What Will They Do During the Olympics?

Nothing much more to say when you read this...

One especially excited group was Cub Scout Pack 3944, which is comprised mostly of Beijing-resident American kids under the age of 10. About fifty of them arrived at the game in blue uniforms bedecked with American flags and merit badges, accompanied by their den mothers and scout masters. The night before, they'd learned that the Dodgers had invited them onto the field after the game to meet the players.

But just before the game, the Haidian district police barred the scouts from the field. Why? Because thousands of kilometers away, in the Himalayas, monks and others in Tibet had launched protests against Chinese rule. The government apparently feared that the young Americans would use their moment on the grassy infield to agitate for Tibetan independence. This fear that a pack of cub scouts would politicize a baseball game drove the government to politicize the event more effectively than any Tibetan splittist could hope for, and disappointed a group of bright-eyed kids in the process.

Incredible.  This is Chinese crisis management at its best.  Again...what are they going to do when people show up for the Olympics and stage protests and the like in and around Beijing.  As Ronald Reagan used to say...'You ain't seen nothin' yet.'