we explored the true spirit of sorts. if you cross the media coverage of sochi i'm joined by my guest martin andrews he is our correspondent in sochi right now in london we have john good body he is a journalist for the sunday times who has been covering the olympics since one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and in washington we crossed to we can he is a comedian and an author a journalist cross-talk rules in effect and you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it martin you're in sochi right now you've been there since the start here i'm going to ask you a very simple question what's it like and i know you are aware of what was being said about the games weeks and months before they opened up so please compared to me what you read in western media and what you've experienced to date in sochi go ahead well as you can see we've got the olympic park behind us at the moment just behind you think it's in vision you can see the olympic flame you can see them but

the entire park is on fire such is on fire at the moment the atmosphere is just incredible and take my word for every single person i've asked from all around the world who is witnessing this sensational sporting event really says it's one of the best olympics they've ever had. in us your question regarding the media. this olympic mess shambles ridicule i think it's personally horrific and the answer to that is that in my opinion it's just the old cold war mentality of you know going back centuries ago decades ago i get a taxi to heathrow airport and the taxi guy as they do they say to me oh where are you off to your holiday or one work and the minute i say moscow the minute i say russia they say they have to apologize for it it has a negative attitude in the west and hopefully that the thousands and thousands of people who are here they've realized that salty is it beautiful. place the money

you can see in the facilities in the mountain cluster in the transport that they've built here of course there's going to be issues with new hotels that haven't been built the happens in every single living limp example in every single city center of course is going to be problems with with brown water it happens every single place but the western media has gone on about certain events like it's never happened before and it's a simple attack on russia all right lee if i go to you in washington you know if you've been watching t.v. for the last week or so with the sound down you'd think this was about some kind of toilet exhibition. but yeah absolutely would i mean i've blown away and i'm pretty cynical and yet i've been blown away with the coverage of every toilet every you know you got to consider that in the olympics there are there's a fifteen year old girl who's flying through the air doing triple back flips and landing on ice and meanwhile they're talking about the thread count of her bed

sheets on her bed it it's amazing and what's interesting is the corporate media is generally over here in the u.s. is generally about ratings it's all about ratings celebrity crap and fear stories but in this rare case it's not about ratings no one wants to click on a story about a toilet but clearly there's some other you know dynamic which i think martin talked about quite well ok john i'm very pleased to have you on this program because you have a great sense of perspective you've been covering the olympics olympics since one thousand nine hundred eighty eight when mexico city how different in your mind or not different in your mind is the coverage of the olympic games in russia in sochi this year from other olympics that you've covered in your career. well i wouldn't have said that these games now are any different from any previous games in the sense that. now the concentration is on the sport there's been very little about

any political element of impinging on these olympic games before the game started there were you know criticisms as you know about human rights and about gay rights and this it's not uncommon i mean i go back sorry to nine hundred sixty eight and the one nine hundred sixty eight olympics in mexico city before the games fifty five people were killed in a massacre by the police in the center of mexico city and that number is the official number most people actually think three hundred people were killed actually students rioting before protesting before the olympic games opened in mexico city and then of course in nineteen seventy two four years later we had the attack by the palestinians on the israeli team so there's been quite

a lot of politics say have it i mean put johnson down if these are things that happened during it ok and you know the what i'm concerned about was all the fear mongering that was preceded the games martin if i go to you i've been told and i'm so pleased to have you on the program because what i want to eyewitness tell me what's going on i mean the security is tight there is an obvious. the security is obvious but it's really like going through the smoothest airports in the world if only they were like that in reality i think the difference here is the crowd control the fact that in an airport you'd have six to nine possible scanning machines in teams here you've got twenty six to twenty nine machines with not just sort of three or four stuff on each machine but sort of you're talking about ten or fifteen they've really thought about the numbers that are coming through here and it's really quite simple you go through the scanning machines and your bags and you heavily padded down whether you sound the alarm off or not in every single venue

you go to every single transport you go to and the places scattered around the airport but it marcinko market if you. keep on complaining about it people complain about this it sounds very very official. nobody has complained about it everybody has said the security is faultless here it really is ok if i can we do you do it for toothpaste ok. well nobody has to taste ok we'll keep that in mind here leigh i know it was good to go to you and watching a day or so ago in the british media in the in the mail online there was an article by a gentleman dominic sandbrook and the state of the title of the article is really quite long and it's quite astounding the gangster's games by endorsing putin's murderous in corrupt regime the olympic movement has allowed itself to be hijacked by evil as it was once was by hitler this is extraordinary i have to disagree with john i have never heard anything even i'm

