http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21320198/What I don't understand is why it's unacceptable to piss off some tiny country for something they did 100 years ago and really shouldn't offend them but at the same time it's perfectly okay to piss off the most populated country in the world by inviting a living dissident into our country and giving him awards?I'm not saying either is right, but the logic is not flowing with me.
10/16/2007 9:36:16 AM
Because that tiny little country is both a military ally and also has about 75% of our supply lines to Iraq running through it. Also, said little country is amassing troops along their border in what appears to be preparation to launch a series of raids into the only peaceful part of Iraq.Meanwhile, we've been poking the most populated country in the world on a regular basis about said dissident figure regularly for the last fifty-odd years, so while they're annoyed, they are quite used to it. Also, said most populated country doesn't care enough about the issue to jeopardize relations with the United States, whereas the tiny little country is threatening to sabotage the war effort.
10/16/2007 9:52:23 AM
Also, because he's in a lot of Western movies. Come on, he's practically a Hollywood star in America!
10/16/2007 10:04:26 AM
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say,
10/16/2007 10:48:49 AM
^ I like that. Instead of trying to make an intelligent post, failing midway, and posting it anyway, you just decided from the bat not to contribute.More people here should follow that example. Especially if it involves Caddyshack.
10/16/2007 10:52:59 AM
this is a 2.0 on the "important-o-meter"
10/16/2007 11:05:06 AM
Gunga galunga
10/16/2007 11:07:04 AM
this is an issue where China's government needs to get over itself
10/16/2007 1:15:53 PM
Couldn't the same be said for Turkey though, considering it was a different country at the time?
10/16/2007 1:34:10 PM
the dalai lama is not a dissident.he is the spiritual head of a major world religion.he's the Himalayan Pope.
10/17/2007 3:04:52 AM
*I* don't think he's a dissident, the Chinese government, however, says he is a dissident and a fake spiritual leader.They also claim they can regulate reincarnation.
10/17/2007 7:21:13 AM
^^^ The issue for Turkey has to do with some of the fundamental concepts behind the formation of the Turkish Republic. One of those ideas was that all citizens were now turks and turkish regardless of their actual ethnicity. This idea doesn't exactly work all that well though (as seen with the Kurdish serperatists.) The armenian genocide is seen as both a blot on the Turk identity but a threatening reinforcement of non-Turk identities. Nothing unifies ethnic groups like surviving a genocide.Anyways, the country's fragile in a lot of ways and between threats to the Turk ethnic identity, national pride, and the worry of reinforcing unwanted ethnic identities- they're freaking out a bit. Maybe it's an overreaction, but the reasons are at least a little more complicated than "oh noes, you're calling our grandfathers nazis."
10/17/2007 10:41:17 AM
apparently the bill to label the 90-year old genocide is failing now. supporters from both parties are pulling out.
10/17/2007 11:23:14 AM
Yeah, I think Jon Stewart's assessment of the Democratic congress as a "bunch of pussies" is spot on. They can't even stick to their non-binding resolutions.
10/17/2007 12:27:01 PM
Or in this case, perhaps the Democratic leadership finally realized just how dangerous this bill would be for American diplomacy and security.
10/17/2007 12:36:39 PM
^^^ seriously? sigh.This is cool tho about the Dalai Lama, however its not as big of a deal in pissing China off as the media may have us believe. Now a Chinese Boycott would be another story. But Tibet will never be free, and so this is just a flash in the "remember China's Tibet problem blows" pan.
10/17/2007 4:19:08 PM
is this the white house trying to blow over the putin amadinejad visit...u know like oh look putin is meeting with terrorists and we meet with people like the dalai lama...idk maybe not ...
10/17/2007 4:55:17 PM
10/17/2007 5:06:52 PM
10/17/2007 5:14:52 PM
Well Hello Dalai!You're lookin swell, Dalai You're still praying, you're still sayingTi-bet must be free.China keeps hopin you'll go away...China keeps hopin you'll go awayChina keeps hoping you'll fade away again
10/17/2007 10:27:26 PM