micheal_warren Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 This from smh.com.au ZIMBABWE'S President, Robert Mugabe, has been forced to return home following intense political pressure from the Chinese Communist Party not to attend Friday night's opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. The Herald understands high-powered lobbying from political leaders who will be attending the ceremony prompted the highest levels of the Chinese Government to convince him not to attend. It is understood he had arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday but could get no further. The two countries have a close relationship and it took intense persuasion to convince Mr Mugabe to return to Zimbabwe and not cause embarrassment to the host country. A Mugabe spokesman, George Charamba, wrote in a Zimbabwean newspaper: "President Mugabe attaches great importance to the ongoing talks [between the Government and Opposition], which is why he is not going to China for the grand opening of the Olympics." The US President, George Bush, and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will be among heads of state attending the opening ceremony. The pro-Tibet supporter and Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans will respect the Olympic rules and not protest at Games venues, says the Australian Olympic Committee president, John Coates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiejie Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Maybe it was a visa problem! As with many other foreigners in the last few months, he was sent back to his home country to apply for a Chinese visa rather than do the typical Hong Kong agent shuffle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheal_warren Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Good job that he has been sent home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryjane Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Fantastic~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonafin Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 While I don't particularly like Mugabe, personally for me, him being there or not, would not taint my enjoyement of the games one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinite_Olympics Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Hoorah! One less socialist dictator punk to worry about at the Olympics! Now, just make sure we don't have Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Kim Jong-Il, or the Iranian leader there and we'll be set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafa Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 send mugabe packing but invite bush. ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryjane Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 send mugabe packing but invite bush. ha. I'm thinking the same thing~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim jones Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Ah one mans oppressor in Southern Africa is not unlike the President who supports the Genocide in Northern Africa mainly Danfur. one Chinese President named Hu Jintao. Bush or Hu Jintao it is basically war and killing of civilians for OIL to fuel their economies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7503428.stm Yeah playing both sides of the Genocide fence is only good old Chinese Capitalism. Mugabe is certainly not to be held in any light then what he actually is a brutal dictator but many leaders are not much better unless you really want to fool yourself. I love that the Canadian Athletes will spend no more then 4 days in advance of their respective events in Beijing . If that keeps up between many of your larger nations will be fairly sparse of Athletes for the opening ceremonies. The Games in Beijing seem to becoming a bit of a joke really. Between Politics, Human rights , censorship and the smog there is enough negative there to think that we might actually see worse like an athlete dying on the Marathon course or something. To me you would think I was down on Beijing Completely but really it is sad to spend 42 billion to then have these problems with the games that will probably be marred with these distractions. Truly I wished the Chinese would have had a better run up to this and resolved many of the issues like Tibet. The IOC picked this Candidate City and it seems to be a match made in Hell. Jim jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 send mugabe packing but invite bush. ha. So? Bush, like him or not, is a legitimately elected (at least by weird US law) leader. Mugabe is a tyrant illegally in office -- and a murderer for his own agenda. That's the main difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheal_warren Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thats right i think there is a big difference between Bush and Mugabe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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