IOC Allows Disrupted Olympic Torch Relay Event to Go On Despite Protests: Will Reconsider It for Future Olympics

The International Olympic Committee has decided to allow China to continue it's highly disruptive international spectacle with the Olympic torch.

The Torch relay was disrupted in London and Paris, and officials in San Francisco changed the route of the torch to avoid tens of thousands of protesters that awaited it. Additionally, the flame was extinguished three times in Paris, which (supposedly) has never happened before. The flame is on it's way to Argentina, where there's not expected to be much of a protest.

I think the IOC should have canceled the rest of this ridiculous relay as China continues it's crackdown in Tibet and hasn't put any pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing in Darfur, which in turn has turned the torch into a political target. It's not supposed to be that way, but China has done nothing to ratchet down the tensions.

Instead, they've sent Chinese military guards (in the blue and white jump suits seen above) to guard the torch and act like the thugs that they are. They're members of the 70-man Beijing Olympic Games "Sacred" Flame Protection unit; their division of the Chinese People's Armed Police are also responsible for the recent crackdown in Tibet. They've gotten into fights along the route with protesters and wore out their welcome in France and in Britain.

Hopefully some of the other nations on the route deny entry to these Chinese military guards as they are an insult to the Olympic spirit which China has been trumpeting about on their torch relay web site. And they continue to debase the word "sacred" while in context to the flame.

The IOC is going to look at future requests from host countries to do similar relays. These relays should be conducted in the host countries alone; they don't have a right to disrupt international cities as the Chinese have done in the last ten days.

Free Tibet Protestors Disrupt Olympic Torch Procession: Unfortunate Situation is Responsibility of Chinese Government

I see that protesters have disrupted the Olympic flame procession in Great Britain and in France, where the torch was extinguished three times. By Olympic tradition, the torch is supposed to be lit in Greece, then goes around the world before arriving in the host country. In this case, it's the People's Republic of China.

But their brutal suppression of the Tibetan people and the recent violence in that Chinese-occupied country has lead to worldwide protests, and protesters have targeted the Olympic torch.

It is most unfortunate that this tradition has been disrupted, but the sole responsibility for this fiasco lies with the people who are in charge in Beijing. It was their orders that sent their army in to put down a legitimate protest in a country that does not belong to China, with more than a hundred lives being lost. The Tibetan people have a right to practice their religious beliefs in spite of the heathen communists.

China is not being a good Olympic host.

And the IOC should put a stop to this fiasco before it gets any worse. They were opposed to this multinational torch tour in the first place; and where Tibet is concerned, the unity propaganda coming from the Chinese government rings hollow.

And for the Chinese foreign minister to call the Olympic flame the "holy flame of the Olympics" is just plain offensive. Communists don't believe in anything being holy. The Chinese government has also denied that the flame was put out in France at all, telling it's people in official Chinese news broadcasts and print media that the relay in France was "successfully completed." NOT!!

Just take the damned torch to China and let them parade it around there.