Hi, everyone,

Just read on the BBC that US athletic officials with the US Olympic
Committee have initated discussions with Iran, Syria and Lebanon about
co-training of athletes at US facilities. There have already been
several rounds of quiet and successful discussions with the Iranians.

The State Department approved these discussions, which were proposed by
the US Olympic people, in the desire to build bridges.

So, what do you think about this? Is this the right thing to be doing?

I'll be away for a few days, and hope to see a lot of comments when I
get back here!

Oceans

Might help.

Peace requires little steps.

Sport is a great leveller. I think that all politics should be banned
from the sporting arena.

I think I remember an Isreali and an Egyptian (or arab) playing doubles
at Wimbledon a while ago.

In a world where little progress has been made in shaking off the age
old human 'barbaric' suspicion, and paranoia,

... genuine gestures of 'RAPPROCHEMENT', and sincere attempts at
breaking down these illusions of primitive insecurity is whole heartdly
welcomed.

Just thought this quote and the person's political action, while
discounted by too many as utopia, might be most pertinent to the point
you raise 'Oceans'.

" In the century now dawning, spirituality, visionary consciousness, and
the ability to build and mend human relationships will be more important
for the fate and safety of this nation than our capacity to forcefully
subdue an enemy. Creating the world we want is a much more subtle but
more powerful mode of operation than destroying the one we don't want. "

Marianne Williamson,
(born 8 July 1952 in Houston, Texas, U.S.) [1][2] is a spiritual
activist, author, lecturer and founder of the The Peace Alliance, a
grass roots campaign supporting legislation currently before Congress to
establish a United States Department of Peace.

I dunno!! I can remember the hostages taken by the lebanese
during the Olympics a few years ago. Will history repeat itself?

'Barbies',

Iran, Syria and Lebanon are participating at the Beijing games, Barbies.

The refreshing initiative discussed in this post, deals with co-training
between Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese and American athletes, at US
facilities, to buid bridges between athletes before the games. :)

Barbie, we are getting old, that incident you are talking about was
1971. LMAO
Most of these ppl on the thrads wasnt even alive then....

Sports are something most everyone can agree about; they transcend
language, culture, and religion. Without a doubt something like this
will/would be a good thing; at the very least it would let the folks
from those countries see we don't have horns sprouting from our
heads.

Will it help advertise my products? Because if so I'm for it. Otherwise
I'm not interested. Grins