The Winter Olympic Games are going to be held in Sochi, Russia, this year. In fact, they are just weeks away. The safety of the location of these games are being questioned by many political officials and now it is being questioned more than ever. A video recently surfaced from a Jihadi forum website. In this video two men dressed in black clothing said that they had prepared a "present" for the tourists coming to Russia for the Olympics.
Vladimir Putin pledged that security would be heightened. He stated that the increase in security personnel should not interfere with athletes, journalists, or spectators. This increase has also been called for because of a recent attack in Volgograd (400 miles from Sochi). These men could have been suicide bombers in that attack, but it isn't confirmed. In Volgograd, a major transit point was targeted. Explosions hit a train station and a trolley bus, and more than 30 people lost their lives.
Many U.S. lawmakers are not very confident in the safety of the games. Senator Angus King (Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he would go to the games himself and he wouldn't send his family. Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, said that the Russian government should be more cooperative with U.S intelligence agents.
Personally I feel that with every games comes some kind of threat. Every year we hear something about it, but security is heightened and everyone does their job.
Do you think Russia is doing enough to protect everyone involved in the Olympics?
Do you agree or disagree with the U.S. lawmakers?
Read the article and watch the video here.
Replies
Excellent choice of topic and great summary but again, you didn't comment on anyone's replies.
Having to secure the Olympics is a very important aspect in the US's eyes. Sending so many people over there as athletes and spectators raises a question whether or not they will come back unharmed. I think it is part of the job of US politicians and security forces to help make sure our athletes are safe during the games, and I hope everything turns out just fine.
I think that is a good idea that they upped their security. Nobody wants to see anything bad happen. Yes, there are threats every year but that's all the more reason to increase the security. They are going to have to be cautious when planning because its not like you can cancel the Olympics.
Great point about not canceling the Olympics. That would be absolutely impossible and disappointing to all of us spectators.
I feel like they need to do more to protect it but I'm not exactly sure what they should do. I also don't think we need to send any of our security over there.
I hope the Russian government is doing everything they can to prevent a bombing to happen. That would be terrible if there were to be a mass bombing to happen there! There would be many people from all over the world!! It would affect the whole world!!
Yes there's always a threat at the Olympics, but if you think about it a bombing at the Olympics would be the worst place to have a terrorist attack because almost every country in the world is there participating. Unless your goal is to start a World War.
I agree with you. If they bomb it they would end up killing some of their own people from the same country they are from and I don't think that would be the bombers goal to kill there own people.
I think you make a great point how every year there is some possible threat. Whenever there are lots of people together it makes a possible target for terrorist. That doesn't mean we need to cancel the Olympics and let the terrorist control us.
I think Russia should do as much as they can to protect the athletes and spectators. There are threats all the time for this sort of thing and most of the time they don't pan out, but just to be sure I think it would be a good idea that Russia be prepared
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next