates through its subsidiaries, was founded in 1909. For more information, visit www.abm.com.
About BMW Group in America
BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, a strategic design consultancy in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all X5 and X3 Sports Activity Vehicles and X6 Sports Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car and BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 139 BMW motorcycle retailers, 119 MINI passenger car dealers, and 34 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
About Chargepoint
ChargePoint is the largest and most open electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the world, with more than 14,000 charging locations and a 65%+ market share. Ranked #1 by leading independent research firm, Navigant Research, ChargePoint makes advanced hardware and best-in-class cloud based software. ChargePoint's open network is utilized by many leading EV hardware makers and encourages all EV charging manufacturers to join.
ChargePoint also manages the only mobile app that provides EV drivers with real-time information, including availability of charging locations throughout the nation. Every 15 seconds, a driver connects to a ChargePoint station. By initiating over 3,000,000 charging sessions, ChargePoint drivers have saved over 3.5 million gallons of gasoline and avoided 36 million pounds of CO2 emissions.
Chas Strong
ABM Industries Incorporated
www.abm.com/Home
public charging stations BMW Group electric vehicles EV charging stations charge points


Why ‘Star Wars’ New Republic Was Always Doomed to Failure
ScreenCrush Staff
Return of the Jedi ends on such a high note. The Rebels are victorious. The Emperor is dead. The Empire is on the verge of collapse. It was the dawn of a New Republic.
But when we rejoin our heroes in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, everything has fallen apart. The First Order is rising. Luke Skywalker is missing. Han Solo’s quit the Republic and he’s hanging out with Chewbacca and smuggling again like a dad from the suburbs who buys a Mustang and starts dressing like he did in college.
Despite the mega-happy-ending in Return of a Jedi, the New Republic was always doomed to fail. The new video from ScreenCrush’s Ryan Arey uses the long history of Star Wars novels to explain what went wrong — and why it was basically a foregone conclusion that this would happen:
If you liked this video about why the New Republic from the original Star Wars trilogy was doomed to fail, check out some of our other videos, including our theory about the possible time travel in The Empire Strikes Back, our recap of the entire series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and our bigger recap of all of Star Wars. Plus, there’s tons more over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.
Gallery — Our Favorite Rise of Skywalker Easter Eggs:
Source: Why ‘Star Wars’ New Republic Was Always Doomed to Failure
Filed Under: Star Wars


MainAll NewsForeign AffairsIn France, 2,200 Mosques Not Half Enough
In France, 2,200 Mosques Not Half Enough
France has a large number of Muslims, but not enough mosques to hold them, according to a top official in a top French Muslim group.
Tags: Fance National Front Muslms Anti-Semitism CRIF
Moshe Cohen , Apr 05 , 2015 8:53 PM
Arab protester in France (file)
France has a sizable Muslim population - the largest community in Europe - but not enough mosques to hold them, according to a top official in a top French Muslim organization. To correct that, says Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Muslim Council, France needs to double its current mosques to 4,400.
“We need double” the current 2,200 mosques in the country “within two years," Boubakeur told a convention of Muslims over the weekend. “There are a lot of prayer rooms, of unfinished mosques, and there are a lot of mosques that are not being built," the France 24 network quoted him as saying at the 32nd Annual Gathering of French Muslims, where members of over 250 Muslim groups representing the country's Muslims.
The last time a census of the Muslim population in France was conducted was in 2010, with Muslims numbering over 4 million people, or 7.5% of the population. Given their natural growth rate, they are expected to reach 10% of the total population by 2030, but that percentage could grow even further if immigration increases. French government censuses generally do not query respondents on religion.
Supporting the call for more mosques is one of the leaders of France's Catholics, Monsignor Ribadeau-Dumas, spokesperson for the Bishops' Conference of France. “Muslims should, like Christians and Jews, be able to practise their religion,” France 24 quoted him as saying.
In a statement, France's far-right National Front party called the idea of building more mosques in France “ludicrous and dangerous.” The funding for construction of mosques is not clear, and at least some of the money, the group said, was coming from organizations “which have links with the worst jihadist movements in the world, (and) is a clear threat to national security.”
Recent polls suggest that French Muslims or Frenchman of Muslim origin are are much more likely to hold anti-Semitic views than the general French population.
In one survey, 1,005 respondents from the general population were asked a set of questions about their attitudes toward Jews. Their responses were compared with the answers of 575 people, either Muslim or born to a Muslim family, who were asked the same questions.
The anti-Semitic trope that Jews control the media received an approval rating of 23% in the general French population and 70% among practicing Muslims. 32% of respondents among the general population agreed with the statement that "Jews use to their own benefit their status as victims of the Nazi genocide." This is compared to 56% percent of respondents from the Muslim contingency as well as among citizens who voted for the far-right National Front party in 2012.
Among voters of the far-left Front de-Gauche party, the claim had a 51% approval rating.


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Shepherdstown Maker Pivots in Time of Need
July 16, 2020 /in SVC Blog /by Shepherdstown Visitors Center
When COVID-19 became the new normal earlier this year, and effectively scuttled just about every industry in one way or another, businesses large and small across the country scrambled to try and salvage payrolls, budgets, processes, and of course, employees.
Sole-proprietors certainly weren’t left out of the fun, and one local community within the community—the makers—quickly found themselves without festivals and related events, and thus bereft of an opportunity to sell their wares.
Rose Sanders Mendez (pictured above) is one of those makers, and not long after COVID became a harsh reality nationwide, she knew her way of making a living was about to change dramatically. “A couple weeks into March, I started getting cancellations for six of my annual shows,” she explained. “I do ten larger shows throughout the year, but they were being careful, so I understood. But it also made me want to not do as much work, because I didn’t necessarily have anything to work toward.”
And so, as makers tend to do, she adapted. “I’d just redone my studio, and I had some really lovely fabric, and I thought, there’s a need. And whenever there’s a need, I feel like we should jump in. I’d also just come off of another larger project for a client that involved large flags, so that’s where my brain sort of already was.”
While hand-forged and upcycled metal jewelry is Rose’s typical medium when times are more stable, fabric isn’t far behind—so at least in this instance, it wasn’t a complicated decision for her to pivot.
“A lot of us in the maker community locally were discussing what to do with our studio tour, partly to decide what to do with our summer show,” she indicated. “Having relationships with everyone, I could see that many folks were sort of frozen and not sure where to put their energy. For me, turning to the sewing machine was a place where I could focus my energy without thinking too hard, I guess.”
Because she was already accustomed to wearing protective equipment as she works, Rose’s thoughts gravitated towards masks. “A lot of people were donating any PPE they had early on when the shortages were everywhere,” she said. “It made me think about designing masks. Most of them are also disposable, so I started to do a little research—to see what was both effective and a little more ecologically sound.”
What emerged initially were artfully crafted designs representative of the natural beauty of the Shepherdstown area, and then something even more engaging happened. “People were complaining that no one could see each other’s face, especially if they were smiling,” said Rose. “So I started making masks with faces. I didn’t really expect that people would like them as much as they did—to me they look like an odd clown face. But they’ve been very well received. In fact, there were a bunch of different iterations of that first one, so I had to play with it a lot. But I just listened to the community, and requests started coming in, so I started playing around with ideas.”
Rose’s designs can easily be found on Facebook and Instagram, where she can also be contacted. At the moment, and until art festivals return, she plans on continuing down this path. “Most people aren’t wearing jewelry at this point either. And since there’s a need to be met here, I’ll do it for as long as I need to.”
As for her small but significant part within a historic moment, Rose sees it more as a commitment to adaptability and inspiration. “At the beginning of all this, I think so many of us were just in a panic, trying to figure out how not to get swallowed up by the uncertainty. I thought that I’d simply make some masks for a few months, and then it would be done. I wasn’t putting so much care into making them, because they were just a temporary thing. Now I’m making things that are perhaps more beautiful or more durable—objects that will last.
