Between Tibet and China, a Rare Openness

A Spanish judge said on Tuesday he intended to question eight Chinese leaders as official suspects in a case of genocide in connection with a crackdown on unrest that erupted in Tibet in March 2008.

National Court judge Santiago Pedraz sent a letter to Chinese authorities formally requesting permission to travel to China to question the eight, including Defence Minister Liang Guanglie and Minister for State Security Geng Huichang.

"Given the cordial relations between our two respective countries, I hope that you will respond favourably to my request," he wrote referring to a bilateral justice cooperation agreement signed in 2005, according to a court document obtained by AFP.

The suit was filed against the Chinese leaders in July 2008 by a Tibetan rights groups, the Tibet Support Committee, and accepted by the court the following month just days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

It "denounces the new wave of oppression that began in Tibet on 10th March 2008, and just goes to prove that acts of genocide continue to be committed against the Tibetan people".

It also "denounces China's manipulation of the global war against terrorism in its attempt to justify and cover up crimes against humanity committed against the Tibetan people".

Unrest in Tibet erupted on March 14 last year after four days of peaceful protests against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says 203 Tibetans were killed and about 1,000 hurt in China's crackdown. Beijing insists that only one Tibetan was killed and has in turn accused the "rioters" of killing 21 people.

The judge said that if the accusations made in the complaint are proven, they would constitute crimes against humanity under Spanish law.

"The Tibetan population would appear to be a group that is persecuted by the cited authorities for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or other motives universally recognised as unacceptable under international law," he wrote.
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"The Chinese government's secrecy in handling unrest in Tibet since the March 2008 protests erupted in Lhasa was highlighted again on April 8, 2009, when a simple dispatch from the official news agency Xinhua reported that four Tibetans accused of arson in three different incidents had been sentenced to death. Two of them, Tenzin Phuntsog and Gangtsu (some Tibetans use a single name), received a two-year reprieve, which typically means that their sentences will be commuted to a life term at the end of the two year period.
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LOL! What a farce and what a world!
I'd love to set up a court to try GW Bush for war crimes if Spain failed to do so.
Meanwhile, forget Dalai's declaration of hundred more dead, where is the well-expected and detailed 207 deadlist of Tibetens? You know, without that no verdict could be handed down, even China recognize it as legal.
Last, Free Basque!

Check between lines carefully, you'll find Boston Globe never mentioned where these 100 Chinese scholars were from. In USA there are over 100,000 of them including Wei Jingsheng, Chai Ling and Harry Wu of course.
And it's also too early to say they "now know he is nothing like the figure depicted in Beijing's propaganda", only because they took a picture with a Daliar, like Mao did some 50 years ago after patting Daliar's behind.
But an interesting comment there atracted my eyes:
joeshuren wrote:
---Does this polite conversation extend to his apology for instigating deaths of ethnic Hui and Han on Uprising Day last year, and a call for non-violence, compassion, and detachment by his followers? Did the young Tibetans present agree with his call to abandon independence struggle, or instead use him and his esoteric expressions to advance that struggle by other means? Did he explain whether his concept of religious freedom extends to Red Hat Tibetan Buddhists and Christian missionaries, or would they be treated as the Boston Puritans seeking religious freedom persecuted the Quakers? Would he be willing to follow through on what he stated last year, abandon the role of political leader, and return to Lhasa as a simple monk not lama? What does he mean by democracy and human rights, as ethnic Tibetan Chinese are only one nationality among a large majority of other nationalities, scattered in many provinces, does he still insist on ethnic cleansing of territories? Why does he think that Lenin and Stalin's treatment of national minorities would be superior to that in other countries, will he urge his followers to obey all policemen whether ethnic Tibetan or not? When he seeks protection of the Tibetan language, does he mean that the schools in ethnic Tibetan Chinese areas should continue teaching the dialect and written language made standard by the Chinese government after he left, as well as Mandarin and English, or only what he wants taught, let's say replace secular schools with religious ones? It seems there was much good feeling and little dialogue, why can't the Globe print something useful?
5/5/2009 12:18 PM EDT

The Boston Globe piece is only good for amusement. Whatever the NYT company has reduced their salaries to, the BG unionized editorial writers are overpaid, because their laziness shows through and through in this piece.

Actually, a Spanish court has a case against several Bush administration officials right now for torture (as they had a case against Pinochet and against members of the Argentinian junta). Spanish law allows for this. Whether it should allow for this or not is a valid question, but it seems silly to paint Spain as simply another cog in a great, Western anti-China machine.

Obviously, it is highly doubtful that either the cases against the Bush administration officials or the Chinese officials will result in anyone going to jail. But it might limit the individuals' freedom of movement, which would be good in both cases, I think.

Regardless of how one feels about Tibetans' rights, I am often surprised at how some people online rush to the defense of people like Zhang Qingli. If Secretary Zhang wasn't such an utterly incompetent, racist man, would things have gotten as far as they have? It is common after riots to assign blame to the different officials behind the grievances (as happened after the LA riots, etc.). Why not hit Zhang?

As to jumpingflea's point... why go after unions?

The Boston Globe editorial is so infantile I can't believe you quoted it.

I am quite sure that not all of the 100 people there feel that Dalai is not like what the CCP said. However, all the Chinese descendants in US not in that meeting already knew the difference, and don't need to meet the lama just to figure that out.

There is a huge misunderstanding of China by the western general public who have for years been deliberately misled by their powerful,self-righteous mainstream media now dominating and near- monopolizing the global press. Stereotypical "China-bashing" example like this is pathetic. Most people who have traveled to Tibet equipped with a true history of that region would easily appreciate the substantial social progress of Tibetan people since slavery and feudalistic serfdom were effectively abolisheded by the Chinese Central Government 50 years ago in 1959.

