Blame Canada

Hey Canada! What's up? It used to be that the only complaints people had from up north focused on Celine Dion. Lately, I can't seem to look at the news without seeing a negative, disturbing or simply ridiculous story coming out of my homeland. Could it have been the federal election in 2006 bringing Stephen Harper and his Conservatives into power? Is it the unknown addictive substance that Tim Horton's must put in their coffee? Whatever the reason you can't deny that the stream of news flowing out of Canada of late has ranged from the bizarre to the tragic. Regardless of the cause for the shift, the world's view of Canada is undergoing a transformation from an idyllic, if frozen, land of peacekeepers and natural beauty to one more in line with it's neighbour to the south.

The easiest line of attack is the environmental angle. While much of the world thinks of green spaces, majestic mountains and lush forests, the truth is Canadian government has possibly done more harm to the environmental effort than the Bush administration. While it could be expected that the US in their greed and lust for profits wouldn't ratify the Kyoto Protocol, Canada could have been a shining example to the world. They were one of the first countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Since that time however, led by the Conservative party, both federally and provincially, they have taken the low road. In typical wild west fashion, the governments have turned a blind eye to the developing disaster of the Albertan oil sands. The ecological damage is mind-boggling, while the environmental disaster has forced the government to change the definitions of pollution emissions. Congratulations Canada, while only making up 1/2% of the world's population, you´re the world's eighth largest producer of carbon dioxide.

We could talk about immigration if you'd prefer, Canada is a land of immigrants, where the term multiculturalism was born. A land where many have dreamt of starting a new life. Well, hopefully you´re not a confused Polish immigrant landing at the Vancouver International Airport with those dreams. Yes, the world watched in horror as some of those fine young men in powerful uniforms, RCMP officers, tasered Robert Dziekanski to death. If you're looking to come to Canada to avoid fighting in an illegal war, don't bother either. Last month Canada expelled the first US army deserter to have arrived since the Iraq invasion, and now Jeremy Hinzman is set to join Robin Long. Both face court martial and five years in prison for refusing to serve in Iraq. It is estimated that there are about 200 deserters in Canada.

If you're looking for the low point, you need look no further than the current governments support of the US "war on terror". After the previous government's refusal to join "the coalition of the willing" in an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, the biggest worry that most Canadians had was that relations with their southern neighbour would be soured. Fear not, the new Conservative government led by Stephen Harper has saved the day. Just ask Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian university graduate who tried to return his home in Canada from vacation in Tunisia on September 26, 2002 and wound up in a Syrian prison, a victim of the US' secret rendition program. There he was repeatedly tortured. His family had no idea of his whereabouts for days and he didn't see them for 376 days. If you have time, here's the link to the official Arar Commission report, basically Judge O'Connor blasts the RCMP for providing U.S. authorities with inaccurate intelligence that resulted in Mr. Arar, and his wife Monia Mazigh, being put on a border watch list as dangerous al-Qaeda terrorist suspects. That same report confirmed their complete innocence. Oh yeah, there are a few more cases just like this.

It gets worse, friends. Maybe you somehow missed the video of Omar Khadr that was released in July. We'd all like to think that if our government and country knew that I was being held without charges and tortured they would do something about it. Well, according the the footage, Omar told the Canadian interviewers what was happening to him and yet nothing was done. Being only 15 when he was seized by US forces after a firefight in Afghanistan in July of 2002, he was thrown into prison on a Caribbean island with no rights and no charges. The cold indifference of his Canadian interrogators about seven months later is truly shocking, if you haven't seen it, you should, here:

Prime Minister Harper said in July that he would not interfere in Mr Khadr's military tribunal, due to begin at Guantanamo on 8 October. “Mr. Khadr is accused of very serious things. There is a legal process in the United States … Frankly, we do not have a real alternative to that process to get to the truth about those accusations.” Even Khadr’s American military lawyer, Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, found that “preposterous.” Harper, he said, should “stand up as the Prime Minister of Canada and protect the rights of a Canadian citizen, and stop taking his orders from the Bush administration and stop being the last leader of a Western country to support a failed process in Guantanamo Bay.”

