Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

Having just read a book about the Dalai Lama, I was thinking that the  
Tibet issue is irresolvable, that Tibetans who look to the Dalai Lama  
as their leader are destined to lives of desperation, discontent and  
disillusion. I still lean toward that conclusion, but these thoughts  
by Nicholas Kristoff are enlightening and persuasive. I wonder if he  
would accept Ambassador of Good Will in our fantasy administration?


A Not-So-Fine Romance
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 3, 2008
In the aftermath of the Tibet upheavals, the complicated romance  
between America and China is degenerating into mutual recriminations,  
muttering about Olympic boycotts and tensions that are likely to rise  
through the summer.

It would be convenient if we could simply denounce the crackdown in  
Tibet as the unpopular action of a dictatorial government. But it  
wasn’t. It was the popular action of a dictatorial government, and  
many ordinary Chinese think the government acted too wimpishly,  
showing far too much restraint toward “thugs” and “rioters.”

China and the U.S. clash partly because of competing interests, but  
mostly because of competing narratives. To Americans, Tibet fits  
neatly into a framework of human rights and colonialism. To Chinese,  
steeped in education of 150 years of “guochi,” or national  
humiliations by foreigners, the current episode is one more effort by  
imperialistic and condescending foreigners to tear China apart or hold  
it back.

So what do we do? A boycott of the Olympic Games themselves is a  
nonstarter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has raised the possibility of a  
boycott of the opening ceremony, and that is plausible.

The best answer is: Postpone the decision until the last minute so as  
to extort every last ounce of good behavior possible out of the  
Chinese government — on Darfur as well as Tibet. But at the end of the  
day, if there have been no further abuses, President Bush should  
attend — for staying away would only inflame Chinese nationalism and  
make Beijing more obdurate.

If President Bush attends the ceremonies, however, he should balance  
that with a day trip to a Tibetan area. Such a visit would underscore  
American concern, even if the Chinese trot out fake monks to express  
fake contentment with fake freedom.

The rest of the article may be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/opinion/03Kristof.html