Translated material
Goodwill Games
In recent years, Russia has been actively increasing its anti-Western rhetoric, constantly trying to prove that its ambitions are being infringed by political competitors, conflicts with neighboring post-Soviet states, which, in the opinion of the Russian authorities, have chosen the “wrong” path, and, on the contrary, is trying to be friends with rogue regimes . But during the Olympic campaign, it is necessary to forget about the “cold war” with the West and attempts to portray Russia as a “sovereign democracy” caught in a total “hostile environment” - this is simply unprofitable from the point of view of the successful holding of the Olympics.
The Soviet Union held mass events on a global scale during the years of isolationist foreign policy, for example the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957 or the XXII Summer Olympic Games in 1980. But then the USSR had behind it a set of albeit dubious, but quite numerous allies in the socialist camp, while clearly dividing the world into “us” and “strangers” depending on the attitude towards socialist values. Again, the Soviet communist experiment did not at all deny the “friendship of peoples”, as well as attempts to export revolution. That is, he was international in spirit, although he tried in every possible way to protect himself from the “bourgeois infection.” And yet, the Olympics in Moscow, as a consequence of the foreign policy of the USSR and specifically the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, turned into a massive boycott of the Games.
Now the situation has changed dramatically. There is no “camp” behind Russia. Moreover, now there are not even countries that could confidently be counted among our allies. It is not Syria with Iran or Belarus with Alexander Lukashenko, who is eccentric and successful in anti-Russian rhetoric, much more than Richard Cheney or Condoleezza Rice. On the other hand, formally, at least in terms of the constitutional system, Russia now seems to be the same capitalist and democratic country as the states of the European Union or the United States.
Against this background, the aggravation of relations with Georgia will now become not just an attempt by a large country to punish a small one, but also escalate tension in the immediate vicinity of the Olympic site. Can you imagine what kind of background for the Games would be an armed confrontation in South Ossetia or Abkhazia, directly bordering the Krasnodar Territory? The entire Western world, and America in particular, at least for the duration of the Olympics, should not be treated by the Russian authorities as an enemy of Russia. Since the Olympic Games are, by definition, the Games of Goodwill, a demonstration of the unity and openness of humanity, of sports brotherhood, which is beyond and above politics.
Of course, it would be high time for the Russian authorities to moderate their imperial ardor in foreign policy, even without any Olympics. But now the position of the country - the hostess of the main sporting competitions of mankind - obliges us to do this. The whole question is whether Sochi’s victory will not spur another, even higher wave of false patriotism, which in the Russian version always turns into declarations of hatred towards “undesirable” countries and isolationist domestic policies. The fact of winning the Olympics should convince Russia that no one is going to ignore its role in the modern world and push it to the geopolitical margins. Legitimate pride in realizing the long-awaited right to host the Olympics should not overshadow the norms of political decency, which Russia has clearly not indulged its neighbors in following in recent years.
Remember how any injustice against our athletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA, was presented by the Russian press under the guise of a political conspiracy against the country? The same rhetoric was used by the official propaganda machine to describe - scary to think - our performers' second and third places in the Eurovision pop song contest. “Everyone owes us, everyone fears us, everyone takes revenge on us”—this is the logic of our current foreign policy. These are not just false premises. This is the best way to quarrel with other countries and alienate even those who have sincere good feelings towards us.
Russia is too large and an ambitious country to be closed and be in confrontation with the most developed, most democratic states of the planet. The Olympics in Sochi is a great chance to change the tone of our foreign policy. To do this, it is enough to understand that normal relations with the West do not mean Russia’s loss of independence or loss of face. More likely its acquisition.