The Tribune

With CHARLIE HARPER

THERE was a time, not so very long ago, when it seemed like the second half of December provided a respite from news about the troubles in the world. Part of this was due to the fact that in many countries, including the US, the politicians were on vacation somewhere warm and the media journalists who covered them knew the Christmas season was one of the few times of the year – August was usually another of them – when a family vacation could safely be booked.

Now, not so much. This week, we read about:

Whether the US President is really up to the job he holds. Pundits on all sides of the American political spectrum are speculating Joe Biden would do the country a great favour if he announced over the holidays that he would not seek re-election to a second term. This would either galvanise the Democratic party to rally around someone more charismatic and much younger, or it would clear the decks for a real conservative to emerge from the chaos of the contemporary Republican party, or it would, well, you can fill in the blank.

What will become of OJ Simpson now that he has been released in Nevada after serving over nine years in federal prison and nearly four more years on parole for kidnapping and armed robbery in a case involving sports memorabilia? Simpson, now 74, was one of the most recognisable faces in the US for years before he become the defendant in a spectacular trial 27 years ago in the murder of his wife and her male friend. He beat those murder charges in what was called The Trial of The Century.

But before that, Simpson was exceedingly popular. A superstar football running back at the University of Southern California and in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills, he followed fellow star runner Jim Brown into the movie business and with his handsome face and appealing manner, became quite successful not only in Hollywood but in the advertising business, where his Hertz commercials were some of the most successful of all time. His fall from grace was among the most memorable of the past half-century.

When will a previously obscure West Virginia Democratic senator named Joe Manchin change his mind? Now that he has become a household name due to his refusal so far to join his party colleagues and pass Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better bill, Manchin has become the target of journalistic sleuths. They have revealed that due to his continuing family and possibly personal interest in his state’s coal industry, Manchin’s objections to the President’s plans may not spring from principle as he claims, but rather, from selfish greed. Hardly shocking these days, but hardly inspirational either.

Will the world soon be at war? Vladimir Putin is a master at making the West guess what he will do next. These days, the West is wondering if, or when, he will unleash the nearly 200,000 troops and artillery he has massed on much of the Russian and Belarusian frontiers with Ukraine. This geographically unfortunate nation, independent for 30 years, was coveted by Adolph Hitler when it was known as the “breadbasket of Europe”. Now its continued dependence on Moscow is coveted by Putin. The US and UK have been in the forefront of rallying their less enthusiastic NATO allies to blistering warnings to Putin to keep the leash on his army. What happens if the Russian President lets go of the tether?

And some are speculating that in Beijing the Chinese are rubbing their hands in anticipation of a Russia-West confrontation, armed or even rhetorical. Suppose that while NATO and Putin were preoccupied with each other, China decided to really tighten the screws on Taiwan? Who believes the US and most of its allies are really prepared psychologically or politically to do more than bluster?

How about Antarctica and the North Pole? Scientists are all over the media these days, reporting that a massive ice shelf at the South Pole is within a couple of years of fragmenting, undermined by warmer sub-surface ocean currents that are being heated by human activity. Beavers are reportedly invading the environs of the North Pole, such is the warmth now prevailing in that remote part of the world. It seems like old news that you can think about booking a cruise through the Northwest Passage for your vacation.

That is, if you’re even considering a vacation while COVID and its variants continue to proliferate in a world inconsistently committed to arresting their spread. We’re all going to master the entire Greek alphabet if new strains of this virus continue to appear. The death toll in the US has now surpassed 800,000 and it takes a ruling from the American Supreme Court to enforce sensible precautions for some health care and emergency personnel.

While we’re on the subject of COVID, a new wave of positive tests and infections is threatening to overwhelm American and international sports. In the US, the Chicago Bulls of the NBA, who are enjoying what may be their most convincing renaissance since Michael Jordan’s era, have postponed a couple of upcoming games due to a virulent COVID outbreak on the team. The Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League have also been beset by COVID-related postponements, and they are not alone. COVID positive tests have sidelined increasing numbers of players in Europe’s major soccer leagues.

Even the mighty National Football League, which has basked in the glow of completing past and current seasons during the pandemic, reported on Monday the most positive cases since the COVID crisis began. Nearly a dozen teams are in enhanced protocol status, meaning that their players are tested for COVID every day. The league still maintains there will be no cancelled games, but that might change if the current trend continues.

Sports was providing one of the most reliable diversions from the world’s troubles. What if we have to find something different to take our minds off all the problems during a season that no longer provides much respite from them?