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Guest Post: Russia’s Potemkin Olympic Village
With reporters stunned by Sochi's unreadiness and athletes now quitting individual events on the lack of preparedness of the snow, the Winter Olympics in Russia is off to a less than stellar start. The last time Russia hosted the Olympics – the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow - the Soviet Union was a superpower, stagnant but stable. Not so today, notes Nina Khruschcheva; Putin’s Russia is weak, tawdry, and corrupt – and underserving as an Olympic host. The atmosphere surrounding the Sochi Games reflects many of Russia’s worst traits. In the immortal words of former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, describing the country’s economic transition of the 1990’s: “We hoped for the best, but things turned out as usual.”
Authored by Nina Khruscheva, originally posted at Project Syndicate,
Remember the year 2007? Russia was starting to look like a world power again. Its economy was growing at a record 8.5% annual rate. Political life had stabilized. Support for President Vladimir Putin was stratospheric. The decade-long Chechen rebellion seemed to have been suppressed. And, to top it off, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2014 Winter Games to Russia’s Black Sea resort, Sochi.
In many respects, it was a strange choice of venue: sunny Sochi has beautiful mountains but little or no snow. It is also 850 miles south of Moscow, with few direct flights from Europe, while the trip from the United States can involve up to four legs.
But in 2007, Russians were becoming more optimistic about their future. Addressing the Olympic Committee, Putin argued that awarding Russia the Games would not only allow it to showcase its post-Soviet achievements; it would also help the country through its political and economic transition. Nothing seemed too difficult for Putin, even mouthing unnecessary democratic platitudes for an Olympic committee whose members had already awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics to Beijing.
But, once construction got underway, the realities of modern Russia could not be so easily hidden. The colossal project, which cost more than $50 billion – more than all previous Winter Olympics combined – was expected to turn Sochi into a sporting paradise, packed with arenas and a new airport. Instead, corruption and construction accidents have plagued preparations, with hotels still unfinished just days before the opening ceremony.
Delay and waste are common in Olympic preparations (Greece in 2004 is an obvious example, and Brazil in 2016 appears to be experiencing similar problems). But Russia is proving to be an unsuitable host for other reasons.
For starters, there are concerns about Putin’s own political legitimacy. His controversial and unconstitutional re-election to a third presidential term was condemned internationally and triggered anti-government protests across Russia.
Putin responded to those he considers political enemies by arresting and jailing protesters, including the all-girl rock band Pussy Riot, following “show trials” (with the Olympics approaching, there have been recent “show pardons”). Such episodes have contributed to a general air of intolerance across Russia, fueled in no small part by Kremlin-incited chauvinism. A government sponsored anti-gay propaganda law, which indiscriminately criminalizes same-sex couples, has caused outrage abroad. Local activists have even advised gay athletes not to display signs of their sexual orientation while in Russia.
Similarly, though the Olympics should be an occasion for national pride, foreign – and in particular American – athletes have been told to avoid showing their team colors when outside the grounds. In fact, they have been warned not to wander beyond Sochi’s “ring of steel” security perimeter and the watchful gaze of black-and-gray-clad police officers, even though Olympians typically like to explore local sights.
None of this engenders a sense of Olympic solidarity and international friendship. And it gets worse. The authorities must also contend with threats from Islamist insurgents from Chechnya, who are now operating in other North Caucasian republics, a mere 200 miles from Sochi. The “black widows” – wives of Islamist fighters killed in the Kremlin’s “pacification” campaign – are believed to be preparing retaliatory suicide missions at airports, train stations, and on buses.
The last time Russia hosted the Olympics – the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow – the US and its allies staged a boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And yet the Soviet Union was a superpower, stagnant but stable. Its totalitarian secrecy, gargantuan military-industrial complex, ever-present KGB handlers, and apparent disdain for material comforts (at least for ordinary Russians) gave the Communist hegemon a perverse mystique that made even a simple visit to Red Square a trip to remember. However much the country was hated or feared, one could not deny that is was a major player on the world stage.
Not so today. Putin’s Russia is weak, tawdry, and corrupt – and underserving as an Olympic host. The atmosphere surrounding the Sochi Games reflects many of Russia’s worst traits. In the immortal words of former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, describing the country’s economic transition of the 1990’s: “We hoped for the best, but things turned out as usual.”
Even assuming that the Sochi Games pass off successfully, and that, despite the security restrictions and official bigotry, athletes and visitors enjoy their stay, will Russia’s brief display of national pride really be worth the financial and political cost? Or will Russians wake up six months from now and say, “Yes, our country has a fancy ski resort – at the beach.”
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Well done Sir!
Well Russia may be a Potemkin village, but Washington DC is Mordor on the Potomac.
"Po-temkin people!
Po-temkin people people!
They sure do make you sleepy
With the things they might say
Po-temkin people!
Po-temkin people, people!
Mother Mary 'n Jozuf, I wish they'd all go away!
Wrap 'em up
Roll 'em out
Get 'em out of my way
Hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein
HOEY! HOEY! HOEY!