As an independent traveler and keen political observer belonging to no political party or any organization of any country, I must point out that China treats her ethnic minorities (notably the Tibetans) far better than the US does to Eskimos in Alaska, the former British colonists to the impoverished people of Africa/Asia, or former Spanish colonists to victimised indigenous people of Latin America. Too many Western journalists and politicians are still euphoric and obsessed with Pride & Prejudice. They are finger-pointing at nations which choose not to fall into their sphere of hegemony influence. People of the globe are now waking up and the western hypocrisy and selfishness are increasingly exposed under the sun. Media and comments like this article which supports Tibetan separatists are politically motivated aiming at their own national interests under a veil of human rights and democracy while their hands are still full of blood - in the past in colonial days and at present in Iraq and Afghanistan as reported by the International Red Cross today. It is simply a laughable cliche.

The heading of this article "Between Tibet and China ...." is by itself misleading. Such journalist publication is a reflection of one of the many attempts by the West to split up China, a nation now finally standing up after almost two centuries of foreign exploitation and humiliation. Does the Chinese press says "Alaska and the US..."? or "Northern Ireland and the UK..."? Let us be a little fair!

The major role now played by the Dalai Lama is clearly a political one, far exceeding his religious role. Same tactic is being adopted by Li Hong-Zhi, mastermind of the notorious Fa Long-Gong group now outlawed in China like the militant Tibetan Youth League. The Dalai Lama is no peaceful, benevolent man - he has for years been persecuting fellow followers of another Tibetan Buddhist deity, namely the "Dorji Shugan Sect" who often tail along DL's overseas visits to express their protests but are rarely reported in western press.

" Its best not to get too excited or too depressed by the ups and downs of life" -His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama urged Americans to visit his homeland to disprove China's assertion that people are happy there.

Speaking in Manhattan, the Tibetan Buddhist, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, said Beijing insists, “Tibetans are very happy.”

“The Chinese government never admit, never acknowledged there is a problem,” he said. “So now I think the world community has a responsibility to show the world there is a problem.

“If the majority of Tibetan people are happy, then our information becomes wrong, then … we must apologize to the Chinese government,” the Dalai Lama said to laughs from the audience of 1,500 people.

Noting China cast itself as a liberator of Tibet rather than as a colonialist, he said, “A liberator should not bring more misery.

“So please, you, non-Tibetans, go there … and then you must show it to the world,” he said, “I urge you, please go there.”

The Spanish court makes me laugh.
If they are serious about justice, they should, thank God of the Universe, hang themselves for wiping out the killing of millions of native Americans including the entire nations living in the Americas prior to their arrival.
Now, they may argue they've learnt the lesson from their own bloody history and now they have become civilized.
But to punish others in order to make themselves feel better about their own sin does sound extremely hypocratic.
The following is a simple yet effective test of how serious or hypocratic they may be about justice:
You ask them to return their lands to the native Americans and go back home, e.g., Spain, and England, France, inclusive, and see how they would respond.
They will say ... no way!!!

So, according to CT, the monk of politics urged the 1500 "strong" Americans to go to Tibet ... to do a tour?

But that may be quite interesting!

Regardless of the pollutants this 1500 strong tourists will surely bring to their be-loved last Shangrila on the Earth, they may also bring a couple of bucks, possibly from ignorant middle class donors back home, to the plateau to help the GDP growth of the province.

So, let's call it political tourism. How's that?
And with that, I think the people of Tibet should thank their monk of politics for finally do some real good to them.
BTW, did the 1500 strong American audients have to pay a premium in order to buy a seat for the show by the monk of politics?
If so, perhaps we should also call this 73-year-old the monk of commerce as well.

And it is indeed quite amusing!

The Spanish court makes me laugh.
If they are serious about justice, they should, thank God of the Universe, hang themselves for the killing of millions of native Americans including wiping out the entire nations living on the lands of the Americas prior to their arrival.
Now, they may argue they've learnt the lesson from their own bloody history and now they have become civilized.
But to punish others in order to make themselves feel better about their own sin does sound extremely hypocratic.
The following is a simple yet effective test of how serious or hypocratic they may be about justice:
You ask them to return their lands to the native Americans and go back home, e.g., Spain, and England, France, inclusive, and see how they would respond.
They will say ... no way!!!... In stead, they say give me a Visa to Tibet and I will protest the Chinese government.

Now, please allow me to protest:
to Austin, who has produced some quite interesting and reasonably assessed reports in the past... comparing to other "western" reporters.
For the sake of "geo-political" correctness, the tile of this blog entry is supposed to be:
Between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese scholars, a rare openess.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's second day in New York City was devoted to a day long teaching on ‘Quintessence of Compassion,' organized by New York-based Tibet House.

In the morning His Holiness departed for Beacon Theatre, the venue of the teaching. At the onset His Holiness explained the basis of his teaching and said he was not a supporter of conversion of people from one faith to another.

After a recitation of the Heart Sutra in English by some monks, His Holiness devoted the morning session to give an overview of the Middle Way school and on the contribution of the Buddhist master Nagarjuna to the development of Buddhist thoughts in India. His Holiness said that Tibetans referred to Nagarjuna and Arya Asanga as two great chariots.

His Holiness said that the author of the text, Entry into the Middle Way, Chandrakirti, was said by some to be direct disciple of Nagarjuna. The first chapter of this text was on compassion and was the subject of today's teachings.

