This week's video news #2... (discuss in class March 20)

billy wrote:Opinion: I feel really sad and pitiful about what is going on in Lhasa, the capital of former Tibet. I'm also of the opinion that the Chinese government has been doing something that should be criticized worldwide. The store owner in the video clip said she was not worried because the Chinese Liberation Army would crack down on the riots and give her peace back sooner or later. At first, I was wondering how she could say that even when her brethren was being killed in the military campaign. But, after a while I came to know she was not Tibetan, but Chinese who moved to Lhasa to make money. Just like what Japanese militarists did to our country, the Chinese government tried to move their Han(Chinese) race to the Tibetan territory trying to trample the thousand-old spiritual country and obliterate their cultures and traditions. I was really furious and enraged about the Chinese mean demeanor and felt a strong sympathy to the Tibetan women having no other option to look at their husbands and sons being chased and beaten to bleeding by the Chinese soldiers.

Prediction: My prediction is that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be crucially defamed by the Chinese government's inhumane treatment of Tibetan people. Some celebrities have already voiced their concerns and put their words into action. For example, Steven Spielberg, a world-famous American movie director, is said to refuse to take the role of artistic advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Plus, the China's foreign relations with other European countries may be dampened. However, considering the merciless Chinese suppression and secretive military campaign, I don't think the Chinese government will give in to the Tibetans' demand for their independence.

Liz wrote: I'm of the opinion that Tibetans keep protesting peacefully to recover their autonomy. This is the perfect time for them to get attention from all over the world owing to 2008 Beijing Olympic Game. However, an Olympic boycotting is not a way to solve this problem because it's against the spirit of the Olympic.
Whatever the reason is, China's reaction to this problem should be criticized for using military force. China is such a hugh country and Tibet is just a small part of it. Comparing military forces between two parts, it's just like beating one's head against the wall. Therefore if it is asserted that cultural genocide is taking place in Tibet, there should be a through investigation upon it.
My prediction is that it's going to develope like a Tienanmen Square crackdown. As you see, no powerful country but France and Germany is announcing their opinion on this problem. Because China's power is getting stronger in the world, many powerful countries pretend not to know anything about it. Using this weak point, China's authority will block down all the mass media and rely on military power to achieve peace.

inmyheart479 wrote:I have chosen the third video clip titled " Champagne demands fizzing" just because nobody seems to take an interest in it, admitting that I am not a big fan of champagne though.

No discussion of wine is complete without mention of France, the home of a variety of delicacies. Especially for the sparkling wine, champagne has become a household name in the world. As we all know, sparkling white or rose wines are made in many parts of the world but only producers in a designated region of eastern France have the right to call their product champagne.

I'm of the opinion that sales of champagne all around the world are fizzing. The existing vineyards have almost reached the limits of what they can produce without diluting the quality of the world's favourite celebratory drink. Faced with surging demand, the only thing that is certain is that more champagne vineyards are needed. A few years from now, the existing champagne vineyards will no longer be able to cope with the demand. According to the news, for the first time since the official boundaries were drawn in 1927, the land entitled to grow champagne grapes is to be significantly increased, by as much as 15 percent by 2015.

My prediction on this is that it is not just a matter of meeting insatiable demand for champagne by increasing the production. Protection of food names based on geographic criteria is a global phenomenon but champagne stands out among other products because of its international recognition and massive sales. The fact is the more that growing is extended to marginal areas, the more the quality and reputation of the whole champagne appellation is diminishing. The danger of a demand-led expansion of champagne- growing areas - even to land already mapped for champagne use - remains real. The big houses would always be able to maintain quality. But there might be a proliferation of cheaper blends, which could progressively undermine the reputation of the region. Moreover, extending the champagne vineyards could be wonderful for the area as a whole but very difficult to take for some villages and individuals if the new boundaries were drawn in such a way that their lands are narrowly excluded for no obvious reason. There will be jealousy and tension between villages, neighbours, within families. Some people are going to become very rich, that's clear, but there could also be a lot of problems which economic windfall bring to the area. That is a problem for the future. The villages included among the chosen will have every cause to celebrate while Others will see no reason to open the champagne.

