Quote Originally Posted by Ramil View Post
The ban was a direct riposte to the Americans indeed, so what? You sound as if there was something bad in it.
Yes, there is "something bad in it". If a parliament passes a law which affects orphans, I'd like to think that the primary motive is to improve their lives. The only motive here was symbolic - to attack a very small group of Americans. It is an indication of the type of people who sit in the Duma that they were quite prepared to use Russian orphans - some of them handicapped - as pawns in their silly game.

Getting back to the Olympics, I wonder what the long-term impact will be? What perception will remain of your country? Here in Switzerland it has very much focused people's minds on the central role played by Putin. The night before the opening ceremony there was a documentary on Swiss television which discussed his supposedly vast fortune. For many of the Swiss I speak to, Putin and Russia are synonymous. If, as some people claim, Putin is corrupt, what does that say about the country he runs? The answer I get on this site from Russians is a shrug of the shoulders: "So what? What if billions of dollars have been wasted in bribes on the Olympics? What if handicapped Russian orphans have to stay in the orphanage? мне наплевать!"