That being said, it is without a doubt that the Chinese government, in its atempt to self promote and to promote nationalistic sentiments amongst the Chinese, pushed propaganda past good taste, not to mention trampling on anyone who had or could have a different perspective. China (and by this I mean the government event though many people, in a nationalistic fervor do think the same) is not afraid to go to any extreme to achieve its goals. Look what they did regarding Everest. Closing their mountains was outrageous enough, arm twisting Nepal to do the same was despicable. The torch up was a sham (but a very nicely coreographed sham) hence all moutaineering associations distanced themselves from it, a gesture that should grab the attention of anyone thinking this was a true achievement. Still, the Everest story was a benign case yet a good example of China’s approach to things and its respect for people … sadly, of things to come.

The saddening thing is that the Chinese people are, for now, accepting the propaganda cool-aid. Just because problems are beaten into submission it doesn’t mean they will go away. A kangaroo institute cannot fabricate enough arguments to demonstrate that Tibet belonged to China. Problems are not solved in a certain way just because we want to. Maoist style propaganda and methods will not serve China well in this century and I have no doubt that the Chinese people will not be forever fooled. They are a great nation which doesn’t need the BS of a party which ditched the comunist dogma for a nationalistic dogma since the first one proved to be bankrupt.

What is truly said is the blatant way in which the Games have turned into a propaganda, manipulation and leverage tool but hey, this is also at least 72 years old news…