Just watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, with all the countries’ athletes marching into the stadium in the Parade of Athletes.

As the Iranian delegation walked in, a palpable, clearly audible boo was heard from the assembled audience. Why did I hear this so clearly? Not just because I’m acutely attuned to anything about somebody who wants to wipe me off the map, but actually because just before Iran, a thunderous cheer went up as the small Iraqi delegation marched into the stadium. There are at least two other people in the room with me who heard the same, and I don’t think I’m making this up. We’re watching the opening ceremony on British EuroSport Live channel, and even the commentator, after hearing the crowd’s reaction to the Iranians, said, “Quite a controversial welcome for the Iranians.”

The contrast between the cheer for the Iraqis and the boos for the Iranians was very distinct, and very interesting. Has Iran become a pariah state?

Now, a lot of other people are talking about Iran getting booed.

Truth is I feel bad for the Iranian athletes. I can’t imagine how great it must be to march into an Olympic stadium representing your country, only to have it tinged by something like this. What’s going on in the mosques of power in Tehran is not the athletes’ fault.

However, when something like this happens, you do have to wonder.

Clearly Iraq has a lot of sympathy in the world. And I wonder if Iran’s image in China [and not just in Israel and America] is negative. I’m sure there a lot of Chinese at the Olympic stadium now, but also tens of thousands of audience members from other countries. Who booed the Iranian delegation? I don’t know what the average Chinese person thinks about Iran’s policies, but I’m guessing that the average Chinese person doesn’t have much of an opinion on Tehran’s push for nuclear development, or their support for Islamic extremist groups. Perhaps there was a majority of foreigners at the stadium. In any case, it sounded pretty much like a wall-to-wall boo at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Israel got a decent cheer as well as Palestine [4 athletes].

So far, Brazil and Spain seemed to get the largest cheers, with Canada coming close.

The Russian delegation got quite a huge roar, despite the fact that Russia and Georgia are, as of today, officially at war.

I thought that countries were not supposed to go to war with each other during the duration of the Olympic games.

America just got a huge cheer.