Sochi Terror Threat

[peacetraveler22]

I don't know how Russians feel about the Olympics, but American television is already showing a lot of ads and promos for the event. In general, the Olympics are a big deal here. Most people enjoy them and are glued to their televisions watching the events and coverage for almost three weeks. However, this past week U.S. media has been on a mission to instill fear about possible terror threats in and around Sochi. It started at the end of December with the Volgograd bombings, but this week panic reached epic proportions with the release of a new video from Islamic terrorists and the identification of potential "black widow" bombers. Of course, it's normal to discuss terror threats before any Olympic Games but Sochi and Russia are receiving a lot more attention than other Olympic hosts, at least in the American press.

What do you think? Can Russian security forces handle the threats posed by these extremists at the Olympics? If possible, would you attend the Sochi Games?

Comments

[e-g-o-r-i-u-s.livejournal.com]

Shannon, have you found a single person who would really want to go and visit Olympics in Sochi?

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Yes, me. :) I see based on all these comments that Russians have a very negative attitude towards the Games but I can't say Americans view them in the same way.

[e-g-o-r-i-u-s.livejournal.com]

Yes, abstractly, those are Olympics we all love and watch since childhood. Probably I would be more enthusiastic about them too in case they were held in another country. But Shannon, unfortunately for Russians it is pointless waste of gigantic money for only one purpose – to show off by any means. We are sick of being not taken into account, of being a second-quality people in our own country, that’s why we don’t care a damn about these particular Games. And how would you like something which is thrust on you, deemed as something you must be proud of by default? In the Russian context it is the greatest hypocrisy.

Stockholm recently was very wise refusing to compete for hosting Winter Games 2022. Glad for them. They will spend resources for further development of what is by chance still not so perfect in the city.

As for security, I do not think anything bad will happen (at least in Sochi). They will close the city so that a fly won’t penetrate, and they have enough resources and experience for it. (Unfortunately for Sochi inhabitants this will mean living in curfew.) So I wouldn’t be afraid at all of going to Sochi during Olympics, I would be only disgusted.