Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Olympics Are Exposing The US - Russia Rift

The five Olympic rings stand in front of the Sochi Airport. © RIA Novosti. Mihail Mokrushin

US-Russia Rift Widens At Sochi -- Julian Pecquet, The Hill

The Olympic Games, created to bring countries together around sports, appear to be having the opposite effect on U.S.-Russia relations.

Rising animosity between the former Cold War powers was on full display Friday when Russia chose a former figure skater who tweeted out a racially charged picture of President Obama for the symbolic lighting of the Olympic cauldron.

That came just a day after the world found out that a personal phone call between State Department official Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador to Kiev, where she can be heard saying “F—k the EU,” had been intercepted and leaked on You Tube.

Read more ....

My Comment: Relations between the White House and the Kremlin have been poor to downright hostile in the past 2-3 years .... the Olympics are revealing nothing new in this rift. As to Russian reaction to President Obama absence from the games .... to put it bluntly, there has been little if any reaction or coverage (my nationality is Russian, and I follow Russian news all the time). In fact .... I would say that almost all of the reaction has come from the U.S. press corp where (in my opinion) they are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

1 comment:

James said...

"They are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill." Well that is their job, as they see it.