Written by Alexandru Dragoi
Living in the past is wrong. If you are a country who lives in the past then it is even worse, because this can be the birth of instability and the beginning of a huge disaster. When we are talking about foreign affairs we must accept that there is an order among states. This order is crafted by the nature of power that each state has. At this moment, Russia is a huge power, but there is another huge idea in the Russian political spirit – the glory of the Soviet era – they want it back!
In the field of international politics, there are two types of power: hard and soft power. The cornerstone of the hard power is the state of the army: how many soldiers, tanks and bombs and so on and so forth. Soft power is about winning hearts and minds. Sochi Winter Olympics initiative is about winning the hearts and minds of the Russian people and restoring the international glory and image of the Russian Federation.
Photo: Marko Djurica/REUTERS./ Published: 02/7/2014 4:08:28
Sochi Winter Olympics will be held in February 2014 and the Games are the 22nd Winter Olympics. Sochi is a resort city, the only subtropical city of Russia, in the Krasnodar Krai territory having a population of 400.000. This is the first time when Russia is hosting the Winter Olympics. There are many controversial topics around the Winter Games and their nature is very different.
Environment
In 2009, organisers said they want these Games to be the greenest, most environmentally aware games ever staged. Also Vladimir Putin said that: “in setting our priorities and choosing between money and the environment, we are choosing the environment.” (The Washington Post) The entire Sochi region has many areas included in the UNESCO World Heritage and there are many environmentalists which argue that the Games will damage the natural environment. The project is very expensive, around $50 billion and we must take into account that the budget for the London Olympic Games was around £9 billion. If that money were invested in an efficient way the ecological impact of the Olympic Games can be reduced to values that will not interfere or alter the natural environment.
Economy
Sochi Winter Olympics will be the most expensive in history. According to the official data this is a corrupt project. A good example is the construction of a 45 km road from Adler to Sochi. The cost was $200 million per km. Boris Nemtsov, the current opposition leader, said that: “You could have paved this road with 5m tons of gold or black caviar and the price would have been the same.” (RBK News)
Pride House and LGBT rights
In 2010 the registration of lesbian, gay bisexual and trans gender Pride House was rejected by a Russian court. This summer the Russia’s Duma passed the anti-gay propaganda law which bans the public discussion of gay rights and relationships because LGBT would “contradict the foundation of public morality and government policy in the area of protection of the family, motherhood and childhood.” (CNN) This debate can be distributed on several levels: human rights level, cultural values and perspectives level (conservative societies versus liberal ones) and even the level of personal believes and opinions.
Those found in breach of the anti-gay propaganda law can be fined and deported. There is a security concern because around 120.000 people will visit Sochi during the Games and the anti-gay law will be enforced. How will the Russian security forces will react if one gay US athlete will express his/her sexual orientation? Vladimir Putin said that the participants will not be affected by this law. Also, Vladimir Putin said that the Greenpeace activists are not pirates and although he said that the clash between Greenpeace and Russia is far from over.
Political governance
FSB will ensure extensive monitoring during the Games. They will use Sorm, which is Russia’s system for intercepting phone and internet communications. Also they added the deep packet inspection protocol which offers them the capability to filter users by particular keywords and since 2010 FSB upgraded the Sorm system permanently in order to be able to cope with the supplementary traffic during the Games. Viktor Teplyakov, a Russian MP said that “simply buying a ticket does not guarantee access – security is No. 1” (The Guardian) The problem with the FSB actions is that this federal service is not known for its transparency and legal instruments. The Sorm system can be used as a huge octopus spy network and FSB can discover confidential, valuable data and information about the participants who attend the Games or their businesses. Moreover, communication providers (phone and internet) installed Sorm boxes in their servers by law and now FSB has the right and the capability to intercept any conversation or message. Also, Russian security forces could use Sorm in order to discover and suppress any protest movement.
The Soviet Union is a memory. We live difficult times and we cannot live with the desire to restore the shallow glory of the past. The image of the Soviet era was beautiful but the reality was quite grim for a middle class person. Maybe you do not live in Russia and maybe you don’t even care about the conditions of this country but remember that this is the biggest country in the world with huge oil and natural gas reserves, with a nuclear arsenal and with a strong economy. What happens in Russia will ultimately affect even your life!
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