SOCHI, Russia — With an outsize extravaganza that reached deep into the repertory of classical music and ballet, traversed the sights and sounds of the world’s largest geopolitical expanse, soared into outer space and swept across millenniums of history in a celebration of everything from czarist military might to Soviet monumentalism, a swaggering, resurgent Russia turned its Winter Olympic aspirations into reality on Friday night.
After seven years of building to this moment — the opening of what is believed to be the most expensive Olympic Games in history — the message of the over-the-top ceremony was simply this: In a big way, Russia is back.
As if there were any doubt.
(Where Russia may be headed — amid an economic slowdown, continuing rights abuses and suppression of political dissent that have drawn sharp criticism, especially in the West — was a question for another day.)
The Olympics was a time for Russia to show its power and flex its muscles. I think that judging from the opening ceremonies the Russians put on a good show of confidence to the world that they are a world power player. They, like many other countries previously have been able to show how much money they can spend and the venues built for future investment can be done. Russia has been falling behind economically and some think that it cannot compete with America and China, but it can. Just like Beijing and Vancouver, it will do just fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment