(sic)Kewen-Rudd(/sic) has me suitably impressed also. With KR at the helm, Australia seems to have the whole (sic) Renegade mainland provinces (/sic) government squirming. I think China has just started to get a glimpse of the flipside of having the shining glare of spotlight on them for the Olympic run-up.
I think it is mainly the Tibetan protest organisers expertly timing their initial protests for *after* the torch relay details were decided. Cancelling parts of their tour would involve such a loss of face (which in Asian terms is sometimes worse than death) that the RMP government would allow the publicity to backfire continuously over and over for the complete world tour.
On the flip side, the complete avoidance of losing face means that the RMP will certainly avoid discussing freeing Tibet for at least a decade since it would give the appearance of giving into the protests otherwise. Damn that asian aversion to loss of face!
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(sic)Kewen-Rudd(/sic) has me suitably impressed also. With KR at the helm, Australia seems to have the whole (sic) Renegade mainland provinces (/sic) government squirming. I think China has just started to get a glimpse of the flipside of having the shining glare of spotlight on them for the Olympic run-up.
I forget where I read it, but someone described the Olympic torch relay as China sponsoring a worldwide Free Tibet rally.
I've been surprised by how badly the RMP have handled damage control. I think the people in charge up there just don't get how open societies work.
I think it is mainly the Tibetan protest organisers expertly timing their initial protests for *after* the torch relay details were decided. Cancelling parts of their tour would involve such a loss of face (which in Asian terms is sometimes worse than death) that the RMP government would allow the publicity to backfire continuously over and over for the complete world tour.
On the flip side, the complete avoidance of losing face means that the RMP will certainly avoid discussing freeing Tibet for at least a decade since it would give the appearance of giving into the protests otherwise. Damn that asian aversion to loss of face!
I'm not sure it will matter in a decade...
1936: Berlin Olympics
1945: Fall of Berlin
1980: Moscow Olympics
1989: Fall of Berlin Wall
2008: Beijing Olympics
2017: ???
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