$0.00 vs. $0.99

Piracy: the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Common knowledge, one would have thought, but is it really?

When I first came across this term, I hadn't quite realized that I'd been a consumer of such products among millions of others, particularly in the land of "rightful" piracy - Russia. Back when we couldn't get original records and videos from abroad, the only alternative (and not a cheap one, either) we had at the time was a pirated copy of a foreign CD, VHS, etc.

One of my most vivid memories from the time my family moved to Moscow is a regular weekend trip to "the park of all pirates - Gorbushka" where one could literally get hold of anything that had ever been released in the west, or at the very least order a pirated copy from one of the "wiz" movers and shakers of Gorbushka.

Over the years, this venue has become one of the hotspots of Moscow and has, in fact, been featured in some of the tourist guides for foreign visitors.

Here's one such example: "Within a short walk from the metro station, this market located in the park around the Gorbunov House of Culture is very popular with both Russians and foreigners. You can buy any computer CD-ROM, CD, DVD and video film here, as long as you're not too bothered about copyright infringement. The prices are generally very cheap. Pirate copies account for more than ninety per cent of the CD-ROMs on sale, and more than half of them are translated in the Russian language."

You can only imagine the popularity of this music & film lovers' haven back in the days of Soviet Union - it was packed, to say the least! I bought all of my initial records at Gorbushka, from Maria Callas to Whitney Houston... It was my favorite weekend getaway with my dad - Saturday afternoon at Gorbushka was my ultimate dream come true at the tender age of 9!

Shortly afterwards, though, after the Soviet Union had completely collapsed and getting hold of foreign products became a matter of popping over to a nearby store, I realized that no pirated disk with faded artwork could replace a civilized CD with a colorful and informative album sleeve with liner notes, etc. You couldn't get an imported album for less than $15 but it was so worth saving up for that original copy!

Naturally, at the age of 9 (or even 12) copyright infringement was the last thing on my mind. But even when Napster became the coolest site among my classmates in the late 90's, I wasn't tempted in the slightest - what's the point downloaded an mp3 when I can buy an album with 12 tracks and a nice album sleeve with credits and "thank you's? That was my weak argument against Napster and its clones, but I meant every bit of it, although my friends couldn't figure out how a free download could beat a full priced CD bought at the Purple Legion, my favorite record store at the time.

Now, years later, before I've even released an album commercially, I realized that my upcoming single which is currently available for promo only - "Thinking of Someone Else" - is beginning to appear on various Russian websites for sale... Which is so odd because at the moment, it's exclusively available through compilation CDs for Promo/Radio/Press ONLY, so whoever is getting the 15 cents per download is clearly practicing the forbidden act of piracy!

It's childish to feel angry about this, of course, as one could argue that if your music is already circulating among pirates, it means that there's some sort of demand for it. So although technically it's a copyright infringement at its worst, the fact that at least a few of the people are willing to hunt for an mp3 download of the song is somewhat flattering, nonetheless.

No one has managed to really beat the system just yet, not even iTunes. People are still willing to spend that extra hour in search of the cheapest or even an all-around free download of their favorite song of the week...

It's human nature, after all: "If I can get this song for nothing, why should I pay 99 cents for it?" Unfair, I agree, and even cruel, for everybody is entitled to a share of the profits as a result of their own blood and sweat. But guess what? It's the reality.

Eddie's Spiral

If anyone had told me several years ago that I'd be launching my career on a commercial scale with a club remix, I would have laughed in their face - for no apparent reason other than the fact that I've always been miles away from dance music, let alone clubs and remixes.

In fact, years ago I was strongly advised to take this very route by a dance music connoisseur but chose to keep pursuing what I had initially envisioned.

In the very beginning of my career, a very good friend and publicist, Jeff Chegwin, arranged a meeting for me with one of the most prominent figures in UK Dance music, Eddie Gordon. I couldn't quite understand "why" dance music when my demo recordings at the time were all compiled of classic musical numbers, such as Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" and songs penned by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans. Now how did that fit in with club music, I wasn't so sure....

The day before I met Eddie Gordon, I had just been introduced to Nigel Wright, one of Lloyd Webber's primary producers, who was incredibly charming and sweet. It seemed like a perfect match for the type of music I had been passionate about, but it was the same old story - with just a few bare-bone demos to my name and no management whatsoever, there wasn't much Nigel, or anyone else in his position, could do for the Moscow-based teenager.