“As a maker, I’ll always make something, and this is a way I can be a working artist and also be of use in these times. And that’s always a driving force—to do something that helps, that has worth.”
Tags: Rose Sanders Mendez
https://secureservercdn.net/45.40.148.147/da5.7dc.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/8BF95517-C206-491B-B7FA-3A2586B5C7FE_1_201_a.jpeg?time=1610509988 2286 2316 Shepherdstown Visitors Center https://secureservercdn.net/45.40.148.147/da5.7dc.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/SVC_logo_80.png Shepherdstown Visitors Center2020-07-16 11:44:352020-07-16 15:33:22Shepherdstown Maker Pivots in Time of Need
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Launch of 6th Edition of Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook
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10th Global Residence and Citizenship Conference
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Updates to Cyprus Citizenship-by-Investment Program
The Cyprus Government, through the Council of Ministers, has revised its criteria for granting individuals Cypriot citizenship through the country’s...
SKN Citizenship-by-Investment Program Garners Praise
Henley & Partners, a long-standing supporter of the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship-by-Investment Program, congratulates the Government of...
First Global Index to Rank Quality of Nationalities
A new index unveiled in Zurich today (2 June 2016) is the first to ever objectively rank the quality of nationalities worldwide...
Portugal and Malta Ranked World's Best Investment Migration Programs
Residence and citizenship planning has established itself as an important industry over the last few years, providing...
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Henley & Partners launches the online Visa Restrictions Index 2016 with unique insights on trends over the last 11 years.
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Upper Dublin High School vs. the Arab-Israeli Conflict
https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/20535/upper-dublin-high-school-vs-the-arab-israeli
John Dewey of Columbia University and Arthur Lovejoy of Johns Hopkins University came together with other educators in 1915 to found the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), an organization designed to preserve the integrity of the academy from a donor-driven agenda.
Their 1915 Declaration of Principles set standards that we should all abide by:
[T]he freedom of the academic teacher entail[s] certain correlative obligations…The university teacher…should, if he is fit for his position, be a person of a fair and judicial mind; he should, in dealing with such subjects, set forth justly, without suppression or innuendo, the divergent opinions of other investigators… and he should, above all, remember that his business is not to provide his students with ready-made conclusions, but to train them to think for themselves.
Unfortunately, Dewey and Lovejoy's message has fallen on deaf ears when it comes to most teachers who attempt to teach the Arab-Israeli conflict and commonly adopt the Palestinian narrative as the embodiment of the underdog who have suffered a great wrong under the hand of Israel and the US. The notion of allowing our students to be free thinkers, and of exposing them to a variety of opinions is many times censored by the "sensitivities" of the teacher.
A case in point: I was recently invited by one Mr. Jules Mermelstein, a Social Studies Teacher at Upper Dublin High School, to take part in a panel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is something I welcomed and do regularly as a lecturer around the world as well as locally in the greater Philadelphia area. But after accepting the invitation, I received an email from Mr. Mermelstein that he had come across one of my articles that dealt with Arab-Palestinian refugees and came to the conclusion that he does not believe I am " the right speaker to be addressing high school students on this issue… I will be inviting other speakers to take your place, beginning with my rabbi."
Substituting a rabbi for a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history is an effort to control the message being delivered to high school students. Putting himself in the position of judging the message before it is delivered, and ignoring both civility and qualifications, is a fairly shameless tactic. It seems designed to produce an obvious result, a message delivered to students that Israel was and is responsible for the Arab-Israeli conflict. The hostile environment seen on college campuses flows directly out of the manipulations of teachers like Mr. Mermelstein who are uncomfortable with diversity of opinion.
The obvious lack of balance in academia and now in many public high schools like Upper Dublin, produces pseudo-scholarship that consistently fails to examine, much less condemn, terrorism or jihadism, and creates an atmosphere where these intolerable ideas are accepted as normative. Willful blindness under the guise of thoughtful education seems to be the preferred course of action when teachers like Mr. Mermelstein don't think his students deserve or can handle another view of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The fact that more and more Jews feel uncomfortable with the State of Israel and modern day Zionism to a point where they feel the need to apologize for Israel's actions and at times existence and adopt the Palestinian narrative is very concerning.
This state of affairs needs to be confronted by all those concerned about the health of academia, as well as the continued well-being of Israel and the Jewish people.
Like Israelis, Americans have varied political preferences. While they may not all unconditionally support everything Israel does, the land of Israel is the Jewish state and has the right to exist in security. We must help our students (the future voters) expand their knowledge about the Arab-Israeli conflict and ensure that our tax payer dollars are actually providing a balanced education when it comes to a topic that has many long reaching foreign policy implications.
Related Topics: Asaf Romirowsky receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing list


Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 80
November 24, 2016 CET: 18:45
Local time: 19:45 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM
#GameONSocial
Seeley shoots Maccabi FOX to victory in Piraeus
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv won its third straight Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game by beating Olympiacos Piraeus 73-80 at Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday. D. J. Seeley made 5 of 8 three-pointers en route to a season-high 19 points to pace Maccabi, which improved to 5-4. The Reds are also 5-4 after losing at home for the second time this season. The visitors opened up a double-digit lead already in the first quarter, led by as many as 18 in the third and held off a late Olympiacos push to claim the win. Maccabi outrebounded its opponent 35-43 and limited the home team to 6-of-33 three-point shooting (18.2%). Colton Iverson amassed 14 points on perfect shooting plus 8 rebounds, Sonny Weems collected 12 points and 6 assists, Andrew Goudelock also scored 12 and Devin Smith tallied 10 points and 10 boards. Matt Lojeski paced Olympiacos with 15 points, Vassilis Spanoulis scored 14 and Erick Green added 10 in defeat.
Smith drilled a pair of triples in a 0-8 Maccabi run that made it 5-12 after four minutes of action. Seeley’s first three boosted the margin to double figures, but the Reds went on a 7-0 push capped by a monster slam by Khem Birch to get within 16-20. Ioannis Papapetrou free throws ended the first quarter at 20-24. Strong play by Iverson helped the visitors remain in front and Seeley added a pair of threes to make it 31-38. Maccabi remained in control, 37-44, at the break. Dunks by Weems and Victor Rudd in the first minute of the third quarter reestablished a double-digit cushion. It took nearly four minutes for the home team to get on the board in the second half, but even after that Maccabi continued to pile on and stretched the difference to 40-57. Little changed after that as the yellow-and-blue crew took a 49-65 edge through three quarters. The difference reached 18 before Olympiacos mounted a late charge to make it 61-72 with three minutes to go on a long Spanoulis jumper. The hosts managed to get within 6 in the closing seconds, but the comeback proved to be too little, too late as Maccabi raced home with the victory.
