Riots in Tibet

[BeautifulBurnout]

Linky

I seem to recall the US pulling out of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because the USSR had invaded Afghanistan - oh the irony! - so I am pretty much staggered that the only person who is pulling out of the Beijing so far seems to be a film producer.

It is interesting to see how far our governments will go to protect China's image, and play down the apalling human rights breaches that are inflicted on the chinese and tibetan people on a daily basis. As long ago as 1999, Londoners were banned from protesting in our own city during the state visit of Jiang Zemin (which preceded any legislation requiring permission to protest - they relied on some obscure by-law preventing protests in Royal parks.)

Still, access to the Chinese market is far more important than any of this stuff.

[Sarcasmo]

It really is sad. China has been a horrid polluter, terrible on human rights, politically shady, when not outright overagressive, and because our country is so direly in need of cheap, mass-produced trash, we refuse to do anything. What's really sad is that I don't even think our governments are trying all that hard to preserve China's image. Anyone with rudimentary research skills can learn about how China has sacrificed everything in the name of their economy for the last 15 years. Our governments simply shrug their shoulders as if to say, "What are we gonna do? We need the shit they make and they have too many people to fight." I can so easily see China dominating the world stage in 50 years. Not a pleasant thought, considering how open they are to outside criticism.

[mmm skyscraper]

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by mmm skyscraper

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

True dat. Also I think Sarcasmo is being optimistic if he thinks it will take as long as 50 years for the Chinese to be the dominant world power.

[cacophony]

america is so in debt to china that i think we actually owe them our next three generations of children and the gold fillings in our teeth.

can't really bite the hand that pwn3s you.

[Sarcasmo]

Originally Posted by cacophony

america is so in debt to china that i think we actually owe them our next three generations of children and the gold fillings in our teeth.

can't really bite the hand that pwn3s you.

Not when they can spontaneously create an army of a billion...

[pafufta816]

this whole situation saddens me. it's bitingly absurd that the US government claims to be spreading democracy in the middle east, when it supports china, russia, saudi arabia, etc. how can a democratic ideology flourish when the message is one of support for violations of human rights and censorship through violence?

[BeautifulBurnout]

What pisses me off big time is that, once again, the British Govt. are talking about creating a "ring of steel" round the route of the Olympic Torch when it comes to London to prevent Free Tibet activists from demonstrating. Same as in my first post where they prevented demos against the then Chinese Premier's visit.

WTF?! This is MY country, not some Chinese province, as far as I am aware. The Free Tibet movement is largely made up of Buddhists who are, surprisingly enough, pacifists and non-violent.

Why are the people in government so frightened of a few banners and Tibetan flags and a bunch of loud hailers? Freedom of speech my ass.

Gets right on my wick, I can tell you.

[Sarcasmo]

Yeah, God forbid they profane our precious, scandal-riddled Olympics.

[Deckard]

Oops, that's snuffed it!