Next stop - DANCE.

I can vividly remember walking into Eddie's office together with my parents (they were with me in London for my two-week trip of meetings and initial introductions - that was right before I actually moved to the UK) - club music thumping out of loud speaker, I felt at the very least out of place genre-wise.

We spent about an hour talking about this, that and the other. Eddie's immediate verdict was the following: "forget theater music for the time being, you should pursue dance music instead..." It came across as Chinese to me at the time, honestly. Imagine a Streisand-admiring teenager singing songs from "Yentl" who is suddenly being told that it's dance and club music she should consider above all.

My folks and I exchanged puzzled looks of confusion, as Eddie stepped away for a few minutes. He came back a while later with a notepad and started drawing a big circle which then became a spiral....And by the end of it, he put a big black dot in the middle of the spiral.

What did that mean?

"Basically, you'll keep going in circles and all sorts of musical directions until you finally home in on a dance track, trust me."

We thanked Eddie for his time and left the meeting feeling a little puzzled.

And guess what?

I have a feeling that he was right!

“Thinking of Someone Else” Tops UK Club Favorites…!

Tinatin's "Thinking of Someone Else" Dr. Octavo Charmix is beginning to top the club favorite's in the UK!

Top London DJ Jay Martin presents the hot summer anthem collection.

DJ Jay Martin - Take It Out In Trade (Summer Club Anthems August 2008)

01 Stare Into The Sun - Jamie Scott & The Town
02 Waiting For The Night - Henrique & Danny Merx
03 One Day - David Latoure ft De Marco
04 What A Wonderful World - Axwell & Bob Sinclar
05 Shine On - RIO
06 I Love You - Nerved ft Anna Hanser
07 Thinking Of Someone Else - Tinatin
08 Disturbia - Rihanna
09 Into The Nightlife - Cyndi Lauper
10 They Said I Said - Sugarush Beat Company

Watch this space for more news from UK and Canada about "Thinking of Someone Else", and by the way - more remixes by top UK DJs (and beyond!) are on the way... So stay tuned :-)

A Night Out on the East River

What a month it's been so far, trying to juggle everything at once - the UK/Canadian promo of "Thinking of Someone Else", preparing new club remixes of the song as a bonus track for the single, researching and following the ever-so escalating conflict back home which has gone way beyond a Geo-Russian dispute, in fact, covering the news at the UN with a a particular focus on this issue, and so on.... So much to do, and since the summer is almost over - there's only so much time for a bit of fun!

Last night was a perfect opportunity to escape the reality of a political world - sailing across NY's Eastside with live music and a great company of friends and colleagues - what more could you ask for?

Well, it certainly didn't help waking up this morning with a piercing pain in the throat - no singing for me today, that's for sure! So what do you do instead on a beautiful Thursday afternoon with a sore throat and a bit of a headache (no, no, I only had a couple of glasses of Captain + Coke) - right on the verge of getting sick? I spent an hour or two in the heart of Central Park... reading today's newspapers and preparing for my radio show! Not glamorous, perhaps, but so relaxing, nevertheless. Oh, and my iPod helped immensely as well - new ideas on the way and all that.... Not as good as a proper holiday, but still rather soothing for the soul!

I've spent the last few months reading so much about Russian history and particularly the Soviet era, I realized the other day that I've been neglecting entertainment and fiction for a while now, so I just picked up a funny book called "A Waiter's Rant" - absolutely hilarious. So this book, alongside my other current read, "Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse?" (doesn't sound too entertaining, does it? Haha) and the iPod - can't complain!

Here's to the upcoming long weekend!!!

Will have to keep an eye on the politics, though, so you will forgive me if I write a paragraph or two about the current events and the news from home and beyond... Hard to be ignorant about it when it is so obviously close to home and is increasingly affecting all of us not only in Eastern Europe but pretty much everywhere else..... More on that later :-)

Freedom of Speech - Illusion or Reality?

Writing about politics has never been a particular forte of mine and I've never attempted tackling it one a strictly professional note, but at the same time, I've always quietly harbored a hidden passion for current affairs and admired those not afraid to voice their honest opinion (something we're all entitled to, although heavy censorship doesn't always allow it) even if it means not always being in full agreement with their leadership.

