The Chinese government's apparent belief that it has only to say "oh yeah, that's ours and always has been" and the world should fall at their feet is particularly nerve-wracking as my beloved's homeland is right next door, and there was an awful lot of mushiness to that border in the past.
With that said, I have to admit that every time I hear the words "Dalai Lama," I hear Leo McGarry's voice saying "oh hey, how ya doin' Dahleee Lama?" as he explains how to "accidentally" meet someone in an episode of The West Wing.
It has always perplexed me as to why the Chinese leaders are so obsessed with Tibet.
To me His Holiness is one of the happiest people I know of on the planet. He has the most amazing and kind sense of humor.
The Chinese must think he’s laughing at them. He is in a way, but not because they are stupid. But rather because they are so young. And he does it with affection because they are his brothers who forgot how to laugh.
Saying that Tibet has always been a part of China is like saying that King Charles III of England is Emperor of India, because his predecessor Queen Victoria was Empress of India. China in the past has been ruled by Mongols and Manchus, very successfully and for centuries by the latter. Does that mean that the CCP clique in power in Beijing should be ignored and the rulers of Manchuria consulted on things Chinese? The Chinese claim on Tibet is drivel.
Xi's attitude toward both Tibet and Taiwan is the same as Putin's towards Ukraine and the Baltic states, they were once part of their empires and so they must ALWAYS be subjugated, except that the Chinese, with the largest military establishment in the world and their borders of sea, mountains and deserts AND their position as the largest exporter of almost everything feel that they can just defy the rest of the world in their imperialist demands. Until the Opium wars taught them better, the Emperors of China believed themselves the Emperors of the World, having the "Mandate of Heaven" and all. The question always is, if they call our bluff, what exactly can we do about it? Sending sternly written letters just won't cut it.
This will never happen, but the Americans could send their own peace-keeping force to Tibet and just dare the Chinese to do anything about it.
Not sure that the Chinese would actually start a shooting war with the rest of the world over Tibet. Because apart from "pride" (which I don't discount where Xi is concerned) Tibet brings nothing to the table for the Chinese government.
dictatorships live or die by their reputations for strength. an invasion of what they regard as sovereign territory would be the opening of WW III, and I doubt anybody else would want a part of that. And where would this American forlorn hope be based from? South of the Himalayas? One of the ex-Soviet Stans? None of those Muslim states are either stable or reliably pro-American- I suppose third-party cutouts could start a jihad to free the nearby Uighurs, but China could flatten them but quick. And the Vietnamese would be stark staring mad to be our catspaws in challenging Xi- the Chinese Empire did include "Cochin China" long ago.
In short, reviving a feudalist theocracy in the distant, desolate plateau of Tibet is not a cause likely to attract a lot of young people to die for.
He's a pretentious old windbag with a distinctly feudal mindset, but he did refrain from calling on Tibetans to rise up in a hopeless war against the Chinese Army that would simply have gotten them all killed. For that piece of common sense, humanity owes him credit. Also, feudal or not feudal, it is likely that the majority of Tibetans want him as their ruler, and the majority of Han Chinese sent to Tibet hate the place, hate the people, and would give anything to be allowed to return to China.
I'd go off on a rant about China's policy of wanting to make every part of their conquered territories "Chinese" but as I come from a country that basically tried to genocide (physically and culturally) their way to eliminating the Native population I kinda don't feel like I possess the moral high ground.
Still I guess "better late than never" is appropriate except for the fact that it is tied to the fact that we've decided that we won't be able to exploit cheap Chinese labor any longer so now they are competition and deserving of our opprobrium.
Maybe the First Nations and Native Tribes could pass similar resolutions and make the trip instead, as they would be much more capable of relating to the Tibetans and their struggle.
As all that stuff is probably made by Uyghurs in work camps - I mean "vocational education and training centers" - it doesn't count as cheap Chinese labor.
So here am I trying* to rush the torch bearer during the Paris relay for the 2008 Beijin Olympics. I'm smiling because the cop hasn't yet tried to knee me in the balls.
Was quite surprised on the following day to see this picture and another one gracing the front pages of several regional newspapers. As 15 minutes of fame go, I could have fared worse.
"After the current Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was identified in 1995 at the age of six, he was kidnapped by the Chinese government and became the world’s youngest political prisoner."
Didn't Eddie Murphy and Charles Dance star in this one?
If it's true does that mean we can start picking on him. Anyway i had to quit watching after the third or fourth time that dude said Martin "Shar-kelli".
