This week brings news that South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, denied the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a peace conference. To the press, the government response is that he that he would be a distraction from promoting the World Cup. The conference is to extoll the virtues of sport in overcoming racism and social ills while promoting the 2010 World Cup. Two South African Nobel laureates, Tutu and F.W. De Klerk, said they'll withdraw from the conference in protest. The government spokesman denied that China had any influence yet a Chinese embassy official freely stated to the press that they most certainly did ask that the Lama be denied and said his visit could harm bilateral relations (SA accounts for about 20% of China's trade African countries). In 1994, the new South Africa was eager to assert itself as the leader and assistant of all African countries and proclaimed its solidarity with underdogs throughout the world. The wealth of the country has largely stayed put at the top and the powerful are once again very comfortable. China is calling in its chits. It seems that, now in South Africa, everything is just business.
