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Hypocritical pronouncement from the land that allegedly has freedom of speech Re: Refrain from statements denigrating Dalai Lama: US to China!
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lo yeeOn
May 11, 2013, 7:58:45 AM5/11/13
to
Hillary Clinton as former head of the State Department (all year
round) denigrated Syrian president Bashar al Assad saying: "Assad
killed his own people" when in fact she was heading with a bunch of
oil Sheiks the effort of sending mercenaries into Syria to kill the
Syrian people. She was likewise maligning Qaddafi and masterminding
his brutal death. So, what gives?
In article <1724098.RLqjVJJBDQ@Dharma>,
Peter Terpstra <peter.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Refrain from statements denigrating Dalai Lama: US to China
>
> PTI
>
>ON THE WEB, 10 May 2013
>
>Asking China to refrain from making statements that denigrate the
>Dalai Lama and Tibet's unique cultural, linguistic and religious
>traditions, the United States has said [that] the Tibetans [should]
>be permitted to express their grievances freely.
So, it is ok for Da Lama and his TGIE cohorts, and the likes of Sophie
Richardson and the NED-funded Tibetan Houses around the world, as well
as VOA and RFA, etc, to denigrate China everyday, saying such things
as "they were like an uninvited guest who came in with a gun", or
"they are occupying Tibet", or "they are making arbitrary detention of
the Tibetan people" or "they're committing self-immolation to avoid
being tortured or killed in prison" or "they're committing cultural
genocide against the Tibetan people" or anything that suits their
fancy!
But China should put tapes over her lips trying to defend herself?
What kind of fascist mentality is this?
The kind of fascists are running the U.S. State Department these days?
lo yeeOn
>"We have asked the Chinese government to refrain from statements that
>denigrate the Dalai Lama and Tibet's unique cultural, linguistic, and
>religious traditions," the state department spokesman, Patrick
>Ventrell, told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
>
>"Our lines and our policy (on Tibet) have not changed. We continue to
>call on the Chinese government to permit Tibetans to express their
>grievances freely, publicly, peacefully and without fear of
>retribution," he said in response to a question.
That's not a good sign! Because the United States were knee deep in
trying to stage an armed rebellion in Tibet with the CIA's help.
By saying that our policy toward Tibet hasn't changed, the U.S. is
admitting that it continues its policy of interference in China's
internal security.
How would we like some foreign country to be sending bombers into our
cities and explode some IEDs at our ball games and marathons, time and
again?
It is crazy foreing policy.
lo yeeOn
1) This article shows how the U.S. has been using the Dalai Lama to
destabilize China or to advance some other foreign policy agenda in
the past 50+ years despite the the monk's and his cohorts' corruption.
http://www.agreatdeception.com/news
The Dalai Lama Cables: An Instrument of US Foreign Policy
April 5, 2011
Using Da Lama to "split" the Buddhist community in various countries,
including Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan.
Dalai Lama History Japan
In the previous release from the Dalai Lama Cables, we revealed that
the US government had considered deploying the Dalai Lama in Vietnam
as a means to split the Buddhist community there and further the US
anti-communist agenda. It is clear from those discussions that the US
viewed the Dalai Lama as an asset, an instrument to be used to further
their foreign policy objectives. Given that he had accepted CIA
funding for himself (to the tune of $180,000 annually) and his
activities (some years well in excess of $1 million annually), it is
quite understandable that they'd want to get their money's worth.
Although the Dalai Lama didn't visit Vietnam, he did visit Thailand
and Japan in 1967 - two countries supposedly directly affected by the
Vietnam war according to the Domino theory.
We trawled through the cables to see what information we could find on
these trips.
A telegram from the US Embassy in Tokyo dated 1 April 1965 describes
an early stage in the planning of the Dalai Lama's trip to Japan.
What is immediately clear from the telegram is that, behind the
scenes, it is the US Secretary of State who is organising this trip.
The Ambassador in Tokyo explains that there are a number of hurdles
involved:
- The `Japanese themselves feel no particular affinity for Tibetans
and Japanese Buddhists regard Tibetan Buddhists as only distantly
related.'
- Although the Government of Japan will not prevent the visit they
are `unlikely to regard such trip with much `enthusiasm'.
- It may be difficult to find significant japanese Buddhist group
which would wish to involve itself sufficiently to sponsor Dalai
visit'.
Essentially it seems no one in Japan particularly wants the Dalai Lama
to come. Even the Buddhist clergy would only be `willing to meet with
upon his request'.
However, the first and most important point of the telegram reads:
`The Dalai Lama's visit to Japan would be advantageous from our point
of view in reminding Japanese of ChiCom attitudes'.
So, because the Dalai Lama's visit serves a US foreign policy interest
the Ambassador thinks `possibly we could stir up some support.'
Nonetheless, the ambassador assumes `if visit takes place US will not
be overtly involved.'
The visit did take place, the US pulled the strings to make it happen.
The US used the Dalai Lama and his teachings as an instrument of US
foreign policy. A pattern that appears to have been repeated again and
again.
There is something overwhelming[ly] sad about the precious teachings
of Lord Buddha being used as a weapon of psychological warfare, a mere
tool in cold war squabbles. By mixing religion and politics, the Dalai
Lama allowed this sad situation to develop. Now is the time to
completely free Buddhism from political pollution.
The Dalai Lama Cables: The US wanted to deploy the Dalai Lama in
Vietnam
March 29, 2011
As is well documented elsewhere on this site, the Dalai Lama was on
the CIA payroll from 1959 until at least 1974. He was provided with
$180,000 per year as part of the US anti-communist propaganda efforts.
What recently declassified documents now reveal is that the US wanted
to deploy the Dalai Lama in Vietnam as part of their anti-communist
propaganda efforts there. On three separate occasions deploying the
Dalai Lama is discussed at the highest level.
On 16 December 1964, General Maxwell D. Taylor suggests steps the
Government of Vietnam might take, the first of these being:
`1. Arrange for the Dalai Lama, his brother, or other Buddhist
leaders from other countries to visit Vietnam to educate Vietnamese
bonzes on the perils of Communism and their civil responsibilities.'
On March 8, 1965, Henry Cabot Lodge - the presidential consultant on
Vietnam - gives 14 recommendations regarding Vietnam to President
Johnson, recommendation number 10 is:
`The Dalai Lama should be brought to Saigon as an object lesson of
the dreadful things Communism does to high ranking Buddhist clergy.'
On 4 April, 1966, Jack Valenti - the president's special assistant -
gave the advice to President Johnson about what might be done about
the desperate situation in Vietnam. Amongst his advice was to:
`Split the Buddhist leadership:
This has possibilities. There is no durable cohesion in the Buddhist
leadership. Can we pit some of the leaders against Tri Quang? Can
we use the Dalai Lama and Buddhists outside Saigon, Hue and Da Nang
to our advantage?'