Lee yujin wrote:opinion
I'm of the opinion that...
China has been perparing to hold the biggest sport game so called "Olympic" which was actually originated for acheiving reconciliation between conflicting countries.
However, they did something opposite to this Olympic spirit. I understand the relation between china and Tibet is so complicated that we can't judge this situation just in term of the morality but China should have found better and wiser way to solve the problem except violence. Human right should be respected even in case of enemy.

Prediction
Unfortunately, I don't think that Tibet could get independence or the plan of Beijing Olympic would be canceled through this riots. International society will just hold breathing beacuse of china's great power in diplomacy and international trade.
However, it will bring a lot of change in Chinese society through Tbetians' sacrificing.
There must a lot of Chinese who realize the fault and try to fix the problem.
Although we don't know how long will it take Tibetians brave will bear fruit.

kim young-ah wrote:This video news reminded me of some stories that I heard in my middle school days. The stories were that our planet earth would be exterminated by Fire and Water(Flood). I think Fire means global warming, greenhouse effect by carbon dioxide, the destruction of the Ozone layer and so on. And Water means, I guess, flood, that is, glacier's melting.
I'm of the opinion that, in the end, the Fire and Water are dependent upon our behavior, i.e. to keep our environment safe and clean or not.
The environmental pollution (including air, water and soil pollution and all kinds of wastes) causes the earth to get disease and the earth has got the fever like that we have fever when we get disease. Here, the fever means global warming.
Due to global warming, the glacier is melted away. The melted water from the glacier is flown into the ocean. And the sea level is raised, finally flood!!!
So, all over the world is trying to save the earth, except USA and China. Sometimes I think if USA and China control their wastes and pollution, our earth will be O.K. soon.
But, without keeping the earth safe and clean, global warming would be accelerated and flood is coming much sooner than several thousand years.
I'm not sure the future is safe and hopeful in terms of this point. If the glacier is melted away, the sea proportion of the earth will be wider than now, and then we cannot have any land as much as now.
Or like the movie, "Tomorrow", all over the world will be covered with snow and ice. And only cold will remain. How miserable the world will be! What will our descendents become of?
For our earth and our descendents, we should do something.
The answer depends on us. Let's save the earth.

Thank you. Take care,

young

Boyun Park wrote: Opinion : I'm of the opinion that this kind of climate change phenomenon won't slow down unless people really start to acknowledge the reality of nature problem. I'm ashamed to admit that even myself don't really care much about saving the earth except when I hear or read an article something like this. It's true that an individual cannot really feel the small changes in nature. However, if we think about Korea's different four beautiful seasons in the past, spring and autumn seem to have shorten much thesedays. People cannot avoid destroying and using up the nature as we live on, but we can at least try to slow the speed down and think of other ways to save the given nature. If we don't actively try to save the nature from now on, our future generations will have to live in worries everyday.



Prediction : My prediction is that this region in Antarctica will especially warm up fater than other places in near future which will lead to a big nature disaster. Countries that are closed to this region might have to transfer their people to safer spots when the sea level rises. It's also likely that if the glacier keeps melting fast, there soon might be only broken-up chunks of ice floating on the water.

sunnypine wrote:Yesterday I’ve read an article about melting glacier in the Antarctic. The size of the glacier which has just been fallen was 7 times as big as Manhattan. It was really shocking news to me. You know, these days we are facing much information about dying Earth stuff. But we are not actually taking action so much, and that's why we are facing this kind of shocking and very worried news. I'm really sorry about my Planet Earth. I've seen some movies about a climate disaster, such as 'the day after tomorrow', 'Silent World', 'Twister', and so on. On the movies, usually at first human beings were so weak people to handle nature disasters. But in the movies, they often fix the situation going on and became happy again. However, this is just a movie story. We don’t know when we will have those situations and how to fix them. Therefore, we have to seriously do something for our Mother Earth. If it is dying, we are dying together.