Referees: RYZHYK, BORYS; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; PATERNICO, CARMELO
Olympiacos Piraeus 20 17 12 24
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 24 20 21 15
Olympiacos Piraeus
1 GREEN, ERICK 20:27 10 1/4 2/4 2/4 2 2 2 1 1 2 7
2 BIRCH, KHEM 21:26 8 3/4 2/2 1 7 8 1 1 2 2 3 20
4 YOUNG, PATRIC 7:03 2 1/1 1 1 1 1 1 2
6 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 24:28 7 1/1 1/4 2/4 1 4 5 2 1 2 2 10
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 26:57 14 5/7 0/6 4/6 3 3 4 1 4 1 4 6 9
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 5:41 2 1 3 1 1 3
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 13:46 4 2/5 0/3 1 1 2
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 18:05 4 1/4 0/4 2/2 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 1
17 MANTZARIS, VANGELIS 21:12 3 0/1 1/5 1 1 1 2 -4
23 HACKETT, DANIEL 17:45 6 2/4 0/3 2/3 1 1 2 3 1
24 LOJESKI, MATT 23:10 15 4/6 2/4 1/1 4 4 1 1 1 1 4 19
27 ATHINAIOU, IOANNIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Totals 200:00 73 20/37 6/33 15/22 10 25 35 12 6 8 2 3 18 23 71
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
0 GOUDELOCK, ANDREW 19:09 12 3/7 1/4 3/4 1 1 2 3 2 6
3 RUDD, VICTOR 28:07 6 2/6 2/4 2 6 8 1 1 2 3 11
4 SEELEY, DENNIS 31:04 19 1/4 5/8 2/2 1 2 3 3 1 3 3 20
6 SMITH, DEVIN 29:33 10 2/5 2/4 1 9 10 3 2 1 1 2 1 19
8 YIVZORI, DAGAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 MEKEL, GAL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 PNINI, GUY 4:34 0/1 1 1 1 -1
12 OHAYON, YOGEV 16:32 2 1/2 0/1 2 2 1 1 3 -1
13 WEEMS, SONNY 33:43 12 6/8 0/3 5 5 6 6 1 2 1 10
23 ALEXANDER, JOE 4:15 2 1/1 1 1 1 2
24 IVERSON, COLTON 19:26 14 6/6 2/2 1 7 8 1 2 1 4 5 23
33 ZIRBES, MAIK 13:37 3 1/4 1/2 1 1 2 1 2 3 1
Totals 200:00 80 23/44 8/20 10/14 8 35 43 15 5 11 3 2 24 18 90
52.3% 40% 71.4%
Head coach: HADAR, RAMI
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
"This is a night that nothing went well for our team. We played against a team that we knew is very athletic, will push the tempo and go a lot in the open court. A lot of isolations and a lot of uptempo game. From one side, we did not start good defensively; we let them score one-on-one tough baskets, but easy. We were not aggressive. From the other side on offense we lost our concentration. Maccabi packed the paint, they tried not to give us layups, so we had a lot of open shorts that we missed. And as the game was going on, we started to be nervous to shoot from outside. We missed a lot of open shots, so that hurt us and hurt our defense more. Although in halftime we tried to restart our offense and defense, in the beginning of the second half was very bad. The beginning of the third period we were bad offensively and defensively and they scored a lot of easy points. They got a bigger lead. We tried to press at the end. We played with five guards, we cut down the difference, but we didn’t do anything more. Maccabi deserved to win. "
HADAR, RAMI
"I think that most of the game we played excellent defense. Until the last quarter we played perfect on defense and that gave us the victory. I have capable players to play defense. We are making progress defensively. We are forcing the other teams to play a set game, we are forcing their percentages down, but it’s not there yet."
"I think this win is a combination of the process that we are going through in Maccabi in two parameters. One is basketball – offense, defense, tactics. And the other is the spirit. The guys played hard, they played accurate according to the game plan and I salute them for the effort."
SEELEY, DENNIS
We just came out here and played aggressive on defense from the jump and we set the tone for the game. We know we could play offense, but we struggled on defense in the beginning of the season. We all just got together and said the key to winning is defense, because we got a lot of players that can score, so we need to clamp down on defense.
2020-21 VALENCIA 2019-20 BELGRADE 2019-20 KAUNAS 2019-20 MUNICH 2019-20 VALENCIA 2018-19 VITORIA-GASTEIZ FINALS 2018-19 BELGRADE 2018-19 KAUNAS 2018-19 MUNICH 2018-19 VALENCIA 2017-18 BELGRADE Finals 2017-18 BELGRADE 2017-18 MUNICH 2017-18 KAUNAS 2017-18 L'HOSPITALET 2016-17 ISTANBUL 2016-17 BELGRADE 2016-17 COIN 2016-17 KAUNAS 2016-17 L'HOSPITALET 2015-16 BERLIN 2015-16 BELGRADE 2015-16 KAUNAS 2015-16 L'HOSPITALET 2015-16 ROME 2014-15 2013-14 2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03
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Prof. Aleksandar S. Jovanovic
E-Mail: jovanovic@risk-technologies.com
Aleksandar Jovanovic (MSc. ME, PhD) has worked for industry, research, EU institutions and universities, in a number of different countries, such as Belgium and Italy (EU, university), Germany (industry, research, university), France (university), USA (industry, university, research), etc. Since 2001, he is the director of the Steinbeis Advanced Risk Technologies Group in Stuttgart, Germany providing consultancy in the areas of risk assessment and risk management for industry and public sector. He is the CEO of the European Institute for Risk & Resilience Management (EU-VRi), bringing together about 50 industrial and research organizations active in the area of applied risk and resilience management, full professor at Steinbeis University Berlin (Technical Risks) and his other current and previous assignments include Italy (Politecnico di Milano), France (Ecole Polytechnique), Japan (University of Tokyo), USA (La Jolla), Serbia, Croatia and China.
Aleksandar’s main contributions to risk research and advancement of the respective state-of-the-art have been related to (a) industrial “risk projects”, (b) academic research in the area of risk (especially emerging risks and resilience) and (c) European and international risk standardization.
Aleksandar has a long-year professional experience as project manager of many large international industry “risk projects”, dealing with risk management, engineering risks, innovation risks, risk governance for new technologies, use of big data for risk analysis and related areas, etc. Main clients in these projects have been the EU, national governments (Norway, Belgium, Japan…), industry, utilities, insurances companies, R&D and academia. Main topics of the current projects deal with risk management in industry (e.g. for insurance, power, process) and include HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, Environment), RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance), RBI (Risk-Based Inspection. Examples of the industrial projects are, e.g., the assessing risk of 40,000 MWe installed electric power capacity for Eskom in South Africa (about $10 million) or assessing risks refineries in Gazprom. Sample EU projects managed by him include iNTeg-Risk (www.integrisk.eu-vri.eu, 19.3 million €, 80+ partners), or SmartResilience (Resilience Indicators for critical infrastructures in Europe, www.smartresilience.eu-vri.eu).
In the area of academic risk research Aleksandar has been pioneering the risk-oriented probabilistic structural mechanics in 1980’s (stochastic finite element method), introduced risk methods in the engineering analysis of remaining life in 1990’s, developed new methods for risk-based optimization of inspection and maintenance in the industrial plants (power and process primarily). He is a coauthor of the milestone study/book on Future Global Shocks of the OECD (2013), author of 7 books and over 170 publications (www.researchgate.net/profile/Aleksandar_Jovanovic5).
As a “risk practitioner” in the area of international standardization, A. Jovanovic has contributed to the global risk community by a number of actions. He is the Convener and main author of:
(a) European standard CEN-CWA 15740:2008 (“Risk-Based Inspection and Maintenance”),
(b) European standard EN16991:2018 (“European Risk-Based Inspection Framework”)
(c) CEN-CWA 16449:2013 (“Management on New Technologies-Related Risks” also appeared as DIN SPEC
(d) ISO standard ISO 31050 “Management of emerging risks for enhanced resilience” – has involved SRA into the process, as an Organization in Liaison to ISO.
He act as the Liaison Officer in the ISO 31000 (risk management) ISO Committee, as a member of the Committees TC292 (security) and ISO 31010 (risk assessment methods , and as convener for the new ISO 31050 standard (https://committee.iso.org/sites/tc262/home/projects/ongoing/iso-31022-guidelines-for-impl-2.html).
In 2019, A. Jovanović was one of the main “Organizing Chair” of the SRA World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa (https://srawc.wpengine.com/congress-organization/).
Aleksandar speaks fluently French, Italian, English, German and Serbo-Croatian, reads and communicates in Spanish, Portuguese and Russian and has always used this to promote the risk-related issues in many countries.
