Sochi 2014

[ShadySands]

^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9tanque

[Zoraptor]

And for good measure, lawn bowls.

[Fighter]

I was going more in the direction of why some people love women tennis i.e. short skirts and those wailings (why they are not banned?!), but sure why not.

 

Tennis is hardly the biggest offender.

 

[Walsingham]

Simple rule of thumb: if women are sweating, then take your censorship and bugger off.

[exodiark]

Here are some photos of Sochi I found on Reddit. Funny that you don't see this circulated in media.

 

http://m.imgur.com/a/e6hHh

http://m.imgur.com/a/Mlxmv

 

They turned it into good resort IMO.

Some redditors note that the ridiculous photos are from a hotel (Gorski Grand Hotel) that give discounts for staying in unfinished rooms. A bit of a **** response from a nice gesture IMO.

[Mor]

 

I was going more in the direction of why some people love women tennis i.e. short skirts and those wailings (why they are not banned?!), but sure why not.

 

Tennis is hardly the biggest offender.

 

 

uhm, I didn't said that tennis offended me.. only been grasping for reasons as to why would anyone like damn curling   ( and that excessive grunting in tennis should be banned)

 

if you think that this image is offending, you'd find a trip to the beach or most tv shows quite offending;)

[Fighter]

I did not mean "offender" in the way you are thinking. Just pointing out that a lot of sports offer more exposed skin because I thought you meant to ask why they haven't banned those tennis skirts. And not necessarily because you have a problem with it but because there are enough vocal people in general who take issue with anything they deem sexualized.

[213374U]

I was going more in the direction of why some people love women tennis i.e. short skirts and those wailings (why they are not banned?!), but sure why not.

 

Huh. I'm going to suggest that the people you are thinking about don't really like tennis, female or otherwise. They just enjoy watching athletic women running around and grunting. I try to watch as much tennis as possible (men's or women's)—the fact that some matches feature some of the best legs in female athletes is just a bonus, and one that you don't get to appreciate with most camera angles so meh.

 

I don't see what the problem with grunting is, either. You'd guess everyone should be used to it by now, and it's not restricted to women's tennis either. I guess whining is not solely a prerogative of video game forum members.

[Bryy]

 

 

Nothing more legit than using slang terms in your protest.

[Mor]

Huh. I'm going to suggest that the people you are thinking about don't really like tennis, female or otherwise. They just enjoy watching athletic women running around and grunting.

yes!!!! that was the joke... that curling is so boring to me, that I can only imagine people like that ^ (who don't really care about the sports) enjoying it.. Honestly, I don't think I could have been more blunt about it.

 

@Fighter, yeah I was referring to the banshee wailing..

[Walsingham]

I've just been thinking. The whole PR emphasis from Putin Central for these Olympics has been counter-terror. But the corruption and poor delivery seems to have done more damage to Russia's reputation than any terror attack would have done. The gay rights issue is going to make it even less attractive to firms who are sensitive about their public image.

 

On the other hand, isolation and impoverishment could be exactly what a right-leaning coalition needs!

[HoonDing]

[obyknven]

I've just been thinking. The whole PR emphasis from Putin Central for these Olympics has been counter-terror. But the corruption and poor delivery seems to have done more damage to Russia's reputation than any terror attack would have done. The gay rights issue is going to make it even less attractive to firms who are sensitive about their public image.

 

On the other hand, isolation and impoverishment could be exactly what a right-leaning coalition needs!

Yeah corruption. Sochi Olympiad corruption is:

 

build of 380 km of roads,

 

repair 148 km of streets,

 

700 km of cables and 438 of electrical substations are replaced,

 

build 6 Hospitals,

 

build 5 School's,

 

build 3 Thermal power stations,

 

build 550 km of electric power transmission,

 

build new water treatment system,

 

build 700 km of utility connections,

 

huge amount of new houses,

 

alot of sport buildings (Olympic Village, stadiums etc),

 

make major international sporting event, holyday of peace and friendship.

 

 

It's so bad i known, Russian bloody tyrany waste 40 billions to this. This is corruption, really! You laugh me!

US waste 900 billions dollars to useless war in Iraq - this is real corruption. Total cost of last NATO wars is 4 - 6 trillions dollars this is real corruption.

At least our corruption don't kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people as Western corruption do.