One of the main reasons for the American involvement in Vietnam was
that successive Presidents subscribed to the "Domino Theory" which
argued that if one country fell to communist forces, then all of the
surrounding countries would follow. It was, and is still, commonly
hypothesized that it applied to Vietnam. Whilst still a U.S.
senator, John F. Kennedy said in a speech to the American Friends of
Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and
obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be
threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.
The Dalai Lama didn't visit Vietnam, but in November 1967 he visited
both Japan and Thailand, two countries affected by the "Domino
Theory". These were his first trips outside of India since leaving
Tibet in 1959, and he didn't make another trip outside of India
until 1972.
We know little about who he met and who he spoke to, what messages
he passed on and for whom. In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, he
says very little about these trips but does mention that they were
at the height of the Vietnam war and that on the way into Thailand
he flew alongside a B-52 bomber.
Could the Dalai Lama have been doing the bidding of his US pay
masters? Or at least finding a way to combine their interests and his
own?
Many people wonder if the Dalai Lama's relationship with the US is the
reason why he refuses to condemn the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
that many ordinary people - not considered `the Buddha of Compassion'
- find it easy to disagree with.
The Dalai Lama Cables: A Wolf in Monk's Robes?
March 25, 2011
The Communist Chinese regime regularly refer to the Dalai Lama as "a
wolf in monk's Robes". They claim that he is behind violent protests
in Tibet, that his supposedly compassionate wish to help flood and
earthquake victims in China and Tibet is just a political ploy, that
his travels around the world giving teachings is part of a political
strategy to attack China and that the he uses the monks and
monasteries in Tibet to organize insurgency.
The Dalai Lama, himself, laughs at these claims, and the western media
laugh with him. China is portrayed as almost hysterical in its
demonizing of the Dalai Lama. But is there any truth to what they say?
The brutal suppression of the Tibetans who resist communist rule in
Tibet is well documented, and we absolutely oppose injustice and
oppression anywhere. However, the Dalai Lama is a political leader,
and all political leaders must be held up to scrunity.
As Tibetologist Jens-Uwe Hartmann of the Humboldt-Universitat in
Berlin said:
`The glorification of the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a political
leader will not help the democratization process. A critical debate
on his political statements must be possible and should not be
suppressed by the argument that criticism only serves the Chinese.
We have examined the declassified US State Department documents and we
have found evidence that could support all three of the Chinese
claims:
With respect to organizing protests, the Dalai Lama and his
representatives refer to the protests as `spontaneous'. However, in a
telegram from the New Delhi Embassy dated 30 March 1967, we can see
that the Bureau of the Dalai Lama privately admit that they were
involved in organizing these "spontaneous" protests.
With respect to exploiting natural disasters - such as floods and
earthquakes - for political gain, a telegram from the US Embassy in
Calcutta, dated 8 January 1955, describes a "Tibetan Flood Relief
Commitee" set up by the Tibetans in exile. The telegram makes it clear
that the benefits of supporting the relief effort are to win a
propaganda coup over the Chinese communists and to support the
resistence fighters positions. Furthermore, the telegram explicitly
reveals that the "tibetan exiles conceived TFRC principally as a
psychological tactic against Chinese communists"
With respect to using teaching visits as a political strategy against
China, a United States Government Office Memorandum dated 21 February
1952 contains fascinating information. The context of the memo is a
discussion of how best to respond to the Dalai Lama's request for US
assistance against the Chinese Communists. The Dalai Lama's request
was brought by his brother Taktse Rimpche. In the memo a discussion
between various interested parties, including the CIA, is referenced.
The CIA went on to formulate and fund a strategy of anti-communist
propaganda with the Dalai Lama that included sponsoring him
personally, and well as establishing Tibet Houses on his behalf in
various locations and encouraging him to teach widely. In the
discussion mentioned in this memo, they describe organizing a teaching
tour by distinguished Buddhist leaders as:
"a major step towards utilizing certain elements of the Buddhist
world in one aspect of psychological warfare".
With respect to using the monks and monasteries in Tibet to organise
insurgency, a telegram from the US Embassy in Calcutta to the
Secretary of State in Washington, dated 11 September 1952, reveals:
"Gyalo and Shakabpa with Dalai Lama's knowledge seriously
considering forming secret organisation to infiltrate Tibet from
India, and possibly Nepal, using Tibetan Monasteries as centers
for anti-communist resistance; propaganda first, weapons later."
We know from other documents that this plan was put into effect.
Of course these declassified documents are now revealing old facts,
but also they reveal a modus operandi. In A Great Deception we traced
the various events surrounding the violent uprising in Tibet before
the Beijing Olympics in 2008 back to the Dalai Lama and his key
representatives.
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money
February 28, 2011
In the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Dalai Lama and
the Tibetan refugees were inundated with aid in the form of money,
food, clothing, blankets, medicines, land, accommodation, livestock
and so forth.
Many international charities, such as The Red Cross, CARE, Catholic
Relief Services, The National Christian Council, the American Friends
Service Committee, the American Emergency Committee for Tibetan
Refugees and others, gave extensively.
Many national governments, such as the UK, France, Canada, New
Zealand, the US and especially India gave generously to the Tibetan
cause.
In the over fifty years since the Chinese invasion, the plight of the
Tibetans rarely leaves media attention for long. It has become without
doubt one of the most successful on-going fund-raising campaigns ever,
drawing millions and millions of dollars in donations, merchandise and
event-tickets each year.
Where has all the money gone? What has it been used for? When
Australian journalist Michael Backman tried to discover the answer to
these fundamental questions he found:
"Details of the government-in-exile's funding today are far from
clear."
"It is not clear" how donations enter its budgeting. These are
likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama's
Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or
of their "sources".
Certainly, there are plenty of rumours among expatriate Tibetans of
endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the
Dalai Lama.
In part one of this series of articles we quoted from Tashi Tsering's
autobiography, before helping Gyalo Thondup transport the Dalai Lama's
treasure from Sikkim to Calcutta, whilst back in Lhasa before the
Chinese invasion, he had worked in the treasury of the Tibetan
government. He recounted his experiences there (p63 of the
autobiography):
"I was still disillusioned and angry about what I had seen going on
in the treasury office in Lhasa. The ordinary people sent their
taxes and tribute in the form of money and goods, and both monk and
lay officials just took what they wanted. There were ledgers filled
with accounts of tea bricks, butter, cloth, gold, and silver. I saw
the records that showed that the more powerful monks, especially
those from aristocratic families and the Dalai Lama's household,
"borrowed" any of these things they wished and never returned
them. There was no overall record, no auditing. The officials and
their friends and family could come in and take anything they
fancied. I saw them doing so with my own eyes."
