Germany Warns China Olympics at Risk (Update: France Considering Boycott)

Germany Warns China Olympics at Risk

www.truthout.org

Berlin - Germany's foreign minister has warned China that its response to the crisis in Tibet may jeopardize the Summer Olympics in Beijing, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Frank Walter Steinmeier criticized the Chinese government's lack of transparency in the ongoing conflict, according to an interview with the newspaper Bild that will appear in Saturday's edition.

"This much is clear: the Olympic games don't work like they did 80 years ago," Steinmeier said according to an advance copy of the article made available by Bild Friday.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Chinese Security Forces Swarm Tibet
The opening stages of the tibetan riots?
Massacre in Tibet!
Riots break out in Tibetan capital

[edit on 25/3/2008 by khunmoon]



[edit on 3/25/08 by FredT]

So maybe it'll end up like human rights groups have been advocating for all the time, a boycott. No matter what, the Olympic will probably not be canceled, but it would be severely desimated, much like 1980 Moscow Olympics was it because of Afghanistan.

All it takes would be one major nation to announce its redrawal from the games. If for instance US was to announce not participating, a whole row of nations would follow, that very well could number 64 nations like at the Moscow games in 1980 did.

Thinking about it, it would be in the interest of Washington if it should happen as it would be a serious blow to Chinese economy.

Which leads to my other thought, that these "spontanious" riots could be instigated by the CIA.

Sports and politics are so wrapped up in eachother nowadays, that the old saying you shouldn't mix the two doesn't hold water anymore.


www.truthout.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 22/3/2008 by khunmoon]

Originally posted by khunmoon

Which leads to my other thought, that these "spontanious" riots could be instigated by the CIA.

You mean some thing like this:

More Mistakes:...Krishna Menon, in Nehru's presence, sharply told the senior officer, who made the presentation, that he was "lapping up CIA agent provocateur propaganda."...
Agent Provocateur - Tibet vs China

Hmmmm not to sure about any CIA connection. Im sure the propaganda types within the communist government there would love to spin it that way.

I for one would like to see a boycott. The process of getting the Olympics is shady to begin with and im sure that alot of bribes crossed the palms of the corrupt IOC (Just look at the Salt lake City games) to get them there in the first place. Heck Tienneman Square alone should have disqualified them to begin with. And they have stayed true to form with wholesale evictions of people to build venues etc.

We also know how the communist government deals with dissent over there as well.

Jimmy Carter gets alot of flack as being a poor president (The standards have been reset though by our present admin) but he started the downfall of the USSR by hitting them on human rights issues. Boycotting the games because of the brutality of the regime would be the beginning step in that direction.

Good for Germany...I was wondering when some countries would start linking the Tibet issue to the upcoming Olympics.

Sadly our own President has been completely silent on this issue. I think Nancy Pelosi is going to travel to Tibet this week to check out first hand what is going on and give the Chinese government a congressional backhand...for what it's worth.

Good post

Call me crazy, but I think that China becoming a superpower is weighing heavily on the Olympics. If it goes well without a hitch then China's prestige in the world will likely rise to the point where the world will be more accepting of China on the world stage. However, if this goes south for them then it could severely damage their prestige, holding back China for a number of years.

I've got to say kudos for Germany, hopefully more nations will start drawing some attention to the Tibet issue and other human rights problems in China. What'd be nice is if Germany would boycott the games and try getting the European Union to follow. If the EU boycotts then it'd send a huge slap to China's face, and would likely be followed by an American boycott. If the EU and the US do a joint boycott it could get the ball rolling on some real change in China.

Thanks to Advisor for a great link

To realmatrix, I highly doubt the Chinese will let Nancy Pelosi into Tibet. If they do it will be a staged set-up of a controlled visit to Lhasa only.

The problem is that unbiased information doesn't come out of Tibet now. We only have the propaganda from the two sides to judge the situation by. No Western journalists are in the country and no ones are allowed to go there.

So far, it's not like Burma with bloggers sending out reports and phone pics.

Wonder if the Tibetans are allowed to have such stuff at all. I doubt there are any unblocked internet lines out of there.

At least the USSR had the decency to allow its sattelite countries, like Romania, to have their own teams in the Olympics, representing their own country.
I could probubly safely assume that there is not a "TeamTibet" participating in the games, this year.
That, alone, should be reason enough to boycott.

[edit on 22-3-2008 by jmdewey60]

[edit on 22-3-2008 by jmdewey60]

reply to post by khunmoon


Sorry...Pelosi is meeting with the Dalai Lama in India, where she is one of the First Top U.S Officials to speak out on this issue:

DHARMSALA, India - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the world Friday to denounce China's crackdown of anti-government protests in Tibet, calling the crisis "a challenge to the conscience of the world."

