Attachment #16: The Impactful Use of Sports and Culture Bans
Sports
Use of sports bans that affect the masses will be impactful: more and more sports are instituting bans on Russian (and Belarusian) athletes. The harsh reality is that politics and sports long have been uneasy partners (remember Trump criticizing NFL players who took a knee for the national anthem as a peaceful protest of racial discrimination and police brutality). Certainly Putin is benefiting from the success of Russian athletes on the world stage; it can almost be considered as if it is a validation of his regime.
The International Paralympic Committee banned Russian and Belarusian athletes. Hockey (Putin’s favourite team sport) is being affected; the Canadian Hockey League cancelled this year’s Russia-Canada series and is considering a ban on Russian and Belarusian prospects from its import draft. Even NHL Russian players, like Alex Ovechkin, are facing a barrage of abuse on social media platforms and boos at the rink. He of course is in a difficult spot because he has family members in Russia.
Others affected include: ice skating (no, to competing in the world figure skating championships late March in Montpellier, France); tennis (no team competitions, e.g. Davis Cup, Billie Jean Cup plus only permitting play without national flags in the ATP and WTA tours and the Grand Slams) as well the All England Lawn Tennis Club have banned Russians from this years Wimbledon tournament; skiing (the International Ski Federation, FIS, competition where Norway said they wouldn’t allow Russian athletes to compete regardless what the FIS decided); soccer; basketball (the International Basketball Federation suspended Russia to try and qualify for the World Cup in September); track and field; rugby; volleyball (the International Volleyball Federation stripped Russia from hosting the men’s world championships in August); rowing; badminton; canoeing; triathlon; swimming (but they wimped out and are allowing Russians to compete “as neutrals” under the flag of the sport’s governing body, known as FINA); cycling (but allowing Russian riders to compete as neutrals); the September Russian Formula One Grand Prix has been cancelled.
The other side of sport, the sponsors, will come under pressure to cut ties. Adidas, the maker of the Russian national soccer team jerseys, has suspended its partnership.
The concept of glamorous sports events being a tool with which to normalize the conduct of potentially dangerous superpowers and, by the way, pay for the very expensive event has been shattered. The Russians fought a war with Georgia over the disputed territory of South Ossetia during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics; the takeover of Crimea happened hours after the end of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and then hours after the end of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games Putin attacks Ukraine. Obviously the other big, expensive circus, the May Champions League final in St. Petersburg, has been moved to Paris. These events have put the lie to the theory; they certainly didn’t make Russia compliant.
The strategy should focus on allowing, even encouraging, Russia’s top athletes to leave the country.
Culture
The Hermitage Amsterdam has decided to cut ties with the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The Swedish Academy that hands out the Nobel Prize in literature broke a long-standing practice not to make political statements and condemned the invasion, noting that its history and mission are deeply rooted in the traditions of freedom of expression, belief and inquiry. They stated that we express “our abhorrence of the Russian government’s unjustified attack on Ukraine and its people.”
Ukraine is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, including ones in Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv; all four cities have been subjected to artillery attacks and air bombardment. The sites are quickly being marked with an internationally recognized sign for protection of cultural heritage. As a leading architectural historian from devastated city of Kharkiv said, “Our Kharkiv is a new Warsaw, a new Dresden, a new Rotterdam.” “The irony”, a curator observes, “is that we are having to save Russian artists’ work from Russians.”
Attachment #17: Both Arctic Research and Space Programs Will Be Affected
Arctic protection and research: Seven countries that ring the North Pole have pulled back from the Arctic Council, the international body that seeks to build co-operation on the development of the Arctic in protest. Canada, the US, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland (Russia is the eighth member) announced they won’t participate in any meeting or work going on.
Space travel consequences will be to the detriment of Russia’s long term. Among the far-reaching consequences of Moscow’s unprovoked attack may be disruptions in space exploration. The Russian space agency Roscosmos operates one of the station’s core segments, prompting concern about continued cooperation on board. The European Space Agency’s Mars ambitions may see a delay. It’s a joint project between ESA and Roscosmos and the invasion makes its planned launch this year very unlikely.
Russia’s space program was already facing monetary woes driven in part by a decline in US dollars. NASA no longer needs Soyuz flights to get humans into orbit now that commercial spaceflight has taken off. Without investment, Russia is unlikely to be able to afford any semblance of deep-space activities or the creation of its own space station.