The other side of the Olympics

I've been remiss in not talking about this subject. With all of the focus on Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, the Chinese divers and their gymnastics team (is it just me, or did the COMBINED age of that team look to be about 16?), no one has talked much about the greater issue of what staging a major sporting event like this in a repressive, totalitarian state means. Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe, thankfully, hasn't avoided the subject: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/24/chinas_totalitarian_games/. I don't know if I'm willing to go as far as some have to claim that staging the games there is the equivalent of staging them in Berlin in 1936, but it's not far off..........