As I watch the Olympics and see yet another Russian doping scandal, I ask myself “when will this end?”
The Russians have been flagged numerous times for illegal drug use in athletic competitions and they seem to skate right by.
The most egregious happened at the 2014 Sochi games in Russia where actual athlete urine samples were literally being passed through a hole in the wall and replaced with “clean” urine through the same hole. How do we know? The doctor in charge of the operation detailed the whole thing in a notebook.
The entire cheating operation was carried out at the state level (Russia).
The International Olympic Committee has been threatened and intimidated by the Russians so badly that the “sanctions” are laughable.
Their athletes still compete and cheat.
The IOC needs to give the Russians the “death penalty” — not literal but simply a suspension of the entire program for, say, 10 years. Sort of like what the SMU football program got years ago after repeated recruiting violations. Maybe Russia would learn, but I doubt it.
Russian cheating and manipulation in sports is simply an outgrowth of the same old game played out by the USSR in the days of the Cold War. And Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (an ex-KGB agent) is merely doing what his predecessors have done — make war with the West either in sport or for real.
This war has largely been waged in social media through fake accounts, online personalities and opinions offered on a variety of platforms. We have been systematically and routinely manipulated by Russia and Russian proxies to the point we are at one another’s throats.
Think I’m kidding? Before the 2016 election, it was generally reported that Russia had created a large operation to manipulate our social media and impact our election.
Do you think it stopped there? No, I believe that an entire generation of Americans have been tricked into believing that our country is evil, sowing the seeds for last year’s rioting and insanity.
The whole thing is on a white board somewhere. Putin is now at step 47 of a plan that he now thinks will work because the USA is weak and fractured. But will it work? Let’s take a closer look at the historical context.
Putin claims that he needs a border of neutral states around Russia to protect it from western aggression. Because Russia is invaded so often by the West. Only Napoleon and Hitler, as I recall.
When Hitler invaded Russia, Uncle Joe (Stalin, not Biden) had cut a deal with Adolph to have a “non-aggression” pact, which freed Hitler to pursue his ambitions in France.
Stalin was a real buddy of Hitler’s — so much so that he couldn’t believe Germany was invading even as it was happening.
Many also forget that while Hitler was seizing Poland in 1939 from one side, Stalin was seizing the other half. The West tends to forget that little fact. In my book, Stalin was complicit in Hitler’s plans and was largely responsible for it.
This tends to poke a little hole in Putin’s “poor, pitiful, oft-invaded Russia” meme.
Putin is using all of the old Hitler tricks — fabricate “incidents” and invade neighbors as a “defensive” strategy.
Did we all forget that Russia recently swallowed up the Crimea under another weak U.S. president (Obama)? Does anyone remember that Hitler did the same thing to Austria and Czechoslovakia?
Apparently not.
Putin portrays his country as the victim but it is anything but. He claims that bordering countries need to be under Russia’s control as a “buffer” to the West. This is nothing but totalitarian manipulation.
NATO exists to provide the West protection from… Russia!
Ukraine wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a protection from its very aggressive neighbor, Russia. The Ukrainians have been used and abused by Russia for years and now they want to be free.
If we do nothing now, I guarantee that we will be forced (once again) to spill American blood on European soil. Putin is a diabolical madman who must be stopped.
Unfortunately, there is no one to stop him.
At least we can win in curling.
Steve Lunetta is a resident of Placerita Canyon and is protesting his suspension from the local pickleball league for his use of PEDs.