Tashi Tsering was offered a position in the newly formed
Tibetan-Government-in-Exile, but turned it down:
"I felt that going to work for the exiled aristocrats and monks
would have meant going to work to restore the same old system."
Could this be the answer to Michael Backman's questions? Could this be
where the money went? In his pursuit of answers, Backman, uncovered
some more inconvenient truths:
"Like many Asian politicians, the Dalai Lama has been remarkably
nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of
prominence. In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag,
or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama."
"An older brother served as chairman of the Kashag and as the
minister of security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra
movement in the 1960s."
"A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile's
planning council and its Department of Health."
"A younger sister served as health and education minister and her
husband served as head of the government-in-exile's Department of
Information and International Relations."
"Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in
exile. A younger brother has served as a senior member of the private
office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as education
minister."
"The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the representative of
the Tibetan government-in-exile for northern Europe and head of
international relations for the government-in-exile. All these
positions give the Dalai Lama's family access to millions of dollars
collected on behalf of the government-in-exile."
* See Also: Part 1 | Part 2 (below)
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money - Part 2
February 22, 2011
In part one, we showed how despite having tens of millions of dollars
worth of gold stored in banks in Calcutta, the Dalai Lama successfully
pleaded poverty to the United States government and secured a tax-free
hand out of $180,000 per annum from 1959 onwards.
By the 60s, however, some in the US administration were questioning
the wisdom of these payments to the Dalai Lama, and the on-going
financial support of the Tibetan refugees.
One illustration of this is the response to a letter from the Dalai
Lama to the US President in late 1966, where the Dalai Lama mentions
his plan to resettle with 400 Tibetans in the United States... with
the apparent assumption that the US government will foot the $425,000
bill for this.
The response is straight-forward: "No USG funds are available."
Subsequent cables reveal an interesting development. In 1969, the
Dalai Lama's personal representative Lodi Gyari lets the Americans
know that the Dalai Lama has been negotiating with the Soviets [at
that time the sworn enemy of the United States] for financial
assistance.
"Lodi concluded by stating that the Dalai Lama and he would much
prefer to take American financial assistance and he hoped I would
give the matter close attention, for they had to get help from
somewhere."
An exquisite hustle by anyone's standards.
Furthermore, in his report to the State Department, the US Ambassador
noted, with some alarm, how during a recent public lecture:
"The Dalai Lama emphasized that he did not oppose communism, or for
that matter any isms in particular. He declared that an independent
Tibet could have a communist government or any other form supported
by the majority of the people. What Tibetans opposed was foreign
domination. In the current context, these remarks would appear to
have been primarily directed towards Moscow."
Imagine the horror back in Washington at the prospect of their trump
card in the global propaganda war against communism switching sides -
swapping the CIA for the KGB, and happily inviting communist rule in
Tibet.
Needless to say, funding for the Dalai Lama was granted, and his CIA
support renewed at the next review in 1971, and again in the following
years. The US congress continues to financially support the Dalai
Lama, and the CIA subsidy has been replaced by National Endowment for
Democracy funding. As Professor Sautman reports:
The United States is at least the second-largest donor, after
India, to the TGIE, providing $2 million in "humanitarian aid"
annually and may be the largest donor.109 Since 2004 it has given
the exiles $4 million annually and provided $5.25 million for
"Tibetan community assistance" in 2008.110 The U.S. National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) supplies additional funds.111 The
group's founding president, Allen Weinstein, has said, "A lot of
what [the NED does] today was done covertly 25 years ago by the
CIA. 112
Notes:
109. M. Kripalani, "World Watches India's Response to Tibet", Business
Week (India), March 21, 2008. Most TGIE income is from Western state
grants. In 2006-7, grants totaled US$17.5 million. "Rinpoche Defies
China as Tibet's Prime Minister Based in India", Bloomberg, April 30,
2008. See also Roemer, Tibetan Government-in-Exile, 118-23 on the
dependence of the TGIE and Tibetan exiles in India (three-fourths of
whom do not work) on external financial support. The TGIE has said its
annual budget is $700,000, leaving substantial funds for
internationalization activities; Velloor, In "Tibetan Exiles Keep the
Fight Alive."
110. Thomas Lam, "U.S.-Funded Assistance Programs in China",
Congressional Research Service RS22663 (January 28, 2008). An official
Chinese news source has reported that the US Congress appropriated
US$2.4 million for Tibetan exile organizations in 2009, up by 25
percent over 2008. Almost 89 percent of the TGIE's 2005 revenues
derived from foreign aid and it has annually spent 30-40 percent of
its funds on projects related to the Tibet Question and representation
abroad. Yi Duo, "Dalai Lama bianshen `yao qian shu' Liancai zhi shu
bei meiti baoguang ("The Dalai Lama has been changed into one `shaking
the money tree': techniques of accumulating wealth by unfair means
exposed by media), Huangqiu Shibao [Global Times], June 19, 2009.
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money - Part 1
February 13, 2011
Recently declassified US State Department cables reveal the workings
of the Dalai Lama and his inner circle.
Throughout the 1950s the Dalai Lama negotiated with the US government
for military and financial assistance. In the State Department United
States Policy Concerning the Legal Status of Tibet - 1942-1956', a
summary of the US government's response is given:
"The United States was prepared to provide light arms, but it was
not prepared to pay the expenses of the Dalai Lama and his retinue
if they sought asylum abroad, because it assumed that the Dalai Lama
had enough treasure to pay his own expenses."
When the Dalai Lama finally did flee Tibet in early 1959, he sent his
brother, Gyalo Thondup, to ask for financial and military
assistance. Gyalo Thondup let it be known that:
"The Dalai Lama did not bring out any treasures from Tibet and
consequently was very hard up financially."
The declassified documents show that the Dalai Lama received a
personal subsidy from the US government - a covert payment arranged by
the CIA - of 180,000 US Dollars per year from 1959 through till at
least 1974. To put this in a modern context 180,000 dollars in the
1950s would be worth nearly 1.5 million today, and 180,000 dollars in
the seventies would be worth nearly 800,000 today. Considering the US
intended not to support the Dalai Lama financially that's a pretty
generous subsidy to have squeezed out of them.
An alternative version of the "no treasure brought from Tibet" story
can be found in The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of
Tashi Tsering on pages 57-58:
"During the 1950s, though the Dalai Lama himself was in Tibet, the
gold and silver remained in one of the storehouses of the maharaja
of Sikkim. The Chinese had asked for its return but had not made an
issue of it at the time. Following the Lhasa Uprising and the flight
of the Dalai Lama, they claimed that the money was not the Dalai
Lama's personal fortune but belonged to the country - which they now
considered to belong to them. At that point the Tibetan leaders
decided it was time to secure their treasure more permanently and
farther away from the border; and because of my association with
Gyalola [Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's brother], I found myself
involved. It was quite an "operation".
