World leaders who went to Olympics endorsed the current regime. No, not directly, but it's already being spun that way in China and naturally the punditry echoes that in various forms (see Olympic success may empower China's leaders: Government quick to take credit for country's impressive medal haul):
Indeed, the 2008 Games seemed likely to go down as a political as well as an athletic victory for China, reinforcing the image of party leaders as adroit managers of the world's largest nation on a double-step march toward greater prosperity. In the view of the Chinese, the appearance of dozens of foreign leaders during the Games, including President Bush, meant the world had effectively endorsed the Communist Party's rule, despite its continued political repression.
"The party state was clearly a winner in the eyes of the people," said David Shambaugh, a George Washington University China specialist who was in Beijing for the Games and who wrote a recently published book on the Chinese Communist Party.
The emphasis on China's national achievements was intense, responding to guidance from the Central Propaganda Department as well as spontaneous pride. The U.S. lead in the overall medal count was nearly ignored, for instance, in favor of China's winning tally of gold. In another example of the tone, the headline over a story on the success of Australia's Matthew Mitcham in a diving competition Thursday read: "Mitcham Ruins China's Clean Sweep in Diving."
Oh they are going to break their own arms patting themselves on their collective communist backs. This was the very reason I had a problem with the media types tiptoeing around the Olympics, trying not to upset their host for fear of getting their plugs pulled. NBC is just another oppressive-government-butt-kissing corporation, similar to Google who has Chinese government censoring enabled just for the privileged of being there.
Many people have already compared this years' Olympics to the 1936 Olympics in Germany (take a long stroll through that site for a good history of the '36 games in Germany). There are many parallels that apply, especially the way both countries used the Olympics as a vehicle for legitimacy. Right now there is a lot of chatter about how modern China is and how great it is that they pulled off the Olympics with such perfection. Germany was praised for the same thing right up until WWII.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Wretched Human Mirror by Bloodbath