The Italian blogosphere is bursting with reactions to the developments in Tibet, between competent and passionate analysis (Orientalia4all is covering the story in a series of posts beginning here) and a call for a boycott to the Olympic games in Beijing from the highly influent Beppe Grillo weblog. National Olympic committees around the world do not seem to be oriented to taking this option, although some individual top athletes are considering it.

Anyway, the Dalai Lama refrained from calling for a boycott of the games himself, and I think that his stance is not as irrational, weak or unworldly as it might seem:

The Chinese people need to feel proud of it. China deserves to be a host of the Olympic Games

and

(Beijing needs to be) reminded to be a good host of the Olympic Games

Beijing is seemingly sensitive about the pressures building around the Olympics, and formal acts such as the appointment of a top-level leading group to prepare for the event could evolve into tangible changes in strategy.

Or maybe not, but keeping the pressure high is the only chance for us to make a difference.