a child of the cold war i never heard that during the cold war when we're looking at olympic games ok we're not looking about a conflict or or proxy conflict in the third world we're talking about a sporting event i've never heard the level of or the low level of journalism described in a sporting event i find it astounding. i was just going to say we love to compare things they had learned i think miley cyrus was compared to them recently but. that's pretty much our go to go to simile right there but. yeah i mean i think those things need to be talked about human rights abuses definitely need to be talked about but they they also i feel like there is a double standard where when the olympics was in the u.s. there wasn't much on the media about us blowing up kids in afghanistan so i just i don't know the double standard is what pisses me off ok john in london you want to jump in there please do. yes i mean if it's the dominic son broke the law you know it's the dominant samberg who is the leading british historian and who is

a historian who protect concentrates on the post second world war in britain and in europe but just going back to the point that these games have been particularly political paralysis saw you see if you like before the game started i wouldn't have said that was true at all i mean we had don't forget we had huge criticism of moscow in the 1980's lympics and there was similarly there was criticism of los angels leave that the nineteen eighty four olympics there was in. you know the job but john you know you're going to use one to say one could easily say that the united states and the soviet union were in a conflict ok they're not in one today. yes well of the nineteen seventy six olympics in montreal there were huge criticisms of of montreal with the amount of money being spent and then beforehand we had a huge issue of black african nations walking out of the games because of the

presence of the new zealand t m a new zealand team. there. competing in the games in the region one of the black african nations. to boycott those games was quite simple was because of the new zealand rugby team and played against south africa the previous year and you know there's nothing well there's nothing to a little you country that has nothing to do with those country because it isn't in this case is the host country martin jumped in white to say if the two words mentioned before double standards that's absolutely what it is you know you could talk about the west we buy smartphones with what you call you know work slavery in china we've got clothes that we wear in high streets that are made by people in bangladesh that sort of like one dollar a week you know we've got human rights issues every single you know in the west and all my friends on the on social media they've condemned me for being here insulted

that i how dare i support you know the nazi evil leader that you know it's really just got of a hand the people actually forget the reality of their own countries it's just hypocrisy at the highest level we do you hand over it over here in the watching it in the in the u.s. it's been interesting how it is so one sided it's not that the politicization is covered with sports up until the olympics started it was nothing but toilets walls you know toothpaste demonstrations you guys to get it's going to last a month at least oxy it's ok jonathan martin before we go to france go ahead ahead go. yeah that a lot of those photographs are not even from tsotsi that's from social media from the internet from different places around the world from a from a hotel in russia about ten years ago just so you know all right gentlemen we're going to go to a short break and after that short break and continue our discussion on sochi stay with r.t. . please

. i marinate joining me. for in-depth impartial and financial commentary for news and much much. only on the bus and.

the interview. there's a saying when you're in the arctic you have the entire world at your feet she looks like a fairly simple shit. head and full of people have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is at the polar bear and ice breakers come second not

a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted with the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers under. operation. the northern sea route rushes on take icebreaker. we speak your language. for music programs and documentaries and spanish matters to you breaking news a little tentative angles keep the stories. you hear. the spanish find out more visit. wealthy british style.

markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports . welcome back to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle your mind you were discussing the media coverage of the sochi games.

ok about to go back to martin and saatchi martin as a as a. you're a gay man you're open about it there are other members of the r t team in sochi that are also again can you tell me the reception you. gone from the city because you've been there before the olympics opened you saw the venue you went to the city you met the people were any horror stories any it anything you want to share with our viewers you want goes through some people that's the only thing this is about go ahead well first of all it's not about this winter olympics is about sporting events there i said it's also what i'm going to talk to you discuss with you i do not defend the russian government and also i do not agree with this law that's been brought in that said people abroad especially in america and in the u.k. they don't understand how laws work or do not work here in russia if i was not

