[Vision2020] Tibetan Fight for Freedom

[Andreas Schou]

Chas --

Tibet has historically been one of the independent Buddhist mountain
kingdoms, along with Nepal, Bhutan, and a number of other places that
have been folded into India over the years. They managed to stay
independent (at least from European powers) through most of the
colonial period, largely because the colonial powers had very little
interest in yak butter or Buddhism -- the country's two major exports.

The Chinese, on the other hand, were particularly interested in Tibet,
largely because owning Tibet sealed their southern border against
India. Accordingly, they have periodically invaded and asserted claims
over Tibet -- claims similar to those they have intermittently
asserted over any place where a Chinese army has ever camped, which
encompasses most of Asia.

The Tibetans don't share a genetic heritage, language, culture,
religion, or cuisine with the Chinese. They're in no way the same
people.

-- ACS

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 10:50 PM, Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com> wrote:
> I hate to defend Bush, but I'm going to have to here.  Tibet isn't a
>  sovereign nation.  It isn't now, nor has it ever been.  That makes the
>  matter of Tibetan independence a CHINESE internal affair.
>
>  We can't be hypocritical here.  If any one of our 50 states seriously
>  decided to seek independence, we would suppress it militarily.  This
>  is probably also true of territories such as Guam or Puerto Rico.  We
>  did have our own bloody civil war precisely to prevent secession.  The
>  war would have been bloody even if the confederate states would have
>  been following Thoreau's civil disobedience.  We fought secession
>  then, and we would fight it now, regardless of cost or diminished
>  world opinion.
>
>  The balance of global power is shifting.  For a long time it has been
>  the United States, but in a short while it will be the European Union
>  and the Pacific Rim, with India only a generation or so behind.  China
>  is set to become the world's next superpower.  The Chinese government
>  knows this.  We know it.  The Olympics are important to China.
>  Understandably, they aren't going to let a bunch of radical
>  secessionists interfere.
>
>  As a superpower, we are facing our sunset years.  In order for this
>  transition to run smoothly (and, of course, to delay it as long as
>  possible), we need to maintain good relations with China.  Our decline
>  is inevitable, but we can make it less painful.  We need China.  Bush
>  attending the Olympics in China is a tacit acknowledgment of this.
>
>  Yes, China is guilty of horrendous Human Rights violations.  But so
>  are we.  Our protests will continue to fall on deaf ears as we
>  exercise double standards.
>
>  Chas
>
>
>
>  =======================================================
>   List services made available by First Step Internet,
>   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>  =======================================================
>