Sochi Olympics... are they safe?

[Teddy]

Recently there has been much question revolving around one simple but elaborate question.. is Russia safe enough to host the Olympics?  The United States has recently developed a contingency which includes 2 battleships with helicopters ready to move in and evacuate Americans in the event of an attack. A plane also sits at a German Airport ready for the orders to move to Russia. Other countries are expected to have some sort of plan to protect their athletes and citizens in the event of what some are calling a impeding, credible threat of an attack.

The world officials seem to be in a debate over the security of Russia given the recent bombings which have taken place over the last few months. The world has never been so focused and concerned over such games.

Here's a few different links covering the topic.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/26/world/europe/sochi-contingency-plans/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-olympic-terrorist-search-sets-nerves-jangling-despite-putin-assurances-of-safety/2014/01/21/c0bd2a1a-82cb-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/sochi-olympics_n_4650922.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/30/world/europe/russia-volgograd-explosion/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/29/world/europe/russia-train-station-explosion/

What do you think? Is Russia safe? Are the games safe? Is Putin being to calm and dismissing this issue?

[Alexander_Rijav]

I hear Bulgaria dispatched several COBT squads there,not sure if it's true...
EDIT::

There has also been concern regarding possible terrorist attacks primarily by Islamist militants.[53]

[Vector]

What do you think? Is Russia safe? Are the games safe?

Every Country will send their Athletes on their own risk. Russian Government will make every possible effort to make the Games safe. They will increase the quantity of the security and They will do every thing to keep the athletes safe.

[Mikal]

I doubt they will be safe.

[Ratko Gavrilovic]

Russia is more than capable of defending the games and eliminating potential threats.
I find it ridiculous that countries like the USA plan to come uninvited into Russia in case something happens.

[Mikal]

Russia is more than capable of defending the games and eliminating potential threats.
I find it ridiculous that countries like the USA plan to come uninvited into Russia in case something happens.

They couldn't prevent the attacks in December, what makes you think they can do it now?

[JayL]

I hear Bulgaria dispatched several COBT squads there,not sure if it's true...

Tell us more about it, comrade.

[Petarda]

no dude russia is not safe I mean wtf it's russia right let's go google some gifs of drunk russians rite????

this is ridiculous

[Borus]

They couldn't prevent the attacks in December, what makes you think they can do it now?

Funny how US was interfering in the Chechen war twice and now people are afraid of terrorism when it concerns their own citizens/athletes. The US didn't prevent the Boston Bombings either, for example. What's the definition of 'safe' nowadays really? An extremist muslim group in Belgium, AKA 'Sharia4Belgium' promised bombings during New Year's eve at the exact place I was and well, I'm still alive as far as I know. I doubt anything major will happen to the olympics or the athletes themselves.

In my opinion, the safety of Sochi's olympic stadium was already high, meaning that Omarov's terrorist squad mostprobably weren't able to insert any devices beforehad (as that's pretty common) and went for random locations around the area for the sake of scaring the outside world. They probably would think it would stop the whole development of the olympics, but it only enforced it under an even higher level of security alert.

[Huntsman]

Russian military will be patrolling in the event, nuff said.

[JDC]

It's only logical that they will want to keep the games safe. A fuck-up in an event the scale of the Olympics will not only be a PR disaster, but will also give much more fuel for the propaganda of the country's enemies. There is too much to lose in not providing high security.

[Mikal]

Funny how US was interfering in the Chechen war twice and now people are afraid of terrorism when it concerns their own citizens/athletes. The US didn't prevent the Boston Bombings either, for example. What's the definition of 'safe' nowadays really? An extremist muslim group in Belgium, AKA "Sharia4Belgium" promised bombings during New Year's eve at the exact place I was and well, I'm still alive as far as I know. I doubt anything major will happen to the olympics or the athletes themselves.

In my opinion, the safety of Sochi's olympic stadium was already high, meaning that Omarov's terrorist squad mostprobably weren't able to insert any devices beforehad (as that's pretty common) and went for random locations around the area for the sake of scaring the outside world. They probably would think it would stop the whole development of the olympics, but it only enforced it under an even higher level of security alert.

Well I guess what you said about the Boston bombings is correct, so in away the US can't talk and should piss off back home, but I still think there will be trouble during the winter Olympics, though I guess it wouldn't hurt Russia to accept help from other countries with good intelligence and defence services in the name of protecting innocent lives.

Russian military will be patrolling in the event, nuff said.

Not 'nuff' said, when it comes to preventing homeland terrorism all the work is done within secret intelligence services.

[Borus]

Well I guess what you said about the Boston bombings is correct, so in away the US can't talk and should piss off back home, but I still think there will be trouble during the winter Olympics, though I guess it wouldn't hurt Russia to accept help from other countries with good intelligence and defence services in the name of protecting innocent lives.

Like I said, in my opinion, Omarov is desperate because he probably couldn't and still can't find a way to hit the olympics directly, thus his method was to induce fearfulness by bombing locations that weren't so heavily protected, which only worked counterproductive for him as of now. Only time will tell really.

[Janar]

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/19/world/europe/russia-putin-sochi/index.html?hpt=wo_bn9

I just found this article, that includes a video threat made regarding the Winter Olympics.

[Teddy]

Funny how US was interfering in the Chechen war twice and now people are afraid of terrorism when it concerns their own citizens/athletes. The US didn't prevent the Boston Bombings either, for example. What's the definition of 'safe' nowadays really? An extremist muslim group in Belgium, AKA 'Sharia4Belgium' promised bombings during New Year's eve at the exact place I was and well, I'm still alive as far as I know. I doubt anything major will happen to the olympics or the athletes themselves.

In my opinion, the safety of Sochi's olympic stadium was already high, meaning that Omarov's terrorist squad mostprobably weren't able to insert any devices beforehad (as that's pretty common) and went for random locations around the area for the sake of scaring the outside world. They probably would think it would stop the whole development of the olympics, but it only enforced it under an even higher level of security alert.

You aren't wrong about the Boston bombing but it is two different things. The Boston bombers were also "homegrown" and the United States isn't next to a war zone; if you will allow it to be called such. Also there was no threats present against the marathon. On top of this there have been no recent successful terror attacks prior to the marathon. In this case you have a mixture of a series of successful terrorist attacks, a location conveniently located near a country on a unpleasantness "war" path, and direct threats.

You are also right I don't think they'll be able to get anything in before hand. Considering a majority of countries, including the United States, have been allowed to send counter terrorism assets to the games under the permission of Putin granted they "aid" the efforts and not try to lead the efforts. This means you're going to have a lot of professionals including the Russian ones putting their minds together to keep anyone out of the area before hand and ensuring sweeps of the area for explosives are done constantly.

There was someone who suggested these terrorist might not be able to attack the games directly; but rather attack a nearby location which would create enough panic to disrupt the games. Since hearing this I do think it's a lot more likely an event compared to a direct attack against the games.