Sochi

[hipeter924]

Re: Sochi

There's definitely mudslinging from Western journalists but I wish they'd concentrate their attacks more on the whitewashing of the city's Abkhaz and Circassian history rather than construction problems and lousy service from hotels and restaurants.

I would also like to learn about what Sochi's actual residents (rather than foreigners or outsiders) think about its status as host city.

Most Westerners don't even follow the Winter Olympics, instead the Summer Olympics get most of the spotlight. It just so happens that Russia has made it high profile through huge budget blowouts over construction and preparations, also Russian lawmakers made the mistake of passing controversial anti-homosexual propaganda laws too close to the games. It probably would have passed without problems, if those two major issues weren't present. Sochi was a mess, and I am guessing after the games heads are going to roll in the IOC and Russia.

[TomServo]

Re: Sochi

Despite all the negativity in the western media it seems the overall sentiment of the tourists is positive and this will mean repeat business. It will be interesting to revisit Sochi in another four years and observe how these games impacted the city.

Let's see. Perhaps tourists from Russia and Armenia will begin traveling to Sochi and the Russian Black Sea coast rather than Sharm el-Sheikh or Turkey (but I wouldn't bet on it).

[TomServo]

Re: Sochi

The two-faced double-standards regarding genocide is blatant amongst some Armenians, and they actually think they can get away with those double standards (who do they think they are - Jews?)

Watch out bell, that's not something a Western media mouthpiece is supposed to say.

[Haykakan]

Re: Sochi

(who do they think they are - xxxs?)
Loved that one. Yeh capitalism does suck if it is left unattended to run its course. I love how people like Mr Nozick write books about how wonderful unfettered capitalism is since it is the ultimate expression of freedom then we watch how it takes away all of our freedoms and turns the world into a police state. Yeh thats right Adam Smith didnt see this one coming...it is just hillerious how many people including some here who see capitalism as a law of nature or something. I do believe that when it is all said and done these games would have a long lasting positive effect on Sochi and its residents. Some of these sport complexes will become training centers which will be used for decades and all the attention generated by this event can bring back tourists. Despite all the negativity in the western media it seems the overall sentiment of the tourists is positive and this will mean repeat business. It will be interesting to revisit Sochi in another four years and observe how these games impacted the city.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Sochi

Serjik is right about the olympics being a good investment. Sochi was not much of a city but now it has modern facilities which will be used long after this event is forgotten. Yes this is investing in ones country and it is a good investment. We in Michigan invested in good ice rinks and just look at how many of these skaters train in Michigan now. I do not know much about the history of the Sochi region but any genocide is a horrible crime in my book. The western media has been mostly terrible in their coverage of these games and always tries to cast Russia in a negative way..nothing new there but Russia just laughs it off like it should. Tom is a typical western media mouthpiece..who never misses the chance to put down Russia and Armenia but like when was the last time you heard him say anything about the American indians or the Palastinians or....he is like watching cnn or snbc or cbs or fox news or...one sided, biased, misleading,... God forbid we should talk about the sporting events going on in the olympics in a thread under the sports section no lets talk genocide and do more Russia bashing...pretty sick stuff but hey some people are hardwired to be sick and nothing else.
In case anyone is interested in the actual sporting events...there were great performances in ice dancing today with new personal and all time high scores being set. Ok now you can resume your hatemongering

Given your extremist tiradesagainst capitalism, I understand your idea of what is a "good investment" might deviate from its dictionary definition. Lots of money is always made by the rich and the corrupt (and there are plenty of rich corrupt in Russia) - so undoubtedly it was a "good investment" for them. However, there is not a single Olympic Games that could seriously be classed as a good investment for the ordinary populations of any of the cities they are imposed upon.

The two-faced double-standards regarding genocide is blatant amongst some Armenians, and they actually think they can get away with those double standards (who do they think they are - Jews?)

