Good job, Russia. Arresting the first openly trans* legislator in Europe for waving a “Gay is OK” flag is fantastic PR. I’m sure all the people in the world who love to persecute LGBTQ people are salivating over you right now. Those of us who are actually decent human beings, on the other hand, aren’t at all impressed.
But, actually, thank you for showing your true colors. I’d prefer you actually treat LGBTQ people like people, with the right to live and love and share this planet with us without fear, but if you’re going to be bigoted assholes, own it. Do it by arresting a trans woman for waving an innocuous flag. Not just any trans woman, mind you, but go for broke and arrest a famous one. Make sure the world sits up and takes notice.
But I have to ask: Doesn’t it just seem a little foolish to strut your bigoted stuff in front of an audience of millions?
But then, Sochi’s been rather foolish from the beginning. Every Olympics has its problems – it’s not easy to build what basically amounts to a city in a few years, and get it right. There’s so much involved that mistakes are inevitable. But Sochi’s something special.
RQ, who knows a lot more about modern Russia than I do, had this to say about the buildings and tracks: “They probably look good on paper, but the Russian reality is even worse than the Latvian one (purposely missed rivets, cheaper materials, etc., because when you take so much for yourself, you just can’t afford all the fancy-pants materials in their proper amounts!).” Which is rather terrifying, when you think of all the building codes meant for fire, seismic and other sorts of safeties that were probably roundly ignored. Here’s hoping there’s no major disasters in the closing days of the Olympics. But considering Russia’s record on human rights and their current enthusiasm for persecuting homosexual folk, I’m rooting for an endless stream of the following mostly-minor mishaps. I do love some egg on totalitarian face.
Speaking of, if you haven’t seen them already, do check out these posts on the disastrous state of unreadiness that greeted people arriving for the Olympics. Toxic facewater and missing floors and absent elevators attempting to swallow athletes whole, oh, my.
You know, I like the geology around Sochi quite a lot. But I wouldn’t give you a pint of piss for a trip to Russia.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/socialmedia-updates/pussy-riot-attacked-with-horsewhips-at-sochi-games/article1-1186017.aspx
Whoah. Cossacks? The Tsar’s guard?
No, Marcus, a “one-time deal for the provision of extra security during the ‘lympics”. Disgusting.
No minor mishaps yet, though some suspicious (but unprovable) results in a few events, which could just be chalked up to home field/track advantage. The weather’s been a bit against the biathletes (one race postponed 2 days due to heavy fog – can’t shoot if you can’t see the target! – another one came close to), disappearing snow and crappy ski conditions, etc.
To be fair, as clarification, the majority of horrible conditions were observed only in journalist accommodations, with only a few minor things in athletes’ quarters. They simply prioritized athletes over journalists (big surprise in Russia, no?), but from all that has been heard, the athletes actually had very decent living conditions and organizational experiences.
Now for a few more minor mishaps…
Sochi is the southermost part of Russia. The winter games are being held in the Russian equivalent of Miami Beach. Yes, it is still Russia, and you need to wear a coat in winter, but there are palm trees in the streets. The location of the games was dictated by Putin, so corruption was there from conception.
I don’t think anyone’s arguing otherwise. Doesn’t make the rest of it any better.
@Marcus Ranam
Putin HAD to send in the Cossacks because his army of genetically modified flying monkeys aren’t ready yet.