Free Republic

Lobbyist and activists who serve anti-China plots might gloatingly, but mistakenly, think they have found a soft rib in China when Tibetan riots coincidentally occurred dramatically with the approaching of the Beijing Olympic Games. They called for boycott of the Olympiad, hoping to make China submit to their demands, but they apparently overestimated their weight, no matter what heavyweights they could be. Closely tied to China's national interests in territorial integrity, the Tibet issue is one where the government will never compromise, even if those boycotters see the Olympics as a historical chance to pressure the country. The noisy boycotts...

Former US president Jimmy Carter lashed out at British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being "so compliant and subservient" to the Bush administration in Washington. "I have been surprised and extremely disappointed with Tony Blair's behaviour," Carter told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper as he promoted his new book "Faith and Freedom." "I think that, more than any other person in the world, the prime minister could have had a moderating influence on Washington, and he has not," said the 81-year-old former head of state. He faulted Blair for not having been a constraint on US President George W. Bush's decision...

In an online registry of the world's nations, organizers of the Olympic Games in Greece have omitted listing Israel's capital. Instead of Jerusalem, the entry for "capital" has an asterisk that corresponds to a footnote reading: "Please visit the official United Nations website for further information regarding the capital of Israel." A few months ago, the website listed Jerusalem as the capital of "Palestine," while leaving the entry for Israel's capital blank, the Jerusalem Post reported. That prompted a protest from Israel, resulting in a compromise in which both the Israeli and Palestinian capitals would be omitted from the register....