Sochi: A kinder and gentler Russia?

The Winter Olympics in Sochi are over. As we tote up the outcome, we must conclude that it was a resounding success for Russia. For the new Russia. Which is a continuation of old Russia. Vladimir Putin has accomplished what seemed impossible but a few years ago: Aggiornamento (updating) and Perestroika (restructuring). Nothing symbolizes this more than the new Russian National Anthem, which is the old National Anthem with new words.


If you watched the opening and the closing ceremony, you saw the re-emergence of Russian art (ballet and literature), not the Stalinist show of tanks, missiles and goose-stepping military. It was a kinder and gentler Russia. NOT a kind and gentle Russia.


The Gulags are gone, but Russia is not a Western style democracy. The sex perverts do not control the Press and the arts in Russia. That is why the Western Press sniped at the Olympics from beginning to end. In the end the Jihadists failed to disrupt things. Neither did the members of the gay lobby. In the end, the Russians even reasserted their dominance in figure skating and cross country skiing.


Putin's Russia is moving to reassemble the Russian part of the old Soviet Union. If American Liberals believe that Russia will abandon large Russian populations in Belorussia and the Ukraine, like England abandoned its nationals across the world, they are in for a surprise. Russia is kinder and gentler, but not kind and gentle. An important distinction.


IMHO, President Putin will go down in Russia's history as another Peter the Great. A man who repositioned Russia and reasserted its importance.