The gold and silver were in the form of coins and ingots. When I
became involved, the gold and silver were being hand-loaded onto
trucks in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, and driven south to
Siliguri, the location of the nearest airstrip. At the airport the
literally millions of dollars' worth of gold were loaded onto Dakota
cargo planes and flown to Calcutta.
When this precious cargo reached Calcutta, the gold was immediately
put into the banks. But for a while the silver was stored in a
single room on the third floor of a trusted Tibetan merchant's
house. It was my responsibility to stand guard over it, and for
nearly a month I stood sentinel in a silent room full of coins and
odd pieces of silver."
It is estimated that the Dalai Lama had nearly 5 tons of solid gold at
his disposal in India. For a man with tens of millions of dollars in
the bank to successfully plead poverty to the United States government
is quite a feat.
Admittedly, the Dalai Lama had left the bulk of his fortune back in
Lhasa - for example, in the west chapel of the Potala Palace there is
a tomb with nearly 5 tons of solid gold encasing it, there's no need
to mention the thousands of other golden statues, tombs and works of
art.
This rather clever con trick wasn't the only time the Dalai Lama
rolled the US over, as we'll see in part 2 (coming soon).
The Dalai Lama Wikileaks - Curious Statistics
February 5th, 2011
The recent release of US State Department cables by whistle-blowing
website Wikileaks.org has revealed some curious statistics in relation
to the Tibetans in exile.
Clearly, Tibet and the Dalai Lama are at the centre of a propaganda
war between the United States and Communist China. In virtually all
western media, the Tibetans are portrayed like the Ewoks from Star
Wars - as cute, cuddly, harmless and deeply spiritual - while the
Chinese are demonized - sinophobic charicatures like Ming the
Merciless from Flash Gordon spring to Mind. This media distortion has
been carefully orchestrated with the US's vested interests in mind. A
closer analysis of the Wikileaks cables reveals statistics that
challenge this popular myth.
In one cable it reveals that far from being pacifists, most of the
Tibetans serve in the military. The cables states:
"Most Tibetan men in northeastern India join the SFF [Special
Frontier Force]. In Gangtok, [...] the majority of men work for the
SFF; and in Ravangla, 90% of the Tibetan families have at least one
family member serving."
That so many Tibetans serve in the military may come as a shock to
some readers, and they may perhaps think this must be a recent
development, quite unusual for the Tibetans. Such a view would only
demonstrate how deeply effective the Dalai Lama's efforts to rewrite
Tibetan history have been. In his illuminating article "Vegetarian
between Meals: The Dalai Lama, War, and Violence", Professor Barry
Sautman presents facts that are in stark contrast with the picture the
Dalai Lama likes to paint. Professor Sautman provides references for
every statement he makes, his sources are listed below.
The Dalai Lama has said "the people of Tibet are, by their nature,
honest, gentle and kind," that "Tibetan culture is a compassionate and
non-violent culture" under the kings and Dalai Lamas . . . and "peace
and happiness prevailed in Tibet". 20 He has also stated that "Tibetan
culture [is] based on peaceful relations," 21 and that "before 1950,
Tibet was completely a land of peace." 22
Tibetans, including monks, have however long borne arms against
outsiders and each other in wars between rulers or Buddhist sects.31
The "Great Fifth" Dalai Lama ferociously annihilated enemies and their
families. 32 Tibetan armies warred in Ladakh in 1679-84 and in Bhutan
many times in the eighteenth century, against Zunghar Mongols in 1720,
Nepal from 1788 to 1792 and 1854 to 1858, Ladakh in 1842, and Britain
in 1904.33 From the late eighteenth century, the ancient regime had a
standing army,34 and in the early twentieth century, the "Great 13th"
had a ministry of war oversee his British-trained army. He advised
Tibetans that, "where [peaceful means] are not appropriate, [they
should] not hesitate to resort to more forceful means."35 The present
Dalai Lama has noted that the Thirteenth did "raise an army, train it
as best as possible. Just between us, this isn't strictly practicing
nonviolence." During World War I, the Thirteenth offered his British
patrons one thousand troops,37 and in 1920 he dispatched his army to
help the murderously racist Russian baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
assault Mongolia's capital.38
In Eastern Tibet, in the first half of the twentieth century, Lhasa's
army fought Tibetans led by eastern chieftains and both fought
non-Tibetan warlord armies. People from Kham fought around 400-500
major battles both against the Chinese and the Lhasa government,
between 1911 and 1935. These armed guerrilla forces increasingly
occupied the central Tibetan military. The fighting intensified after
the death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933 and the eastern
Tibetans, moreover, sought a separate state, independent from any Han
and central Tibetan control. 40 Violent conflicts occurred in Tibet
right up to around the old regime's fall. 41 Some 10 to 15 percent of
monks at three large Lhasa monasteries were fighting monks (dobdob)
who had access to guns; more generally "lamas had their own courts and
prisons, and often organized their own militias and possessed
thousands of guns and horses." 42 In a 1947 civil war, thousands of
monks fought with artillery and guns and as many as three hundred
died. 43
To illustrate just how militarized the Tibetan people were, Professor
Sautman provides us with a statistical comparison to the present
United States military:
In 1950 the Tibetan army had twelve thousand troops for a region
of 1.2 million people.44 The United States, with 761 bases abroad,
has only half that proportion of its people under arms.45
The carefully crafted image of the Dalai Lama as a benign spiritual
leader, and of Tibet as a Shangri-la, is a weapon in the CIA's
propaganda war. The Dalai Lama has knowingly colluded with the
myth-building about himself and Tibet. A more realistic assessment of
the present Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lamas through history can be
found in "A Great Deception".
Professor Sautman's sources:
. . .
The Dalai Lama Cables: No Noble Peace - Epilogue
February 1st, 2011
In this series of articles we comprehensively refuted the Dalai Lama's
qualification for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (please see
previous articles below)
Throughout the articles please bear in mind the words of Egil Aarvik
when presenting the Dalai Lama with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize:
This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded "first and foremost
for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people's
struggle to regain their liberty.
"This is by no means the first community of exiles in the world,
but it is assuredly the first and only one that has not set up any
militant liberation movement."
Please also bear in mind that the Dalai Lama is a fully ordained
Buddhist monk with vows to forsake killing and any actions of harming
others.
Over the course of the previous articles in this series we showed how
the Dalai Lama personally requested the CIA involvement in Tibet - an
involvement that led to thousands of deaths on both sides.
Now we can contrast the evidence found in the US State Department
documents with the Dalai Lama's own words:
Some quotes from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
"The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and
determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated."
"Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our
struggle must remain nonviolent."
And some from the Nobel Lecture he gave thereafter:
"I speak to inform you of the sad situation in my country today and
of the aspirations of my people, because in our struggle for
freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess."
"Despite the fact that we have not drawn attention to our plight by
means of violence, we have not been forgotten."
