EDITORIAL
Annals of a Russian Purge
It sure was amusing, and terrifying, to watch the antics of Russia’s so-called “president” Dima Medvedev in the wake of his country’s calamitous failure at the 2010 Olympic Games.
First, Medvedev petulantly refused to attend the closing ceremonies in Vancouver, hiding like a child under his mothers skirts rather than face the shame and humiliation of standing with his athletes before a slack-jawed world. How would Russians react if the leader of the country picked to take the 2018 games refuses to be in Sochi at the closing to take the Olympic flag? Hopefully, we’ll never know because the IOC will come to its senses and divest Russia of the 2014 games.
Then, Medvedev began calling for the heads of the Russian Olympics leadership team. Not surprisingly, however, he didnt’ say a word about the resignation of the man responsible for supervising that team, so-called “Prime Minister” Vladimir Putin, nor did he suggest that he himself might resign. Apparently, Russia’s so-called “leaders” don’t feel they have any responsibility for selecting incompetent and corrupt fools to run Russia’s Olympics program, and therefore need not pay any consequences when that program humiliates the country before the eyes of the world.
In our issue today, we republish a condemnation of Russia issued by the prestigious media watchdog Reporters without Borders. Issued just as the games were ending for maximum publicity, RWB exposes the Stalin-like crackdown on all elements of the press where reporting on the Sochi 2014 games is concerned, hiding numerous acts of wanton misconduct by the organizers. Medvedev even allowed the shameless rigging of the last mayoral election in Sochi, just to make sure the Kremlin had a chokehold on information dealing with the games.
Viewing all this, no objective observer can conclude that Medvedev is any sort of “leader” for Russia, much less a liberal or progressive one. They can conclude only that he is a petty little dwarf, a hapless servant of Vladimir Putin, and a willing participant in the de-democratization and neo-Sovietization of Russia.
If Medvedev really wanted to help his country, instead of firing many people he would fire just one, Putin. And then he would resign.
La Russophobe 
[First, Medvedev petulantly refused to attend the closing ceremonies in Vancouver, hiding like a child under his mothers skirts rather than face the shame and humiliation of standing with his athletes before a slack-jawed world. How would Russians react if the leader of the country picked to take the 2018 games refuses to be in Sochi at the closing to take the Olympic flag? ]
Are you saying that attending the previous Winter Games’ Closing Ceremonies is expected? Then how come, for example, the Canadian Prime Minister didn’t attend the Closing of the 2006 Torino Olympic Games and sent opera singers instead?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Winter_Olympics_closing_ceremony
2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremony
Canadian opera star Ben Heppner sang O Canada to begin the Canadian segment of the ceremonies and mark the beginning of the countdown to the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010.
In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that the Olympic flame had begun its journey to Vancouver.
…………………….
Are you accusing the Canadian Prime Minister of “petulantly refusing to attend the closing ceremonies in Torino, hiding like a child under his mothers skirts rather than face the shame and humiliation of standing with his athletes before a slack-jawed world”? Wow.
You’ll find it easier to understand what we’re saying if you read what we’ve written, Artie. Try it some time!
We said it’s “expected” when it’s promised, as Medvedev promised. If the Canadian PM was scheduled to appear at Torino and then pulled out when is country disgraced itself on the field of play, then (IF THIS BLOG WERE ABOUT CANADA) we’d definitely think his conduct was outrageous and condemn it.
Unlike you, Artie, we don’t think two wrongs make a right. Only certain Russian “minds” are perverted enough to think so, and to fail to appreciate the dire implications for Russia.
And given the vicious insults Russophiles are hurling at Canada, we’re suprised you advocate that Russia emulate that country!
1. Show me an official statement that says that Medvedev PROMISED to attend the Closing Ceremonies. I didn’t see any. Promised to whom?
2. I don’t think that it was terrible for the Prime Minister of Canada not to show up for the 2006 Olympics. There are more important issues that face Prime Ministers than the pointless closing ceremony shows.
