I am sure all of you are very surprised by this. A repressive, autocratic regime not changing? OMG!
China has already broken several of it's promises to the IOC....not that the IOC cares. Bullying, bullying and more bullying topped with bullying = China
But with the tone-deaf thoroughness shared by the masters of most oppressive regimes, China's leaders are making frantic efforts to assure that nothing goes wrong to mar their nation's moment in the sun. And as so often happens in these cases, the more they flail about, the worse they make things. The regime in Beijing has already broken many of the promises it made to the International Olympic Committee to win these the Games. Its notion of enhancing human rights, for example, appears to consist of setting up a couple of carefully monitored "protest pens" far from the Games venues, where dissidents (properly licensed, of course) will be able to air their views - as long as they don't talk about Tibet or Darfur, that is.
CNN just showed a clip of Beijing and it's friggin' disgusting. Visibility is a few hundred yards at best with the air absolutely filled with smog... gross.
And this is AFTER the government has already imposed numerous initiatives to get the pollutant content down. Apparently, if things don't improve soon -- like a few days soon -- the government is planning on banning 90% of all vehicles to see if that will work.
CNN just showed a clip of Beijing and it's friggin' disgusting. Visibility is a few hundred yards at best with the air absolutely filled with smog... gross.
And this is AFTER the government has already imposed numerous initiatives to get the pollutant content down. Apparently, if things don't improve soon -- like a few days soon -- the government is planning on banning 90% of all vehicles to see if that will work.
Actually, I can see the non-environmentalists scoring a win if banning most vehicles doesn't work. It might go to show that cars are only a minuscule fraction of contributors to air quality, and therefore any problem lies beyond simple car exhausts.
i think they are shutting down all factories, and then each day they alternate between odd and even ending license plates able to drive....
to try to clear up the air..... thats at least what i heard
i think they are shutting down all factories, and then each day they alternate between odd and even ending license plates able to drive....
to try to clear up the air..... thats at least what i heard
Just for the Olympics in order to look good. Once the Games are over it'll be business as usual.
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CNN just showed a clip of Beijing and it's friggin' disgusting. Visibility is a few hundred yards at best with the air absolutely filled with smog... gross.
And this is AFTER the government has already imposed numerous initiatives to get the pollutant content down. Apparently, if things don't improve soon -- like a few days soon -- the government is planning on banning 90% of all vehicles to see if that will work.
This is pretty normal for a lot of China (at least on the populated east coast). The first time I flew into Beijing I thought it was really foggy, because I could only see for a few hundred yards. I figured it out fairly quickly though: waking up with a sore throat and a headache was my first real clue that it was smog.
I've spent quite a bit of time in Beijing, and it's been sunny (where you could actually see the sun and blue sky) ONCE, and that was after it rained, followed by high winds.
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I hate the Olympics. Has been used on a few occasions to push bad regimes, 1936 in Berlin being a prime example. Hopefully it helps the Tibet cause though. Occasionally they have been good for that too.
Olympics Not Changing China's Ways