He has always, and continues to this day, to distance himself from the
CIA activities in Tibet. He blames his brothers, claims they acted
without his knowledge, claims he wasn't informed, and so on and so
forth.
In his autobiography "Freedom in Exile" he says:
"The other sad episode concerned the guerillas, trained and equipped
by the CIA, who continued their struggle to regain Tibetan freedom
by violent means. On more than one occasion, I tried to discover
detailed information about these operations from Gyalo Thondup and
others, but I have never heard the full story ...
"Although I admired the determination of the guerillas, I had never
been in favour of their activities."
How hollow all these words sound now, in the light of the truths
revealed.
The Dalai Lama Cables: No Noble Peace - Part 5
January 29th, 2011
In this series of articles we will comprehensively refute the Dalai
Lama's qualification for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Throughout the articles please bear in mind the words of Egil Aarvik
when presenting the Dalai Lama with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize:
"This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded ... first and
foremost for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his
people's struggle to regain their liberty.
"This is by no means the first community of exiles in the world, but
it is assuredly the first and only one that has not set up any
militant liberation movement."
Please also bear in mind that the Dalai Lama is a fully ordained
Buddhist monk with vows to forsake killing and any actions of harming
others.
As illustrated in the previous article in this series, the Dalai Lama
called in the deal he had made with the US Government for military and
financial support for a war against the Chinese Communists over Tibet.
Here we give some details as to the measure of the support that was
afforded. This previously top secret document is now publicly
available. We urge everyone interested in the Dalai Lama and Tibet to
read it.
This shows that the US government was true to its words and for the
best part of two decades provided millions of dollars each year to
fund the Dalai Lama's war. Included in this was an annual personal
subsidy of $180,000 to the Dalai Lama. We also note that the CIA was
behind the development of "Tibet Houses" around the world - a subject
we will return to later.
In conclusion to this series of articles, we have comprehensively
refuted the claim that the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. Egil Aarvik's
praise of him for "his consistent resistance to the use of violence in
his people's struggle to regain their liberty" could not be any more
hollow.
2) In the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Dalai Lama
and the Tibetan refugees were inundated with aid in the form of money,
food, clothing, blankets, medicines, land, accommodation, livestock
and so forth.
Many international charities, such as The Red Cross, CARE, Catholic
Relief Services, The National Christian Council, the American Friends
Service Committee, the American Emergency Committee for Tibetan
Refugees and others, gave extensively.
Many national governments, such as the UK, France, Canada, New
Zealand, the US and especially India gave generously to the Tibetan
cause.
In the over fifty years since the Chinese invasion, the plight of the
Tibetans rarely leaves media attention for long. It has become without
doubt one of the most successful on-going fund-raising campaigns ever,
drawing millions and millions of dollars in donations, merchandise and
event-tickets each year.
Where has all the money gone? What has it been used for? When
Australian journalist Michael Backman tried to discover the answer to
these fundamental questions he found:
"Details of the government-in-exile's funding today are far from
clear."
"It is not clear" how donations enter its budgeting. These are
likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama's
Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or
of their "sources".
Certainly, there are plenty of rumours among expatriate Tibetans of
endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the
Dalai Lama.
In part one of this series of articles we quoted from Tashi Tsering's
autobiography, before helping Gyalo Thondup transport the Dalai Lama's
treasure from Sikkim to Calcutta, whilst back in Lhasa before the
Chinese invasion, he had worked in the treasury of the Tibetan
government. He recounted his experiences there (p63 of the
autobiography):
"I was still disillusioned and angry about what I had seen going on
in the treasury office in Lhasa. The ordinary people sent their
taxes and tribute in the form of money and goods, and both monk and
lay officials just took what they wanted. There were ledgers filled
with accounts of tea bricks, butter, cloth, gold, and silver. I saw
the records that showed that the more powerful monks, especially
those from aristocratic families and the Dalai Lama's household,
"borrowed" any of these things they wished and never returned
them. There was no overall record, no auditing. The officials and
their friends and family could come in and take anything they
fancied. I saw them doing so with my own eyes."
Tashi Tsering was offered a position in the newly formed
Tibetan-Government-in-Exile, but turned it down:
"I felt that going to work for the exiled aristocrats and monks
would have meant going to work to restore the same old system."
Could this be the answer to Michael Backman's questions? Could this be
where the money went? In his pursuit of answers, Backman, uncovered
some more inconvenient truths:
"Like many Asian politicians, the Dalai Lama has been remarkably
nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of
prominence. In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag,
or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama."
"An older brother served as chairman of the Kashag and as the
minister of security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra
movement in the 1960s."
"A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile's
planning council and its Department of Health."
"A younger sister served as health and education minister and her
husband served as head of the government-in-exile's Department of
Information and International Relations."
"Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in
exile. A younger brother has served as a senior member of the private
office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as education
minister."
"The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the representative of
the Tibetan government-in-exile for northern Europe and head of
international relations for the government-in-exile. All these
positions give the Dalai Lama's family access to millions of dollars
collected on behalf of the government-in-exile."
In part one, we showed how despite having tens of millions of dollars
worth of gold stored in banks in Calcutta, the Dalai Lama successfully
pleaded poverty to the United States government and secured a tax-free
hand out of $180,000 per annum from 1959 onwards.
By the 60s, however, some in the US administration were questioning
the wisdom of these payments to the Dalai Lama, and the on-going
financial support of the Tibetan refugees.
One illustration of this is the response to a letter from the Dalai
Lama to the US President in late 1966, where the Dalai Lama mentions
his plan to resettle with 400 Tibetans in the United States... with
the apparent assumption that the US government will foot the $425,000
bill for this.
For details see
http://www.agreatdeception.com/news
-----
Some indirect confirmation from the NYT 14/April/2013:
By EDWARD WONG
Published: April 13, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/asia/china-makes-inroads-in-nepal-stemming-tibetan-presence.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
. . .
The earliest Tibetan refugees arrived in Nepal in 1959, when the Dalai
Lama fled Tibet, and they settled in refugee camps, of which there are
still 13. A Tibetan enclave sprang up around Boudhanath. Some Tibetans
became rich by making carpets and handicrafts, and prominent Tibetan
monasteries amassed wealth and purchased prime real estate in the
Katmandu Valley.
>
>
>http://www.tibetsun.com/news/2013/05/10/refrain-from-statements-denigrating-dalai-lama-us-to-china
round) denigrated Syrian president Bashar al Assad saying: "Assad
killed his own people" when in fact she was heading with a bunch of
oil Sheiks the effort of sending mercenaries into Syria to kill the
Syrian people. She was likewise maligning Qaddafi and masterminding
his brutal death. So, what gives?