Wrap 'em up
Roll 'em out
Get 'em out of my way
Hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein
HOEY! HOEY! HOEY!
Wrap 'em up
Roll 'em out
Get 'em out of my way
Hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein nya-nya-hein
HOEY! HOEY! HOEY!"
Apologies to FZ
FYI. Pussy Riot is a George Soros operation.
Geez, did you have to put pussy and Soros in the same sentence?
ION: Kentucky Fried Chicken introduced the new 'Hillary Bucket' of chicken. No breasts, just two huge thighs. Not to be left out, the 'Obama Bucket' included nothing but left wings and assholes.
"Not so today. Putin’s Russia is weak, tawdry, and corrupt ..."
And today obama's USA is .... what, exactly???
Potyomkin.
Potomakin?
Tawdry! Well the author must not have gotten the message that Las Vegas gets millions of visitors on that image alone. Tawdry might actually be a feature. Tawdry is what a lot of people call a good time! I suppose to a toffee nosed DC acolyte it's dull.
@ Smegley, Exactly, I'd much rather visit Sochi than fucking Washington DC. DC should return to the swamp whence it came.
I would like to post someting, but I haven't downloaded the recent updates for my computer yet, and the tracking programs that NSA downloaded onto my computer are not compatible with the older version of software I am running....
What else would you expect from the granddaughter of former USSR dictator Nikita Khrushchev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_L._Khrushcheva
We will bury her!
(banging shoe on computer screen)
LOL
"Nikita, you magnificent bastard, I saw your show!"
Nina Khrushcheva, being the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev... last of the hardcore Communist premiers of Soviet Russia, just might not be the most impartial source for an article like this. One thinks she may have a bone or two to pick with post-Granddaddy's Russia.
Unless living a charmed life as the relative of a dictator qualifies one to comment, that is.
Russian society may be fucked up, but they did provide a safe harbor for Snowden, so they get points for that. Besides, it's far better that Russia provide a tiny bit of balance to the unipolar world of the American empire versus them being a "democratic" client state of the US like Germany or Japan.
It's far from optimal, but Russia really isn't my problem. So there's that.
I think their brown drinking water is quaint.
Our city has a brown water problem. Too much Manganese additives. Our water is safe to drink. Except I won't drink it.
You rebel! I'm just going to assume you wear a leather motorcycle jacket and slick back your hair with bacon grease.
SgtShaftoe...
SNOWDEN is a gimmick = Limited hangout opertive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout
A lot of people think that. I don't agree for a couple of reasons:
1) People who have spent any time in the classified world know how absolutely fucked up all those organizations are. His story is very plausible, and likely completely correct. There's been a whole bunch of people burned by these revelations as well. Not good optics.
2) Anyone planning such an operation, like 9/11 has to consider 2nd and 3rd order effects. Nothing good has come of the revelations to the government. There was, and is no upside, only downside to Snowden releasing all these documents. Tyranny can only really survive and thrive in complete secrecy. That edge is now gone.
a lot of rhetoric here.
where are examples, photos, descriptions?
I must downvote this article.
Agree with most of the article with the exception of "bigotry"
Why can't people, nations, and states be free to not celebrate homosexuality?
As usual the USA has to send our leading athletes surrounded by a bunch of flaming rainbow diplomats to make a point about our "diversity" no wonder nations hate us.
Oh, I thought this was about Pokemon Village! Gotta lay off the Stoli shots before 5...
http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Village
This article will certainly rub the Putin ManCrush group here at ZH the wrong way. Broadening their horizons, Tyler?
Don't worry, they'll still have that tingle when they see him on TV.
Like Nick Kypreos of NHL hockey said today, "Suck it up, buttercup".
"Doshli dengi" (There wasn't enough money to finish it) is obviously not the case here. So it can only be the other one: "Doshli ruki" - (Meaning something like: fuck it, thats good enough, we can't be arsed to finish it properly). Usual Russia. "Mi xoteli sdelat lu4e no polu4ilos kak vsigda" - Chernomyrdinki. One has to love them.
ZZZZZzzzz
Pussy Riot? As funded by George Soros....yet another USA sponsored "protest"/NGO group?
What does Putins Legitimacy have to do with the Olympics. How about Barry Soetoro aka Obama?
There's a terrorist threat, you mean like with TSA checkpoints and rooftop snipers, and even gunships at the Superbowl? Since when is security not a big deal anywhere these days?
"Putin’s Russia is weak, tawdry, and corrup"...Well if you say so, unqualified assertions always go down well.
Nina, if you need someone to write a better propadanda/hit piece please contact me and i'll do it for you, just send me some bitcions. Cheers.
Nothing says democracy like when hotel rooms each have a picture of Putin.
I like my women a little tawdry.....
The last time Russia hosted the Olympics – the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow – the US and its allies staged a boycott in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The Russians should boycott the Olympics in response to the US and it's allies invading Afghanistan.
Oh, wait...
Nina has been twisting, distorting and omitting the truth for her masters for quite some time.
