About ratting and other things

When the IAAF, the athletics' governing body issued a blanket ban on Russian athletes, it said that according to the evidence there was no doubt that the doping was state sponsored, although Putin had said at the time that it was unfair.

Let this be an eye-opener to us: we cannot close our eyes to evidence which is pointing to something going wrong in our country. The more one procrastinates the more energy is needed to correct that wrong. Otherwise, it will be our children who will reap the consequences, as happened in Greece for example. Its debt crisis has its roots in tax evasion, high spending on pensions and understating its deficit. The people are now reaping the dire consequences.

I want to ask whether we are seriously tackling the following: the protection of our natural environment, an asset to tourists and us, the management of waste, whether we are improving the quality of our educational system, whether we are helping those who really need it, tackling corruption at all levels and setting up independent institutions.

Borsellino, Falcone and Giuliani come to mind. All tried to clean up the place they loved.

Giuliani left a legacy of successful prosecutions of leaders of New York’s “Commission” of organized crime families, the Mafia’s international heroin and cocaine ring in the “Pizza Connection” case, as well as highprofile political corruption and Wall Street criminal cases.

Riina, a ruthless Sicilian mob boss known as “The Beast” once ordered a hit on Rudy Giuliani. He also had a 13-year-old boy dissolved in acid. The cowardly hit – one of some 150 murders to which Riina has been linked – was in retaliation for the boy’s dad having ratted on the mob boss.

Riina also once ordered the murder of then-US Attorney Giuliani in the 1980s, associates have said. Riina went as far as sending an assassin to the United States to murder the future mayor because of Giuliani’s friendship with crusading Italian judge Giovanni Falcone. But Riina changed his mind, fearing US attacks on the Sicilian mob.

Falcone, and another courageous anti-Mafia judge, Paolo Borsellino, were killed on Riina’s orders in 1992. I think that Giuliani succeeded because he had the backing of reliable, independent institutions whereas Falcone and Borsellino, although partially successful, were killed.

Where there is fodder, rats are sure to be there, so one has to be extra careful when checking for holes and signs of rat presence.

Where there is money, corruption is sure to flourish. So leaving loopholes means you are condoning corruption.