| Finally as debate we can sink some teeth into.
With respect to Russia, perhaps they might strike but MAD works for them also and they know it. They could strike but they can not prevent us from striking back and utterly destroying them. So they would have some fallout in SIBERIA and the Russian/Soviet gov't hasn't exactly been known for OVERVALUING the lives of its subjects. In other words if Stalin let thirty million citizens starve what makes you think Putin is going to allow his country to be utterly DESTROYED to save the 5 or so people living in Siberia (I know it is more than five but it isn't very populous)?
I don't think the US ALONE should boycott. I think the WESTERN "democracies" (countries allegedly loving freedom) should RAISE HELL about how their athletes are being treated (Notice the chinese athletes are allowed their holy books aka books which glorify communism). It would be nice if the western countries said, "hell no we won't bow to your totalitarianism in the OLYMPICS" and if the Chicoms didn't back down then ALL would boycott. That probably won't happens as the Europussies don't have the backbone. So I think we should raise a HUGE PUBLIC STINK about it in a blatant attempt to EMBARRASS the Chicoms on the world stage. But that would probably be about it because it is unfair to the athletes to not let them have the chance to compete.
With respect to chinese aggression, I guess it is ok because Taiwan, Tibet and Southeast Asia are not "new" territories. We can argue about whether they are just doing what we did in the early part of the last century (expand our influence) but it was aggressive when we did it and it is certainly still aggressive even though it is now the Chicoms doing it.
With respect to the Canada comparison. Bibles are NOT illegal in China. This is not a case of China just wanting to enforce it's law. The Chicoms proposed a BAN of all Bibles in the Olympic village. They are targeting the people mentioned in the article BECAUSE the Olympics are coming and they (Chicoms) don't want to be embarrassed by having their BRUTALITY on parade for the world to see.
Using your Canada allusion it would be like if the US held "Live-Aid Part Two: A Concert to Promote Freedom and Unity Worldwide" and then said by the way Canada you can't send any Rock group to the concert that doesn't play strictly in 4/4 time OR that writes any songs about Sci-fi topics. Now Rush may not be your cup of tea musically speaking but if the concert is about freedom and cooperation then why ban ONLY them and their prog rock cohorts.
Same here. This is the Olympics for god's sake. You know supposed to be above politics. Supposed to foster cooperation and unity. And the Chicoms have picked ONE GROUP. And why that one group? Are they violent? No. I mean hell with the Muslims the Chicoms could have at least said, "well they've been killing people and blowing shit up and we don't need any of that." But the Chicoms didn't ban the holy book of the Muslims. How about the dirt people? They should have a beef with the Chicoms and they have shown a willingness to resort to violence as well as a LOVE for ruining public events. But the Chicoms haven't banned "Earth in the Balance" ,"The Inconvenient Truth" or any other such environmentalist drivel.
The Chicoms banned the Christians because the Chicoms have been brutally oppressing that group and the Chicoms don't want the extent of that oppression to be shown on the world stage.
As for your example of appeasement working, I note that EVERY ONE of them took SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS TO WORK. So are you seriously maintaining that although we ARE currently more powerful (militarily) than China we should roll over LICK THEIR BOOTS and hope that our great great great grandkids are free again at some point in their lives?
I would have preferred the Barney Fife solution (nip it in the bud). It appears though that we may have made the same mistake Britain and France did in the mid 1930's by refusing to stop Hitler when they EASILY COULD HAVE. To stop or change China now will probably require some blood and sacrifice because our TREASONOUS leaders (and not just Bill Clinton. There are plenty of republicans who belong on this list) have sold us down the river and allowed our tech to be exported to the Chinese military.
But either of those option is preferable to CENTURIES of APPEASEMENT in the hopes that some day our distant descendants MAY be able to regain freedom. |