{"id":1326,"date":"2009-12-16T23:55:39","date_gmt":"2009-12-17T04:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2018-08-07T20:41:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T00:41:29","slug":"18295-john-b-roberts-ii-elizabeth-a-roberts-freeing-tibet-%e2%80%95-fifty-years-of-struggle-resilience-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1326","title":{"rendered":"18295. (John B. Roberts II<\/span> &<\/span> Elizabeth A. Roberts) Freeing Tibet \u2015 Fifty Years of Struggle, Resilience, and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

For any\u00adone with a seri\u00adous inter\u00adest in the Tibetan resis\u00adtance against Com\u00admu\u00adnist Impe\u00adri\u00adal\u00adism, this book is a must. Most books on the resis\u00adtance focus almost entire\u00adly on the Dalai Lama, and are suf\u00adfused with a sen\u00adti\u00admen\u00adtal image of Tibetan cul\u00adture. This book is not. It\u2019s a hard-head\u00aded analy\u00adsis of the polit\u00adi\u00adcal events since the Con\u00adquest. One fea\u00adture I like is that the Dalai Lama is more often referred to by his per\u00adson\u00adal name, Ten\u00adzin Gyat\u00adso. Anoth\u00ader, that some time is spent dis\u00adcussing the Tibetan Char\u00adter, by which the exiled com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty was trans\u00adformed into a func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy, and which cre\u00adat\u00aded a tem\u00adplate for a future demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Tibet. This doc\u00adu\u00adment deserves seri\u00adous study by the world\u2019s demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic underground.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first half of the book deals with the efforts of the CIA<\/span> to exploit the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion of the Tibetans for pure\u00adly strate\u00adgic geo-polit\u00adi\u00adcal rea\u00adsons. CIA<\/span> agents pro\u00advid\u00aded clan\u00addes\u00adtine train\u00ading and sup\u00adplies for a small num\u00adber of Tibetan resis\u00adtance fight\u00aders \u2014 actions kept from the knowl\u00adedge of the Dalai Lama, who did not approve of the strat\u00ade\u00adgy. Apart from Bud\u00addhist scru\u00adples, he was prob\u00ada\u00adbly all too aware that U.S. pol\u00adi\u00adcy was tied to the Tai\u00adwanese regime of Chi\u00adang Kai-shek, who was just as deter\u00admined as Mao to keep Tibet as an impe\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal con\u00adquest. U.S. admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtions at no point intend\u00aded to sup\u00adport the cause of Tibetan inde\u00adpen\u00addence. How\u00adev\u00ader, they con\u00advinced a num\u00adber of young Tibetans to sac\u00adri\u00adfice their lives under the illu\u00adsion that they would. Of course, when Nixon and Kissinger made their dis\u00adgust\u00ading pact with Mao, they wast\u00aded no time in dou\u00adble-cross\u00ading the Tibetans. The authors describe these events with less overt con\u00adtempt than I would chose to, but the facts are all there. They do not, how\u00adev\u00ader, come to terms with the role of Con\u00adser\u00advatism in such betray\u00adals (one of the authors worked in the Rea\u00adgan administration).<\/span><\/p>\n

The sec\u00adond part of the book deals with the remark\u00adable way that the Tibetan cause sur\u00advived Amer\u00adi\u00adcan treach\u00adery, liv\u00ading on to this day as a dra\u00admat\u00adic exam\u00adple of under\u00addog sur\u00advival. Amer\u00adi\u00adca\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00adary under\u00adground, notably Jack Ker\u00adouac and Allen Gins\u00adberg, played a curi\u00adous role in these events. The sto\u00adry is tak\u00aden up to the point of the Bei\u00adjing Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book is not tooth\u00adless \u2014 the authors mere\u00adly write more polite\u00adly than I would choose to. They do a good job of expos\u00ading the cyn\u00adi\u00adcal fraud of \u201ccon\u00adstruc\u00adtive engage\u00adment\u201d, and this pas\u00adsage, punc\u00adtur\u00ading the delu\u00adsion that the Inter\u00adnet will pro\u00admote demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic reform, should be stud\u00adied close\u00adly by everyone:<\/span><\/p>\n

