Lukashenko Still in Sochi - World Remains Safe for Irony

Be not afraid!  In what is almost certainly a delicious coincidence and not because he heard the corruption dinner bell calling him home, Europe's Last Dictator™, Alyaksandr Lukashenko, is still safe and sound in Sochi.  What's he doing in Sochi, you ask?  Well Belarus' official news agency reports that the strongman is skiing with his 6-year old at Krasnaya Polyana, of course.  Lukashenka has taken an "indefinite leave of absence" from benignly tending to his flock and, if he can get himself off the slopes, "the president would familiarize himself with the progress of the construction of Belarusian sports and tourist facilities there and meet with representatives of Russian government and business circles."

Wait, what? 

Oh, I'm sorry.  Maybe I should have mentioned that, in addition to being the freely-elected leader of Belarus, Lukashenko is also head of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus.  And an award-winner.  Straight from the awkwardly-translated horse's mouth over at the Belarus NOC website:

President of Belarus Receives Special Prize from International Olympic Committee (08.06.2006)

By the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has been awarded the special prize “Sport and Society” for the year 2006.
This award has been conferred on the Head of State in recognition of his great personal contribution to the development of sports in modern society.
The special prize is an annual award by the IOC upon proposal of national Olympic committees to a person or an organization which have made great contribution to the propagandizing of sports in their countries and in the whole world.

Or maybe you prefer his 2008 prize from European Olympic Committees for "Outstanding Contribution to the Olympic Movement.  Believe it or not, those wet blankets over at Play the Game didn't think that one was such a good idea.

Now, this is a perfect segue for me to launch into a discussion of what that means and what on Earth a National Olympic Committee does, how in the hell dictators win awards from the IOC (or get to be president of the IOC, for that matter), etc.  I'm going to take on these issues in my next posts but, suffice it to say, it is unusual for the head of a nation to also be the head of said nation's NOC.  Like, I can't think of one off the top of my head.  This is gonna be fun.  

In the meantime, I'm surprised that the Russians haven't made a bigger deal out of a head of state and head of an NOC testing out their newly-built slopes and touring the lack of progress made so far on the Olympic build.  Hell, at this point I'm not sure who comes off looking worse.
 
***Bonus unrelated political opinion:  How fun is it to go through Lukashenko's life in quotes in light of everything happening in Tunisia/Egypt/Yemen/Bahrain/Iran?  Super fun.  It's almost like he was cloned from a Middle East leader and dropped in the snow in Belarus.  Pulled directly from the all-knowing Wikipedia:

Lukashenko himself commented about the criticism on him by saying: "I've been hearing these accusations for over 10 years and we got used to it." Before the polling he said: "We are not going to answer them. I want to come from the premise that the elections in Belarus are held for ourselves. I am sure that it is the Belarus people who are the masters in our state." He warned that anyone joining an opposition protest would be treated as a "terrorist", adding: "We will wring their necks, as one might a duck".