The forgotten occupation

[StarvingStudent47]

For all this talk by certain public figures about the "bloody and unprovoked" occuption of Iraq and the "Holocaust-esque" occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the ultra-leftist and anti-western medias have largely ignored what might be the most horrific and unprovoked occupations of recent times: Tibet. My question is WHY?

*European governments got their panties all in a bunch when Israel considered exiling Arafat, but the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has been exiled for decades. Arafat is a terrorist; the Dalai Lama is a soft-spoken man who rivals Mother Teresa for kindness and benevolence. If I had kids, I'd let the Dalai Lama baby-sit them. Who could say that about Arafat?

*There's an adage that "every society has a terrorist element," but I'm not sure that's true about Tibet. I've never heard of a single terrorist bombing being attributed to Tibetan militants. So there's no possible argument that China's occupation of Tibet is just a counter-terror/military preemption action.

*There's no possible argument that China needed Tibet as a buffer zone. They've got the biggest land army in the world! And they're the biggest country on the planet already!

*Chinese acts in Tibet make the worst of what's gone on in Tikrit and Gaza look like nothing.

So what's the deal? Why didn't any of those human shields pack their earmuffs and fly off to Central Asia? Why has the International Criminal Court, which has made noises about trying Ariel Sharon, remained mute on Tibet? Sure, you see moderate-liberal soccer-moms with "Free Tibet" bumper stickers on their minivans, but when is the last time you saw a political leader--ANY political leader--condemn China's actions in any way, shape, or form?

[Ichhabe]

It is not forgotten.

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

hmmm good point...maybe cause we dont hear it on the news everyday..its is not forgotten though.

[Argyll]

Its called appeasemnt!Tibet has no Geographical,Military,or geological importance!!

[Guttorm]

The tibet deal has been pissing me of for years as well...

Buddhism is the ONLY religion I have ANY respect for, since they never has undertaken any kind of crusade to try to "save" peoples souls.

Probably the most peacfull people in the world. And they get invaded, but of course they get invaded...

:bash:

[StarvingStudent47]

The tibet deal has been pissing me of for years as well...

Buddhism is the ONLY religion I have ANY respect for, since they never has undertaken any kind of crusade to try to "save" peoples souls.

Probably the most peacfull people in the world. And they get invaded, but of course they get invaded...

Just for the record, only 20th century Buddhism is pacifist. In both China and Japan, Buddhist Monasteries would often wield their own militias, which sometimes even clashed with and defeated government armies! And 400 years ago Tibetans were rough-and-ready mountain guerillas, much like modern Chechens. But that's all just a history lesson, what you've said is close to 100% true for modern times.

And as for the evangelism thing--my understanding is that some Buddhist sects can be very evangelical, but only do so in Asian countries. They don't try and push it on Westerners. Kinda like how some Orthodox Jews will try to convert Reform Jews to Orthodoxy, but would never try to convert a Christian to Judaism.

Anyway, end of tangent.

As for the issue of "forgotten"--true, Tibet hasn't been forgotten in the hearts of good people, whatever that counts for. But it's completely ignored by politicians of every political color, as well as by many media sources. That's what I meant.

[Haiw]

i think the problem is not that it's forgotten, since lots of people (tho not nearly enuff) still remember it, but the biggest problem is that both politically and militarily, there's simply not a damn thing the western world can do about it!

[duck]

Oh yeah, how about the russians gave back the chinese and japanese lands they occupy?

[The Walrus]

I guess it's because it doesn't get reported much, mostly because there's no suicide bombing or large scale operations by the Chinese army with houses being buldozed (but that doesn't in any way mean that repression in Tibet is better than in Palestine, on the contrary the average Tibetian is repressed much more than your average Palestinian).
So international awareness is not as high, and thus people don't notice it.
I think it's also because the Palestinians have the whole Arab middle-eastern population to shout for them, whereas Tibet is more or less isolated in Asia, I guess Budhists aren't as nationalistic as Muslims.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Tibet is geographical remote, the tibetans have no neighbours to speak there cause and no UN resolutions demanding chinese withdrawal.

Political the situation doesn't have any impact on world politics contrary to the israeli/palestinian conflict.

As for buffer size doesn't seem to matter. The Soviet Union despite its vast size still wanted eastern-europe as a buffer.