Gordon Brown Will Skip Olympics Opening Ceremony

Gordon Brown must be uncomfortable trying to stand on both sides of that Great Wall.

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Brown's office said he was not boycotting the Olympics and would attend the closing ceremony.

Brown has been under intense pressure from human rights campaigners to skip the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 to protest Beijing's ongoing crackdown in Tibet.

Brown's decision not to attend the opening ceremony was not aimed at sending a message of protest to the Chinese government, the spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

She said the decision had been made weeks ago and was not a stand on principle.

"He had never planned to attend," she said. "There is absolutely no change in our position."

It sounds like Brown is bowing to pressure from human rights campaigners. The compromise: Be a no-show at the opening ceremony but attend the closing.

The "anonymous spokeswoman's" claim that Brown NEVER planned to attend is sort of strange.

In an article in today's Washington Post, I was left with the impression that Brown would attend.

Foreign activists...argue that the desire to celebrate athletic achievement should not be a reason for the world to ignore the dark side of Chinese policies.

President Bush, aligning with China's rulers, disagrees. He plans to attend the opening extravaganza Aug. 8. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken a similar position.

When discussion of Western leaders boycotting the opening ceremony heated up, why didn't Brown put out a statement that he would not be there? Why didn't he make his supposedly previously determined plans known immediately?

That seems very odd to me.

But remember that London will host the 2012 Olympics. I'm sure British officials are weighing their decisions about 2008 with 2012 in mind.

...Last month, Brown said he planned to attend the Olympics, without mentioning the opening ceremony.

That sounds very Bill Clintonesque.

"I said I was going to the Olympics, but I didn't say anything about the opening ceremony."

Brown is trying to have it both ways.

He won't attend the opening of the Beijing games, but don't interpret that as a political gesture.

Sure.