US speaker stops short of Olympic boycott call but pressure grows for leaders to stay away from opening ceremony

* Randeep Ramesh, Julian Borger, Angelique Chrisafis, Graham Keeley, Elana Schor and John Hooper
* The Guardian,

The speaker of the US House of Representatives yesterday called on the international community to condemn China for its crushing of protests in Tibet, saying the crisis was a challenge to the "conscience of the world".

Nancy Pelosi, who leads the Democratic party in Congress, was the first foreign politician to meet the Dalai Lama since the bloody unrest spread across the roof of the world. Her appearance alongside the Tibetan spiritual leader at his home in the north Indian town of Dharamshala was condemned by Beijing, which accused her of meddling in China's internal affairs.

Pelosi's visit and strong language are the most serious breach in a western consensus that China's economic and strategic strength renders impossible any protest beyond verbal expressions of unease.

She did not call for an Olympic boycott, which the Dalai Lama has also opposed, but appeared to open the door to one if China maintained its crackdown in Tibet. She said the "world is watching" events there, and called for an international investigation into the violence, and access to the region for journalists and international human rights monitors.

Pelosi said it was incumbent on "freedom-loving people throughout the world" to speak out against China's "oppression". If they did not, "we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world".

There is no appetite among governments for an Olympic boycott. All have too much to lose by alienating the burgeoning superpower. But the news and images filtering through the razor wire around Tibet are making many western capitals uneasy, particularly those that promised to build foreign policies on human rights.

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what the hell?? i wish she'd lend her support to *our* cause!

http://www.myspace.com/freedomforalltibetans

Nothing says solidarity like a scarf. Nancy, you must have one for every occasion.