Amid the current situation in China and Tibet, the UK mainstream press are more discerning about how great is China

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/17/wtibet317.xml

To do otherwise, and ignore alleged persecution of the Falun Gong..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/401268.stm )

might imply de ja vu of the canny businessmen and politicians who protested that Germany too was great throughout the kristallnacht untermensch policies of the National Socialist German Workers Party

To paraphrase Colonel Hathaway’s wife : “..What if it was your boy all alone out there in the jungle ? ”

A chance for Great Britain to show leadership, if our own control-freak HQ socialist party has not yet removed its backbone entirely :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VaP1HB7Vew

I agree entirely about the rape of Tibet - with the utmost respect, I used the term cultural genocide in the post which started all this - but I really think it’s a separate subject and one which I don’t really know enough about. I’d be delighted to hear from some (non partisan) folk who do. Everyone knows that the UK government have been painfully coy about Tibet and have not so far offered a meeting with the Dalai Lama when he visits in May. Indeed, our finest cordoned off the Falun Gong, Taiwanese and Free Tibet protesters behind riot shields and coshes (for their own safety no doubt)when the Chinese premier came to London in the golden time of Emperor To Ni the Peacemaker.

Then again, we dubbed the voices of Gerry Adams and McGuinness in the name of peace and freedom, invaded a sovereign state or two recently and stood by while millions of kids and mums in Rwanda, Darfur, Namibia, Palestine, Lebanon (there, I’ve said it) and countless other places were slaughtered in full view of the world’s media. Those folk don’t sell us cheap washing up bowls, don’t have sovereign funds and enough nuclear weapons to blow the world up ten times over, but I suppose that’s just me being oblique again. The answer has to be more complex and require a think tank to explain it. Om shanti om. JK.

I agree with DH’s comment that foreign countries are broadly better off being fiscally encouraged to evolve (had this been the case as was argued at the time, Iraq might not be still be tasting blood) but the UKs rubbish record for teenagers (and 9 yr old boys stabbed in the face while trying to defend their mothers from burglars)is no advert for sound political tips from the current cabinet thickos

The beauty of Tibet and its ancient culture is too high a price for observing the status quo in the region (we can enjoy our brilliantly designed Miele dishwashers and Audi TDIs and still condem the Nazis )and a muddled China might welcome the kind of lengthy intellectual persuasion that Prospect can be so very good at

Or, we can always head back to the bar and discuss football

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjWi663kXc

Your monks are on fire ?

“No blackout round here “… “Let’s call a halt to this thread “…
“China is great “…

Is there a North London cocktail called the Bulgarian Umbrella ?

Afraid I’m no great fan of the wacky baccy brigade, purveyors of politicised undergarments or not . Nor the work of Jeff Koons
( although heartily applauded he and James Birch both for their efforts in raising awareness of Tiananmen Square) and can’t remember much of the schooldays cult read ‘The Tibetan book of The Dead ‘

However, Chen Yong Lin, who in defecting risked untold dread for his
family and freinds at home, is not a brainwashed farm boy, ( he spent a day in London, c/o The Foreign Press Association and the House , witnessed by Lord Avery and Shirley Williams MP ) but a former senior diplomatic servant, whose analysis of China ( in terms of body language, that this experienced gentleman’s throat is almost visibly gripped by fear during the 2nd clip speaks the thousand words ) would be significantly more reliable than ours

Favourite Telegraph on-line sub head of today :

“ Olympic concern over China’s clashes with Tibet “

Favourite magazine soon to lead the way yet again ?

PS. Bhodisattva was indeed the title of a fine early Steely Dan song with Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter on guitar. John

Bolted on these two http://www.youtube.com clips of Chen Yonglin speaking on an Australian news channel earlier. Alas, the blog label read
‘the mediator is monitoring your comment’ and promptly ate them both

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D5bZYO5UVRk

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b9RavkOFBPs&feature=related

For the mediator record, Chen Yonglin’s comments are not my comments. Having not yet visited China, I cannot possibly comment. Our household has many useful items Made in China, we imagine them all to have been made by the nimble fingers of smiley folk singing smiley songs; and were up-cheered by the Think China cover story

However, gut feeling is that CY’s comments are not entirely fiction. In particular where his voice cracks as describes the off-label narcotics used to abduct a Chinese politician’s student son as part of his diplomatic experience

We might get a 8th opinion if the too handy blogroll did not lure readers away to other bloglands before they have commented ?

JK, This does not sound like your usual cuddly self. Whatever happened to a nation is only as healthy as the way it treats its
” drabbies standing in the rain on one leg ? ”

Perhaps you might stop by with a croissant or two and ask them in person ? Or, for more on the Falun Gong and other Chinese whispers,
Prospect might consider commissioning Chen Yonglin in person ( if government brollyboys have not yet given him the prod ..)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4612497.stm

Erratum : in fact, the Countryside Alliance won its 2008 C4 News Award for being “the most inspiring personality of the last decade”

So whilst I am a long time supporter of Free TIbet, I am not convinced that the Chinese must democritise on anything other thatn a time-scale that makes sense for them, anything else is double standards.

The problem I see is far more environmental. I am glad they have good design, I am glad they have a large intelligencia, and I am glad that they have green thinking people at the top now, but the glaring issue with China is that half its energy consumption is based on the goods it exports, or in other words on our consumption.

Should we be celebrating that? The implications for those outside the consumption loop are huge. Indeed, with the likely effects on food supply of climate change taken into the account, the ongoing consumption of beautifully styled Chinese goods may veer dangerously close to a form of Genocide by inaction.