Now, my prediction is that many countries will make some strong bills about protecting Earth. Many NGOs will start more actively their movement too. However I don’t think many normal people WILL actually do something to protect Earth. We are just so busy people making money and living lives. It’s so sad, but I think this kind of situation will happen again and again, and then people will start really realizing the real situation going on. I hope not to happen something like movies.

Han Kyoung Jae wrote:opinion -I'm of the opinion that this phenomenon is very serious thing and it may threaten our life. So we immediately have to take action to make our global climate normal temperature. We just take care of our own health. We do all the things to make our body and mind strong and sound. But we don't do anything to make our environment better place. We just use a lot of disposable products and much chemical which pollute the whole environment. Also we don't save the natural resources. As there is a saying that it is no use crying over spilt milk, we need to make the environment and the sea level normal as soon as possible.

prediction -My prediction is that if we don't take care of the entire global climate, the earth itself as well as our health and life will not be exist any more. As the melting glacier might make flood, the people living in the area which is lower than any other area and the people living in the area near the Antarctica may lose their living place. Moreover, if the phenomenon of melting glacier keeps going on, the people just living in the lower area and near the Antarctica and the people living all around the world cannot live in the earth any more. In the end the whole earth may sink down. And before long, perhaps some scientists may invent and develop very special place which many people can live in. For example, we can have a place to live under the sea or on the sea such as a submarine house and a boat house. Melting glacier faster means that the climate of the earth keeps warming faster. When it comes to just Korea, now we have distinct four seasons. But if this kind of phenomenon keeps going on, the distinctive seasons may become one weather just like summer during all the year.
So, to keep our beatiful four seasons we need to save our environment by plating lots of flowers and trees, not using many disposable products and chemical products, and saving important and valuable natural resorces. By doing these things we can prevent the climate from warming and the Antarctica glacier from melting. Also we can live peacefully in the beautiful and precious earth all together including other animals.

Jason Renshaw wrote:

Mijin Son wrote:Opinion: I am of the opinion that Tibet should be liberated. The Chinese occupation of Tibet should be criticized by the world because it has been done by military force in violent ways. Every people have the right to control over its nation but Chinese has violated that. However, the world hasn’t taken any action yet. When it comes to Iraqi war, the world tried to play a role and took some actions to find out mass destruction weapons- they were not actually found, though. I know many countries are studying the pleasure of Chinese but in my opinion we have to do something to protect human rights and weak minorities and to keep the world peace.

Prediction: I think Chinese will do anything to keep taking Tibet- even killing a lot of Tibetans. There are a lot of minorities in China. If China makes Tibet liberated, other peoples might protest and struggle to get independent. But I think that if the more people in the world recognize this situation due to the Olympics, the better solution we will be able to find out.

Hi Mijin and thanks for posting your opinion and prediction related to the Tibet Uprising article.

It was great to read your impressions. I found a couple of points in the opinion section a little confusing, though. What kind of comparison exactly are you making between China's invasion of Tibet and the invasion of Iraq? Also, what do you mean when you say "many countries are studying the pleasure of Chinese"? That sounds like countries are studying the Chinese language, or are learning how the Chinese have pleasure!

I think your prediction is very well considered and expressed. The point you make about China having various provinces that might be inclined to rebel is very true, and explains the rationale of their iron-like grip on Tibet.

Thanks so much for contributing, it was great to get your thoughts on this.

Take care,

~ Jason

Mijin Son wrote:

Jason Renshaw wrote:

Mijin Son wrote:Opinion: I am of the opinion that Tibet should be liberated. The Chinese occupation of Tibet should be criticized by the world because it has been done by military force in violent ways. Every people have the right to control over its nation but Chinese has violated that. However, the world hasn’t taken any action yet. When it comes to Iraqi war, the world tried to play a role and took some actions to find out mass destruction weapons- they were not actually found, though. I know many countries are studying the pleasure of Chinese but in my opinion we have to do something to protect human rights and weak minorities and to keep the world peace.

Prediction: I think Chinese will do anything to keep taking Tibet- even killing a lot of Tibetans. There are a lot of minorities in China. If China makes Tibet liberated, other peoples might protest and struggle to get independent. But I think that if the more people in the world recognize this situation due to the Olympics, the better solution we will be able to find out.

