The Dalai Lama Thread.

[Blackflag]

Dalai Lama unfazed as Obama shuns meeting - Yahoo! News

"But China has been intensifying pressure on other nations' leaders not to see him. Last year it called off a major summit between China and European nations after French President Nicolas Sarkozy talked to the Dalai Lama."


All I can say about this is that I'm really starting to dislike this country. Truly pathetic.

[Nickdfresh]

Which country? China of the US?

And yeah, Obama should meet with the Lama...

[Blackflag]

Which country? China of the US?

And yeah, Obama should meet with the Lama...

Well, I hate China - that's a given.

But that the U.S. president will succumb to pressure from China, or anywhere, to dictate who he meets with, just disgusts me. I don't know how this worm could do that then look at himself in the mirror.

I remember when being the potus meant you were the most powerful person in the world. I also remember when it meant you sided against communists and human rights violators.

I mean, let's keep it real - the French president has more integrity than our president.

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[chefcraig]

"Big hitter, the Lama."

I dunno...on one hand you have the Obama administration walking on eggshells, not wanting to mess up his first presidential visit to China. By the same token, it can appear as pandering to China via weakness. If this administration had any balls, it would meet with the Dalai Lama before the visit. For one thing, it would provide some insights via the Lama himself, and for another it would send a message to China that this is the United States, not France.

Don't misinterpret that last sentence as some sort of stab at the French, because at this point that country appears to have it's crap together far better than the U.S. does. All I'm saying is that in this case, with relations between the U.S. and China at a critical point, it would be a good idea to let China know that the administration is not to be intimidated. And even though the Lama is taking the high road in all of this, the action (or lack of it) certainly sends a message to Tibet, as well. And that message certainly isn't very encouraging.

[Nickdfresh]

Good points Craig, and I think the article said Obama is going to meet the Lama later this year. But I think they could do some sort of under the table, low profile meeting this week that would only slightly annoy the Chinese if the cameras were kept off...

[Blackflag]

But I think they could do some sort of under the table, low profile meeting this week that would only slightly annoy the Chinese if the cameras were kept off...

I'm sorry, but when did the President of the United States have to start doing things under the table and in private for fear of annoying a regime that pisses on human rights? Really? Is that where we're at?

[FORD]

I'm sorry, but when did the President of the United States have to start doing things under the table and in private for fear of annoying a regime that pisses on human rights? Really? Is that where we're at?

Well, thanks to Chimpy, his dad, and his uncle, that regime that pisses on human rights is holding a rather large economic axe over all of our heads.

That might have something to do with it.

[Nickdfresh]

I'm sorry, but when did the President of the United States have to start doing things under the table and in private for fear of annoying a regime that pisses on human rights? Really? Is that where we're at?

When the US was supporting the regimes pissing all over human rights?

[Blackflag]

When the US was supporting the regimes pissing all over human rights?

When you do China's bidding - that's exactly what you're doing.


(And that's really a silly question - there are numerous examples.)

[Blackflag]

Well, thanks to Chimpy, his dad, and his uncle, that regime that pisses on human rights is holding a rather large economic axe over all of our heads.

That might have something to do with it.

Really, Ford? This isn't Obama's fault either? At what point do you think he takes responsibility for his own actions? After he's done being president, maybe?

And, today, China doesn't hold the axe. The axe is over both heads of China and U.S. - so goes the U.S. dollar, so goes China. In a few years, maybe it will be different, but today, this is not an economic decision. This is just our president being told what to do by the people who pull his strings.

[FORD]

So the fact that the BCE has been selling this country out to the Chinese since the early 70's has nothing to do with it?

[Blackflag]

Everybody has been selling this country to the Chinese. Are you asking me if that's the reason why Obama has no integrity? I don't know why he doesn't.

Why don't you write him a letter and ask him why he's the most powerful man in the world, but still does what he's told like a good little puppet?

I mean, you're a hack and an Obama apologist. Obama will never do anything wrong, because it will always be Bush's fault. Sure, whatever.

[chefcraig]

I have to admit, I have no idea what the BCE has to do with this discussion. We are talking about Obama here, and his first visit to China. I agree, why should the President need to meet the Dalai Lama at some out of the way I.H.O.P. somewhere, or several months down the road so that it doesn't come up during the course of discussion while sipping tea with the Chinese? If anything, the subject of Tibet should be broached. Hell for that matter, it should be one of the main topics of conversation.

Talk about an opportunity for change.

[Nickdfresh]

When you do China's bidding - that's exactly what you're doing.

How is he doing their "bidding?" Like it or not, PRC is a maturing nation state we need to coexist with. What's achieved by meeting the Dali Lama, a non-head of state anointed largely by Buddhist superstitions, before a major state visit there? BTW, I'm pretty sure PM Sarkozy has already been there which hardly makes him a humanist, Western Euro rebel...

I'm not saying the Lama isn't an important spiritual figure. He is. But he seems to also be a figurehead of the new age, bourgeois Hollywood types looking to the 'orient' for their 'true' spiritual knowledge. He's just a guy from a small country that got caught up in China's Red Storm of the 1950s-1970s period. Would anyone give a shit here if Buddhism wasn't sort of the chic religion that appears slightly more rational than conventional Christianity? Wouldn't more possibly be acheived through engagement with the Chinese and making their human rights record a topic of discussion?

Why doesn't Obama, or any president, have to meet every representative of every repressed people? Like say, Native Americans? The Sudanese, the Congolese, etc.?

(And that's really a silly question - there are numerous examples.)

The only silly questions are the ones you can't answer, or Google your way out of...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Sorry, I can't stop thinking about Bill Murray in Caddyshack whenever people talk about the Dalai Lama....

"Big hitter, the Lama".....