March 17, 2008

Tibet information/Olympics information

Why ISN'T the US State Department doing anything about this calamity?

Because the Cheney/BuZh/Rice "consortium of terror" is busy making trade deals for ITSELF.

Human rights? Calling bruality to a halt? Pointing out the need for human rights? Under Condi's "leadership"?? Give me a break.

Ain't gonna happen. Not on their watch. PROFITS and SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH wins they day with THEM.

But you can bet they'll have the costumes and kleiglights, when the US officials go to the Olympics.

The price of boots and gear to be "seen" in in Beijing is going to SOAR soon.

I hope Condi has time for "shopping".

The Bitch.

Veeger


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TONGREN, China (AP) - Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces Sunday as Tibetans defied a Chinese government crackdown, while the Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland.

Demonstrations widened to Tibetan communities in Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, forcing authorities to mobilize security forces across a broad expanse of western China.

In Qinghai province, riot police sent to prevent protests set off tensions when they took up positions outside a monastery in Tongren. Dozens of monks, defying a directive not to gather in groups, marched to a hill where they set off fireworks and burned incense in what one monk said was a protest, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

In a sign that authorities were preparing for trouble, AP and other foreign journalists were ordered out of the Tibetan parts of Gansu and Qinghai provinces by police who told them it was for their "safety."

Meanwhile, police in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, searched buildings as a Monday deadline loomed for people who took part in a violent anti- Chinese uprising last week to surrender or face severe punishment.

Tibet's governor Champa Phuntsok said Monday that 16 people died and dozens were wounded in the violence, which broke out in Lhasa on Friday. He described 13 as "innocent civilians," and said another three people died jumping out of buildings to avoid arrest. China's state media said earlier that 10 civilians were killed.

He also said security forces did not carry or use weapons.

Speaking from India, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans, called for an international investigation into China's crackdown on demonstrators in Lhasa, which his exiled government claims left 80 people dead.

"Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," the Dalai Lama said, referring to an influx of Chinese migration into Tibetan areas and restrictions on Buddhist practices—policies that have generated deep resentment among Tibetans.

Tensions also boiled over outside the county seat of Aba in Sichuan province when armed police tried to stop Tibetan monks from protesting, according to a witness who refused to give his name.

The witness said a policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire. Eight bodies were brought to a nearby monastery while others reported that up to 30 protesters had been shot, according to activist groups the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy and the London-based Free Tibet Campaign. The claims could not be confirmed.

Sunday's demonstrations follow nearly a week of protests in Lhasa that escalated into violence Friday, with Tibetans attacking Chinese and torching their shops, in the longest and fiercest challenge to Chinese rule in nearly two decades.

Complicating Beijing's task, the spreading protests fall two weeks before China's celebrations for the Beijing Olympics kick off with the start of the torch relay, which will pass through Tibet.

Though many were small in scale, the widening Tibetan protests are forcing Beijing to pursue suppression while on the run, from town to town and province to province across its vast western region. Sunday's lockdown in Tongren required police imported from other towns, the locals said.

The Chinese government attempted to control what the public saw and heard about protests that erupted Friday. Access to YouTube.com, usually readily available in China, was blocked after videos appeared on the site Saturday showing foreign news reports about the Lhasa demonstrations, montages of photos, and scenes from Tibet-related protests abroad.

Television news reports by CNN and the BBC were periodically cut during the day, and the screens went black during a live speech by the Dalai Lama carried on the networks.

China's communist government had hoped Beijing's hosting of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics would boost its popularity at home as well as its image abroad. Instead the event already has attracted the scrutiny of China's human rights record.

Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama's government, said multiple people inside Tibet had counted at least 80 corpses since the violence broke out Friday. He did not know how many of the bodies were protesters. The figures could not be independently verified because China restricts foreign media access to Tibet.

In Lhasa, hundreds of armed police and soldiers patrolled the streets on Sunday. Hong Kong Cable TV reported some 200 military vehicles, carrying 40 to 60 armed soldiers each, drove into the city center.

Footage showed the streets were mostly empty other than the security forces. Messages on loudspeakers warned residents to "discern between enemies and friends, maintain order" and "have a clear stand to oppose violence, maintain stability."

James Miles, a BBC correspondent in Lhasa, said troops carrying automatic rifles were "letting off the occasional shot." He said people were scared to come out of their homes for fear of being hit by a bullet.