Fuck them about the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, the Taiwanese, and all the other peoples on either side of their borders whom they abuse when they can, and menace and threaten when they can't. Fuck them about their own people whom they incarcerate and execute for "offenses" that would be maybe misdemeanors in a civilized country, if they even were crimes at all. (It is, for example, a criminal offense to compare Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.)
Enough of their feelings and their sensitivities and their vital status as a trade partner. It's time to get way tougher with them than we have been.
And the only person who will realistically do that is Joe Biden. Trump intermittently talks a great game about how to handle the Chinese, but his idea of getting tough with them is imposing more tariffs. And he'll do it not out of any consideration for human rights, but because he thinks "they're laughing at us" over the trade deficit, which he cannot even accurately define. And his confused motivations will go away the first time Xi flatters him.
Trump's foreign policy will be as disastrous as his domestic policy. Add "China" to the list of reasons to hope and vote and pray (if that's your thing) for Biden's victory.
The Taiwan population is layered. Let's not forget that there are about 600,000 aboriginal people of non-Chinese ancestry living there as well who have their own claims. They fought the Japanese when that country occupied Taiwan, and got some respect from the Taiwanese for that.
PAB doesn't care - the only thing he did regarding China was make sure his daughter was able to get Chinese patents so she could maufacture fashion knock-offs in the US
"Chinese government". I know what you mean, but ... your opening statement reads really poorly right now. I like you, so please just take this as kind advice.
Just curious what the difference is between Tibet and Palestine.
Free Tibet!
The Chinese government's apparent belief that it has only to say "oh yeah, that's ours and always has been" and the world should fall at their feet is particularly nerve-wracking as my beloved's homeland is right next door, and there was an awful lot of mushiness to that border in the past.
With that said, I have to admit that every time I hear the words "Dalai Lama," I hear Leo McGarry's voice saying "oh hey, how ya doin' Dahleee Lama?" as he explains how to "accidentally" meet someone in an episode of The West Wing.
It has always perplexed me as to why the Chinese leaders are so obsessed with Tibet.
To me His Holiness is one of the happiest people I know of on the planet. He has the most amazing and kind sense of humor.
The Chinese must think he’s laughing at them. He is in a way, but not because they are stupid. But rather because they are so young. And he does it with affection because they are his brothers who forgot how to laugh.
Saying that Tibet has always been a part of China is like saying that King Charles III of England is Emperor of India, because his predecessor Queen Victoria was Empress of India. China in the past has been ruled by Mongols and Manchus, very successfully and for centuries by the latter. Does that mean that the CCP clique in power in Beijing should be ignored and the rulers of Manchuria consulted on things Chinese? The Chinese claim on Tibet is drivel.
Xi's attitude toward both Tibet and Taiwan is the same as Putin's towards Ukraine and the Baltic states, they were once part of their empires and so they must ALWAYS be subjugated, except that the Chinese, with the largest military establishment in the world and their borders of sea, mountains and deserts AND their position as the largest exporter of almost everything feel that they can just defy the rest of the world in their imperialist demands. Until the Opium wars taught them better, the Emperors of China believed themselves the Emperors of the World, having the "Mandate of Heaven" and all. The question always is, if they call our bluff, what exactly can we do about it? Sending sternly written letters just won't cut it.
This will never happen, but the Americans could send their own peace-keeping force to Tibet and just dare the Chinese to do anything about it.
Not sure that the Chinese would actually start a shooting war with the rest of the world over Tibet. Because apart from "pride" (which I don't discount where Xi is concerned) Tibet brings nothing to the table for the Chinese government.
dictatorships live or die by their reputations for strength. an invasion of what they regard as sovereign territory would be the opening of WW III, and I doubt anybody else would want a part of that. And where would this American forlorn hope be based from? South of the Himalayas? One of the ex-Soviet Stans? None of those Muslim states are either stable or reliably pro-American- I suppose third-party cutouts could start a jihad to free the nearby Uighurs, but China could flatten them but quick. And the Vietnamese would be stark staring mad to be our catspaws in challenging Xi- the Chinese Empire did include "Cochin China" long ago.
In short, reviving a feudalist theocracy in the distant, desolate plateau of Tibet is not a cause likely to attract a lot of young people to die for.
"refrain from any form of contact with the Dalai" Fuck off.
He's a pretentious old windbag with a distinctly feudal mindset, but he did refrain from calling on Tibetans to rise up in a hopeless war against the Chinese Army that would simply have gotten them all killed. For that piece of common sense, humanity owes him credit. Also, feudal or not feudal, it is likely that the majority of Tibetans want him as their ruler, and the majority of Han Chinese sent to Tibet hate the place, hate the people, and would give anything to be allowed to return to China.
