NHL Should Withdraw from 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

[WordsOfWisdom]

The time to make a strong political statement against China's human rights abuses and bullying tactics is NOW.  

 

No other sports league has shown any courage or will to stand up to China. The NHL (a league with NO footprint in China, and a league that will NEVER have a footprint in China) has the opportunity to make a strong statement against China, rather than pander to China like the NBA has.

 

Here's WHY this is so important to Canadians:

 

China recently held two innocent Canadian citizens hostage in jail for years over the arrest of a Chinese businesswoman here in Canada.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58687071

 

Relations between CANADA and China are at ROCK BOTTOM.  I'm not sure how/why the United States manages to ignore them so well. Nothing China does on the world stage seems to penetrate the minds of Americans. America is quite literally "asleep" on the issue of China. While America sleeps, China presses on to greater and greater international abuses of power.  Examples: Routinely violating Canadian waters in the North channel for example. A clear act of war that would get them bombed into oblivion IF they ever did it to the USA. I already mentioned the hostage taking as retaliation.

 

China is the greatest threat to world peace. They have no respect for human life. No respect for other countries. No respect for international agreements/treaties. No respect for fair trade. No respect for borders. 

 

I don't think the NHL should be sending its best players over there to compete. There is no guarantee that China wouldn't try to do something to harm the Canadian players.

 

If the NHL won't withdraw, Team Canada SHOULD withdraw immediately from these Olympics. 

 

[Podein25]

21 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

China is the greatest threat to world peace. They have no respect for human life. No respect for other countries. No respect for international agreements/treaties. No respect for fair trade. No respect for borders. 

 

Now do Russia, the United States, and numerous other countries.

[radoran]

12 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

Now do Russia, the United States, and numerous other countries.

 

If the NHL "shouldn't go" then why is Canada?

 

Seems like the origin of this "decision" is "I don't want the NHL to take a break" more than "China bad."

[Podein25]

9 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

If the NHL "shouldn't go" then why is Canada?

 

Seems like the origin of this "decision" is "I don't want the NHL to take a break" more than "China bad."

 

Yeah, I don't have an opinion on any of this really. 

[lynxrattle]

China is putting its minority Uighur people into concentration camps, slowly conquering Pacific islands from its neighbours, raping its tennis stars by politburo members, subdueing Hong Kong into a part of the dictatorship and threatening Taiwan by an invasion. They do everything Nazi Germany did from 1936 - 1938, but they do it slowly enough for the world to keep on turning a blind eye to it. Definitely there should be no Olympics in a country like that. There should be a world wide embargo against China. (And I also hate the idea of having the NHL pause for the duration of Olympics )

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 hours ago, Podein25 said:

 

Now do Russia, the United States, and numerous other countries.

 

I think you meant "nor". 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 hours ago, radoran said:

 

If the NHL "shouldn't go" then why is Canada?

 

Seems like the origin of this "decision" is "I don't want the NHL to take a break" more than "China bad."

 

Well if it were up to me, I'd pull all of Team Canada out of the Olympics citing safety concerns. The fact that China has a track record of holding random Canadians hostage over fictitious crimes, is a security concern. They can't be trusted. China could decide on a whim not to allow the Canadian athletes to return home, and try to use that as leverage to get something from Canada. Nobody else in the international community would come to Canada's aid, just like nobody did anything over the recent cases of hostage taking. It didn't even make the news outside of Canada and Britain. China is considered "too important" of a trading partner that nobody wants to anger them.

 

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

China is putting its minority Uighur people into concentration camps, slowly conquering Pacific islands from its neighbours, raping its tennis stars by politburo members, subdueing Hong Kong into a part of the dictatorship and threatening Taiwan by an invasion. They do everything Nazi Germany did from 1936 - 1938, but they do it slowly enough for the world to keep on turning a blind eye to it. Definitely there should be no Olympics in a country like that. There should be a world wide embargo against China. (And I also hate the idea of having the NHL pause for the duration of Olympics )

 

I generally enjoy the NHL teams in the Olympics, but I think it would be an insult to Canadians if we sent our best athletes over to a country to entertain their people when their government held our citizens hostage in jail (solitary confinement) for ~2 years over make-believe crimes as retaliation for arresting a Huawei executive. Meanwhile she stayed on house arrest at her ~$25 million dollar home in Vancouver. 

 

Just imagine if the NHL was the FIRST pro sports league to take a stand AGAINST China. There's virtually no risk to the NHL. Nobody watches the NHL in China. They couldn't possibly lose any business from doing so. If any league could do it, the NHL could. It would set them apart from the other copycat sports leagues.

 

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 hours ago, Podein25 said:

 

Yeah, I don't have an opinion on any of this really. 

 

My suggestion would be for the NHL to skip the Olympics in China (maybe indefinitely) and just have the World Cup of Hockey.

 

That way the NHL can control the location of the tournament and all the content.   

[SaucyJack]

20 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

just have the World Cup of Hockey.

 

That way the NHL can control the location of the tournament and all the content.

At least the Chinese people would be spared the minor embarrassment of seeing their national squad humiliated on the ice.  (I’m not sure the recent decision by the International Ice Hockey Federation to let China play in the Olympics was doing them a favor.)

 

I too think the whole situation is troubling but I’m undecided on boycotting the Games at this point.

 

The one thing I am sure about is your utter lack of commitment and effort in regards to your ‘Xi Jinping Thought” indoctrinations.  

