This is another video from the series “5 Minutes of Common Sense” by the Russian political analysis Ruslan Ostashko. In this video, Ruslan is expressing his views on the ban imposed by the IOC on the participation of the Russian team in the winter Olympic games in the South Korea and on the steps Russia could have taken.
Commentary by Eugenia who translated and subtitled this video (thanks Eugenia!!):
I usually find Ruslan’s analysis convincing but not this time. In his zeal to condemn our officials whom all Russians love to hate, Ruslan got carried away, and in his argument ended up shifting the blame from the guilty party to the one, well, not so guilty.
Could the Russian officials have responded more aggressively to the challenge to our Olympic sport? Perhaps, although this is not as easy as Ruslan makes it sound. The US defamation, libel and slander law is tricky, and Canadian one is only slightly more plaintiff-friendly. Besides, neither the US nor Canadian courts would be unbiased in cases where Russia is concerned, particularly in the present atmosphere.
When Ruslan states that if the Russian sports officials had done their duty, none of this would have been possible – this is a bit naïve. The campaign against the Russian Olympic sport has been conducted for several years with grim determination and complete disregard for any rules or the truth. Now it reached its culmination: as assault on the national psyche right before the presidential elections. Does anyone honestly think a dozen or even hundreds of pending lawsuits would have stopped this? Ruslan mentioned a popular Russian saying. Here is another one for you: “No trick works against a crowbar, except another crowbar”. And that’s precisely what we are up against.
The example Ruslan refers to of the Yukos verdict of $50 billion is beside the point. At that time, the West wasn’t yet mad enough (although it is rapidly moving in that direction) to undermine its own economic and financial system for the pleasure of showing Russia the middle finger. Moreover, it was evident that Russia would not pay, and the ensuing economic war would injure both parties.
With the Olympics, the West risks nothing of the sort. They were careful to undermine the Russian ability to hit the IOC financially by allowing a few select “clean” athletes to attend. This would likely be conditional on Russia paying for broadcasting rights, the main source of the IOC revenues. The Russian TV corporation previously announced that it would not broadcast the games if the Russian team does not participate. Now, if some athletes do, it will have to. Actually, only boycott would have permitted Russia to exert some financial pressure on the IOC but Ruslan argues against that, which is a bit inconsistent.
Even Russians like Ruslan seem to have a naive faith in the integrity adn honesty of the West’s courts, much like Russian liberals think everything is better in the West.
Thanks for translating a video you do not entirely agree with and commenting upon it. The issues are then highlighted much better.
This whole Olympics “thing” in So Korea may turn out to be dismal indeed with the Haley woman already casting doubt on American participation.
There is a bigger game afoot here and my default position in foggy times ( Neptune, the planet of illusion is in powerful aspect these days as well as Mercury being in retrograde motion) is to support Putin’s position.
Protection of the Russian athletes who do attend should be the primary responsibility of the Russian government and that should be made very, very clear to the So. Korean authorities.
“This whole Olympics “thing” in So Korea may turn out to be dismal indeed with the Haley woman already casting doubt on American participation.”
Clearly the Americans are asking for a pound of flesh for participating in South Korea’s Winter Games. A concession on North Korea, or even on China, perhaps?
a ‘pound of flesh’ from whom?
If I’m not mistaken the organizers (aka South Korea) get a share of ticket sales. But the IOC directly sells the TV rights. At this time, the tickets are all largely sold. If the US pulled out on claims of ‘safety’, then I’m not sure that effects ticket sales all that much at this point. If NBC/Comcast said then that because the Americans didn’t send athletes that tv ratings were down and thus they shouldn’t pay as much money, then that hits the IOC most.
Besides, I think NBC/Comcast carries more weight than Nutti Nikki. She’ll soon be told there is real money at play and that she should scream and yell and rant about something else. Besides, the Deep State would gladly trade a few lives of ordinary Americans who happen to be Olympic athletes for a casus belli that would make billions for the Military-Industrial-Media-Intelligence-Complex.
