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By Daniel Ellsberg
$23
$40
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Satire by Andy Borowitz —
All that glitters is not gold, this tongue-in-cheek dispatch from the Beijing Olympics warns.
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Flickr / M@rcopako
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If you want to read a personal account of Michael Phelps’ training philosophy, you’ll have to wait until December, when the Olympic swimming champion’s “Built to Succeed” hits store shelves. As much as we value the written word around here, is it really necessary for every celebrity to pen a memoir? There are trees at stake, after all.
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Michael Phelps’ million-dollar bonus for making Olympic history is chump change compared with the hundreds of millions he is expected to rake in over the course of his career. What does swimming have to do with credit cards? Visa is prepared to spend millions to convince you the answer is “a lot.”
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Satire by Andy Borowitz —
A member of the U.S. Olympic diving team was disqualified from competition today when it was learned that he did not have a sufficiently compelling human story line to exploit on the NBC telecast of the worldwide sporting event.
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The Beijing Olympics are proof that the rule of China’s Communist Party has been validated. Yet human rights abuses continue. What’s really going on? What kind of country is China becoming? Two new books help provide answers.
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By Amy Goodman — Open opposition, the right to challenge those in power, is a mainstay of any healthy democracy. The Democratic and Republican conventions will test the commitment of the two dominant U.S. political parties to the cherished tradition of dissent. Things are not looking good.
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AP photo / Mary Altaffer
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John McCain comes off as the tough-talking hard-liner in this Financial Times story about the Russia-Georgia conflict. Even more of a hard-liner than President Bush, who ever-so-reluctantly came around to agreeing with McCain on Monday after initially taking “a much more diluted stance” (just like Barack Obama), as John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, put it in the FT article’s completely unsurprising conclusion.
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In case you missed it, here’s part of President Bush’s sit-down with NBC’s Olympic host Bob Costas on Sunday, during which a somewhat squirmy Bush talked about what he said to Vladimir Putin during the opening festivities, lamenting how the fighting in Georgia was conflicting with the spirit of the Olympics.
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White House / Eric Draper
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If you’ve been watching the Olympics this year, chances are you’ve had your share of George W. Bush sightings. The president isn’t exactly known for his worldliness, but he found the spirit of international understanding and friendship to be a pleasant surprise—a “very uplifting experience,” as he put it. Imagine that.
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In the latest “Left, Right & Center,” Tony Blankley, Robert Scheer, Arianna Huffington and Matt Miller give their takes on the latest events from the campaign trail, the Beijing Olympic Games and who’s getting it right (if anyone) about the mounting energy crisis and how to handle it.
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By Eugene Robinson — World attention, in addition to fixing on the spectacle of the Olympics and the Chinese economic miracle, will be cast on a record of human rights abuse and environmental degradation.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — By revoking Olympian Joey Cheek’s visa because he had the nerve to speak out about Darfur and the Chinese government’s support for Sudan’s barbarous regime, Chinese authorities guaranteed that the opening of these games would focus as much on politics as on sports.
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Wiki Commons/Andy Miah
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Naomi Klein points out that while repression in China is nothing new, Police State 2.0 has nothing to do with Communist ideological purity and everything to do with creating “the ultimate consumer cocoon for Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cell phones, McDonald’s happy meals, Tsingtao beer, and UPS delivery—to name just a few of the official Olympic sponsors. But the hottest new market of all is the surveillance itself ... an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex.”
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By William Pfaff — The Chinese authorities’ anxiety that the Olympic Games will be a success reflects their need to find international confirmation of their general political and economic policies of the past 20 years.
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According to state media, a raid in China’s northwestern frontier region killed 16 policemen. Officials quickly tried to hush concerns about the Olympic Games, which are just a few days from opening thousands of miles away in Beijing, where the government has invested billions to clean up and secure the city.
