Comments on: Forget Mia Farrow

by: Comrade Rutherford

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:30:46 +0000

The Bush Administration took China off the list of Terrible Human Rights Countries just in time for the Tibet crackdown. The Republican Leadership, having already authorized the US to do similar inhumane things, applauds China for being able to get away with actions the Bush people can only daydream about … for now.

The US has forgotten about Tibet long ago. US maps all show Tibet and China with no border between them. China owns Tibet, maybe it’s appeasement? Maybe Sec. Rice thinks that if they let China slaughter Tibetans, they’ll leave Taiwan alone?

by: No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:43:06 +0000

I must admit I’m flummoxed as to why any American would willingly bend over these days and become China’s bitch.

Because they own this country. The Junior regime has borrowed billions from them to finance the war against Iraq. We will be in hock to them for the foreseeable future.

by: ShortWoman

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Well that’s the thing about The Moderate Voice: all of us authors have different opinions and are free — even encouraged — to express them.

As for me, I am wondering about the Dalai Lama’s offer to resign. How does one stop being a Bodhisattva?

by: Doug Hughes

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:37:45 +0000

You have to recognize that we have had a ‘deal’ with China, practically from the time Nixon visited. Understand at that time the narrative was inflation (which was so bad Nixon imposed a wage-price-freeze) was caused by the ‘wage-price spiral’ Read between the lines; inflation was caused by unions asking for higher wages which resulted in higher prices which caused the need for higher wages. Bottom line: the Republicans were convinced that organized labor was the cause of the national economic woes.

Answer: China. A virtually endless supply of labor so cheap, it’s almost free, compared to the American worker. Completely export our manufacturing base. The cost of building the nescessary infrastructure was daunting and it would be for nothing if the Chinese worker ever realized what the American counterpart was able to command for the same work. Enter the deal: China guaranteed they would control labor and wages by whatever means, and America would not interfere. American Business and American Governement would, did and have allowed anything without protest, because it has been profitable for Wall Street.

Remember Tieneman Square? The US allowed the pro-democracy movement to die a violent death - to protect the multinationals profits.

We always thought that we would be in control of the situation. China’s economy has grown to the point they are competing with us for energy, and China conducts espionage here to build weapons advanced enough to be a real threat. Their safety and pollution record are global disasters. Wall Street has Congress (of either damn party) on a short leash. So it has the prospect of getting much worse.

by: Lynne

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:10:52 +0000

Pretty much what we have been doing for many years in other countries, as you hinted.

by: Bonnie

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:54:34 +0000

The Olympics are not supposed to be political; but, when they are awarded to countries like China, it’s hard to keep the politics out. However, when it comes to politicizing the Olympics, I am more sympathetic to the athletes who have trained years to get to the Olympics. We are only 18 once in our lives. We are only in peak physical condition once in our lives. To take that away from a group of young people, I think is not right. And, as Maha asks above, “Why is this sounding familiar?” The U.S. is no angel this particular year. Our government has engaged in illegal and immoral wars, tortures, spies on Americans, why should we deny our athletes their dream for a momentary bit of humanity, which would be too little, too late.

by: joanr16

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:30:16 +0000

I must admit I’m flummoxed as to why any American would willingly bend over these days and become China’s bitch. Twenty years ago, capitalists defended China because they saw it as a huge, available market for American goods. But now we are China’s huge, available market for its lead paint- and antifreeze-tainted crap. The only thing we’ve sent over there in quantity recently is manufacturing jobs.

And anyone who looks to Mia Farrow (or Richard Gere or George Clooney, for that matter) for anti-Chinese opinion is setting the bar pretty low. There are plenty of international NGOs, Buddhist scholars, experts on Africa, etc., whom they should be reading instead. But that would be too hard, and would involve too many big words.