Cable News Clips

The 2014 Winter Olympics were held there. And I've actually spent time there. When my grandmother joined a peace group in the mid '80s, they had a "sister town" in the USSR - 2/12 hours up in the Caucasus Mountains. She asked me to go with her and I thought she must be insane, but it really was the trip of a lifetime (literally). And the closest city was Sochi, so we stayed there. And on the way down the only place to eat was some sort of hideaway that served us dinner (we had guides everywhere who made arrangements).

There was some guy in a bathrobe sitting on a bench outside who asked me who we were, so I told him. But I learned much later that those who used that "hideaway" were KGB. And no, it wasn't Putin who I spoke with. Everyone was very friendly on that trip, we met with other peace groups, but even people on the street were pleased to meet Americans. But that was under Gorbachev who had instituted more progressive policies, glasnost and perestroika, openness and political reforms. *sigh*