Hmmm, MIMIC. I think I like that. :)
(the acronym, not the evil that it refers to)
I am not really sure, but I am kind of getting the feeling that the Russian authorities are either:
1) not interested in the whole Olympic punishing of Russia, almost as if the authorities have better things to do….which I am sure they do. It seems almost a kind of nonchalant approach…..Saying something like: “look athletes if you want to go, its up to you…but we really have other sht to deal with now. So you if you don’t mind doing what you do best but without a Russian flag and all the fancy Olympic crap….please be my guest, and go to South Korea and do your thing, we really can’t be bother with these childish issues”.
or
2) they are trying to give the impression that they don’t care, to irritate the West, with the idea that the West were actually hoping for the Russian to boycott the Olympics, but the Russians are actually doing the opposite of what the West wanted.
So maybe this approach is not so bad after all……
……..Personally, I still would have boycotted if I was the Russian decision maker.
The west was hoping to hit a nerve and feel better about themselves watching the Russians scream in anger about something they can’t do anything about.
The approach the Russians are taking is the best in my opinion. As I already said, I don’t think they can do anything about it so they have to take the punch, might as well show yourself to be above such pathetic, childish nonsense.
It’s an outrage and I’m sure quite a few fists hit quite a few tables behind closed doors in Moscow, but the Russians know that this is not worth getting angry over, since this is merely a dying empire grasping at straws to get as many petty victories as possible to convince itself it still holds power, nothing more. They know they are winning overall, the empire will get a few jabs in, not letting them enjoy them as much could be, depending on how you look at it, a victory in itself.
Read this, from Norway.
Use translit, this is an level of staggering bullshit, but the hate propaganda against Russia is been ramped up lately to unimaginable heights witch can only be described as an bad acid trip, this rotten souls Bjørgan is an dope head, and she came from nothing to win everything in 200 days, I will link to you this articles to show you how the Norwegians is thinking, it looks like an bad joke but its not, the Norwegians are simply bonkers.
This is about Bjørgans acid trip into a lalaland of total paranoia and lies, an payed whore, this stinking dope head should be chased everywhere, and like other Norse, whom have systematically used Ashma medic to enhance their performances, done that since OL 94, when we won everything, and in Biathlon, where they have systematical doped them self for decades.
https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/bjorgens-frykt-var-reell-hevder-russland-ville-dope-andre-nasjoner/69004278
In this article she claims Russians aka Putin is going to “dope” all the other nations, as an revenge, this scumbag is simply an hideous piece of shit.
peace
Be interesting if the whole BRICS boycotted the IOC. The rest of them have to know that what’s being done to Russia will soon be done to the rest of them.
Pulling the TV viewership from half the people on the globe is something that the corrupt IOC would notice.
“They were careful to undermine the Russian ability to hit the IOC financially by allowing a few select “clean” athletes to attend. This would likely be conditional on Russia paying for broadcasting rights, the main source of the IOC revenues. The Russian TV corporation previously announced that it would not broadcast the games if the Russian team does not participate. Now, if some athletes do, it will have to. ..”
I have to say that is not my understanding as stated above:
http://tass.com/sport/979232
This article makes it very clear that the State tv station won’t be showing the Olympics:
“…the VGTRK press service said on Tuesday. Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang “We do not change our position we will not broadcast the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in the absence of the Russian National Team there,” it said….”
A few “neutral athletes” not under the Russian flag are not the Russian national team – so I don’t think the Olympics will be getting any tv exposure in Russia – there will be no interest with the public. So they will lose money.
Ask a poor American about how fair the court system really is, and they’ll tell you that money and power always wins. American courts assume that an ordinary system competes against Exxon on an equal basis. If you believe that, I can sell you a wonderful replica of a bridge sitting in a desert. Or perhaps some soon to completely underwater due to climate change coastal swampland.
