Head Of Olympic Committee: China Must Improve Human Rights

NY Times :

The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, offered a rare rebuke to the Chinese government on Thursday, calling on the authorities to respect its "moral engagement" to improve human rights and to provide the news media with greater access to the country ahead of the Beijing Games.

Mr. Rogge's comments on China, made at a news conference here during which he described the protests that have dogged the torch relay as a "crisis" for the organization, were a departure from his previous statements that strenuously avoided any mention of politics.

Read the whole story: NY Times

Comments

[ThirdSection]

Well, there's no quibbling about it now. The Olympics are now completely and utterly mired in politics. Gentlemen, start your boycotts!

[quintus]

They're just trying to cover their asses. Ultimately, they're to blame for giving the Olympics to a totalitarian militaristic regime. What were they thinking? How crass. They've really sullied the games and all the athletes who have worked so hard to compete.

[esquire07]

Lots of laughs - China will do what China wants to do - who is going to stop them ? The US - with its decimated, degraded Army in Iraq ???

China could move in a Million troops into Iraq, and short of an all out nuclear war, there is nothing the US could do. Bush has destryed the US Army.

As the US turns into a second world nation over the next decade, China will take over.

[ThirdSection]

No, China needs its troops back home to keep the civilians towing the line. The horrible thing that China could do to the US is sell all of its dollar reserves. If you think our economy is in the toilet right now, just wait until China tries that!

[shag11]

Bravo. They shouldn't have given them the olympics in the first damned place.

[AngryAfricanOnTheLoose]

And maybe the IOC should stick to their "values". If we use their criteria in future we should have Zimbabwe host the Olympics.

[ThirdSection]

Don't forget about the Olympics in Berlin, 1936!

[raker]

There's your villain, everyone. The head of the idiotic Olympic committee that doles out these super-profitable PR platforms even if it means sending athletes to an authoritarian country that denies its citizens civil rights. (Like the United States only with really bad pollution.­) The olympics are a tedious bore anyway. Boycotting the olympics is like giving up lima beans for lent. Piece of cake.

[Peddler]

The most dangerous thing in global politics is feeling sympathy.

[shengirl]

Huffpost should also report on what has been in the media in Britain, France, Canada, and was broken by a Hong Kong newspaper: that the blue track suited Chinese "volunteers" accompanying the torch on its relays around the world are members of an elite Chinese paramilitary force, whose members are to "maintain public order" and who also put down the recent uprising in Tibet. On the relay in London they had skirmishes with London police, Olympic officials, and three times tried to push the head of the London Olympic Committee [which will host the Olympics in 2012] out of the way. He called them "robotic thugs." An torch-bearing athlete in Paris was outraged at their behavior. The Home Secretary in Britain is demanding to know who authorized their presence. Will this be covered by the American media? Officials in Canberra say these "volunteers" will not be allowed to participate on their leg of the relay next Tuesday. We shall see. This Olympics is going to be a farce. Are they going to be roughing up, arresting, expelling tourists and the media? Outspoken athletes? Stay tuned...

[Blutus]

Another spine of water.

The Olympics is worthless, shallow, bombastic nationalistic puffery
and they should be put on hold until the world stops using them to make
political points.

The Chinese hope the Olympics will erase the images we have in the west
of protestors being run over by tanks.

They were not erased, but replaced with images of Tibetans being beat up.

And this guy is a disgrace, spun on a dime in 24 hours. This is how much integrity
the Olympics has.

[Rule Of Law]

Geez, just yesterday he was whining that we shouldn't politicize the olympics. Today, he's mister human rights. What machine did Who plug him into last night that caused this conversion? Yup, he's his own man, alright...­.