Olympic Training Program
In 1936 when the Nazis wanted to project the image of the Third Reich as a modern, economically dynamic state with growing international influence they invented the running of the Olympic torch through different countries as a way to link modern day Aryans to Classical Greece. Which is why it should come as no surprise that over seventy years later, China a country marred with human rights abuses and a sordid Communist past would look to the torch as a symbol of their entrance onto the world stage.
Unfortunately for the Chinese who spent 40 million to protect the torch, since the relay started it has been extinguished nearly twenty times and it has been met with Pro-Tibet protests in the UK, France, The United States, India, Australia, and South Korea; where two Korean activists doused themselves with paint thinner and tried to lite themselves on fire as a way to protest Chinese human rights abuses.
Of course blowing out a birthday candle isn’t quite the same as blowing up the birthday cake.
Which might be why The United States and Britain just issued new travel warnings for an increased terrorist threat in China because according to Interpol, Beijing must prepare for a possible Al-Queda attack at the Olympics.
So with all eyes on China who is really training for the summer games?
