The Sochi WInter Olympics Were A Sacam And The 2022 Games? Beijing Or Almaty Kazakhstan

Revelations that the Winter Olympics held in Sochi Russia were nothing more than a scam are not surprising given the ridiculous amenities and facilities required by the International Olympic Committee  and that Vladimir Putin used his connections to some of Russia's wealthiest individuals  to   fund his pet projects.   Now its been learned that those same  oligarchs  are saddling the Russian tax payers with their debt while still reaping the financial rewards.

 

Today, almost exactly a year after the opening ceremonies, AP dropped a big story on the Games's finances. You'll be shocked to learn that, with oil prices dropping and Russia facing a financial crisis, the plan has fallen apart and the Russian people will end up biggest losers, ultimately paying for the entire thing with their tax money.

The saga over the ski jump and the Russian bank that paid for it is especially illustrative:

Sberbank, which is Russia's largest bank and is run by close Putin ally German Gref, stepped in to buy the ski jump and ski resort at the government's request. It took out a $1.7 billion loan to fund more than 70 percent of the infrastructure project. Today, the project loses money and the bank remains saddled with the massive debt.

For Sberbank, the solution has been to obtain Kremlin authorization to swap its Olympic project, which cost nearly $2.7 billion at the time, for the Sochi Games' media center, which was owned by the regional government. Ilya Dzhus, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, confirmed the deal to the AP.

It's not clear how much the media center — similar to a large convention complex — would fetch if sold on the market. But the key to the deal is that by giving the ski jump, which is still used by the Russian national team, and the ski resort to the regional government, Sberbank is washing its hands of the $1.7 billion loan. Sberbank, which has the state as its majority stakeholder, did not respond to numerous calls and emails seeking comment.

Given the corruption of the International Olympic movement is it any wonder that the only two countries bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games are China and Kazakhstan both of which are governed by repressive authoritarian governments.

One thing the Games are unlikely to do, said Peh, is improve the human rights situation, as many had hoped the 2008 Summer Games would do.

"The story of China after the 2008 Games has been one of tightening controls" on dissidents and freedom of expression, he said. "And looking at Xi in the last two years, he is not veering off this track."

Not that Kazakhstan, which has been run by President Nursultan Nazarbayev since independence in 1991, is much better an alternative in this regard. Human Rights Watch, in its 2014 global report, said the country's "poor human rights record continued to deteriorate in 2013, with authorities cracking down on free speech and dissent through misuse of overly broad laws" and maintaining "strict controls on freedom of assembly and religion."