Prof. Walter Bogaerts
Non-Executive General Manager
E-Mail: technologica@telenet.be
Walter Bogaerts is professor of Corrosion & Materials Engineering at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium’s internationally recognized leading university. He holds appointments in the departments of Chemical Engineering and Sustainable Chemical Process Technology. He teaches in KU Leuven’s post-graduate program on Safety Engineering and has been a long-time member of the Steering Committee of the national interuniversity program on Nuclear Engineering (BNEN).
He graduated summa cum laude as a chemical engineer from the University of Leuven and completed his PhD on corrosion problems in the energy sector (nuclear, geothermal). He further specialized at Cambridge University (UK) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI International, USA) with British Council, NATO and Fulbright fellowships.
With support of the international chemical industry, in the early 90’s he was the founder of a pioneering university spin-off company dealing with applications of advanced informatics and artificial intelligence in the field of materials and corrosion engineering (MetaLogic n.v.). In this framework he introduced some of the early concepts of RBI (Risk-Based Inspection) and intelligent corrosion prediction and monitoring.
With his team he also authored the first “e-books” in the field of corrosion, e.g. for Elsevier Science Publishers and NACE International, the world-wide corrosion engineering organization. For this work he received the T.J. Hull Award in 2001 and the NACE International Fellowship honor for technical excellence in 2020.
He has also been the European Director of the NACE organization and established its NACE-Benelux branch more than 20 years ago. He further has a long-standing relationship with the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC) and served as a chairman for a number of its formal Working Parties.
Aside from his scientific and academic profession, prof. Bogaerts had an industrial career and has e.g. been CEO of Belgium’s central nuclear waste treatment facility (Belgoprocess n.v.). Since 2019 he is the ‘Chief Strategy Officer’ of EU-VRi. He also runs his own engineering company and is a regular consultant for the European Commission and for the international chemical and nuclear industry.
Dr. Jörg Michael Bareiß
Zustandsüberwachung und Kraftwerkchemie, Werkstofftechnik (TMZW)
E-Mail: j.m.bareiss@enbw.com
Jörg Bareiß, (1965) PhD as Engineer in Mechanical Engineering (Materialprüfungsanstalt UNI Stuttgart, DE). Since October 1995 working at EnBW AG (before the merger of the companies EVS AG, BW AG and NWS AG to EnBW AG up to December 1998 at EVS AG) as Quality Assurance Engineer, today as Expert Senior Engineer at EnBW Kraftwerke AG (Generation Business Unit of EnBW AG) responsible for Materials (research, material behavior and damage assessment) and Quality Supervision of the new 912MW power plant, unit 8, of Rheinhafen Steam Power Plant Karlsruhe, which is still under construction. Since 2002 Chairman of the Technical Committee “Materials and Quality Supervision” of VGB PowerTech e.V., the European technical association for power and heat generation. Several publications in the field of Life Assessment of pressurized components, Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics of boiler parts and piping components, Risk Based Inspection and Maintenance and Advanced Calculation Methods of steam and reheat lines. Member of RIMAP-Project (FP7).
Mr. Pertti Auerkari
Chief research scientist
E-Mail: pertti.auerkari@vtt.fi
Pertti Auerkari (MSc, Lic.Tech.) is Senior Principal Scientist in the area of Knowledge driven design at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd in Espoo, Finland. Since graduating from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University) in 1976/1983 on materials science, and a further stint in Osaka University 1984-86 in Japan on welded high temperature structures, his particular interests have encompassed condition and performance assessment, life prediction and failure analysis for power and process plants, with emphasis on high temperature applications. In terms of materials, these interests have involved mainly applications of metallic structures, but also research on utilizing modern engineering ceramics, and metal-ceramic and polymer composites. In terms of frameworks, his professional activities have included national, Nordic and European projects in related fields, and European projects on risk and resilience of critical industrial and other infrastructures. In addition to projects for local national customers, he has conducted contractual projects for international customers in Europe, South Africa, Middle East and South East Asia.
He has been a national representative since 1995 in supporting and developing the European standardization on materials for pressure equipment, and in projects developing European standards for risk assessment in industrial applications.
Mr. Auerkari has been a lecturer of professional courses on risk assessment, risk-based inspection (RBI) and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) for Steinbeis, and on materials and non-destructive testing for his alma mater university in Finland, where he continues to support post-graduate education as a Senior Expert. Since 1988, he has been the chairman of the triannual Baltica series of international conferences on life management and maintenance for power plants (www.vtt.fi/baltica).
He has more than 200 publications on his areas of expertise.
Apart from his native Finnish, he is fluent speaker of English, independent user of Swedish and basic user of German.
Mr. Svetozar Eremic
E-Mail: se@risk-technologies.com
Svetozar (MSc. ME) has worked in last 20 years for process industry, research, Engineering, EU institutions, in a number of different countries, such as Germany (industry, research, university), Russia (industry), China (industry), South Africa (industry). Since 2010, he Managed several departments in Oil Refinery, Serbia and providing consultancy in the areas of risk assessment and risk management, reliability, maintenance and HSE for industry and process plants. He is the partner of the European Institute for Risk & Resilience Management (EU-VRi), bringing together about 50 industrial and research organizations active in the area of applied risk and resilience management, lecturer at Steinbeis University Berlin (Technical Risks) and in Serbia.
Svetozar ‘s main contributions to risk research and advancement of the respective state-of-the-art have been related to (a) industrial “risk projects” (like Risk Based Inspection), (b) industrial research and implementation in the area of reliability (Reliability Centered Maintenance) and (c) European and international risk standardization.
Svetozar has a more than 20 years of professional experience as manager in process industry, participant in a many large international industry “risk projects”, dealing with risk management, engineering risks, innovation risks, risk governance for new technologies, use of big data for risk analysis and related areas, etc. Main topics of the current projects deal with risk management in industry (e.g. for insurance, power, process) and include HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, Environment), RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance), RBI (Risk-Based Inspection. Examples of the industrial projects are, e.g., the assessing risk of 40,000 MWe installed electric power capacity for Eskom in South Africa (about $10 million) or assessing risks refineries in Gazprom. Sample EU projects participated by him include iNTeg-Risk (www.integrisk.eu-vri.eu, 19.3 million €, 80+ partners), or Smart Resilience (Resilience Indicators for critical infrastructures in Europe, www.smartresilience.eu-vri.eu).
He managed Maintenance in an Oil Refinery plants, was a Turnaround Manager and implemented new approaches in Risk based management.
Svetozar is dedicated to reliability approaches, HSE and process safety and therefore working everyday with field operators, plant managers, engineers to company leaders succeeding in implementation of innovative management, understanding of risk, risk mitigation strategies and leading by example approach.
Main area of developing is implementing continuous improvement methodology, working with employees, and couching in Lean 6 Sigma techniques for achieving sustainable results.
He implemented Risk based inspection in 2010 in several plants and power-plants, implemented CMMS and connected it to RBI system, and constantly improve it to new digitalization strategies (innovative mobility program and Digital Operator).
In the area of industrial consultancy Svetozar has been practicing and implementing the risk-oriented techniques in plant maintenance, introduced Lean 6 Sigma methodology and continuous improvement, risk-based optimization of inspection and maintenance in the industrial plants (power and process primarily).He participated in working groups of:
a) European standard CEN-CWA 15740:2008 (“Risk-Based Inspection and Maintenance”),
b) European standard EN16991:2018 (“European Risk-Based Inspection Framework”)
Svetozar speaks fluently English, German, and Serbo-Croatian, reads and communicates in Russian and has always used this to promote the risk-related issues several companies and countries.