Freedom of press is an ironic and somewhat "foreign" phenomenon to me coming from a highly-censored culture (particularly the days of the Communist regime, which rarely, if ever, allowed true artistic, journalistic and political opinion among Soviet citizens) and having witnessed, albeit through second-hand sources, the outcome of these rare outbursts made public by opinionated and brave thinkers.

Yesterday's intelligentsia (wikipedia: a social class of people engaged in complex mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them) largely wiped out initially during the reign of Lenin and later Joseph Stalin, have been swiftly replaced by today's oligarchs and the few overly outspoken journalists.

The Economist made an interesting point about the struggle for democracy and censorship of the Russian media:

"The room for honest speaking is far greater than Russian intellectuals make use of."

This is partly true, as most of the mainstream political journalists in Russia have seen the fate of activists such as Anna Politkovskaya and Galina Starovoytova unfold as a result of "rebellion" against the media censorship, government's media restrictions have been by and large replaced by the inner self-censorship as a means of self-defense. "See no evil, speak no evil" - as simple as that!

Yet on the other hand, one wonders if such restrictions in voicing public and journalistic opinion, whether it's brought forward by the government of any given country or simply one's own cautiousness, could potentially result in a healthy understanding of "what's going on" instead of scripting the country's political affairs based on a prewritten outline.

But it's hard to blame those who are trying to keep their profile "low" and away from the eyes of the censor....

Regardless of what the reality of today's world and its tight protocols may impose upon our society and the price we will have to pay for this need, the freedom to speak one's mind and read - at least relatively - unbiased news reports will always remain irreplaceably vital as one of the "given" rights of a human being.

Whether we chose to struggle towards implementing this common "human right" is up to us alone... Individually and collectively.

In War & Peace

Amidst numerous speculations about the situation in Georgia and the relationship between Georgia and Russia that has escalated to a political conflict between the two nations over the past couple weeks, many have tried to place the blame on both leaderships depending on the country of origin of the media source and their political affiliation.

On a personal note, I have found it to be a rather tricky political game way out of my apolitical reach to judge this or that political party, but at the end of the day, trying to remain unbiased initially, I realized that common sense can at times be much more valuable and objective than a direct affiliation with one leadership or another.

When your home country is under attack by the country where you spent your entire formative years, it is at the very least a personal dilemma...

Having spent most of my childhood in Moscow after my family moved to Russia when the civil war broke out in Georgia around the time of the Soviet collapse, I quite naturally made friends for life in Russia, studied in both Moscow-based international school and the Moscow State University and also made my very first steps in my musical career opening the first Russian film festival in Cannes at the age of 14 - all of this took place during the years I spent living in Moscow, the capital of the country that is now in war with my country of origin, Georgia.

I keep reminding myself that any political conflict is between politicians and not civilians, therefore, friends that have become my other family back in Russia and our close ties both historically and personally between the two nations should not have to suffer from these recent tragic events that took place between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia and beyond. But at the same time, there's an inner conflict that makes all of this far more complicated to handle than mere words on paper and biased news here, there and everywhere (so is the nature of the media speculations and journalistic wars between different sources, unfortunately.)

This evening I came across a couple of interviews by Eduard Shevardnadze, who is best known for his role as Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. The man who helped end the Cold War and reconcile Moscow with the West later ruled his native Georgia for a decade, albeit not too successfully perhaps as his presidency resulted in a hugely publicized overthrow in the "rose revolution" triggered by the youthful, pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.

But that aside, even the former Georgian President admitted that this current conflict between the two neighboring countries could only have lose-lose consequences for all parties concerned, including Russia: " Whatever the price, we have to fix the relationship between Georgia and Russia. For two centuries we have lived together..."

"Georgia was a Russian colony for more than 200 years ... But this is the 21st century, the time for colonies is over. Georgia now has the strong support of the outside world," Eduard Shevardnadze told Reuters earlier today. And it is true.

This war is beginning to affect the civilians and those who lived as neighbors for years on end. With so many Georgians living in Russia (and Russians, too, do live in Georgia and have been known for having mixed Geo-Ru marriages for so long now) how do they live together in peace, for every one of us is entitled to defending their own country and leadership - except that's not always positive, given the magic of "common sense" and open-minded understanding of the bigger picture.

Another point that Shevardnadze made in his interview to Reuters, which really is well on the money was the explanation of how a Georgian mind works... That is, with regards to how like everywhere else, the country and its citizens were split into pro-Saakashvilians and those against his politics and actions.

