why does the sporting comunity bend over for China?

Actually, the chinese emit much less carbon per capita than the United States -and this is despite their heavy industrial activity-. It's just that they have a HUGE population. This was brought up once by the US government when the European Union asked them to lower their emissions and they basically said 'why don't you tell that to the chinese!' well, it turns out that the chinese have lower emissions per capita. It would be easier for the US to reduce their carbon consumption per person than for China to just kill a portion of their population.

I do agree though, it shouldn't be all about money. I'm not sure about F1's budget in the 80's but it was probably way cheaper both in terms of cars and venues and still it was so much better than the early 2000's, and that was probably the time when F1's budget peaked.

EDIT: Well, the EU has standards of living that are comparable to the US and they still have lower per capita emissions. And the chinese standards of living have changed drastically from what they were, say 10 years ago. We grew up watching documentaries about chinese people having just farm animals, rice and a bicycle but that has changed.

I think Julian had joked about China opening it's first KFC, but actually it turns out that they opened their 400th KFC in Beijing back in 2000. Now I know it was just a joke and it's just a KFC but it still shows the difference between what China really is and what we see on tv, or on the newpapers, etc.

I don't mean to start a little flame war honestly, I think the US is great but I think there's too much hostility directed at the eastern world because of their success. In the end, it is not their fault that people like Bernie would rather make more money than please the fans. They want to charge more for the tickets, and they want the bigger price to be justified by having top notch installations, hotels, easy access, etc. The last thing they think about is wether or not the race will be interesting.

EDIT2: Yeah, I do think there is a high degree of faking. I wonder about the attendances though, some people must be buying those tickets.. But then, how much do they pay Bernie, or anyone like him, for just hosting the events -presumably a lot- and how much do they give him for any profit that they actually make -if any.

Well, money talks my friend. China is the current economic super-power, a goliath that has a Communist government with a Capitalistic mindset - the perfect formula for growth in today's world.

Countries the world over, especially the developed countries of the West (where Capitalism rules) are always looking for new markets to sell their goods, or produce their goods more cheaply to remain competitive, and China is their answer. Hence, the need to keep the Chinese happy even if it means ignoring their polluting the environment, dismal human rights record, arms sale to rogue nations and the bending/breaking of most international rules to its favour.

As Julian said, it's all about the money and it's got nothing to do with human rights or pollution.

Edit:

I think that sports and politics should be kept separate. In almost all the olympics and other big sporting events there have been protestors protesting one thing or another and as much as I respect their right to do what they do, I think it is disrespectful to the athletes competing in the games and to the actual event itself. I just don't think it's right for the protesters to use these events as a platform for them to make demands and accusations towards the host nations.

Its a time old story of sport following the money, atm China has it so everyone wants a piece of it.

edit@ cavallino, what my KFC theory isn't true? Dang! :)

China is a large country with the highest population, thats why there are many sporting events in China.

One word...Economics. It's always about economics.

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That, and some Tyke built a shIte F1 track there.....

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