What Matters More? Shoving Leaflets Under Doors, or Shoving Cash Into IOC Member’s Grasping Hands?
The Winter Olympics have begun. The Olympic flame was lit by a contingent including a tennis player (and full-time Florida resident), an anti-American racist (who at least won a gold medal in a winter sport), and Putin’s alleged girlfriend (who won a gold medal in a faux sport at a summer Olympics). It would have been so fitting had they played Light My Fire when Alina Kabaeva was doing her thing-with the torch, I mean-but alas, that will have to be left to some wit on YouTube.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary aired late Friday that a rival nation vying to host the 2014 Winter Olympics ran a dirty tricks campaign in an atttempt to derail the eventual winning Sochi bid.
In the documentary, which was shown on state television channel Rossiya 1, Putin said Sochi 2014 promotion leaflets were shoved under doors of hotel rooms occupied by members of the International Olympic Committee on the night before the final vote in 2007.
Under IOC rules, campaigning is strictly prohibited during the run-up to the vote.
“Do you know what saved us? CCTV cameras in hallways recorded that it was done by our rivals posing as us. It didn’t help them,” Putin said.
I find this hilarious. What, exactly, would the CCTV reveal? How would it demonstrate that those shoving the promotional leaflets were not in Russian employ, but were dirty tricksters? Did those caught on tape wear signs saying “We are not Russians but evil foreigners playing dirty tricks on sainted Russia”? And if they did, how would you know it wasn’t Russians doing this to try to show how they were being victimized by evil foreign plots? And if they did, how would you know . . . well, just think of the whole Moriarity on the train thing.
But what is even more hilarious is the idea that IOC officials that would have been so horrified by someone shoving illicit leaflets under their doors that it would have caused them to resist the large sums of cash Russia shoved into their grasping mitts and Swiss accounts.
But the most hilarious thing at all is that Putin tells this ludicrous story on national television with a straight face, knowing that he will get away with it–and being right about that.
@Professor
Following reports from ТМЗ she is now officially allegedly his wife.
Must be the same video system that Kozak used to determine that the press was trying to sabotage the Olympics by turning on their showers and leaving for the day (what a moron).
Comment by pahoben — February 7, 2014 @ 10:44 pm
This doesn’t amount to much, but I was under the impression that this was the 22nd winter olympics.
When Putler “opened the games,” he clearly stated that he was opening the 23rd winter games, not the 22nd.
Comment by elmer — February 8, 2014 @ 9:31 am
@elmer
Yup-twenty second.
It seemed the Ukrainian team received an especially enthusiastic response from the crowd-why was that? Just the typical response to Ukraine?
The dignitaries section was a virtual Euro murderers row. I thought I saw Yanukovich yukking it up and Lukashenko was bouncing up and down with excitement and then of course the dark lord presiding over his stooges. Medvedev was placed in a suitably unimportant seat.
What is the general status in Ukraine now?
Comment by pahoben — February 8, 2014 @ 11:02 am
What-me-worry-Alfred-E-Newman Yanukonvikt went to the Olympics and jumped up and down like a chimp when the Ukrainian team walked in
http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/yanukovich-vitav-ukrayinskih-olimpiyciv-v-sochi-stoyachi-z-praporom.html
The Rasha TV cut him out from the broadcast:
http://dt.ua/UKRAINE/u-translyaciyi-vidkrittya-sochinskoyi-olimpiadi-ne-pokazali-yanukovicha-137060_.html
Response from the crowd was second to that of the Rasha team.
Generally, the people themselves have good will towards each other.
The Kremlinoids, however, want to rebuild an empire.
Bloomberg has a pretty good summary here:
http://news.kievukraine.info/2014/02/ukraine-imposes-capital-controls-as.html
The regime in Ukraine is not comprehending reality, and is just dickering and stalling for time.
Comment by elmer — February 8, 2014 @ 11:50 am
I watched the opening ceremony on a Russian channel tape delayed and the fifth ring opened just fine.
Comment by pahoben — February 8, 2014 @ 12:38 pm
@Elmer
I just saw another tape delay and Putin said twenty second. This could have been corrected also I guess. Video records are malleable with these folks.
Comment by pahoben — February 8, 2014 @ 1:25 pm
@pahoben. Not only was Medvedev in a suitably unimportant seat, he was sleeping. Re malleable records . . . this is the land where inconvenient figures disappear from photographs, so editing “23d” to “22d” is mere child’s play.