3. Who said that it is a “tradition” for the head of the next country to attend the closing ceremonies at the Winter Olympics. We already know that the heads of Canada and Russia didn’t do so in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Did the US President Clinton attend the Closing Ceremonies in Nagano in 1998? I couldn’t find any mention of this anywhere:
http://www.google.com/search?q=1998+president+clinton+visit+japan+nagano
In fact, it seems that instead of coming himself, he sent Al Gore’s wife to head the Presidential delegation to Nagano:
http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/VP_Wife/trips/column1.html
THE 1998 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DELEGATION TO THE WINTER OLYMPICS IN NAGANO, JAPAN
BY TIPPER GORE
I’ve loved sports all my life and have followed the Olympic Games as long as I can remember. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when President Clinton invited me to lead the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
………………………..
If Clinton didn’t attend it in Nagano either – then why would anybody lie that it is a “tradition” for Winter Olympics?
The Blame Game starts.
…Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, leader of the pro-Kremlin A Just Russia party and a close ally of Putin, said Tyagachyov should be held responsible for Russia’s failings at the Olympics.
Medvedev’s statement “means that the head of the Russian Olympic Committee and other high-ranking sports officials must resign,” Mironov told Interfax.
He said the criticism directed against them was fair because “in sports the result is more important than the process.” (REALLY)
He suggested that Tyagachyov was subordinate to him by pointing out that the committee chief is also a Federation Council senator, representing the Rostov region.
A woman who answered the phone at Tyagachyov’s Federation Council office said that Tyagachyov would only return from Vancouver on Tuesday night.
Mironov also noted that Mutko “not long ago” headed the Federation Council’s sports committee. Mutko was a senator for St. Petersburg between 2003 and 2008, when he became sports minister.
Anton Sikharulidze, a State Duma deputy for United Russia and chairman of the parliament’s sports committee, complained that officials were sidestepping responsibility for the games. “Every sports official today is shifting the blame over preparation for the Olympics,” he said, Interfax reported.”
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/sports-minister-ready-to-quit-over-olympics/400820.html
Looks like it puts Medvedyev against Pootin’s ski instructor.
Thats what you get with “Cheesy Politicians” running the Olympics like the rest of Roosha.
Gregor,
I heartily congratulate you on the record-breaking performance of Ukraine in the 2010 Olympics: 0 gold, 0, silver and 0 bronze. That’s 0 (zero) total medals. This is a totally amazing achievement, especially given that in the Soviet era, Ukrainian athletes always won tons of medals.
Note that even Belarus, with population 5 times smaller, won 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.
You must be very proud of Ukraine’s “no hitter”, Georg. So proud that you are gloating over Russia, which has won 15 medals.
The problem is “Real Ukrainians” mostly leave the country. No one wants to raise his family with RaSSiyski Scumlords next door not matter how drunk or charming their language. So far 3 Million have emigrated to the West. The Yanukovich kind can stay with their Moscali “big brothers”. Still we have the Smartest Man in the World Dr. Andriy Slyusarchuk who wants to do things in Ukraine instead of Filthy Moscovy Rasha, where he attended school. Ukraine will shake off this hangover as well. You Arthur however will still have the filthy nature inside of you, to be the idiot that you are.
Georg/LES wrote:
[The problem is “Real Ukrainians” mostly leave the country.]
Well, if by “real Ukrainians” you mean people of your ilk, then I am happy that Ukraine is getting cleansed on stupid Nazi scum.
The only Nazi are the Stalinist Nashi of your incestous ilk and doubtful breeding. The Molotov Ribbentrop deal fell through, just like like your Savokian Union. 28 nations think Roosha sucks and remain in NATO to be protected from your filth, with new members lining up.
