Below The Beltway

Having pulled off what, unfortunately, appears to have been a pretty successful 29th Olympiad, will the People’s Republic of China now become less responsive to world opinion on human rights issues ?
Having read this article, I think the answer may well be yes:
The 2008 Games seemed likely to go down as a political as well [...]

The 2008 Summer Olympics came to an end today.
Surprisingly, The New York TImes was one of the few mainstream media outlets to put the Beijing Olympics in their proper perspective:
Beijing got what it wanted out of this globally televised spectacular. It reaped a huge prestige bonanza that it will surely use to promote its international [...]

Apparently, I’m not alone:
I’m not paying any attention to the Olympics, either. I haven’t seen a single competition, and didn’t watch the opening ceremonies. I don’t think I’ve watched any channel showing it for more than a few seconds.
Frankly, the fact that they’re in Beijing is only half the reason.

It seems that China is having trouble living up to its promises to the IOC:
BEIJING, April 20 — China has spent billions of dollars to fulfill its commitment to stage a grand Olympics. Athletes will compete in world-class stadiums. New highways and train lines crisscross Beijing. China built the world’s largest airport terminal to welcome [...]

They could be holding this year’s Olympics in Vatican City, and I’d still agree with this 100%:
The Olympics are a vulgar, ruinous hullabaloo the chief functions of which are to facilitate graft on a spectacular scale and to act as a vehicle for the promotion of despotic values. They are, at best, unedifying and, at [...]

I’m usually a fan, but I’ve got to say that I think Chris Core is being hopelessly optimistic when he takes this position on the Olympics and the protests following the torch around the world:
Ok, what is the deal about attacking the Olympic Torch? Have people lost their minds? Yes, I get that [...]