While the US and other western national governments promote talks between China and the Dalai Lama led exiled Tibetan government as "the only way forward," no one seems to notice the sinister undertones of this promotion.
That the talks are useless, and worse, degrading to the Tibetans, is apparent to anyone who follows them closely.
Why would our leaders, Obama included (hoodwinked by Beijing as he is over Tibet, but, strangely, not over the Google incident), continue to insist that such farcical meetings would do any damned good? Have any of them even paid attention to how the Tibetan delegates are treated and spoken to by their Chinese counterparts? It's humiliating and the fact that Tibetan delegates put up with it without punching someone in the face shows their patience, which may or may not be Buddhism's influence.
The promotion of talks between the Beijing government and the Exiled Tibetan Government is simply our "free world" leaders' way of feeling like they are seriously behind the fight for human dignity and rights in the Tibetan situation, all the while turning around and doing business with the butchers of Tibet. It's really about the West and our leaders being self congratulatory, that they are helping the Dalai Lama get a word in with China. It has nothing to do with Tibet and everything to do with appeasing China.
Meanwhile, Tibetans get consigned by the world to continue to suffer.
When Tibet exploded in 2008, media attention quickly shifted from the Tibetan protests inside of Tibet towards "talks to be held" when it was announced that the exile government and Beijing would meet. It was as if the aspirations of Tibetans getting gunned down in the streets in towns across Tibet were no longer newsworthy. What mattered now was that the world's leaders were proclaiming that talks between the Dalai Lama and China would help Tibet. All the while, China was telling those same world leaders to shut up and stay out of it.
China had a point back then and it does now when it tells the world to basically "shut the fuck up" and stay out of the Tibet issue. Beijing can see the BS behind the smiling faces of our "free world" leaders. The PRC knows damned well that our leaders only push the Tibet issue to appease our own self images of ourselves as being behind human rights...which we consider to be a western social heritage...all the while we will deal with them, no matter who they butcher.
We, the "West," collectively sold East Turkestan to China, because it was receiving help from Russia. We, the "West," played with the Tibetan resistance against China when we wanted to punish Mao. But when we, the "West" and more specifically the USA, wanted friendship with China so we could have access to a billion more consumers, we flipped Tibet the bird and ensured that its armed resistance was shut down. We, the "West," even started talking like China, saying things like Tibet has always been a part of China and is an internal Chinese affair.
China remembers this, even though our leaders would rather forget or pretend otherwise. The memory hole would actually work if it wasn't for the fact that things were filmed, photographed, recorded, and written down.
So while you may hear of so-and-so promoting talks between the Dalai Lama's people and the PRC's people (the ninth round of which has just taken place, by the way) and think he or she is a wise powerful leader, you are really hearing that so-and-so is really a cynical bastard who wants to somehow still feel good about ignoring genocide and colonialism, while dealing with the perpetrators.
Think I am wrong? When was the last time you heard Obama or any other so called "free" world leader fess up to the truth and stand up to the butcher-bully of Asia by merely saying Tibetans have a right to their freedom and dignity? You won't hear such a statement from the current crop of media darling but spineless world leaders.
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