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Misplaced cheers for China

As news continues to emerge from China on how the authorities are dealing with any possible dissent during the upcoming Olympics - most of it pretty predictable except to those on the IOC who seem to have been gulled into believing that China's appalling human rights record and "freedoms" during the Games would not be in play - major sponsors are seemingly looking away from China's curbing of freedoms.

Ken Silverstein, in Harper's Magazine, has an interesting Q & A with a Human Rights Watch representative:

"Arvind Ganesan has been at Human Rights Watch as the Director of the Business and Human Rights Program and is involved in research, advocacy, and policy development. His program has issued groundbreaking reports on Enron, Wal-Mart, on corruption in Angola, where American oil companies have major investments, and on Western companies censoring the Internet in China. I recently spoke to Ganesan by phone and asked him six questions about the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing".

Read the Q & A here.

The NY Times also has an article, here, on Western cheerleaders for China.

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