Too bad that Ukraine is trapped next to Freaking Rasha in the Schengen Zone. But still your Murdering Filthy Hoards want to live in Ukraine and be seperated from their own ilk.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Thousands_Of_Russians_Seek_Asylum_In_EU_Ukraine/1973571.html
Arthur this is one of your filthy kind, that even Pootin does not want…. Russian National Murdering Bolshevikian Party Members whom want to live next to decent people so their bastard kids can play next to them, possibly giving them blood poisoning.
— an increasing number of Russians are seeking asylum in Ukraine.
Olga Kudrina, who heads the Union of Political Emigrants, told RFE/RL that she joined the Russian National Bolshevik Party in 2003 and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for hanging a banner from a hotel near Red Square in 2005 calling for then-President Vladimir Putin to resign.
She fled Russia in 2006 and was granted refugee status in Ukraine two years later.
Kudrina says it’s hard to predict whether Viktor Yanukovych’s election as president of Ukraine will lead to a change in the country’s immigration policies, possibly making it harder for Russians to receive asylum. (She is afraid of her own kind, Yanukovich). If Yanukovich keeps them out then Ukraine will be saved. Politcal Immigrant Union Head indeed, just plain Bolshevik Scum pretending that they are different from the rest.
Listen Artie boy, you Fascist Scum! Hitler’s Nazis murdered only in the millions, do you understand ‘in the millions’, whereas your beloved Stalin and his soviet communists murdered in the TENS of millions, do you understand that simple point? I mean what’s so hard about that? Face it you simpleton it’s a known fact of history and nothing you do or say will alter that!
I realize that in answer to my comment you will, in your usual manner, steer the subject matter in any direction but the correct one to protect Stalin and his murderous ‘banda’ of gangsters.
Another thing, so that you don’t jump to your usually incorrect assumptions. No, most definitely no! I am not an admirer of that lying mass murderer, that Nazi idiot A. Hitler.
Its Russia that faces humiliation in 2014 not Ukraine,The host is always expected to do well, just look at the UK’s results in the summer Olympics of 2008; 4th, the UK’s best ever showing this is the result of a nation preparing to hold the Olympics on there own soil.Russia has 4 years before Sochi sacking people now and starting from scratch shows just what a shambolic situation exists,
[Its Russia that faces humiliation in 2014]
Only if Russia doesn’t improve on the 15 medals that it won in 2010. But it will. First of all, it always improves when the Olympics move from Borth America to Europe. For example, it won only 13 medals in 2002 but improved to 22 medals in 20006.
[The host is always expected to do well,]
Yes, hosts almost always do so. Home field advantage makes a huge difference. And that’s another reason why Russia will do great. I predict at least 25 medals.
The problem is not how many medals Russia won. The problem is Russians’ response to their own performance. Without Medvedev’s call for heads (plus no-show in Vancouver) no one in world (except for LR, of course) would even notice Russia’s performance. Now it is the talk of the town. Likewise, without Plushenko repeatedly dissing Lysacek and then bizarrely calling himself the real winner and awarding himself a virtual platinum medal (not to mention his fans planning to present him with a gold medal of their own), he would be remembered as a great athlete who came out of retirement to get within an inch of winning Olympic gold. Now he will be mostly remembered as a sore loser and a weirdo. Of course, Russians are not the only ones with sour grapes, but somehow with them it’s systemic. The moment things do not go their way they cry Russophobic conspiracy.
Can someone give Artur a gold medal for being a complete wanker?
Gee Wal, giving Artie boy gold? That’s sacrilege man!
As for me I’d even think twice were we to give him “fool’s gold”.
I tell you I would not want to be a Russian competitor at Sochi 2014, the weight of expectation will be crushing, for those that succeed and give the “state” the medals it craves their futures are assured they will be cosseted by a loving state,
Those poor buggers that screw up and win nothing, well I fear instead of a medal a bell will be placed around their neck to warn people of the approaching “leper”
Talking about “leper”, make Artie boy the first cab off the rank. He certainly wins hands down.
He should also get the WBL trophy, as he’s worked hard for that one! Oh, by the way Artie boy, you brainless baboon, those initials stand for the “Worlds Biggest Lier”.