NYT Op-Eds (3)

"The invasion of Afghanistan was the correct strategic move. Yet since then it seems as if the United States has been trying to turn the conflict into the Vietnam War of the early 21st century" (Guest Op-Ed); "It is now up to China to accept the Dalai Lama’s visit this fall and engineer a deal to resolve Tibet’s future" (Kristof); "The idea that appearance is valued more than performance is one of those painful facts of life that people always hate to be reminded of" (Collins)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, August 14, 2008

NYT (3): International News

The U.S.-based economic slowdown "seems to be spreading out" globally; the Russia-Georgia conflict could adversely affect "oil options" for the West; and the Chinese government (no surprise here) reneges on its promise to allow protestors, even in designated "protest zones."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Drums of Change

Posted by Bill Swiggard, Wednesday, August 13, 2008

NYT (2): Other International News

As Olympics begin, so do protests; and Morales faces a possible military coup in Bolivia.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, August 9, 2008

Democracy Now: Dave Zirin on US Corporations Entering China, Athletes Speaking Out and the Games from ’68 to Today

go to interview
Where (maybe) once the Olympics was an opportunity for political differences to be fought peacefully in sports competition, now its just a huge corporate feeding frenzy, human rights be damned - mab
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, August 9, 2008

NYT (2): International News

As all totalitarian regimes do when guests show up, China hides those it does not want the guests to see; and Britain faces its first recession in almost two decades.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, August 8, 2008

NYT Op-Eds (2)

"While John McCain was never violently opposed to offshore drilling, he has now embraced it as if it is not only the solution to our energy problems, but also the key to eternal salvation" (Collins); "With the Tibet question casting a shadow over the Olympics, the Dalai Lama has expressed an unprecedented willingness to compromise and accept Communist Party rule in Tibet" (Kristof)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, August 7, 2008

NYT (4): International News

The coalition govenrment calls for Musharraf's impeachment; a "deadly milestone" in the Afghan war; China's political "resilience"; and an indigenous and endangered South American tribe is being devastated by a type of rabies.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, August 7, 2008

NYT: Ambush in China Raises Concerns as Olympics Near

The deadliest terrorist attack in China since the early 90s, just three days prior to the opening of the Olympics.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, August 5, 2008

NYT Op-Eds (5)

"Even a slow-mo economic crisis can do a lot of damage if it goes on for a year and counting" (Krugman); "Even as China rolls out the welcome mat for Olympics visitors the government is cracking down on citizens" (Guest Op-Ed); "A columnist-cartoonist’s comment about President Nicolas Sarkozy’s son and his Jewish fiancée has stirred a French intellectual storm" (Cohen on anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head in France); "The Beijing Catering Trade Association has ordered all 112 designated Olympic restaurants to take dog off the menu" (Guest Op-Ed); "There are at least four competing theories in the John McCain camp pointing in different vice-presidential directions" (Kristol)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, August 4, 2008

NYT (3): China/Olympics

"Over the next three weeks, the competitions will go on as usual. But these Olympics carry significance beyond the fields of play. They are being heralded as a referendum on a nation"; new violence just days before the games start; and the air is still unhealthy.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, August 4, 2008

NYT Op-Eds (6)

"We must face the reality of dead soldiers even though it hurts" (Public Editor); "The scale of the challenges faced by the next president makes a diverse inner circle all the more necessary" (Kearns Goodwin on why Lincoln named opponents to key positions); "In a research center in the Arctic Circle, building a picture of the Greenland climate from the ice age through the present warming period" (Friedman); "Barack Obama is a modern incarnation of the clever, haughty, reserved and fastidious Mr. Darcy, cherished hero of chick-lit" (Dowd); "If you sensed someone was watching you, would you do it?" (Guest Op-Ed on whether photos of eyes are better deterrents than closed circuit cameras); "China’s gender tests for athletes are likely to produce the wrong answers and in the process ruin the lives of the innocent" (Guest Op-Ed)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, August 3, 2008

For Chinese, much more than medals at stake

Posted by Bill Swiggard, Sunday, August 3, 2008

NYT (2): International Affairs

Bush makes noise about troop cuts in Iraq; and China relaxes some (but only some) restrictions on Internet access.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, August 1, 2008

NYT (4): Energy/Environment

Scientific progress may cut cost of energy storage; Exxon's second-quarter profit sets a record [N.B. The last time this happened was just after Katrina; seems ExxonMobil makes the most money at the worst times for others]; band-aid pollution measures in China are not solutions; and NY restaurants join the "tap water" pledge.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, August 1, 2008

NYT (4): International News

Turkey avoids a political crisis; Brazil as economic powerhouse; and China not only limits Web access during the Olympics (despite its promises to the contrary), but sends a school employee to a labor camp for a year simply for posting photos of Quake-collapsed schools on the Internet.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, July 31, 2008

NYT: In Beijing, Blue Skies Prove Hard to Achieve

These temporary measures - even if successful - do not address the more pervasive problem: China has overtaken the U.S. as the worst polluter on the globe.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, July 29, 2008

NYT (3): International News

Britain to remove almost all troops from Iraq by 2009; as in Africa (re an article posted earlier this week), so in Asia re food and gas prices; and the Chinese propaganda machine (which may be even better than ours) goes into overdrive trying to quell fears of Olympic terrorism.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NYT Editorial: China’s Unreality TV

To win the right to host the Games, Beijing promised to expand press freedoms for foreign reporters and implied that opening China to the world would help expand human rights more generally. We will never know whether China’s leaders intended to keep their word. What we do know is that the International Olympic Committee, corporate sponsors and governments around the world should have held China to its word. They have not, and China has read their silence as complicity. China has jailed critics, denied visas and threatened news organizations that negative coverage could jeopardize their chance to cover the Games."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, July 22, 2008

NYT: 2 Die in Bus Blasts in Southwest China

It will be interesting to see if these types of incidents increase in frequency as the Olympics approach.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, July 22, 2008

NYT: Networks Fight Shorter Olympic Leash

Despite promises to the contrary, China expands limits on access.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, July 21, 2008

NYT: Western Olympic Ads Cheerlead for China

How disgusting. Perhaps a boycott of all these products is in order. Start with McDonalds, Pepsi and Nike.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, July 20, 2008

Briton says China deported her

Teacher of Tibetan ancestry says her visa was in order and that she has no idea what her offense was. But Beijing is in the midst of a pre-Olympic crackdown on foreign residents.
Posted by Barbara DiSalvia, Tuesday, July 15, 2008

t r u t h o u t | A Summit That’s Hard to Swallow

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, July 10, 2008

NYT: Bush to Attend Opening Ceremony in Beijing

Pig-headedly defiant to the end.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, July 4, 2008