The good:
The Milan Cortina Olympics ended Sunday as the twin flames in co-host cities Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo were extinguished during a closing ceremony
inside the ancient Verona Arena, roughly mid-distance between the
far-flung mountain, valley and city venues that made these the most
spread-out Winter Games ever.
In declaring the 2026 Games over,
International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry told local
organizers that they “delivered a new kind of winter games and you set a
new, very high standard for the future.”
The next Winter Games
will be held in neighboring France, which received the Olympic flag in
the official handover earlier in the ceremony. Following the same
spread-out model, the 2030 Winter Games will stage events in the Alps
and Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea, while speedskating will be held
either in Italy or the Netherlands.
A total of 116 medal events were held in eight Olympic sports across 16
disciplines, including the debut of ski mountaineering this year, over
the course of 17 days of competition. With the final events wrapping up
just hours before the ceremony, the 50-kilometer mass start men’s and
women’s cross country medals were awarded by Coventry inside the Arena. [snip]
The Milan Cortina Games spanned an area of 22,000 square kilometers
(8,500 square miles), from ice sports in Milan to biathlon in Anterselva
on the Austrian border, snowboarding and men’s downhill in Valtellina
on the Swiss border, cross-country skiing in the Val di Fiemme north of
Verona and women’s downhill, curling and sliding sports in co-host
Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The closing ceremony concluded with the Olympic flames extinguished at the unprecedented two caldrons in Milan and Cortina, viewed in Verona via video link. A light show substituted fireworks, which are not allowed in Verona, to protect animals from being disturbed.
The
Milan Cortina Paralympics’ opening ceremony will also take place in the
Verona Arena, on March 6, and the Games will run until March 15. (our emphasis)
We didn't watch some of the Games; like most people (we suspect) we had favorite events that we followed. But what we saw was top notch. Kudos to Italy for putting on a safe, well-organized, beautiful Winter Olympics. Bravo!
The bad:
Arab and Muslim nations on Saturday sharply condemned comments by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who said Israel has a right to much of the Middle East.
Huckabee
made the comments in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker
Carlson that aired Friday. Carlson said that according to the Bible, the
descendants of Abraham would receive land that today would include
essentially the entire Middle East, and asked Huckabee if Israel had a
right to that land.
Huckabee responded: “It would be fine if they
took it all.” Huckabee added, however, that Israel was not looking to
expand its territory and has a right to security in the land it
legitimately holds.
His comments sparked immediate backlash from
neighboring Egypt and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry described Huckabee’s comments as
“extremist rhetoric” and “unacceptable,” and called for the State
Department to clarify its position on them.
Egypt’s foreign
ministry called his comments a “blatant violation” of international law,
adding that “Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian
territory or other Arab lands.”
“Statements of this nature — extremist and lacking any sound basis —
serve only to inflame sentiments and stir religious and national
emotions,” the League of Arab States said... (our emphasis)
Send a fundamentalist Baptist preacher with no diplomatic experience to be Ambassador to Israel and this is the embarrassment you get. Dangerous.
The ugly:
The US and Canada urged their citizens in parts of Mexico to shelter in
place on Sunday as a Mexican cartel retaliated for the death of its
leader. [snip]
In videos shared
online, burning vehicles and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from
Puerto Vallarta and other cities in Mexico.
The
US Embassy in Mexico said in a statement on its website that no
airports have been closed, but most domestic and international flights
were canceled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. All ride-sharing
services are suspended in Puerto Vallarta, the embassy said.
Puerto
Vallarta media reported that cars near a Costco and several other
stores were set on fire. Costco did not immediately respond to a request
for comment from Business Insider.
Flights already on
their way to the region from the US turned around, and Air Canada said
it was suspending operations to Puerto Vallarta on Sunday and Monday.
"While
no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline
operations, with some domestic and international flights canceled in
both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta," the US State Department said.
"Seek shelter and remain in residences or hotels."
Flights
to Mexico City, Edmonton, Houston, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Denver,
Detroit, and Toronto were canceled on early Monday morning, per the
Puerto Vallarta Airport. [snip]
The Mexican government
said the retaliatory violence came after it killed Nemesio "El Mencho"
Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, on
Sunday.
The State
Department announced last week that it had sanctioned Kovay Gardens — a
Mexican timeshare resort — and 17 other companies and five individuals
linked to "timeshare fraud schemes" organized by the Jalisco cartel.
"Many
of these individuals and entities are based in or near Puerto Vallarta,
a popular tourist destination that also serves as a strategic
stronghold for CJNG," a press release from the Treasury Department said.
In
2024, the US State Department said it would pay a reward of up to $15
million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of
Cervantes. The department said that under Cervantes, the cartel has
killed rival trafficking groups and law enforcement.
We hope Mexico had a follow up plan for quelling the violence that was inevitably going to follow the Cervantes' killing. The reach of these cartels in Mexico is jaw-dropping.