Prof. Josef Peters
E-Mail: jpeters@risk-technologies.com
Josef Peters (MSc. Engineering) is a hands-on Mechanical Engineer who started off as an engineer for energy efficiency in Germany and progressed into the pressure equipment compliance field gaining on-site inspection experiences during In-service inspections and break downs on large generation power plants and petrochemical plants. The involvement in RBI processes was a natural consequence and followed automatically. He was a CEO of the TUV Rheinland Group of Companies in South Africa between 1997 to 2016 and is well known in South African circles for his contributions to plant safety in the petrochemical- and power industry. The main clients were users of large generation power stations (ESKOM) and of petrochemical industries (SASOL). Major aspects of these projects dealt with pressure equipment safety processes during manufacturing and in-service condition, covering most of the relevant international health and safety standards.
Josef’s main contributions have been related to (a) the implementation of the first international recognized certification scheme for RBI in South Africa according to ISO 17021 accreditation requirements, successfully certifying SASOL and 13 ESKOM power stations in compliance to the relevant API 580/581 and EN16991 standards, (b) the harmonization of international recognized manufacturing and in-service health and safety standards for pressure equipment into the South African legislative framework, (c) the contribution to international risk standardization development (CEN-CWA 14740 / EN16991:2018) in European technical committees through his connections to Steinbeis Advanced Risk Technologies (R-Tech) in Stuttgart (Germany).
Further to this, Josef was an active board member for several years at both SANAS (South African National Accreditation System and the SAIW-C (Certification Division of the South African Institute of Welding). He was also a chairman of the society of AIAs (Approved Inspection Authorities for pressure equipment in South Africa) for several years.
His European background and African experience coupled with a passionate interest in RBI-Engineering makes him a sought-after contributor. He continues to support the South African Industry and Government Departments in an advisory capacity, representing SAAMA (the South African Asset Management Association) at the Department of Labour as an RBI-expert and also works as a Technical Manager for the TUV-SUD Group in South Africa in their inspection agency department.
Currently he runs his own consulting company Energy Training Solutions B.V in the Netherland.
Josef speaks fluent English and German.
Prof. Petar Stanojević
E-Mail: ps@risk-technologies.com
Petar Stanojević, (MSc. ME, PhD) has worked for the government, industry, research, EU institutions and universities, in Serbia (university, government, industry), South Africa (industry), Romania and Turkey (industry, university) and Germany (university). In 2005 he was elected a Full Professor. He has obtained international and domestic licenses in the field of Project Management, Design, Construction, several international risk certificates, two short Strategy MBAs in London and more.
Petar was the technical leader of the project of Risk Based Inspection (RBI) project at ESCOM, the fifth largest electricity producer in the world, in South Africa (the largest project of this type up to date in the world). In the project he was responsible for Power plant RBI Methodology development, RBI assessments and power stations RBI process certification and courses lecturing. Thirteen power stations RBI were certified and five recertified. Project got a prize for the best project in ESKOM in year 2015.
Petar was the State Secretary at the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and Assistant Minister of Energy for Oil and Gas (and pressure equipment). Additionally, he was Director of Jugopetrol (largest petroleum retailer in Serbia), Director of Development and Investments and Strategy of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia, Assistant to the Executive Director of the Ministry of Defense and commander of technical maintenance units. He managed investment programs up to $ 100 million a year and organizational and research projects up to 50 million euro. He was in charge of capital construction and procurement. Built and reconstructed 70 petrol stations. Petar participated in the design of the oil refinery Pancevo (natural gas and auxiliary units). Act as a founder of the Research Development Center in the Petroleum Industry of Serbia and introduced PED Directive, Seveso Directive and RBI in Serbia.
In his career he was a leader, coordinator and participant of dozens of national and international projects in the domain of strategy, organization, management, industrial safety, logistics, risk, information systems, reliability, organization of maintenance and management, total value of tens of millions of euros. Special emphasis should be given to the projects of introduction of the unique investment management system in Serbia, projects of introduction of the most advanced management systems "Opportunity Confirmation Program NIS" and "Business Improvement Program" implemented in cooperation with Shell. In cooperation with German institutes, for the first time in Serbia, maintenance systems for risks and reliability (RBI and RCM) were introduced into the Serbian refineries. The project "Reform of the Military and the Defense System" served as the basis for a military reform in the post-2005 period. The book "RCM - Maintenance to Reliability" is the first in this field in Serbian language. He led the project of designing and building the first automatic petrol station in Serbia. Petar introduced Marking and Monitoring of Petroleum Products in Serbia. Act as one of the co-authors of the Law on Commodity Reserves, South Stream gas pipeline and Energy low from 2014. In the drafting of the Energy Strategy of the Republic of Serbia, he participated as one of the co-authors. He participated in EU projects FP7 and FP6, as well as in projects of the Ministry of Science.
Author and co-author of 9 monographs and textbooks, 120 scientific and professional papers, part of which are published in international journals. Petar was a member of editorial boards of scientific journals and conferences. He held several courses, lectures by invitation and presided over sections at professional meetings. For his work he has been awarded several times. Petar received the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce award for the best doctorate thesis at the Belgrade University in 1997, and for one of the works he received an award from the University of Oxford. He was a member of the Council of the European Virtual Institute for Risks (EU VRI), member of the Serbian Engineering Academy, Management Board of the Yugoslav Association of Project Managers and a member of Serbian Society of Operational researchers.
Petar peaks excellent Russian and English language.
Prof. Gopika Vinod
Scientist - F, Reactor Safety Division ; Assistant professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute
E-Mail: vinod@risk-technologies.com
Gopika Vinod (PhD.) is the professor at Homi Bhabha National Institute (Mumbai, India), head of Probabilistic Safety Section. She has experiences in conducting Risk based inspection on Chemical Plant, Risk in-service inspection for research reactor, has researched in Resilience methods for safety analysis, and has contributed in development of methodology for Passive system reliability, Software reliability, Dynamic reliability analysis and human reliability analysis.
Along with her professional experience, she has contributed in writing many publications including books, journal papers, conference papers, and BARC Report. She is also member of various committees in regulatory board.
She worked as Post-Doctoral fellow with Steinbeis Advanced Risk Technologies, Germany since 2007, visiting Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Lecturer at Steinbeis Hochschule Berlin
© 2021 Steinbeis Advanced Risk Technologies. All rights reserved.
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What Russian invasion?
In-Place Cease-Fire Reached between Government and Rebel Forces in Ukraine
The separatist rebels of eastern Ukraine and the government in Kiev that controls the Ukrainian army have reached a cease-fire in place that leaves the separatists largely in control of the Russian-majority regions of the eastern part of that country.
The agreement to stop the fighting was reached at negotiations organized and led by Russia and held in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. It was reached at the same time that the US was pressing leaders of the NATO countries, at a meeting in Wales, to boost their military spending and to set up more offensive military positions in countries bordering Russia.
The one thing that did not happen as a result of the cease-fire, and that in fact never even got addressed in the Minsk talks, was a withdrawal of Russian troops from eastern Ukraine.
There was no withdrawal or even mention of those troops — said to number about 1000 by the US and the Kiev government — because there never were Russian troops invading Ukraine.
As both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have, quite logically, pointed out, if Russia had invaded eastern Ukraine, it would not have done so by just secretly slipping in 1000 troops. It would have gone in with all 20,000 of the heavily armed troops it has reportedly massed on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine, and with its overwhelming air power, and by now would be threatening Ukraine’s capital of Kiev.
The Pentagon knows this. The CIA knows it. The State Department knows it. Anyone who’s watched the Russians in prior military actions (Afghanistan, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc.) knows it. Never mind, President Obama continues talking ominously and speciously about a Russian invasion. But as I learned when I wrote a spoof piece about that “invasion” a few days ago and tried to find some photos of Russian soldiers or Russian weapons in Ukraine on-line to go with it, there is absolutely no photographic evidence of such an attack.