In the afternoon session, His Holiness explained some of the verses of the text relating to the cause of suffering, about the nature of compassion, and about the quality and capacity of the Bodhisattva. His Holiness explained that compassion lies at the root of all the teachings of the Buddha.
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Tomorrow, the Office of Tibet is hosting a meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and nearly one hundred Chinese friends. This meeting is being organized because several Chinese democracy activists, scholars, and writers have expressed interest in meeting His Holiness during this visit to the United States. His Holiness has always been interested in meeting Chinese brothers and sisters to exchange views with them on matters of common interest.

Phayul[Wednesday, May 06, 2009 16:10]
by Bhuchung D Sonam

Waldorf Astoria, New York City: In his continuous effort to build a viable connection with Chinese people, His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with over 120 scholars and dissidents. They include Harry Wu, Dr. Yang Jian Li, Xu Wen Li, Hu Ping, and many others.

“My body looks the same, but one organ missing,” began His Holiness referring to his gallbladder operation last year. “But my health is very good.”

After a big round of applause, the Tibetan leader drove straight to the heart of the matter by appealing to the Chinese people to “investigate thoroughly” about Tibet-China problem by going to Tibet.

“If 60-70 percent of the Tibetans are happy in Tibet, we have nothing to complain,” the Dalai Lama said, who further mentioned that if that is not the case, then the Chinese Government must realize that things are not right inside Tibet.

Since the Chinese Communist Party refuses to accept the reality in Tibet, the 73-year-old Tibetan leader said that the Chinese scholars, intellectuals and students must make Tibetan issue clear to Chinese people living inside China.

Massive Chinese official propaganda has created a huge misunderstanding between the Chinese and Tibetans, sometimes leading to animosity.

“I always try to meet with Chinese intellectuals. Because the Tibetan problem must be solved between Han brothers and sisters and Tibetans and no one else,” the Nobel laureate said.

While responding to a question from Xu Wen Li about Tibetan demand for “Greater Tibet,” the Dalai Lama said that for a cultural survival and for practical realistic reasons all of Tibet must be united.

“We are not talking about independence. Hence if I talk only about a section of Tibet it will not be right. I am fighting for rights mentioned in the constitution [of China.] All of Tibet must be given equal rights in terms of culture and tradition,” His Holiness said.

According to the 1989 Nobel laureate, it is important for China to gradually move towards a more open democratic society but not in the footsteps of Soviet Union.

“The Communist Party has reigned long enough,” the Dalai Lama said. “Now it is time for a retirement.”

Western Media lies and lies for ulterior motives. They are not interested in the welfare of the Tibetans. If they were what is the US and Nato doing in Iraqi and Afganistan
Iraq: Occupation Year 7

By Dr. Omar Al – Kubaisy

05 April, 2009
Countercurrents.org

The transcript of the “Occupation year 7” speech by Iraqi cardiologist Dr Omar Al-Kubaisy to the European Parliament, 18th March 2009, about the horrendous consequences of the illegal, war criminal and genocidal US, UK and Australian invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem.

The Honourable Ms. Luisa Morgantine, Vice-President of the European Parliament,
Members of the European Parliament
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to thank you very much, as well as our colleagues who have given us this opportunity to have the honor in meeting with you and speaking to you; to convey to you a clear and honest picture of the health situation as well as the dire humanitarian situation experienced by the afflicted people of Iraq. It is an excruciatingly tragic and unbearable situation which cries out to all the liberals of the world and to all those interested in the lives of people in this vast universe, to get seriously and effectively involved, to proclaim the word of truth and to standup and work to save mankind, to provide and preserve the minimum of the simplest and most basic rights for a happy and dignified life, freedom, secure habitat and prosperous employment in a state of mental and physical energy without suffering and pain, hardship and discrimination, especially when this person lives in a land and country like Iraq, to which God has given such great natural wealth of water, oil, precious metals, and a rich soil all of which guarantee achieving a decent living.

I come from Mesopotamia, (The Land Between The Two Rivers), very ancient and has always been called "the black land" because of its prosperity, its crowded population and its abundance of good living conditions; because of its people's ancient civilization and its contributions to human civilization : the first letter and alphabet, the pen, and law, thousands of years ago, as you have read in ancient history.

Iraq, ladies and gentlemen, with its wealth and its generosity, attracted many peoples and ethnicities over the ages, as a result of which the aforesaid elements have made up a mosaic of the people. It has been inhabited by peoples of numerous different nationalities, ethnicities and religions in security and peace, as well as compatibility, harmony and stability. In spite of the fact that it has experienced numerous foreign waves of invasions, and large attempted invasions, desirous of its great wealth and its geopolitical strategic position over the ages. Iraq has come out of these experiences after fighting to the death and defending its land and territory to emerge victorious, united and unified.

I, an experienced doctor and cardiac specialist, who is experienced in the treatment of heart disease and who has served in his specialty in The State of Iraq for the past 4 decades, stand in your presence and addresses you. I have lived with and through the rule of several successive governments and political regimes which you know. I haven't any particular party or political fealty and affiliation. My people as well as my students and my colleagues in Iraq bare witness to my service in the medical, health and military and civilian medical services fields, professionally as well as academically. I specialized and trained in European hospitals in England, Italy, Ireland, France and here in Belgium, specializing in heart disease during the critical periods of the long war and the chocking embargo. I transferred the most up to date technical skills and research you had achieved in the cardiac field in order to benefit Iraq's patients as well as its doctors at a time when Iraqis suffered from the scourge of a technical, scientific and economic embargo which lasted for 13 years; I also witnessed the invasion of Iraq and when I also saw with my own two eyes, on the 9th and 10th April, 2003, how the invading tanks invaded my cardiac center and burned, looted and plundered the largest center for cardiac surgery in the center of Baghdad in plain sight of the entire world, for it to be left open for further plunder for many days to come under the invader's auspices.

