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British intelligence says the riots were staged by Chinese agents
Heard a lot about this one: British intelligence says Chinese soldiers dressed as monks were involved in — no, make that started — the Lhasa rioting. This finding would confirm the Dalai Lama's assertion that the violence was staged.
While this does not seem far-fetched, considering what Beijing is capable of, we should take all government intelligence with a shaker of salt, since we know it is ruthlessly used to achieve often very questionable political ends, and we have been given no proof. The whole idea seems a little whimsical, but so many of us want to believe it, since it confirms what we tend to believe about Tibetan monks and Tibetans more generally that they are not capable of the violence we have seen. That is to say, it makes an attractive narrative a little too neat.
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Santi Asoke eco-village; Dith Pran passes
A writer for Energy Bulletin visits the Santi Asoke eco-village in Thailand.
An interesting post on Buddhism and Science from Vincent Horn coming from a discussion with B. Alan Wallace on Buddhist Geeks.
And killing fields photographer Dith Pran has passed away at the age of 65.
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Flame arrives in Beijing; China watches domestic opinion
The Olympic torch arrived in Tiananmen Square to be greeted by "smiling Tibetans" in national costume rather than protesters. You can be assured the city was in lockdown.
China feels that domestic opinion is more important than international opinion in weighing tis Tibet policy. Surely Americans at least can understand this attitude.
China seeks India's "understanding and support" for its Tibet policy.
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Protests follow the torch
More protests (from pro-Tibet groups as well as Falun Gong members) as the Olympic flame is handed over to the organizers of Beijing 2008 in Athens.
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WSJ on Tibet
Picked up a Wall Street Journal this weekend and noticed their coverage of Tibet was quite thorough. Here's a link to some of it. The Western media seems to be coming around more to describing the Tibet protests as riots where innocent Hans and Tibetans were injured or killed. But if China wonders why it is getting such bad press and such close attention to its internal affairs, it's the Olympics, dummy.
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Bullets in the Alms Bowl
Digital Dharma (by way of Danny Fisher) has a report by Burma's government in exile on the 2007 Saffron Revolution.
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Meditation leads to Compassion
Does meditation make you more compassionate? Or does being compassionate make you meditate more?
MSNBC: Neuroscience may explain the Dalai Lama:
Many wonder how the Dalai Lama can retain his kindness and magnanimity, even as his homeland is torn apart by violence. New neuroscience research may help explain the exiled Tibetan leader's unremitting compassion for all people.
And China is complaining about biased news coverage? Please.
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China's PR engine (vs. Tibet's)
Continuing its PR campaign, China says it will compensate civilian victims of the Tibetan violence. Some have charged China is inciting race hatred by indicting the Tibetans all across the media. Things really are creeping closer to 1936.
After the blogs attack, CNN has to clarify how it is covering the Tibet crisis. Doubtless most of the Western media has a slightly starry-eyed view of the Dalai Lama and Tibet, and furthermore a prejudice against communist China. The Dalai Lama is not perfect, and Tibet was no paradise before the 1950s.
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Monasteries Closed
We've been hearing rumors to this effect for a while now -- monks are locked in monasteries in Tibet. No supplies going in, nothing coming out. The monks are now said to be facing "patriotic re-education."
A peaceful protest turned into a riot, and China couldn't handle it. Maybe the world will actually get a message through to China on this: If you want to host the world in your country this summer, you will be scrutinized.
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Japanese Poetry in South Korea
A profile of two Korean poets who were called unpatriotic for practicing Japanese forms of poetry.
Like other Koreans who grew up under Japanese colonial rule, from 1910 to 1945, Son and Rhee learned Japanese, rather than Korean, at school. When the Japanese withdrew after their defeat in World War II, many of these Koreans found themselves without a true mother tongue - ashamed to speak Japanese but unable to read Korean well.
But unlike others, Rhee and Son maintained their love of Japanese poetry long after the liberation.
For that, they paid a price: a lifetime of disregard or disapproval from fellow Koreans.
(And North Korea test-fired more missiles. The U.S.
