Vladimir Putin has long deplored the breakup of the Soviet Union, describing it as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Putin has taken a hardline stance on Chechnya, invaded Georgia, and threatened Poland with the installation of missiles on their border.
Putin and his ex-KGB buddies may rue the loss of land, peoples, extensive natural resources, social order, and geopolitical impact the Soviet Union had on Eastern and Southern Europe and the Middle East. Perhaps they also regret the loss of so many Olympic medals.
At the opening of the Olympics, Russians had invaded Georgia. They advanced almost to the pipelines that carry Kazakstan's and Azerbajian's huge oil and gas resources to the Black Sea and the West, and even attempted to bomb the pipelines.
When Putin visited the Russian village, he doubled the amount of money Russia would give the athletes for gold, silver, and bronze medals. Putin is an avid judo athlete and recently divorced his long-time wife to marry a much younger gold medal rhythmic gymnast.
China and the United States are vying for supremacy in the Beijing medal count. Russia seems a distant third. Should the Soviet Union have remained whole, this would be their total medal count so far:
8 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dubachev Mirat 10 months ago
Haha you wish. Soviet Union from 1972 to 1992 won MANY MORE gold medals than America. We're talking like 43 gold medals to 30 for USA. And it always dominated in the overall count also. Soviet Union today would lead the overall count by a large margin and the gold would be close between it and China.
USA = SORE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSERS
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Collins 10 months ago
Dubachev,
Thanks for commenting. Reconfiguring the Soviet Union and totalling their medals to show they would lead by a long shot was the point of the article.
michael
Edit Comment Cancel
Pavel Gravlev 10 months ago
You forget that the USA is kicking Russias but in the medals
Russians = SORE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSERS
and ridiculously over nationalistic
Edit Comment Cancel
J. Michael Morris 10 months ago
Plus add the Middle East and India, his next conquests after the USSR is restored.
Edit Comment Cancel
Bulava Borei 10 months ago
Michael Collins: Please grow up and learn to write the truth. Stop fooling the people in this World. Everyone knows that it's Georgia started this war on 7th night. Why such blatant lies? I wonder if you are American or British....both are more or less same kinda clan!! Now, read this one:
http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13317
BTW, medal count has always been better for Soviet Union. And, Russia as a 145 million nation is getting much better results compared to 300 million Americans (who are actually mix of all the religions, countries and what not not. And mind you, your American team has Soviet/Russian blood too!).
Pavel, Russians are sore losers or people like you (nations) are boot lickers of Americans?? So, talk with sense or refrain making such senseless comments!
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Collins 10 months ago
Bulava,
I have grown up and am American. I am not pushing anything regarding the Georgia-Russian conflict and did discover how Georgia invaded its breakaway South Ossetia.
The link you provided me shows that Russia has blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's only port city yesterday and building checkpoints around South Ossetia. The pullback Russia agreed to was to happen today. If there are no "blatant lies", does Russia intend to live up to its agreement to pull back to original borders?
http://www.antiwar.com/regions/regions.php?c=Georgia (top story on the left)
Edit Comment Cancel
Dick Van Morton 10 months ago
let's be objective ladies. yes, the soviet union was an Olympic powerhouse and would be today if it were still together. At the same time, more important things were going on there, like a dysfunctional economy and an unhappy people. It's a stretch to even think that the Soviet Union would have lasted another decade and a half, especially considering Russia's problems in the 90s (especially its credit default. everything seems to be going VERY well nowadays)
i think you also have to remember that in some cases, there are limits on the amount of athletes per country or are team medals, so I'm unsure if all the medals presented above would be legitimately Soviet. All in all, I think the Soviets would be very, very good but I do not see how even them could stop China long-term. In a couple of Olympics they will be slaughtering America. They are starting huge programs in the sports they are not good in to ensure they are competitive in those events in the future.
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Collins 10 months ago
Very well is right, economically. The Putin economy has grown Russia at 7% a year since 2000. 50% of GDP revenues come from oil. Oil and gas accounts for 65% of Russia's export dollars. Kazakhstan has huge oil fields, with projections that by 2015, they will be in the top 10 in oil exports. Two pipelines flow out of Kazakhstan - one to the West through Georgia, one to China.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.