Westerners who were told to leave Lhasa and arrived by plane in the city of Chengdu said they heard gunshots and explosions throughout Saturday and overnight.

"The worst day was yesterday. It was completely chaotic. There was running and screaming in the street," said Gerald Scott Flint, director of the medical aid group Volunteer Medics Worldwide, who had been in Lhasa four days. Flint said he could see fires burning six or more blocks away.

Tashi Wangdi, president of the Office of Tibet that represents the Dalai Lama in New York, called the departure of tourists worrisome.

"I think there will be total blackout of information to the outside world," he said. "Our worry is they will be more brutal and will use more force now."

The unrest in Tibet began March 10 on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule of the region. Tibet was effectively independent for decades before communist troops entered in 1950.

The Tibetan communities living far outside what China calls modern Tibet are parts of former provinces of past Tibetan kingdoms, and many inhabitants still revere the Dalai Lama.

"We want freedom. We want the Dalai Lama to come back to this land," said a monk from Rongwo in Tongren. The monks display his pictures, though they have been ordered to remove them.

Inspired by the protests in Lhasa, monks and Tibetans in the town of Xiahe in Gansu province staged two days of protests, one peaceful in which they raised Tibetan national flags, the other in which government offices were smashed and police tear-gassed the crowd of more than 1,000.

Authorities clamped a curfew on Xiahe overnight. Patrols of riot police, in black uniforms, helmets and flak jackets, and armed police in green uniforms carrying batons marched through the town Sunday in groups of 10 and 20.

Smaller protests were reported in two other nearby towns, witnesses said, in both cases drawing truckloads of armed police.

In the Gansu provincial capital of Lanzhou, more than 100 Tibetan students staged a sit-down protest on a playing field at Northwest Minorities University, according to the activist group Free Tibet.

___

Tini Tran reported from Beijing. Associated Press writers David Wivell in Xiahe and Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this report.

On the Net:

International Campaign for Tibet: http://www.savetibet.org

Chinese official news agency (in English): http://www.chinaview.cn

Tibet Daily: http://www.tibetdaily.com


1. Jeff in Miami Beach March 17th, 2008 - 3:40 am

I am so glad the US removed China from the Human Rights Watch List last week; I would hate to think they would worry about the lives of a few Buddhists. Any country that controls the reproductive rights of their citizens, like China does, should remain on the Human Rights Watch List, not to mention the treatment in their re-education camps.

I really want to know where the outcry from Hillary, Obama and the rest of peace loving far left is at. Where are all the people who boycott every action of the US but miss the total domination of a few monks and the other people in Tibet? I can understand Hillary not saying anything against her largest donor but where are the rest of the far left?

2. Trent March 17th, 2008 - 3:53 am

I for one will be boycotting the Olympics because of what China has been doing and continues to abuse/kill innocent and kind loving humans. What moronic group of people gave China such previledge to hold the Olympics?

To make matters worse, Americans are importing tons and tons of beef for their athletes because of China’s food standards.

And where is Al Gore and the Hollywood environmentalist wackos??? Why aren’t they marching in Bejing against the horindous amout of pollution China is causing? Many athletes are going to have to train outside the city and once inside, wear face masks. It’s that bad!!!

3. Amused March 17th, 2008 - 4:34 am

To clear the air before the Olympics China will shut down their factories for a month but the flaws still seem to show through.

Olympics, what purpose art thou?

4. Disgusted March 17th, 2008 - 5:25 am

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with China and the world? (That’s a rhetorical question.)

Under the guise of possibly ‘opening’ up China, money-hungry business interests are behind all of this and the Olympic committee — what a joke the ‘Olympic spirit’ has become! World powers have been simultaneously condeming yet fueling China’s brutal cruelty against humans — inside and outside of its borders.

It’s not just Stalin who let that idiot Mao rise to power atop the towers of the mulitlated, tortured, raped bodies. The world stands by, looking to make a buck.

I can’t understand how the Chinese could stomach Mao’s face atop Tianmen Square. They cry foul because the Japs killed (at the highest estimate) 300,000 at Nanjing (which is no laughing matter), but in the meantime, Mao and the Communists have tortured and murdered Hundreds of Millions for selfish gain. How do we let this continue?

For the persecuted in China (Tibetens, Christians, North Koreans, Falun Gong, Muslims, etc.), let’s keep the pressure on!

