Over the course of 20 years we've seen Russia swing from totalitarianism to authoritarianism, but some things don't change. Russian imperialist aggression, for example. Let's take a quick look at a half-century's history using the yardstick of the Olympic Games to see how this works in practice.
1956. Melbourne. The Games of the XVI Olympiad. Ronnie Delany of Ireland wins gold in the 1,500 metres. The Hungarian Revolution is a spontaneous revolt against the country's Stalinist government and its Moscow-imposed policies. Soviet troops invade Budapest and an estimated 2,500 Hungarians die, while 200,000 people flee. The new Soviet-installed government suppresses all opposition.
Olympic gold 1968. Mexico City. The Games of the XIX Olympiad. Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia wins gold in the 5,000 metres. To prevent Alexander Dubcek's Prague Spring reforms from continuing, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invade the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The invasion ends democratization and 72 Czechoslovaks are killed by Soviet tanks.
1980. Moscow. The Games of the XXII Olympiad. Sara Simeoni of Italy wins gold in the high jump. Led by the United States, 66 democracies boycott the games protesting the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that ravaged the destitute country. Prince Alexandre de Merode of Belgium, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission, stated that "There were 9,292 drug tests. None positive". Among the 1980 records that still stand are the East German women's 4×100 metre relay (41.6 seconds) and the shot put by Ilona Slupianek of East Germany (22.41 metres).
2008. Beijing. The Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic wins the first gold medal in the Women's 10m Air Rifle event. Russia invades Georgia. The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia issue a joint statement condemning Russia. John McCain says: "I strongly support their commitment that 'aggression against a small country in Europe will not be passed over in silence or with meaningless statements equating the victims with the victimizers.'" And in his comment on "Russia's Aggression in Georgia", McCain says that "Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory."
The small nations of eastern and southern Europe can win gold medals, but they cannot withstand the depredations of their Russian neighbour. They have to be protected because although Olympics may come and go, some (terrible) things remain the same.
#1
Adding to the history lesson, each of these were also a USA presidential election year.
1956 -- The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.
1968 -- The United States presidential election of 1968 was a wrenching national experience, and included the assassination of Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy, the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and subsequent race riots across the nation, the violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and widespread demonstrations against the Vietnam War across American university and college campuses. The election also featured a strong third-party effort by former Alabama governor George Wallace; although Wallace's campaign was frequently accused of promoting racism, he would prove to be a formidable candidate, and was the last third-party candidate to win an entire state's electoral votes. In the end, Republican Richard M. Nixon narrowly won the election over Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey on a campaign promise to restore "law and order".
1980 -- (following the invasion of Afghanistan) The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, along with third party candidates, the independent John B. Anderson and Libertarian Ed Clark. Reagan, aided by the Iran hostage crisis and a worsening economy at home, won the election by a wide margin.
Oh, Posh. If the US only gets 5's for difficulty of execution and style for 'allowing' others to loot and pillage during an invasion, how come the Russians get higher marks for actually doing the looting and pillaging? Must have been packed the judges with Nork, Venezuelan and Zimbabwe reps. Foul! Foul! /sarcasm off
#3
This will help keep BO on the defensive. Before he went on vacation, BO was sounding pretty punch drunk. I haven't seen a strong, effective offense from him on anything, yet. Hard for me to see how he can go toe-to-toe with an old fighter pilot and come out ahead. Hamburger for a face, that figuratively describes to me what he will look like to a lot of voters after his presidental debate sessions.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/16/2008 10:40 Comments ||
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#4
Depends on the format of the debates and if the MSM can seed the panel / questioners with DNC operatives like they did during the Republican primaries.
#1
This is a fairly long piece by Martin Amis.
Highlights:
It may well emerge that the use of religion is, or is becoming, merely a means of mobilization. Religion is for the footsoldiers, not the masterminds. At some later date we may see that religion provided the dialectical staircase to indiscriminate death and destruction. The idea, for instance, that democracy (fundamentally unclean) inculpates every citizen in its nation's policies; the idea (or ancient heresy) of takfir, whereby the jihadi pre-absolves himself of killing fellow Muslims. Interestingly and encouragingly, Ayman al Zawahiri is currently squirming about in a theological debate with the venerable cleric, Sayyid Imam al Sharif, as Al Qaeda itself is having to defend its religious legitimacy.
We can further expect international terrorism to become much more diffuse in its motivations, reflecting changes in the contemporary self ("a person's essential being"). Mr. Gray has identified a vein of what he expressively calls "anomic terrorism." This would be the carnage inspired by alienation, the self-extending despair evident in the random and serial stabbings in the cities of Japan, or the campus massacres in the U.S. -- or indeed in the threats voiced by Dr. Ivins during the weeks before his death. The historian Eric Hobsbawm believes that the pandemic collapse of moral inhibition has to do with a general coarsening, the desensitization of violence brought about by the mass media (and of course the Internet).
Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" (1907), with its dank crew of self-righteous sociopaths, is horribly prescient. Here we find (for example) the observation that merely to erect a building is to create a new vulnerability; here we find a revolutionist observing that the power of life is far, far weaker than the power of death. In his reading of the terrorist psyche, Conrad persistently stresses the qualities of vanity and sloth -- i.e., the desire for maximum distinction with minimum endeavor. In other words, the need to make an impression is overwhelming, and a negative impression is much more easily achieved than a positive. In our era, this translates into a thirst for fame. Probably no one under 30 can fully grasp it, but fame has become a kind of religion -- the opium, and now the angel dust, of the mass individual.
#2
If true, then only absurdly draconian measures can achieve any anti-terror results at all and then only unsatisfactorily incomplete results...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/16/2008 12:34 Comments ||
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#3
This would be the carnage inspired by alienation, the self-extending despair evident in the random and serial stabbings in the cities of Japan, or the campus massacres in the U.S. -- or indeed in the threats voiced by Dr. Ivins during the weeks before his death.
There is a world of difference between the acts of campus shooters and subway stabbers and the acts of politically and religiously motivated groups who act with the support of the intelligence services of nation states.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/16/2008 14:12 Comments ||
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#4
What causes Sudden Jihad Syndrome (I think Robert Spencer coined it)? The Koran. That book should be seen in summary of ersatz godly orders that bind followers. Inclusivist sheep won't read it that way.
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Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
