From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

In Beijing, China, let the games begin.

Hello again, I'm Aranalmi, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues. Americans care about most.

The eyes of the world are on tonight's $43 million pageant, the opening ceremonies of the 29th Olympiad.

NBC won't televise the event in the U.S. until prime time, but we'll hear eyewitness reports to an extravaganza involving some 15,000 performers.

We've secured a videotape, and we'll ask a veteran TV producer how it's going to look

to some 4 billion viewers worldwide. Also on To the Point, we'll talk with a human rights lawyer

in Hong Kong and a member of the International Olympic Committee. When it comes to athletics,

will this be the start of a historic rivalry between the U.S.

and China? First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again. Mormon Alney, back with To the Point.

The opening ceremonies of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing are over. China's triumphal and spectacular

statement to the rest of the world. On To the Point, we'll talk to eyewitnesses and a TV producer

of former Olympic events. What's the message, we'll talk to eyewitnesses and a TV producer of former Olympic events.

What's the message inside and outside the Olympic Stadium? What about human rights?

First, this news update, Russia has sent troops and tanks into a breakaway region of Georgia,

a former member of the Soviet Union. Here's Georgia's president, Mikhail Shokosvili.

We are a freedom-loving nation that is right now under attack. This is really way too much. And if this thing is, if they get away

with this in Georgia, the world will be in trouble. Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin says

...