Hi Mijin and thanks for posting your opinion and prediction related to the Tibet Uprising article.

It was great to read your impressions. I found a couple of points in the opinion section a little confusing, though. What kind of comparison exactly are you making between China's invasion of Tibet and the invasion of Iraq? Also, what do you mean when you say "many countries are studying the pleasure of Chinese"? That sounds like countries are studying the Chinese language, or are learning how the Chinese have pleasure!

I think your prediction is very well considered and expressed. The point you make about China having various provinces that might be inclined to rebel is very true, and explains the rationale of their iron-like grip on Tibet.

Thanks so much for contributing, it was great to get your thoughts on this.

Take care,

~ Jason

Hello, Jason Renshaw.

I admit that there were a little confusing. The Iraq War I mentioned is that the War between Iraq and Kuwait. When the state of Kuwait was occupied by Iraq, the world sent the multinational force to Iraq and made a lot of efforts to help Kuwait. I remember that the reason why the world sent the force to Iraq was that the invasion by Iraq violated the world law-the belief that each nation has its own right to control its own nation. What about Tibet? The only difference between two wars is that Kuwait is really important country for oil supply but Tibet is not. I admit that each nation in the world is trying to protect their interests and making a lot of effots to get more benefits in the relation of other countries. But the powers in the world should play a role as a guard for the world.

What I meant by the expresson "study the pleasure of china" is that the world is trying to read mind of china because many countries in the world don't want to make their relation with China bad. So they do not take any action and just wait and see how the winds blow.

billy wrote:Opinion: I feel really sad and pitiful about what is going on in Lhasa, the capital of former Tibet. I'm also of the opinion that the Chinese government has been doing something that should be criticized worldwide. The store owner in the video clip said she was not worried because the Chinese Liberation Army would crack down on the riots and give her peace back sooner or later. At first, I was wondering how she could say that even when her brethren was being killed in the military campaign. But, after a while I came to know she was not Tibetan, but Chinese who moved to Lhasa to make money. Just like what Japanese militarists did to our country, the Chinese government tried to move their Han(Chinese) race to the Tibetan territory trying to trample the thousand-old spiritual country and obliterate their cultures and traditions. I was really furious and enraged about the Chinese mean demeanor and felt a strong sympathy to the Tibetan women having no other option to look at their husbands and sons being chased and beaten to bleeding by the Chinese soldiers.

Prediction: My prediction is that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be crucially defamed by the Chinese government's inhumane treatment of Tibetan people. Some celebrities have already voiced their concerns and put their words into action. For example, Steven Spielberg, a world-famous American movie director, is said to refuse to take the role of artistic advisor for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Plus, the China's foreign relations with other European countries may be dampened. However, considering the merciless Chinese suppression and secretive military campaign, I don't think the Chinese government will give in to the Tibetans' demand for their independence.

bakbann wrote:(Prediction)

First, my prediction is that as Antarctica glacier melts and the sea level goes up, most of the land which is under the sea level will have sunk under the water. This will drive thousands of people out of their place.

It is also likely that global warming will bring devastated destruction of ecosystem. Most of vegetation will be endangered with this climate change. The break of ecosystem will drive into starvation. This is because global warming ruins all the ecosystem on the farm. In other words, there will be no vegetable to eat. What about meat? Livestock will not have food to eat, so we will not be able to have meat either. In other words, we may not have enough food to eat.

Last but not least, global warming will threaten our health. This is largely because of heatwaves caused by climate change. Heatwave causes a cardiac disorders, high blood pressure, and respiratory diseases. This has even killed many people worldwide.


(Opinion)

Then what should we do to prepare for the global warming? I'm of the opinion that the first thing to do is to realize how dangerous a situation we are in right now and what should be done. For this, I think, we should focus on education. We can start from elementary school to college and help students understand the dangers and realize what can be done to save our earth. I also think that media campaigns on TV, newspaper, and internet should let people know about these problems and encourage them to take positive action. After education, it is up to the individual to act responsibly. People should consider environment first. The future is in our hands. Our every little effort can make a difference. So, why don't we start right now?

