Snowmail: a new cold war?
Updated on 26 August 2008
In tonight's show.
Russia has done it again. It has recognised the breakaway Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in direct defiance of the United States and Europe. The Russians have gone even further, saying they don't care about joining the World Trade Organistaion if the West chooses to freeze them out.
They have already turned their backs on partnership with Nato and are doing everything they can to take away all the diplomatic threats the West thought it had. It is hard to see how we are on anything but an irreversible pathway to a new Cold War. The question is what will the consequences be? Will Russia win or lose in the end? And in the meantime, with Europe so dependent on Russian gas, does Moscow seem to hold all the cards?
From Jon Snow at the Democrats National Convention
Eat yer heart out Clint Eastwood, this is the American West.
Spectacular mountains and valleys, turbulent and shockingly hot weather - and Denver, Colorado.
I haven't been here in 20 years and it's five times the size it was when I last saw it - a massive concrete sprawl of urban America backed by the incredible shapes of the mountains beyond. An ugly ring of low rise tedium encircles the high rise blobs of downtown Denver peeping through the smog.
My vantage point was a hill above Table Mountain North where William Franklin Cody is buried - Buffalo Bill to you and me. I visited his grave and the tawdry shop close by - an installation that has clearly never enjoyed the best of times.
So here we are at the Democrat Convention in a town where nearly everyone seems to be in their car.
We are in an armed camp, which is a good thing too as a couple of nutters were rounded up in possession of rifles, military fatigues and telescopic sights. The FBI says there was no 'credible threat' to Obama (who is in Kansas anyway).
Sarah Smith will be reporting on two events. Ted Kennedy, miraculously rising from his cancer bed, has come once again to take a Democratic Convention by storm. He looked battered but not yet beaten.
And then there is the significant appearance of Michelle Obama, who took her chance to seize the emotions and the politics of the place and lit new fires in the hearts of many in the hall.
Some said her presentation was extraordinary. Wearing a plain yet bold turquoise dress she spoke with passion and point - touching areas that she hoped would woo the doubters, targeting Hillary supporters and McCainites alike who remain far from convinced.
That's quite enough from me. This is hot stuff here. See you at seven as ever!
The ignored airstrike
Also tonight, the UN has said there is convincing evidence that an American airstrike killed 90 civilians last week in Aghfanistan, 60 of whom were children. This is a story that was largely ignored in the British media at the time and while there is nothing we can do to make up for that, we are covering the story in depth tonight. My conscience is certainly pricked after taking part in a session at the Edinburgh TV festival this weekend with the Director-General of Al-Jazeera. He pointed out how from his perspective the British media seems to care less and less about such events in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Heroes return
Plus, the Olympic homecomings go public as various athletes are welcomed by their home towns. We'll be examining how they are being treated and wondering how they should be honoured. All that and much more, depending on what the white, middle class editor (if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google 'Paxman and women') running the show today decides.
