The US has absolutely ZERO moral authority to call for a boycott of ANYTHING

[Orwellian_Ghost]

let alone some international affair.

Maybe we could turn the 2008 games into the Hypocrisy Olympics and DEMAND that the games be in Pleasant Valley, USA during the Summer Games and Lake Placid for The Winter Games and get a UN Resolution making this permanent.

And how about a George Kennan award each Games for the best representative of athletic diplomacy.

Ah heck freedom isn't free so let's make a few bucks on the deal as well.

Meanwhile in IRAQ...

...and the hundred or so other areas of US occupied territory...

Blackwater Security keeping The Games safe for America.

Sponsored by Raytheon with drinks provided by Bechtel.

[varelse]

1. True

but we, the few and proud who didn't vote this regime into power, and do not agree with any of the abuses perpetrated by it, could possibly have the moral authority to decline to respond to the inevitable marketing push by major sporting goods corporations who undoubtedly will be sponsoring the athletes. We could at least refuse to purchase the name brand goods marketed using the names and endorsements of said athletes. We don't HAVE to go down without a fight, just because we don't run the government... do we?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

2. This goes far beyond

"the evil Bush regime."

To suggest otherwise is to be ahistorical. We could go over US foreign policy over that 100 years, or forever, and we would see a remarkable consistency.

The entire Boycott China schtick is just another way of manufacturing reality and it's amazing how many times people who should know better fall for this stuff.

The State Department eats this stuff up.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Certainly goes far beyond... I don't know if this is accurate but

it doesn't seem to veer too far off course...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States



* 1 Overview
* 2 Timeline
o 2.1 Colonial wars (1620–1774)
o 2.2 War of Independence (1775–1783)
o 2.3 Early national period (1783–1815)
o 2.4 Continental expansion (1816–1860)
o 2.5 American Civil War (1861–1865)
o 2.6 Post-Civil War era (1865–1917)
+ 2.6.1 Indian Wars (1865–1890)
+ 2.6.2 Spanish-American War (1898)
+ 2.6.3 Philippine-American War (1899-1913)
+ 2.6.4 Banana Wars(1898-1935)
+ 2.6.5 The Boxer Rebellion
o 2.7 First World War (1917-1918)
+ 2.7.1 Russian Revolution
+ 2.7.2 Neutrality Acts
o 2.8 Second World War (1941-1945)
o 2.9 Cold War (1945–1991)
+ 2.9.1 Postwar Military Reorganization (1947)
+ 2.9.2 Korean War
+ 2.9.3 Lebanon crisis of 1958
+ 2.9.4 Bay of Pigs Invasion
+ 2.9.5 Dominican Intervention
+ 2.9.6 Vietnam War
+ 2.9.7 Tehran hostage rescue
+ 2.9.8 Grenada
+ 2.9.9 Beirut
+ 2.9.10 Panama
o 2.10 Post-Cold War era (1991–2001)
+ 2.10.1 Gulf War
+ 2.10.2 Somalia
+ 2.10.3 Yugoslavia
o 2.11 War on Terrorism (2001–present)
+ 2.11.1 Afghanistan
+ 2.11.2 Philippines
+ 2.11.3 Liberia
+ 2.11.4 Iraq
o 2.12 2008
* 3 See also
o 3.1 Related lists
* 4 References
* 5 External links

[varelse]

6. You're correct

Our government has no moral authority to boycott the Chinese Olympics... our country as a political entity has no leg to stand on... but we as human beings have the authority to refuse to support the enemies of human rights no matter where we were born or where we live now. We have the authority to decline to give them our money or support their business. And I'd suggest that one way to do that, is to stop supporting multinational conglomerates that are in the slavery and exploitation business right now. The current situation in China only provides a focus for a worldwide grassroots movement that could be started at any time. I merely suggest that this might be a good opportunity for us to get their attention...

[Zynx]

13. China doesn't have a glorious foreign policy either.

They helped start the Korean War, invaded India in 1962, invaded Vietnam in 1978, have spread arms all over the world and have oppressed their own population which constitutes one in five people in the world.

