A helping hand for the Chinese economy!

I've just taken delivery of some things I bought at Argos online. I've got five pieces of self-assembly furniture stuck in the hall. On each box is written in bold letters - COUNTRY OF ORIGIN : CHINA - and I'm feeling a tad guilty. Should I? Part of me thinks, oh, what the hell, and the other is thinking of the poor Tibetans, and the rest of them in their undemocratic helotry.

I'm going for a cup of coffee!

Who are the Chinese goons in blue?

Nobody seems prepared to say who the guys in blue are who "protect" the Olympic torch. The word is that they are Chinese secret service personnel. The IOC has become dumbstruck, the Foreign Office won't say, and the British Government has gone mute. Only the Metropolitan Police gave an oblique reference to their status, by saying they had "no executive authority" whilst in London. But why are these blue-suited thugs running with the torch in the first place?

Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg has said, "using the torch this way is almost a crime. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch." No it is not. And this marathon torch running thing is not even an Olympic tradition, as has been touted. It was started by Adolf Hitler as a wheeze to promote the 1936 Berlin games. He got the runners to skip through his Germanic possessions to show off what he thought was Arian athletic prowess!

Now the IOC is debating whether to hold further torch relays. If they do, I suggest they just keep them to involving athletes only, and keep celebrities out of it, politicians well away from it, and secret service types should not be involved at all!

This from Reuters shows the boys in blue competing with some other boys in blue!

Vile Chinese reaction to London protests!

The vile Chinese government, which delights in trampling on free speech, starving girl babies to death, and generally acting in a pretty sub-human manner, offers up a traditional comment! It says that the demonstrations in London were uncalled for. Beijing denounced the "tiny number of Tibet independence elements" who disrupted the torch relay through London yesterday. "We strongly condemn this vile behaviour," an official said. Could this official explain what he defines as behaviour beyond his description of vile?

The Chinese government promised the Olympic bigwigs that they would clean up their act if they got the Games. There appears to be precious little in the way of decent behaviour coming into the hearts and minds of the Chinese politburo types.

I'm glad to see that the International Olympic Committee is putting pressure on the Chinese to open up the Internet during the run-up to the games and during them. What sort of pressure they'll be getting, I'm not sure, but my devious mind suddenly thinks of Chinese burns. Now I mustn't slip into tit-for-tat!

This whole Tibetan freedom issue will continue until Tibet is free. China have either to live with world hostility or just get round a peace-talks table. It's up to them.

London Olympic relay runs into Tibetan protests!

The Chinese automatons running alongside the Olympic flame looked more cheesed off than worried. Demonstrators have been out in force in London trying to promote awareness of Chinese brutality in Tibet.

My take on this is that the Chinese have no business in Tibet. It's not their country! Tibetans are not Chinese and the Chinese are not Tibetans. On top of that, there is a total lack of democratic accountability. People are being abused, culturally isolated, and generally being "controlled".

I have heard it said that the Olympics should not be about politics, and that would be fair enough if we lived in a world where everyone was able to live without torture and terror. However, the Tibetans are not so free and easy. China may not like this but they are going to have to live with it. Some of us can't stomach what they are currently serving up!

We in Britain, just as in other Western countries, have to consider every day what we are buying. You can't go into Argos now without buying something "Made in China". I reckon they've got 100% made there! The same goes for loads of other retailers. If we buy stuff from China, are we to put our consciences in a box by the door? I would hope not!

China can't try to manipulate the world's economy without those on the receiving end having thoughts about what's going on. Despotic and undemocratic regimes are going to get more of the spotlight put on them. Better those spotlights are not made in China, but their dark corners are now being exposed to the light!