Your Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics anticipation thread!

Good case for journalists stopping being such big fucking babies (or sending ones who had been to disadvantaged countries before).

Don't remember there being such an issue during the last World Cup, and that was in South Africa.

They aren't really many legitimate parallels to make with the situation in Chechnya and there are plenty of far more plausible reasons for choosing it as the Olympic site.

Fair enough. It makes sense if the area was already known for summer tourism that they'd want to develop it for winter tourism as well.

Here's an interesting article from 2005. Apparently even then the area was known for having Russia's best skiing although the lack of infrastructure kept it fairly exclusive, although it was apparently popular with some oligarchs and Putin himself:

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2005/oct/09/wintersportsholidays.wintersports.russia

Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister responsible for the Olympic preparations, reflected the view held among many Russian officials that some Western visitors are deliberately trying to sabotage Sochi's big debut out of bias against Russia. "We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day," he said. An aide then pulled a reporter away before Mr. Kozak could be questioned further on surveillance in hotel rooms. "We're doing a tour of the media center," the aide said.

Haha, cameras in the showers

The mayor just announced there are no gay in Sochi, thank goodness.

so they're actually filming people in the shower? or terrible at making things up? or both?

in my country, shower takes you

I did lol at this: https://twitter.com/bishopk/status/430735620089339904/photo/1

Almost echoes the start of the thread.

kozak defense of facilities is some real life onion story

i really like the new team figure skating format

i like it too. yuzuru hanyu really kicked some ass tonight.

otm dude looked like something from the future

Really looking forward to the opening ceremony, even though i won't be able to watch in real time. Safe to assume that Anna Netrebko (who's from up the road in Krasnodar) will feature heavily. Have given up hope of a reunited Tatu putting in an appearance, under the circumstances, though.

https://twitter.com/tatuofficial/status/428653333373784066

i have to say (and in this i echo my two russian friends, who left in the mid-2000s and have no interest in returning) that this country appears to be almost total shit. i hope the athletes wear their freak flags proud.

xp That's amazing!

*Struggles hard not to take amateurist's bait*

i really like the new team figure skating format

― Mordy , Friday, February 7, 2014 3:06 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I got a little bit excited when I read this, assuming they would all be on the ice at the same time. A series of dances doesn't really add up to a team IMO.

On the other hand well done for opening with the gayest sport of all time.

the snowboard slopestyle? (which was on in the morning)

Oh I thought team skating was first.

*Struggles hard not to take amateurist's bait*

― 龜, Friday, February 7, 2014 3:38 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i know, there are millions of wonderful people in russia and culture and history etc., i'm not an ignorant douchetard. it's just that the news coming out of there lately is just bad bad bad bad bad.

can't wait for TEAM LUGE RELAY guys

if Putin hasn't banned Luge Doubles of course

xp There are plenty of reasons to be depressed about the state of contemporary Russia but so much of the news coverage is laced with ignorance, hypocrisy, hyperbole and chauvinism it's often difficult to pick through it all rationally. The country is rebuilding itself after a complete financial and social collapse.

People are living longer and have better access to healthcare. Poverty is declining. Many of the vile conservative policies (like the 'gay propaganda law') are a reactionary backlash to the idea that young Russians are getting more socially liberal and more accepting of gay people / culture. It's not all bad.

Heaven forbid.

oh boy, the ice capades

(40+ years after attending, i figured out last week that's a pun on "escapades")

They had some dude named Vladimir Pozner along with David Remnick talkin' politics with Bob Costas. Vlad estimated that a solid 85% of Russians are virulently homophobic, to a violent degree. He (and Remnick did not seem to disagree) insisted that the supposedly more socially liberal/better educated/affluent protest-prone part of Russian society is a tiny, tiny minority, and Remnick iirc summed up the prime Russian motivator as "resentment." Things may be getting "better," but you still must toe the absolutely autocratic line, which doesn't sound that much better.

