Cuddly tiger, hidden dragon? PDF Print E-mail
Written by Patrick Gathara   
Tuesday, 08 April 2008

The men in blue track-suits guarding the runners holding the Olympic flame are taking over the front pages across the world. In Paris yesterday they had to retreat into vans as they were mobbed by protestors who even managed to extinguish the flame. Does China deserve this, the cold shoulder from the West? Do the protestors really care, do they understand Tibet or Darfur, is Beijing as malevolent as is made out or is something else afoot?
 beijing_olympics.jpg

Patrick Gathara
About the author:
Patrick Gathara is a Kenyan cartoonist and the Secretary General of Katuni, the East African Association of Cartoonists. He writes/ draws regularly on political matters and is Politics and Society Executive Editor at KenyaImagine.




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CIA handiwork
written by Kim G , April 08, 2008
The events in Tibet bear all the signs of a CIA operation. After all, isn't it the stated aim of the CIA to use racial and ethnic differences to ignite civil strife? And isnt it a fact that Chinas rapid development is viewed with concern by Washington? The worst thing is that humans never seem to learn from the past. If theres enough violence in Tibet, and by chance Tibet happens to break off into a separate country, dont be surprised if some shady operative launches a book celebrating his (or her) handiwork. Tibet is a province of the worlds fastest growing economy but theyve been made to beleive that they should pursue a goal of recreating an idealic past of monks, temples and meditation. By the time they realize they were duped, it will be too late.
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Paranoid conspirationalism
written by aeichener , April 08, 2008
The events in Tibet bear all the signs of a CIA operation.


Your time machine may be defect, or you have only now awaken from 40 years of cryo-stasis. The historical and now well-documented CIA operation in Tibet - when this agency indeed funded the people's heroical guerilla war against the Chinese oppressors, and also trained Tibetan fighters - ended about 40 years ago, namely in 1969, when the last funding was cut off. And that was it.

http://www.friendsoftibet.org/databank/usdefence/usd7.html
http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/concia.html

Alexander
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re: Paranoid conspirationalism
written by a guest , April 09, 2008


The historical and now well-documented CIA operation in Tibet ... ended about 40 years ago, namely in 1969

Alexander


Ha ha! And you beleived it? The CIA is not a force for good, its a force for evil. They werent in Tibet to help people there to regain their long lost culture. The CIA was in Tibet to undermine China by keeping its forces occupied in putting down secessionist movements.

Aichener: Did you know that while the US government was backing the Shah or Iran, its intelligence outfit was providing support to the Ayatollahs? Did you also know that while the US hostages were languishing in the embassy in Tehran, for 444 days, the US military was supplying fighter jet spare parts to Iran via Israel?

Why would they do all these if not to forment violence and bloodshed? Its a classic tactic: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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CIA
written by ezz , April 11, 2008
Have any of you thought of these guys' hand in the current mess in Kenya? Raila went to consult Ranneberger yesterday!
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written by Stephen Wanyama , April 11, 2008
Well for a fact most of those shouting down China about Tibet are ignorant of the facts. It is important as Alex says in the Wangari thread to be able at once to condemn China for its human rights abuse in Tibet (ethnicide and genocide however are silly, hyperbolic charges- I would like a good definition), while at the same time eschewing the sort of Messianism the Tibetan monks seem seized up in. Remember also that even the Dalai Lama (who self-identifies as half-Marxist) himself, unlike many of the Western crazies does not believe Tibet should be free of China, what he seeks is greater autonomy (Tibet is already an autonomous region) and an end to repression (which I would say is a goals of many other less sexy Chinese regions).

I find, that I cannot say for sure that the Tibetan people are not actually much better off under the Chinese (at least they are not now slaves) than they were under the Buddhist theocracy. I'd direct your attention to Michael Parenti's Friendly Feudalism here, or alternatively look out for online video documentaries on what life was like in Tibet before the Chinese came (I have seen some pretty grim videos of life pre-Communism even on the BBC -which is very anti-China). The lamas and the monks ruled over everyone with a good and strong fist and still wield great powers over the Tibetan people. But now Tibetans can attend school, they can own and work their own land, they can own cattle, their women, even those of the lower classes have actual rights they can demand from the state, they can choose whether or not they want to be monks.

Cuddly tiger, hidden dragon? We could be talking about either China or the Tibetan monks. As with most things, not everything is as it seems. Religion and theocracies are everywhere brutal backward and repressive, life in Tibetan was terrible before the Chinese Communists came. No one knew this better than the West, now they pretend the lamas were messengers of peace!! The Chinese claim on Tibet, is itself largely the product of the Lamas needing a protector for their repressive system. Final question, is there greater repression in Tibet than elsewhere in China?
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