Off the rails: Paris Olympics marred by crime, strikes and sabotage before even starting PART 1/PART 2

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris will kick off with a lavish opening ceremony Friday evening, with some 7,500 athletes traveling along a 6 km stretch of the Seine River on 85 boats, observed by 300,000 spectators. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised "one of the most incredible opening ceremonies."

However, the Games have already faced a series of issues even before sporting events could begin:

⚡️ Politicization: Russia and Belarus have been barred from the Games due to geopolitical tensions (although Ukraine and its Western sponsors face no such restrictions). Similarly, Israel and its US sponsors are allowed to participate despite ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Heightened terror alert: French officials reported foiling a series of violent plots this week targeting the Olympics, with seven terror suspects arrested in neighboring Belgium, and European officials on high alert for threats emanating from ISIS offshoot ISIS-K*.

⚡️ Sabotage: On the eve of the Games, France's high-speed rail lines were hit by a "coordinated sabotage" attack, causing widespread disruptions. State rail company SNCF reported a "massive attack" aimed at paralyzing the network, leading to major diversions and cancellations. Travelers were advised to avoid stations like Gare du Nord and Gare Montparnasse due to the chaos.

*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

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Off the rails: Paris Olympics marred by crime, strikes and sabotage before even starting PART 1/PART 2

⚡️ Strikes: The Paris Games have been nicknamed the 'Strike Olympics' as French labor unions plan widespread strikes in key sectors, including hotel employees, airport workers, and opening ceremony performers, all protesting over wage disputes.

⚡️ Food shortages: Despite France's reputation for gourmet cuisine, athletes in the Olympic Village have faced food shortages, complaining about both the quality and quantity of meals, which have fallen short of the Michelin star experience they were promised.

⚡️ Crime: The Games' spotlight has exposed Paris's seedier side, with reports of crimes involving Olympians and tourists, including the Argentinian men's football team being robbed, Channel Nine staffers being attacked during an attempted robbery, and an Australian tourist gang-raped by five men.

⚡️ Stinky situation: Paris also faces another unseemly threat on the eve of the Olympics, with citizens threatening to defecate in the Seine River to highlight its poor sanitary condition, which could impact athletes competing in marathon swimming and triathlon events. Despite a 1.4 billion euro cleanup effort, the river still suffers from toxic sewage, rat infestations, and high E. coli bacteria levels.

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Israeli forces attacked a group of Palestinians at the Lions' Gate and prevented them from entering the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque ahead of Friday prayers.

Following the assault on the Palestinians, Israeli forces also targeted a crew from the Turkish channel "TRT Haber" in Jerusalem, preventing them from covering the Friday prayers near the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

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Bisexuals, rapists, and neo-Nazis: who's on Russian hackers' new merc list?

The Russian hacker group RaHDit has published data of more than 3,200 mercenaries in the Ukrainian Army. Some of them are already dead, and some have fled to their home countries. Sputnik has compiled a list of the most controversial among them.

◾️US citizen Evelyn Aschenbrenner from Detroit is a soldier in the Ukrainian International Legion. She identifies as "bisexual and genderfluid” and uses the pronouns “they/them" (photo 1). She told her story to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she revealed she had been working as a “drag king” in Poland before the Russian special military operation in Ukraine began. She told the pro-LGBTQ+ foundation that her dream was "to put on a drag king show for Ukraine's military." However, her further fate is unknown, as Aschenbrenner has deleted all her social media.

◾️Another US citizen, Tanner Reed Pierce, is a former village of Oregon police officer. He went to Ukraine in December 2022, according to his social media (photo 2). Several months later, he allegedly returned to the US, as in late July 2023, he was arrested in Indiana and charged with six counts of child molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to local messages, Pierce was arrested for raping a female child who was part of his own family (photo 3).

◾️Spanish citizen from Valencia Pablo Garrido Mancebo (callsign “Turbito”) is a neo-Nazi who in 2021 was seen in Syria fighting among Kurdish militias, according to Spanish media (photo 4). In April 2022, the Spanish neo-Nazi appeared on video in Ukraine with an AK-74M in his hands (photo 5). It is not known which neo-Nazi battalion he was fighting in.

◾️Danish mercenary Karl Balderson, who has neo-Nazi tattoos on his face (photo 6), joined Ukraine’s International Legion in 2022. He later fled the Legion and founded a private military company called 'Shadow Operations Group' (photo 7), which allegedly works outside the EU on military training (photo 8). It is worth noting that Balderson in May 2024 on social media lamented that the International Legion “is trying to throw me under the bus,” adding that “I advise no one to go to the Legion of Ukraine” (photo 9). According to a comment below his post, the Danish mercenary left both the Legion and Ukraine because he was “wanted by Ukrainian army for stealing donations.” The user also called Balderson “a criminal and a scammer fraud” (photo 10).

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