The quadrennial -- or biennial, now that the summer and winter games are staggered -- hypocrisy irony of the "Olympic Movement" formulation from the mouthpieces of global capital is probably not actually any more finely described by Beijing's turn on the stage than by any other ruthless global hegemon's. Hey, Mary Lou Retton was sticking vaults and selling breakfast cereal while Central America was crawling with death squads.

But China has brought renewed hand-wringing from the guardians of right-thinking about the wrongness of bringing politics into a "Movement" so palpably political from the get-go, and so explicitly marked in its most memorable moments -- Jesse Owens in Berlin, the Blood in the Water match -- by political valences.

And then, of course, there's this:

China holds unrivaled influence with the genocidal regime in Sudan. As Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympics, join Dream For Darfur in urging China to use its leverage to persuade the Sudanese government to consent immediately to a civilian protection force in Darfur.

In this week's photo, Mia Farrow and an 8 year old Darfurian refugee walk into a sandstorm near the Sudan-Chad border at the commencement of the Dream for Darfur torch relay.