On September 7, 2011, a Yak-42 passenger jet crashed on takeoff from the airport in Yaroslavl, Russia (northeast of Moscow).  36 of the 37 passengers on board, all members of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League en route to their season opener, were killed. The group of players included Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins and Alexander Karpovtsev, all formerly of the Florida Panthers. In a little more than three years, all of the world's best hockey players are scheduled to be traveling through Russia, in connection with the 2014 Winter Olympiad that Russia will be hosting in the city of Sochi.  As a result of the unspeakably reckless decision of the International Olympic Committee, they will all be risking their lives in order to compete for gold. As will, of course, all the other young international athletes who place their trust in the IOC, unless their governments intervene to protect them. The Yaroslavl crash was no aberration. Russia's...(Read Full Post)