Saturday’s editorial from Taiwan’s China Post:
This week, we have seen the sadly unsavory spectacle of the Beijing-bound Olympic torch being blocked and harassed while passing through London, Paris and San Francisco.
[…]
It is so ironic that the Olympic flame, which symbolizes peace, friendship and unity, has become the target of attack by those who wanted to make a political statement.
Yeah, it’s a bloody outrage those uppity Tibetans want to make "political statements" – statements the Chinese government FORBIDS them from ever making back home. Almost a million dead, six thousand monasteries destroyed, but hey, why can’t those people let bygones be bygones and start pickin’ up on all of that groovy "peace, friendship and unity" Beijing so generously provides ’em with?
(Incidentally, all the original Nazi Olympic torches from 1936 bore the company logo of the German arms manufacturer, Krupp. A fact somewhat at odds with that whole "peace, friendship and unity" thing.)
POSTSCRIPT: Was some of the harassment staged by Beijing itself to gin up outrage back home? Some evidence that the thug who tried to snatch the torch from the Chinese wheelchair lady in Paris may have been a plant. (Hat tip to Instapundit)
UPDATE (Apr 18/08): More on the Nazi origins of the Olympic torch relay.