Chinese Olympic Ideals On Display

Chinese police have arrested yet another prominent Internet dissident as the country steps up a pre-Olympic crackdown on dissent. Du Daobin, from the central province of Hebei, was arrested this week for posting articles on overseas websites and receiving guests without permission.

He is the third leading cyber-dissident to be imprisoned in the run-up to the Olympic Games, after Hu Jia and Huang Qi. Chinese police arrested Huang Qi in the country's southwest for "possession of state secrets" after he offered help to parents of children killed in the Sichuan earthquake in May.

Hu Jia, a prominent AIDS activist, was jailed for 3- years earlier this year for inciting subversion and criticizing the ruling Communist Party. A fourth dissident, Ye Guozhu, in jail since 2004 for organizing protests, was due to be released on Saturday but he was taken from the prison where he was being held and his whereabouts were unknown.

It seems that the Chinese government never had any intention of fulfilling the promises it made when it was awarded the Olympics. Of course, none of these stories are being reported by NBC (who hopes to make millions on the TV broadcast of the games).