So all that propaganda about terrorism and lack of safety at the Winter Olympics

[malaise]

was just that - propaganda. Those athletes sure looked unhappy at the closing ceremony. NOT

One more question - how many US athletes who participated and media folks who moved on from terrorism to stray dogs ever adopted a stray from a shelter at home?

I'm no fan of Putin or his asinine policies but seriously - sometimes we so called Western folks are beyond mean and petty

[CurtEastPoint]

1. The treatment of gay people was not propaganda.

[malaise]

3. We agree on that

but it was something else in 1980, then something else in China - expect something else for the Football World Cup in Brazil.

[Mika]

2. Like W Bush kept 'Murica safe, Putin kept them safe ....

... oh ... wait ...

[Igel]

4. False predictions aren't propaganda.

They're merely false predictions.

The attacks beforehand weren't false.

Putin's Russia also tends to make problems disappear. There are several possible narratives.

Let's assume there were wannabe terrorists and they were caught. You could trumpet this news--we would in the Us; or you could bury it. Putin would bury it. The best evidence that he's keeping Russia safe is to make it so there are no attacks and no attempted attacks. To discuss possible attacks thwarted is to entertain the idea that some might not be thwarted. Having all the minority peoples be happy campers would redound to Putin's image.

In this line of thinking, the "propaganda" about possible attacks is undesirable in the first place, leading us to the claim tha Putin put out propaganda that he disliked. It's a very American way of looking at things.

The only thing worse than "propaganda" about possible events that are prevented is for there to be terrorist attacks when all is reported to be hunky-dory. The attacks and speculation about the attacks prior to the Olympics made discussing the threat necessary. The risk of another Ossetian school kind of event--unexpected horror that the protective authorities didn't envisage--was too great to bear. Intelligence officers would have said that there was a real non-zero chance of attacks.

The threat was played up far more in the West than in Russia.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

5. Yep, these dire predictions never materialize.

In 2002 it was predicted that we would be fighting Al-Qaeda operatives in the streets of Salt Lake City.

Athens 2004 was going to be the next front in the war on terra!

Beijing 2008 was going to be a disaster.

London wasn't properly prepared.

Also, according to people who have read the entire Tom Clancy catalog more times than they've pleasured themselves, Sochi was going to suck because Chechen terrorists, and the cold war "never really ended"!

And during the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics people will be getting kidnapped left and right!

Some people need to be reminded that the last incident of terrorism at the Olympic games occurred on US soil. But that doesn't count, because that act was perpetrated by a scorned hillbilly, NOT a scary muslim.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Putin Says Sochi Criticism Motivated by Global Politics

MOSCOW, February 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said in a television interview that he thinks criticism of the recently concluded Sochi Winter Games was motivated by rivalry in international politics.

Many in Russia have bristled at perceived excess criticism of some aspects of preparations for the Olympics, from sometimes incomplete accommodation to the reportedly exorbitant cost of building the infrastructure.

Although the Games have been broadly hailed as a success, particularly in sporting terms for the host country, Putin’s remarks highlight the sensitivity with which Russia continues to view outside criticism.

“There is a cohort of critics that are far from sport, they are engaged in a competitive struggle in international politics,” Putin said in an interview aired Monday night. “They used this Olympic project to achieve their own objectives in the field of anti-Russian propaganda."

http://en.ria.ru/sochi2014/20140225/187872611/Putin-Says-Sochi-Criticism-Motivated-by-Global-Politics.html

[malaise]

7. Yep

That's my take. Nothing good must ever be said about certain places. In the process they fugged up the dreams and plans of more than a few parents and relatives.