couldn't avoid the topic -- the more you try to avoid it, the easier it gets into your sight. having read about an article about our torch guards on the timesonline(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3671368.ece), the rantings of so many archaic views astounds me. i find this article to be biased and one-sided, calling these guards as "thugs", without evidence, when clearly they were only doing their jobs -- if you happen to have watched the relay on bbcn24 you would know that, throughout the course, the "men-in-blue" did not manhandle any protestors, rather, all physical actions were taken by london bobbies.

having lived in this country for almost 7 years, i had certain confidence that the brit media would at least keep it's hornesty and integrity towards international affairs --well thank fuck for proving me wrong. after a protester tried to snatch the torch away from a disabled chinese female bearer on a wheelchair under the "protection" of 3000+ parisian policemen and women, how come adding necessary security meassurement from the chinese side is deemed to be "thuggery"? and shame on you coe for using this word! your deeply rooted racism saddens me. i'm sure when you're dragging the torch in 2012 your superior knowledge of freedom and liberty will make all the bites and punches of anti-iraq-war-protesters' feel like gentle breezes -- and good luck without any guards.

i am also appalled at the hypocrisy here: the uk have both directly, and indirectly via support of the us, tortured, maimed and murdered tens of thousands of afghanistan and iraqi civilians during the last few years. so how can you brits complain to china about human rights violations in tibet when you are one of the world's worst abusers. people scream human rights abuses and "free tibet" but such attitudes would thus eliminate most western countries from being able to host the game as well (been mentioned but think the war and/or western countries using cheap labor in china to produce goods in order to meet western demand). whilst i see the torch relay as an opportunity to highlight humanitarian issues i do not agree with the olympics being hijacked by political agendas and i find it fucking necessary to protect the olympic flame from violent protestors determined to hijack what should be a celebratory event.

what most people fail to realise is that protests will change absolutely fuck-all about the tibet situation. if anything, it further highlights the ignorance of many who think they can "make the world a better place" with their ideals. i'm surprised that many have already forgotten about the lessons learnt in recent history, when trying to get involved with other people's affairs and forcing your ideals onto other countries. yes, thanks to you, we now live in a world full of fear, animosity and deepening divisions that are only going to get worse before they get better. before you've even managed to clean up the mess you've made, you're now jumping onto the newest bandwagon "free tibet", which many people have suddenly taken upon themselves, because it's just as popular as the "free iraq" or the "free afghanistan" use to be, which before I forget, must say was a resounding success on your part.

mine, yours, or anybody else's opinions don't matter. why? because china is not going to roll over and play dead, even john smith from cambridge uni who read a paragraph off some article and then thought it gives the right to judge right or wrong. this whole farce only demonstrates how easily manipulated some people can be, as dalai himself steps back into the dark and watches.

peace.