Sharon Tennison Russia Report, February 2014

File Photo of Sochi Olympics Banner Near Highway in Warm Weather with Vehicle and Cyclicsts Nearby

Subject: RUSSIA REPORT FEBRUARY 2014
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2014
From: Sharon Tennison <sharon@ccisf.org>

Friends, despite the fact that Ukraine is burning as I finish this report, I want to complete my thoughts about the Sochi Olympics before giving opinions on the Ukrainian issues.

The Sochi Olympics have been a high point in this new year for me. And I hope for you too. The mounds of white snow, colorful Olympic suits and helmets, exciting young faces …. it has all been so “up beat”. I visited Sochi in the past. To realize that the whole region has turned into this amazing winter/summer sports/holiday playground is almost …. well, Unbelievable!

Fortunately, once the Opening Night and competitions got underway, perhaps you noted that reporters and newscasting naysayers became somewhat less critical than earlier. Many of us in both countries had become so disheartened in previous months as publications and newscasters were weighing in with articles loaded with misinformation and fragments of stories worded to produce warped impressions. It seemed the attempt was to diminish, in advance, any respect or goodwill that the Sochi events might bring to Russia.

Upset with this apparent obsession to discredit Russia’s “day in the sun,” I wrote the following at the start of the competitions:

If your 12-year-old son or grandson came home from school saying that classmates were spreading misinformation about him, making fun of his family, ideas, interests, inclinations, or whatever could taunt …. what would you call it? Bullying, I assume? How would it make you feel?

Bullying, demeaning, rumor making, ridiculing, isolating, whether from children in schools, NFL football players on the field, or nations with whom we have to live on this small planet, the tactics are similar–and these behaviors are never appropriate.

We have just witnessed bullying on the international scene.

The 2014 Sochi Olympics, among the top Olympic experiences the world has witnessed, has been unilaterally marred by politically inflammatory articles re Russia, Putin, and every endeavor they undertook. TV coverage routinely made cheap criticisms and innuendos appearing to think that this behavior was laudable–America’s democratic pundit Howard Dean referred to Russia’s president as “thuggish”. Why do we feel we have the right to criticize any country viciously and repeatedly? Russia is no threat to us. What is underneath it all?

As for the Russians, they tried everything within their power to make Sochi the greatest experience ever for the world and for themselves–no doubt hoping it would show the new Russia to the world–and also hoping to bring the world together through sporting events. To a considerable extent, they have succeeded in both.

The campaign to boycott the 2014 Sochi Olympics over the past two years has filled mainstream media. Heads of states Obama, Merkel and Cameron chose not to attend the Sochi events–which seemed diplomatically untenable. Had Russia started a new war, imprisoned thousands, or fired hundreds of drones at other countries, it would be different. They hadn’t, matter of fact Putin had come up with strategies to avoid two military conflicts in Syria and Iran, which we in the US had to take seriously.

The LGBT issues have been conveniently used to condemn Russia despite the fact that we in the U.S. are just now working seriously on these controversial topics. In long-term allied countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, homosexuality is illegal (along with 83 other countries), yet opinion makers never mention these facts. Russia is some 7 to 10 years behind America in resolving their LGBT issues. Remember where we were in 2004? We were considerably more homophobic than today. Internal pressure has gradually worked, thank goodness, as with our racial issues decades ago. What if, in 2004, a powerful country had insisted that we immediately begin marrying gay couples and giving them equal rights? How would we have reacted in 2004? What will the Saudi’s and the Egyptians say if this year we demand that they meet our LGBT standards? This latest attention-getting campaign prior to the Sochi Olympics has been one more effort to black ball Russia by insisting that they adopt whatever standards we are working on. I doubt that we operate in this manner with our colleagues, business partners, or next door neighbors who have different religious, ethnic, or political views than our own.

Regardless of what was printed or on TV, the Russians didn’t react to it–it just didn’t seem to matter to them. Putin appeared quietly content that his Sochi gamble was paying off–and no doubt was relieved that Russia’s security had kept participants safe. Unperturbed by Western media jabs, young Russian volunteers were all over the white slopes helping lost or injured visitors. A CNN journalist reported: “It’s hard to walk 10 yards on a freezing mountain road without bumping into a pair of them …. without fail, each rainbow-jacketed volunteer has been enthusiastic and friendly to the point of disbelief ….your heart may be of stone, your body devoid of any empathetic sinew, yet still the vibes of goodwill and greetings emanating from this bunch would breach your defenses … most were Russian students who, keen to brush up and expand their language skills, rushed to take part in a piece of their country’s history …. they travelled from St. Petersburg in the west to Magadan in the east, from the capital Moscow in the north to the countryside of the Russian steppes. Some even came from overseas. All standing there, often in the freezing cold, to cheer up any soul who was becoming stressed, unhappy or disillusioned by the overwhelming experience of the Olympic Games.”

