After hearing the “breaking news” and reading the headlines about a minor technical problem with illuminating the Olympic rings at the 22nd Winter Olympic Games and after watching the magnificent opening ceremony from beginning to end, I could not find better words to express my disgust about the malicious media campaign against the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games that has been going on here for about four weeks.
Earlier, when I first heard the CNN report about a new hotel in Sochi not having the entrance door in place four days before opening the game, which then was repeated by other U.S. news channels, I could see the deception. As I found out, that hotel was not even scheduled to open for the beginning of the games. Did this alleged lack of preparedness suggest that all the hotels, motels and guest houses in the entire city during the Olympic Games would be without their entrance doors? Kind of, but it was certainly an intended negative mark for all lodging accommodations there. What kind of impotent or blind news reporter was sent there by CNN who could not find any of the other, really nice looking hotels, guest houses or bed and breakfast type accommodations there from the more than 128 that have been in operation for many, many years in Sochi?
To underline the emphasis of the alleged general lack of preparedness was also a sarcastic report about ATM machines not working, again showing just one ATM machine in the city of 340,000 people, although from a picture, you could not tell if it was working or not. I can show you at least five on Kauai that are not working. The reports never showed even a glimmer of the beauty of this resort place that has been the unofficial summer capital of the country since 1954. People from the entire country and dignitaries from all over the world used it for their summer vacation. And most of the 334,000 residents of the city are very happy about the developments and the construction of new infrastructure there.
Do these news channels and reporters have amnesia? Apparently, because they seem to have forgotten about their oath to their profession, namely to provide balanced coverage. What does it mean? If they show some bad points, they ought to show some good ones too, if they exist. And yes, they do exist.
Then the intended malice (or should I just call it incompetence?) and demonization continued. The invited American businessmen went into the costs and discussed how costly it was to rebuild Sochi for the games and, oh my, that they spent four times the money that they had budgeted. Well, but they did not spend American money! They spent Russian money that they did not have to borrow. Their country has about $550 billion in surplus cash, and it does not have any foreign debts. And they spent it on infrastructure that they will be using for many more years after the Winter Olympic Games.
Their residents and their visitors will benefit from it. The roads, the buildings, the parks and the facilities will all stay there, and many of those people who have been courageous enough to travel to Sochi and get to know the place and enjoy the games will use them. Visitors may come back or tell about their good experience to others, enticing them to make the Sochi region their travel destination.
And something else about the costs of making Sochi an Olympic city, which is not our business, anyway. How many projects on Kauai and how many in the United States have had budget overruns? You cannot even count them!
Let’s just connect the dots. Do you remember the Iraq war? Do you remember George W. Bush’s cost and time estimate of the war before Congress approved it? And do you remember how much more the U.S. spent on this – a mere 70 times the amount, which means that we are nearing $3 trillion by 2017. We are still paying for it and your children will pay for it, too, and their children and maybe even their grandchildren will pay for it. And let me use Columbo’s famous exit remark, “Just one more thing.” The United States borrowed money from China, Japan, Russia to spend it on the war, not to build, but to destroy infrastructure in Iraq. So, do you benefit from this expenditure, or will your children benefit from it? I have asked this question many times, but nobody could say yes to me.
The purpose of the campaign has been to discourage Americans to travel there and see with their own eyes that progress and beauty exists in Russia, too, not only at home. Imagine yourself being one of the American athletes competing there and in the middle of the games. You see that the audience loudly cheers and encourages the athletes of your competitors, but you don’t hear loud voices cheering for you. You see only a few American flags being waved, because there are hardly any American spectators there, thanks to the malicious media campaign in the USA.
Other countries made an effort to provide emotional support for their athletes by encouraging their people to go to Sochi and root for the athletes representing their nation, and they did so.
But life does justice, because after the opening ceremony, the reporter asked the members of the U.S. Olympic team about their opinion and they said, “It was amazing,” and “I would not have missed it for the world!” Well, that’s your payback, U.S. media!
So, what can I say at this point? Shut up, America, and enjoy the games!
• János Keoni Samu is a resident of Kalaheo.
