It's Not A Political Convention
The 2026 Winter Olympics have arrived in Milano-Cortina with the usual pomp: flags, anthems, flashy choreography, and the insistence that, for two weeks, humanity has agreed to behave itself. This is the Olympics’ oldest and most profitable illusion: the idea that sports are a kind of international diplomacy, and that the International Olympic Committee is the custodian of peace. But if the Games are supposed to be a festival of global harmony—“ armonia ,” the Italian word pervading the opening ceremonies—someone forgot to tell the world. Every Olympiad begins with the “Parade of Nations,” a carefully staged procession of sovereign states reduced to marching athletes in matching warm-ups. Every Olympiad invites the same sentimental interpretations. Iran and Israel are only a few letters apart: See? They can coexist. The United States and China share the same stadium: Isn’t that something? No…not even close. This is the same frighteningly stu...