[Vision2020] Tibetan Fight for Freedom

[Chasuk]

I'm not a historian, so I apologize if I make myself look like an
idiot here.  However, you mentioned that Tibet managed to stay
independent of the European powers, if not necessarily from China.  As
Tibet sits essentially within China's borders, isn't that as it should
be?  If Tibet had produced gold or oil, or something else that
attracted Europeans, wouldn't China's proprietorial interest have been
logical, considering where Tibet is situated?  What interests could
Europe have had, other than avaricious?

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

China doesn't share a genetic heritage, language, culture,  religion,
or cuisine with itself.  There are 55 official minority nationalities
in China, and 235 living languages (according to ethnologue.com).
These are not like dialects in the US, where Bostonians understand
Californians who understand Southerners, if with some difficulty.
These dialects are so different that they are _literally_ mutually
unintelligible.

There are many places in the world where bad things happen every day,
but no one has empowered us as global policeman, despite what our
hubris and self-deceit sometimes lead us to pretend.  I don't condone
atrocities, wherever they may occur, but neither do I condone
interfering in the affairs of sovereign nations.  It doesn't seem,
ultimately, to be a very healthy thing to do.