In article <1724098.RLqjVJJBDQ@Dharma>,
Peter Terpstra <peter.t...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Refrain from statements denigrating Dalai Lama: US to China
>
> PTI
>
>ON THE WEB, 10 May 2013
>
>Asking China to refrain from making statements that denigrate the
>Dalai Lama and Tibet's unique cultural, linguistic and religious
>traditions, the United States has said [that] the Tibetans [should]
>be permitted to express their grievances freely.
So, it is ok for Da Lama and his TGIE cohorts, and the likes of Sophie
Richardson and the NED-funded Tibetan Houses around the world, as well
as VOA and RFA, etc, to denigrate China everyday, saying such things
as "they were like an uninvited guest who came in with a gun", or
"they are occupying Tibet", or "they are making arbitrary detention of
the Tibetan people" or "they're committing self-immolation to avoid
being tortured or killed in prison" or "they're committing cultural
genocide against the Tibetan people" or anything that suits their
fancy!
But China should put tapes over her lips trying to defend herself?
What kind of fascist mentality is this?
The kind of fascists are running the U.S. State Department these days?
lo yeeOn
>"We have asked the Chinese government to refrain from statements that
>denigrate the Dalai Lama and Tibet's unique cultural, linguistic, and
>religious traditions," the state department spokesman, Patrick
>Ventrell, told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
>
>"Our lines and our policy (on Tibet) have not changed. We continue to
>call on the Chinese government to permit Tibetans to express their
>grievances freely, publicly, peacefully and without fear of
>retribution," he said in response to a question.
That's not a good sign! Because the United States were knee deep in
trying to stage an armed rebellion in Tibet with the CIA's help.
By saying that our policy toward Tibet hasn't changed, the U.S. is
admitting that it continues its policy of interference in China's
internal security.
How would we like some foreign country to be sending bombers into our
cities and explode some IEDs at our ball games and marathons, time and
again?
It is crazy foreing policy.
lo yeeOn
1) This article shows how the U.S. has been using the Dalai Lama to
destabilize China or to advance some other foreign policy agenda in
the past 50+ years despite the the monk's and his cohorts' corruption.
http://www.agreatdeception.com/news
The Dalai Lama Cables: An Instrument of US Foreign Policy
April 5, 2011
Using Da Lama to "split" the Buddhist community in various countries,
including Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan.
Dalai Lama History Japan
In the previous release from the Dalai Lama Cables, we revealed that
the US government had considered deploying the Dalai Lama in Vietnam
as a means to split the Buddhist community there and further the US
anti-communist agenda. It is clear from those discussions that the US
viewed the Dalai Lama as an asset, an instrument to be used to further
their foreign policy objectives. Given that he had accepted CIA
funding for himself (to the tune of $180,000 annually) and his
activities (some years well in excess of $1 million annually), it is
quite understandable that they'd want to get their money's worth.
Although the Dalai Lama didn't visit Vietnam, he did visit Thailand
and Japan in 1967 - two countries supposedly directly affected by the
Vietnam war according to the Domino theory.
We trawled through the cables to see what information we could find on
these trips.
A telegram from the US Embassy in Tokyo dated 1 April 1965 describes
an early stage in the planning of the Dalai Lama's trip to Japan.
What is immediately clear from the telegram is that, behind the
scenes, it is the US Secretary of State who is organising this trip.
The Ambassador in Tokyo explains that there are a number of hurdles
involved:
- The `Japanese themselves feel no particular affinity for Tibetans
and Japanese Buddhists regard Tibetan Buddhists as only distantly
related.'
- Although the Government of Japan will not prevent the visit they
are `unlikely to regard such trip with much `enthusiasm'.
- It may be difficult to find significant japanese Buddhist group
which would wish to involve itself sufficiently to sponsor Dalai
visit'.
Essentially it seems no one in Japan particularly wants the Dalai Lama
to come. Even the Buddhist clergy would only be `willing to meet with
upon his request'.
However, the first and most important point of the telegram reads:
`The Dalai Lama's visit to Japan would be advantageous from our point
of view in reminding Japanese of ChiCom attitudes'.
So, because the Dalai Lama's visit serves a US foreign policy interest
the Ambassador thinks `possibly we could stir up some support.'
Nonetheless, the ambassador assumes `if visit takes place US will not
be overtly involved.'
The visit did take place, the US pulled the strings to make it happen.
The US used the Dalai Lama and his teachings as an instrument of US
foreign policy. A pattern that appears to have been repeated again and
again.
There is something overwhelming[ly] sad about the precious teachings
of Lord Buddha being used as a weapon of psychological warfare, a mere
tool in cold war squabbles. By mixing religion and politics, the Dalai
Lama allowed this sad situation to develop. Now is the time to
completely free Buddhism from political pollution.
The Dalai Lama Cables: The US wanted to deploy the Dalai Lama in
Vietnam
March 29, 2011
As is well documented elsewhere on this site, the Dalai Lama was on
the CIA payroll from 1959 until at least 1974. He was provided with
$180,000 per year as part of the US anti-communist propaganda efforts.
What recently declassified documents now reveal is that the US wanted
to deploy the Dalai Lama in Vietnam as part of their anti-communist
propaganda efforts there. On three separate occasions deploying the
Dalai Lama is discussed at the highest level.
On 16 December 1964, General Maxwell D. Taylor suggests steps the
Government of Vietnam might take, the first of these being:
`1. Arrange for the Dalai Lama, his brother, or other Buddhist
leaders from other countries to visit Vietnam to educate Vietnamese
bonzes on the perils of Communism and their civil responsibilities.'
On March 8, 1965, Henry Cabot Lodge - the presidential consultant on
Vietnam - gives 14 recommendations regarding Vietnam to President
Johnson, recommendation number 10 is:
`The Dalai Lama should be brought to Saigon as an object lesson of
the dreadful things Communism does to high ranking Buddhist clergy.'
On 4 April, 1966, Jack Valenti - the president's special assistant -
gave the advice to President Johnson about what might be done about
the desperate situation in Vietnam. Amongst his advice was to:
`Split the Buddhist leadership:
This has possibilities. There is no durable cohesion in the Buddhist
leadership. Can we pit some of the leaders against Tri Quang? Can
we use the Dalai Lama and Buddhists outside Saigon, Hue and Da Nang
to our advantage?'
One of the main reasons for the American involvement in Vietnam was
that successive Presidents subscribed to the "Domino Theory" which
argued that if one country fell to communist forces, then all of the
surrounding countries would follow. It was, and is still, commonly
hypothesized that it applied to Vietnam. Whilst still a U.S.
senator, John F. Kennedy said in a speech to the American Friends of
Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and
obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be
threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.
The Dalai Lama didn't visit Vietnam, but in November 1967 he visited
both Japan and Thailand, two countries affected by the "Domino
Theory". These were his first trips outside of India since leaving
Tibet in 1959, and he didn't make another trip outside of India
until 1972.
