-TSS-

In the 70's Sweden was probably the best country in the world; a paradise on earth. Since then they have managed to ruin and spoil it.

To Canada hockey is like baseball is to the USA; there just isn't international competition. There are barely 4-5 decent international teams in hockey. How many decent international teams are there in baseball?

Freedom will spoil Cuba. Much to the disappointment of 50's cars fanatics the Cunans may even start having modern cars on their roads.

I guess Canadians will never forget the final in Vancouver in 2010. The final of this tournament will probably be forgotten next week.

I guess this competition will be binned for good after this tournament is over. It has not been a commercial success and its only purpose was to generate money. Failing to do that it is a useless competition.

On another forum someone made a humorous and perhaps accurate comment saying that the lady selling tickets at any Moscow metro-station has as much power and influence on Russia's politics as an average Duma-member outside Putin's inner circle.

A one-off match gives the chance for a surprise as even the best teams can have a bad day.

Too bad for the NA-team but I think it is better advertisement for the tournament to have a Canada-Russia semi-final than Canada-NA. Would the NA-team even have been allowed to beat Canada?

I understand that the NA-team is quite popular in both countries; not because they represent"North-America" but because they are young guys and familiar from their clubs.

If Russia beats Finland today they are through because they would be tied with NA and won the match between them.

Perhaps when a tournament like this is played in North-America people who watch hockey know very well these players which make up the Team North-America, which couldn't have been said had there been teams like Germany or Switzerland players of which I guess North-American hockey-fans know nothing about. Btw, the latest result tells that Team Europe has beaten the Czechs, so they are almost certainly through.

I was surprised how good the NA young guys were. Have to also admit that Finland were appalling. I'm not saying that I was surprised how good the NA were that I didn't know that they have very good players but I thought those good players wouldn't make a cohesive team.

State and church should be separated here in Europe as well. It is unbelievable that there is a so-called state-church or "recognised religion". Having said that in the USA there is no state-church as there are so many religions and no other western country has as many religious nutjobs as the USA.

If there is God I don't think he (or perhaps she) is so vain to demand the ridiculous grovelling in front of him.

If this wasn't so serious this would actually be funny.

The USA had presidential elections even in 1944 during war-time but is it theoretically possible for an incumbent president to declare a state of emergency and cancel presidential elections "until further notice"?

The group-division is no co-incidence; Canada and the USA just must proceed to the semi-finals. Hence the Czechs who are just a shadow of their former selves and the European team which is a joke. The other group is a real group of death with Finland, Sweden, Russia and North-America. I have very little confidence for Finland making it to the top two of that group. They may even finish last.

This is the stuff the rest of the campaign will be about instead of real issues. Planned or not.

As I've said on numerous occasions, she and Obama went the wrong order; If she were leaving office soon and Obama preparing to take over, everything would go according to the plan.

The big boys behind the scenes clearly desperately want to install Hillary as their puppet. If she goes the replacement may not be such a puppet. Hence clinging onto a person whose place is clearly in hospital instead of a presidential-race of the world's strongest country.

I wonder if there even are any clear rules as to what happens if an already nominated candidate pulls out before election. Who said take over? If a candidate who has won an election dies before taking office then the VP-candidate becomes President but that is the scenario after, not before.

Eight weeks to go. Perhaps her doctors can keep her together that long. What happens after that is a different matter.

The main talking-point in the campaign will not be real issues but whether she can hold on for four years if she gets elected.

One candidate not physically fit and allegedly the other one not mentally fit. Take your pick.

At least she certainly has access to the best possible medical treatment. If her doctor's can't get her well nobody can.