The situation over in Tibet is getting worse, as Tibetans calling for greater autonomy are clashing with Chinese authorities, and deaths are resulting.
The Chinese government now accuses the Dalai Lama of fomenting violence in order to derail the Beijing Olympics this summer. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama is calling for nonviolence on all sides, and rightfully points out the possibility of the Chinese authorities flaring up the tensions to discredit him.
The International Olympic Committee is committed to having Beijing host the Olympics, even as Beijing worsens its human rights record in order to establish strict order for the event. The EU is considering boycotting the opening ceremony, while the US is enthusiastic about the Games, to a point where W himself will attend.
In the wake of the '89 Tian An Men Square massacre, China should not have been awarded the Olympics without concrete proof of real human rights improvements. But then, the IOC is proving itself to be a joke, based on its previous conduct in '80 Moscow and '88 Seoul. The Seoul games had also been awarded in the wake of a major massacre of pro-democracy activists; the military junta in South Korea blamed the Communists, an outright lie accepted at face value by both the Reagan Administration and the IOC.
I certainly won't be watching any telecasts of the Beijing games, and am glad that I didn't buy any "Beijing 2008" merchandise during my 2002 Beijing visit.
AP via Yahoo!