[Mher]

Re: Sochi

Serjik is right about the olympics being a good investment. Sochi was not much of a city but now it has modern facilities which will be used long after this event is forgotten. Yes this is investing in ones country and it is a good investment. We in Michigan invested in good ice rinks and just look at how many of these skaters train in Michigan now. I do not know much about the history of the Sochi region but any genocide is a horrible crime in my book. The western media has been mostly terrible in their coverage of these games and always tries to cast Russia in a negative way..nothing new there but Russia just laughs it off like it should. Tom is a typical western media mouthpiece..who never misses the chance to put down Russia and Armenia but like when was the last time you heard him say anything about the American indians or the Palastinians or....he is like watching cnn or snbc or cbs or fox news or...one sided, biased, misleading,... God forbid we should talk about the sporting events going on in the olympics in a thread under the sports section no lets talk genocide and do more Russia bashing...pretty sick stuff but hey some people are hardwired to be sick and nothing else.
In case anyone is interested in the actual sporting events...there were great performances in ice dancing today with new personal and all time high scores being set. Ok now you can resume your hatemongering

I can definitely respect those views. It's one thing to debate whether the spending on the olympics was justified, but its a different matter to debate whether Genocide of a people its acceptable.

I think the media campaign against Russia has been hard to miss. I find a little ridiculous that gay rights are suddenly so important to Mr. Obama who until 2010 was against gay marriage. But suddenly at the exact magical moment the support for gay marriage passed 50 percent in 2010, Obama's views suddenly flipped, or evolved as Mr. Biden says.

Getting back to the Circassians or Chechens, I don't doubt their pretty messed up people today, having turned the Chechen national aspiration into a sick and twised islamic fantasy, or that they've killed plenty of Armenians in the past 150 years. But I don't think this changes the fact that the fact that the Olympics are being hosted on the land they were killed on is a little insulting. Imagine if Turkey got to host the Olympics and got to do it in Van, and imagine Armenians were much weaker than we are today, and we weren't able to let a soul in the world know. I don't think it would too hot of a feeling.

Getting back to the sports aspect of it, the US-Russia hockey game was very entertaining, and I hope they play again. Russia is surpassing all expectations and has taken first place in the medal count. I think its gonna be a race between Russia and the US. Norway was projected to finish first but is starting to fall behind.

[Haykakan]

Re: Sochi

Serjik is right about the olympics being a good investment. Sochi was not much of a city but now it has modern facilities which will be used long after this event is forgotten. Yes this is investing in ones country and it is a good investment. We in Michigan invested in good ice rinks and just look at how many of these skaters train in Michigan now. I do not know much about the history of the Sochi region but any genocide is a horrible crime in my book. The western media has been mostly terrible in their coverage of these games and always tries to cast Russia in a negative way..nothing new there but Russia just laughs it off like it should. Tom is a typical western media mouthpiece..who never misses the chance to put down Russia and Armenia but like when was the last time you heard him say anything about the American indians or the Palastinians or....he is like watching cnn or snbc or cbs or fox news or...one sided, biased, misleading,... God forbid we should talk about the sporting events going on in the olympics in a thread under the sports section no lets talk genocide and do more Russia bashing...pretty sick stuff but hey some people are hardwired to be sick and nothing else.
In case anyone is interested in the actual sporting events...there were great performances in ice dancing today with new personal and all time high scores being set. Ok now you can resume your hatemongering

[Mher]

Re: Sochi

This quote by you is beyond ridiculous bro. Damn whats wrong with armos here? A BRAND NEW MODERN CITY WITH MANY MODERN FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE was build with that money. Were you there to see what you talking about or are you basing your mind on what you saw on CNN? Cost overuns? You serious? Bro do you realize that the white house spent over trillions dollars on one single airplane that cant fly without breaking down and four trillions of dollars on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq that it cant win? What project on the Sochi scale finishes on time or in budget? Russian money was very smartly spent and future generations will sing Putins praise for having world class facilities to train in and for vacationers to stay in. Sochi is what nationalistic investment is about. Russians did a excellent job and what a wonderful olympics this has been to watch.