We know little about who he met and who he spoke to, what messages
he passed on and for whom. In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, he
says very little about these trips but does mention that they were
at the height of the Vietnam war and that on the way into Thailand
he flew alongside a B-52 bomber.
Could the Dalai Lama have been doing the bidding of his US pay
masters? Or at least finding a way to combine their interests and his
own?
Many people wonder if the Dalai Lama's relationship with the US is the
reason why he refuses to condemn the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
that many ordinary people - not considered `the Buddha of Compassion'
- find it easy to disagree with.
The Dalai Lama Cables: A Wolf in Monk's Robes?
March 25, 2011
The Communist Chinese regime regularly refer to the Dalai Lama as "a
wolf in monk's Robes". They claim that he is behind violent protests
in Tibet, that his supposedly compassionate wish to help flood and
earthquake victims in China and Tibet is just a political ploy, that
his travels around the world giving teachings is part of a political
strategy to attack China and that the he uses the monks and
monasteries in Tibet to organize insurgency.
The Dalai Lama, himself, laughs at these claims, and the western media
laugh with him. China is portrayed as almost hysterical in its
demonizing of the Dalai Lama. But is there any truth to what they say?
The brutal suppression of the Tibetans who resist communist rule in
Tibet is well documented, and we absolutely oppose injustice and
oppression anywhere. However, the Dalai Lama is a political leader,
and all political leaders must be held up to scrunity.
As Tibetologist Jens-Uwe Hartmann of the Humboldt-Universitat in
Berlin said:
`The glorification of the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a political
leader will not help the democratization process. A critical debate
on his political statements must be possible and should not be
suppressed by the argument that criticism only serves the Chinese.
We have examined the declassified US State Department documents and we
have found evidence that could support all three of the Chinese
claims:
With respect to organizing protests, the Dalai Lama and his
representatives refer to the protests as `spontaneous'. However, in a
telegram from the New Delhi Embassy dated 30 March 1967, we can see
that the Bureau of the Dalai Lama privately admit that they were
involved in organizing these "spontaneous" protests.
With respect to exploiting natural disasters - such as floods and
earthquakes - for political gain, a telegram from the US Embassy in
Calcutta, dated 8 January 1955, describes a "Tibetan Flood Relief
Commitee" set up by the Tibetans in exile. The telegram makes it clear
that the benefits of supporting the relief effort are to win a
propaganda coup over the Chinese communists and to support the
resistence fighters positions. Furthermore, the telegram explicitly
reveals that the "tibetan exiles conceived TFRC principally as a
psychological tactic against Chinese communists"
With respect to using teaching visits as a political strategy against
China, a United States Government Office Memorandum dated 21 February
1952 contains fascinating information. The context of the memo is a
discussion of how best to respond to the Dalai Lama's request for US
assistance against the Chinese Communists. The Dalai Lama's request
was brought by his brother Taktse Rimpche. In the memo a discussion
between various interested parties, including the CIA, is referenced.
The CIA went on to formulate and fund a strategy of anti-communist
propaganda with the Dalai Lama that included sponsoring him
personally, and well as establishing Tibet Houses on his behalf in
various locations and encouraging him to teach widely. In the
discussion mentioned in this memo, they describe organizing a teaching
tour by distinguished Buddhist leaders as:
"a major step towards utilizing certain elements of the Buddhist
world in one aspect of psychological warfare".
With respect to using the monks and monasteries in Tibet to organise
insurgency, a telegram from the US Embassy in Calcutta to the
Secretary of State in Washington, dated 11 September 1952, reveals:
"Gyalo and Shakabpa with Dalai Lama's knowledge seriously
considering forming secret organisation to infiltrate Tibet from
India, and possibly Nepal, using Tibetan Monasteries as centers
for anti-communist resistance; propaganda first, weapons later."
We know from other documents that this plan was put into effect.
Of course these declassified documents are now revealing old facts,
but also they reveal a modus operandi. In A Great Deception we traced
the various events surrounding the violent uprising in Tibet before
the Beijing Olympics in 2008 back to the Dalai Lama and his key
representatives.
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money
February 28, 2011
In the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Dalai Lama and
the Tibetan refugees were inundated with aid in the form of money,
food, clothing, blankets, medicines, land, accommodation, livestock
and so forth.
Many international charities, such as The Red Cross, CARE, Catholic
Relief Services, The National Christian Council, the American Friends
Service Committee, the American Emergency Committee for Tibetan
Refugees and others, gave extensively.
Many national governments, such as the UK, France, Canada, New
Zealand, the US and especially India gave generously to the Tibetan
cause.
In the over fifty years since the Chinese invasion, the plight of the
Tibetans rarely leaves media attention for long. It has become without
doubt one of the most successful on-going fund-raising campaigns ever,
drawing millions and millions of dollars in donations, merchandise and
event-tickets each year.
Where has all the money gone? What has it been used for? When
Australian journalist Michael Backman tried to discover the answer to
these fundamental questions he found:
"Details of the government-in-exile's funding today are far from
clear."
"It is not clear" how donations enter its budgeting. These are
likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama's
Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or
of their "sources".
Certainly, there are plenty of rumours among expatriate Tibetans of
endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the
Dalai Lama.
In part one of this series of articles we quoted from Tashi Tsering's
autobiography, before helping Gyalo Thondup transport the Dalai Lama's
treasure from Sikkim to Calcutta, whilst back in Lhasa before the
Chinese invasion, he had worked in the treasury of the Tibetan
government. He recounted his experiences there (p63 of the
autobiography):
"I was still disillusioned and angry about what I had seen going on
in the treasury office in Lhasa. The ordinary people sent their
taxes and tribute in the form of money and goods, and both monk and
lay officials just took what they wanted. There were ledgers filled
with accounts of tea bricks, butter, cloth, gold, and silver. I saw
the records that showed that the more powerful monks, especially
those from aristocratic families and the Dalai Lama's household,
"borrowed" any of these things they wished and never returned
them. There was no overall record, no auditing. The officials and
their friends and family could come in and take anything they
fancied. I saw them doing so with my own eyes."
Tashi Tsering was offered a position in the newly formed
Tibetan-Government-in-Exile, but turned it down:
"I felt that going to work for the exiled aristocrats and monks
would have meant going to work to restore the same old system."
Could this be the answer to Michael Backman's questions? Could this be
where the money went? In his pursuit of answers, Backman, uncovered
some more inconvenient truths:
"Like many Asian politicians, the Dalai Lama has been remarkably
nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of
prominence. In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag,
or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama."
"An older brother served as chairman of the Kashag and as the
minister of security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra
movement in the 1960s."
"A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile's
planning council and its Department of Health."
"A younger sister served as health and education minister and her
husband served as head of the government-in-exile's Department of
Information and International Relations."
"Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in
exile. A younger brother has served as a senior member of the private
office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as education
minister."