Of course I shouldn't lose my head over all this, not much has changed, has it? I guess that's another point, Canadians seem to be losing theirs, literally. Whether sitting on a dreary bus journey across the prairies or in prison in Saudi Arabia, heads seem to be rolling. In case you missed it, 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li was charged with second degree murder for decapitating a 22-year-old fellow passenger Tim McLean on July 30th. After pulling out a hunting knife and stabbing McLean as many as 40 or 50 times, witnesses said, Li displayed the victim's severed head to horrified passengers who had already fled the bus. What the? It's not even hockey season yet, so I've no idea what could have pissed him off so much. Meanwhile one Canadian as already been sentenced to death and another still awaits trial in Saudi Arabia, and the punishment is beheading. The 18 and 23-year-old brothers both face death by sword for their role in the death of a 19-year-old Syrian in a schoolyard incident last year.

Heads are rolling while feet are washing up on shore. The west coast has seen at least five unidentified solo feet wash up on its shore over the course of the past year. It's a mystery that has the police, media and locals scratching their heads. The fifth foot, and first left foot, was found on June 16th near Ladner, B.C. No leads have been found, but there are enough missing people and serial killers around if the past is any indication; from Clifford Olson (killed 11 children) to Paul Bernardo and his wife Karla Homolka who killed three teenage girls, including Homolka’s sister to the biggest monster of all Robert Pickton. Pickton is alleged to have killed and dismembered the bodies of his victims, possibly as many as 49, on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Don't forget the Canadian pedophile, that swirly face picture guy, who was convicted yesterday in Thailand to 39-months in prison.

Of course none of this really matters to the Canadian psyche. What's really important is that we haven't won any medals at the Olympics yet. You'll find more outrage on the internet about the medal drought being experienced by the Canadian team than any of the above stories. The Canadian news story of the year for 2007 was the rise of the Canadian dollar versus the US buck. Woohoo! Way to go Canada, your dollar did what every other currency in the world did, appreciate versus the US dollar. Wake up Canada, there's more to life than Tim Horton's.

Peaceful Resolutions?

Could it be that it is still possible for nations to resolve territorial disputes peacefully? A little news item caught my attention today of just such an occurrence. It's in Africa, so I'm sure it won't have much impact on the rest of the world, but you never know. What's even more unlikely is that there's oil involved. Bakassi, a small, possibly oil rich peninsula, was ceded from Nigeria to Cameroon today in a ceremony held in Calabar, Nigeria.

In another twist, it was the International Court of Justice, the same body that has been defied by the US in its drive to continue to murder Mexicans, that issued the verdict that has been adhered to by both sides. OK, the ceremony had to be moved from the peninsula's main city due to fears of violence, but the fact is, war wasn't necessary to resolve the conflict! Yes, there has been some bloodshed as the Niger Delta Defence and Security Council (NDDSC) has launched attacks on the Cameroonian army, resulting in some deaths, at least four separate clashes in recent months. November of 2007 was particularly violent as at least 21 Cameroonian soldiers were killed. The fact is though that following a series of clashes in the 90's, the case was brought before the court by Cameroon, a ruling was made, and both parties seem to be abiding by it. Although a majority of the population call themselves Nigerian, the court sided with Cameroon.

Bakassi juts into the Gulf of Guinea, an area which may contain up to 10% of the world's oil and gas reserves as well as being rich in marine life. The peninsula has been administered by Nigeria since independence from Britain in 1960. The ruling was quite difficult to determine because of the colonial history of the territory. The biggest bone of contention on the part of the Nigerians is the fact that the ruling was purportedly based on an Anglo-German treaty from 1913 that transferred Bakassi to Germany. However, at that time Nigeria and Bakassi were only British protectorates, not colonies meaning it wasn't their land to give.

There are many more hurdles to be overcome, of course most of them from the Nigerian side. For example, the Nigerian constitution stipulates that there shall be 36 states in Nigeria, of which Bakassi is one. Furthermore there may be as many as 200,000 Nigerians, many of whom are fisherman, who may need to be relocated, and the proposed area is landlocked and already populated. When does international law override domestic law? When the judgment is against the US (see US vs Nicaragua or the current situation of the Mexicans sitting on death row) of course it's domestic law. I hope that they learn a lesson from the Nigerians.

Still Cheering Dubya!?

"Are those the American fighters finally here to protect us?"
Georgian President Saakashvili takes cover in Gori

Can you name the capital city with an avenue named after George W. Bush, and where they still gather in their Freedom Square to cheer his name although his and his country's policies led directly to their recent humiliation? Of course we can only be talking about Tblisi, the Georgian capital, a city I visited a few years back and swore to one day return. While they have beautiful mountains, girls and great wine, they have been the victim of the one of the greatest political miscalculations since Neville Chamberlain's back in 1938 (OK, maybe more like Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait).