All of a sudden you and the always whining "Amerikahay" Tomservo care about Circassians? You serious? You mean you care about those who would not think 2 times before they cut your throat? THANK GOD Russians got rid of them. I wish they also got rid of Chechens and Tatars. What is wrong with you people? You guys are tipical victims of Western propaganda, you are brainwashed but you dont even know it. And I thought you were one of the older smart ones here LOL

lol aper only you are able to make me respect the views of bell
Maybe we should have a contest and see how many of the following you use in your argument: http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/ch...r-bs-arguments immediately, number 2 comes to mind. America having wasted money on a war had nothing to do with this. I don't understand why that's your fallback point regardless of what the issue being debated is.. Whether America wasted money or not has nothing to do with the fact that money was wasted in Sochi.

Was I there to see it? No, but I also wasn't there 10,000 years ago, but I have the good sense to trust scientists and evolution over the beliefs of bible thumping rednecks and creationism, in the same manner I have the good sense to trust respected journalists from a plethora of sources. lol Putin knows? ya he knows what its like to feed his fat friends. I don't get my news just from CNN, i get it from every news site, and from every basic principle of construction which clearly shows they built things that could have been built with a fraction of the cost, anywhere in the world, no matter what riseofrussia brainwashed logic you try to use on me.

The level of hypocrisy and logical fallacy in everything you have to say in mind blowing. No I don't suddenly care about Circassians and Chechens. I've always cared. I don't understand how you differentiate the genocide and expulsion of a voiceless people with that of the Armenians. I don't care what islamic brainwashing has done to them in their desperate attempt to have their own homeland. It's not Western propaganda, if anything its the Iranian propaganda I grew up with that enables to see the struggle of people like them and Palestinians who just want to have a country to call their own. It's unbelievable to me that you cheer on the Genocide of other people while simultaneously crying about the Armenian Genocide.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Sochi

All of a sudden you and the always whining "Amerikahay" Tomservo care about Circassians? You serious? You mean you care about those who would not think 2 times before they cut your throat? THANK GOD Russians got rid of them. I wish they also got rid of Chechens and Tatars. What is wrong with you people? You guys are tipical victims of Western propaganda, you are brainwashed but you dont even know it. And I thought you were one of the older smart ones here LOL

Scratch the surface skin off an Armenian "nationalist" and you quickly find underneath what looks exactly like a Turk fascist. Maybe that's why they both hate each other so much and need each other so much.

[Serjik]

Re: Sochi

This quote by you is beyond ridiculous bro. Damn whats wrong with armos here? A BRAND NEW MODERN CITY WITH MANY MODERN FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE was build with that money. Were you there to see what you talking about or are you basing your mind on what you saw on CNN? Cost overuns? You serious? Bro do you realize that the white house spent over trillions dollars on one single airplane that cant fly without breaking down and four trillions of dollars on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq that it cant win? What project on the Sochi scale finishes on time or in budget? Russian money was very smartly spent and future generations will sing Putins praise for having world class facilities to train in and for vacationers to stay in. Sochi is what nationalistic investment is about. Russians did a excellent job and what a wonderful olympics this has been to watch.

All of a sudden you and the always whining "Amerikahay" Tomservo care about Circassians? You serious? You mean you care about those who would not think 2 times before they cut your throat? THANK GOD Russians got rid of them. I wish they also got rid of Chechens and Tatars. What is wrong with you people? You guys are tipical victims of Western propaganda, you are brainwashed but you dont even know it. And I thought you were one of the older smart ones here LOL

I think the amount spent on the games is beyond ridiculous. Managing to outspend any previous Olympics and going more than four times your announced budget is too much. Doing things like this, something that our neighbors to the east specialize in, just opens the door for ridicule. The most ridiculous part is not the money wasted or the problems that arise despite the spending; It's the way your perceived by the outside world when you try to spend your way into status and dignity, like someone desperately trying to hide their insecurities, like some hillbilly who just won the lottery. Again Azerbaijan comes to mind in oh so many ways. It reminds me of some feudal time with the masses starving while the nobility spend everything to one each other up on some obscure measure. This money could have spend so much better. On infrastructure rather than these white elephants. Having said that, some mentions of the Circassian issue would have been good to hear. But as usual American media is too busy smelling up Britneys and Biebers ass to pay attention to actual issues.