Think Again: The Olympics

[dgriffin]

Interesting set of articles in this month's Foreign Policy magazine. You can view them on the internet if you sign up. It's free.

www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4405



Think Again: The Olympics

Thrill of victory: For China’s communist leaders, the Beijing Games are a matter of national pride.

"The Olympics Aren’t Political”

Five Ways Beijing Will Be the Biggest, Baddest Olympics Ever
From massive construction budgets to an unprecedented security lockdown, the Beijing Games are already Olympian in proportion.

Stop Playing Games
By John Hoberman -
The Olympic Games were founded to bridge cultural divides and promote peace. Instead, they often mask human rights abuses, do little to spur political change, and lend legitimacy to the world’s unsavory regimes.

Who Gets Rich at the Games?
By Brad R. Humphreys
The Olympics are about more than medals, pride, and national ambition. They’re also about blatant commercialism and high—paying corporate sponsors. Today’s games are designed to make big bucks—and it’s not the hosts who are walking away with the gold.

The World’s Worst Olympians
International sporting events are about nothing if not national pride. Here are five countries whose Olympic performance leaves their countrymen with little to celebrate.

[dgriffin]

This afternoon, even Radio China International (RCI), the slickest propaganda machine on shortwave, is mentioning some of the reaction riots in the country, as well as extremely tight security in Beijing. Subway riders are being searched for all sorts of contraband, including poison that might be used by terrorists.
(RCI via relay through Sackville, NB - 15,410 KHz at 18:30 UTC)

[dgriffin]

Commentators on Canadian Radio today said that no female contestants are on the Saudi Arabian Olympic team because powerful clerics have banned it. Why has the IOC not complained about this? Why is The Kingdom allowed in the games?

[dgriffin]

IOC members reportedly enraged over China internet block

They will not have complete access to the internet during the Olympic Games. [AFP]

Journalists in Beijing have been told they will not have complete access to the internet during the Olympic Games. [AFP]

China's muzzling of the international media covering the Beijing games has angered the Olympic movement.

Our reporter in Beijing, Karen Barlow, says members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who have spoken to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are questioning China's right to hold the games.

More China Stories:

* China moves to combat Olympic smog
* 'Sensitive' websites to be blocked during Olympics
* China tightening security amid Olympic terror fears

MORE AT Radio Australia's Website:
www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200807/s2320798.htm?tab=latest

[dgriffin]

IOC lies on web access have hurt my reputation: Kevan Gosper

A HUMILIATED Kevan Gosper has accused the International Olympic Committee of betrayal, condemning the world sporting body for striking a secret deal with China to censor the international media during the Beijing Games.

A red-eyed and crestfallen Gosper, a senior IOC member for 31 years, told The Australian that both his reputation and that of the controversy-plagued IOC had been seriously dented by China's decision to restrict internet access for journalists covering the Games.

And Mr Gosper, who is chairman of the IOC press commission and vice-president of the co-ordination commission for Beijing, suggested it might be just the first pre-Games promise China breaks.

###
Gee, Ya think?

MORE at:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24110428-2702,00.html

[clarencebunsen]

Olympian, adj., Relating to a mountain in Thessaly, once inhabited by the gods, now a repository for yellowing newspapers, beer bottles and mutilated sardine cans, attesting to the presence of the tourist and his appetite. A.B.

[frankcor]

Jul 31, 2008 15:57:55 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

Commentators on Canadian Radio today said that no female contestants are on the Saudi Arabian Olympic team because powerful clerics have banned it. Why has the IOC not complained about this? Why is The Kingdom allowed in the games?

Heck, the Soviet Union had no female contestants for years, especially on their women's gymnastics teams.

[dgriffin]

Aug 6, 2008 15:29:34 GMT -5 frankcor said:

Jul 31, 2008 15:57:55 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

Commentators on Canadian Radio today said that no female contestants are on the Saudi Arabian Olympic team because powerful clerics have banned it. Why has the IOC not complained about this? Why is The Kingdom allowed in the games?

Heck, the Soviet Union had no female contestants for years, especially on their women's gymnastics teams.

Yeah, Frank, but that was before we were all liberated. Wasn't it?

[frankcor]

And before I discovered Russian girls.

[dgriffin]

Here's a sad article from the International Herald Tribune:

Disputes aside on Bush visit to Beijing
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/07/asia/AS-China-Bush.php

"BEIJING: U.S. President George W. Bush used some of his sternest language to knock China's human rights record in a big speech in the neighborhood on the day before Beijing finally unveils its Olympic Games. Message delivered, mission accomplished. Now bring on the sports"

If that's representative of the kind of international support felt for the Chinese people, I pity them.

"Chinese government puts people first, and is dedicated to maintaining and promoting its citizens basic rights and freedom. Chinese citizens have freedom of religion. These are indisputable facts," said one Chinese official.

"Sun Zhe, an expert on China-U.S. relations at Tsinghua University's Institute of International Studies, said Bush's attendance at the games — the first by a sitting president outside the United States — would overcome any lasting resentment. (about the speech.)

"His visit to China will draw a relatively perfect conclusion to the China-US relationship under his presidency," Sun said."

Is "hunky dory" the same as "relatively perfect?"

[corner]

Maybe its time to end the games in as much i enjoy some of the sports. The state of international politics the highly political IOC, and theacrosss the board use of performance enhancing drugs, as well as currently the Chinese attempt to influence the outcome of medals by withdrawing athletes visa, refusing to let designated alternates in to practise etc. is turning the whole thing into a farce..Then look at the host countries expoenses to build infrastucture etc the entire thing in my view has lost its meaning and focus..Athletes if they are selected to go should also leave their political agendas and statements at home.

[concerned]

And 1 1/2 million Chinese have been relocated from Beijing---no one seems to know where they went.

[dan]

"And 1 1/2 million Chinese have been relocated from Beijing---no one seems to know where they went."

Check the coal mines. They loose 'em there all the time.

[frankcor]

I disagree -- the games cause more good than harm. At least once every four years, (even when the US hosts them) human rights become a high-profile topic and that's a good thing. Freedom for the Chinese people is more likely today than if there were no Olympics.

[dgriffin]

Aug 7, 2008 9:06:12 GMT -5 corner said:

... as well as currently the Chinese attempt to influence the outcome of medals by withdrawing athletes visa, refusing to let designated alternates in to practise etc. is turning the whole thing into a farce..

If that's happening, then better to let it play its course to continually show the IOC's true colors and the games for what they have become.

BTW, I haven't been watching, but where are the Hollywood Foreign Policy Experts and Do-goodniks.