This is an opinion piece from Russian state owned media
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Sputnik/Moscow: A Sunday report by CNN alleged that the Biden administration is soon to announce a US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing. While the reported boycott will not impact athletes, the mere news of it has impacted the diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
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Chinese officials have raised eyebrows at the idea of Washington announcing a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, noting that such a move would be politically motivated and stem from US officials not being invited to the Games in the first place.
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Beijing has also vowed “firm countermeasures” in case the US proceeds with the idea.
Still, the diplomatic boycott, even in the event of it being announced, does not mean that the United States will not be represented in the Chinese capital during the Winter Olympics. –
Since US athletes will not be impacted, many observers have already noted that the diplomatic move by the Biden administration will be “more of a symbolic protest that anything else”.
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As long as athletes have the opportunity to go and compete for their countries, the US boycott will not impact the games significantly, Jeff J. Brown, author of The China Trilogy and blogger at China Rising Radio Sinoland, underlines.
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“Since a diplomatic boycott is merely Kabuki theatre, we can expect most of the US’s allies to join in”, Brown says, acknowledging that Biden’s lead may be followed by other US allies (several of them, for example Australia and Lithuania, have already mulled the possibility of a similar boycott as well). “Realising that America’s ‘friends’ are vassals first, China will huff and puff in the media, but knowingly take it in diplomatic stride. The Games will go on”.
However, the “politicisation” of sports, and the Winter Olympics in particular, has still triggered concerns among experts.
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He suggests that Washington could see the squabble with Lithuania as China not being “earnest in adhering to international norms and thus it shouldn’t enjoy a normal winter game”.
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“The boycott has not been announced yet, and one hopes it won’t be as it would further damage the political atmosphere around China”, he says. “I would hope that China could downplay a possible boycott.
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It is extremely important not to play up the situation. On the contrary, I’m afraid Beijing will feel obliged to retaliate severely. The winter games are China’s face, and this insult ruins China’s face, its pride, then the reaction could be harsh”.
Beijing has been warning Washington not to move ahead with the idea of boycotting the Olympics since such suggestions emerged.
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President Joe Biden had said earlier that a boycott was something his administration was “considering” amid the US brainstorming on how to pique Beijing over alleged human rights abuses targeting Muslim minorities in China, tensions in South China Sea, and many other issues. China, in its turn, criticised the American “concerns” as interference in its internal affairs.
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Despite calls not to politicise sports coming from all sides, it appears that the reality is that politics and sports have historically been closely tied, according to Jeff J. Brown.
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“Remember the boycotts of the West against the USSR in 1980 (Moscow) and most communist-socialist countries reciprocating?” he said, referring to the 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. “As a symbol of prestige and national honour, sports have probably been ‘political’, going back to the Ancient Greeks”.
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The last time Washington imposed a full boycott of the Games was when former US President Jimmy Carter’s administration totally withdrew the US from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Now, even though US athletes will still attend the games in Beijing, the atmosphere seems to be gloomily similar to that of the Cold War, per Sisci.
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“Right or wrong, we are going back to a full scale Cold War. The first one with the USSR took actually many years to shape up”, he says. “The pace of this one is much faster, and its outlines are also different. But we better understand as soon as possible what the situation is we are in”.
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I tried to use a 40 year record of archers to determine if the ability could be correlated with other data, to see if we could identify the skill in younger people.
It was a very impressive result, but hampered by the simple fact, that no poor people could ever get into Olympic Archery. The same goes for winter sports. It is a class oriented representation, therefore the Olympics are generally speaking, dictated by how much money a family has to endure the process. The romanticism is a great promotional aspect, and I would like to see them continue,..but politics must be eliminated. The hosting should be determined by something other than financial stimulus. Look at what happened in Brazil. Much is wasted, and it taints the event.
Another stupid idea of the USA. You can say – the decision of political idiots. It is not for them to play for the country. This is a sport of great achievements. American athletes spend money, strength, youth for medals and records. I am very sorry that this is happening. Yes, it was like that in Moscow – 80. What have they achieved? Sports should be outside politics. Even if the Americans don’t come to the Olympic Games, no one will be upset. Americans are despised by most of the world. But American athletes – what are they to blame for? You are stealing their dream and the opportunity to climb the podium of Olympic heroes. I am very sorry, but I have to state the fact – the USA has turned into a country run by moral, base freaks who don’t care about anything. I’m sorry, but you’ve become monsters. Modern monsters. Because you were them initially. Shame on you, cheap dangerous creatures… (((
Andrew, it’s been decades since the USA has been in control of its own foreign policy. Future historians (if indeed there are any) will stand in awe at how we’ve been forced into wars that make no sense and have only bankrupted us both financially and morally. Our assault on Ukraine in 2014 was perpetrated by the same folks who brought us 9/11 and all the US wars of this century. Don’t expect this to change anytime soon.
Why you allways “hope” that others will ease up tensions, when the West raises them?
I tried to use a 40 year record of archers to determine if the ability could be correlated with other data, to see if we could identify the skill in younger people.
It was a very impressive result, but hampered by the simple fact, that no poor people could ever get into Olympic Archery. The same goes for winter sports. It is a class oriented representation, therefore the Olympics are generally speaking, dictated by how much money a family has to endure the process. The romanticism is a great promotional aspect, and I would like to see them continue,..but politics must be eliminated. The hosting should be determined by something other than financial stimulus. Look at what happened in Brazil. Much is wasted, and it taints the event.
Another stupid idea of the USA. You can say – the decision of political idiots. It is not for them to play for the country. This is a sport of great achievements. American athletes spend money, strength, youth for medals and records. I am very sorry that this is happening. Yes, it was like that in Moscow – 80. What have they achieved? Sports should be outside politics. Even if the Americans don’t come to the Olympic Games, no one will be upset. Americans are despised by most of the world. But American athletes – what are they to blame for? You are stealing their dream and the opportunity to climb the podium of Olympic heroes. I am very sorry, but I have to state the fact – the USA has turned into a country run by moral, base freaks who don’t care about anything. I’m sorry, but you’ve become monsters. Modern monsters. Because you were them initially. Shame on you, cheap dangerous creatures… (((
Andrew, it’s been decades since the USA has been in control of its own foreign policy. Future historians (if indeed there are any) will stand in awe at how we’ve been forced into wars that make no sense and have only bankrupted us both financially and morally. Our assault on Ukraine in 2014 was perpetrated by the same folks who brought us 9/11 and all the US wars of this century. Don’t expect this to change anytime soon.
Why you allways “hope” that others will ease up tensions, when the West raises them?
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