Kim Jin-Young wrote:

inmyheart479 wrote:I have chosen the third video clip titled " Champagne demands fizzing" just because nobody seems to take an interest in it, admitting that I am not a big fan of champagne though.

No discussion of wine is complete without mention of France, the home of a variety of delicacies. Especially for the sparkling wine, champagne has become a household name in the world. As we all know, sparkling white or rose wines are made in many parts of the world but only producers in a designated region of eastern France have the right to call their product champagne.

I'm of the opinion that sales of champagne all around the world are fizzing. The existing vineyards have almost reached the limits of what they can produce without diluting the quality of the world's favourite celebratory drink. Faced with surging demand, the only thing that is certain is that more champagne vineyards are needed. A few years from now, the existing champagne vineyards will no longer be able to cope with the demand. According to the news, for the first time since the official boundaries were drawn in 1927, the land entitled to grow champagne grapes is to be significantly increased, by as much as 15 percent by 2015.

My prediction on this is that it is not just a matter of meeting insatiable demand for champagne by increasing the production. Protection of food names based on geographic criteria is a global phenomenon but champagne stands out among other products because of its international recognition and massive sales. The fact is the more that growing is extended to marginal areas, the more the quality and reputation of the whole champagne appellation is diminishing. The danger of a demand-led expansion of champagne- growing areas - even to land already mapped for champagne use - remains real. The big houses would always be able to maintain quality. But there might be a proliferation of cheaper blends, which could progressively undermine the reputation of the region. Moreover, extending the champagne vineyards could be wonderful for the area as a whole but very difficult to take for some villages and individuals if the new boundaries were drawn in such a way that their lands are narrowly excluded for no obvious reason. There will be jealousy and tension between villages, neighbours, within families. Some people are going to become very rich, that's clear, but there could also be a lot of problems which economic windfall bring to the area. That is a problem for the future. The villages included among the chosen will have every cause to celebrate while Others will see no reason to open the champagne.

I'm impressed that there's a few sophiscated words and those are well used to make the whole story connerted. Anyway, I don't get used to drinking it, but I prefer so-ju. I know that both of them are not compatible in comparing every aspect of them.
Your prediction is a good guess. In the Philippines, coffee famers have gone through the same situation like this. 3 years ago, the Philippines goverment considered more demands outside of the country, so many farmers started to grow coffee plants. As time passed, the coffee business in the Philippines decreased.

I think that this booming will be end sooner or later.

kiera wrote:opinion : I think the rate of global warmming is getting faster and it causes lots of environmental disaster.
The problem is the victim of this environmetal disaster is not the country which creates the crisis. Rather, the least environment - damaging country such as Maldives is seriously harmed. I heard the news that this island county is sinking at the rate of 10 centimeters per hour. I think developed country such as US, one of the most heat- consuming country, should be resposible for this tragedy. It's time for the developed countries to do the action.

Prediction : If we keep ignoring the changes of nature around us, we will be payed back. My prediction is that the eco-friendly businesses such as recycling tires, inventing clean energy will be welcomed and dominant in a few decages. However, because it's interglacial period, the world sea level will continuously increse although the rate of rising couldd be slowed down.

Kim Eun-jung wrote:Opinion:

I'm of the opinion that it's a really serious environmental problem. Through a number of media reports, all of us already know that average temperature of the Earth is rising annually and the melting of glacier caused by global warming leads to rising of the sea level and the submersion of certain areas. Quite a few movies have warned us of environmental catastrophe. Especially the movie The day after tommorow dealt with the direct result of global warming. It's no longer a virtual reality. In fact, several islands including Maldives and Tuvalu are already submerging. I saw a short TV program dealing with the problem of Tuvalu, a group of islands located near New Zealand. The highest sea level of the islands is under 5m. They are submerging annually and before long will disappear completely. The residents are being threatened and desperate. Some of them emigrated to New Zealand, and others old and incompetent weren't accepted. We cannot assure this kind of disaster is none of our business. It warns us to take an action to stop global warming.




