May 3

BBC - Envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are due to hold talks with officials in China, the Dalai Lama's office says.

Two Tibetan envoys are expected to arrive on Saturday for talks on ending the crisis in Tibetan areas of China.

This would be the first contact between the two sides since anti-China protests in Tibet in March turned violent.

Chinese state media has renewed its criticism of the Dalai Lama, who it blames for masterminding the protests.

This is a charge the Dalai Lama has always denied.

He and the Tibetan government-in-exile have been based in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959.

April 30

ABC.net.au - China has marked the start of the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Olympics with songs, a mass run and even prayers, hoping to put behind it the tumultuous events of the past month which have taken much of the gloss off preparations.

Unlike run-ups to recent Olympics, Beijing's preparations have kept to plan and some stadiums and infrastructure have even been completed ahead of schedule.

The city has spent $US35 - $US40 billion on improving infrastructure, including a new airport terminal and subway lines, as well as $US2.1 billion to cover the cost of running the Games.

But the city's smooth preparations have been overshadowed 100 days out by the torch relay's troubled journey around the globe, with protesters targeting China's human rights record, in particular its policies on Tibet.

(huliq.com) Human Rights Watch . . . reminds us that China ‘remains a one-party state that does not hold national elections, has no independent judiciary, leads the world in executions, aggressively censors the Internet, bans independent trade unions, and represses minorities such as Tibetans, Uighurs, and Mongolians’. Social unrest arising from distress about housing, migration, political freedoms, poverty and other domestic issues is dealt with severely.

www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/china12270.htm

Moreover, in asserting that a country’s domestic politics are its own affair alone, China aims to prevent the international community from scrutinising its interactions abroad. But in joining the global community, China must realise that this is not how the world works today. We have moved beyond the 1950s. Decades of marching against the Bomb, of anti-colonialist and anti-apartheid campaigning, a string of anti-poverty events linked up across the globe, the coming together of civil activists from all over the world to work on poverty, the emergence of an international climate-change coalition, the wide-spread revulsion of the American invasion of Iraq, the creation of international agreements on blood diamonds and corporate corruption – these and other global movements demonstrate that citizens and states increasingly see events, wherever they take place, as interconnected.

George over at Electric Politics has a post up addressed to me about Tibet. Give it a read. Suffice it to say, I think our major disagreement right now, although I will comment in detail later, is that I think Bush, if problems continue in Tibet through the Olympics, should sit out the opening ceremonies. But, more on Tibet, China and the US later, first give George a read.

Amanda Gentleman & Hari Kumar | New Delhi | April 17

NYT - The Olympic torch made a strange and lonely procession through central Delhi on Thursday, with the event so overshadowed by fears of the anti-Chinese protests that marred its appearances in other cities that no members of the public were allowed close enough to witness it.

The 70-odd Indian athletes and celebrities who carried the torch down Delhi’s widest avenue were outnumbered by thousands of watchful members of India’s security forces, who managed to stamp out any pomp and excitement, transforming the occasion into a tense security operation.

India has the world’s largest population of exiled Tibetans, about 100,000, who fled their homeland after China crushed an uprising there in the 1950s, and their presence had made Olympic organizers particularly anxious about this stage of the torch’s journey to Beijing, where the Games will begin on Aug. 8.

George Friedman | April 15

Stratfor - China is an island. We do not mean it is surrounded by water; we mean China is surrounded by territory that is difficult to traverse. Therefore, China is hard to invade; given its size and population, it is even harder to occupy. This also makes it hard for the Chinese to invade others; not utterly impossible, but quite difficult. Containing a fifth of the world’s population, China can wall itself off from the world, as it did prior to the United Kingdom’s forced entry in the 19th century and under Mao Zedong. All of this means China is a great power, but one that has to behave very differently than other great powers.

Tania Branigan | April 15

The Guardian - China yesterday unveiled ambitious plans to improve its capital's heavily polluted air in time for the Olympics, including halting construction and heavy industry.

Beijing's Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau laid out a range of tough measures to cut back pollution, such as closing numerous petrol stations and even banning spray-painting.

The bureau's deputy director, Du Shaozhong, warned that even more "strident" measures would be taken if the weather was unfavourable by the time the games begin in August. The month is regarded as one of the worst in terms of pollution in the city because the air is humid and often stagnant.

Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world. But the authorities say they have invested £8.6bn to tackle the city's infamous smog - an unpleasant combination of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter of which much is produced by the building industry.

Six Maasai warriors will run the London Marathon tomorrow(today) to raise money for a well in their village. Isaya, 24, is their chief. This is a diary of his week in London, the first time he has left Tanzania

Friday April 4: arrival in London

The plane was so big and frightening, and I closed my eyes. My family didn't want me to come to England because they never saw a plane before.