"You know what mistake the Russian leadership is making when they say they don't want to deal with Saakashvili - that he should resign and only when there is a new president, they will start a new conversation with Georgia? Previously, when the military campaign in Tskhinvali failed, and Georgians subjected Saakashvili to serious criticism, most of the people were against the president. But when Russia began to ask for his resignation, most of the people began to support him. It is the Georgian nature, you have to understand."

And this is coming from the man who was overthrown by Saakashvili in 2003! At times, good diplomacy really works - especially at times like these.

All of this said, the dilemma remains the same - when a war breaks out so close to home with another country that became my surrogate home for years while I lived, studied, made friends and learned the ABCs of life and took my first musical steps, I can't help but feel torn...

But at the end of the day, when I hear the news - from sources other than those of Georgian or Russian affiliation - about Georgian people, my people, suffering as a result of this tragic conflict, living in fear day to day, expecting the war to resume any day (and let's hope this really is the end), that's when I realize that no matter what, it's the civilians affected by any political conflict whatsoever who are the ones suffering the most - there are no winners in such cases, never.

I find it to be ridiculous when the media start to speculate about the winners and losers of the war. It's very sad. But that's the nature of journalism, I guess - everything has to have a logical beginning-middle-and the end, otherwise the story won't stand the editorial examination prior to deciding whether the material deserves a column or not.

One last thing - when I was little, I couldn't really understand the mass obsession with the pompous "world peace" propaganda in every corner of the world and in every industry, including music. And as it turns out years later, ultimately this is all we can really hope and pray for (alongside health and well-being of the ones we love) because everything else is so minuscule and so very trivial...

Finally this really is starting to makes sense now - "world peace" isn't just a pompous demand, it really is the core of it all, the big goal that we, the humanity, strive to achieve in this struggle against war - any war, be it the one on a large political scale or the war within us and among us as people.

And everything else... Well, we've just go to keep it in perspective. It is so easy to take the security of the countries we live in for granted, and at moments like this, you just realize how quickly for some people that security can go - practically overnight...

"Thinking of Someone Else" on ERG Music Compilation, Canada

Tinatin's "Thinking of Someone Else" - Dr. Octavo Charmix - will be released in September for PROMO, RADIO and PRESS ONLY by ERG Music Canada among other late-summer hits of 2008 covering a variety of leading artists in the pop music scene, as well as the latest radio edits of Alternative, Rock, Pop, AC, Country, Hip Hop, House, Urban and Dance, and the top 12" extended releases of the summer!

For upcoming news about the U.S. promo release of "Thinking of Someone Else", check in with us in the coming weeks and you'll hear about it first!!

It's a Tie: When Personal Offense Replaces Political Integrity....

"As he waited for a BBC interview to begin, Mikheil Saakashvili took a call on his cell phone, absentmindedly stuffed the end of his red silk tie in his mouth and began to chew it in an apparent attack of nerves.

What he did not know was that the cameras were already rolling and the BBC would broadcast the footage on Friday, with a joking comment about the Georgian leader chewing over his next move."

The above article by Anna Malpas appeared in The Moscow Times earlier today, stirring quite a bit of "youtube-esque" interest once the BBC clip was picked up and spanned by the news sources in Russia.

In fact, criminal psychiatrist Mikhail Vinogradov, who specializes in serial killers, told the Vesti news channel that Saakashvili "shows the highest degree of anxiety" and that he is "psychologically inadequate."

Moreover, the Pravda.ru web site went further, writing that "such mental unbalance leads to irresponsible political decisions, which lead to chaos, human deaths and humanitarian catastrophes."

Personally, as one of the many, many millions of readers and viewers following the current events back in Georgia, Russia, etc. I can't help but wonder how much further and even more so - lower - can the media get at times when political and purely diplomatic stories just won't suffice in satisfying the editors and the general audience and they simply have to dig in deeper and deeper, overstepping way beyond professional boundaries.... It is staggering at best and quite offensive and even insulting at its worst, or is it not?

One of the other online media sources, also commenting on the BBC clip, made the following suggestion about the "live" incident: "Saakashvili seemed very hungry. Obviously Georgia really is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis and needs the help it gets from the United States."

Whether we support one party or another, without being biased - there are times when it's just a bit too much - the very point where one's journalistic integrity and ability to use his/her professional stature in the most effective manner.