Oh, there were some alleged satellite photos of perfectly lined up heavy mobile artillery which the US claimed were Russian arms inside Ukraine aiming westward, allegedly targeting Ukrainian forces. But these photos, which looked suspiciously like screen shots of video game images, and not like the crisp photos we have grown accustomed to seeing provided by military and even commercial satellites, didn’t even include GPS coordinates. The weapons were also far too perfectly lined up to be actually in operation in the field under wartime conditions. There was no effort to camouflage them from aerial attack, no effort to put them in protected positions, for example in a forest. Rather they were out in what appeared to be a plowed field (one which, significantly, didn’t show any piled up ammunition around the weapons, either).
Image from a Tweet by the Russian Embassy in the UAE, saying : "#NATO's latest evidence of #Russian armor invading #Ukraine has been leaked! Seems to be the most convincing ever!
There were also those nine Russian paratroopers who were captured in Ukraine, and subsequently paraded before the media in Kiev, but they claimed they had gotten lost and had crossed the border by mistake — a thoroughly credible explanation given that a large number of Ukrainian forces have done the same thing in reverse, crossing inadvertently over into Russia, which has been letting them return home.
Where there were articles in the media about an alleged Russian invasion, it always turned out that the accompanying photos of Russian troops or Russian tanks, instead of being of invading forces, either were of Russian troops on the Russian side of the border, or were old stock photos from Crimea, where Russian troops have long been stationed under the terms of a long-term lease agreement between Russia and Ukraine. (This was another earlier lie pushed by the US — that Russian troops had swept into Crimea like Nazi stormtroopers in the Anschluss — when in fact the troops that supported Crimeans’ desire to leave Ukraine and seek to rejoin Russia, were already there legally under a treaty agreement with Ukraine. Actually, there was no way for a Russian army to “cross the border” into Crimea, given that the only way to get from Russia to Crimea, at least back then, was a small ferry across the Kerch Strait that links the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea and that separates Crimea from Russia.)
Surely if there had been a real invasion of the Donbass region by Russian troops and their equipment over the past two weeks, the US would have had plenty of incriminating photos, including really impressive satellite images, to spread around. (US spy satellites can pick out license plate numbers from space!)
The claim of a Russian invasion was so weak, that Michael Gordon, the ethically compromised and politically tainted reporter at the New York Times who, back in 2002, brought us the bogus “aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment centrifuges” story and other war-mongering lies about Iraq, and to whom the Times, either in spite or, or because of that sorry record, handed the job of ginning up a new war hysteria, this time about Russia, was stumped. In the end, he was reduced to claiming Moscow was involved in a “stealth” invasion — one which you cannot see but just know is happening.
As a group of 30 former intelligence professionals in an organization called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) wrote in a memo delivered to German Chancellor Angela Merkel just before the NATO summit:
“The accusations of a major Russian ‘invasion’ of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the ‘intelligence’ seems to be of the same dubious, politically ‘fixed’ kind used 12 years ago to ‘justify’ the U.S.-led attack on Iraq”.
Merkel appears to have taken the VIPS memo seriously, and has backed away from her earlier solid support for more economic sanctions against Russia. She even hedged her reference at the NATO gathering to an alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “supposed” invasion.
Indeed, while the US has dissed the new cease-fire agreement, huffing that there was no implementation plan included (cease-fire agreements, as opposed to peace treaties, are always works in progress, as the US surely knows, and as we saw recently in Gaza, and the important thing is just to stop the guns and bombs, so talks can take place), the NATO countries, led by Merkel, have refused to blindly cave in to US pressure to put added sanctions in place against Russia, preferring instead to approve tentative sanctions but hold them in reserve to give the cease fire a chance.
That hasn’t stopped US war-mongering. Although any sane observer knows that Russia’s support for the embattled Russian minority in eastern Ukraine, far from being a sign that Putin and the Russian government want to try and recapture the former satellite states of Eastern Europe, is rather a logical response to a US-led effort to turn Ukraine into an armed and threatening US/NATO outpost on Russia’s southern border. (Just recall how the US responded when the old Soviet Union tried to enlist Cuba in its NATO equivalent of the Warsaw Pact by installing missiles on the island!).
In any case, Russia’s support for the rebellion of the ethnic Russians in Ukraine’s east (the same kind of moral, financial, tactical and military support the US has given to Chechnyan rebels, the Georgian military, Nicaraguan Contras and anti-Castro rebels) has been a smashing success. The US neo-con dream of pushing Russia out of its Crimean naval base, which would have left Russia with no navy in the Mediterranean region and scant access to the Atlantic, is gone with the annexation earlier this year of Crimea, following a plebiscite. Meanwhile, the cease-fire leaves ethnic Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in control of half of Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline, and, should the cease-fire collapse, within striking distance of the port cities of Mariupol and Odessa, which would leave western Ukraine an impoverished and landlocked nation.
The US, having seen its $5 billion plan for a NATO puppet state on Russia’s southern flank resoundingly crushed, is still pushing disconsolately for a more threatening NATO stance against Russia, with more weapons and troops posted near to Russia’s western border, for example in the Baltic states and in Poland, Rumania and Poland. But saner heads in Europe, particularly in Germany, are balking, noting that NATO and Russia have a treaty that bars the placing of permanent military bases in those countries. European NATO countries area also largely ignoring US calls for them to boost their military spending to bring it to 2% of GDP (US military spending is officially 3.8% of GDP, among the highest rates in the world, according to the World Bank, though adding in interest on war funding debt, veterans benefits and health care and the intelligence budget, it is really closer to 5%).
As a sop to Washington’s bruised ego, the NATO countries have approved a plan to pre-position weapons in the so-called “front-line” NATO states nearest to Russia, and to create a small “rapid action force” of several thousand NATO troops who could presumably gear up and go to those pre-positioned weapons within days in a crisis involving Russian aggression.
That plan, while a provocation, is unlikely to trouble Russia much, because a) Russia has no interest in trying to invade any of those countries like Estonia or the Czech Republic, and b) because if it did ever have such a plan, its 1-million-strong military would not be deterred by a few thousand NATO troops.
The Ukraine crisis is not over. The cease-fire is precarious, and the US is talking about providing arms to Ukrainian forces, and has announced plans for sending some US troops to Ukraine for “war games” with Ukrainian troops.
Hopefully, though, with its diplomatic nose already bloodied by the military successes of the separatist forces, Washington will decide not to risk having things get even worse, with Russia regaining full control of the Black Sea coast as it had under the old USSR, and Europe left with a rump “Novopoland” economic basket case to contend with.
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Has Trump Already been Removed as Commander in Chief?
Thu, January 7, 2021
[caption id="attachment_5523" align="alignnone" width="852"] Members of Congress and staff cower as Trump Brownshirts invate the Capitol building, incited by the president (Wall Street Journal video screen shot)[/caption] Little noticed…


Rotorua school girl Mystery Ada McLean-Kora says playing at the Bayleys National Sevens Rugby Tournament over the weekend was a fantastic experience.
The 16-year-old attends Western Heights High School and says her focus at school has always been sporty. She plays basketball, volleyball, touch rugby and started playing 15-aside rugby last year, making the Bay school’s team.
Bay of Plenty women’s and men’s sevens rugby teams came tantalisingly close to final showdowns at the national tournament in Rotorua over the weekend. The men’s team lost 33 nil to eventual tournament champs Waikato in a one-sided semi-final, while the women lost a third and fourth play-off again to Waikato opponents by 26-21.
Games were played in brilliant sunshine and heat, leaving players staggering through games towards the end of the tournament. Mystery told The Mud’s Kevin O’Connor she has a long way to go at this stage as far as the sevens game is concerned.
“It’s been good, playing with the New Zealand players in the team and learning off them.” Smiling, she admitted she had to get bigger.
She said she was proud of the way the Bay women’s team performed, especially since because it was a largely “put together team” due to injuries without much experience of playing together.
