The two bombs that tore through the Russian city of Volgograd this week have focused the world鈥檚 attention on the potential dangers at the Winter Olympics in February.
As a powerhouse in winter sports, sa国际传媒 has to be concerned about the risk to its athletes, coaches and supporters. But staying away would undermine the Olympic movement.
The threat of terrorist attacks is a constant undertone behind modern public events, one that was on everyone鈥檚 mind in the lead-up to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
The federal government spent $900 million and dispatched 25,000 police officers, soldiers and security guards to protect the venues. In an effort to avoid tragedy, security regulations extended across the water to Victoria, where airport-type screening appeared at the Inner Harbour floatplane terminal, and Vancouver-bound bus passengers weren鈥檛 allowed to board unless they had photo ID.
And that was for an Olympic Games in one of the safest cities in the world. For the Russians, the threat is real and the bombers live inside their borders.
Analysts believe the attacks, which killed 31 people and wounded 104 in Volgograd, were carried out by Chechen rebels who want their own Islamic state. They have orchestrated many suicide bombings, and Chechen leader Doku Umarov has said his group would attack more civilian targets and the Olympics in Sochi, 650 kilometres from Volgograd.
With the world鈥檚 attention focused on them, the Olympics make a tempting target or backdrop for political action. They can also present people and governments with difficult moral issues.
The 2014 Olympics became a political issue in 2013 as countries around the world condemned the Russians for introducing new anti-gay laws that will be enforced during the Games. The question of whether to boycott Sochi because of those laws has divided governments and athletes.
The Volgograd bombings, however, go far beyond political posturing. The killings are aimed at least at frightening people away from the Games and disrupting transportation to Sochi.
If Umarov goes further and carries out his threat to attack the Games, it would revive the horror of the Munich massacre in 1972, when terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes, coaches and judges.
However, determined as the Chechen rebels are, 2014 is not 1972. With no history of violence, the Munich Games had relatively little security. Vancouver鈥檚 security bill was topped by the $1.6 billion spent in London in 2012, and Russia will probably spend even more.
The Russians have promised heavy security at Sochi, including a restricted zone 100 kilometres long and 40 kilometres wide. With such a thick belt of protection, those at the Games could be safer than those just outside; experts suggest the rebels could hit softer targets beyond the zone.
Despite the Russians鈥� best efforts, it will be impossible to make the Games entirely safe. Vancouver鈥檚 safety was partly good management and partly good luck.
Russia might not be as lucky.
If the bombers do get through, we should blame the terrorists and not the Russians. When fanatics would slaughter the innocent, all civilized societies must stand together to try to stop them.
There is no question that the risk of violence against athletes and spectators is real.
However, to abandon the Games in the face of that risk is to yield the field to the terrorists.
Athletes show one kind of courage in reaching the Olympic pinnacle. Those who believe in the Olympics must show another kind by defying the murderers.
