Christie Blatchford G&M column: the iron hand behind the magic show

I read Christie Blatchford's column about the spectacle called the Beijing Olympics. I also read the general comments linked below Blatchford's column. Several people commented about the Americans occupying Iraq, how Iraqi society has been dragged down because of the American military presence. Others talk about Blatchford's racism against the Chinese which I couldn't infer from her column. She did make one very good point about China:

My friend was sick at heart by what he considered the fawning coverage of the
opening on the CBC. “China may have a lot of new Ronald McDonald statues and
wave a lot of hankies in unison,” he said, “but they still don't let their
people think, vote, talk. We don't know.

China could have the biggest and best democracy in the world. For those who say that now is not the time, just remember that women in Canada and the United States heard that phrase before when they wanted the right to vote.

There will come a time when the Chinese citizens get tired making household items for our dollar stores for slave wages. The Chinese standard of living will never rise to Western levels unless they be given the right to think freely and creatively, and get the right to vote.