It is tragic, but the euphoria from the successful opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics did not last long. Even as the athletes marched around the National Stadium, two of the participating countries engaged in open military hostility, with Russian bombers and tanks attacking targets in Georgia. The situation in that region was tense ever since the government coup in Georgia (Velvet revolution, 2003), but now it could deteriorate into the next Chechnya. So much for the Olympic peace…
But the other tragedy happened right here in Beijing. The news just broke of a deadly attack in which a Chinese man stabbed two relatives of the U.S. volleyball team coach while they were visiting the Drum Tower (Gulou) in the historic center of Beijing. The man has than leapt from the building to his death. It is not clear why he attacked the victims (one of them died) but it sends shockwaves across the world – the Olympics tainted with murder hours after the opening.
