Olympics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LIgGo4b-pM

From the very first scene on this video,
I saw there were monks.

 

Stop these Tibetan thugs from killing, burning innocent people(including Tibetans).

I call on Chinese Police to respond much more promptly and much harsher.

These thugs should be shot on the spot.

For those who don't respect other people's life deserve to be shot on the spot.

 

I'm not on a payroll, unfortunately, although if anyone wants to employ me as a propagandist, feel free to contact me...if you want propaganda in defence of totalitarian regimes I'll pass..

http://dalailama.com and http://tibet.com/future.html have some information on the Dalai Lama's views on democracy. The Chinese censors probably block these sites, so for the benefit of readers in the People's Republic, I'll cut and paste a few quotes.

"Whether the institution of the Dalai Lama remains or not depends entirely on the wishes of the Tibetan people. It is for them to decide. I made this clear as early as in 1969. Even in 1963, after four years in exile, we made a draft constitution for a future Tibet which is based on the democratic system. The constitution clearly mentions that the power of the Dalai Lama can be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the Assembly. At the present moment, the Dalai Lama’s institution is useful to the Tibetan culture and the Tibetan people. Thus, if I were to die today, I think the Tibetan people would choose to have another Dalai Lama. In the future, if the Dalai Lama’s institution is no longer relevant or useful and our present situation changes, then the Dalai Lama’s institution will cease to exist.Personally, I feel the institution of the Dalai Lama has served its purpose. More recently, since 2001 we now have a democratically elected head of our administration, the Kalon Tripa. The Kalon Tripa runs the daily affairs of our administration and is in charge of our political establishment. Half jokingly and half seriously, I state that I am now in semi-retirement."

"Among my initiatives in exile were to see to it that the Tibetan refugees, who were arriving in India in thousands, were given proper education and rehabilitation facilities. I also set out to continue my earlier plans to democratise Tibetan society.

In 1961, I promulgated a constitution for future, free Tibet, based on the principles of modern democracy. In general, this Constitution received overwhelming support from the Tibetans. The Tibetans, however, strongly opposed one provision, which stipulated that if circumstances demanded, the power of the Dalai Lama could be taken away according to the Constitution. Therefore, this provision had to be revised.

In 1963, an even more comprehensive draft constitution was announced. In an attempt to democratise the exile Tibetan Administration, the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies was entrusted with the authority to abolish the traditional bipolar system of appointing monk and lay officials to each position. The Assembly also annulled all the hereditary titles and prerogatives granted to small groups of people under the old system. In its place, new guidelines were introduced by which government officials would be appointed in a democratic fashion.

The 1963 draft constitution also authorised a Council of Regents to assume the powers of the Dalai Lama under specific circumstances if that was seen to be in the highest interest of the nation. In deference to the wishes of the people, as I stated earlier, and circumstances prevailing at that time, the constitution gave the ultimate authority of the government to the Dalai Lama. Naturally, I was not satisfied with this clause. I felt that this constitution fell far short of my aim for a genuine democracy.

Therefore, in my speech of the March 10 Anniversary in 1969, I declared that when the Tibetans regained their right to rule themselves, the people must decide for themselves as to what kind of system of government they wanted. I also stated that it was not certain whether the system of government with the Dalai Lama as the supreme head would continue or not.

I believe that in future, Tibet should have a multi-party system of parliament, and that it should have three organs of government - legislature, executive and judiciary - with a clear separation of powers between them, each independent of the other and vested with equal powers and authority. "

 

Sir, do I have free speech rights ?

 

You're not on anyone's payroll, but you spread the Dalai Lama's propaganda all the same. Can you cite a neutral source?

So the Dalai Lama wrote a constitution while he was on the CIA payroll. Did the CIA write it for him?

Here is the source
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD61538F931A35753C1A96E958260

And I quote:
" The Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged today that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960's from the Central Intelligence Agency, but denied reports that the Tibetan leader benefited personally from an annual subsidy of $180,000.

The money allocated for the resistance movement was spent on training volunteers and paying for guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement. It added that the subsidy earmarked for the Dalai Lama was spent on setting up offices in Geneva and New York and on international lobbying. "

I don't want to know whether you're also on the CIA payroll because I don't want you to kill me.

 

Here is another neutral source for you. Look at what the Dalai Lama is trying to restore in Tibet:
http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

And I quote:

Earlier visitors to Tibet commented on the theocratic despotism. In 1895, an Englishman, Dr. A. L. Waddell, wrote that the populace was under the “intolerable tyranny of monks” and the devil superstitions they had fashioned to terrorize the people. In 1904 Perceval Landon described the Dalai Lama’s rule as “an engine of oppression.” At about that time, another English traveler, Captain W.F.T. O’Connor, observed that “the great landowners and the priests… exercise each in their own dominion a despotic power from which there is no appeal,” while the people are “oppressed by the most monstrous growth of monasticism and priest-craft.” Tibetan rulers “invented degrading legends and stimulated a spirit of superstition” among the common people. In 1937, another visitor, Spencer Chapman, wrote, “The Lamaist monk does not spend his time in ministering to the people or educating them. . . . The beggar beside the road is nothing to the monk. Knowledge is the jealously guarded prerogative of the monasteries and is used to increase their influence and wealth.”

 

If what you say is true - I have my doubts - then it is remarkable that the Tibetan people retain such an affection for him: to the extend of risking torture and imprisonment just for having his picture.

There would be one way of settling the matter for certain which would be to hold elections in Tibet and let the people decide for themselves who they want to govern them. That would settle the whole problem for once and for all. The Dalai Lama seems amenable.

 

Just because part of the population revere him, doesn't make him a real saint.

Mao murdered millions of Chinese. But look how his picture is treated today:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/09/06/2003326405
This is a Taiwan newspaper so there is absolutely no question of a bias or censorship.

And I quote:

Mao, architect of the Cultural Revolution that killed millions and took China to the brink of collapse, is still revered by many across China as a god-like figure.

At a family-run restaurant in the southern village, relatives played mahjong next to a life-sized bronze statue of Mao beneath a poster depicting the "great leader" speaking to the patriarch during a visit in the late 1950s.

Asked why the family offer incense to the figure, one woman said: "It is a show of respect -- after he died, he became a god and so are his parents."

 

The monarchy in Britain was a feudal despotism in the past, and yet today is highly popular. No more than 20% of the population want to get rid of it. Institutions change.

 

They may change, they may not. But to say that Tibet was the Shangri-La before communist takeover is pure fiction.

The Dalai Lama is not advocating a separation of the Church and the state. In fact, he is both the religious leader of Tibet and the head of the Tibetan exile government. Why would anyone believe that he is going to completely reverse himself once (or if) he goes back to Tibet?