TOW #18: "Czar Vladimir's Illusions" by Mikheil Saakashvili

     This year's Winter Olympics have been receiving lots of press not only on the account that they're the Olympics but also to the fact that they are being held in Sochi, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has particularly been put under the spotlight because of his recent declaration that Russia needs to be "cleansed" of homosexuality. In the article "Czar Vladimir's Illusions," Mikheil Saakashvili studies Russia's progress as a country socially, economically, and politically. As former President of Russian neighbor Georgia, Saakashvili immediately establishes credibility when he compares the growth and maturity of his own country to that of Russia.
     Saakashvili uses data and juxtaposition to achieve his purpose of demonstrating the "illusion" of wealth and democracy that President Vladimir Putin has created for the Sochi Olympics. Although Russia is a wealthier country, Saakashvili notes, in the past nine years, Georgia has experienced a much greater rate of growth than Russia. He also adds that Georgia has no oil, it is eighth in the World Bank Index for "ease of doing business" while Russia is up in the nineties. Saakashvili also employs juxtaposition when comparing the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Adjaria. He notes that Abkhazia, after being seized by the Russians for illegal military occupation, has its capital half in ruins. Adjaria, a few kilometers away from Abkhazia, however, was taken from Putin's hand in 2004. Since then, the Georgian government has managed to turn the region into a much more relaxed and luxurious city than it had previously been. Saakashvili compares Abkhazia and Adjaria to note the fact that Russian occupied Abkhazia has fallen to pieces while free Adjaria "has more new luxury hotels than Sochi" (para. 13). With this combined use of juxtaposition and data, Saakashvili effectively portrays the reality of Russia's condition, which is very different than the one we all currently see on our television screens.
     Saakashvili wrote this article for The New York Times for American civilians who are most likely watching the Winter Olympics so that they can really understand that the nation is not as advanced as Sochi makes it out to be. By comparing Russia's data with Georgia's data and the region of Abkhazia with the region of Adjaria, former Georgian President Saakashvili effectively removes Russia's mask of wealth and progress.

The Illusion of the Olympics

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