American courts are corrupt. American judges are all political appointees picked by the same crooked politicians who are currently sanctioning Russia and dropping to their knees at any mention of Israel.
However, skilled lawyers and lots of money can wreck havoc simply because in a corrupt system built on intimidation and bullying most officials don’t actually often run into skilled lawyers with lots of money. O.J. Simpson showed how that works. But at best, one could only raise some havoc by those means. The American war machine also has skilled lawyers and lots of money and the whole court system is already rigged in their favor and they appointed the judges. So, raising some havoc is all you could do with that pile of money. And yes, I can see where Russian leaders might indeed decide that other things are more important. Its at least possible that buying one more cruise missile might prove to be more useful in the long term.
I’m not sure how people thing this hurts Putin politically? Everyone seems to say this IOC thing is timed for Russia’s elections. Yet, Russian athletes being shamed internationally, stripped of their national uniforms, denied the right to wave a Russian flag, all of that, to me will only rally support around Putin and the strong leadership he projects.
And, the first Russian athlete to smuggle a Russian flag onto a medal stand and then suddenly pull it out and wave it and hold it high becomes a national hero and Putin gets more votes by greeting them at home and standing next to them.
I agree with Eugenia (thanks again for translating again!!!!).
This was probably a hopeless fight. I think it was The Saker who pointed out how stacked to the west the IOC is these days. And they are also corrupt as all git out. Asking the IOC to stand on any principle is a hopeless cause, as they are long used to going to the highest bidder. Litterally! Promise a small increase in the amount of taxpayer money wasted on Olympic teams, and the USOC would sell their soul and throw in their vote for free.
Given that, what is the best course? Or, at this time, was the best course for Russian Sports Officials? I can’t say they’ve done too badly. They let the process play out. And thus revealed the IOC to be unfair and unprincipled. At this late time, I wouldn’t announce a boycott. I of course am the rare person in this whole discussion who actually thinks of the athletes. By now, they’ve planned on going. They’ve struggled to win their spot to compete in the Olympics. Let them go.
But, as soon as these Olympics are over. Or perhaps just before the Closing Ceremonies when the IOC gives themselves a grand pat on the back, I’d drop the bombshell that Russia is now withdrawing from the Olympic movement. If the IOC wants to play such games, then they can do so without crushing the dreams of Russian athletes who’ve worked hard to go to the Olympics. Concentrate on winning national championships. Put on some head-to-head meets with countries like China to let athletes compete internationally. But tell the Olympics where they can stuff their unfairness and their bias and that they had better plan to make do with less TV money because Russia isn’t paying not to play anymore. See if you can get China to join with Russia on that, and you can definitely shake the IOC.
And, one could also wage an underground campaign that makes life tough for the Olympics people. In every city that bids and certainly any that host the Olympics, one will always find a worker’s movement complaining about the waste of huge amounts of money on the Games while people are hungry and broke. Shouldn’t be hard to stir that up bit more than its existing level. Might have to dust off some old Soviet textbooks to learn how to talk to and organize workers, but doesn’t seem hard to do.
Also, there is always unrest in a host city a year or two before the games. Everyone gets sick of all of the construction. Usually at that point, not only is their major stadium construction in several parts of town, but also transportation projects timed to be ready for the Games. Stir that up a bit. Besides, at that point its usually becoming obvious how much money is really being spent on two weeks next year, and the corruption of public officials is usually on high display with such money at play.
Leak a few phone calls, leak a few emails. Help some invesigative journalists (if any are left) find their way into the corruptions and payoffs. In general, make some city leaders very, very sorry they ever thought about even bidding for the Olympics.
Then spread that news to the places thinking of bidding on the next time. If you cut back the number of cities bidding, then you cut back on the bribes paid to IOC members, which cuts into their family budgets. Get their wives or other spouses complaining that only three cities bribed them with diamond jewelry and fur coats and that will create some domestic unrest in addition to the rest of the problems the IOC is suddenly having.
