Tag Archives: stati uniti

esteri, sport

The problem is not disqualifyng Heraskevych: is the use of double standards

I was there at Vladyslav Heraskevych’s press conference held at the Ukrainian Consulate in Milan, on Thurdsay night (yesterday). I know during war times communication counts to guide public opinion, and therefore their governors. But, for once, the Olympic committee took the right decision by disqualifying the young athlete for wearing an helmet with the faces of several athletes dead over the course of the conflict.

So states article 50 of the Olympic Charter: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted
in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”. Basically, you’re not allowed to show symbols, even powerful ones. And – if you do so, which might make sense as a form of protest – you must accept the consequences. Exceptions have been made during press conferences.

The problem lies elsewhere.

During these Games, the International Olympic Committee obliged the Russian athletes to compete without a flag, understandable as a means of pressure on Moscow (not a premiere: apartheid’s South Africa was banned from the Games ) but hard to bear for them as single men and women.

Not only.

They allowed former member of the Idf (Israeli defence forces) who allegedly fought in Gaza and showed support to the genocide on their social media accounts to compete: not very Olympic-like.

Both were wrong decisions.

For once, by disqualifying Heraskevych, they did the right thing. It was emotional, it might have been hard, but nevertheless, it was necessary: if not done, it would have created a precedent. Who decides what’s worth being shown during a race? You enter into the political arena.

The problem lies in the use of double standards, as shown before. Israel committed a genocide, the Us themselves invaded Venezuela deporting its president Nicolàs Maduro. As usual, with no consequences regarding their participation and their athletes.

Vladyslav’s gesture is understandable from a human point of view, but rules are rules. And must be respected. By everyone. Please tell the Ioc.

ps.

This doesn’t mean any support to Russian invasion or antisemitism, needless to say.

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esteri

A 30 yo Indian guy made it to link his Facebook page to the American ICE’s agency, showing its sloppiness

The link to the Facebook page of ICE, the U.S. anti-immigration agency, leads to the page of a friendly thirty-year-old Indian man instead of the agency’s official social media property. The young Asian managed to outwit the heavyweights of U.S. security using a very simple trick. A story that seems to confirm the sloppiness of the agency responsible for the brutal killing of two people in the past month and for numerous raids.

Imagine the worst

Even the best make mistakes. Imagine the worst. At the bottom of the ICE website there is a bar with links to social networks. It can be interesting for a reporter to browse these pages to understand an organization’s point of view.

As communication manuals teach, nothing is more disheartening than seeing them empty. It signals neglect and affects how the “brand” is perceived by consumers. The news is full of so-called “epic fails”, which have cost companies dearly in terms of reputation—and sometimes the careers of their social media managers.

If ICE’s Instagram page shows all the agency’s brutality, with mugshots posted online without precaution and captions that seem written by some Ohio farmer, trying to reach the Facebook page is what brings a surprise: you end up on the page of an Indian man, one Punit Saini, apparently a content creator by profession.

Saini lives in Jaipur, India, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, and did something ingenious: he took advantage of the option (offered to everyone by Facebook) to change the name of his personal page. He called it “wwwicegov,” thereby misleading the unwary developer of the ICE website, who took the bait. No one bothered to check, and even the American press failed to notice.

Among religious-inspired images and photos gazing toward the horizon or sitting on a large motorcycle, the young Indian man hit the jackpot.

A matter of method

It would just be funny, if it were not for the fact that ICE—short for Immigration and Customs Enforcement—is known, beyond its harsh methods, for a certain carelessness in its raids. The Trump administration has repeatedly come under fire for deporting people to foreign countries (with which it has signed agreements for this purpose, such as Ecuador) without properly verifying their identities. A doorbell rings, the unfortunate person is taken, and they are put on a plane and sent out of the country.

The oversight on the Facebook page, much like what one would say about a company, appears to confirm ICE’s rough-and-ready methods.

The Indian young man’s prank is somewhat like Mathias Rust’s flight over Red Square in Moscow in 1987: a harmless demonstration, but perhaps effective, in revealing the agency’s slapdash approach—and that of those who inspire it.

Post scriptum – how this story ended

I pitched this to several news outlet in Italy, India, and even in the US. It was not considered. Since I know how this things go, I had already posted it on my blog and social media page, tagging ICE.

Long story short, the agency removed the Facebook icon and link top the Indian guy from its home page (see photo below). An Italian magazine accepted the pitch yesterday (Feb 5th 2026), but it was too late.

I have reasons to suspect ICE removed the icon and the link because of my article and social media post.

This story shows a couple of things: one, the truth is out there, and journalism can’t be made from newsrooms. Two, to quote an Italian politician (Giulio Andreotti), I know I’m average, but I can’t see giants around. Third, journalism still has its purpose in this society. And nobody’s untouchable.

pps Writing this story I realized once and for all that all my digital life is bases on applications and a cloud owned by American companies. Under recent legislation by Donald Trump, all of a sudden anyone can be banned from these platforms (and his accounts be blocked) if the government thinks he goes against America’s interests. This story might be nothing, and probably is, but everyone having a public role should consider moving to other platforms. Myself included.

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