So why did Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili decide to attack (not the right word when it is your territory) South Ossetia last week? Surely they knew the Russians far out-gunned them and wouldn't stand idly by as Georgian tanks rolled into Tskhinvali. Some say timing, with the world's focus on Beijing, maybe the Russians wouldn't notice. Some say they were provoked, the stakes were being upped by the Russians and they had tanks rolling south, it was now or never. More likely was the thought that statements such as these would lead to an actual American response:
Dubya - The Russian invasion of Georgia is "disproportionate and unacceptable"
Cheney - The Russian invasion "will not go unanswered"

Dubya - Great powers don't go about "toppling governments in the 21st century"

Many observers have been trying to draw a parallel between the Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland in 1938 and the current crisis. Sure there are similarities, but the fact is that we now live in 2008, a completely different world where just recently it was an accepted fact that the great powers should show restraint in dealing with other nations. Where the strong don't impose their will on the weak and where it was the world's responsibility to protect those weaker nations. And finally, as Dubya said, great powers don't go about "toppling governments in the 21st century". Alas, this is 2008, not 2003 and countries such as Georgia who have chosen to throw their lot in with the US (see NATO aspirations, 2000 troops in Iraq), must now pay part of the price for being part of the "New World Order". Condoleezza Rice visited Georgia just last month and although she claims to have privately warned Georgia not to use force against Russia in a war they couldn't win, the outward signs from the States cried out for war. Advisers sent to build up the Georgian military; excercises last month with 1,000 US troops; pushing hard for NATO ascension; loudly supporting Georgia's territorial dispute over Russian claims of the separatist enclaves.

The result of the Georgian gamble in South Ossetia is becoming clear. Russia is in a position to dictate the terms of peace, and they don't look good for Georgia (or the EU and the west for that matter). Outlining his terms, Putvedev referred to the Georgian president as a lunatic: "The difference between lunatics and other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them," Medvedev said. "So you have to use surgery." The Russians are demanding a legally binding agreement in which the Georgians renounce the use of force in dealing with the two breakaway pro-Russian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and that Georgian forces withdraw entirely from the regions and no longer form part of the joint "peacekeeping" contingents there. In addition, they are insisting that the two regions be allowed to vote on whether they want to join Russia, a poll that would definitely result in a yes, prefiguring a possible annexation. Georgia has been part of the peacekeeping force in South Ossetia for 15 years, but the Russians are adamant that they not return. "They shot their brother Russian peacekeepers, then they finished them off with bayonets, so we are not going to see them there any more," said Dmitri Rogozin, ambassador to NATO in Brussels.

So, the end result of the Georgian foray will be the loss of 20% of their land as both Abhkazia and South Ossetia fall deeper into the control of Russian forces and eventually have the added credibility of a referendum. Maybe the west will begin to realize that they have poked the Russian bear one too many times with a stick, (Kosovo, Ukraine, missiles in Poland...). Maybe the world will recognize that the past 5 years has seen the complete neutering of any authority the UN had (ie. the Iraq invasion sin security council consent, Kosovo declaring independence sin UN blessing), and will try to rebuild its legitimacy. As usual, the results will probably less obvious. In retaliation for Israel selling arms to Georgia (yes, $300 million worth), the Russians will sell more to Syria and Iran. The US presidential race is slightly influenced as both candidates spew rhetoric about what should be done. Remember McBush's top foreign policy advisor Randall Scheunemann lobbied for Georgia for four years, earning his firm $900,000 in payments from that nation. Or maybe the Russians will take advantage of this and move into Georgia for real, as it is reported they may be doing now. Stalin's statue in the centre of Gori could be under Russian control again sooner than we think.

More fun with the Spanish press

It read a little like the early returns on the medal count in the Olympics. "España bate su record en venta de armamento y supera los 900 millones" - Spain beats their arms sales record and passes 900 million Euros - let the flag waving begin! It isn't so much the facts as the wording of the article that struck me. I found it in El Pais, from what I understand a left-leaning newspaper, yet the patriotic fervor and upbeat wording of the report made my skin crawl. "Military material exports have quadrupled since 2001", read the subtitle, and later "the billion euro psychological barrier will in all probabilities be surpassed next year". According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Spain now ranks 8th in the world conventional arms sales race, woo hoo, cue the music, let's party because we're causing more death!

