Matt’s Cuppa

Sent from Express News
BEIJING - China on Tuesday accused “Tibet independence forces” of
planning to use suicide squads to trigger bloody attacks - the lastest
in a string of accusations that have taken aim at supporters of the
Dalai Lama.

The prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile denied the claims, saying Tibetans are committed to a “nonviolent path.”

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press Writer

I wish I could say that this was an April Fool’s Day joke, but I don’t think it is. Does anyone else think that China is looking worse and worse in the eyes the international community with each new step they take in handling this issue? Accusing the Dalai Lama of inciting violence? Tibetan suicide squads? Seriously…

I certainly don’t know the answer to this situation. But it appears that neither does the Chinese government. The protests began with the purpose, one can assume, of increasing international awareness of and sympathy for the Tibetan cause. If this is the case, then the Chinese government swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker. Filtering media reports and throwing out wild accusations are not things that tend to garner trust. If the Tibetans hadn’t already convinced me of the validity of their cause, then the Chinese government sure would have!

Popularity: 11% [?]

[WL-News] Wikileaks releases 35 censored videos of Chinese suppresion in Tibet

Wikileaks Press Release Tue Mar 18 10:00:00 GMT 2008 Wikileaks has released 35 censored videos relating to the protests in Tibet and has called on bloggers around the world to help drive the footage through the so called ‘Great Firewall of China’. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Censored_Tibet_March_2008_protest_videos_-_AVI_format The transparency group’s move comes as a response to the the Chinese Public Security Bureau’s carte-blanche censorship of youtube, the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and other sites carrying video footage of the Tibetan people’s recent heroic stand against the inhumane Chinese occupation of Tibet. Wikileaks has also placed the collection in two easy to use archives together with a HTML index page so they may be easily copied, placed on websites, emailed across the internet as attachments and uploaded to peer to peer networks.

Popularity: 10% [?]