Because the upcoming Olympics will be held in China, the torch relay has and will continue to encounter human-rights and free-Tibet protesters, some of whom can be expected to disrupt the proceedings (trying to extinguish the flame, etc.)

This may be the first time such problems have occurred during the pre-Olympic torch relay. I'd be surprised if anyone in the 1930s tried to protest Nazism by intercepting the relay on its relatively short trip from Greece to Berlin.

The torch is expected to travel through San Francisco today, where very significant protest disruption can be expected.

I haven't read or heard about the route, but I know this year's relay began fairly recently, and I can't understand how and why it would be in California so soon. If they're proceeding around the globe from Greece to Beijing east-to-west, the US West Coast would be near the end of the route. If the route is west-to-east, SF would constitute a big detour.

Thanks for the info about the Nazis ~ I never knew that. Histories and other popular literature about the Olympics always include the fact that conveyance of the "Olympic flame" from Mount Olympus in Greece to the site of the games dates back to the first modern Games, which were held in Athens in the 1890s. Apparently, nobody promoting and glorifying the Olympics is interested in mentioning the role of Goebbels, so it is easy to assume that the torch relay was always the means by which the flame traveled from Greece to wherever.