You'll find most of the usual suspects at the top of the list, USA, Russia, Germany, France, Holland, the UK and France. Holland? Yep, 5th place in arms sales, and you thought their economy was based on weed and sex. The global military budget is somewhere in the range of $1.339 trillion or 2.5% of the world's GDP. Military spending has reached a few peaks in the past, obviously WWII, and then again during the cold war. Once the cold war ended, as has been well documented, military spending declined for a decade only to see that trend reversed starting in 1998, albeit quite slowly at first. Of course the US' War on Terror has seen global military spending escalate rapidly once again.

The top military spenders globally nearly mirror the exporters, in order: the US, France, the UK, China (vastly understated), Japan, Germany, Russia and Italy. Together they'll ensure that not too many jobs in the military industry get lost in the latest economic downturn. The last couple of days has seen a justification for the Russian military budget as they were able to push those pesky Georgians out of South Ossetia, phew! And they´ll still have to deal with Abkhazia and there's always Chechnya. The UK, well with there involvement in Iraq and the fact that they're surrounded by water, the spending is justified. The French, well, the world hates the French so... China? Well, they seem to have there own terrorist problem now that the Olympics have started and you never know when Taiwan will need re-taking. The Japanese of course see the Chinese increase their military budget by 17.8%, the 19th year of double digit growth, and of course need to keep pace. The Italians, well, Berlusconi does fancy himself a fascist dictator, so a strong military is needed. And Germany, well, insert your own WWI or WWII or Franco-Prussian war joke here.

What's more illuminating is the percentage of GDP spent on arms, here the US doesn't even crack to top 30, around 3.7%. Leading the hit parade is North Korea, quite comfortably at a whopping 22.9%, no wonder they need their heating oil subsidized by the rest of the world. Georgia slides into 2nd at 15.9% with Oman at 11.4% and Qatar and Saudi Arabia next at 10%. Those oil rich states don't know what to do with all their money plus they need to keep the US happy by buying equipment off them, but the Georgians expose themselves here I'm afraid. When a nation is spending nearly a sixth of its output on the military it becomes pretty clear what their intentions are. War in the Caucasus has a lot of factors behind it, but it surprised no one, least of whom Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

It's not my job to show you how else to spend this money, but increased military spending doesn't equate to increased security, in fact, the inverse is true. If your from the US click here to see how else to spend your money.

For a great analysis of global military spending:

Anup Shah, World Military Spending, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Saturday, March 01, 2008

War in Georgia

Well it's taken 3 months since I first wrote of the impending war, but it looks as though the gloves are finally off. Georgia has launched an attack on the breakaway South Ossetia region and as predicted, the Russians aren't going to sit idly by. The nearly century-long game of cat and mouse seems to have finally come to a head and will surely bring a high casualty total and should also make clear who calls the shots in Moscow, Putvedev. While the Russian security council meets in Moscow, with Medvedev supposedly in charge, Vladimir Putin who is in Beijing for the opening of the Olympics has already said that that "aggressive" action by Georgia would incur a "response" from Russia.

Before you laugh this off remember that there are Russian peacekeepers in the region and many Russian passport holders. It would be interesting to listen in if Dubya and Putin cross paths in Beijing today as the US is an unabashed Georgia supporter. The world's attention may be focused on China, but the Russians are watching, perhaps already retaliating. If this is true it would mark the first time Russian troops have taken action on foreign soil since their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. Various reports have Russian tanks racing towards the besieged South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and the Georgians apparently observing a three-hour ceasefire to allow civilians to flee the city. Could be the makings of a full fledged conflict, more news as it comes...

Mauritania and coup-mania

Coup. Yep, the generals have ousted another democratically elected leader, this time in Mauritania. Following the standard procedure coup checklist, troops detained President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, took control of state radio and TV and announced the formation of a "state council" led by the commander of the presidential guard, Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Of course the newly formed junta has assured the public and the world that free and open elections are planned for as soon as possible, meaning most likely never. After all, Mauritanians would expect nothing less after having their first open elections just last year after 40 years of dictatorships since independence from France.

Again, why should we care, it's just Africa, right? Well, Mauritania is a lot bigger than you think, check the map here. Nearly twice the size of former colonial ruler France, it is rich in minerals and perhaps more importantly, it has oil. It's hoped that its off-shore oil reserves may yield millions of barrels of the black gold. Until then though, even the meagre 75,000 bpt output is over eight million dollars a day, not a bad income for a despot. Things haven't gone so well since independence in 1960 for this country and hopes are high that the oil fields can be further developed to bring some prosperity.

