Note:
This is my third special Window on
Eurasia about the meaning and impact of the planned Olympiad on the nations in
the surrounding region. These WOEs,
which will appear each Friday over the coming year, will not aim at being
comprehensive but rather will consist of a series bullet points about such
developments. I would like to invite
anyone with special knowledge or information about this subject to send me references
to the materials involved. My email
address is paul.goble@gmail.com Allow
me to express my thanks to all those who already have. Paul Goble
Campaign
to Boycott Sochi Games Launches Petition Drive. The many people around the world who believe
that the planned games in Sochi should be boycotted for historical, moral and
ecological issues have launched an online petition campaign (solidarnost-lj.livejournal.com/2707940.html and causes.com/actions/1734311-boycott-the-olympic-games-in-sochi-2014).
Youtube
Features Film on Circassians and Their Concerns. A ten-minute film
about the Circassians who were deported from the Russian Empire via Sochi in
1864 is now available on Youtube (www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QATYezdWvHU#).
Meanwhile, plans for the Olympics are highlighting both the plight and concerns
of the Circassians in media coverage (cherkessia.net/author_article_detail.php?article_id=3663 and www.cherkessia.net/news_detail.php?id=5724).
Russian Nationalists
Question Value of Sochi Games. Russian nationalist commentators are
expressing concerns as to whether the Sochi Games are worth the enormous amount
of money Moscow is spending on them (3rm.info/33272-olimpiada-2014-ili-pir-vo-vremya-chumy.html,
Moscow’s Plans
to Purge North Caucasus Republics Seen Destabilzing Region. Even though
the Russian government has shown that it will do almost anything to stabilize
the area around Sochi, its current plans to conduct a sweeping purge in the
republics there is seen by some commentators a likely to have just the opposite
effect (versia.ru/articles/2013/feb/25/perekrout_klan).
Sochi Residents
Upset at Power Shut-Offs, Lac of Inexpensive Goods, and Building Delays. Residents of
Sochi are upset about the ways in which construction projects for the Olympics
are affecting their lives (kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/220561/, blogsochi.ru/content/pochemu-vlasti-sochi-ne-nuzhny-deshevye-produkty)
and have brought suit in Russian courts to try to change things (blogsochi.ru/content/mestnye-zhiteli-spasaya-sochi-obratilis-v-konstitutsionnyi-sud).
Greenpeace,
World Wildlife Fund Say Moscow Not Keeping Its Promises to Protect Sochi
Environment. Complaints
in this regard by the two international ecology groups have been seconded by
Russian and local environmental protection groups (circassiapassport.com/2013/02/25/671/,
blogsochi.ru/content/ekologicheskie-standarty-olimpiady-v-sochi
and hekupsa.com/kavkaz/publikatsiya/1398-ekologicheskij-bespredel-v-zapadnoj-cherkesii.html).
Sochi Builders
Cut Down Forest along Road to Putin’s Estate.
One place where environmental rules seem to have been ignored completely
is along the road to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s country estate near
Sochi. There, workers have simply cut down the entire forest to make way for
him and his entourage (nr2.ru/incidents/426287.html).
Speeding
Up Construction in Sochi Leads to Accidents, Injuries. Construction firms working in Sochi, in order
to try to catch up with planned completion dates, have taken some shortcuts
which some believe are the product of that Kremli-driven speed-up ( kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/220615/ and pb.kp.ru/daily/26039/2954185/).
Russian Spetsnaz
Troops to Guard Approaches to Sochi During Games. Moscow has announced that it will dispatch
special spetsnaz troop units to provide security around the Sochi games region
(vesti-sochi.tv/olimpiada/15165-armejskij-specnaz-vstanet-na-zashhitu-granic-sochi http://izvestia.ru/news/543324).
Circassians Fear
They Will Be Shut Out of Medal Competition in Sochi. Circassian athletes who have won numerous
Olympic medals in the past are concerned that this year, they will take home
any from Sochi (hekupsa.com/cherkesiya/kultura/1399-sport-adygei-neravnaya-borba-ili-polnyj-nokaut.html).
Olympic Torch to
Travel throughout Russia Before Reaching Sochi. Organizers are seeing Russians to carry the
Olympic torch along a route that will reach many parts of the Russian
Federation (echo.msk.ru/blog/lazareva_t/1020834-echo/
and coca-cola.ru/sochi2014/).
Struggles Among
Moscow Clans, Massive Corruption Seen Slowing Construction for Sochi Games. Struggles
between powerful clans in Moscow and growing not slowing corruption on the site
are behind many of the delays in preparations for the Olympiad ( profile.ru/article/trampliny-govorish-skandal-nachavshiisya-s-nedostroennykh-tramplinov-vyshel-daleko-za-ramki-,
blogsochi.ru/content/zhurnalistam-dolozhili-o-khode-rassledovaniya-gromkikh-ugolovnykh-del-po-ryadu-chinovnikov, and
blogsochi.ru/content/v-sochi-rabotnik-dps-podozrevaetsya-v-poluchenii-vzyatki).
Daghestani Champion
Returns Gold Medal to Protest Dropping of Boxing from Olympics. Sagid
Murtazaliyev, a Daghestani who won a gold medal at the Sydney games, has
returned that honor to the IOC, the latest expression of anger in the Russian
Federation and the North Caucasus about the IOC decision to drop boxing from Olympic
competitions in the future (nazaccent.ru/content/6955-dagestanskij-olimpijskij-chempion-vernet-medal-iz-za.html).
Map Shows Where
North Caucasian Ski Resorts Are and Where They Might Appear. A new map has been posted online showing both
existing North Caucasian ski resorts and those officials dream of getting ready
by the time of the Sochi games (adyge-news.com/analitika/48-severokavkazskie-kurorty-ostalis-mechtami).
Fewer Europeans
Travelling to Russia This Year—An Omen for Sochi? Moscow officials say that fewer Europeans
have come to Russia this year than last, raising a question they do not ask:
will as many Europeans come to the Sochi games as the Russian government hopes?
(profile.ru/article/nevezdnoi-turizm-spros-sredi-evropeiskikh-turistov-na-tury-v-rossiyu-snizilsya-74898).
Russian
Officials Pocketing Money Promised to Sochi Residents as Compensation. Sochi residents who had to give up their
homes to make way for Olympic construction were promised compensation, but
Russian officials have pocketed much of it. Residents say that Russian courts
are doing little to help them get these funds (bigcaucasus.com/events/topday/28-02-2013/82622-snos-0/).
Presidential
Plenipotentiary to Add North Caucasus Resorts to His Duties. Aleksandr Khloponin, presidential
plenipotentiary for the North Caucasus Federal District, may be handed responsibility
for building North Caucasus resorts, a duty that some observers say is a kind
of punishment for his failure to supervise the previous head of that effort who
was recently fired (wordyou.ru/v-rossii/xloponina-ssylayut-na-kavkazskie-kurorty.html).
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