Suing for libel

The Irish Times reports this morning that "[l]awyers for Julia Kushnir plan to issue proceedings against the newspapers". At least this means it will not vanish without a trace, which is what I expected to happen. (Still believe that, to be honest.)

Here's something I missed. Last week the Irish Times had a long article on "the story behind the story". A couple of interesting facts here.

Lawlor and Kushnir arrive shortly before midnight at Moscow's main airport, Sheremetyevo. A Russian developer has supplied a Mercedes and driver, Ruslan Suliamanov, to pick them up.

The big black Mercedes heads south through the clear chill air, then into the Leningradsky Shosse, a wide boulevard leading to the Kremlin. Their destination is a mile short of that, at the five-star Marriott Grand hotel, one of Moscow's smartest and also most secure. President George Bush stayed there recently.

At 12.55am, according to one report, a drunk careens on to the road, forcing the car to swerve. Its side slams into a lamppost, killing Lawlor and the driver instantly. Kushnir, in the back seat, is thrown forward and bangs her head.

First of all, in today's Irish Independent the driver, Ruslan Suliamanov, was "a highly respected CEO of a Russian company". (There's nothing about him on Google - at least using this spelling.) He was also "the husband of a dear friend of mine and while Mr Lawlor was to be dropped off at his hotel I was to stay with Mr Suliamanov in his family home". The Examiner tells us that "Ruslan Suliamanov, the driver of the car, had known Mr Lawlor from earlier business dealings". So, the "Story behind the story" was wrong too. Suliamanov was the man Lawlor was to meet in Moscow and not a driver hired by a developer.

One other curiosity is that the "Story behind the story" tells us that the accident happened around 12:55am, which doesn't tie in too neatly with the published schedule of flights from Prague to Moscow for October 22. The schedule (no longer available online) indicated that the only direct flight they could have been on was one that arrived at 1:05am.

'I want to be left alone'

I just heard on the radio that Julia Kushnir has released a statement through her solicitor. No mention of any libel action, but she is 'disgusted' by the coverage of the death of Liam Lawlor and the references to a prostitute. Mostly, she wants to be left alone by the media. Her statement indicates that she was working for Mr. Lawlor as a translator - no mention of legal adviser - and hopes to qualify as a lawyer next year (so, she is a law student, I guess).

Well, I can understand how the media is probably annoying her. However, I do not accept that she didn't know what sort of reputation Liam Lawlor had and why the media would be interested in anyone associated with him. And, if she's worked for Lawlor regularly (which this statement doesn't claim, but has to be the case seeing as she's met Mrs. Lawlor a number of times) she may well know more than she's comfortable knowing. And, she may want the media to leave her alone, but I don't think she necessarily has an automatic right to this when there are so many questions about Lawlor that still need to be answered.

Day out

Another one of our family days away yesterday. Spent yesterday flying to London, touring around the city and flying home again late last night. Everyone's exhausted, but that's the way we like it. The weather was miserable so we opted for indoor activities. The Science Museum was the highlight. All ages are catered for, which is about as good as it gets when you're traveling with children ranging in age from 4 to 14. It was much better than I expected.

This was a make-up trip for our trip to London that we postponed in early August.

Malfeasance part of levee problems

Today's NY Times reports that one expert investigating what went wrong with the levees in New Orleans may be a result of malfeasance. Professor Raymond Seed indicated that he's been hearing from levee workers and contractors that corners were cut.

And, in a related item, rapper 50 Cent may be starting a new rapper feud, this one between himself and Kanye West.

"I think people responded to it the best way they can," 50 told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from." Instead, 50 said, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God."

It's great for President Bush to have 50 Cent in his corner, but 'Fiddy' might want to revisit this position if he reads today's NY Times about what might have gone on during some of the maintenance work done on the levees. Also, he might want to pay some attention to the testimony of those who noted that FEMA's Michael Brown was not 100% focused on his job after Katrina hit.

Seeking translator

I don't know what this site is all about, but this little item is intriguing.

Hi

Perhaps someone in the business section if this site can put me in touch with a English-Russian-Czexh translator who has been recommended to be called Julia Kushnir.
I am told Ms Kushnir is based in Prague and her service has been recommended very highly.

Thanks.

Don Evans.

The Gardai or Planning Tribunal, perhaps?

