Why the Beijing Olympics will pass without incident

After the incidents seen on the streets of London, Paris and San Francisco over the past week when the Olympic Torch was targetted as a beacon of Chinese oppression many wonder if we'll see more trouble when the games take place in August.

Understandably so anti-Chinese groups and pro-Tibetan groups were passionate in their protests but in reality they were damp squibs which the television cameras lapped up.

No country has as yet boycotted the Olympics though some heads of state will not attend the opening ceremony.

In China the protests hardly made the newspapers as close Governmental control focussed on the positive side of the torch run.

Controlling what Chinese citizens see from abroad is achievable but what will the Chinese Government do if trouble errupts on the streets of Beijing?

This week a Hong Kong based pro-Chinese newspaper said "Al Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and Tibetan Youth Congress are all planning to make the Beijing Olympic Games the target of terror attacks, and have strengthened collusion and collaboration."

But are we to buy these claims or are they a smokescreen thrown up by the Chinese Government?