No matter how beautiful they make their Olympics, no matter how they strive to make themselves presentable to the world, they're still communists, and nothing fundamental has changed about them. They're the same bunch that tortures and jails dissenters and rules with an iron hand and gives no consideration to human rights.

They're trying to buy the world's love and acceptance with their billions, with their Cube and their Bird's Nest and their smiling (fake) spectators and beautiful (fake) singer and their stacks of gold medals. But what you see is a lie, something as fake as their fireworks.

They're using the Games for their own purposes, and the International Olympic Committee has made it easy for them.

The traveling Olympic show was once a great idea. It introduced different cultures to the world and forged friendships and commerce. But now the Games are often viewed as a political opportunity for the host, especially when awarded to the likes of Moscow in 1980 and Beijing in 2008 and Berlin in 1936. To that end, the cost of the Games has soared out of control.

Every four years, another host country sinks billions into an Olympics, while politicians spout the old lies about the economic benefits it will bring to that part of the world. They build stadiums and arenas and parks and tracks and velodromes and so forth, when perfectly good facilities already exist around the world. There must be better uses for those billions.

The IOC either needs to stop awarding Olympic bids to the likes of Beijing and cease using the Olympic bid as a means to rehabilitate host countries, or find a permanent site in, say, Athens, home of the original Olympics and the Modern Games of 1896 and 2004. At a permanent, neutral Olympic site, little girls with crooked teeth and beautiful voices would be welcome.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesdays. Please e-mail drob@desnews.com.