In this center we used to perform 8 open heart surgeries on Iraqi adults and children, daily. European doctors from England, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain and Germany volunteered their work there as a humanitarian contribution to the center. I recall a telephone call from a colleague from the South of France who had worked in the past with us in the Center, when Baghdad and the area in which the center is situated was undergoing heavy aerial bombardment, during the invasion, begging me to leave the center with the rest of my colleagues in order to escape because the center was a target, as he seemed to believe from the direct satellite pictures. I remember when tears poured down my cheeks whilst watching the Cardiac Center burn and I was screaming at the commanding officer of the group which supervised the operation from the top of a tank, saying to "me stop your tears", we will build you a greater, larger and more up to date Center.

Gentlemen, Members of the European Parliament and Distinguished audience, when my colleagues and medical students in Iraq knew that I was going to be present amongst you, I was asked by their Union which was lately formed and carries a membership of more than 350 doctors, to carry forth their concerns and suffering as a result of the seriously deteriorated health situation in Iraq; their letter which arrived 2 days before my arrival, here, is in my possession. I left Iraq after continuing to work and restore parts of the Center with my colleagues, up to 5th March, 2005, when I received a letter threatening to liquidate and kill me in company with 10 other colleagues who are all cardiac specialists, should we not leave Iraq before this date. Its letters still follow me like ghosts and the style in which it was written still fills me with horror and pain.

Gentlemen, before the invasion and despite the cruel embargo, there were 18 Faculties of Medicine, six of which were established during the period of the embargo, six dental colleges, four pharmacological faculties, and tens of colleges, institutes and schools of nursing, assistant doctors and aides, in Iraq. The first Faculty of Medicine in Baghdad, was opened in 1927 whose first dean, for a very long time, was the English Doctor, Sanderson, the author of the golden memories of his decades long medical service in Iraq called "10,000 Nights and a Night in Iraq".

In Iraq, we had more than 39,000 hospital beds in efficiently run teaching hospitals, as well as city and town hospitals, as well as medical clinics and centers in the country. We had more than 34,000 registered doctors, 20% of whom were specialists and we used to graduate more than 1,000 doctors annually. We also had 30 Post Graduate Studies of Medical Specialization, granting the Iraqi Board to more than 250 doctors annually. These personnel carried out their duties and responsibilities with great efficiency towards the injured and the disabled during a long war and during the period when Iraq was boycotted scientifically for a very long time.

The Founding Constitution of The Iraqi State in the 1920s granted the right to all Iraqis to free education and state medical treatment and preventative medicine (national health insurance). These services were established throughout Iraq's countryside, villages and cities, throughout all its provinces.

The Educational system in Iraq is British in its method since its establishment, and Europe understands and knows the standards and efficiency of Iraqi doctors as well as the standards of medical teaching and health care in Iraq; a large percentage of these doctors, today, is spread throughout Europe and Britain. The World Health Organization, UNESCO, UNICEF, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF RED CROSS, and other world organizations evaluated Iraq's achievements positively in vaccination programs, family medical care, general health, child health, rehabilitation of the disabled, birth control and the decline in mortality of the under 5s and of the newly born since 1980, which put an end to the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics such as Cholera, Infantile Paralysis, Meningitis, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough, and Tuberculosis......... In addition to this, Iraq was the foremost in the region in controlling HIV Aids and in fighting addiction and drug abuse as well as establishing School Health Programs and establishing Protective Child and Maternal Centers as well as establishing specialized centers for Fertility, Cancer, Cardiac and Vascular, Orthopedic, Glandular, Radio Isotopes, Nerves, Ophtalmology, Paralysis, Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, Toxicity, Herbal Medicine, and even Acupuncture Treatment.

Iraqi women have contributed heavily to Iraq's medical journey and history, and in addition to all the aforementioned the great success of The Food Program and the Dispensing of Medicines for all chronic disease, as well as the widespread institution of local health clinics and national health insurance. The beneficial use of the Oil For Food and Medicine Program led to mitigating the bad effects of the imposed embargo on Iraq on its medical imports before the occupation.

The method of importing medicines and medical equipment and supplies since the '70s in the last century was successful in importing safe, effective and solid medicines from international, multi national solid, well-known companies, so was the local manufacture of medicine, enjoying the same specifications as that of the imported, both of which succumbed to identical analyses and tests as well as to efficient central registry in order to safeguard society from its possible resultant catastrophic effects. The importation of medicines was limited to the Organization for Medicinal Imports – The Ministry of Health, with scientific supervision of a committee specially chosen for its efficiency.

Gentlemen, Members of the European Parliament and Distinguished Colleagues and Audience:

What did the invasion of Iraq after April 2003 do to the health and humanitarian situation in Iraq, as we commemorate its repugnant and abominable anniversary?

To abbreviate my talk, and because of the constraints of time, leaflets in English will be handed out to you which will give you a clear picture in numbers which reflect the state of my country's health. These numbers are not a figment of the imagination, but numbers extracted from studies and follow up carried out by international professional and humanitarian organizations, institutions and societies, referred to, opposite each fact and number mentioned.

As for the reality on the ground,

CDs will be handed out to you which will, in pictures, reflect and document a little of the suffering of the Iraqi people from the terror of bombardment and bombing, the destruction of infrastructure, violence and terror, the killing which has targeted the people and its doctors, its efficient professionals, and its scientists and academics as well as the forced displacement of people inside and outside Iraq; the suffering of women as well as the widows and the orphans and the spread of crime and sickness and epidemics; the spread of commercialization of bad medicines and addictive drugs; the internally displaced refugee camps; their conditions as well as the condition of the detainees in the prisons of the occupation as well as in those of the imposed authority. However, suffice it for me to state that we are in a country that :

1) 70% of its doctors have emigrated.