[parkia00]

17. But then again....

The only really large war China was involved in was the Korean war. I hope you are not comparing the border conflict China got into with India and Vietnam on similar level as the America's war with Vietnam, Iraq and not to mention other little acts of mischief like Panama, Granada, and the Central American conflicts of the 80's? So who is the larger weapons manufacturer? The US or China? I would say both are! They both spread their weapons worldwide. The difference is that China charges a low price and the Americans charges a high prices and the weapons manufacturers get great profits. As for oppression; who has the worlds largest prison population in the world? Who has the largest percentage of if population in prison? If only American's can get so emotional, passionate and angry about Guantanamo. I for one will NOT boycott the Olympics. I will watch the opening ceremony. I will watch the best of the worlds atheletes compete with each other for their glory and their nation because that's what the Olympics are all about. It is NOT about the host nation! There will always be some people that will reject that and instead use the event and it's worldwide audience to bring publicity about their cause. This time it's China and Tibet. Next time can be anything. In the end the Olympics would become nothing more than a G8 summit meeting and it's stream of protesters that follow it. If you don't like the Olympics, than don't see it. Go to the corner and sulk. There are many other people that will see and enjoy it. Unless of course you have a bunch of people who don't like it and because they don't like it they are going to make sure they will try their best to ruin it for everyone else.

But that's not important. You see this is all about China. They are special. We really hate China. How dare these dirty little Chinamen try to upstage us and even get wealthier than us! Unacceptable! We'll do everything we can to push them back down. We'll try to embarrass the Chinese at every opportunity. We'll put them in their right place where they belong! :sarcasm:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Point taken. We have little wiggle room when it comes to

pointing fingers at the actions of other nations. What do you do with a person who flatly believes that we have the moral right to do such a thing?? Put them in the wh?

[alarimer]

4. China is far more evil than Bush could EVER hope to be.

If we (the people- I could care less what the government does) do not stand up against the evil empire that is China, they will continue to get away with murder.

[JackRiddler]

8. Which I guess is why they have financed the Iraq war...

by faithfully buying the Treasury bills that cover the U.S. deficit, year after year, so that the U.S. government now owes China, its biggest creditor, more than a trillion dollars.

I guess that's why they faithfully accept U.S. air-dollars every year on a trade deficit in the hundreds of billions, filling the shelves of Walmart with their surplus production (made at Walmart-owned slave factories) at cheap prices for the "benefit" of the American consumer.

Do you really think you can cleanly separate the U.S. from China, so that one is in a position to call the other evil? The two systems were never as (voluntarily!) co-dependent as they are at this moment.

And how do the two nations stack up in terms of atrocities committed outside their national borders?

[Zynx]

14. I think it degrades our own moral integrity to stand by while China continues to have

what is consistently one of the most vile regimes in history.

[ClayZ]

7. True! K and R

[Fireweed247]

9. It is particularly ironic

that we have borrowed ourselves into the worst debt in the history of the nation for this stupid ass war on terror-- and we owe it all to China!

[struggle4progress]

10. Maybe W should ask Aristide to relay our "China out of Tibet" message

[spoony]

11. The US is not one voice nor one conscience

And I certainly don't feel bad for saying that we should boycott the games. The hypocrisy belongs to those who've earned it. The rest of us shouldn't shut up about the horrendous crimes of China because of that.

[Zynx]

12. We are to be silent in the face of evil just because of actions on the part

of a government here that has no support of the people anymore? China is the antithesis of all that America should be. I think standing up to China will help renew our moral purpose.

[Freedom Train]

15. Not the U.S. as a nation maybe

but U.S. citizens indeed have. Don't conflate the disastrous U.S. foreign policy with our moral rights (and obligations) as individuals to protest Chinese atrocities in Tibet any way we can - just like we protest our own government.

[orleans]

16. so if we do it like we protest our own government then i should

expect to see keyboard warriors on blogs, a groundswell of folks signing off emails and writing angry letters to the editors.

ho hum.

welcome to the united states of torture--the american government that likes to pee the words "moral authority" in the snow. and then laugh. and point out how big our "moral authority" is.

btw--welcome to du.