Pelosi, one of the fiercest Congressional critics of China, was greeted by cheering Tibetans as she arrived to meet the Dalai Lama. She is the first major official to visit the leader of Tibet's exile community since peaceful protests turned violent last week in the Chinese-ruled region.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

My views on Olympic boycotts are in one of those other threads so I won't repeat them.

To khunmoon: And that 1980 boycott made all the difference when it came to the Soviets leaving Afghanistan, didn't it? Oh, ya, they packed right up and left when they realized, "Oh, no. Nobody will come to our games."
Um, no. Not only did they not leave right away, they waited nine more years and another Olympics before cutting out. Don't forget the 'decimation' of the 1984 LA Olympics.

We shouldn't boycott. We shouldn't provoke China.

If China decides to dump Americas debt we are screwed. Big time. If China went on an embargo with America our economy would be crushed.

We should not provoke China. Not over the olympics, not over Tibet... seriously... this is stupid.

The olympics going smoothly is something that makes the whole world feel at ease. If any conflicts arise concerning China and the Olympics I'm just gonna throw in the towel : it's all over.

Instead of aiming our political outrage at our own leaders we have people talking about provoking the red dragon. Seriously - think it through people.

reply to post by NewWorldOver


That would hurt them more then it would us. We would not pay them because they got all that money Illegally and we can prove it in a world court. China has violated every WTO agreement it promised to uphold. The second everyone in America stops buying Chinas crap it is them that will crumble not us, We can buy from anyone we want and we can also make anything we want.

reply to post by NewWorldOver


If they "dump" our debt, then they will sink themselves too. They hold massive dollar reserves that if "dumped", would devalue the dollar so much they would be guaranteeing themselves a massive loss. I do not think that is acceptable to them nor do I believe that they are that stupid.

reply to post by khunmoon


This is where I think the US government should in fact practice (in this case enforce) what it preaches. China needs to understand that with the ruling of an iron fist, comes consequences.

Originally posted by NewWorldOver
We shouldn't boycott. We shouldn't provoke China.

China brought this upon themselves.

If China decides to dump Americas debt we are screwed.

And do you think the rest of the world would sit by idly, knowing full well this puts there economic lifes in the fold (chinas as well) while china did this. That would be horrible economics/politics on chinas part (and would undoubtedly crash the chincom economy as well), which would further China resentment in the world.

Big time. If China went on an embargo with America our economy would be crushed.

You really cant grasp what it is your saying... China would be cutting their own economical throat, that nations sole purpose of existence is to export to the US and EU, if it doesn't, they're the ones who are screwed.

If the US wanted, the US could easily put up an embargo against china, disrupting china bound shipping lanes with the worlds most prolific naval forces. The US could also easily disrupt chinas biggest driver for economic growth, oil.

We should not provoke China. Not over the olympics, not over Tibet... seriously... this is stupid.

[Snip] China brought this upon themselves.

The olympics going smoothly is something that makes the whole world feel at ease. If any conflicts arise concerning China and the Olympics I'm just gonna throw in the towel : it's all over.

That is your choice, and by the sounds of it, you have already "thrown in the towel." Other then that, you would just be living a lie.

Instead of aiming our political outrage at our own leaders we have people talking about provoking the red dragon. Seriously - think it through people.

That "red dragon" isn't quite the same beast you ignorantly thought it was...


[edit on 22-3-2008 by West Coast]








Mod Edit: Personal attack removed. Please see Terms and Conditions of Use section 2) Behavior. Thank you - Jak

[edit on 23/3/08 by JAK]

reply to post by NewWorldOver


We shouldn't Boycott? Or Provoke? What about them? Tainting our children's toys and the daily items we use?

We should just turn a blind eye to the atrocityies going on? Tibet, the religious persecution of anyone who dosen't practice what the government preaches? The world isn't doing well... I don't think we should have the Olympics in China, but if we do it dosen't matter because either way I think someone will get the truth out and hopefully things will change.

Anyone remember what John Titor said about the future?

Are the Olympics still being played in the future?
As a result of the many conflicts, no, there were no official Olympics after 2004. However, it appears they may be revived in 2040.

If China decides to dump Americas debt we are screwed. Big time. If China went on an embargo with America our economy would be crushed.

That's a pretty shallow self serving motive.

USA and many western countries are screwed precisely because they allowed a flood of cheap imports from China and allowed domestic employment to be undercut by Chinese manufacturing.

Why do we allow free trade from a country that does not observe even basic human rights.

Are our own values paid for with blood in WW2 now just being pissed down the toilet for short term economic benefit ?

Obviously the people of China aren't getting the message and anything short of a war should be done to support the Tibetans.

Originally posted by West Coast

Your a moron... China brought this upon themselves.

Yeah 'China brought this upon themselves.' You said that twice. It still doesn't mean anything in the light of global politics.

But calling me moron one time is enough to warrant an ALERT. Take that garbage out of here If you wanna play with the big boys learn to act like one.

[edit on 22-3-2008 by NewWorldOver]

Alright, the personal junk ends now.