Our elders told us we can do the marathon because we have been running all over, killing a lion and herding cattle. I sometimes run for two or three days with my cattle, and I have to protect them from lions. We can help the village by raising money to drill for clean water, so all of us have trained hard.

Article continues
Heathrow was very busy and it was difficult to walk on the floor because some of it moved. You're walking along and the next moment it's whooosh! It's difficult to get on and off but very good when you're on. Read the rest here

April 7

Independent - If you were on the snowy streets of London yesterday and were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of an Olympic torchbearer carrying the sacred flame of Olympia, then count yourself lucky. Most spectators saw little more than a blur of fluorescent-yellow police jackets.

Officers were forced to surround Britain's 80 torchbearers, who did eventually include the Chinese ambassador, with a protection ring of Olympic proportions yesterday as they wound their way through the capital, flanked by thousands of angry protesters who had descended upon London to voice their fury at China's human rights record and Gordon Brown's decision to receive the flame in Downing Street.

An enormous security cordon that had something of the pantomime about it turned the relay into a public relations embarrassment for both the Chinese and British authorities, who have desperately tried to bill the 130-day global odyssey as a "journey of harmony". Until yesterday, they had largely managed to avoid widespread protests against China's human rights record.

Three times the organisers were forced to reroute the torch or place it in an open-top bus to get past protesters, who were predominantly pro-Tibet activists but also included Falun Gong devotees and those angry at China's support for the Sudanese and Burmese governments. Torchbearers such as the rugby player Kenny Logan, who had been expecting to run their part of the course, had to make do instead with holding the red and silver torch aloft from the top of a red bus.

Dalai Lama | April 6 | Phayul.com

While extending my warm greetings to all the Tibetans in Tibet, I would like to share some of my thoughts.

1. Since March 10 this year, we have witnessed protests and demonstrations in almost all parts of Tibet, even in a few cities in Mainland China by students, which are the outburst of long pent-up physical and mental anguish of the Tibetans and the feeling of deep resentment against the suppression of the rights of Tibetan people, lack of religious freedom and for trying to distort the truth at every occasion, such as saying that Tibetans look towards the Chinese Communist Party as the "Living Buddha", is an ultra leftist statement and smacks of Han chauvinism. I am very much saddened and concerned by the use of arms to suppress the peaceful demonstrations of Tibetan people's aspirations that have resulted in unrest in Tibet, causing many deaths, and much more causalities, detention, and injury. Such suppression and suffering are very unfortunate and tragic which will reduce any compassionate person to tears. I, however, feel helpless in the face of these tragic incidents.

Maureen Fan | Beijing | April 6

WaPo - Go, Teams! Learning The Drill In China

When the Summer Olympics open to great fanfare in August, an estimated 500,000 foreign tourists will be here rooting for their home teams. The Chinese will be cheering, too. They've been trained for it.

In a decision that is highly unusual by Olympic standards, the Chinese government has trained hundreds of thousands of official cheerleaders. Most are former state employees drafted out of retirement. They have been taught when to roar their approval and why not to boo other teams, especially those from onetime enemy countries. They will be assigned to events based partly on the decibel levels desired, organizers say.

Athens and Turin, Italy, host cities in 2004 and 2006, each had small teams of Olympic cheerleaders, controversial for their bikinis and their lack of rhythm, respectively. But China's effort is different in scope and ambition. The cheerleaders here, numbering more than 210,000 and growing, are a powerful symbol of how this country wants to be perceived by the rest of the world: united, strong and of one voice.

World leaders have many reasons to make them consider boycotting the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. But if activists are looking for moral champions, maybe they should focus on athletes instead.

China, with the blood of Tibetans on one hand and Darfurians on the other, is facing mounting calls for world leaders to boycott the Olympics. Today, Poland's prime minister announced his decision not to attend, joining his colleague, the Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who announced his own boycott yesterday. On Tuesday, Nicolas Sarkozy openly discussed the possibility of boycotting the opening ceremonies. And as the EU meets tomorrow to discuss China and Tibet, various member nations are weighing their options:

James Macintyre | March 12

The Independent - Martina Navratilova has regained Czech nationality more than 30 years after fleeing a Communist regime she now compares favourably to that of her adopted country America under President George Bush.

The nine-time Wimbledon champion and one of the world's greatest ever tennis players, Ms Navratilova was born in Prague. She fled in 1975 at the height of the Cold War after being denied the right to compete in professional tennis in the US, where most major tournaments were then played and to where she later moved.