Lawlor update

In truth, my obsession is past. I've hardly thought about Liam Lawlor or Julia Kushnir the past few days. The Sunday Times provided a few new facts, some of which contradict those facts we previously 'knew'. Now the story is that Kushnir was in the front seat and Lawlor in the back. The Sunday Times also tells us that the car was traveling at 120Km/h (around 70MPH) when it "smashed sideways into a lamp post". This sideways crash explains [a] why Kushnir was unhurt (the impact was on the other side of the car) and [b] why the airbags didn't inflate. Reading this article it was almost like someone was reading my questions and answering them for me.

Anyway, I think if you weren't sold at all by the official word regarding last week's crash, etc. I see little in this article that will put your suspicions to rest. This - "there were no tyre skid marks, indicating the car did not slow down before the impact" - alone will make people wonder. Was it murder? And, even if the brakes completely failed, if the driver had taken his foot off the gas pedal wouldn't that have ensured that the car would have slowed well below the 120 Km/h before impact? Wouldn't traveling sideways at that speed have left skid marks anyway?

Being Taoiseach - it's easier than you think

This was my favorite Bruton quote from the Chronicle interview. He was asked which, of all his jobs in politics, did he enjoy the most.

Oh, being prime minister, by a mile. It was a fantastic job. The economy was going very well. It wasn't an easy job, but it was a lot easier than you might think.

Maybe Bertie should take a pay cut?

"Iraq was too fast"

The EU's ambassador to the US, John Bruton, was the subject of two long interviews over the weekend. One in the Boston Globe and the other in the San Francisco Chronicle. One thing Bruton said to the Globe struck me.

Bruton said the rift on Iraq, in both its suddenness and perceived scope, was as much a function of different policy-making systems as political or ideological differences.

"Policy is made at the top in the US. The president takes a position and that's it," he said. "It takes much longer for a policy to emerge in Europe. Some EU countries supported the administration, others didn't. . . . The EU countries can reach an agreed position on most things as long as we have enough time to do it. Iraq was too fast."

What exactly is he saying here? At first I thought he was just spouting more "rush to war" stuff, but now I think this was really from his Europhile heart. Bruton believes in the EU. He'd like to see the EU take command of defense and foreign policy issues away from the national governments and that, I think, is where the "Iraq was too fast" is coming from. To Bruton the divisions within Europe and the inability to agree a single policy is evidence that the EU must have one voice on these issues.

Advocates for local government will find it this quote from Bruton ironic:

"While the EU is democratic, people don' t have the sense that they can change the government the way they can change the mayor of Boston or the mayor of Dublin," he said.

The mayor of Boston is, of course, a real executive with real authority where the Lord Mayor of Dublin is virtually powerless and elected annually by the members of the city council, who themselves are virtually powerless and are elected (generally) every 5 years.

Scooter

The whole time I was growing up there was only one Scooter. That was Phil Rizzuto, former Yankee shortstop and member of the Yankees' broadcast team for 5 or 6 decades (or so it seemed). And, although I thought it was bizarre that everyone referred to a 60+ year old man as Scooter, I accepted it as just part of baseball. You weren't meant to take him too seriously.

Now there's a new Scooter on my television screen. Only this man's not in baseball, but working in the White House (or, should I say, worked in the White House?). This is just too much. And, hearing the President talk, in all seriousness, about a man known as Scooter is beyond the pale. Come on. Call the man Irving or Lewis, if he prefers, but not Scooter.

Ferns Report

To be honest, I've paid almost no attention to the Ferns Report. Part of me just hated the whole story and I guess I felt like I had already absorbed enough of the details to get the gist of it. Yet, there's this nagging feeling that I should really learn more about what went wrong in the Church.

Today at Mass the priest started his homily saying that now he "has some idea how the German people must have felt at the end of the second world war". He said he felt he was "guilty by association" for abominable acts against society's most defenseless people. While most people who make NAZI analogies are pointing the finger at others this man was pointing the finger at himself and his church, to which he has dedicated his life. His distress was obvious.

Now I feel I should make a better effort to learn what the report says. I have a stack of newspapers to read and I also found a copy of the report online (not easy) and I downloaded it. It's over 200 pages, which is a lot of reading, but I'd like to imagine I'll eventually read it.

Prince of Wales

According to this morning's Sunday Telegraph, Prince Charles

will try to persuade George W Bush and Americans of the merits of Islam this week because he thinks the United States has been too intolerant of the religion since September 11.

. . . It is understood that Prince Charles did not - and does not - believe that the actions of 19 hijackers should tarnish the reputation of hundreds of millions of law-abiding Muslims around the world.

I think before he goes to the US, it might be a good idea for Prince Charles to get hold of some of the speeches the President has been making rather than making his assessment of US policy based on what the Independent says.

