Lucky bastards living another 189 hours... Superstition could have cost their lifes' !
I don't think it's him playing dumb. I think Marcos is trying to get a provocation which would justify further agreements with United States.
I wonder about the options they were evaluating at the time - To not get rescued because they were Russians vs to not get rescued if nobody else came.
Intense and entertaining finals and Oliviera's (TIME) post win interview was pretty emotional that I think the interviewer herself was getting emotional as well.
Propaganda (the bad kind which is made of lies) clearly rots one's brain. These people clearly thought death was preferable to being rescued by Russians. My mind boggles at the idea of such an extreme. What kind of media were they consuming to reach such nonsensical ideas, to think of a rescue team no less?
India has a long history of banning content/products and accusing corporations of tax evasion when they get at odds with a country or company. This is among the many reasons why they are quite unattractive to multinationals. Arbitrariness and economic success don't go together. China doesn't engage in such behavior.