I’ve been largely willing to turn a blind eye to the politics in China, at least while the Olympics were going on. I thought the games were really exciting this year and except for China cheating with underage gymnasts, the games went quite well.

Having said that, now that the games have concluded we’re beginning to learn more about just what made it possible for Beijing to put on such a spectacle. It seems that like everything else in China, one must take a peek behind the curtain to see what’s really going on.

Foreigners traveling around Beijing over the last couple of weeks have admired the beautiful flowers blooming and lush green grass around famous monuments.

We’re now learning that China was terrified that they would run short of fresh water during the games, predicting as much as a 30% spike in water usage. Rather than gather the smartest minds in China to come up with a solution, the Chinese government did what any good dictatorship does, and decided to steal the extra water.

More than 200 miles of pipeline was constructed which drained thousands of farms completely dry leaving farmers without a livelihood and many without a home.

More than 30,000 people have been left homeless, and many have even been driven to suicide. Security officials blanketed the area to ensure none of the disgruntled farmers could somehow make it to Beijing and clue the world in on what’s going on.

The blunders began when officials started to worry that Beijing might not have enough water to cope with 500,000 visitors to the Olympics. There was talk of a 30% spike in demand. Their gaze turned to Hebei province, its fields ripe with vegetables, corn and rice, providing a good living for its huge rural population.

Decrees were issued, targets were set and engineers scurried to complete a “100day struggle” to build almost 200 miles of channels and pipes to Beijing. These will form part of a gigantic project to bring the waters of the Yangtze River to the drought-stricken plains of northern China. Meanwhile, four strategic reservoirs in Hebei, around the city of Baoding, were filled to the brim.

Accounts differ of what happened next. Some farmers say the price of water was raised by 300% to put it beyond their reach. Others simply say that their irrigation channels ran dry. As subterranean water levels fell, their wells collapsed, fields were abandoned, mud-brick farm houses stood empty.

About 31,000 people around Baoding are said to have lost their homes or land. Local leaders complained; China’s tiny environmental movement agitated. That all stopped when the Hebei media trotted out a barrage of propaganda assuring readers that the entire population was overjoyed to be making a sacrifice for the national good.

The security services were also on high alert for any foreigners entering Baoding. Taxi drivers were told to drive any foreigners who asked for a ride straight to the police station.

A reporter for the London Times who uncovered this whole story experienced the creepy security first-hand when he traveled to Baoding.

At a city hotel, the staff at the front desk arose aghast when I entered to ask for a room, then immediately telephoned the authorities. Deciding to forgo the pleasure of their acquaintance, I made my excuses and left Baoding.

As I waited at the railway station, the only foreigner in a reeking hall crammed with shabby migrants, a young man in a perfectly ironed green polo shirt and polished black shoes came and sat opposite, apparently engrossed in a newspaper.

A few minutes later a second young man, in a neat purple T-shirt and equally shiny shoes, sat down nearby and stared into space. A third fellow, this time in a pink polo shirt, materialized in the heaving throng next to me as we tramped towards the night express, murmuring into a mobile phone. After I climbed on board they vanished.

Yet another red banner, strung across the interior of our packed carriage, read: “The five Olympic rings include you and me.”

This pretty much destroys any illusions about the Chinese government. The entire Olympic games was a remarkably well choreographed charade intended to maintain a facade of progress. President Hu Jintao is really just a quieter and more reserved version of Joseph Stalin. It was a mistake to allow China to host the Olympics and it’s a decision the world will grow to regret more and more as time goes on.

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As I was reading through my news feeds this morning I came across a new column from Ralph Peters. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Peters and read his columns often. However, his piece today is about his ‘private boycott’ of the Olympics. This is a sentiment I’ve heard expressed not only by Peters but by others as well.

China’s record on human rights is a dismal one and the entire world knows it. Having said that, America’s economy and China’s economy are hopelessly linked. China cannot survive without the U.S. as a customer and the U.S. cannot survive without the goods that China produces. We have no choice but to engage China while continuing to encourage reforms.

China has a long way to go before it resembles anything close to a democracy, but when you look at how far China has come over the last twenty years it’s truly stunning. Who would’ve thought Chairman Mao’s brutal communist regime would have turned into the bastion of capitalism it is today. The progress China has made is undeniable and in another ten years or so I believe we will see more changes in China. Unlike North Korea, China’s leaders are pragmatic and forward looking. Reforms are slowly taking hold in China and eventually democracy will begin to catch-up with China’s capitalism.

Having said that, the Olympic games are not a place for politics. Every American should watch the games and the President was right to attend them. Our athletes don’t have day jobs, they work hard and train 24/7 in the hopes of winning a medal on behalf of the United States. We owe it to these athletes to watch them and acknowledge their skill and hard work.

We also owe it to the rest of the world to watch their athletes. The Olympics is the one time where countries with bitter disagreements can check their politics at the door and engage in friendly competition. Countries which rarely have the opportunity to interact with Americans are afforded such an opportunity at the Olympics. These interactions can serve as a kind unintentional ’soft diplomacy’ that works to everyone’s benefit.

President Bush has publicly acknowledged America’s opposition to China’s domestic policies, but now is the time to put politics on ice for a while and cheer on our incredible athletes.

-Chris Jones

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Everyone knows China is on of the most polluted places on earth. Many of the rivers in China are so polluted they no longer support life. In some rivers the pollution level is so toxic that merely touching the water can cause skin burns.

The unchecked pollution in Chinese waters however, is now threatening at least one popular Olympic event–sailing. With only six weeks until China hosts the Olympic sailing regatta in the city of Qingdao, officials are working feverishly to clean up a massive algae bloom that is choking off large stretches of coastline.

As many as 20,000 people and more than 1,000 boats are participating in the clean-up effort. Nearly a third of the coastal waters (5,000 sq. miles) designated for the Olympic games is covered by the algae.

Algae blooms occur naturally in the Yellow Sea and elsewhere, however the size of the bloom is believed by everyone except Chinese officials to be caused from the raw sewage that is dumped into the water daily. In addition to that, the rivers and tributaries that flow in to the coastal waters are often polluted with industrial run-off.

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