2) It has lost more than 5,500 of its scientists and academics, killed, imprisoned, or emigrated.

3) 70% of its hospitals have minimum standard performance, below the required standards in the remnants of what is destroyed, raided, or stolen.

4) 90% of medicines in pharmacies is neither analysed nor is it registered or is bad or corrupt and contaminated; it is brought on to the black market across the borders by ghost companies and a country in which thousands of unlicensed pharmacies and drug depots exist, run by people who are not pharmacists.

5) Its hospitals are used as centers for ethnic and sectarian physical liquidation and terror by the militias.

6) The Ministry of Health is part of a sectarian quota division system that specifies the identity of the minister and the directors general and is controlled by the theocratic political parties as well as the religious and sectarian militias. It is an institution in which financial and administrative corruption prevails and according to the Transparency Committee, more than US Dollars 2 Billion have disappeared as a result of phony ghost contracts and bribery. There is no supervisory or monitoring role to be mentioned by the present parliamentarians who are doctors , but on the contrary, their interference may cause a negative effect on the size and the nature of the financial and administrative corruption.

7) Widespread mental illness and drug addiction and the widespread growth of opium poppy plantations and opium for the first time since occupation.

Fixing basic medical records and their exchange with insignificant invoices and lists by the occupation authorities.

9) The spread of epidemics and the loss of credibility of all statistics and the lack of statistics of cholera, Measles, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough, and Toxoplasmosis and a worsening situation of Tuberculosis and HIV Aids.

10) Unsafe imported foods.

11) A rise of incidence in cancer and the nature of the registered cases recently and a rise in cases of congenital malformation as due to the aggravated complications as a result of radioactive pollution and the burning down of the forests and trees. Pollution of rivers, as a result of the collapse of the sewage system, particularly in the Middle and the South caused by the use of Depleted Uranium and White Phosphorous as well as Cluster Bombs, and the prevention by the occupation forces of remedial measures and surveys to discover the polluted locations for sterilization and cleansing.

12) The proliferation of landmines in the sites of the old wars, as well as unexploded ordinance, especially in Basra and in the border areas.

13) loss of cooperation and harmony with the humanitarian and voluntary organizations, such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and others, as well as financial corruption in the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, and the escape outside Iraq, of its President with US protection.

14) Lack of medicines and supplies and, as well as minimal financial allocations, since they did not exceed 4% of the overall budget allocations in the best of cases, and because of rampant corruption.

15) Lack of safe potable water for more than 70% of the population and the continuing lack of electricity as well as the lack of proper sanitation.

16) The highest rates of infant and newborn mortality in the world.

17) In Iraq after the occupation:

- More than five million persons displaced.
- More than 4 million below poverty level.
- Approximately, 2 million widows.
- Five million orphans.
- Insufficient food for more than eight million.
- More than 400,000 detainees and prisoners.
- More than 28% of the population is unemployed.

Conclusion:

It is clear that human health and safety is being targeted as well as the Iraqi identity; depersonalization, and interference in the process of education and upbringing in order to weaken and divide Iraq by depletion of its capabilities and its scientific resources which is being implemented by devising a political process and service institutions based on ethnic and sectarian quotas which are inconsistent with efficiency, integrity and reconstruction, transparency and construction.

Distinguished Members of the European Parliament:

Occupation, invasion, murder, terrorism, intimidation, and threats would not put an end to the aggravated violence because of the worsening oppression of peoples and unjustified wars that do not create freedoms and democracy. All that the occupation built as a political process which it alleges to be legitimate, has proved that it is a failure, for the Government of Iraq is classified as the most failed in the world, and the most financially and administratively corrupt. Thus, I urge you to work on expelling the occupation out of Iraq as soon as possible and to allow the Iraqi people and international will to achieve genuine national reconciliation between the patriotic forces and the components of the mosaic of our people and its factions so that it is an Iraqi solution with regional and international support and so that it is not a forced solution as a result of force, invasion and threats.

International law obliges the occupying power to pay equitable compensation for all the damage committed after the occupation while the country was under its patronage. We also hope that all those involved in all the political administrations formed during the occupation, be made accountable and tried for their planning for, and execution of the invasion of Iraq, without any justification. Your stance with the will and aspirations of the ill-fated Iraqi People is required and is basic for what it expresses in its message of justice and support for all the oppressed peoples, in opposition to and a cessation of all lethal wars and all occupation and imperialistic projects in the world, for they will only contribute to further violence, tension and political and economic instability which threaten the world today, with choking choking crises as well threatening the heart of humanity and the achievements of the peoples of the world.

Finally, please accept from our people and ourselves, words of the deepest gratitude, of thanks and of praise as I also ask of The Brussels Tribunal for helping in granting me this opportunity.

Dr. Omar Al – Kubaisy
Brussels, Belgium.
March 18 th, 2009.

" A good mind, a good heart, warm feelings � these are the most important things" - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The year 2008, for many reasons, is likely to go down in the annals of recent Tibetan history as a watershed year. This was the year when Tibetans in Tibet, 49 years after the takeover of their country, demonstrated clearly and loudly that they were still unhappy under Chinese rule; when a new generation of Tibetans in Tibet, spanning the entire society from monks and nomads to farmers and students, became politicised; and when the Tibetan movement assumed a pan-national character, involving people from all three traditional provinces of Tibet in a united and hitherto unprecedented manner. Finally, this was also the year when the Dalai Lama's Middle Way approach, which gives up the demand for independence in return for genuine autonomy, and which he has pursued patiently and unwaveringly since the late 1980s, finally crashed in the face of Beijing's unequivocal rejection. Now, a year on from the widespread anti-Chinese demonstrations of spring 2008, and six months since the ‘special meeting' convened by the Dalai Lama to discuss future options for the Tibet movement, it is time to face up to some harsh realities.

