Vladimir’s triumph

Why Sochi for the Olympics. Christian Caryl explains that it’s Putin’s declaration of victory over Chechen rebels, the subjugation of the northern Caucasus:

“Russia launched its Olympic bid in 2006, a moment when Putin was basking in his hard-won status as the leader who had finally vanquished the long-running rebellion in Chechnya. Putin did not choose Sochi by chance. He believed that presiding over an Olympic miracle in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, not far from places that had been battlefields a few years before, would cement his triumph over historical enemies.”

And the Olympics is a giant pep talk for Russians, as Putin explained in a recent interview: “Putin explicitly links the Games to the humiliations of the recent past: ‘There is also a certain moral aspect here and there is no need to be ashamed of it,’ he said. ‘After the collapse of the Soviet Union, after the dark and, let us be honest, bloody events in the Caucasus, the society had a negative and pessimistic attitude.’ The Olympics, he explains, are a necessary part of an effort to ‘strengthen the morale of the nation.’”