Bay of Plenty Men’s Sevens team manager Mark Day said the energy level seemed to go away from the guys during their semi-final against Waikato.
Although they didn’t show it in their final game, the team had worked hard on defence with their coaches and were looking forward to next year and making more improvements.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union chief executive officer Mike Rogers told The Mud the BOP teams’ performances were the “icing on the cake”.
“I think it’s been a fantastic couple of days. The weather has helped the event. Talking to the teams they’ve had a great time and so have the spectators.”
He did not have crowd numbers to hand, but he said there was growth on last year.
“Word has got out that it’s a good event to be at and people have found the atmosphere this year has been a step up from last year.”
For the record, Waikato men’s team took the final off last year’s champs Wellington, winning 38-19; and the Auckland women’s team beat Manawatu 29-14 in their final.
Need to find the full results, download them here:
Mystery's marvellous sevens rugby tournament


YouTube Considering 'Further Consequences' Over Logan Paul Video
By James Packard
The YouTube user faced a wave of backlash after posting a video of Japan's so-called "suicide forest."
YouTube says it's looking at "further consequences" against vlogger Logan Paul for a video he published on Dec. 31.
Paul issued an apology for taking his camera into Japan's so-called "suicide forest," showing a dead body and seeming to make fun of suicide.
YouTube said Tuesday that the video "violated our community guidelines" and that the company "acted accordingly," but it's not clear what that means.
Related Story YouTube To Scale Up Human Review As Site Faces Child-Content Scandals
Paul's video set off a wave of backlash. He took the video down and claimed he was trying to raise awareness for suicide prevention. Mental health experts say his video might have had the opposite effect.
YouTube acknowledged that it had taken a while for it to respond to the controversy. The company said it was taking steps to "ensure a video like this is never circulated again."


Film Festival Review: Gore Vidal - The United States of Amnesia
By Simon Wilson date Jul 25, 2013
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia
Director Nicholas Wrathall
So, Gore Vidal. Novelist, excoriating critic of capitalism, warmongers and politicians. Wealthy leftist haranguer of the Right and of John F. Kennedy and all other soft-headed liberals who sailed in his wake… Long-form journalist!
He got so much so horribly wrong, especially in relation to World War II and again after 9/11. But he got an awful lot right, too, including his enthusiasm for Martin Luther King and the whole range of activism that grew up in American in the 1960s and 70s. He was charming, bombastic, erudite. He went on TV with sparring partner the ultra-conservative William F. Buckley, and their debates were electric: two gloriously quick wits going at each other for the sake of high political ideals, neither afraid to utilise some low personal blows.
What made Vidal great among public intellectuals was that it all mattered so much. Christopher Hitchens had the same quality, and it’s no accident that he appears in this film to tell us Vidal called him his “dauphin”, by which he meant his heir apparent. Both of them, committed, erudite, pretentious, intellectually demanding and terribly enjoyable. And in this film it’s Hitchens, never scared to destroy anyone’s reputation, even that of his own erstwhile hero, who discusses where and why Vidal went wrong after 2001.
The movie is not a reckoning, because there’s too little of that sharp Hitchens-style evaluation. Vidal remains unchallenged on most of what he said, both in the public sphere and in private. Are we really expected to believe he lived for decades with the man he calls the great love of his life, but that the relationship wasn’t sexual? And if we are, isn’t that worth exploring a little more, for what it tells us about the man?
And yet. Public intellectuals are in short supply. This one was a doozy, and the movie delivers you that.


DU Alumni
DU career center helps launch alumna’s environmental consulting firm
By Meg McIntyre
Posted November 10, 2015 at 7:10 am
Jessica Acosta graduated from the University of Denver in 2003 with a BA in communications. Today, she is CEO of Environmental Consulting Services, an environmental construction consulting firm in the Denver area.
Acosta says she was able to break into the construction industry with help from the University Career Center.
“A company got my resumé from the career center shortly after I graduated, and they called me for an interview, offered me a job in construction, and that’s how I got started in the construction industry,” she says.
Since founding her company in 2011, Acosta has participated in the JE Dunn Minority Contractors Business Development Program, was selected by the Associated General Contractors of America to participate in the Turner School of Construction Management, and was named an Outstanding Woman in Business and one of Denver’s 40 under 40 by the Denver Business Journal. She also serves on the board of directors for Hispanic Contractors of Colorado.
Acosta says that even today, her DU degree continues to help her further her career.
“A lot of times, just by mentioning that I went to DU, or that I’m a Pioneer or DU alumna, it really catches attention right off the bat,” Acosta says. “I definitely think that was true when starting my career. It opened some doors.”


Keweenaw County is Michigan's northernmost county, and its smallest (in population). The county comprises the upper half of the beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula, that beckoning finger of land that sticks out into Lake Superior.
According to Google Maps,
Eagle River, the county seat of Keweenaw County is:
574 miles from Detroit
443 miles from Chicago
369 miles from Minneapolis
The Keweenaw is a region rich in history as well as natural beauty. Copper mining is a major historical theme, but commercial fishing, lumbering, maritime and life-saving history, and various ethnic stories are notable, too.
The Keweenaw County Historical Society, established in 1981, is a group of volunteers who work hard and take pleasure in commemorating and sharing that history.
The picture in our web banner is of the Eagle Harbor Light Station on the shore of Lake Superior. This property is owned by the Keweenaw County Historical Society and is the site of its major museums. The lighthouse was built in 1871, and the light is still operated by the Coast Guard. The other buildings on the grounds are: the maritime museum and gift shop, housed in the former fog signal building; and, two former assistant lightkeepers’ dwellings. One houses a commercial fishing museum, the other is known as the Keeper’s Cottage and is available for vacation rental to Society members in the summer and fall.
Pronounce Keweenaw: KEY-win-awe
Photo Notes: Unless otherwise noted all 'current' images on the site were taken by photographers working for the KCHS and are intended only for the express use of the KCHS.
Copyright: All content of this web site, including text, photos, maps, drawings, etc., are copyright © 2010-2025 The Keweenaw County Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Google Map Keys
For those not familiar with Google maps:
Open list of placemarks
Open larger version of this map in Google Maps
Zoom in and out


Senate feeling energetic
Federal energy bill moves to final round: House v. Senate showdown
By Emily Gertz on Jun 29, 2005
The Senate passed its $16 billion version of the federal energy bill yesterday with an 85-12 vote. Included: tax breaks and incentives for domestic oil and gas production; billions for clean energy, nuke power, and conservation; and, the “sense of the Senate” demanding that “the United States should demonstrate international leadership and responsibility regarding reducing the health, environmental, and economic risks posed by climate change.”
(Search on ‘S. J. RES. 5’ for the 109th Congress at senate.gov to read the whole thing.)
Not included, as compared to the House version: Even more incentives for dirty energy production; immunity from defective-product lawsuits for manufacturers of MTBE, a gasoline additive that has fouled drinking water in hundreds of communities nationwide; drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And the House certainly didn’t include no namby-pamby non-binding resolution on reducing global warming.
So stay tuned for the next round, as the House and Senate duke it out in conference to reconcile their two versions of the bill.
Read more in today’s The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times.On Monday, anticipating this vote, the editors of The New York Times weighed in on the significance of the climate resolution — far from being an empty gesture (as opponents to action on climate change would style it),
The resolution was anything but meaningless. It represents a major turnaround in attitudes, especially among prominent Republicans who only a few years ago doubted a problem even existed. It is something to build on: Pete Domenici, the most influential Senate Republican on energy matters and a recent convert to the global warming cause, has already scheduled hearings to see what sort of legislation can be devised down the road.
And it terrifies the White House because it is further proof that the administration’s efforts to minimize the warming threat have failed and that President Bush’s voluntary approach to the problem is no longer taken seriously.
