To all the Western journalists complaining about your accomodations at the Sochi Olympic Games: Did it ever occur to you that Putin is doing this to you on purpose?
Sincerely,
Susan Stark
Guest Blogger Post: Sochi Fail
Comments are closed.
To all the Western journalists complaining about your accomodations at the Sochi Olympic Games: Did it ever occur to you that Putin is doing this to you on purpose?
Sincerely,
Susan Stark
Comments are closed.
11 Comments.
And the point of that would be?
And the point of that — whichever that we’re talking about (Ted, can the reply threading feature be improved)– would be this:
For all the smartassery and such that many of us use when criticizing our gummint, the sad truth is that we used to be able to expect a reasonable level of competence from our government’s employees.
Now, we don’t expect that. We have all become fearful and suspicious, not just of some aspects of our government, but of most aspects of our government.
I used to expect that my vote counted. That, in those cases where vote tampering was going on, that it was a grass-roots level sort of thing, that it took a lot of effort. Not that the subcontractors the government contract was handed to for a few steak dinners and some campaign contributions were wholesale designing ways for the vote to be rendered completely irrelevant.
Going back to people who were alive (in the millions) when I was a child, government was expected, nay, demanded, to be the one to solve problems that required mobilization on the scale of millions of people: so we got the WPA. Millions of unemployed people were given jobs.
Now what do we get? An egg-suck bullshit artist whose supporters scream “Racist!” at anyone who criticizes Him.
When Nixon’s thug Kissinger was blowing up children and women, people were disgusted. Now? The “intelligensia” can’t get on their knees fast enough to praise the One who blows up little brown Muslim children.
FDR used to tell us we had nothing to fear but fear itself. Now we have whistle-blowers being thrown in prison and the key being tossed away, by people who, in any rational system, would be in orange jumpsuits and wristchains as they say inside bullet proof partitions at The Hague.
That’s the point: The system is coming apart at the seams.
The point — at least one of them — would be to keep the journalists away in the first place.
I recall a number of years ago reading an article from a journalist about the White House Press Corps. He (or she) described the press corps as being completely lazy. One journalist was doing a crossword puzzle at his desk, another was asleep, etc. As we all know, the press corps at the White House’s main purpose is to stand up and say:
“Excuse me, sir. Mr. Obama, sir. Hang on, I just want to get down on my knees, sir. Thank you, sir. Now, sir, I’m such and such from a network and here’s about eighteen sentences from me about how well-versed I am on the topic at hand. When I’m done, sir, I’ll complement you and then ask a total softball of a question. My hope is that you’ll avoid answering.”
Obama: “Thank you. Folks like to see government in action.”
Reporter: “Oh, thank you, sir.”
The excuse used to be that the reporters were saving the hard stuff for the private conversations, so as to not tip their hands to the other reporters. But those of us who actually read the newspapers know that isn’t the case. (Sidebar: If Greenwald comes to the U.S., he will disappear into the prison system for quite some time. So I urge him to stay the fuck away. He will help no one if he dies in prison “accidentally” when he falls down a flight of stairs 15 times while stabbing himself in the throat with a knife found two miles away three days later.)
Putin realizes that by giving the reporters trivia to bitch about, they will not bother with any real reporting (not that that was a major risk in the first place.) So double-seater toilet stalls.
I haven’t seen any reporting on how much Putin stole/skimmed from the Olympics. Have you?
No, but as I detest sports and anything sports related (and I am neither bitter nor cynical enough to believe the worst of everyone and everything all the time) I would not have seen the story even if a)Putin had skimmed/stolen from the Olympics and b) someone wrote about it.
Oh, and given how wrong you were (and are) about Snowden, I’m gonna go on the record and say “Come right on in, Glenn. I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Called a few names, sure- but you’re in no real, serious danger.”
Yes, I agree. My initial thought that Snowden would get Markoved was wrong. Or that he would “suddenly” be revealed to be a pedophile. Or a drug-dealer. Or a drug-dealing pedophile. But I guess the NSA has matured. Why kill him now and make him a martyr? He’s stuck in Russia. How many people do you think are in a position to upend their entire lives, as he did? “Kids? Kids? Wake up. Daddy and Mommy need you to burn your personal papers and put on these contact lenses. Your new names are Joseph and Elizabeth. Get in the trunk. Don’t make a noise.”
I suspect the NSA’s new employment policy will be to only hire family men (and women). The policy will, of course, never be spoken outloud. It will simply be understood. There will be maybe five singletons, and they will be watched like hawks. People who can be controlled with just a little subtle comment here and there and much better for productivity. “Sure would be terrible if Joseph and Elizabeth were abducted, tortured, gang raped and their bodies only found months later in a field outside the NSA headquarters. That would be a terrible shame. Now, we’d like you to sign this loyalty oath …”
Snowden may not be dead, but he’ll spend the rest of his life wondering when he’s going to get two bullets in the face.
Alex,
I’m rather amused about a clip complaining about a room being “too small”. I’m guessing that reporter has never been to a Mahattan hotel before.
From what I’ve read, Putin loves to play practical jokes on his opponents, like leaving a huge wooden penis on top of a critic’s car. So I’m thinking this is another practical joke. But the “distraction” angle is certainly food for thought.
“… leaving a huge wooden penis on top of a critic’s car.”
Wow, what a way to show the world how not-gay you are, (along with posing topless every chance you get.)
Maybe Vlad & Fred Phelps should go skinny dipping in de Nile together….
Goodness. Imagine the headlines.
Vlad the Impaler ….
Sweetheart! Get me rewrite.
> Folks like to see government in action.”
and boy, howdy, are they ever seeing a lot of government inaction…
I’ve never denied that the system is coming apart at the seams. My issue is with “progressives” who whine about the system coming apart at the seams while at the same time a) refusing to accept the lion’s share of responsibility that they bear for it and b) refusing to take the necessary actions to reverse it out of some pathetic fantasy that collapse will be better instead of much, much, worse.