China's genocide Games

In preparing to host the 2008 Olympics, writes Eric Reeves in The Boston Globe (hat tip: Norm), China’s regime knew it would draw fierce protests over the continuing destruction of Tibet as well as over its support of the brutal Burmese junta and, of course, Beijing's own gross domestic human rights abuses. What was probably not predictable was the effectiveness of Darfur advocacy in highlighting China's role in Sudan, which besides persuaded Steven Spielberg to resign as an artistic director for the Games. This is why Beijing is engaging in a massive campaign to dissemble its role in the Darfur genocide—though authoritatively documented for years—in western Sudan. In turn,

nothing encourages Khartoum more than China's refusal to speak honestly about violent human destruction in Darfur, where growing insecurity has brought the world's largest humanitarian operation to the brink of collapse.
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Confident that China will block punitive actions, Khartoum recently resumed savage civilian clearances in West Darfur, deploying regular military forces and Arab militia proxies. Tens of thousands of African civilians were displaced by ground and air attacks, and hundreds were killed; towns, villages, and camps for displaced persons were destroyed; humanitarian aid was blocked. Only immense confidence in China's diplomatic protection emboldened the regime to resume such large-scale genocidal destruction. If China is to be a legitimate host of the 2008 Olympics, the preeminent event in international sports, it cannot be complicit in the ultimate international crime - genocide. The world community must respond more forcefully to this intolerable contradiction.