Submitted by Stephen Fox, Jun 11, 2007 22:00

I am very glad that you seem to recognize the importance of Richardson's breakthrough in terms of Iraq policy, especially in the context of Lieberman now threatening to use nuclear weapons, a posture I find totally absurd and even dangerous, having studied the effects at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as much as I have. Allow me to digress a bit to examine Richardson's ideas on a possible US boycott of the Olympics.

I strongly agree with Richardson's innovative idea put forth during the New Hampshire debates, in view of the general silence among nations vis-à-vis China's ghastly atrocities in the human rights realm, and not just about China and Darfur, but especially towards Tibetans, and especially with its dozens of prisons which for Tibetans are exactly like Auschwitz and Dachau. I posited the same idea in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, in correspondence to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and to many heads-of-state, that the moral indignation of the nations in the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 could be harnessed into at least the threat of a boycott, perhaps worded more diplomatically. During the debate, Sen. Edwards clearly agreed with this point by Richardson.

Make no mistake: this is probably the last chance in human history to do anything constructive about Tibet, to prevent henceforth the genocidal treatment of Tibetans remaining in Tibet, which has since 1959 seen 1.2 million Tibetans killed, roughly 20% of the entire population of Tibet. If American political powers and their pundits won't use the remains of our powers of moral suasion in the world at large, and if we are to once again docilely capitulate to dimwitted politicians who say that the Olympics is only about sport, and not about politics, we are no better than the many nations who were oblivious to the growing obviousness of the genocide of Jews in Europe before and during World War II.

Actually, the USA was for many years totally oblivious in this regard, whether you blame Roosevelt or anti-Semitics in the State Department, all of which is thoroughly documented in Arthur Morse's book, While Six Million Died. In that light, we think Richardson is on the right track, and even more so, when you consider the dead pets and the poisoned toothpaste from China. That is just not "about politics:" that was life and death for many, including at least 100 dead, mostly children, in Panama!

News: In what may be its most audacious Olympic act yet, China's Ministry of Public Security has issued an incredible directive that lists 43 categories of unwanteds who are to be investigated and barred from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Pariah groups include: - eerily vague "key individuals in ideological fields" - "overseas hostile forces" - "counter-revolutionary" figures - the Dalai Lama and all affiliates - members of "religious entities not sanctioned by the state" (e.g. Roman Catholics) - "individuals whoinstigate discontentment toward the Chinese Communist Party through the Internet," - and even certain types of "handicapped" persons. Members of the Falun Gong would be barred, as would "family members of deceased persons" killed in "riots" — a euphemism for events such as the Tiananmen Massacre — and Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province, which the regime brands "national separatists." Only at the very bottom of the directive does it identify "violent terrorists" and members of "illegal organizations" as targets for investigation and possible barring.
Respectfully,

Stephen Fox, stephen@santafefineart.com

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