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Column: Sochi much more than mere fun and games

By John Leicester
Published February 5, 2014 3:53pm ET
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Column: Sochi much more than mere fun and games
Russian President Vladimir Putin pets a snow leopard cub at the snow leopard sanctuary in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Putin checked in Tuesday at a preserve for endangered snow leopards and visited a group of cubs born last summer in the mountains above the growing torrent of activity in Sochi for the Winter Games. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service) | Alexei Nikolsky

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Olympic Games, a washing powder for autocrats everywhere. Got a spotty record on human rights? Is your government’s repression of homosexuals, political opponents, activists of all stripes, independent media and other innocents muddying its reputation? Host the games! Guaranteed, at least temporarily, to help divert attention from those pesky stains.

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