After years of leading Dharamsala up the garden path of promised negotiations, Beijing unceremoniously and unambiguously pulled the rug out from under the Dalai Lama's envoys in November 2008, when it categorically rejected his Middle Way approach and the formal proposal that emerged from it, the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People. Not only this, Chinese officials even dismissed the right of the Dalai Lama to represent the Tibetan people. In a news conference in Beijing on 12 November, Zhu Weiqun, the Executive Vice-Minister of the United Front Work Department, accused the Memorandum of seeking “half-independence” and “covert independence”. Furthermore, he stated: “We talked with Mr Lodi Gyari” – the Dalai Lama's special envoy – “and his party only because they were the Dalai Lama's private representatives. And we merely talked about how the Dalai Lama should completely give up his splitting opinions and actions, and strive for the understanding of the central authorities and all Chinese people so as to solve the issue concerning his own prospect. We never discussed the so-called ‘Tibet issue'.”

It was a major turnaround. Whatever the nature of their discussions in private – and observers have always been led by the Dalai Lama's envoys to believe that these were substantial and building up to real negotiations – the Chinese clearly had no qualms about publicly quashing the entire exercise in one humiliating move. Those who had always warned that Beijing was not serious about the talks, and was simply playing for time, were vindicated. But even to the most ardent critics of the Middle Way approach, China's decision to abandon any pretence of discussion with the Dalai Lama so soon after the Beijing Olympics, held just three months before, undoubtedly came as a surprise.

It is clear that China is now ready to embark on a new strategy in its efforts to resolve the Tibet question – one that has no place for the Dalai Lama. In the short term, this seems to mean continuing its campaign to discredit and sideline the Dalai Lama internationally, while using brute force and draconian measures to stamp out any sign of protest or dissent on the plateau. China is engaging in this with impunity, simply because there is no one to tell it not to do so. The international economic crisis has made China an even stronger world player, one that is able to dictate terms to the West in a way that would have been unthinkable even a year ago. Beijing is in no mood to listen to Western admonitions about its human-rights record or conduct, and Western governments are in no position to push the point.

Of course, Chinese officials do understand that there is deep discontent in Tibet. But they believe that this will disappear in the longer term, particularly once the Dalai Lama is no longer there to provide inspiration. And the government is clearly prepared to wait for this to happen. More interestingly, Beijing also seems to have decided to confront the Dalai Lama's influence on the world stage, by challenging the exile Tibetan perspective in the public debate over Tibet – or, at least, influencing it so that it is no longer a black-and-white issue. It is doing this by aggressively asserting its own view of Tibet to the world.

A case in point is the eight-page advertisement supplement headlined “China's Tibet: The Past and the Present”, which came out in the Hindustan Times edition of 9 April 2009. Abundantly illustrated with photographs and statistics, it purports to show how backward and hellish old Tibet was, and how much progress and development, both socially and economically, the Chinese government's munificence has brought to the area. It makes no mention of the Dalai Lama – China wants to marginalise him – or the recent unrest in Tibet, which it chooses to portray as the work of a few agents provocateurs. Instead, it stresses its claim that China's rule in Tibet has brought modernisation, prosperity and happiness to the long-suffering, and now eternally grateful, people of Tibet. For the uninformed reader, the facts are impressive and convincing.

Similarly, China's declaration that, beginning this year, 28 March would be celebrated as Serf Emancipation Day in Tibet, is a direct challenge to the 10 March Uprising Day commemorated by Tibetans in exile, an anniversary that has continued to challenge the legitimacy of China's rule over Tibet. This may seem provocative and crude to those who know something about the real situation in Tibet; but China is not concerned about such individuals. Rather, its officials are seeking to influence the vast majority of the world's population that knows little to nothing of Tibet. Why else would they decide to take out, on 6 April this year, an 18-page supplement entitled “50 Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet” in, of all places, the Daily Times of Malawi? Indeed, we can expect many more such supplements to appear, throughout the world, as China ratchets up its public-relations campaign on Tibet.

And in some distant future, when the Communist Party of China no longer holds power, New measures will prepare the ground for real negotiations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------In Tibet itself the situation could not be worse. A year on from the massive protests of March-April 2008, it would appear that the spring uprising, which inspired Tibetans everywhere so powerfully and seemed to have held out so much promise, has ended in tragedy. The sacrifice of the thousands who risked their lives has today achieved nothing more than a brief, incandescent moment in the international spotlight.

In fact, however, all is not as it seems. The long-term consequences of the demonstrations may yet prove to be more significant than anyone can currently imagine, and might come back to haunt the Chinese leadership. One hint of this came during a radio call-in show on Radio Free Asia's Tibetan language service in Washington, DC, last September. The reporter, Dolkar, was in conversation with three young Tibetan students studying in Beijing. One told her:

The uprisings of ‘89 and ‘59 were a long time ago, and for us youngsters, these are just like stories from the past. But now, with the recent uprisings and the oppression, the story has unfolded for real in front of our own eyes. This was a reminder of our past; it woke us up. Until recently, people have been disheartened and scared to carry out any action. But with the March demonstrations, and with the coming-together of people from all walks of life, we have been reminded that the burden of the struggle for truth and freedom does not rely only on one or two persons. It isn't just the responsibility of His Holiness or the Tibetans in exile, nor is it just the responsibility of the educated ones, but it is the responsibility of every one of us. This has become very clear this time.