happy living in russia. i wouldn't live here it's as simple as that and actually i feel safer walking the streets of saatchi and moscow i travel to seventy five cities in russia for the experience and from one star to five star i know what it's like i've been to clubs you name it i've experienced it it's a club here in sochi called my her gay club it's been here for over thirty years it proves and shows even though you can sort of see a club or venue as a benchmark of acceptance it shows you the bubbling and thriving subculture that the gay people have here in russia just like and this is very important just like they have in the u.s. and the u.k. many years ago and also it's very important to mention section twenty eight which everybody's been talking about of course in comparison which that you brought it in one nine hundred eighty eight even though that was still in force even in power the gay culture became the mainstream what it is today it's a very complicated you know subject regarding the hold that the orthodox church has

over society here at the same time people have to think of what russia is where it's come from its new place is need time they need patience and they need understanding what works in one country doesn't work in another yet i'm preaching about it shouting about it saying that you want boycotts with winter olympics is not. the way to go about it it's time understanding and education you know john will remind all of us about the big games in salt lake city i mean utah is not a state well known in the united states for acceptance of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles but i don't remember the criticism no are but that the criticism has been particularly prevalent now i think because you know we're ten years further down the law i know for what twelve years further down the line than in the two thousand and two games in salt lake city. the issue is

one that you know it was an issue before the game started but subsequently since the games open last friday there's been hardly any i read the two three newspapers in britain every day there's hardly been a thing in the newspapers at all there's been some really concentrating on the on the sports at the olympic games before the games there certainly were issues but i think that to know goes with the territory and when you're staging an olympic games all sorts of criticisms were made of london of different things for instance the appalling mess that was made of the by g four s. the security for having to bring in the army before the games and you know it's the job of the newspapers in britain anyway to suspect that being told law is the whole entire line they make certain that confronting go ahead confronting the all thora to start. not necessarily with the ticket or even going to sound like it's just

going but it goes with the territory makes makes it sound like this is exactly what happens every time and i don't believe it is i mean it was a concerted effort to talk about almost nothing but the anti-gay you know which don't get me wrong i think all. anti-gay laws are terrible but at the same time at least in the us corporate media it was like all they're talking about it was all a joke and this is only a few years after these anchors are allowed to come out as gay i mean this is only a few years beyond some of the states in the us have horrible anti-gay laws and fox news was really in an interesting bind because they both wanted to hate on russia and yet they're anti-gay largely so they really wanted a but they didn't bring up the anti-gay stuff because they themselves have an issue with that. they had they were in a real bind there you know lee if i can stay with people and i go ok martin this is

crosstalk jump in go ahead martin. i just want out of the fact that i think that the main thing that the west has with russia and a lot of my friends who are activists in london is the fact that russia claims to be the leader it claims to be now a first world country it comes to be in the in the guys in the superpower it's not an african village and if they're playing it in the big league they have to play the big league rules and i think it's ridiculous that they brought this lorry especially when they did and that's the problem with it of course the attacks happen let's talk about and introduce the subject about the despite his documentary channel four that was just two days before the opening it was just because of ratings but of course it highlights the problems and the attacks in the violence that russia has had and will continue to have but they have to and every other country at the same time but that said russia does need to move forward on the matter and this really in some people's opinions about a cloud over the whole games ok i don't think it has i think it's actually backfired i think people as i think we're almost always agreeing or enjoying the

sport here john again i mean i'm i'm very to have you on the program because you have a good perspective here you know we have talked about the criticisms but when there were criticisms of it land tenure came from the united states primarily when there was criticism in london it was the british that were criticizing it i see an international campaign to denigrate the game. here in russia i would agree with you yes in the last few days it's tapered off a little bit because the campaign is over until they're looking for something else to criticize ok but it seems to me that again sochi is different because it was an international campaign but before when it was the host country it was the host country criticizing itself. well i mean assad pointed out to you right at beginning you've really got to go back to nine hundred sixty eight and you got to see the number of people who were killed in mexico city in a demonstration in one nine hundred sixty on the huge for rory that was internationally about that against mexico against the repression in mexico city

