Below The Beltway

Apparently, the White House is vacillating on what to do about the Olympic Opening Ceremonies:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House left the door open Tuesday to President Bush skipping the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to protest China’s human rights record and its crackdown in Tibet.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, however, suggested that the [...]

James Joyner doesn’t think much of a boycott of this year’s Olympics:
It’s simply inconceivable that poking a stick in Beijing’s eye will cause them to suddenly become a Jeffersonian democracy, free Tibet, or, indeed, do anything that we want them to do.
China’s domestic human rights record is abysmal, to be sure, but it’s much better [...]

Some people in London are speaking up about the behavior of the Chinese “security” officials who are accompanying the Olympic Torch on it’s international relay:
Lord Coe last night condemned the army of Chinese “thugs” who accompanied the Olympic torch relay through London.
The head of London’s 2012 Games described as “horrible” the burly henchmen who barged [...]

The International Olympic Committee has come up with a way to stop the protests following the Olympic torch around the world.
Stop the torch relay altogether:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Security concerns for the Olympic torch’s only North American stop were high Tuesday after its visit to Paris descended into chaos and activists here scaled the Golden [...]

The Olympic Torch arrived in Paris today, and it got a worse reception than it did in London:
(CNN) — The Olympic torch relay was disrupted Monday by protesters in Paris demonstrating against the Chinese government, causing authorities to twice extinguish the flame and put the torch on a bus, according to The Associated Press.
The torch [...]

There were protests in London today as the Olympic torch made it’s way through the city:
LONDON, England (CNN) — Protesters scuffled with police and made attempts to grab the Olympic torch and douse it with a fire extinguisher on Sunday as its arrival in London triggered angry demonstrations over China’s human rights record and recent [...]

Today, the Washington Post reprints the letter that got Chinese dissident Hu Jia sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison earlier this week. In the letter, Jia and fellow dissident Teng Biao address the reality that will be the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing China:
· Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held [...]

The Chinese are still killing Tibetans who refuse to bend to their rule:
BEIJING, April 4 — Hundreds of Tibetan monks and laypeople clashed with Chinese police Thursday night in a small mountain town in western China after government officials attempted to force monks to denounce their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and arrested two monks [...]

China may be repressing dissidents in Tibet and Xinjiang and jailing dissidents, but the International Olympic Committee says everything is hunky dory:
BEIJING, April 3 — After nearly seven years of careful preparations, it came down to one final, marathon session in Beijing on Thursday. It was the third and final day of talks between Chinese [...]

Tibetan Buddhists aren’t the only problem that China’s leaders have to deal with, their Muslim population is growing restive as well:
SHANGHAI — Chinese officials said Wednesday that they were grappling with ethnic unrest on a second front, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims protested Chinese rule last month even as Tibetans [...]