The red portion of the opening ceremony struck me as if Charlie Chaplin directed a Soviet propaganda film for Stalin. Procreating and welding stuff together to build the great Soviet future in a Modern Times kind of way.
The funniest thing I read was that someone put up a “Missing Dog” poster in the press area.
Comment by pahoben — February 8, 2014 @ 8:10 pm
Must be the same video system that Kozak used to determine that the press was trying to sabotage the Olympics by turning on their showers and leaving for the day (what a moron).
To be fair, they might have been trying to get hot water out of the damned things…
Comment by Tim Newman — February 9, 2014 @ 4:35 am
How could the IOC resist large sums of cash, they are second only to FIFA in the corruption stakes…..
Comment by Andrew — February 10, 2014 @ 12:21 am
@Andrew. I think the IOC would take grave offense at your remarks. They yield pride of place in the corruption sweepstakes to no one. How dare you suggest they are not the champions?
@Tim
I credit the press with more intelligence than you do. I am likely mistaken. 🙂
Comment by pahoben — February 11, 2014 @ 10:29 am
@SWP, good point!!!
By the way, I find it amazing that the Russian’s messing with history (The Argonaut in the opening ceremony….. that was Poti in Georgia) and theft of Georgian cuisine (Cuchxela, Xachapuri etc) has gone unremarked.
Of course Sochi is a Georgian place name…..
Comment by Andrew — February 12, 2014 @ 4:04 am
> … faux sport at a summer Olympics…
How is the sport of rhythmic gymnastic more “faux” than, say, sledding, ice dancing or sitting on top of competing horses (aka equestrian)? Not to mention a host of bizarre activities introduced in recent years to boost Canada and USA’s medal counts like:
– human bowling on a tiny ice spot (aka short track skating)
– ice shuffleboard for the morbidly obese
– halfpipe, slope style and other events in skateboarding on snow while stoned
Comment by Vlad — February 15, 2014 @ 1:00 am
>I find this hilarious. What, exactly, would the CCTV reveal? How would it demonstrate that those shoving the promotional leaflets were not in Russian employ, but were dirty tricksters? Did those caught on tape wear signs saying “We are not Russians but evil foreigners playing dirty tricks on sainted Russia”?
Simple. The tapes clearly show the faces of the people shoving leaflets under the doors. All of them Putin’s worst enemies: the Pussy Riot, Khodorkovsky, Berezovsky, Posner, Kasparov and Navalny.
Comment by Vlad — February 15, 2014 @ 1:06 am
> and theft of Georgian cuisine (Cuchxela, Xachapuri etc) has gone unremarked.
Andrew, when will you start a campaign against the USA committing “theft” of Italian (pizza), German (hot dogs) and Belgian (freedom fries) cuisines and the UK “stealing” Chicken Tikka Masala from India? These crimes cannot go unpunished.
Comment by Vlad — February 15, 2014 @ 1:12 am
@vlad-the fact that one sport is faux does not mean it is the only sport that is faux. Curling (“ice shuffleboard”) has been in the Olympics a long time, so not introduced recently, though it does show that the concept of faux sport is hardly new.
Professor,
Rhythmic gymnastics has been an Olympic sport since 1984, ice shuffleboard – since 1998 (except for 1924 when it was tried once and rejected right afterwards) when it was added as one of a host of other mickey mouse sports that Canada was good at, because Canada’s performance in regular Winter Olympics sports had been laughable, given Canada’s wintery geography.
Comment by Vlad — February 16, 2014 @ 5:39 pm
Professor,
Rhythmic gymnastics has been an Olympic sport since 1984, ice shuffleboard – since 1998 (except for 1924 when it was tried once and rejected right afterwards) when it was added as one of a host of other mickey mouse sports that Canada was good at, because Canada’s performance in regular Winter Olympics sports had been laughable, given Canada’s wintery geography.
Comment by vladislav — February 16, 2014 @ 5:48 pm
P.S.:
> because Canada’s performance in regular Winter Olympics sports had been laughable
The above statement should in no way take away from the fact that Canada’s performance in the SUMMER Olympics has been even more laughter inducing.
Comment by vladislav — February 16, 2014 @ 5:54 pm