The thoughts of a Jew, Gideon Rachman, writing at big establishment paper Financial Times, and he seems to be gloating. Yes, he definitely seems to be gloating. via There Are No Sunglasses - ed.
After a little fumbling with the envelope, the head of the International Olympic Committee has just announced the venue for the 2016 Olympics – Rio de Janeiro. It all seems a confirmation of the mood of the moment – Brazil is deeply fashionable and on the way up; and the shine has come off Barack Obama, who turned up in person to lobby for Chicago – only to see his home town eliminated early.
Poor Obama, he really didn’t deserve this. I bet he now regrets going all the way to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago. His great trump-card was meant to be his global popularity. But the International Olympic Committee had no trouble in brushing him aside. I’m afraid this is all going to play into the gathering conservative narrative in the US of Obamas a naive dupe, who grovels in front of foreigners – and gets nothing back in return. It seems to be setback after setback for the US president at the moment – health-care, Iran, the Afghanistan mess, unemployment up at nearly 10%.
As for Brazil – never has the country been so fashionable. The Brazilians are hosting the World Cup in 2014 and now the Olympics, two years later. They provide the first letter of the much-touted group of emerging economic superpowers - the BRICs. They are key members of the G20. In Lula, Brazil at last has a leader who is a recognised global figure. He gave the lead-off address at the UN General Assembly last week. (Just before Obama, symbolically enough.) And Brazil has also just discovered massive reserves of offshore oil. Oh lucky country!
1 comment:
Obama and Michelle and Oprah were seriously betraying their "much beloved Chicago" with that bid. I am glad it failed. Not for any vindictive reason but because we all know what happens when the Olympics come to town. The poor are dispossed, bilion of dollars of debt, and after the party, often the arenas are useless.
I know because I have lived in such an area, and I now see it here in my province British Columbia.
Did you know that after the games are held, all records leading up to it are usually burned. Yes they are THAT dirty. In China millions were displaced and thousands erased. The best thing about those games for China was it got to keep the billions of dollars of surveillance equipment mounted in all cities of interest for 600 miles around Beijing.
Michelle would not have spoken that tune had this bid been made when she lived in that area as a child. And omg she played the sentiment card, BOTH of them did!
Actually Obama's came across as "have it in my neighbourhood do I don't have to drive".
Americans need to see this as yet another slap in their cumulative faces and begin to ask (I refer to the ones who never think deeper than that night's tv) why this is and why their once great nation is so low on almost all international polls.
Meanwhile, I would like to congratulate Brazil, but in light of what I have just said, I don't know if I should. The one thing I wonder is, most of the city where they will hold the games are grimy slums. How will they deal with the poor?
Brazil, the world is watching.
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