I like these games, they show West's bankruptcy to entire world. Because this Western propagandists (aka journalists) whining so much about this games.

 

 

[Fighter]

[Malcador]

I've just been thinking. The whole PR emphasis from Putin Central for these Olympics has been counter-terror. But the corruption and poor delivery seems to have done more damage to Russia's reputation than any terror attack would have done. The gay rights issue is going to make it even less attractive to firms who are sensitive about their public image.

 

On the other hand, isolation and impoverishment could be exactly what a right-leaning coalition needs!

 

What poor delivery ?  Most comments I've been reading are that the venues are ok and the athletes by large seem happy (granted they may be made of sterner stuff than the press).   I don't think Russia's coming off worse in the West than they were to begin with, some people are really impressed with how pretty Sochi is, but Russia having nice scenery shouldn't be new

 

Bit wishful thinking on your part for isolation and impoverishment (really ?)

 

Watching figure skating now. This sport must have most biased and catty commentators for each nation

Edited February 13, 2014 by Malcador

[AGX-17]

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2014/02/sochi_opening_ceremony_theatrical_flamboyant_and_gay_gay_gay.html

 

The Gayest Olympics Ever

 

Sorry, Vlad. Sochi's opening ceremony was theatrical, flamboyant, and fabulously haughty.

[Fighter]

But seriously you tell me, what am I supposed to be seeing in these reports from Sochi? These "journalists" want me to take away that Sochi isn't ready for the Olympics. Ok... If someone said:

 

- This picture is how 50% of Sochi hotels are. -- I can understand this.

- There is no hot water in 30% of facilities. -- I can understand this.

- This is how everything is over here. And here is proof. -- I can understand this.

 

Those would be statements with at least a pretense to actual representative research. Something that attempts to paint the big picture. But what am I supposed to do with pictures of some toilets and gloating remarks? Am I supposed to take pictures of some bad tap water as evidence of "poor delivery" overall? Are they serious?

 

If Sochi Olympics are so poorly organized then they need to prove it to me with actual reporting.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Fighter

[ShadySands]

Olympics and citizenship

[Mor]

Yeah corruption. Sochi Olympiad corruption is:

 

build of 380 km of roads,

uhh that road: "A report by opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk calculated that the Russian state spent three times more on the road than NASA did for the delivery and operation of a new generation of Mars rovers. An article in Russian Esquire estimated that for the sum the government spent on the road, it could have been paved entirely with a centimeter-thick coating of beluga caviar."

 

While every project has over costs, I think that a country in which a budget jumps from 12Billion to 51Billion, is in bad hands. Also you understand that the long list of things that you said they built with that money around sochi(5 hospitals?) is just a long list of things that haven't been built anywhere else..

[obyknven]

 

Yeah corruption. Sochi Olympiad corruption is:

 

build of 380 km of roads,

uhh that road: "A report by opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk calculated that the Russian state spent three times more on the road than NASA did for the delivery and operation of a new generation of Mars rovers. An article in Russian Esquire estimated that for the sum the government spent on the road, it could have been paved entirely with a centimeter-thick coating of beluga caviar."

 

While every project has over costs, I think that a country in which a budget jumps from 12Billion to 51Billion, is in bad hands. Also you understand that the long list of things that you said they built with that money around sochi(5 hospitals?) is just a long list of things that haven't been built anywhere else..

 

Boris Nemtsov. Oh, wow. He promise "Russian revolution" to some "genius" US sponsors, they fund him

 

and this is how he do this "revolution" IRL in company of erm... girls somewhere in night clubs.

Do you really trust to words of such dodger?

Edited February 13, 2014 by obyknven

[Raithe]

Just because..

 

[Zoraptor]

I've just been thinking. The whole PR emphasis from Putin Central for these Olympics has been counter-terror.

It has? The London Olympics went on about security and terrorism a lot and how it would be the safest games ever etc etc and I doubt many would characterise that as being PR emphasis (whole or otherwise) from Dave Central- except, maybe, the part regarding the G4S fiasco and their failure to, well, actually hire the security they were paid for. There's been lots of smoke and thunder from the usual 'sources' about how they're not saying there will definitely be a terrorist attack in Sochi that will kill and maim people, they're not saying that at all, they really, really hope the Russians are up to the task etc etc.