This may be the real impact of the protests, and the reason why they may not ultimately have been in vain. A new generation of Tibetan activists has been born in Tibet, and it has now been empowered to carry the struggle into the future. The renewed belief and commitment of this new generation in Tibet demand that the policies made by the government-in-exile are strong and inspirational, and are designed to keep the movement alive for as long as it takes to achieve its goals. But it seems increasingly unlikely that doggedly hanging on to the Middle Way approach is the way to meet this challenge.

Given Beijing's aggressive new strategy to neutralise the Tibet issue internationally, the only practical and effective course of action open to Dharamsala would seem to be what one long-time Tibet watcher calls the ‘Baltic solution'. This would entail shifting the goal of the struggle back to independence. It would require persevering in the international forum by repeatedly and forcefully asserting Tibet's claim to independence, both historically and in accordance with the principles of self-determination; knowing full well that, in the short term, this would not pay concrete dividends other than keeping the idea of Tibetan nationhood alive. At the same time, it would mean building up a strong and genuinely democratic government-in-exile, which would prepare Tibetans for a post-Dalai Lama future and shift the focus of the struggle away from his person, thereby keeping it from disintegrating in his absence.

These measures would invigorate the Tibet movement, make it vibrant and unified, and help it to remain a source of hope and inspiration for the people inside Tibet. And in some distant future, when the Communist Party of China no longer holds power, these measures would also do much to prepare the ground for real negotiations, and for the possibility of either complete independence or genuine autonomy in its true sense. It took the Baltic states more than 70 years to regain their independence; today, Tibet has as much right and resilience as a nation to hope for the same. If Samdhong Rinpoche is serious about keeping the Tibetan struggle alive for a hundred years, this may be the only option he has.

The People's Republic of China's announcement to seek re-election to the UN Human Rights Council is an attempt to completely white wash its poor human rights record. The move also cast serious doubts on the credibility of the human rights body if China is given a second term in the forth coming election on 12 May 2009.

China as a state has failed miserably in terms of its human rights record in the whole of China and particularly in Tibet. This failure is clearly evident in Tibet in light of the Tibetan people's mass uprising against the State in spring last year. The Tibetans, in one voice in all the Tibetan areas in present day China, showed their discontentment and rejection of the Chinese rule which has been marked by gross violations of human rights.

In the aftermath of the spring 2008 uprising in Tibet, thousands of Tibetans still remain missing and scores have been jailed arbitrarily till date. Torture is endemic in the network of Chinese administered prisons in Tibet and used freely to extract confessions and break the nationalism of the Tibetans. Atleast 130 known Tibetans have been killed in police firing during the largely peaceful demonstrations. Atleast 230 Tibetans have been known to be sentenced to various prison terms in secret court trials with two Tibetans receiving death sentence and three others to suspended death sentence. All these court sentences are highly arbitrary and summary in nature, has been delivered quickly, in some cases as few as 45 days, without any due process of law.

Tibet is under virtual lock down and Tibetans inside Tibet live under a climate of fear. The slightest dissent against the state is least tolerated. Tibet currently is a highly millitarized zone and is effectively under de facto martial law and completely cut off from the rest of the world. Despite many international calls that have been made so far, China has systematically denied access to the media and international observers in Tibet.

Being one of the major players in the world today, China needs to exhibit qualities of moral uprightness and tolerance in order to be given prime responsibilities in global bodies. The UN Human Rights Council replaced the former Commission on Human Rights in June 2006 to better address the human rights issues in the world and to do away with the inadequacies of the previous body. The UNHRC was established on the premise that ?members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.?

However, with member states like China, which is amongst the most repressive states in the world today, the council's work and its credibility is seriously questioned. China's human rights record has been consistently worsening since 2008, with the Government tightening its policies of repression of dissidents. For all these reasons and more it is urged that China should not be re-elected to the Human Rights Council unless and until it can demonstrate not only by policy formulation but in practice its commitment to the protection of human rights of the Tibetan people in China.

Greenhouse gas tends to affect higher altitudes, but Tibet, given its underdeveloped industries, produces little greenhouse gas itself, China's official Xinhua news agency May 6 cited Zheng Guoguang, chief of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), as saying. He had refused to commit the political error of commenting on the environmentally catastrophic development and socio-economic polices being pursued by the Chinese government there. However, he had taken care to warn, speaking to more than 500 officials at a meeting in Lhasa on climate change, that in the worst case, such warming could cause permafrost to melt and threaten the plateau railway linking Tibet with the neighboring Qinghai Province.

According to Zheng, "Tibet is the biggest victim of global warming because it has almost no industry to emit greenhouse gases and therefore has a very minor impact on global warming, however, global warming has the greatest impact on Tibet." He had noted that from 1961 to 2008, the average temperature in the TAR had increased by approximately 0.32 degree Centigrade per 10 years, which is clearly higher than both China's temperature increase rate of 0.05–0.08 and the average global increase rate.

"If the warming continues, millions of people in western China would face floods in the short term and drought in the long run," Zheng was further reported to have warned.

Xinhua said a report by Tibet's regional meteorological bureau earlier this year also warned the permafrost that lies on the path of the rail link had been shrinking by 4.5 centimeters to 24.9 cm every decade since the 1960s. The report was reported to have quoted figures from four observatories along the route, saying the fastest shrinkage was reported in Amdo County, which has 346 kilometers of the railway.