When an objective, unbiased yet healthy news coverage and editorial commentary is replaced by personal insults and questionable but offensive attacks, it's hard to take the information covered in the politically incorrect material with any more trust or interest than any given article from The National Inquirer or the UK's Sun.

Again, I only voice my personal opinion(s) in these blog posts, but at the end of the day, we - those who live in the 21st century democracy - have every right to say what we think and write what we believe is true. We all have our political beliefs, religious outlooks and general opinions on this, that and the other.

Not one political leader in the history of humanity has ever been impeccable in their actions and deeds, rarely far from being saints and angels, but does that give anyone (e.g. a journalist, a fellow political figure, an ordinary civilian) the right to personally and openly attack, insult and as a matter of fact to morally destroy anyone (be it a politician, a celebrity or a regular person) - by ridiculing continuously, on daily basis, their innermost habits, private affairs, personal lives (unless any of this truly affects our lives as a result), etc.

Without defending anyone nor taking personal sides, it pains me to see that our society has become so "small" and minuscule whereby we have to dig for the cheap and superficial trivia in order to greedily satisfy our morbid curiosity.

After Georgia - What's Next for US & Russia?

A clearly uneasy period for the Russian/US relations both on diplomatic and purely political grounds in full gear, as well as the US aid and that of the United Nations made readily available to Georgia, including the conflict zone of South Ossetia, as well as Gori, very few have raised the question of the future of U.S.-Russian relationship from this point onwards.

However, an article that appeared earlier today through a source at the Associated Press raises this very question yet on a rather objective note.

It may just be useful to put the undoubtedly tragic outcome of the conflict (especially for the civilians affected by the recent upheaval) and the act of placing the blame (obviously clear by now to many but a few, which does vary depending on whose "side" you're on) aside for a moment, and analyze how these recent events that took place in Ossetia and Georgia proper will influence the near future of the diplomatic and political ties between the Russian Federation and United States of America.

Just another opinion from a slightly different angle, which I thought some of you may find equally interesting:

Analysis: After Georgia, what next for US, Russia?
By ANNE GEARAN and JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — There is blame to go around as the United States assesses the disastrous consequences of the war in Georgia.

President Bush was overconfident. Georgia's pro-American President Mikhail Saakashvili overreached. And Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin overreacted.

Now what?

Washington is trimming cooperation with Russia on several fronts, most of them military so far, while saying the loss is Russia's. Putin, clearly in charge if there was any doubt before, seems unconcerned.

But even as the White House has concluded Moscow must pay further for an out-of-bounds war with U.S.-backed Georgia, it is worried now about going too far itself.

The cost of overpunishing, Bush's advisers believe, could be to feed Russian grievance and encourage the very Cold War-style regional aggression the West decries. Bush advisers appeared startled over recent days at raw statements coming from Moscow that suggest many in the Kremlin still put a premium on maintaining or even expanding the square mileage under Moscow's control.

An even bigger cost could be the cold shoulder from Moscow the next time the U.S. needs its help.

Say, a few weeks from now when Washington wants Russia's vote for a new round of U.N. Security Council penalties against Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons program. Or perhaps if North Korea balks over the plan to get rid of its atomic bomb arsenal.

A Russian plan to host a follow-up to Bush's Mideast peace conference of last year is probably dead for now.

Russia also cannot be ignored. It is one of the Security Council's five permanent, veto-holding members, as well as an energy behemoth with business ties across the globe.

Bush helped set himself up for a fall by sounding so openly optimistic over the years about Russia's desire for full legitimacy alongside the democratic, free-press nations on the other side of the old Iron Curtain.

This crisis mushroomed far beyond what he or other Western leaders imagined. The president has tried to contain it while striking the right balance of condemnation, coercion and concern.

Bush spoke on the topic, with increasingly tough rhetoric toward a Russia he once considered a promising if imperfect partner, on five of six days this week. That's a level of public presidential attention that few crises have drawn in his eight years in office.

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said Friday at the White House. "Russia has put its aspirations at risk," he added Saturday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Further, Bush said "there's no room for debate" over whether Russia can lay claim to Moscow-loyal separatist provinces in Georgia that are at the heart of the conflict.

The White House has decided there will be further consequences for Russia, no matter whether it fully complies with a U.S.-backed cease-fire that was signed by Saakashvili on Friday and by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday.

For one thing, other nations in the region that once were Soviet republics or satellites have become nervous. Those countries need to hear world leaders tell Russia its actions in Georgia were unacceptable — and to see some bite that shows they mean it.