Prediction:

If the voluntary effort to save the Earth is not sufficient, strong legal controls will be needed. In some parts, we are already being legally controled. We pay for the grocery bags and take a day off of a car once in a week. Someday it may be that a bill will be approved to ban on the use of fossil fuel, the main cause of global warming. Then we should get the electricity by another way. Some environmentalists already use human-powered energy through collecting electricity from pedaling a specially designed bicycle. To use electronics, all of us may be forced to have that special bike at home and pedal it to gain the electricity generated by physical labor.

Boyun Park wrote: Opinion : I'm of the opinion that this kind of climate change phenomenon won't slow down unless people really start to acknowledge the reality of nature problem. I'm ashamed to admit that even myself don't really care much about saving the earth except when I hear or read an article something like this. It's true that an individual cannot really feel the small changes in nature. However, if we think about Korea's different four beautiful seasons in the past, spring and autumn seem to have shorten much thesedays. People cannot avoid destroying and using up the nature as we live on, but we can at least try to slow the speed down and think of other ways to save the given nature. If we don't actively try to save the nature from now on, our future generations will have to live in worries everyday.



Prediction : My prediction is that this region in Antarctica will especially warm up fater than other places in near future which will lead to a big nature disaster. Countries that are closed to this region might have to transfer their people to safer spots when the sea level rises. It's also likely that if the glacier keeps melting fast, there soon might be only broken-up chunks of ice floating on the water.

Mijin Son wrote:Opinion: I am of the opinion that Tibet should be liberated. The Chinese occupation of Tibet should be criticized by the world because it has been done by military force in violent ways. Every people have the right to control over its nation but Chinese has violated that. However, the world hasn’t taken any action yet. When it comes to Iraqi war, the world tried to play a role and took some actions to find out mass destruction weapons- they were not actually found, though. I know many countries are studying the pleasure of Chinese but in my opinion we have to do something to protect human rights and weak minorities and to keep the world peace.



Prediction: I think Chinese will do anything to keep taking Tibet- even killing a lot of Tibetans. There are a lot of minorities in China. If China makes Tibet liberated, other peoples might protest and struggle to get independent. But I think that if the more people in the world recognize this situation due to the Olympics, the better solution we will be able to find out.

Joo Un-jin wrote:opinion: I think that China must be critisized for it wants to conquer Tibet by force. It's not legitimate. Tibet is not a part of China. They have been wholly different. Tehy have been seperate nations for a long time and have nothing in common in culture, history and so on. But China wants to have Tibet for their profit. Many people in the world feel wonder about Tibet for it is famous for Tibet Buddhism. I think that by taking advantage of them, China wants to make money. It doesn't have right to do that. Events like this happened several times. Chinese killed Tibetan protesters, destroyed temples and tried to own it by force. Tibetan hatred to China is so deep. How can China have Tibet as a part of it despite this situation? To have Tibet ignoring people and its culture is impossible.China must respect other nation's right of its own and gift independence to Tibet.
Chinese economy is growing rapidly so it wants to be a leading country. That's why it tried so hard to hold Olympic games. But it is caught in narrow opinion that it is best in Asia and the world. So it tries to conquer other nations like Tibet and Korea by force or changing history. To be a real leader in the world, China has to learn how to respect other nations and coexist with others peacefully.

prediction: My prediction is that inspite of Tibetan protest and boycott opinion for Beijing Olympics, there will be little change. Personally I agree with the boycott but China is so strong that other nations may be afraid of their ties' being broken with it. NGOs can make movements against China. But government leaders cannot do things against it easily.
And I think Olympic games will be held eventually. IOC is against boycott for the Beijing Olympics. There was riot in Mexico City just one day before the Mexico Opympic games, but IOC insisted having it on time. Finally it was held...

Boyun Park wrote: Opinion : I'm of the opinion that this kind of climate change phenomenon won't slow down unless people really start to acknowledge the reality of nature problem. I'm ashamed to admit that even myself don't really care much about saving the earth except when I hear or read an article something like this. It's true that an individual cannot really feel the small changes in nature. However, if we think about Korea's different four beautiful seasons in the past, spring and autumn seem to have shorten much thesedays. People cannot avoid destroying and using up the nature as we live on, but we can at least try to slow the speed down and think of other ways to save the given nature. If we don't actively try to save the nature from now on, our future generations will have to live in worries everyday.



