...and what an ethical conundrum it represents. Given the country's disgusting human rights record, is it right to bestow the Olympics upon China? At what point do you reach out to an offender, and at what point do you start thinking embargo? Or might the Olympics question be a moot point, given the ringing endorsement the rest of the world gives China in the form of all the business we do there? Hmmm...
Beijing accused of unfair play
By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 7, 2007
BEIJING — If there were an Olympic medal for irony, this might have been a contender:
An international press freedom organization held a demonstration Monday to complain that China has failed to live up to promises that it would give foreign journalists the unfettered ability to cover the news in the run-up to the 2008 Summer Games. The result? Not long after the demonstration ended, police roughed up and briefly detained the journalists covering the event.
The almost perfect incongruity of Monday's face-off reflects a discordant side of the Olympics that is sure to grow as the Games draw closer. To China, the Olympics represent a golden opportunity to showcase the world's most populous nation and demonstrate how far it has come. To international human rights organizations, it is an opportunity to show how far it still has to go...
