Posted by Sigismund on April 13, 2008, at 2:23:58
This just in from the official Beijing 2008 website:
The sacred flame has so far passed through Almaty in Kazakhstan, Istanbul in Turkey, St. Petersburg in Russia and London in Britain. People along the Torch Relay route have extended the flame a warm welcome and the relay is proceeding successfully as planned ... all Torch Relay cities have given strong support for the event. At each stop of the Olympic Torch Relay, the city's local government has held a grand welcoming ceremony and various celebrations.The Australian government had already been reprimanded by the Chinese Government when Kevin Rudd appeared at some important Beijing University and, speaking to them in Mandarin, used some Chinese term for friendship, the sort that is prepared to offer unpleasant truths, and then said that Australians were concerned about the human rights situation in Tibet.
When the Chinese Premier addressed the Australian Parliament just after President Bush (everyone was so jaded, I don't think anyone thought anything), Chinese security personel made sure that no Tibetan activists entered Parliament House, and a member of parliament was ejected.
So we (at least) have made some progress.
poster:Sigismund
thread:823015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20080312/msgs/823015.html