Olympics politics

China to Show Propaganda Opera at Olympics

Jane Macartney reports in the Times: “This is a wedding. It’s a festive occasion. Look happy, much happier. Do that scene again and this time let’s really feel your joy. Move the audience …” The famed Peking...

Bill Keller: Cold Friends, Wrapped in Mink and Medals

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, writes about the so-called Age of Authoritarianism, as evidenced by the Beijing Olympics and Russia’s actions in Georgia: If it is not yet an age, it is at least a...

Video News: Olympics Highlights Cultural Divide

From Reuters: Tibet protests bring out East-West divisions as tensions surface in Beijing. Political and cultural divisions persist in Beijing behind the scene of a so far relatively smooth summer games. A handful of pro-Tibet...

China’s Ode to Legerdemain

Howard French comments on the Olympics from his new perch in the U.S.: Paeans to the grandeur of the state and the manipulation of history in an unsubtle celebration of racial identity and doctrinaire solidarity seem terribly...

China’s Vice-president Tiptoes on to World Stage

Reuters reports on Vice President Xi Jinping’s emergence into the public eye at the Olympics: Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping has tiptoed on to the world stage this Olympics, rubbing shoulders with U.S. President George...

Legacy of Beijing Olympics Will Transcend Athletics

Evan Osnos of the Chicago Tribune looks at various scenarios affecting the potential fall-out from the Olympics: In the weeks to come, these factors are likely to congeal into one of two scenarios: China recovers from the...

Ex-Official Slams Olympics

Bao Tong, former top Communist Party aide to the ousted late Chinese premier, Zhao Ziyang, has been under house arrest at his Beijing home for nearly two decades after his boss’s fall from power during the 1989...

In Face of Olympic Challenges, Communist Party Is Resilient

Jim Yardley of the New York Times is the latest to use the approach of the Olympics to look at prospects for political reform in China: …If the Olympics have presented unmistakable challenges and crises, the Communist...

Olympics Mark China’s Second Coming

Muhammad Cohen writes in the Asia Times: Under Zhu Rongji, China must have seemed like a puppy dog eager to please the West. It provided Western companies with a platform for investing in Asia and, as a WTO member – it...

China As Host Country

National Public Radio has a special series focusing on China’s role and preparations as Olympics host. Today’s report looks at differing opinions on whether or not China is an appropriate host of the Games: The...

The Reform Fantasy

James Mann has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about prospects for political reform considering the Chinese government’s behavior in the run-up to the Olympics: China’s actions over the past year — its...

China’s National Political Mood

The Economist adds its voice to the swelling China coverage on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics with an analysis of national political conditions: The government-organised vigilantes in their baseball caps and “Good luck...

Bush Trip to Asia Balances Fun, Diplomacy

During his final visit to China, President Bush hopes to keep diplomatic ties cordial between China and the United States. From the Associated Press: President Bush’s visit to Beijing almost looks like a vacation — right...

Why China Has the Torch

A New York Times article discusses the political reasons behind the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award China the Olympic Games, and why it still defends the choice. Perhaps the most commonly known reason...

How Will the Olympics Change China?

How exactly will the Olympics impact China? A lot of people are trying to figure it all out. From The Telegraph: The Games are nothing short of a sacred ritual for this atheist state, and it is hard to exaggerate the enthusiasm....

China Dissidents Hope Olympics Not Like Berlin Games

From Reuters: One of China’s leading dissidents, Chen Ziming, hopes the Beijing Olympics will be like the Seoul Games in 1988 and lead to political reform and not like the Nazi propaganda-driven Berlin Olympics of 1936....

China to Bar Entertainers It Deems Threat

China’s Ministry of Culture yesterday posted new rules on its website banning outside artists Beijing feels endanger the country’s sovereignty. From Ed Wong, writing in the New York Times: The rules say that the...

Phone Call From China Transformed ’84 Games

As media the world over fixate on the multitude of political issues associated with Beijing’s hosting of the Olympics, Lynn Zinser of the New York Times administers a much-needed dose of historical perspective with a look...

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