Should the Olympics be moved out of Russia? (Open version)

Thank you for your argument, I will now proceed with my counters. There are very similar conditions between the 1936 Berlin games and 2014 Sochi games. When I was referring to the Berlin games in relation to the upcoming Sochi games, I should have been much more specific. During the Berlin games, there was a great deal of anti-Semitic propaganda. Hitler originally did not want Black people or Jews to participate, but due to a boycott of the games, they were allowed. There were many Jews that were excluded from playing for the Germans and only one Jew, Helene Mayer, was allowed to participate for Germany (1). There is a parallel that can be drawn here to that of homosexuals and the upcoming Sochi games. My example does not have the same conditions, but similar conditions exist and as an example, it stands. Just as you have said that we couldn't have known what laws Hitler would pass, we could not have known the laws that Putin would pass, considering the many laws that Putin has put into effect since the 2014 Olympic games were chosen in 2008 (2). Once again you have used the term honor to describe a countries standing. Please provide evidence for the statement, "But Putin was in power in 2008 - and people were/are more aware. On these grounds, we have seen in advance the honor of the country (maybe it would be more specific to say its leader, but my point stands either way) diminish many years in advance." There is no evidence for this claim in your statement, and I do not think we can be conclusive about the honor of an entire country without some evidence. You say the honor of Russia has diminished many years in advance, but what has diminished it? In rebuttal to the argument my opponent has posted on human rights, the intentions of my arguments was not to show that human rights violations are common where the games are being held, but common everywhere. It is a fight that we often find in multiple countries around the world, with no regard to where the games are being held. The point of my statement was to show that it is difficult to withhold people from violating the human rights of others even when the laws uphold human rights, as people still hold within themselves the ability to violate human rights, regardless of the letter of law. You say, "We should not allow our athletes into a country which is violating human rights," when many times the countries they come from may not be upholding human rights. This is what my statement, "Many countries in the past have had problems with human rights violations and this continues to the present day," was supposed to illustrate, and what the links provide. In regards to the political differences in play, these have everything to do with human rights, as rights themselves are connected deeply with politics. Human rights are defined by politics. In rephrasing your argument from your contention on safety, you forget to note that the article posted only mentions the US worried about the athletes safety. Let me reinforce that Russia has the same concerns, but about much more important issues, such as terrorist attacks (3). You say, "as my opponent says, the concern level by Russia would be expected to be high. Note the word "expected", because the evidence of videos, pictures, news reports, stories, examples etc... all contradict this expectation." In terms of the concern level, I was talking about for the athletes in the games and nothing more, which they have a great concern for, and can be seen in their efforts to prevent more serious threats from becoming problems in the games (3). As you could not find the exact wording of the law, I found it with Google (4). This specific wording applies only to St. Petersburg, as I could not find a copy of the federal version, it still applies to our situation. They specifically say, "As public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism, transgenderism amongst minors in this article should be understood activities on purposeful and uncontrolled dissemination of information in a publicly accessible way that can be harmful to the health, moral and spiritual development of minors, including forming in their mind a distorted perception of social equality of traditional and nontraditional marital relationships." This is where they actually define what they mean by propaganda, "understood activities on purposeful and uncontrolled dissemination of information in a publicly accessible way that can be harmful to the health, moral and spiritual development of minors." You say that propaganda isn't defined, but the law states otherwise. As for the my opponents refute to my statements about the athletes being punished and moving the games to Vancouver, I would like to point out that many of the facilities have been re-purposed and possibly not suitable for hosting another Olympic games. This is actually the case for many old Olympic venues, but we shouldn't forget those that go abandoned (5). It would be a lot of work for a country to do in half a year to prepare an entire venue, when the Russians have already had five and a half to work on their own. This is another possibility as to why the athletes would be punished, as the facilities many not be glorious enough for their abilities. I appreciate the audience and my adversary in this debate and I await the rebuttal. (1) http://www.ushmm.org... (2)http://en.wikipedia.org... (3)http://www.bbc.co.uk... (4)http://www.comingoutspb.ru... (5)http://www.huffingtonpost.com...