What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!: Retrieved from http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best-russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/                   As...

Post-Olympic Ukraine Crisis!

Retrieved from http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best-russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/

                  As I mentioned on my previous posts, this blog was created for a class I am currently in, and obviously requires me to blog, which in fact grinds my gears. So I am going to be a minor hypocrite and keep on working on  critique of the Crisis in Ukraine, firstly by analyzing the picture above.

                 There have been various jokes as well as memes made about the fact that President Putin moved Russian Federation forces out of their bases within the Crimean shortly after the Olympic games and before the para-Olympic games were even over. Some of this jokes being that even Hitler waited 5 years before he began his campaign in the eastern front and invaded Ukraine.

  

                  But going back to the above meme, even though it is entertaining it only caries some through to it. I personally don't believe that the amount of money that was spent on the Olympics in any way shape or form helped improve Russia's image, it may have in fact done the opposite. The fact that 50 billion dollars were spent in preparation for the Olympic games is crazy, especially seeing how little was actually accomplished. The massive issues that were seen in the infrastructure of the city of Sochi, are a example an example of this being the in-completed hotels, the struggling sewage system, the ridiculously expensive highway that was built  specifically for the Olympics (which would probably have been cheaper to build had they paved it in gold). 

          

                  There were many other massive issues that existed during the construction such as the governments complete disregard for the citizens living in the city. There were vast groups of residents that were essentially made homeless, with no compensation, when their homes were torn down to make room for construction; all under the pretext of "this is for the Olympic games". This combined with the mishandling of 50 billion dollars which also outlined the massive amount of corruption that exists in the country, which instead of improving Russian image may have made it worse. Although Russian forces moving into the Crimean may have dampened the view some people have on Russia even more, but there seem to still be a decent amount of people that support Russia's decision.  

               For those that want to see how messed up the construction of the Olympics was, check out the documentary that the passionate eye aired. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP1ll3i2U2U 

                  On to other news the Crimean region has broken itself off of Ukraine and joined Russia, oddly enough this was used a democratic vote! Mother nature seems to be on her time of the month, and the beautiful "hot" weather has come to an abrupt end and has been replaced by snow, and cold winds.... great way to start off spring 2014! Stay warm out there Calgary! 

                                     Retrieved from: http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/03/11/16-best- russian-invasion-ukraine-memes/

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: An Olympic Mockery

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: An Olympic Mockery: You know what really grinds my gears ?! How some people attempt to use a peaceful sports event like the Olympics in Sochi as an excuse to ba...

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Ukraine floods social media!

What Grinds my Gears - Calgary Edition: Ukraine floods social media!: You know what really grinds my gear this week?! The huge amount of post about the crisis in Ukraine through out social media specifically Fa...

Ukraine floods social media!

You know what really grinds my gear this week?! The huge amount of post about the crisis in Ukraine through out social media specifically Facebook and through out Twitter specifically by most of my Eastern European friends. Although we all share different political views views on what is happening in Ukraine especially with Russian forces moving into the Crimean area, and we can play the name game on who is in the right and who is in the wrong all day long that is not what this blog is about. What grinds my gears the quantity of posts of various pictures, news articles and other various forms of "news" from both the Russian supporters and the Ukrainian supporters. The huge problem with this is that the huge majority of the things that people seem to be mass re-posting, no matter on what side they stand, is fabricated propaganda with no proper sources shown of were the information was found. People also seem to get fairly upset when you point out that the posts that they post has problems with its validity, and seem to resolve to either cussing you out, or pointing you in the direction of more questionable sources! My take, if you are Ukrainian or as in my case Russian, and you live in a country that isn't than the previously mentioned countries, there is a reason you live in another country such as Canada, and there is almost no reason to get so defensive about this particular topic, and if you happen to have such a strong opinion about what is going on there and have no obligations here, feel free to get on to a plane and go to Eastern Europe to try to make a real change either than argue about it via social media.
On a happier note the weather seems to be warming up, I am rather fed up with winter and the -40 weather that we have been experiencing for the last few weeks! Stay warm out there Calgary, the light is in sight!  
   
Image retrieved from: https://imgflip.com/i/78w53