Prediction : My prediction is that this region in Antarctica will especially warm up fater than other places in near future which will lead to a big nature disaster. Countries that are closed to this region might have to transfer their people to safer spots when the sea level rises. It's also likely that if the glacier keeps melting fast, there soon might be only broken-up chunks of ice floating on the water.

Nam-suk wrote:It's such a tragedy that china has cracked down on Tibet and has abused human rights since 1951. I'm of the opinion that this tragedy is such an irony because China promised they'll keep the olympic charter, which extols "human dignity" when they won the olympic bid. Therefore, this "cultural genocide" which is called by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama is obviously against their pledge.
The More interesting thing is that the international tepid response about this. Most countries concern their relationships between China over human rights or dignity. It's not only for the tibetan, anybody can be in that situation. Especially, can Korea, which has similar issue with North Korea, raise some questions or ask some help to the international community later unless they do something with other countries like being anemic to this issue..

My prediction is that most countries like USA, Japan, and etc. will show their lukewarm responses about this since they did same thing to other countries in the past and still they don't have complete different opinions from China when it comes to taking other nations by force. Even though boycotting of a few countries like France might tarnish China's great world party in a way, eventually, China might be able to do anything like what they want without formidable challenges...

jihyun wrote: What do you think champagne is? At first, I thought champagne is totally different with wine and is used only as a celebratory drink. But getting more information from the news and internet, I now know that champagne is another special kind of wine and lots of people drink it as a everyday drink. Its precise name is sparkling wine because it has fizzy in there. I don't think you know we can call Champagne only from champagne in France. They say this is restricted by law. Unfortunately many conutries, especially Korea, apply that name to any champange.

According to news reports, the sale of champagne is growing rapidly all aroud the world. I'm of the opinion that korean think champagne represents their high status. As you see, in korea, not phisical laborers drink champagne often. Only one who has leeway to purchase and enjoy it does. Since the consumption of champagne is growing fast, goverment of France thinks they need to expand the production of champagne. So the goverment persuades independant producers to expand their area of the chamapagne grape crops. But producers are reluctant to do it because they think rarity value is important in champagne industry.

I'm agree with thier idea that every area should preserve their special rarity value, not expanding the producing area. The history and grapes type of champagne are important elements in deciding the value of fizz. So we should try to keep the rarity of fizz. It seems likely that more and more people enjoy champagne as everyday drink to show their leeway. I'm of the opinion that as time goes by, people want to have more special and rare kind of fizz to show their wealth and leeway. Result of this, my prediction is that the producers of champagne will try to preserve their reputation, quality and rarity more and more than before.

GREAT~DAY~FOREVER!!!

Lee Pilsu wrote:Opinion: I'm of the opinion that what's happened and is still happening in Lhasa, Tibet should be investigated thoroughly and reported more objectively by the journalists from around the world. All I can see from the video clips regarding the violence in Lhasa is about Tibetians using violence, damaging Chinese people's property, getting arrested by the Chinese soldiers. But the news doesn't show much of the violence made by the Chinese army, which many think is editted by the Chinese government before the news is released to the world. The international communities, however, suppose that a serious case of human rights' violence is being committed in Lhasa. While the Chinese government claims that only about 10 Tibetians were killed, the Tibet's government-in-exile argues that the number reaches up to as many as 80 or 100.
Watching Tibetians being chasing after by the Chinese soldiers with a club in hand, and Tibetians women crying uncontrollably at the sence of their men being beaten and arrested by the brutal soldiers, I felt a strong sympathy towards Tibetians, who lost their sovereignty in 1950 when the Chinese Liberation Army conquered the country by powerful military forces. If you watch the movie, "Seven Years in Tibet," you can see how Chinese military destroyed the peaceful life of Tibetians, burning up the village and killing people. Similarly, Korea also experienced brutal colonial rule by Japan for 35 years in the first half of 20th century. In 1910, March 1st, Koreans across the nation stood up against Japan calling for our independence. So how can we who had gone through similar experience in the past not help but feel sympathy towards Tibetians?

