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ACCORDING TO LIZ - Will there be a 2026 Olympics encore performance by Putin?
Today, Thursday, marks the fourth day following the finale of this year’s winter Olympics.
Why is that important?
Because Russia invaded Crimea on February 27, 2014, four days after the end of that year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and annexed it illegally the following month while Ukraine was catching its democratic breath in the wake of its Revolution with Dignity that ousted Viktor Yanukovych as president for trying to tighten ties to Putin.
Because Russia invaded Ukraine itself on February 24, 2022, four days after the end of the Olympics in Beijing, and has wasted millions in rubles and casualties in an attempt to seize the country of Putin’s holiday reminisces with limited success.
What is Putin planning for an encore?
And will it be today, four days after the Milan-Cortina closing ceremonies in despite ongoing economic hardships caused by the ongoing grind on the Ukrainian border?
Or in four more years, as athletes depart the French Alps 2030 Olympic Winter Games?
Dare anyone second-guess the mind of a quixotic despot?
Or do we hope he is now licking his wounds with Russia having gained little ground in its grab for Ukraine while Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people still stand tall?
Battered, yes, but resolute against the tyrannical aspirations of the grandson of Stalin’s cook.
* * *
On the other side of the Atlantic, many chose to forego the spectacle in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night in favor of attending or watching the People’s State of the Union co-hosted by MoveOn and MeidasTouch which took place on the National Mall with the Capitol lit up in the background.
MoveOn as one of the largest progressive advocacy organizations in the country that has been championing people-powered progress since 1998, and MeidasTouch is the fastest growing independent news network in the world – “unapologetically pro-democracy. Because TRUTH is golden.”
In the cold of the mall, legislators from districts across America chose to bring real people with real stories to tell about the state of their country since Trump’s inauguration backed by his billionaire buddies in January 2025.
Some on stage were moved to tears as experiences revealed a government, not in a state of union but of denial, with a majority of ordinary Americans sicker, poorer, and less secure as the direct result of the administration’s actions and for putting the wealth of the plutocrats above the health and safety of ordinary people.
* * *
As Vermont’s Becca Balint put it towards the end of the People’s State of the Union, evoking the last line of June Jordan’s Poem for South African Women presented at the United Nations in 1956: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
The Vermont member of Congress continued: “We are the ones, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for, that are going to change the course, are going turn the tide on this dark, dark time.”
She called for open hearts and compassion for all people living in this country, for us to draw strength from each other, and she put the blame for our current suffering squarely on the man “who spreads division and fear” and the administration that is trying to break us.
“… But they can’t,” she goes on.
Then, echoed preeminent philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to whom freedom meant shouldering the burden of personal responsibility for our lives and the choices we make; choices and actions that initiate change and shape our collective futures.
She continues: “It’s us, it’s in our hands and it’s our collective courage that is going to make the difference… with people who are forward-looking, people who understand the stakes, and that we have to stand up for not just our individual rights, but for the rights of everyone across this country.
“… We must be the light for each other… they will not break us because we understand that it is our collective power that is much more powerful than any intimidation that this administration will bring to bear.”
Becca Balint’s rallying call also featured prominently in Barack Obama’s iconic Change is Coming to America speech on Super Tuesday, 2008:
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek…”
“We are the hope of the future; the answer to the cynics who tell us our house must stand divided; that we cannot come together; that we cannot remake this world as it should be.
“Because we know what we have seen and what we believe - that what began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus that cannot be ignored; that will not be deterred; that will ring out across this land as a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest –
“Yes. We. Can.”
(Liz Amsden is a former Angeleno now living in Vermont and a regular CityWatch contributor. She writes on issues she’s passionate about, including social justice, government accountability, and community empowerment. Liz brings a sharp, activist voice to her commentary and continues to engage with Los Angeles civic affairs from afar. She can be reached at [email protected].)
