China: As Bad as Russia, Just Not as Smart

Is anyone else tired of the ruse that is Beijing? At first, it was just the whole notion that they would go to the lengths of changing little girls' passports in order to have them "legitimately" compete as 16-year-olds in the Olympics. As though anyone in- or out!- of the free world is incapable of recognizing a pre-adolescent in a leotard.

Then, there was the lip-synching debacle where at the last minute, one pretty little girl was presented to the world as the "singer" when actually, another one (deemed not as pretty by Chinese officials) was doing the singing.

And now, the New York Times reports that two elderly women in their 70s have been sentenced to labor camp for protesting in a government sanctioned protest area during the Olympics. Both women walk with canes and one of them is going blind. This is what is referred to as "re-education" by the Chinese government.

Frankly, China is not the only communist country that imposes such extreme standards on its citizens. But the Chinese, unlike others, seems completely oblivious to the fact that all of this is now happening on the world stage, with thousands of foreign journalists reporting on it. This is not to make light of the despicable actions of the former U.S.S.R. But it does point up to something interesting, in that the Chinese evidently believe they don't answer to anyone. In fact, they aren't even responsible for their own image.

China, in its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, agreed to the rules and ostensibly understood that in this age of speedy technology, not many stones would be left unturned at the hands of so many journalists. So, why on earth would they make no attempt to loosen the rules for a few weeks or at least think twice before acting in front of millions of people? Instead, they have heedlessly flaunted their sloppiness and may even take pride in their obsession to "be the best."

It doesn't help matters that several other protesters, visible to the visiting media one day, have mysteriously disappeared the next.

Having the Olympics in Beijing was a big mistake. This government obviously doesn't deserve the money and glamour associated with being a host city. At the same time, perhaps increased publicity will convince the rest of the world that something needs to be done about China. There is simply no excuse for breaking the rules and treating people this way. And now we have the proof in prime time.