5. bob March 17th, 2008 - 5:44 am

China is too much of a threat financially, militarilly and too much of a political threat for any of the US politicians to take a stand. China will never give up it’s land or oil prospects to the US and or any US backers so it’s much easier to focus on the “terrorist” explaination as to why we’re in the Mideast rather than the the real reasons. We continue to state we’re there to liberate the Iraqi citizens, but each time we turn our backs on the abuses of larger and more powerful countries, it makes it so much easier to see through the lies. Watch what happens when Russia starts openely abusing their citizens again. Boycott the olympics.

6. SEAN the PATRIOT March 17th, 2008 - 5:48 am

Send in BRAD PITT. He’ll know what to do.

7. Bubba March 17th, 2008 - 7:18 am

I just hope that Richard Gere and all the “free tibet” bumper-sticker hippies are safe now that they are in harms way.

8. Ace March 17th, 2008 - 7:53 am

Sure Bob, China will never give up its resources. Why would anybody? Were there any Chinese on those planes on 9/11? I didn’t think so. Keep your head in the sand, it is doing much more there than it could above ground.

p.s. terrorists are real. They are not like your imaginary friends.

9. Charles in OH March 17th, 2008 - 8:24 am

Timeonline reports:
Soldiers began house-to-house searches, checking all identification papers, residents said. Anyone unable to show an identity card and a household registration permitting residence in Lhasa was being taken away.

That means some of protestors are from other countries. Spreading to other provinces means Tibet is one province of China. Just like CA or NM in USA

10. bob March 17th, 2008 - 8:29 am

Ace / Arse whatever.
Terrorist are indeed real. Never said they weren’t.
Get real. Spring’s on the way! Go buy an American flag, made in and imported from China,
by children who a being forced to work in factories, by a government that condones terror and slavery tactics in their manufacturing business. Hang that flag up high. Salute it each day while you ignore the fact that not all terrorists happen to be the ones who attacked us on 911. The hell with what’s right and what’s wrong. If you’re not directly affected, it’s not terroism. Typical American “sheeple” response.

11. Daniel March 17th, 2008 - 8:56 am

I love reading these comments about stories and hearing about “money grubbing” evil corporations. I wonder if people ever stop to think what life would be like without them…think early 1800’s.

This is a story about simple occupation of a country and suppression of a small group of people. The UN is far too lazy, weak and cowardly to do anything here, or any were in the world. I don’t have a solution to this…boycott goods from china? Good luck with that. Boycott companies who advertise in the Olympics? Maybe, but most of these companies can bring you cheep products that you want because of china. If I was an Olympic athlete, I would think about not going to china for the games, if nothing else then to not have to compete in the pollution.

12. Cable Guy March 17th, 2008 - 9:36 am

Pretty weak effort, Charles in OH. News reports refer to “neighboring Chinese provinces” therefore Tibet is part of China? Who brainwashed you? If a news story then refers to efforts in Arizona to stem the influx of drugs from the neighboring Mexican province of Sonora, then Sonora belongs to the US? You’re not really in Ohio, you’re in Beijing. Tibet has been independent and under Tibetan rule from the 7th century until the Chinese INVADED in 1951. Did the Chinese government forget Tibet was a province for over a thousand years then suddenly remember in 1951? Maybe people in China buy senseless rhetoric like you’re spouting but not here.

Free Tibet!

IOC: Don't Boycott Olympics Over Tibet

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.

"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday—the most violent riots there in nearly two decades—left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group. China ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital and troops patrolled the streets on Saturday.

On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hopes calm will be restored immediately. He declined to say whether the committee would change its stance if violence continues or more people are killed.

"The International Olympic Committee has consistently resisted calls for a boycott of the Olympic games," Rogge said. He declined to comment further on Tibet during a brief news conference.

IOC Vice President Thomas Bach said the committee will speak with China about human rights and condemned the crackdown, saying "every use of violence is a step backwards."

But "a boycott would be the wrong way because that will cut lines of communication," he added.

The committee issued a statement calling for an end to the violence.

"The IOC shares the world's desire for a peaceful resolution to the tensions of past days in the Tibetan region of China," it said. "We hope that calm can return to the region as quickly as possible."


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Over a hundred comments on the article and the Olympiocs and Human rights can be read here

http://comments.breitbart.com/d8ve054o1/

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