Yesterday, however, she told a press conference in Tokyo that she now has her home citizenship back. "I lost it at the time I defected. I got it back on 9 January," she said.

The widely respected star had previously spoken of her disdain of the government of her adopted nation. "The thing is that we elected Bush," she told the Czech newspaper Lidove Noviny. "That is worse. Against that, nobody chose a Communist government in Czechoslovakia."

March 4

Packer News.com -

The Brett Favre era apparently is over.

The man who has been the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback for all but three games of the last 16 seasons, reportedly is retiring.

Favre’s brother, Scott, told the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald’s Al Jones, who is close to the Favre family, that Brett is retiring.

Jones also reported that Brett Favre has told Packers coach Mike McCarthy that he’s retiring.

Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, told ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen that Favre told McCarthy of his decision on Monday night. Cook also said there are no plans at this time for Favre to hold a press conference.

28 years ago today the United States defeated the Soviet Union in hockey at Lake Placid, New York:

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Roger may be telling the truth, but I doubt it. As I wrote a while back, Roger was one of my favorite players and that this came as a terrible disappointment. My disappointment still stings.

In one of the best Super Bowl games ever the Giants defeat the Patriots, 17-14. Congratulations to New York, the New York fans and the team's ownership. And thanks for one hell of a game, Eli.

Dallas | January 13

AP - Tony Romo can go wherever he wants with Jessica Simpson now. Eli Manning and the New York Giants knocked him and the Dallas Cowboys into the offseason Sunday.

Having to wait out long, slow drives by Dallas, Manning made his few chances count, throwing two touchdown passes to Amani Toomer and getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Brandon Jacobs for a 21-17 victory that put New York into the NFC championship game for the first time since the 2000 season.

These chickens never hatched...

How About Them . . . (at 9-1)
How About Them . . . (at 11-1)
Cowboys Win In Stunning Comeback (at 12-1)

Seahawks thou art wretched. Sooth, but thou art misnamed, nay not seahawks thou art, rather albatrosses, heralds of misfortune and woe.

At every turn dost thou bring darkness into my hearth, thou art as doom crows upon the land and doth bring shame to all that defend thee.

Fah, but thou art unmanned by the merest glimpse of yellow and green and tis clear thou viewest snow as thine own dire nemesis.

Young men wail and ask " Canst we not believe in our own team?" and I cry nay, they are as harlots who pad their breasts to attract the unwary, they entice but doth not satisfy and thy gold is forever forfeited.

Seahawks, thou art wretched.

Congrats to the Pats and Pats fans. Although I had hoped the Giants would beat them, the Pats closed the season out, earning a place in football history. They now join the Bears ('34, '42) and the Dolphins ('72) as the only teams to go undefeated during the regular season. A victors lap and bragging rights are due rewards for a fine year and an awesome team. They will be very, very tough to beat in the playoffs.

Today the Mitchell Report on steroid use in the Major Leagues was released. And I am mortified. Roger Clemons, one of my all time favorite baseball players was implicated in the fiasco. Roger? Roger, of all people? I cannot even begin to express my sadness and disappointment at this.

I don't know how y'all feel about this, but I'm of the opinion, rather draconian, I admit, that all players be stripped of any records or awards received if they were engaging in steroid use when they won said record or award. That includes Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa.

It's a fucking travesty. Of all the sports, our pure, true national pastime has been blighted by the short sighted anti-competitive behavior of these men and what they have wrought is as bad or worse than the great strike that prevented a World Series. If Mr. Hustle, Pete Rose, can be drummed out of baseball for gambling these players deserve the same fate of oblivion, including you Roger. Even you more than any other.

I promised Gordon I wouldn't talk about the Yankees, but I made no such promise towards the 'Pokes! And wow, what a game. They were dominated by the Lions from the start and really didn't deserve to win. But oh my, what a comeback! And what a way to clinch the NFC East.

How, on God's Green Earth did they do it? As Tim McMahon, the Cowboy's blogger at the Dallas Morning Snooze, writes:

1) Luck.

2) Tony Romo is really, really good.

How 'bout them 12-1 Cowboys! Dare I dream we can take the Pats? At this point I'll go this far: if the Pats go into the Superbowl undefeated only the Cowboys, with their storied franchise history would be able to beat them. But if they loose a game? I'd put money on the 'pokes!

. . . 11-1 Dallas Cowboys? Cheeseheads eat your hearts out cause we're going to the Superbowl. The game on Thursday--between the two best NFC teams was for the NFC championship. And who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and beat the Pats! Here's the thing, however: I'm hoping the Pats get beat at least once, cause I love Don Shula and the perfect 1972 Miami Dolphins.

By the way, you all know why there is a hole in Texas Stadium? So God can watch his team play!