D-Day On The Radio

I'll be on the BBC's World Have Your Say programme (British spelling) in the next hour or so talking about the Beijing Olympics controversy and whether or not the President should boycott the opening ceremonies. You can listen live at the link.

This story about yesterday's ridiculous torch relay in San Francisco is pretty good, too.

...that came off badly. I was hearing myself in an echo and that kind of screwed me up. I got out the major points, but I would add that the caller from Seattle talking about how China's human rights record has markedly improved recently must have been on a trip since March 10 and the Tibet crackdown. The truth is that the Olympics are really the only chokepoint for China, they clearly see it as their coming-out party on the world stage, and therefore to squander that opportunity for reform would be foolish. And that means offering carrots and sticks, and right now boycotting the opening ceremonies is a stick.

...They had me on agains for the African version. So a Bushman of the Kalihari was hearing me, I guess.

One recurrent theme from those who thought world leaders should go to China was that a) they should engage China instead of isolating them, and b) the Olympics are not political. Not only is that a complete contradiction, but the Games most certainly are political. The Olympic torch relay was created as a propaganda event by the Nazis in 1936. It's hard to think of an Olympics that DIDN'T have political overtones ('68, '72, '80, '84, '88, '96...). China is taking the opportunity to have a coming-out party on the world stage and whitewash their record, and other world leaders should not legitimize that.