2012 is not about the olympics

Nobel prizewinner Rajendra Pachauri says,

'If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.'

quoted in Bill McKibben's review of Thomas Friedman's new book. more ...

china syndrome

For a story to run and run, it needs a human face. The Independent says the environmentalist and human rights activist Hu Jia is likely to become the poster boy for critics of the Olympics.

Hu Jia began as an environmentalist, joining the Friends of Nature and going to the desert to plant trees. He moved on to Qinghai to protect the endangered Tibetan antelope. But he has become best known as an Aids activist. Yesterday Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for 'inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system': giving interviews and writing articles online. See Reporters Without Borders' map of press freedom rankings around the world. BBC news video here. The Olympics start 8 August.

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