I'm not sure how easy it is to make estimates like, that to be honest. There's clearly no shortage of homophobic people in Russia of all ages but big cities will generally have an open gay scene (clubs, bars, etc) and the impact international and domestic gay culture on Russian popular culture has been immense. Young Russians are probably growing up with homophobic parents but they're generally going to be more liberal than any generation before.

Resentment (aimed at who?) seems to be a separate issue.

*impact of*

I agree that the overwhelming gangpile of western journalists posting pictures of tandem toilets and stray dogs seems awfully loaded/pointed, but I've seen very little compelling evidence that suggests Russia is, at the moment, anything other than an ongoing human rights violation. The pics of demonstrations being staged there always seem to feature the same two dozen faces, suggesting there is no relevant pro-LGBT movement there.

Then again, I could be wrong: http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/the-russian-lgbt-rights-documentary-everybody-should-watch-20140207

There are lots of LGBT groups in Russia but I don't think there's one central organisation like Stonewall that can organise things on a massive scale and bring significant numbers of non-LGBT sympathisers in. I get the impression that there's a certain amount of complacency from some of those sympathisers as well though. There seems to be a perception that it's a bad law but it won't mean as great a restriction on LGBT rights as is being made out so it isn't worth making a major issue of. Moving from passive support to active campaigning won't happen overnight.

Yeah, well, as a Russian activist in that article says, the most effective way at this point may just well be to humiliate the country on the international stage.

I would rate that as the single worst approach possible. Irrespective of political stance, there isn't much Russians tend to hate more than outside interference and loss of national face. It's almost certain to provoke a hardening of negative opinion towards any good causes.

So, to reiterate, gays there are fucked.

You are Johnny Weir and I claim my $5.

No, the Olympics can and should be used as a platform for Russian activists to promote awareness of LGBT rights in Russia but talking in terms of national humiliation is probably counterproductive.

there isn't much Russians tend to hate more than outside interference and loss of national face.

i.e. resentment

have we talked about how the "you will get hacked if you turn on your computer in Sochi" story was really an "I'm a dumbass and downloaded a sketchy app from a sketchy website" story already

xp There's definitely resentment at what's perceived as interference by outside agencies - particularly the US - in national politics. There are good and bad reasons for that.

Resentment's also a major factor in widespread racism / anti-semitism but i don't see it as a motivator of homophobia itself (though that might not have been the point being made).

It's extremely difficult for people outside of Russia to strike the right balance between supporting hugely important human rights causes and potentially making things worse.

Sisters have to do it for themselves, amiright?

Giving money to LGBT groups in Russia is an option. I think, or at least hope, there is a way for people outside of Russia to have a part to play in the conversation without generating a massively negative reaction. I wrote an article about Russian pop culture a while back and criticised the law when it was still a regional policy being discussed by the city authorities in St Petersburg. I tried to do it in a way that made it clear that it wasn't an attack on the Russian nation or its right to self determination.

The worse the Western reporting is in terms of xenophobia and hyperbole, the easier it is for people to dismiss it as cultural imperialism or an attempt to trash the country's international standing.

A voice I've trusted recently has been, perhaps oddly, Marc Almond -- he's visited/lived in/loved Russia for two decades running now, but has always been forthright about both its problems and what he sees as outside oversimplification of said problems. I don't know if he's done any long form recent pieces (he's written them before in his earlier books and collections) but his occasional thoughts on Twitter over the past year have helped me not completely jump to conclusions.

Recent interview with almond hitting that topic on bbc world a few days ago.

Thanks! I'm sure he announced that, I must have missed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=effb2JYiKXM

http://specblo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-Winter-Olympics-Sochi-Google-Doodle.jpg

have we talked about how the "you will get hacked if you turn on your computer in Sochi" story was really an "I'm a dumbass and downloaded a sketchy app from a sketchy website" story already

SochiBuddy

i love that story so much.