 

uhh that road: "A report by opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk calculated that the Russian state spent three times more on the road than NASA did for the delivery and operation of a new generation of Mars rovers. An article in Russian Esquire estimated that for the sum the government spent on the road, it could have been paved entirely with a centimeter-thick coating of beluga caviar."

 

And in other news, a report by opposition politicians in New Zealand found unequivocal proof that PM John Key is a big doody head and a lightweight who'd be drunk under the table by the leader of the opposition.

 

Rebuilding towns is extremely expensive. The EU wastes 3 times the entire Sochi budget per year from corruption. The US has massive pork barrelling and subsidies to vested interests while their debt goes up and up. We have politicians who get parachuted into high paid directorships by companies who have benefited from said politicians' policies. And, most significantly, if there's been corruption in Sochi that's for the Russians to worry about, I, Steve Fry, Weird Al, Dolly Parton, Francois Hollande, Barry the petrol station attendant, 95%+ of the posters here and John McCain all have one thing in common- any corruption in Sochi hasn't cost us a single asterisking cent.

 

I mean, it's 'nice' that so many people are outraged on behalf of the poor oppressed Russian people and really want them to benefit from good clean western corruption rather than that dirty eastern sort, it's just sad that it's distracting from the actual sport dogpile of anything even slightly wrong with journalist's accommodation and complaints about Russia's policy on gays being massively less oppressive than that of Saudi Arabia.

[Walsingham]

I'll not deny that Europe has corruption problems. The EU administration itself says that Europe has corruption problems. But you will allow me to point out that I am opposed to the every tightening Union.

 

However, a key point is that mechanisms have picked up on the corruption problem and are addressing it. In Russia nothing is being done. Even the Russians themselves (the real ones, not our ersatz imitators) believe:
 

 

The findings of the poll by the Levada research group were a damning verdict on preparations for the Olympics, even though President Vladimir Putin says there is no evidence of major corruption before an event intended to improve Russia's image.

The poll found 47 percent of people believed the cost of hosting the Games, widely expected to pass $50 billion, has soared because funds have been embezzled or mismanaged.

Only 22 percent said they believed officials or businessmen responsible for pilfering funds would be brought to justice after the Olympics, and 17 percent said they thought Russia had bid for the Games mainly to boost Putin's image.

The poll, carried out from January 24-27 among 1,603 people, showed 43 percent oppose the country bidding to host a summer Games than those who support it - just 32 percent.

Despite their misgivings over the preparations, the poll indicated most Russians were hoping their nation's competitors would do well in Sochi and only 14 percent said they were not planning to follow the Games.

Putin hopes that hosting a successful Olympics will show how far Russia has come since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but much of the publicity abroad has been negative in the run-up to the Games.

A Washington Post-ABC poll showed 50 percent of Americans had a favorable impression of the Sochi Games but four in 10 had unfavorable views.

 

 

 

However, it seems the mood of the board is against me on this one, so I will wind it down.

[AGX-17]

I mean, it's 'nice' that so many people are outraged on behalf of the poor oppressed Russian people and really want them to benefit from good clean western corruption rather than that dirty eastern sort, it's just sad that it's distracting from the actual sport dogpile of anything even slightly wrong with journalist's accommodation and complaints about Russia's policy on gays being massively less oppressive than that of Saudi Arabia.

Hmmm.... Nope, I don't want any one of those dirty pinko slav commies to benefit from red-blooded American capitalist corruption. Our corruption is objectively superior to theirs, they don't even deserve it. A minimum wage job in some states could, after a few years of saving and some currency exchange wrangling, buy some pretty fancy digs in your third world countries like Chad, Djibouti or Bangladesh. I mean, it'd be so easy to leverage that into a criminal cartel it's not even funny. And you don't even need government connections to the former (soviet) regime to achieve such heights if you're a patriot!

[BruceVC]

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2014/02/sochi_opening_ceremony_theatrical_flamboyant_and_gay_gay_gay.html

 

The Gayest Olympics Ever

 

Sorry, Vlad. Sochi's opening ceremony was theatrical, flamboyant, and fabulously haughty.

 

 

Interesting and relevant post, I didn't know Ivan the Terrible was gay. In fact I didn't realize so many prominent and historical Russian people were gay. I wonder how the Russian homophobic propaganda machine reconciles this ?