Still, the report cited experts as believing that at the current thawing speed, the railway would remain safe for another four decades, with Beijing having spent more than 1 billion yuan (US $143 million) in the past 20 years to reinforce the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, also plagued by retreating permafrost.

"Tibet needs to tackle, and adapt to, the persisting climate change," Zheng was reported to have urged, advising the government there to speed up construction of hydropower stations and exploitation of renewable energy.

From all this, it emerges as obvious that China's development model for Tibet, entailing environmentally destructive industrial, mining and infrastructure development at a dizzying pace and massive influx of Chinese immigration can only worsen the situation considerably.

Everything that China touches turns to Sh-t! Louisiana will embark on a "public safety marketing campaign" to warn citizens of the risk of consuming seafood raised or processed in China if a bill by an Acadiana lawmaker survives the legislative process.

Lawmakers late Wednesday voted 100-0 for House Bill 551 by Rep. Fred Mills Jr., D-St. Martinville, that originally sought to require seafood dealers and restaurants to post notices and label menus with cautionary language that the consumption of seafood from China "may be hazardous to your health."

It also would have required that all "marine or freshwater seafood products" from China be labeled with the words "WARNING. This product contains Chinese seafood which may be hazardous to your health."

But Jim Funk, chief lobbyist for the Louisiana Restaurant Association, worked to soften the bill, and Mills had to accept a weaker version.

Funk said the labels and warning in Mills' original bill were too dire. "That would do nothing but scare people away," Funk said.

He said his association and the retailers group will join forces with the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry and other groups to promote the use of seafood grown and caught in Louisiana and other U.S. states.

"We amended out the menu label requirements and agreed to work with him on the marketing program," Funk said.

The next stop for Mills' bill will be the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare.

The bill still calls for state health officials to make signs, labels, placards "or other promotional signage that encourages consumers to consume Louisiana seafood and warns of the risks that may be associated with the consumption of Chinese seafood."

Mills, who represents a strong crawfish growing area, said the bill does not require the signs be posted or the labels used. "It is strictly voluntary," he said. The bill requires the retailers association to also work with various state agencies to "develop a voluntary assessment" to pay for the public safety marketing effort.

Mills, a pharmacist, said that some Chinese seafood is a danger to health because the products often contain chemicals like malachite green and other substances that are known to cause cancer. The bill shows the intent of lawmakers "to protect the health and welfare of . . . consumers from potentially harmful residues in seafood imported from the People's Republic of China that are sold or served in Louisiana."

The bill also would create a task force of 10 state government and health officials to assess the frequency of inspection of Chinese seafood products, the results of the sampling done, and make seafood safety recommendations to present to the Legislature by March 1. It also requires the first meeting of the task force to be held no later than Jan. 15.

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The World must pressure China over Tiananmen: dissidents

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Dissident victims of China's crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests have called for world pressure on Beijing to reverse the official verdict on the incident as its 20th anniversary is approaching.

Failure to stand up to a rising China over the "atrocity" of June 4, 1989, tacitly abets Communist Party repression, they said.

"So far, the international community... has adopted a policy of appeasement towards the Chinese government," said Ding Zilin, whose teenage son Jiang Jielian was shot dead by the army.

"They are lenient towards this atrocity," said Ding, 72, a former philosophy professor and now leader of the Tiananmen Mothers, which for 20 years has unsuccessfully pressured the government to be heard.

Early on June 4, Chinese tanks and soldiers rolled into Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds, and possibly thousands, as the government moved to crush weeks-long pro-democracy demonstrations that had hugely embarrassed the ruling Communist Party.

China's government has refused to provide a full account of the bloodshed, which remains a taboo subject in China and is only referred to officially as a "political disturbance", if mentioned at all.

Protesters check a burning armoured personnel carrier near Tiananmen Square, in June 1989
But foreign pressure for a reassessment of the incident and rehabilitation of its victims, living or dead, is vital on the 20th anniversary if China is to have any hope of healing "the wrongs of the past," dissident Bao Tong said.

"A government that is not responsible to its own people cannot be responsible toward the rest of the world," he said.

Bao, 76, a former top aide to late Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, was arrested after Zhao himself was purged for sympathising with the protesters. He has spent most of the last 20 years in jail, under house arrest or facing other restrictions.

"Not wanting to offend China means they cannot help China, cannot help China's people attain their own rights, and cannot help the world community gain a reliable, stable, peaceful member," he said.

"This is not a good thing. If (the world) does not care, then they bear a large part of the responsibility."

In common with previous years, China is widely expected to tighten security as the anniversary nears, to thwart any calls for a reassessment.

Dissidents have already reported being detained and harassed on the April 15 anniversary of the death of reformist communist leader Hu Yaobang. It was Hu's death that sparked the calls for political reform that led to the Tiananmen demonstrations.

But Qi Zhiyong, who lost a leg after being shot on June 4, echoed other dissidents in saying the Communist Party would never come clean on its "crimes" at Tiananmen.

Qi, 52, calls the party a "Chinese dynasty" committed solely to its own survival, through violence if necessary.

"As long as the party does not reassess their judgement on June 4 and acknowledge that it was a patriotic and democratic movement, then democracy cannot advance here.

"It means that all they say about advancing democracy and human rights are lies," he said.

Can anyone in the Universe stop this stupid copying and posting thing from happening again?

By: Jordan C. Fan, Prophet of Environment.

First of all, Tibet is a region inside it is not correct to use "Tibet and China" as your title. Furthermore when people have no longer lived in Tibet, they are not Tibetans any more. So what business and connection will they have with China? Mr. Austin Ramzy please stop bothering us with your rubbish!