The region has been marked by waves of subjugation and domination. Around the 3rd and 4th century, the Berbers began to move in and displaced the Bafour people and the Berbers were in the most part supplanted by the Arabs beginning in the 8th century. The displaced usually moved south, bringing them into conflict with black inhabitants. To this day, these three groups are still vying for control. The Berbers tried to overthrow the power of the Arabs in the Mauritanian 30-year' war of 1644-74 but were unsuccessful, from which point the social structure of the region has been pretty much fixed with the Arab warriors at the top, the Berbers who turned mostly to clericism underneath and the black slaves at the bottom. The rivalries between these groups were easily manipulated by the French who became their colonial rulers beginning in the 1850's, officially becoming a colonial territory in 1904, then part of French West Africa in 1920.

Independence was gained on November 28, 1960, since which time there have been ten coup attempts. A series of dictatorships, coups, transition military governments and "supervised" elections have hindered any chance the independent nation had. The high point for the region came during the Almoravid dynasty when beginning in 1053 they began spreading their religious ways mostly through war. In 1076 they defeated the empire of Ghana. At its peak at the end of the century, the empire stretched over 3000 km north to south, from Spain to Senegal. They haven't had much luck of late, for example they were the hardest hit country by the African locust invasion in 2004, virtually wiping out their crop. Today's problems are more global in scale, mainly food prices and terrorism. As in much of the world, the cost of food has doubled in the past year in Mauritania, this a nation where 40% of the population live on a dollar a day. And yes, the terrorist thing and alleged al-Queda links. The Dakar rally was cancelled this year due to the murder of four French tourists, then gunmen fired on the Israeli embassy in the capital of Nouakchott. Yes, the strong arm of the military had to step in...

It's a shame really as president Abdallahi never really had a chance to implement policies. Severe flooding hit just a few months after he came into power, draining the government's meager resources. This is a nation in which an anti-slavery law was enacted by parliament just last summer, it's been big business there for hundreds of years. It is one of only three Arab nations to have forged ties with Israel and it's now former president was seen as an ally in the "war on terror", with special US forces helping train Mauritanian troops. They were re-admitted to the African Union in April of 2007. This is a big turn around from 1989, when the nation saw race riots or 1993 when the US cut aid as a result of the treatment of the black population and its support for Iraq in the Gulf War. These events came on the heels of its disastrous relationship with the Western Sahara, in which Mauritania did everything wrong in its dealings with the Polisario, Morocco and Spain.

A couple of days after the latest bloodless coup, the whereabouts of the former president are still unknown, with demonstrations both for and against. International condemnation has been trickling in, but the world will mostly have to sit back and watch to see what happens next in this no-luck country.

China+Olympics=What Did You Expect?

With just a couple days until the opening ceremonies in Beijing of the 26th Olympiad, you can't help but get the feeling that the press really want to find something wrong with China´s "coming out party". The last few days have seen a slew of negative headlines: Olympic Sport: Blocking the Internet, Olympic Protests Over Beijing Evictions; Beijing pollution may force new crackdown for Olympics (I like that one, the writer must have got a bonus for getting the reader to link Tibet with pollution!); Olympics: The Violence Has Started Already in Beijing and on Borders. I have just one question for all these finger pointers: really what did you expect when you combine the IOC (International Olympic Committee) with China?

On July 13th, 2001, Beijing beat out rival bids from Osaka, Toronto, Istanbul and Paris in voting to become the host city for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Controversy was assured from the get go, as the bids from Toronto and Paris were both considered superior, but as then IOC head Juan Antonio Samuranch was eager for the games to go to China, that's where they went. It was clear that China's human rights record was going to be carefully scrutinized as the EU immediately issued this resolution.

Maybe what was needed was a new Olympic motto, citius, altius, fortius- swifter, higher, stronger- just doesn't seem to fit anymore. Maybe something along the lines of politics, argentum, facinarose -politics, money, scandal. When was the turning point for this once pure sporting event? For years competition was limited to amateurs, but this era ended in 1971 when the IOC allowed athletes to receive compensation for time away from work while training. As well, athletes were permitted to receive sponsorship from national organizations, sports organizations, and private businesses. Of course this still didn't allow western athletes to compete with eastern bloc nations and by 1986 professionals were granted permission to compete, leading to the 1992 "Dream Team" in Barcelona. Or was it the jingoism of the 1936 Berlin games where Hitler wanted to show the world the dominance of the Aryan race only to be humiliated by the achievements of Jesse Owens. Strange to think, but these were also the games where the Olympic torch relay was introduced, Hitler's still causing problems today as the Chinese found out to their surprise.