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AP photo / EyePress
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When Beijing was chosen to host the Olympics, the Chinese government pledged to make human rights improvements, but Amnesty International says the situation has actually gotten worse because of the coming games: “Specifically we’ve seen crackdowns on domestic human rights activists, media censorship and increased use of re-education through labor as a means to clean up Beijing and surrounding areas.”
Posted on Jul 28, 2008
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Wiki Commons
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Sectarian battles for control of Iraq’s national team between Shiites and Sunnis have led the International Olympic Committee to block Iraq from participating in the Summer Games in Beijing. The ban was upheld Thursday after the Iraqis failed to meet a deadline to appeal the decision, thereby losing a chance to generate considerable PR and/or pride for the wounded country.
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AP photo / Ng Han Guan
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Taking cues from past Olympic protests and the U.S.‘s notoriously ironic “free speech zones,” the Chinese government has declared its openness to dissidents criticizing the state—so long as dissent is contained in one of three areas, does not threaten vague notions of national unity, and is submitted five days beforehand to the local security bureau.
Posted on Jul 23, 2008
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In war-ravaged Iraq, the paralympic athletes have a better shot of winning gold medals, according to this report from The New York Times.
Posted on Jul 8, 2008
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Flickr.com / sfthqphotos
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Probably in an effort to calm tensions before the Olympic torch runs through Tibet’s capital city of Lhasa, the Chinese government released over 1,100 people alleged to have been involved in March’s unrest, which brought the world’s attention to the country and left several dozen people dead.
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cnn.com
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John Amaechi is not your typical basketball star. The former center for Utah, Orlando and Cleveland is the first NBA alumnus to openly declare that he’s gay, and now he’s combining sports and cultural politics in another sense by serving as Amnesty International’s sports ambassador to this summer’s Beijing Olympics.
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Shane T. McCoy / U.S. Navy
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By Robert Scheer — Ah, yes, those torture confessions have proved so useful. That, at least, was the claim of our president in justifying one of the most egregious assaults ever on this nation’s commitment to the rule of law. But now comes news that charges have been dropped against the so-called Sept. 11 attacks’ 20th hijacker, one of dozens so identified, because the “evidence” he supplied under torture and later recanted is not credible enough to go to trial.
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May has already been a particularly brutal month for natural disasters, with the Burma cyclone, tornadoes in the U.S. and, most recently, the devastating earthquake in China, which seismologists say registered at magnitude 7.9. Rescue efforts near the epicenter have been hindered by rain and aftershocks, but with thousands still trapped in the wreckage every minute counts.
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sikhtimes.com/worldhum.com
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As opening day of the Beijing Olympics approaches, the Chinese government and official media have intensified their attacks on the Dalai Lama, blaming him for the recent violent demonstrations in Tibet. Pico Iyer, whose new book is “The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama,” talks with Truthdig’s Jon Wiener about this intercultural conflict and about the Dalai Lama himself.
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Truthdig / Peter Scheer
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We ran a cartoon a few days ago that showed a Chinese factory churning out “free Tibet” gear. That imaginary image has since become real. The Chinese government has discovered a factory in Guangdong that mass-produced thousands of “free Tibet” flags, which Chinese authorities fear will soon end up on the streets of Hong Kong as the Olympic torch makes its way there.
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AP photo / Bullit Marquez
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The Center for Investigative Reporting —
Two investigative reports uncover the Bush administration’s efforts to suppress legal proceedings against high-ranking Chinese officials—former Trade Minister Bo Xilai and Beijing’s Olympic Organizing Committee President Liu Qi—accused of torturing religious group members.
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Luca Galuzzi - www.galuzzi.it
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Despite disapproval from French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party, which is working on improving relations with the Chinese government, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has championed the Dalai Lama by making the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader an honorary citizen of the City of Light.
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Satire by Andy Borowitz —
Fearful about the prospect of human-rights protesters ruining the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China today announced a plan to move the summer games to a remote location where no one can find them.
