Is it Vladimir Putin to blame for the latest doping scandal surrounding Russian athletes? Germany-based American political analyst Phil Butler does not buy it, pointing to the absurdity of the accusations.
"It's Putin again… Or, is that just an echo from up yonder? This time athletes doping to win Olympic medals is all because of the arch villain, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," the political analyst remarks ironically in his recent piece for New Eastern Outlook.
The World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) latest report, written by Dick Pound and released on January 14, 2016, suggests that the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) could have been involved in some sort of secret negotiations with the Russian leadership regarding athletes' doping cases.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has denounced the WADA's allegations, pointing to the fact that the organization has not presented any evidence to prove that Moscow was deliberately turning a blind eye to the use of doping by Russian athletes.
"Our American and other partners have practically blamed the president for the doping [scandal], which makes things absurd," Mutko told R-Sports.
The scandal emerged in early November 2015 when WADA accused Russia of breaching anti-doping regulations. In response, on November 11, Russian President Putin ordered Sports Minister Mutko to carry out a scrupulous investigation into alleged doping practices among Russian athletes.
Phil Butler notes that "the corporate sport" has a long record of corruption scandals.
To name but a few: the Salt Lake City bribery scandal involved 10 IOC [International Olympic Committee] members ousted for receiving improper inducements; one of the world's most powerful men, billionaire Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Group and IOC member, was pardoned after having been convicted of financial wrongdoing and tax evasion, so that he could remain on the IOC; prominent Australian IOC member, Phil Coles was investigated for having received $6,300 in jewelry from an 'unidentified' Greek individual from the city that was bidding to host the Olympics in 1990.
What makes matters even worse, "there is no end to the collusion, graft, rigging, and close associations with corporations, government, and even gambling, sport is all messed up," Butler underscores.
The blame game is looking utterly nonsensical, since the corporate sport is just a reflection of the "double standard" international policy.
One of the most glaring examples was the unwillingness of Washington, London and Brussels to condemn Turkey's treacherous downing of the Russian Su-24 on Syrian airspace and denounce the Erdogan family's illicit oil trade with Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq, which is fuelling terrorism in the Middle Eastern region.
In this light WADA's recent anti-Kremlin accusations look highly politicized and ludicrous.
"We're undone, but the problem is not Vladimir Putin, he just plays in a game where the rules change every second… The Russia doping blaze, all the championship British sporting ethics mumbo-jumbo, it's part and parcel of foreign relations strategy. And as well all know by now, Western bankers are 'all in' against Putin and his team, the BRICS," Butler underscores.
"Putin did not rig sport, we did," the American analyst notes.