[B21]

[Math]

I'm in favor of folding and dissolving the whole olympic organization, and cover it with 500,000,000,000,000,000 tons of salt, just to be sure that nothing, absolutely nothing will grow from that.

 

11 hours ago, SaucyJack said:

At least the Chinese people would be spared the minor embarrassment of seeing their national squad humiliated on the ice.  (I’m not sure the recent decision by the International Ice Hockey Federation to let China play in the Olympics was doing them a favor.

 

René Fasel is a great friend of all magnificient dictators of this world (Xi, Putin, Lukashenko). But are you not thrilled to have the opportunity to watch those kind of games ?

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

42 minutes ago, Math said:

I'm in favor of folding and dissolving the whole olympic organization, and cover it with 500,000,000,000,000,000 tons of salt, just to be sure that nothing, absolutely nothing will grow from that.

 

Best comment ever.  

 

Agreed.

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

12 hours ago, SaucyJack said:

I too think the whole situation is troubling but I’m undecided on boycotting the Games at this point.

 

The one thing I am sure about is your utter lack of commitment and effort in regards to your ‘Xi Jinping Thought” indoctrinations.  

 

For one thing, I don't understand why the NHL wants to be in the Olympics instead of hosting their own World Cup. They literally shot themselves in the foot by destroying their own tournament. (I guess the NHL is acknowledging that nobody wants to watch their league outside of Canada and the US so if they sneak it into the Olympics maybe they can sucker unsuspecting viewers into watching it.)  

 

If the NHL thinks they are going to "grow the game" with this, they're stupid. 

 

If the NHL thinks the players (or any fans who travel there to watch) are safe in the world's most dangerous and evil communist controlled country, they're stupid.

 

What fan in their right mind would fly to China to watch these games given what they did to Kovrig and Spavor?

 

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-announces-diplomatic-boycott-of-beijing-olympics-athletes-will-still-compete-1.5698625

 

Canada announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics, athletes will still compete

OTTAWA -- Canada will proceed with a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, meaning government officials won’t attend but athletes can continue to compete.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement on Wednesday during a press conference alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge.

 

“We are extremely concerned by the repeated human rights violations by the Chinese government. That is why we are announcing today that we will not be sending any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympic, Paralympic Games this winter,” Trudeau said.

 

...

 

 

I think Canada should boycott the games altogether. A diplomatic boycott is taking a tiny bit of a stand against China, but not much of a stand. I'm fully expecting China to retaliate over this. If anything, our athletes are actually in more danger now than ever.

 

If and when the time comes where Canadian Olympic athletes are "mysteriously" poisoned prior to their event or held captive in a Chinese prison after the games and can't fly home, then you heard it here first. 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by WordsOfWisdom

[Math]

Will it change anything? Of course not. But at least it's the minimum signal we could expect after all that happened with the Michaels and all related stuff. Still disappointed by the lack of leadership of the canadian gov't as this question is being debated for months and they still waited for the U.S. to open the way.

 

I understand the decision to keep the athletes away from that. If those are thrilled to live the olympic dream being confined with no outer contact and tested everyday while competing in front of a crowd composed of 100% Chinese selected by their Regime, that's their choice and their conscience...

 

But I still hope for a withdraw of the League even if the odds are very small. And again, **** the IOC and these games.

[WordsOfWisdom]

 

 

NHL should definitely pull out now.  Team Canada should pull out now.  Make the right decision Gary (for once in your life). Or if Gary won't do it, ATTN: Connor McDavid: Now is your time to shine by pulling out of the Olympics. As soon as you do it, the rest of the NHL and Team Canada will follow suit. 

 

Now it's a legitimate threat.  

Edited December 10, 2021 by WordsOfWisdom

[Math]

The ball is now on the NHLPA and players' side. With the new threats on restrictions that include a potential quarantine of five weeks, concerns are becoming louder. Pietrangelo being the first to come out of the woods with this.

 

It's not settle yet, but the sky is getting darker. Have a McConnor or a Sidney Crosby to publicly walk over, and it's the dagger.

[lynxrattle]

[Fixxer]

10 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

Exactly my take on it as well.

[Math]

Now with the Flames and Canes having games postponed, the massive increase of players in Covid protocol and things turning into a joyful fecal matter flooding worldwide, my take is the NHL won't go.

[lynxrattle]

32 minutes ago, Math said:

Now with the Flames and Canes having games postponed, the massive increase of players in Covid protocol and things turning into a joyful fecal matter flooding worldwide, my take is the NHL won't go.

It just won't work. The pandemic alone  makes it too difficult.

[JR Ewing]

50 minutes ago, lynxrattle said:

It just won't work. The pandemic alone  makes it too difficult.

 

Yeah; even if we leave politics out of the equation, Omicron looks like it's going to decide for everybody.

 

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

On 11/15/2021 at 1:17 PM, lynxrattle said:

There should be a world wide embargo against China. 

Amazon would collapse.  Whatever would we do? (Insert Ninja here)

[lynxrattle]

1 hour ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

Amazon would collapse.  Whatever would we do? (Insert Ninja here)

Yeah, I know. The embargo would work two ways. Besides, Russia would not join an embargo against China, if they decided to invade Taiwan, and China would not embargo Russia over invading Ukraine. Any embargo could be negated by joint action. The goods would still flow between the two countries. The combination of nuclear weapons and China's economic significance makes the western world quite helpless against any aggression from either country.