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/nov/25/local/me-47759
That most of the oligarchs who amassed their billions under Yeltsin, often with money from the West, were Jewish is beyond dispute even if mentioning it invites the "anti-semitism" smear. Simply note that while genuine anti-semitism, like any group-hate, is stupid, the term "antisemitism" is primarily used now to 1] distract from Israeli crimes that would be deemed crimes if committed by any other nation state; 2] to distract from Jewish power, which in the US, Ukraine, France, UK, Russia, Canada, and many other states, is simply and clearly out of proportion to their numbers, and involves international Jewish and pro-Israeli coordination and lobbying.
I'm all for fair criticism of Putin, but let's be honest - a lot of the criticism he gets stems from reducing some of the power of these Jewish oligarchs. Jews are less than 2% of Russia's population but were at some point about 7 or 8 of the top ten Billionaires - and those guys simply raped the Russian people in the post USSR firesale.
Notably, in Ukraine, 3 of 4 of the billionaires are Jewish, the largesdt private bank is owned and run by Jews, several of the top newspapers and tv stations, and the head of Ukraine's central bank is Jewish.
Jews are less than 1% of Ukraine's population.
I'm only reciting facts - Jewish power is part of what's happening in Ukraine, and is behind some of the anti-Russian stuff. Certainly, it is also true that a lot of the Ukrainian protesters are bona fide antisemites - and not for "no reason". With good reason, many Ukrainian nationalists see Jews and Russians as having too much power and wealth in their country.
They are right on both counts, but they only get called "fascist" for criticizing the power of a group which is a fraction of the Russian-Ukrainian population.
Cute.
Anyway, she was part of an absurdly transparent documentary produced by WND, and featured a heavily Jewish cast, including Richard Perle
http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/unless-you-read-this-you-have-no-idea-whats-g...
In addition to the blockbuster book “Disinformation” from WND Books, WND Films has simultaneously released a brand-new, feature-length (120-minute) companion film titled “Disinformation: The Secret Strategy for Destroying the West,” written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Stan Moore.
Besides dramatically profiling the life and revelations of Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the two-disc DVD documentary features new interviews with many experts, including co-author Ronald Rychlak, former CIA chief James Woolsey, author David Horowitz, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf, historian Michael Ledeen, journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave, defense analyst Frank Gaffney, Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, deputy undersecretary of defense Jed Babbin, assistant secretary of defense Richard Perle, former FBI agent Wayne Barnes, WND Managing Editor David Kupelian and others.
The film documentary dramatically depicts how disinformation – the evil “science” of deception that so disastrously shaped our world during the last generation – is still very much alive in the current generation under Barack Obama.
That list sure has a lot of zionist neocons on it, both Jewish like Gaffney, Horowitz, Perle, Ledeen, Kupelian, and possible Kruscheva, and Shabbas Goy Zios like the reprehensible James Woolsey.
The question is why does a mediocre hatchet job like this get posted here?
Everything Nina Khrushchev says may be true, and her family history does give her some credibility. But we should beware of jumping on this particular bandwagon.
Remember the 1980 Olympics Boycott? That was called to protest the Soviet Union sending troops into Afghanistan to defend a government that was being attacked by rebels led by Islamic fundamentalists supported, financed and armed by the CIA and Saudi Arabia - among them their then-poster-child Osama Bin Laden. We've seen how well that worked out.
Corrupt or not, Russia is resisting the control of the US and European bankers, and consequently it has been targeted. Without making them the good guys just because of this, we should be aware of efforts to enroll us in this campaign and resist getting sucked in.
Agree...an excellent post.
I feel as though the Russians are hosting me. This place in NYC, as far as I can walk, is packed with white people that speak a foreign language that sometimes sounds like Russian. Most do speak English as well. Maybe I'm in Poland. Lots of Vodka ads around.
There is nothing Olympic about these games because throughout the games wars will still be going on contrary to the understanding and agreement that stood in Ancient Greece.
As for corruption it will always be going on as it did in Ancient times. Nothing new here.
Saudi Arabaia needs to take care!!!!
I can see a Sarin gas cloud coming over the Sochi horizon. Anyone who thinks "black widows" are married to old explosive technology needs an update to their CPU. If not here, somewhere. If not now, soon.
Well THAT cross is made of petrified wood. Jeebus.
local menu gems :)
https://twitter.com/DLSpencer10/status/430760096063172608/photo/1
They're just trying to scare everybody so you NEED more government help (and less freedoms).
Nothing will happen in Sochi, no black widows, no toothpaste bombs, no nothing. Basically it fufills two rolls -
1. To scare the population, and
2. It all makes a good story for the media to jump on (hundredfs might be killed!) which goes back to point one
Whats up with the slam piece on Russia? Pussy Riot did one thing --they tresspassed on private property and slapped that entire commuity in the face. Everything you mentioned is funded and propogandized by insurgent western NGO's. They did not want gays overtly displaying themselves publicly to young children --- they wanted to maintain innocence not get rid of gays. To top it all off you questions Putin's legitimacy to rule?????? Do you think the US rulers really have the consent of the governed when "everything" is classigfied top secret and the media is controled? If Americans new what was going on with their own government there would be a revolution in the morining. This was simpleton propoganda.