Free Tibet!
Big hitter, the Lama...
I'd go off on a rant about China's policy of wanting to make every part of their conquered territories "Chinese" but as I come from a country that basically tried to genocide (physically and culturally) their way to eliminating the Native population I kinda don't feel like I possess the moral high ground.
Still I guess "better late than never" is appropriate except for the fact that it is tied to the fact that we've decided that we won't be able to exploit cheap Chinese labor any longer so now they are competition and deserving of our opprobrium.
Maybe the First Nations and Native Tribes could pass similar resolutions and make the trip instead, as they would be much more capable of relating to the Tibetans and their struggle.
"we've decided that we won't be able to exploit cheap Chinese labor any longer" Temu is cancelled?
As all that stuff is probably made by Uyghurs in work camps - I mean "vocational education and training centers" - it doesn't count as cheap Chinese labor.
OK.
So here am I trying* to rush the torch bearer during the Paris relay for the 2008 Beijin Olympics. I'm smiling because the cop hasn't yet tried to knee me in the balls.
Was quite surprised on the following day to see this picture and another one gracing the front pages of several regional newspapers. As 15 minutes of fame go, I could have fared worse.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/i58KJXZoUgozyNTBA
* actually, I hadn't really made up my mind, but the crowd behind me made it for me and shoved me o my way.
"After the current Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was identified in 1995 at the age of six, he was kidnapped by the Chinese government and became the world’s youngest political prisoner."
Didn't Eddie Murphy and Charles Dance star in this one?
"I...I...I...want the knife."
Turns out that Charlie Murphy, his broither, is the actual Panchen Lama
In other news, MAGA leadership visited the Daily Lemur, which is a strip bar in Queens, and even then they were conflicted.
A lemur a day keeps the idiots at bay!
Dalai Lama and Michael Palin…
https://youtu.be/FX3LDk5Nr_0?si=2q9Pfpx3M7l1331c&t=1782
Awwwwwwww, he's gonna grow up to be just like his ma and pa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7jAyKlXqb4
If it's true does that mean we can start picking on him. Anyway i had to quit watching after the third or fourth time that dude said Martin "Shar-kelli".
I did the exact same thing - hey guy, just show us how you really didn't know a thing about what you were taking about.
FUCK the FUCKING CHINESE.
Fuck them about the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, the Taiwanese, and all the other peoples on either side of their borders whom they abuse when they can, and menace and threaten when they can't. Fuck them about their own people whom they incarcerate and execute for "offenses" that would be maybe misdemeanors in a civilized country, if they even were crimes at all. (It is, for example, a criminal offense to compare Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.)
Enough of their feelings and their sensitivities and their vital status as a trade partner. It's time to get way tougher with them than we have been.
And the only person who will realistically do that is Joe Biden. Trump intermittently talks a great game about how to handle the Chinese, but his idea of getting tough with them is imposing more tariffs. And he'll do it not out of any consideration for human rights, but because he thinks "they're laughing at us" over the trade deficit, which he cannot even accurately define. And his confused motivations will go away the first time Xi flatters him.
Trump's foreign policy will be as disastrous as his domestic policy. Add "China" to the list of reasons to hope and vote and pray (if that's your thing) for Biden's victory.
And you bet your bippy China is keeping an eye on how the world supports Ukraine.....
And of course, fuck the KMT nationalists who decamped to Taiwan and decimated the people living there.
The Taiwan population is layered. Let's not forget that there are about 600,000 aboriginal people of non-Chinese ancestry living there as well who have their own claims. They fought the Japanese when that country occupied Taiwan, and got some respect from the Taiwanese for that.
just met my 1st Formosan mountain dog today & i was impressed … other canids were not discussed, he seemed apolitical if anything … many skritches …
This is a good reply
PAB doesn't care - the only thing he did regarding China was make sure his daughter was able to get Chinese patents so she could maufacture fashion knock-offs in the US
Which promptly suffered the "Trump Curse" and failed miserably.
Ivanka clearly believed that now that dad was pres that people would respect her -
stupid, Stupid, STUPID!
"Chinese government". I know what you mean, but ... your opening statement reads really poorly right now. I like you, so please just take this as kind advice.
" The Chinaman is not the issue!"
- Walter, THE BIG LEBOWSKI
From "Girl with the Dogs", Vanessa, Ace, Gidget, a golf ball and a blankey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh3RxGp3fJQ