Over and over again, even in the immediate aftermath of September 11, the President has stressed that the terrorists do not represent the truth about Islam. Perhaps Prince Charles could start here. {I haven't reviewed this site in any detail, but a quick skim of what's here looks reasonable and there are links to the White House's web page for more details.}

In fact, it seems to me that European politicians are much more likely to bad mouth Islam, particularly what to Europeans are its 'regressive' views, then are American politicians.

Bush's worst week

Almost anywhere you look today, you can find references to "Bush's worst week", etc. The Libby indictment, the Miers fiasco and the fact that the 2000th military fatality was recorded in Iraq this week do add up to a pretty bad week, but I don't think this was the President's worst week by a long shot. That was the week following Hurricane Katrina.

Almost nobody in America knows who Scooter Libby is and if he remains as the sole indictee, then the political damage to the White House will be minimal. The Miers nomination was a "mistake" because it undermined Bush's support with his base, many of whom have spent 3 decades working for this one moment: Republican President and Republican majority in the Senate. However, a Machiavellian reading of the Miers nomination was that she volunteered to be publicly skewered (nominated and, predictably, investigated and attacked) so that Bush could "give in" to his base at exactly the moment that Fitzgerald was about to deliver his report. And, although 2000 is something of a milestone, I'm not sure it's politically much more significant than 1950 or 1900 or 2050 or 2100. If you believe in the war, then each death is tragic, but hardly politically earth-shattering. And, if you don't believe in the war, then each death is one too many.

No, in fact, I think Bush's worst moment was that week after Katrina and this week actually provides some solid footing for Bush to begin rebuilding the momentum.

The Plame Truth by Oliver Stone?

I never imagined I'd see the day when Republicans are muttering about a CIA dirty tricks campaign to undermine the administration and Democrats are talking about the agency's operatives' selfless devotion to the country. A friend of mine who comes from what is roughly the Sandinista wing of American politics sees no malevolence in anything done by anyone in the CIA in this whole affair while those (like me) who reside on the 'God and country' end of the political spectrum believe something about the CIA's part in this just stinks.

I keep hoping to read that Oliver Stone is going to make a movie about the CIA plot to undermine the elected government in 2003. At least that would offer some reassurance that the whole world hasn't been turned upside down.

Franchise ownership

Today's Boston Herald has a column on a "smear" campaign being conducted by the Boston Red Sox against their own GM, the 'Boy Wonder' Theo Esptein.

It's probably only interesting to Red Sox fans other than this little note in the column:

In the interest of disclosure, let us rewind for a moment. In the last few days, most recently in the Globe (which has more invested in the Red Sox than anyone but John Henry), it has been reported that Epstein rejected the Sox' latest contract offer, though the sides continue to talk and are expected to have some resolution in the next day or so. The latest proposal was for three years at $1.2 million per, which is the kind of information that comes out when real negotiations have given way to mud-slinging and damage control.

The city's other newspaper, the Boston Globe, owns a big chunk of the Red Sox. When the Sox want to do down a member of their own organization they have a pretty reliable 'friend' in the Globe to parrot the company line. And, they can use broadcast rights to keep the t.v. and radio stations in line too. I always thought of print as the location for truth about my sports teams.

I don't even know if this is a common situation in professional sports. It wouldn't work in New York, where there are just too many newspapers. However, in smaller cities and towns (like Boston! - just kidding) this is an effective media strategy. Get the most powerful newspaper on your side through ownership and then tie up the t.v. and radio stations by dangling the broadcast rights before them.

Conspiracy theories

I haven't seen much online as far as Liam Lawlor conspiracy theories go. Frank touches on this topic in a post about how Lawlor made a "cadaver eccellente" for some people here. That's true; he does.

However, here's my own conspiracy theory (and, no, I don't put much stock in this and this is my own piece of fiction).

Lawlor is up to his neck in crooked property deals, helping major criminals launder their money. The state leans on Lawlor to name names, but he knows he'd be in a very bad spot if he did that. So he refuses. The state wants to offer him a witness protection option, but giving Lawlor immunity in a witness protection program is politically infeasible. The Irish public would not accept this.

So, the state offers to arrange his death so that the Irish people are convinced that Lawlor is dead. The state arranges this in Moscow, a place where the media presence is very light and where getting cooperation is easy (read affordable). Now everyone 'knows' Lawlor is dead and he can go with his new identity and start a new life somewhere. And, the state gets his books and other records and can start bringing down some of the major crime gangs that seem to be untouchable at the moment.

The vanishing of Julia Kushnir

Someone told me that there was a photograph of Julia Kushnir in yesterday's Star. If there was, then I missed it.