The most out\u00adra\u00adgeous aspect of the Inter\u00adnet\u2019s fail\u00adure to trans\u00adform Chi\u00adna lies not with the fail\u00adure of tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, but the moral fail\u00adure of lead\u00ading \u201cNeti\u00adzen.\u201d To do busi\u00adness in Chi\u00adna and gain access to its con\u00adsumers, exec\u00adu\u00adtives at tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy firms have become will\u00ading enforcers for Chi\u00adna. Microsoft and Google have both helped Chi\u00adna block infor\u00adma\u00adtion through their search func\u00adtions or block access to blogs the Chi\u00adnese gov\u00adern\u00adment wants to restrict. Yahoo! has exceed\u00aded this by help\u00ading Chi\u00adna con\u00advict polit\u00adi\u00adcal dis\u00adsi\u00addents for exer\u00adcis\u00ading basic human rights.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Take the case of the Chi\u00adnese jour\u00adnal\u00adist Shi Tao and engi\u00adneer Wang Xiaon\u00ading, who were each sen\u00adtenced to ten years in jail for the crime of writ\u00ading arti\u00adcles pro\u00admot\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy and post\u00ading them on Yahoo! Groups Web site. The evi\u00addence used to con\u00advict the men was hand\u00aded over to Chi\u00adnese author\u00adi\u00adties by Yahoo, Inc., after the Chi\u00adnese asked for details of their Inter\u00adnet and e\u2011mail usage. Yahoo! rou\u00adtine\u00adly tracks the Inter\u00adnet usage of all its cus\u00adtomers in order to mar\u00adket the data, main\u00adly to adver\u00adtis\u00ading firms. Microsoft\u00ad\u2019s gmail is worse in that it scans the con\u00adtents of every e\u2011mail and reads key words.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When Con\u00adgress looked into the mat\u00adter in 2006 after prompt\u00ading from human rights orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions, Yahoo! CEO<\/span> Jer\u00adry Yang, whose net worth is an esti\u00admat\u00aded $1.9 bil\u00adlion, had his com\u00adpa\u00adny deny any knowl\u00adedge the Chi\u00adnese request was for the pur\u00adpose of pros\u00ade\u00adcut\u00ading the democ\u00adra\u00adcy activists. Yang changed his tune after con\u00adgres\u00adsion\u00adal inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtors deter\u00admined that the Chi\u00adnese request stat\u00aded explic\u00adit\u00adly that the pur\u00adpose was a probe for \u201cille\u00adgal pro\u00advi\u00adsion of state secrets,\u201d a catch-all cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry fre\u00adquent\u00adly used to pros\u00ade\u00adcute polit\u00adi\u00adcal dissidents.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Under grilling by the House For\u00adeign Affairs Com\u00admit\u00adtee, Yang\u2019s cor\u00adpo\u00adrate attor\u00adney claimed that Yahoo! was mere\u00adly com\u00adply\u00ading with the \u201claw\u00adful demands\u201d of Chi\u00adnese author\u00adi\u00adties. Yang\u2019s arro\u00adgance prompt\u00aded the late Con\u00adgress\u00adman Tom Lan\u00adtos, a human rights cham\u00adpi\u00adon, to berate him and the attor\u00adney as \u201cmoral pygmies.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The authors go on to men\u00adtion, all too briefly, the kind of cyber-assaults that the Bei\u00adjing regime car\u00adries out on peo\u00adple out\u00adside Chi\u00adna. As the recent tar\u00adget of one of those assaults, I know all too well that even as insignif\u00adi\u00adcant a per\u00adson as myself, the\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly safe in cosy Cana\u00adda, can be tar\u00adget\u00aded by these barbarians.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For any\u00adone with a seri\u00adous inter\u00adest in the Tibetan resis\u00adtance against Com\u00admu\u00adnist Impe\u00adri\u00adal\u00adism, this book is a must. Most books on the resis\u00adtance focus almost entire\u00adly on the Dalai Lama, and are suf\u00adfused with a sen\u00adti\u00admen\u00adtal image of Tibetan culture. \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-br-reading-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1326"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7887,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions\/7887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}