Olympic Torch relay problems, Kosovo, Anschluss

Funny how things sometimes seem to come together as if by an irresistible magnetism. All the items in my headline for this posting have been separately mentioned on my blog in the past few days. Coincidence perhaps? The Olympic Torch relay was devised by Adolf Hitler for the Berlin Olympics in 1936, read here. The first torch relay passed through the Balkans to demonstrate growing German power and influence. Why does the modern world permit its continuation? Perhaps the blue boiler suited bully boys escorting the torch on its present relay will bring the reality home and cause the death of this and various other gut wrenching excesses of the modern olympic movement. The 2012 London Olympics, which now are clearly unaffordable in a crisis ridden Britain, would be a suitable cancellation moment, rather than a pointless avoidance of the Beijing opening ceremony. The Kosovo independence handling by Javier Solana has been a clear fiasco also of massive proportions and horrifying historical connections as we are reminded in the article linked above in describing the Olympic rings as follows: Originally, they were designed in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC and father of the modern Olympic movement, for a 1914 World Olympic Congress in Paris. They were supposed to symbolize the first five Olympics, but the congress disbanded when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering World War I. It was not the writer of this blog who likened yesterday's passage of the Lisbon Treaty through the Austrian Parliament to the Anschluss, when Hitler effectively took over Austria, but an Austrian politician Herr Strache of the FPÖ. Once again, however, we are forced to return our thoughts to the years leading to the two world wars of the 20th century. Ironies is the title of this blog and it will continue to highlight them as they occur!