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cnn.com
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When CNN commentator Jack Cafferty called the Chinese “a bunch of goons and thugs” on the air April 9, Chinese-Americans were listening—and Saturday morning, thousands protested outside Hollywood’s CNN building, demanding that he be fired.
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AP photo / Noah Berger
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Athletes participating in this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing could be expelled if they fly the Tibetan flag or express political opinions that constitute “propaganda” in official ceremonies and spaces, according to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, but questions abound as to the precise definition of that term.
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www.buddhismus.at
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Speaking from Japan, the Dalai Lama told reporters that he has supported the Beijing Olympics “right from the beginning,” but that protesters have a right to voice themselves. His government in exile, however, released a statement in opposition to the demonstrations that have followed the Olympic torch.
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As the Olympic flame makes its way around the globe, pro-Tibet protesters have disrupted ceremonies in Greece, London and Paris.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Representatives of the International Olympic Committee have warned China that the estimated 30,000 journalists who will cover the Games in Beijing must have unimpeded Internet access. Concerns were raised after the Chinese government blocked access to certain sites during the recent unrest in Tibet.
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AP photo / Charles Dharapak
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Nancy Pelosi in recent weeks has been living up to her reputation as a critic of China. In an interview airing Tuesday, the House speaker tells “Good Morning America” that President Bush should consider skipping the opening ceremonies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already said “nein” to the affair.
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chinadaily.cn
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China has accused international media outlets of showing bias in news reports of the riots in Tibet. However, the media, too, have a gripe: Beijing has prevented foreign media from entering Tibet and neighboring provinces and has limited domestic access to foreign media reports.
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AP photo / Ashwini Bhatia
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Shortly after Chinese officials admitted that their country’s troops had fired on Tibetan protesters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for an investigation into China’s accusations that the Dalai Lama was somehow behind the recent violence in Tibet, according to the BBC.
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Frederick Deligne, Le Pelerin, France —
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AP photo / Gurinder Osan
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Even though certain inherently prohibitive logistics make it impossible for the Dalai Lama to resign from his position as Tibet’s spiritual leader, that’s what he’s threatening to do insofar as he can if the tensions and violence in Tibet continue to escalate.
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Flickr / sfthqphotos
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The governor of Tibet has denied reports that Chinese security forces fired on the civilians and monks who have been demonstrating in the capital city of Lhasa and neighboring provinces. Opposition leaders say 80 or more protesters have been killed and witnesses have reported Chinese soldiers shooting at monks.
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poptower.com
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Director Steven Spielberg was an artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics but has resigned because of China’s unwillingness to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. As he put it, “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual.”
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Canada has won its share of Olympic medals over the years, but apparently not enough. Whether to reward or recognize its athletes, Canada will now pay them $20,000 per gold medal. That’s not so extraordinary—a number of countries, including the U.S., already shell out, and Italian gold medalists in the Turin Games took home a cool $150,000 per gold.
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AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris
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Wildfires are threatening Olympia, birthplace of the Olympics and home to some of Greece’s most precious archaeological treasures, including relics from the Temple of Zeus. Authorities are battling fires throughout the country, and dozens of people have been killed.
Posted on Aug 26, 2007
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By Ellen Goodman — As technology becomes exponentially more sophisticated and pervasive, the sports world finds itself awash in ethical dilemmas. So where does a lightning fast amputee fit in the spectrum of Barry Bonds with his alleged doping and Tiger Woods with his better-than-perfect Lasik eyes?
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Left: wikipedia.org / Right: hellochicago.com
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Two of America’s great cities are going head to head for the opportunity to host the 2016 Olympic Games. With radically different cultures, Chicago hopes its work ethic and business savvy will impress the U.S. Olympic Committee, while L.A. is banking on experience and Hollywood-caliber glitz.
Posted on Apr 12, 2007
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Despite the fact that the two countries are still officially at war, North and South Korea will make a joint bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, where they hope to compete as one country. While the rest of the world has a meltdown over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the South seems determined to resolve its differences peacefully.
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