What will be the most remembered ‘take away’ from the 2014 Sochi Olympics? Probably the Opening Night with its blaze of Russian history, starting from early feudal times, to the elegance and sophistication of Tsarist Russia, the war era, challenges of the Soviet experiment, and finally moving up into the dream of Russia’s future…. with young Lubov confidently ascending a series of hands that moved her higher and higher up — where she bravely took off and disappeared into the unknown future. Between fireworks, music, dancing and technical feats, it was spectacular. Equally to be remembered were the figure skating events. Russia, the U.S., and all competitors were amazing. Ice skating is the overarching event that means the most to Russia’s population across 11 time zones. Russian skaters were accustomed to walking away with the “gold” during former Olympics. However, they didn’t at the last winter Olympics in Vancouver. So 2014 has been a real ‘come back’ not only for their skaters but for the whole country. Skating typifies the Russian soul–which thrives on excellence of technique, elegance and extraordinary physical prowess. Russian skaters didn’t disappoint; they lifted up this great art form with amazing feats of magic on the ice at Sochi–proving to themselves and the world that, RUSSIA IS BACK!

Sochi Olympics are nearly over.

$50 billion has been spent to create a permanent seaside and mountainous playground in their part of the world.

Russia has its first world-class sports attraction and complex to bring in future international competitions.

Widely predicted terrorist attacks were prevented by Sochi’s “ring of steel”.

Earlier forebodings that were envisioned didn’t happen; just consequences of new facilities were reported.

Russia came out of this grueling six-year triumph with a “new face” in the world.

And in the end, nothing really diminished the glory of the Olympic games.

However, the slandering toward Russia most likely will not go away.

We in America need to take a serious look at our psychological projections on Russia.

* Why do we consider it sport to demean Russia in particular?

* Why use any opportunity to diminish Russia’s efforts to come up in the world?

* Why do we start rumors and innuendos that when investigated have little-to-no-basis in fact?

* Why malign Russia (or any country) for ’causes’ we have yet to integrate into our own society.

* Why not respect that they unexpectedly overcame Communism, our feared enemy, in a near bloodless revolution,

* Why don’t we acknowledge that:

* They survived the lawlessness, criminality and rabid oligarchy during their 1990s,

* They began to get order and stability into their national life during the 2000s,

* And by the 2010s, they created an event like Sochi’s Olympics. Why can’t we help them celebrate?

* After demonizing Putin for years, Forbes and a global news network declared him “2013 Leader of the Year”.

* What do we make of these awards? What do they say about our previous analyses?

* The world is too dangerous to continue negative projections and behaviors toward other countries.

* We teach our children on their playgrounds to have better attitudes and conduct than the above.

Friends,

Your comments as usual will be appreciated. Do you see ways we can promote more civility with Russia from the bottom up?

Or ways to encourage our mainstream media and public officials to display more civility between our countries?

I’m debating restarting CCI’s Citizen Diplomacy Travel program (of the 1980s), to take Americans to explore what Russia is really like today–in 2014. These will not be ordinary tour trips, but lively interactions with Russians of all ages and professions, interspersed with visits to Russia’s exquisite palaces, museums, churches, ballets, and their great music halls. We have thousands of Russian alumni in dozens of Russian cities who will be interested in visiting with Americans in their homes, sharing their thoughts about their country, politics, professional exchanges, values, education, adoptions, and the future of our planet. If all goes well, I will lead the first trip in September 2014 (a great month to travel to Russia). Some have already indicated they want to travel on a CCI trip. If you are interested, please get in touch with me at sharon@ccisf.org.

I will be delighted if you pass this letter to any or all of your email networks.

My warm wishes to you, Sharon

FYI: Nothing in the above intends to present that Russia is a perfect country. It has poor people, disadvantaged people, people who are unhappy with their lots in life, with their government, in about the same ratio that we have here in the U.S. They are still working through many more disadvantages as a society, than we. They got a very late start. Can you imagine what they have gone through since 1990 when they overthrew communism? They started from scratch or worse — having the burden of an old corrupt system buried in the minds of most of the people–and a country full of worn out housing, schools, hospitals, manufacturing equipment and an ineffective Soviet legal system. This was just a few years ago. It’s a miracle they have done as well as they have.

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