Bush's credentials as a self-styled global freedom fighter, particularly one who promised unflinching support to democratic Georgia and may have indirectly emboldened Saakashvili to undertake his military misadventure in one of the breakaway provinces that provoked Russia's brutal response, also are at stake.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have issued tough denunciations of Russia, a signal to Moscow that the next U.S. administration will not sweep the Georgia war under the rug in the interest of a fresh start with Russia.

But Bush also still wants to make sure Russian leaders pick up the phone when America calls. The last thing U.S. officials want is a 10-year freeze in U.S.-Russia relations.

So with just five months left in office, the Bush White House has settled on an approach to punishing Moscow that would be intentionally low-profile. Bush advisers have concluded that anything perceived by Russia as a public humiliation would be counterproductive.

The best approach in their view is quiet action, such as continuing to exclude Russia's foreign minister from discussions among his counterparts from the Group of Eight industrialized democracies, as has been happening since the Russia-Georgia fighting began last week.

Most speculation had centered on outright kicking Russia out of the G-8, the elite economic club known as the Group of Seven before Russia was included a few years ago. Even such a public, more dramatic move would likely have little practical effect given the group's lack of power to enforce policies.

Another option would have the United States revoke its support for Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization, another penalty that, although probably the toughest available to the U.S., may not sting much for increasingly oil-rich Russia. U.S. officials have all but rejected that route as overkill.

The idea is to give Russia face-saving leeway to decide that Western institutions and Western-style governance are the way of its future.

The trick, of course, is convincing Russia of that — a task that puts U.S. officials in the position of trying to get Russia back on a path it may never have been fully on.

The Bush administration believes its best argument is economic, essentially telling Moscow that to remain a country that merely sells gobs of energy worldwide but lacks international prestige and access to lucrative markets for a range of products would mire it in third-world status, rather than the first-world rank it desires.

True, perhaps, but also evidence that the administration has reduced its Russia calculus to self-interest on both sides. Rice said as much before leaving for Europe and Georgia this week. Russia will cooperate on Iran and other issues for its own reasons, she said. "It's not a favor to the United States."

Olympics 2014 - To Be Or Not To Be?

On the eve of the Beijing Olympics - an exciting event most of us in different parts of the world were expecting with childish enthusiasm that has perhaps faded over the years, less than 20 miles from Sochi (the prospective host city of the Winter Olympics 2014) the escalation of a major conflict captured millions of viewers and readers from across the world.

A week later, the co-chairs of the congressional House Georgia Caucasus claim that the International Olympic Committee should "punish Russia by moving the 2014 Winter Olympics out of Sochi," as according to a draft of the resolution being prepared by Reps. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Bill Shuster, R-Pa.: "the prospective host country has played a significant role in the escalation of that conflict."

However, some consider this to be an over-reaction: IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said Friday the IOC believes the Olympics games are "not a tool to be used by politicians."

"It is premature to make judgments about how events happening today might sit with an event taking place six years from now," Davies said in a statement, adding that 35 representatives from the Sochi 2014 are in Beijing observing the games, according to Associated Press.

Some of you may well remember the first-ever U.S. boycott of the Olympics in 1980. The 1980 games were awarded to Moscow and many in the west feared that the games would turn to a propaganda show for the Soviets.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, President Carter pressured the United States Olympic Committee to boycott the games. Moreover, he threatened to withhold funding, revoke the organization's tax exemption if it would not comply. And in fact, it did.

Today, 28 years later, the head of the Sochi organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, said in his statement that the committee is aware of the intended resolution, however only the IOC can respond to such matters.

"All our efforts here in China are spent on learning from these wonderful Beijing Games so that we can enhance our offer for the Olympic movement," Chernyshenko said. "At Sochi 2014, our focus is to deliver an excellent and innovative Games that will inspire the world. We are on track to achieve this."

Strangely enough, politics have gone well beyond being solely political matters and now affect everything from music to sports on a global scale - more openly and publicly than ever before. Clearly, this has always been the case, particularly back in the days of the Cold War, but with the ever-growing power of the media (especially in our era of internet domination) it is more apparent than ever before.

Is this pending resolution currently being drafted by the U.S. lawmakers a logical, well-thought-through response to the latest conflict upheaval in South Ossetia or an extreme overreaction to the recent events in the conflict zone?