Obama
did not give other reasons for his non-show at the Olympic games, but
the choice of members for the American Olympic delegation lets one make
an easy guess about his motives.
The delegation is largely made up of LGBT activists, which shows that the Obama administration continues to view the Olympic Games in Russia via the weird prism of relations between homosexuals and heterosexuals. The White House’s statement about the delegation representing "the diversity that is the United States" makes the position of the US government not only clear, but even somewhat intrusive.
The
LGBT activists among the American delegates, including gay tennis
player Bill Jean King and women’s hockey bronze medalist Caitlin Cahow,
might be surprised to find out, upon coming to Russia, that homosexual
relationships are perfectly legal here and that female homosexuality had
not been banned even under the Soviet Union. Which made a big and
positive difference between Russia and such countries as the US and the
UK, where being a homosexual, male or female, until recently meant you
could not work at a state-paid job.
In
fact, the linkage between the so called "anti-gay law" and the Olympic
Games in Russia exists only in the minds of the Western PR experts,
which forced this agenda on the mainstream American media TWO MONTHS
after the ill-fated law was adopted in Russia in June, 2013. In the
first weeks upon the law’s adoption, its criticism in the Western media
was relatively mild, since the actual text of the law SAYS NOTHING about
homosexual relationships. The real name of the law is "On Several
Changes in the Law on Protecting Minors From the Information Which May
Harm Their Health and Hinder Development." The law penalizes (by a $200
fine) forcing on children the information about "nontraditional sexual
relationships."
Unfortunately, in August Russia hosted a world championship on track and field, and someone in the "center of media power" in the West had the idea to link sports and sex. Beginning from late July, the Western media suddenly started to spin the story about the presumed "danger" that Western gay athletes might face if they come to Russia. The spin was never backed up by any facts: no athlete, Russian or Western, was in any way penalized for their sexual behavior or public utterances during the championship in Moscow or afterwards, even though some athletes used the gay "rainbow" symbols and kissed in public. Russia’s president Putin and other Russian officials assured the future guests of Sochi Olympics that none of them would face any discrimination on any ground, including sexual preferences.
Unfortunately, in August Russia hosted a world championship on track and field, and someone in the "center of media power" in the West had the idea to link sports and sex. Beginning from late July, the Western media suddenly started to spin the story about the presumed "danger" that Western gay athletes might face if they come to Russia. The spin was never backed up by any facts: no athlete, Russian or Western, was in any way penalized for their sexual behavior or public utterances during the championship in Moscow or afterwards, even though some athletes used the gay "rainbow" symbols and kissed in public. Russia’s president Putin and other Russian officials assured the future guests of Sochi Olympics that none of them would face any discrimination on any ground, including sexual preferences.
So,
the story about the "danger" to gay athletes and about the "anti-gay"
law itself is an agglomeration of lies, and it does not take a great
intellectual effort to see this. But some Western politicians obviously
see a "snub" to Russia as an easy way to score points with easily
misguided or simply uninformed electorates in their countries.
So
far, there are three presidents who made it clear they would not come
to the Sochi games. The German president, Joachim Gauck, a former human
rights activist known for his Russophobic views, joined the club first
several weeks ago. This week the French president Francois Hollande and
Obama followed suit.
Interestingly, both Hollande and Obama took the same decision at a moment, when their own ratings are at an all-time low. The French center for sociological studies, BVA, put Hollande’s approval rating in the end of 2013 at the mark of 26 percent – the worst result any French president of the Fifth Republic ever had since the polls started to be taken 32 years ago. Obama’s popularity also suffered from the Obamacare scandal, with 52 percent of Americans disapproving of Obama’s performance.
Interestingly, both Hollande and Obama took the same decision at a moment, when their own ratings are at an all-time low. The French center for sociological studies, BVA, put Hollande’s approval rating in the end of 2013 at the mark of 26 percent – the worst result any French president of the Fifth Republic ever had since the polls started to be taken 32 years ago. Obama’s popularity also suffered from the Obamacare scandal, with 52 percent of Americans disapproving of Obama’s performance.
Obviously,
the decision not to attend the games is seen by both Obama and Hollande
as an easy and cheap way to present themselves as "human rights
champions" without taking the same risks that Martin Luther King took
upon himself or suffering the same predicament which late Nelson Mandela
had to go through.
This
calculation is indeed cheap – and like all cheap tricks, it can be
taken seriously only by uninformed people, who continue to buy the
negativism that surrounds Russia in the Western media. In fact, the
history of Olympic boycotts (even though both Obama and Hollande took
great pains not to pronounce this word in public) - this is the history
of degradation of the West, not Russia.
The
boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow was caused by the Soviet
expedition in Afghanistan – a tragic event both for Afghanistan and the
Soviet Union. Even though there were voices against this politicization
of the games even then, at least this was a serious reason. To
politicize the games in Sochi because of a NON-EVENT, a PR campaign of
the Western media around the law, which so far has not penalized a
single person – this is indeed a disgrace and degradation. What is it
going to be next? Excluding India, where the Supreme Court declared
homosexual relationships illegal? Punishing the Muslim world for its
stance on sexual mores? The modern West challenges all other epochs and
cultures in a universal contest of stupidity.
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