Julia Kushnir is slowly disappearing from our radar screen. I can only find her name in one article in today's papers. I half suspect she's just as happy about that. She got some apologies and she'll probably get more this weekend. I sincerely doubt there will be any libel proceedings. I also doubt we'll even get that statement we are supposed to get next week, but if the Sunday papers do provide sufficiently contrite (that is, front page) apologies this weekend, then I would assume Ms. Kushnir's statement to be something along the lines of 'I was wronged, but I accept the apologies'. And that will be it for the media here. And, I guess, for me too.

However, I still would like to believe the Planning Tribunal will ask her over to answer a few questions. Maybe the Gardai too.

And, if I was Nick Paton Walsh of the Guardian, I'd stay on this until I was SURE that everything we NOW know is true because if not, then Mr. Walsh would, I believe, have good grounds for pursuing libel actions himself.

"a lazy Walloon, a slave and an inferior creature"

Is the above a "racist" description? A Belgian woman, I should say, a Flemish woman was arrested on charges of racism yesterday. "The 48-year-old husband filed a complaint for racism against his spouse for scratching him and calling him "a lazy Walloon, a slave and an inferior creature", De Standaard daily said".

First of all, this Walloon husband is a loser. Second, I don't see how that's "racist" at all, but it probably does rate as insensitive. Third, do the Belgians have so little to worry about?

A hundred and eighty!

My obsession with Liam Lawlor nearly caused me to miss this, far more important, story. ESPN is going to start televising Darts in 2006. Well it's about time, isn't it?

I can still remember the first time I saw Darts on the BBC. Stunned amazement probably best sums up how I reacted. I was both horrified and enthralled all at once. Frightening, beer-swilling men throwing Darts in a beer hall atmosphere conveyed by crowd shots revealing tables full of half-drunk pints of lager. It was riveting. And, I have to admit, I was stunned that these guys could down so many drinks and still hit that triple twenty 3 straight times (180! is the excited PA man's response) when the money was on the line.

I mean, what other athlete competes at the highest level in a state of inebriation? I've had trouble hitting a softball after a few sociable drinks and that was always in a minimal pressure situation.

Not everyone is excited for the American viewing public, however. Lionel Shriver derides the athletes who grace the professional Darts scene and thinks this is more evidence of the decline of American culture.

Abundantly overweight, Andy "the Viking" Fordham is 29 stone [ehm, that's 406lbs, if anyone's counting -- IE] and fond of the odd sip of lager. Even on television, the game is played in a tavern and its fans are no more abstemious, and no more given to an excess of press-ups, than its icons. In all, darts is as cheerfully lowest-common-denominator as you can get, and the direction in which American popular culture seems to be diving is right under the horizontal line of the simple fraction.

Lawlor obsession

Every new day I think I'm over the Lawlor thing, but it's eating away at me. And, what's really confusing me is that I didn't really care much about his scandals when he was alive. The Irish media has (rightly) moved on to the Ferns report, but I can't seem to let go of this thing.

• Lawlor's funeral attracted hundreds of people.
• The Guardian today apologized for its error in their October 24 article on Lawlor's death.
• Julia Kushnir's lawyers say their client may pursue a libel action "against several newspapers who falsely branded her a prostitute". And, she won't now be issuing a statement until next week.

The last point first. Can Ms. Kushnir really have been libeled when she wasn't named in the original reports and the description was so far wrong (teenager, no passport, etc.)? This is just a question. I have no idea.

Next, am I the only person who's curious about the fact that nobody in the media seems to have been able to meet or even speak to this woman yet? I don't think there's been a photograph of her. And, isn't it also a bit strange that a woman who provides legal and translation services for clients from abroad doesn't have any form of web presence? At least there was none I could find. I searched google and all the listings for her name are thanks to the current newspaper articles and two references in New York State, unrelated to anything to do with this Julia Kushnir.

And, still no photograph of the car that Lawlor died in. What about an update from the Moscow police on their investigation. Anything? Do I just have to accept that I'm never going to know everything about this?

Cold Turkey

Happens every year. The season ends and that's it. It's just ... over. No more baseball until March, when the World Baseball Classic will be played (for the first time despite the "classic").

You wait 85+ years for the Sox to win a World Series and then two come along in consecutive years. First it was the Red Sox and now the White Sox, the second city's generally unloved second team. They're celebrating their first championship since 1917.

UPDATE - 12:50pm: I presume this Irish fan was happy about Chicago's big win (& tired if he stayed up for all of Game 3, which ended around 7:40am here).