"Protest--[the] peaceful way [to] express their deep resentment--is a right," said the Dalai Lama, after protests in his native Tibet left 80 dead (China put the death toll at 16).

"Protest--[the] peaceful way [to] express their deep resentment--is a right," said the Dalai Lama, after protests in his native Tibet left 80 dead (China put the death toll at 16). Peaceful protest may be a right in nature, and in the eye of nature's God, but it is not recognized in China. Tibetans chafe at years of Sinification--"Some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," the Dalai Lama said--and see this summer's Beijing Olympics as a chance to place their grievances before the world. Chinese authorities try to manage the crisis, torn between their impulses and their desire to cut an attractive figure. The Olympics, which follow scandals about shoddy Chinese exports and which have already produced stories about Beijing's pollution, look to be a PR debacle. They will surely be one if a large number of foreign dignitaries boycott the opening ceremony in protest, as they have threatened to do, and as they should. China, Tibet, and the Tibetan diaspora look forward to a long hot summer.