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Monks who spoke to journalists in Lhasa will not be punished, Beijing says; Tibetans want the Panchen Lama Back
Monks speaking out to foreign journalists in front of the Jokhang (the journalists were on a Beijing-sponsored tour of Lhasa) will not punished, says China.For some reason, in light of all the attention Tibet is now getting, this seems very encouraging. (But if the world blinks, those monks will be snatched right up and spirited away.)
Meanwhile China continues to deal with the fallout from the Tibet protests:
"This is exactly what the party leaders didn't want," said Li Datong, a senior magazine editor who was fired in 2006 after an essay in his publication challenged the party's official history.
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What China is Doing
Here's a real clue as to what's going on inside China: The government is stirring up hatred of Tibetans, which is what is always done in war.
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More thinkin' 'bout a boycott; Will sponsor Coke be pressured to back off the Games next?
Time for a boycott? Not yet, says the Economist:
BERLIN, Tokyo, Mexico, Moscow, Los Angeles, Seoul: the Olympic games are often “political” events, occasions for the flaunting of national progress, or for protesters to enjoy global publicity. The Beijing Olympics this August were never going to be any different. Indeed, when it competed for the right to play host to the games, China used a political argument: that this would help China's “reform and opening”. But the games are now overshadowed by the spectre of nationalist unrest in Tibet and China's unyielding response to it. In some Western countries there have been calls for governments to back a boycott of the games.
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Robert Thurman Speaks
Danny Fisher quotes Robert Thurman on why China needs the Dalai Lama, an interesting read. What will the 21st century be like?
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The Dalai Lama in TIME and Newsweek; Sri Lanka Silent on Tibet
Tricycle contributing editor Pico Iyer writes about the Dalai Lama in TIME. And excerpts of the Dalai Lama's interview with Newsweek.
Is Sri Lanka silent on Tibet because they get the arms to fight their civil war from China? The island nation, though "constitutionally bound" to protect Buddhism, has been silent because they are "heavily indebted" to China. But who isn't?
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The Dalai Lama Reiterates Pledge to Resign; Taiwan Watches Tibet
Not much new here: More arrests, as China says 660 "surrendered" in the wake of the protests.
The Dalai Lama reiterated his pledge to resign if the violence goes on. The LA Times writes that this has shaken Buddhism. The LA Times article revives the bewhiskered "god-king" description of the Dalai Lama that journalists have been cutting and pasting for years.
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Violence in Nepal
As Konchog pointed out a few posts back, violence continues in Nepal, with police cracking down hard on protesters. Many people have been injured and hundreds arrested so far. The U.N. has expressed concern over Nepal's actions. Nepal is troubled.
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To Rickshaw or Not to Rickshaw
Rickshaws drive the economy of Dhaka, while in neighboring (or at least nearby) Kolkata, they are seen as a relic of imperialism and are being phased out. In New Delhi the rickshaw-wallahs are fighting to stay. The Kolkata link is to National Geographic and is pretty incredible.
The web tells us rickshaws were invented by a European missionary in Japan in the 1870s or 1880s.
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China still struggling to contain crisis; New York cops beat up protesters
China is still struggling to contain the crisis:
China sought on Wednesday to contain ongoing protests in its ethnic Tibetan regions, as it stepped up detentions in Tibet's capital Lhasa and vowed tighter control over monasteries.
The western province of Qinghai was the latest area to report anti-government activities, with hundreds of civilians staging a sit-down protest after paramilitary police stopped them from marching, a Beijing-based source who spoke to residents said.
"They were beating up monks, which will only infuriate ordinary people," the source said of the protest on Tuesday in Qinghai's Xinghai county.
A resident in the area confirmed the demonstration, saying that paramilitaries dispersed the 200 to 300 protesters after half and hour, that the area was crawling with armed security forces and that workers were kept inside their offices.
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The Tibet death toll's at 140. So are the Olympics already ruined?
Death toll in Tibet now 140? The numbers are difficult to verify because China controls the flow of information so religiously. Germany (a country in love with Buddhism) wants answers from China on the violence.
Have the Olympics already been tainted beyond redemption by China's actions? How will China handle international (i.e. Western) protesters at the games this summer?
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