While in a language course in Germany, one of my classmates was Chinese. Very interesting, because we also a had 2 Taiwanese women in our class, one who believed Taiwan should return to China. Anyway, we were doing some language practices, and part of the questionnaire was "Who do you hate most in the world?"
When the Chinese kid was asked, he thought for a second, than said with a straight face, "The Dali Lama." I was amazed at how casually he said it. This funny, very nice guy just casually mentioning how he hates a Nobel Peace prize winning pacifist more than any other person in the world.
The Chinese must be pushing this on their children in schools like we push the pledge of allegiance.
It's a trifle disconcerting that the Lama seems to be morphing into Hunter Thompson. Or maybe he's possessed by Hunter? Either way, let's keep an eye on him.
@JohnnyJboss: OMG, look at the similarities in this photo. I seriously thought "why is a pic of the Lama coming up in my HST image search? "the flowing robes, the grace"
@spotted-dog: I'm not sure whether you are serious or not about the PRC. Every synopsis of the Chinese occupation seems to have a political side to support. Near as I can tell, the Chinese did free actual slaves as well as serfs. Of course they followed that up with a brutal occupation and a war on Tibetan culture. Basically, the poor Tibetans got the shaft from their own masters and then from foreign masters.
@The Curse of Millhaven: yes. i made my comment to counter (or at least try to balance) the inevitable and uninformed "but he's a living deity" drivel whenever the dalai lama is mentioned in the media. the situation in tibet deserves (if it's not too late, as your comment rightly warns) so much more than platitudes -- the west, blinded by cold war politics, an adversarial relationship with india, and hostility towards the prc, has generally painted tibetan society as a shangri-la. it's worth noting that until the 1950s most tibetans lived in a state of slavery. that doesn't sound like nirvana to me.
Disappointing. But the quote doesn't indicate that China doesn't give a damn, just that it may be surprised to see that we're not thumbing our nose at them for once.
And Obama isn't refusing to see the DL ever, just that he wants to push it back to anytime-after-a-month-from-now, after his China summit.
Meanwhile in that same edition of the Times, China states that it wants to curb North Korea's nuclear threat with honey rather than vinegar. Related?
The Dalai Lama was given the hat on his visit here in Calgary last week. All celebrities/people of note go through a white-hat ceremony upon arrival at the airport.
uh, history shows that china cares about the dalai lama. no one, except increasingly rebiya kadeer, pisses them off quite so much. china was furious when he went to taiwan to comfort typhoon victims and the chinese people were so angry with sarkozy for meeting with him they started a boycott of french goods.
meeting with the dalai lama is like flipping china the bird. obama is going to china in november to court chinese support for security council action against iran. no matter what you think about the occupation of tibet fifty years ago, don't you think we need to minimize our antagonistic behavior towards the second most important country in the world, especially if we don't get anything in return for it?
I defy anyone to name one potentially productive result of a meeting with the dalai lama.
Hey, the Olympics have been held in the US several times *recently*, and they've never been in Brazil or even South America. I'm sure Chicago wanted it, but hey, there's always 2020! (I'm sure that being born in Rio de Janeiro has nothing to do with my sentiments. ;p)
Win some, lose some. It's perfectly reasonable that the US wasn't chosen on top of Salt Lake City and Atlanta, for fucks sake. It's an international event.
And it's perfectly reasonable for the President to do a quick flight to Europe to help his country land the games, whether the decision--no doubt made weeks ago--went in the US's favor or not.
That said, one has to wonder how conservatives will be able to convince voters they're actually for America--economically, and in matters like this--after rooting against it for the next four to eight years.
With cretins like Cheney rooting for a terrorist attack and asshats like these gloating on America losing out at the IOC, there's little doubt, as usual, that their highest allegiance is to party.
10/05/09
While in a language course in Germany, one of my classmates was Chinese. Very interesting, because we also a had 2 Taiwanese women in our class, one who believed Taiwan should return to China. Anyway, we were doing some language practices, and part of the questionnaire was "Who do you hate most in the world?"
When the Chinese kid was asked, he thought for a second, than said with a straight face, "The Dali Lama." I was amazed at how casually he said it. This funny, very nice guy just casually mentioning how he hates a Nobel Peace prize winning pacifist more than any other person in the world.
The Chinese must be pushing this on their children in schools like we push the pledge of allegiance.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
@SinisterBill of Star Command: I suppose given the choice between that and holding sucking face, I'd choose bowing as well.
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"Don't he look cute in my hat? Can I keep him Laura?"
10/05/09
@JohnnyJboss: OMG, look at the similarities in this photo. I seriously thought "why is a pic of the Lama coming up in my HST image search? "the flowing robes, the grace"
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
And Obama isn't refusing to see the DL ever, just that he wants to push it back to anytime-after-a-month-from-now, after his China summit.
Meanwhile in that same edition of the Times, China states that it wants to curb North Korea's nuclear threat with honey rather than vinegar. Related?
[www.nytimes.com]
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
The Dalai Lama was given the hat on his visit here in Calgary last week. All celebrities/people of note go through a white-hat ceremony upon arrival at the airport.
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
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10/05/09
meeting with the dalai lama is like flipping china the bird. obama is going to china in november to court chinese support for security council action against iran. no matter what you think about the occupation of tibet fifty years ago, don't you think we need to minimize our antagonistic behavior towards the second most important country in the world, especially if we don't get anything in return for it?
I defy anyone to name one potentially productive result of a meeting with the dalai lama.
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
Who wouldn't meet the Dalai Lama
They would ask everyday
"No," Rahm would say
"He's not getting in wearing pajamas."
10/03/09
10/05/09
10/02/09
And it's perfectly reasonable for the President to do a quick flight to Europe to help his country land the games, whether the decision--no doubt made weeks ago--went in the US's favor or not.
That said, one has to wonder how conservatives will be able to convince voters they're actually for America--economically, and in matters like this--after rooting against it for the next four to eight years.
With cretins like Cheney rooting for a terrorist attack and asshats like these gloating on America losing out at the IOC, there's little doubt, as usual, that their highest allegiance is to party.