It's worth reading these two articles about China and the Olympics by two of the best British conservative writers...
Gerard Baker in yesterday's Times:
"China's success is no longer seen as a temporary aberration, a sort of unsustainable balancing act that would sooner or later collapse. It is viewed increasingly by ambitious autocrats everywhere as an alternative model to the vexingly unpredictable Western version... For liberalism to prevail it will not necessarily require open confrontation or military buildup, or even the empty gestures of Olympic boycotts. But it will require a good deal more willingness by the West to defend itself and its interests and to stand up for liberal democracy around the world rather more effectively and enthusiastically than of late."
Charles Moore in today's Telegraph:
"There is much talk of the Olympic spirit. Obviously, one wants the poor athletes to be able to take part in the contests to which they have devoted their lives. But should one really subscribe to the ideology of the Olympic movement, with its late-19th-century idea of a brotherhood of man forged out of the cultivation of physical strength? This is meat and drink to fascist and communist regimes, with their cult of youth, their hatred of the past and their love of huge public displays. They see sport as their weapon of propaganda. For them, the Olympics are a gift. Besides, if there is anything in the idea of "one world, one dream" - the Olympic slogan for Beijing - its best guardians are not the heirs of the Middle Kingdom."
