When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Crimea last week, it caused an international outcry — and everybody forgot about the 2014 Paralympic Games.
Granted, the Paralympic Games weren't exactly all over the news before Putin made his push, but they've been completely overshadowed now. Putin wouldn't have interrupted the Olympics by responding to the uprising against Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, so why don't the Paralympics get the same treatment?
"We can't be sure what Putin was thinking," UCLA political science professor and Russia expert Daniel Treisman told Mashable. "But clearly he did not want to ruin the spectacle of the Sochi Olympics by intervening in Ukraine. It would have been a major embarrassment for those heads of state and other dignitaries who did accept his invitation to attend.
"Clearly he does not think that the Paralympics are on the same level in terms of attracting the press and attention of the world."
Crimea is less than 300 miles across the Black Sea from Sochi. The White House has announced it will no longer send a presidential delegation to Sochi for the Paralympics in response to what's happening in Ukraine; British officials have also announced their absence from the Games. Both the US and Britain will still be sending athletes to compete, but Germany's National Paralympic Committee has announced that it will cancel the entire team's trip if a travel warning is issued for Sochi.
In 2006, the Olympic truce to safeguard athletes and fans was officially expanded to cover the Paralympics. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for participating nations to observe the truce until the conclusion of the Paralympics.
Observing the truce is one thing, of course, but there's no guarantee anyone will actually observe the Paralympics.
