Epoch Times
Chinese security personnel ask for no photos to be taken in front of Tiananmen Gate, near Tiananmen Square, one of China's most politically sensitive sites where the military crushed pro-democracy protests in 1989, in Beijing on August 17, 2008. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)
The real shock is that said assertions were wrong. These Olympic Games failed to do what the Communists asked of them.
Every praiseworthy comment about the opening ceremony was matched with condemnation for the blackballing of Wang Peiyi. Their success in winning more gold medals than anyone else (although the United States won the overall medal count) was tarnished by the gymnastics scandal. Add to that the fact that so many rural Chinese tuned the Games out, and what you have is something far less than the propaganda extravaganza the cadres wanted.
Even those who acknowledged a well-run show were put off: Tom Boswell (Washington Post) called it "soulless" while Tom Humphries (Irish Times) referred to it as "hermetically sealed."
Then, to top it off, the final day came with a message from Washington ripping the cadres for refusing "to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness" (London Telegraph)—definitely not the send-off the regime wanted.
For the Communists, the question is as follows: was it worth it? Was it worth the ruined lives and angry citizens? Was it worth the inevitable corruption scandals? Based on the above, the answer is clearly No.
These Olympics will do nothing to stop Falun Gong from demanding the right to practice without prison, torture, or murder-for-organs. They will not silence investors furious over the cadres fleecing them. They will not make people forget about Tibet.
If anything, the Games have led the rest of the world to pay more attention to Communist China's military ambitions and espionage activities—exactly where the cadres did not want any prying eyes.
A perfect example of this was the lawsuit by Israeli victims of a terrorist attack against a regime-owned bank that aided said terrorists.
The details of the lawsuit reveal a multi-level scheme designed for the Communists to help the terrorists without appearing to do so. As reported in The Epoch Times:
According to the charges, the Bank of China transferred regularly, over a period of time, amounts of about US$100,000 to the private bank account of a senior Hamas official located China. The latter used the money to buy merchandise which he shipped to Gaza. In Gaza, this merchandise was resold by senior Hamas officials and the profit was used to fund terrorist activities.
According to the plaintiffs and their attorney Nitzana, the Israeli government notified the Bank of China of the use Hamas was making of the money and demanded the bank of China to stop the transfers. Darshan-Leitner claims to have evidence proving this.
In other words, Communist China is hosting a leading member of Hamas and handing him money for use in a fundraising scheme (keep in mind, Bank of China is one of the "Big Four" regime-owned banks).
For the Communists, it's back to business as usual, including propping up the ever more embarrassing Korean colony. Whatever glow they have from these Games is pale and short-lived. These Olympics were supposed to add years to the life span of the regime; it would be lucky to get days for it.
More likely, the Chinese Communist Party will be left with embarrassments that will be remembered long after the propaganda moments have passed by an uninterested populace and into history, a litany of corruption scandals that could stain the Party like never before, and a more wary free world determined to prevent the regime from using spies, terrorists, and other methods to achieve the global power it so desperately needs to survive.
One can call that many, many things; success is not one of them.
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