They Don’t Need to Play Like Europeans

20Aug08

Watching the Team USA Vs. Australia Olympics Basketball game I was reminded of my standing theory that Basketball analysis is loaded with racial baggage. For a quick example the entire idea that NBA players don’t play defense seems like a back door way of calling black players lazy show offs. As the announcers pointed out [...]

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Tags: 2008 Olympics, USA Basketball

China and the Dalai Lama Meet

06May08

The Washington Post is reporting the Government of China and the Dalai Lama are meeting:
BEIJING, May 5 — Chinese officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama resumed talks Sunday for the first time in nearly a year and agreed to hold another round of discussions at a later date, sources told the New China News [...]

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Tags: 2008 Olympics, China, Dalai Lama, Hu Jintao, Tibet

Empower Civil Society Aboard, Ignore Civil Society at Home

27Apr08

Here is Nina Hachigian of the California for the Center for American Progress discussing UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
America has so little leverage to influence human rights in China that it is supremely tempting to hold the Games hostage. Yet the only proven methodology [...]

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Tags: 2008 Olympics, Beijing Olympics, Boycott, Boycott of the Olympics, Center for American Progress, China, China Civil Society, China Olympics, Nina Hachigian, Olympics Boycott, Opening Ceremony Boycott, Summer Olympics, Tibet

Human Rights Vs. Handball

27Mar08

Commenter Jared writes about my hope for a European lead boycott of the Summer Olympics
All this does is hurt the athletes. If you want to boycott the country, then boycott the country, but don’t hurt people who have trained their entire lives for this.
At the risk of having a crazed dude at a keyboard moment [...]

Filed under: China, International, Sports   |  2 Comments
Tags: 2008 Olympics, Beijing, Beijing Olympics, Bejing Summer Olympics, Boycott of the Olympics, China, Economic Sanctions, Summer Olympics, Tibet

Euro-cott 2008?

23Mar08

So it looks like there is some movement in the direction of a European lead boycott of the Beijing Olympics according to the Associated Press.
The president of the European Parliament said European countries should not rule out threatening China with an Olympic boycott if violence continues in Tibet.
“Beijing must decide itself, it should immediately negotiate [...]

Filed under: China, International, Politics, Sports   |  2 Comments
Tags: 2008 Olympics, Bejing Olympics, China, European Union, Olympics Boycott, Summer Olympics, Tibet

Which “We” Should Boycott

18Mar08

Short list of people that are discussing boycotting the 2008 Olympics because of violence in Tibet

Jack Cafferty
Some Olympians (According to Wikipedia)
One of my co-workers

Before the violence in Tibet I had been a proponent of the idea that a boycott would heedlessly antagonize China. But it’s starting to feel like not boycotting would be a de [...]

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Tags: 2008 Olympics, Boycott of the Olympics, China, Summer Olympics, Tibet, U.S.-Sino Relations, United States of America

Tibet

16Mar08

This is a good post by James Fallows on the recent violence in Tibet and how China is reacting to it. However I don’t think the opening sentence here is supported by the rest of the post. (Emphasis added below)
1) In judging popular reaction in China to this episode, bear in that mind few ordinary [...]

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Tags: 2008 Olympics, Boycott of the Olympics, China, James Fallows, Summer Olympics, Tibet