The first waive of pictures that came from Sochi, were posted by western reporters, flabbergasted by the lack of preparedness shown by the games organizers. Twitter feed Sochi Problems has more followers than the actual Sochi games Twitter feed, and it's not surprising. After all, when someone invites you to a massive event, and tells you how awesome it will be, pictures that show just how bad the reality is, can't help but catch attention. Pathways still being finished, hotel rooms missing light bulbs, door handles and sewer piping, hours before the opening ceremony, is not something that westerners are used to. Yet, as someone who was born and spent his childhood in Moscow, Russia, I can tell you, that this is all par for the course, and should be regarded as Russia's understanding of "initial quality". In 1980s my cousin's family got a new apartment in a huge apartment building on the outskirts of Moscow. The first thing that had to be done, was a total remodel. The wood finish did not remotely line up with the floor, which itself was far from flat and leveled. There is a reason why the last car a Russian will buy, is one made in Russia. But all that is, as they say in Russia just "flowers". The "berries" are still coming.
In the case of Sochi Olympics, the Putin's regime is pursuing two goals: 1. To show that today's Russia is able to handle a major sporting event (don't forget, these Olympic games are just a warm up for the World Cup of Soccer, which Russia is scheduled to host in 2018) and 2. To attract foreign investment.
The recipe for showing Russia off as a modern country content with its government, according to Chef Putin, requires releasing some of the most notorious political prisoners such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky - a former billionaire, now a millionaire, who spent 10 years in prison for attempting to mount political opposition to Putin - and PussyRiot - a punk rock band consisting of young women, that performed an unsanctioned concert in a Russian Orthodox church, asking for the Holy Mother to chase away Putin, and a few others others noted political prisoners languishing in Russian courts and prisons for years.
At the same time, all the smaller fish - protesters that have not yet earned international reputation for bold action, are getting imprisoned and put in psychiatric hospitals, which is an old Soviet tradition. Note: If you think that being in a psychiatric hospital is better than being in prison, check out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Combine this with declaring an open season on anyone perceived to be not heterosexual, which is a dish designed for internal Russian consumption, and attempting to put on your best foot forward by sweeping crumbs under the carpet - aka killing stray dogs wondering the streets of Sochi - and you got a winning recipe, according to Chef Putin.
Whether to swallow this witches' brew or not is up to you, but don't feel bad about a certain feeling of schadenfreude that comes from seeing these "not ready for prime-time" Olympic games. And if you do turn these games off, you can rest assured that many Russians are also turning off these games as a sign of protest against not Russia, but Chef Putin's regime.