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There was plenty of pomp and ceremony during Sunday’s closing ceremonies for the Paris Olympics. There was also a great deal of self congratulation from officials citing how the games set a standard for global unity. But as Tim Fisk points out, the backslapping may be a bit misplaced.
“There are 59 wars going on around the world at the same time the Olympics are occurring and that this represents kind of a surreal moment in international affairs, where we have the celebration of peace happening at the same time we have record number of armed conflicts that have ever been recorded.”
Sisk, a professor of international and comparative politics at the University of Denver, is the author of a new book, “Sports in International Politics: Between Power and Peacebuilding.”