So, what do you think? Tipping point, or toothless?


Marvel Lucha Libre Edition Pulls Inspiration from Iconic Super Heroes and Villains
New storytelling content and a collection of clothing, accessories and other consumer products inspired by Mexican wrestling is coming soon!
Marvel Lucha Libre Edition
Marvel and AAA get together to expand the sporting and cultural experience of Mexican wrestling. As part of the actions that will be taken for this collaboration, a new group of wrestlers inspired by Marvel's most iconic Super Heroes and villains will be introduced; and a series of family events that will gather the perfect combination of sports, culture and entertainment that distinguishes wrestling in Mexico will be developed.
"This collaboration with AAA represents an opportunity to participate in an iconic part of Mexican culture, such as wrestling and offering attractive content and experiences to the whole family that can be further celebrated with spectacular consumer products inspired by this discipline which is valuable for fans and consumers; says Luis Lomelí, Head of Licensing and Consumer Products area at The Walt Disney Company (Mexico). "While developing these storytelling and content creation initiatives, the premise has been to stay true to the essence of Mexican wrestling at all times by bringing together AAA’s experience in terms of wrestling and Marvel’s experience in terms of story and character development. The potential of wrestling is unlimited. Its quality, color and talent are increasingly valued in the world. Based on this unique and original creative platform, we will develop different product lines such as clothing, footwear and accessories, toys, household and school items”, adds the executive.
During autumn of this year, the first 4 wrestlers of this group will be announced, who will be called to revolutionize the AAA lineup. On the one hand, we will have the technical wrestlers: Aracno and Leyenda Americana and, on the other hand, we will have the tough wrestlers: Terror Púrpura and Venenoide.
It will be at the next AAA event, Triplemanía XXVIII, to be held on December at the Arena Ciudad de México, in Mexico City, when the public will be able to watch them live and appreciate the moves, holds, counter offenses and evolution of these wrestlers inspired by their beloved Marvel Super Heroes and villains.
"Teaming with Marvel represents the union of two fantastic worlds that house characters that public have turned into their great heroes. Therefore, it will be a pleasure to welcome you to the Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide family in a successful event, such as Triplemanía XXVIII," concluded Dorian Roldán, General Director of Lucha Libre AAA.
Want to stay on top of everything in the Marvel Universe? Follow Marvel on social media—Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram—and keep watching Marvel.com for more news!


Transfer Talk, January 3: All the latest transfer gossip, rumours and speculation
IS BERAM Kayal ready to sing like a Canary? Is Terry Butcher looking for some Devine intervention? And is Ryan Fraser experiencing a change of heart? Read it all in our latest Transfer Talk.
Gregor Kyle
Beram Kayal: Could the Bhoy become a Canary?
WITH Ryan McGowan on a slow boat from Tynecastle to China and Jamie Murphy bidding a teary farewell to the ‘Well, we’ve seen the first of what should be many departures from the Scottish Premier League during the January transfer window.
Celtic are keeping tight-lipped on Rabiu Ibrahim’s transfer to Kilmarnock - although nothing has been confirmed by the Ayrshire club either, despite quotes from the player doing the rounds.
There could be another departure from Celtic in the near future as well. Here is the latest news in our transfer round-up.
CELTIC: According to one national tabloid, Beram Kayal is a £5m target for Chris Hughton and Norwich City. The Celtic midfielder signed a new deal last season, but has made no secret of his determination to eventually move to the English Premier League. Kayal has struggled to earn a regular starting place this season and the club could well be tempted by a £5m offer. Meanwhile, the Celtic fans are not particularly enamoured with the prospect of signing former-Ranger Kevin Thomson from Middlesbrough. And coach Garry Parker has warned Gary Hooper he’d be mad to return to England this month.
HEARTS: Manager John McGlynn has done his best to prepare fans for more departures during the window. Ryan McGowan could prove to be the first of many.
MOTHERWELL: Jamie Murphy played his final match for the club yesterday and has said that he is just delighted to see Motherwell get a fee for him.
INVERNESS CT: Former Wrexham defender Danny Devine is reportedly in talks with Caley having been released from his contract by Fleetwood Town. The 20-year-old Irish centre back also played for Lisburn Distillery and Linfield, before moving to Preston North End.
ABERDEEN: It could be just like a new signing! If rumours are to be believed, Ryan Fraser has had a change of heart and back in talks with the Dons. As Craig Brown told him, ‘you can always change your mind...’
Lopez could be on his way to Arsenal
CHELSEA: Demba Ba - and his dodgy knee - are currently undergoing a medical at Chelsea and the club is keen to get him registered in time for the weekend. He could also be the first of several January arrivals with Micah Richards (Manchester City), Brazilian Taison (Metalist Kharkiv) and Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao also being linked with the club.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Marseille striker Loic Remy is the Magpies’ first choice replacement for Ba. They’re also close to agreeing a deal for Lille’s French right-back, Mathieu Debuchy.
ASTON VILLA: Paul Lambert was glad to see the back of him, but might well be forced to accept Alan Hutton’s early return from Nottingham Forest. His former Rangers’ boss, Alex McLeish is considering ending his loan deal at the City Ground.
CRYSTAL PALACE: The Eagles have a novel idea to keep their promotion push on track and make between £10-£15m in the process. Wilfried Zaha would be allowed to move to Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester United or Arsenal - only if he is immediately loaned back to Palace for the second half of the season.
STOKE CITY: One player who won’t be moving in the January window is Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross - who has signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract. Manager Tony Pulis was desperate to tie him to a new deal and Pulis: "He's been the bedrock of what we've been trying to do over the past five or six years and we're really pleased that he's finally agreed."
ARSENAL: Arsene Wenger feels signing Theo Walcott on a new contract would send a "positive message" that the future is bright at Arsenal. Wenger remains confident an agreement can be reached and is ready to overhaul his squad. Arsenal are expected to move for Atletico Madrid striker Adrian Lopez. Fringe players Marouane Chamakh, Sebastien Squillaci and Johan Djourou are all likely to be offloaded. Andrey Arshavin has been linked with Reading and Paris St Germain.
WEST HAM: Joe Cole is currently undergoing a medical and could make a hero’s return to his first club. Heading for the exit is Yossi Benayoun, who has returned to his parent club Chelsea.
EVERTON: Phil Jagielka has signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at the club until 2017. The England international has committed his future to the Toffees until beyond his 34th birthday.
M'Villa in action against Celtic
ATHLETIC BILBAO: The Basque side have announced that striker Fernando Llorente is in talks with Juventus. The 27-year-old's contract is up at San Mames at the end of the season and after announcing his decision to leave during the summer, he has been used sparingly - scoring just twice in 16 matches, the majority of which have come from the bench. "Juventus Football Club informed Athletic Club on January 3 that, knowing Fernando Llorente will end his stint at our club on June 30, 2013, they will begin negotiations with the player to incorporate him into their squad," the statement read.
RENNES: Yann M'Vila has reignited speculation over a move to Arsenal by questioning his future at the Ligue 1 club. The 22-year-old was linked with the Gunners in the summer transfer window and has now stated: "If the club receive a good offer and I like the destination then I will go, there is no doubt about that. Until that happens, nothing can be said."
Hibernian FCChris Cadden completes Hibs move as Jack Ross hails 'manager's dream' on MLS returnThe Scotland cap makes his return to the Scottish Premiership from Columbus Crew on a ... year deal.
Neil Lennon's Celtic return date set as Gavin Strachan confirms no new positives from latest round of testing
Neil LennonThe manager and 13 players will be back for the second of a double-header with David Martindale's side.
Hearts director in 'crocodile tears' jibe as he takes aim at clubs who stood by during SFA relegation fight
Hearts FCSeveral League One and League Two clubs have been left fuming after the SFA put the divisions on hold for three weeks.