Few will remember that the Seoul games of 1988 were awarded to an authoritarian regime in 1981. A regime that had killed 500, or as many as 2000, democracy protesters just the year before. South Korea was one of the little dragons economically, but it was still behind culturally and politically. They, like China today, hoped that the games would showcase the Korean economic miracle to the world and legitimize the regime. The crackdown spurred resistance from opposition parties and the sports world contemplated moving the Olympics to another venue as most major cities had been turned into war zones by June 1987. The IOC issued an ultimatum saying that if the riots weren't stopped, the games would be moved. In the end Chun Doo-hwan's government was forced into allowing free elections.

Politics have never been far away from the Olympics. From boycotts to terrorist attacks, nations and groups have tried using the games as a means of furthering their political agendas. The Melbourne games of '56 were boycotted by the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland in protest of the Soviets crushing the Hungarian democracy uprising. While Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon stayed home that same year too, protesting against the Suez crisis. Neither event had anything to do with Australia. Similarly, 20 African nations boycotted the Montreal games in 1976 because the IOC refused to ban New Zealand, something the African nations wanted because the All-Blacks had recently played in apartheid-sponsored South Africa. This was completely unrelated to either Montreal or the Olympics. So why hasn't anyone boycotted the Beijing games over human rights abuses or the Tibetan occupation, issues directly related to the Chinese government. Or how about their support of the government in Sudan and Zimbabwe? Hell, even Dubya will be making the first appearance of an American president at a games held outside the US. There can be only one answer, money.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall, there hasn't been a single Olympic boycott. The 80's saw tons in Moscow and Los Angeles. Those same Los Angeles games in 1984 also showed the world how much money was to be made, it even became the first Olympic games to make money, bringing in $215 million and earning organizing president Peter Ueberroth the Time Man of the Year award. The mayor of Montreal was infamously quoted as saying the Olympics "can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby". Montreal is still paying the debt left by those games. By the time the Beijing games begin, China will have spent $40 billion on new venues and infrastructure. GE's NBC paid $1.5 billion for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Turin and Beijing games and will more than make that back. The price tag just to become a global Olympic partner is around $70 million for a winter/summer package, then of course there are the actual advertising costs. I'm sure they all got a little worried a few months back when it looked like the torch relay protests were actually going to have an effect on the public.

Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin coined the modern Olympic Creed in 1908, displayed on the scoreboard at opening ceremonies: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." However, today the first thing we will learn each day from the Olympics will be the medal count. Will China win more gold medal than the US? On the days that this isn't the leading story, it will be that an athlete was caught using illegal substances. Of course athletes used alcohol, strychnine, cocaine and other substances to ease the pain and give them an edge in the past - the famously male, female athletes of the eastern bloc nations weren't natural - but it wasn't until Ben Johnson was caught in the '88 Seoul Olympics that it became clear that almost everyone was doping. One of my favourite SNL skits called for a separate "All Drug Olympics", not really such a bad idea. (By the way, can anybody tell me why I can't watch Hulu outside of the US, I can't see the skit?!)

Once it became clear to the world that the IOC was awarding games based on bribes, they tried to fix things with a few cosmetic changes to the awarding rules. China on the other hand is even bigger than the Olympics, so their change appears far more subtle . Take the Sudan. In 2004 Chinese president HuJintao referred to Chinese aid to Khartoum as "free of political conditionality". Yet since then China pressed for Sudan's acceptance of a UN-AU peacekeeping force and removed Sudan from Beijing's preferred trade-status list. While in Burma, following the violent crackdown against Buddhist monks, China cut arms sales and played a critical role in getting aid workers into the country after the typhoon. Perhaps we won't see voters lining up to elect the next government in Beijing, but it will be interesting to see whether or not the Beijing Olympics will prove to be the coming out party that many countries have enjoyed as hosts, from St. Louis in 1904, to 1964 in Tokyo and Seoul in 1988. For once I agree with Dubya, he should attend the games. There is one things for sure, he won't see any doves being released at these games.