there is one absolute shining example of something which was. highlighted by the international media against the host city and you know there were criticisms of moscow during the 1980's olympics just as the criticisms of the way that the nineteen eighty-four lympics were was staged the money at all costs attitude as it was in fact in atlanta in one thousand nine hundred ninety six when there were criticisms then and of course you know that was a very much i know terrorist operate incident then in ninety nine to six instant team you know park i think you know i think i'm being on to really sensitive about those i really do i don't believe that the international media targeted. any more than they would have done any other city in in the in the past and i

think at the moment you know there's holiday anything in the british media at all about gay rights and all well you know. very interesting i'm going to leave if i go to leave there are eight states in the united states that have laws that are almost identical and i would even say the laws in russia were cut and paste from american laws and translated into russia and in russia to put into effect you know i'm dead serious it's no joke here and you know and we still get this this is hypocritical criticism is that your laws are bad but don't talk about our laws at all ok i mean you don't want to be gay in alabama ok you don't want to be gay in utah ok but you know god forbid you are in sochi i just can't fathom that it could set such a double standard. yeah i agree and i think this develops a problem the disagreement here is that john as been not watching maybe fox news and the us media as much as he has the british media there might be a difference there because you know of a fox news they've learned one really important trick which is if you repeat

something over and over again people start to believe it and if you repeat something over and over again people start to believe it and that's what they that's what they realize until they just kept pounding away at the problems in such a which which in a way i have honestly never really seen before so i think maybe there's a difference here from from over in in england but. yeah the anti-gay thing if people in russia want to be upset with that which they should be i think that's fine but it's different when you're coming from the u.s. well place where there are hate crimes going on all the time i mean there is hatred of an n.f.l. player just came out as gay in their hatred against him is tremendous so to then stand up and say oh look at what they're doing it doesn't mean it's bogus ok martin . i want to go back to just how wonderful these games are because i've been very much enjoying your reporting from sochi and if you would tell me what the people you have met russians have said wow this is really russia i never would have

expected this because they're never told anything good about russian western media ever on any issue it seems to me and has anybody been surprised go ahead. i think the first sad thing was the fact that so many americans canceled their flights they cancel their trips here in fact so much so i enjoyed the first race it's really i think a few nights ago you keep where you go i can't go on and keep going deeper i feel i filmed in the airports and i met the guys who are actually the manager of the port and i said you know what's with this place thing and he just says if this is a security threat we just you know we want to make sure that there is nothing to worry about and you just put your your toothpaste from your how luggage into your into your whole baggage is that he's on a plane anyway so that's not really a problem as you said the people who were here and i'm not just saying because i was saying that as somebody who is a tourist here in such even i've been here for several years on and off who somebody who wants what those hollywood films and so russians as baddies that's the

depiction that people have and people are just all just loving it here this party in the volunteers peter i've never seen such happy russians in my entire life you walk down the street and you've got people living doing the limbo it's really like a carnival atmosphere here and it has nothing to do with the human rights or community issues that there are in russia it's just to do with the sports the atmosphere is just allow right here all right martin on that note thank you very much i want to thank all of my guest we've run out of time many thanks to my guests in sochi london and in washington and thanks to our viewers for watching us here at you see you next time and remember. we've been with.

surveyor eludes the location of the boys still remember. how to do it well there's of the low height ted said you would stop this storm we might be more my people will die. is obviously more for the latest because it's pink. when they wanted to avoid rape they really needed to buy cats environ how to use them. this is the one that i go

with them once again it's the fear factor for all women are definitely a target of the gun lobby and you don't kill them when you're killing money but if somebody would he would piss with her. i've noticed that more and more and that's really scary marketing tactics which implies that women have some sort of moral obligation to protect their family and young girls shoot out here too so we do have a pink or. more kids young kids choke on food than are killed by firearms if being armed made us safer in america we should be the safest nation on earth were clearly not the safest. cholesterol pianist's depression. the efforts to work. to improve the. why. are you

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trends in. your best way to the heart of moscow. for max a c. to bitter disappointment it's a roller coaster of emotions in olympic sochi as a victory in the russian man's hockey is followed by the surprise withdrawal of legendary figure skater gannon pollution co. here gassen brutal clashes mark the anniversary of a bahraini uprising we reported on belly and that refuses to die down despite a three year crackdown and thousands of arrests. and zoos in denmark drawn condemnation from animal rights groups as another healthy giraffe is due to be put down to comply with european breeding laws just days after the first animal was killed and scanned.