Prediction: My predition is that many people around the world will boycott the China's 2008 Summer Olympics. Some countries are expressing their negative views on the recent violent, heavy-handed crack down on Tibetians by the Chinese government and considering shunning the opening ceremony of the sports event. In addition, China's diplomatic relations with other advanced nations will get worse as more political leaders are to meet up with Dalai Lama. China has already shown its utter unpleasantness when German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, invited Dalai Lama, in Germany and when Dalai Lama gave a speech at the congress of United States.

Ryu Jeong A wrote: I’m of the opinion that this kind of news is not effective at all to warn people of the severe destruction of the nature. Because it is not the first time to hear that kind of news, I think people are accustomed to hearing the serious situation that we now face. Therefore, I believe it would be better to show every possible result in detail if this situation goes on. In order to protect the crying mother earth, we must hurry to attract the people’s attention and appeal to them in a powerful way. So, if people get to know the direct and specific results of the melting glacier, say, we would have Christmas eve in Summer from 2010, and we are not able to use airconditioner in the house from 2011, they will behave differently.

Unfortunately, however, my prediction is that this miserable phenomenon will go on more rapidly than ever. We’ve already experienced the sweetness that material civilization gives. It is so sweet that it is no easy task to abandon the conveniences right now. Now, the previous underdeveloped countries also begin to enjoy their sweet fruits. I think there are few who dare to say that they would go back to less convenient life.

Mi Jin Jeong wrote: I am of the opinion that global warming is one of the most serious problems destroying our planet. I also think it would be harder than any other global-polluting problems to solve and prevent, because it progresses gradually invisibly.
We have been warned that the Antarctic glacier is melting and the water level is getting higher and higher every year, but we are not aware of how serious the problems are. Many unpredictable disasters could happen, destroy our environment and hurt us, what is worse, it would take so much time to recover from damages. For example, a destructive tsunami happened 4 years ago. At that time, the UN warned that some countries could take up to 10 years to recover from the Asian tsunami.

In Antarctica, it's warming 5 times faster than the global average, according to the video. My prediction is that all countries are vulnerable to climate change, and it calls on worlds to find creative solutions to ease global warming. It's also likely that countries strive to find alternative sources of energy.
We need to recognize the seriousness of glacier melting problem, to look the cause of that problem and to care the Earth in our daily life. Then we can escape such a horrible disaster that would strike somewhere sometime unexpectedly.

Joo Un-jin wrote:opinion: I think that China must be critisized for it wants to conquer Tibet by force. It's not legitimate. Tibet is not a part of China. They have been wholly different. Tehy have been seperate nations for a long time and have nothing in common in culture, history and so on. But China wants to have Tibet for their profit. Many people in the world feel wonder about Tibet for it is famous for Tibet Buddhism. I think that by taking advantage of them, China wants to make money. It doesn't have right to do that. Events like this happened several times. Chinese killed Tibetan protesters, destroyed temples and tried to own it by force. Tibetan hatred to China is so deep. How can China have Tibet as a part of it despite this situation? To have Tibet ignoring people and its culture is impossible.China must respect other nation's right of its own and gift independence to Tibet.
Chinese economy is growing rapidly so it wants to be a leading country. That's why it tried so hard to hold Olympic games. But it is caught in narrow opinion that it is best in Asia and the world. So it tries to conquer other nations like Tibet and Korea by force or changing history. To be a real leader in the world, China has to learn how to respect other nations and coexist with others peacefully.

prediction: My prediction is that inspite of Tibetan protest and boycott opinion for Beijing Olympics, there will be little change. Personally I agree with the boycott but China is so strong that other nations may be afraid of their ties' being broken with it. NGOs can make movements against China. But government leaders cannot do things against it easily.
And I think Olympic games will be held eventually. IOC is against boycott for the Beijing Olympics. There was riot in Mexico City just one day before the Mexico Opympic games, but IOC insisted having it on time. Finally it was held...