Since Mr. Putin is apparently supposed to be capable of deciding who wins a multi-billion dollar Presidential election, messing with the IOC should be a piece of cake. They have weak spots galore, and its hard to imagine that all of them practice sufficient internet and anti-surveilence security.
One of the ways Russia is working on to stop israeloamerican aggression against the DPRK is through positive diplomatic and trade relations with SK. The better the relations, the more influence Russia will have there.
The olympics are important to SK, economic and for national prestige. With that understanding, Russia not boycotting the circus sends a positive message to SK, which could aide in getting sk to be more receptive of Russian ideas with regard to defusing the north-south tension, and less subservient to the israeloamericans.
A Russian boycott of the games would send a negative message to SK and hurt Russian-SK relations.
Interesting, my speculations above are reflected in what is written in this article:
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201712101059875998-olympics-putin-peace/
“Many South Koreans worry that the loss of Russian spectators at the Games could be a big blow to the Winter Olympics, which have historically attracted fewer attendees than the Summer Games. Even more importantly, without Putin in attendance the new South Korean government would find it hard to try to mend fences with Pyongyang.
Russia’s absence at the Games would be a blow to the Olympics of Peace concept promoted by South Korean President Moon Jae-in who believes that support from Russia, which has close ties with Pyongyang, is absolutely indispensable.
President Moon wants to see North Korean athletes in Pyeongchang and considers the 2018 Games and the future ones in Tokyo and Beijing as “a chance to build peace on the Korean peninsula, in Southeast Asia and the whole world.”
According to South Korean media, Moon fears that if the Russians do not show up, the Kremlin will have less reason to persuade the North Koreans to come to Pyeongchang.
Still, buoyed by Moscow’s agreement to allow its athletes to participate in the Games as “neutrals,” the South Korean president has instructed the Foreign Ministry to hold a series of closed-door consultations with Russian officials with a promise to provide maximum assistance to Russian athletes who decide to take part in the Games.
Seoul also plans to convey to the IOC the idea that the Olympics in Pyeongchang are all-important to the cause of peace and hopes that the IOC will find more far-sighted alternative options to offer Russia.
“With Allies Like These…”
Adding urgency to the whole situation, the US is reportedly undecided whether or not to send its Olympic team to Pyeongchang. What is certain is that President Donald Trump is not going to come.
While Seoul hopes that the postponement of its planned joint wargames with the US would prevent any aggressive response from Pyongyang,”
The Russians banned, yet Putin plans to attend, while the main tools of that banning, israel’s american colony, may cower at home. The pindo “fearless leader” will not attend. What does this say about who shows dignity and who is little different from the georgian tie eater?
thanks Eugenia for your interesting commentary – and thank you so much for your unselfish and long term work on Saker’s for us to understand Russia better. Blessing ~
Ann
IOC emulates Norwegian Nobel Committee.
First photo: The female Norwegian Olympic skier who never takes steroids – except for her asthma by permission of the IOC.
Last photo: The Russian woman who beat her – but only because “everone knows” Russian women athletes are fed on male steroids.
http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/12/tues-meet-this-skier-from-norway-taking.html
Hello to all of you interested,
as a determined researcher and analyst of sports i like to emphasize that the display of performances are generally not to be trusted in. It is not the question who is taking what, it’s a question of physiology, genetic lineage and of course training methodology. The current performances by all dominating athletes are still interstellar in comparison to the performances from let’s say the 1970s. Of course there’s been the technology taking big leaps ahead but it still requires human energy transfer to ignite the motion.
What strucks me is the abuse of sports for political reasons that eventually destroy the aspect of play, fairness and comparison. One may assume this is the informal war battleground that abuses either the athletes and the misled spectators and on top of it all there are big corporate players making the big profits out of it. So my advice would be to simply boycott this foul play by not watching it! Otherwise it will not stop being what it is. You better watch the rookies out of your neighborhood or your kids. Or even better try your own PRs in the sport you play!