In the news...Eurovision 2009, Sochi 2012, World Cup 2018.
Russia has great plans. Well, it had. While the oil prices were high, so was the government. Among Putin’s last contributions as president was securing Sochi as the host of the 2012 Winter Olympics. Recently, suggestions have circulated about Russia hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the meantime, it is planning to stun everyone with the most expensive, most extravagant Eurovision Song Contest competition. World economic crisis? What crisis?
While Europe and the rest of the world are struggling with the credit crunch, Russia refuses to let the cracks show. Last year, hosting Eurovision cost Serbia around 24 million Euros. Moscow’s preliminary estimate is $42 million. Ambitious. While Ireland admitted that it would prefer its contestant not to win considering that in the current economic situation the country would not able to sustain the costs of staging such an event, Russia is nonplussed. If there’s one thing it could always do well, even in the darkest communist times, was put on a show. And everyone seemed happy.
The critics have voiced concerns that Eurovision is only a prelude to the 2012 inevitable failure. Optimism is not one of Russia’s natural strengths. To prove everyone wrong, the production utilised twice the lighting and 10 times the video equipment for the largest stage Eurovision has ever seen. And, if you watched the semi-finals, it shows.
Accordnig to Artur Gasparyan, the music editor at the Moscovskij Komsomolets, grand does not mean beautiful. In an interview with Radio Echo Moscow, he complained about neglecting little details that are all so important. For example, the organisers have secured a 6 million Euro lighting set from China, which is to rival the Beijing Olympics show, but the press-packs were laughable. And who needs a 26-meter long bar, the longest in Europe? However, he might have missed the point there. When you can get a drink any time of day or night, surrounded by young fashionable people (of whom there are many), who cares about details? Or about anything, for that matter?
And, of course, there had to be a scandal about the Russian contestant. Anastasia Prihodko, from the Ukraine, has spent the last months defending herself against accusations of racism. She was stressed, she protested. However, footage of her saying that black people can be bought is circulating all over the internet. She also refused to sing with the Russian Jewish choir. Her brother has been photographed at the Ukrainian Nationalists meeting wearing their arm-band. He denied any affiliation. Is there a shame if you don’t like the Chinese? Well, if you are a national figurehead, maybe there is. Too bad no one told her.
While Moscow is getting ready to, well, rock you, the rest of the country is, well, rocking. In a somewhat different way. Russian Channel 1 news, after running the cheerful Eurovision story, had a nasty counter-balance: the cardiological center, unveiled less than a year ago as part of the national health program in Penza, has been shut down temporarily because of the lack of government subsidies. According to an online newspaper, FORUM.msk.ru, the ministry of health has planned 881 heart surgeries for the cardio-center in the year 2009. So far, 820 surgeries have been performed and the doctors are being forced to take a break. The ministry did not appreciate the doctors complaining to the papers. But what the hell, now they are pushing the numbers up to 1881 treated patients. Per year. In a country, where one in a thousand people need some sort of heart surgery every year, this sure does sound...promising.
The citizens of Sochi are losing their homes because people have a tendency to live where new grandiose stadiums would look better. At least five new sports facilities would have to be built to house the 2012 Olympics, along with new roads and a new airport. They might as well budget in the price of snow, because Sochi is a sea-side resort famous for its mild climate. That’s where Putin has his summer residence. The logic of choosing it as a capital for the Winter Olympics is indeed overpowering. And the current mayor, of the government party, still manages to get over 70% at the recent election. Out of forty-odd contestants. Miracle?
So Russia is desperate to prove to the world that it is developed country with stable economy. And it’s ready to cash out for the status update. The estimate is, again according to Moskovkij Komsomolets, that if Russia does indeed host the World Cup, it would cost between $12 and $15 billion on top of the Sochi expenditure - compared to $400 million Germany had spent recently. Godspeed. Maybe, while Russia is kicking the ball around listening to cheap Europop, it should consider simply buying a whole new country instead. It’s easier than rebuilding the old one.
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