"The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the representative of
the Tibetan government-in-exile for northern Europe and head of
international relations for the government-in-exile. All these
positions give the Dalai Lama's family access to millions of dollars
collected on behalf of the government-in-exile."
* See Also: Part 1 | Part 2 (below)
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money - Part 2
February 22, 2011
In part one, we showed how despite having tens of millions of dollars
worth of gold stored in banks in Calcutta, the Dalai Lama successfully
pleaded poverty to the United States government and secured a tax-free
hand out of $180,000 per annum from 1959 onwards.
By the 60s, however, some in the US administration were questioning
the wisdom of these payments to the Dalai Lama, and the on-going
financial support of the Tibetan refugees.
One illustration of this is the response to a letter from the Dalai
Lama to the US President in late 1966, where the Dalai Lama mentions
his plan to resettle with 400 Tibetans in the United States... with
the apparent assumption that the US government will foot the $425,000
bill for this.
The response is straight-forward: "No USG funds are available."
Subsequent cables reveal an interesting development. In 1969, the
Dalai Lama's personal representative Lodi Gyari lets the Americans
know that the Dalai Lama has been negotiating with the Soviets [at
that time the sworn enemy of the United States] for financial
assistance.
"Lodi concluded by stating that the Dalai Lama and he would much
prefer to take American financial assistance and he hoped I would
give the matter close attention, for they had to get help from
somewhere."
An exquisite hustle by anyone's standards.
Furthermore, in his report to the State Department, the US Ambassador
noted, with some alarm, how during a recent public lecture:
"The Dalai Lama emphasized that he did not oppose communism, or for
that matter any isms in particular. He declared that an independent
Tibet could have a communist government or any other form supported
by the majority of the people. What Tibetans opposed was foreign
domination. In the current context, these remarks would appear to
have been primarily directed towards Moscow."
Imagine the horror back in Washington at the prospect of their trump
card in the global propaganda war against communism switching sides -
swapping the CIA for the KGB, and happily inviting communist rule in
Tibet.
Needless to say, funding for the Dalai Lama was granted, and his CIA
support renewed at the next review in 1971, and again in the following
years. The US congress continues to financially support the Dalai
Lama, and the CIA subsidy has been replaced by National Endowment for
Democracy funding. As Professor Sautman reports:
The United States is at least the second-largest donor, after
India, to the TGIE, providing $2 million in "humanitarian aid"
annually and may be the largest donor.109 Since 2004 it has given
the exiles $4 million annually and provided $5.25 million for
"Tibetan community assistance" in 2008.110 The U.S. National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) supplies additional funds.111 The
group's founding president, Allen Weinstein, has said, "A lot of
what [the NED does] today was done covertly 25 years ago by the
CIA. 112
Notes:
109. M. Kripalani, "World Watches India's Response to Tibet", Business
Week (India), March 21, 2008. Most TGIE income is from Western state
grants. In 2006-7, grants totaled US$17.5 million. "Rinpoche Defies
China as Tibet's Prime Minister Based in India", Bloomberg, April 30,
2008. See also Roemer, Tibetan Government-in-Exile, 118-23 on the
dependence of the TGIE and Tibetan exiles in India (three-fourths of
whom do not work) on external financial support. The TGIE has said its
annual budget is $700,000, leaving substantial funds for
internationalization activities; Velloor, In "Tibetan Exiles Keep the
Fight Alive."
110. Thomas Lam, "U.S.-Funded Assistance Programs in China",
Congressional Research Service RS22663 (January 28, 2008). An official
Chinese news source has reported that the US Congress appropriated
US$2.4 million for Tibetan exile organizations in 2009, up by 25
percent over 2008. Almost 89 percent of the TGIE's 2005 revenues
derived from foreign aid and it has annually spent 30-40 percent of
its funds on projects related to the Tibet Question and representation
abroad. Yi Duo, "Dalai Lama bianshen `yao qian shu' Liancai zhi shu
bei meiti baoguang ("The Dalai Lama has been changed into one `shaking
the money tree': techniques of accumulating wealth by unfair means
exposed by media), Huangqiu Shibao [Global Times], June 19, 2009.
The Dalai Lama Cables: Follow the Money - Part 1
February 13, 2011
Recently declassified US State Department cables reveal the workings
of the Dalai Lama and his inner circle.
Throughout the 1950s the Dalai Lama negotiated with the US government
for military and financial assistance. In the State Department United
States Policy Concerning the Legal Status of Tibet - 1942-1956', a
summary of the US government's response is given:
"The United States was prepared to provide light arms, but it was
not prepared to pay the expenses of the Dalai Lama and his retinue
if they sought asylum abroad, because it assumed that the Dalai Lama
had enough treasure to pay his own expenses."
When the Dalai Lama finally did flee Tibet in early 1959, he sent his
brother, Gyalo Thondup, to ask for financial and military
assistance. Gyalo Thondup let it be known that:
"The Dalai Lama did not bring out any treasures from Tibet and
consequently was very hard up financially."
The declassified documents show that the Dalai Lama received a
personal subsidy from the US government - a covert payment arranged by
the CIA - of 180,000 US Dollars per year from 1959 through till at
least 1974. To put this in a modern context 180,000 dollars in the
1950s would be worth nearly 1.5 million today, and 180,000 dollars in
the seventies would be worth nearly 800,000 today. Considering the US
intended not to support the Dalai Lama financially that's a pretty
generous subsidy to have squeezed out of them.
An alternative version of the "no treasure brought from Tibet" story
can be found in The Struggle for Modern Tibet: The Autobiography of
Tashi Tsering on pages 57-58:
"During the 1950s, though the Dalai Lama himself was in Tibet, the
gold and silver remained in one of the storehouses of the maharaja
of Sikkim. The Chinese had asked for its return but had not made an
issue of it at the time. Following the Lhasa Uprising and the flight
of the Dalai Lama, they claimed that the money was not the Dalai
Lama's personal fortune but belonged to the country - which they now
considered to belong to them. At that point the Tibetan leaders
decided it was time to secure their treasure more permanently and
farther away from the border; and because of my association with
Gyalola [Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's brother], I found myself
involved. It was quite an "operation".
The gold and silver were in the form of coins and ingots. When I
became involved, the gold and silver were being hand-loaded onto
trucks in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, and driven south to
Siliguri, the location of the nearest airstrip. At the airport the
literally millions of dollars' worth of gold were loaded onto Dakota
cargo planes and flown to Calcutta.
When this precious cargo reached Calcutta, the gold was immediately
put into the banks. But for a while the silver was stored in a
single room on the third floor of a trusted Tibetan merchant's
house. It was my responsibility to stand guard over it, and for
nearly a month I stood sentinel in a silent room full of coins and
odd pieces of silver."
It is estimated that the Dalai Lama had nearly 5 tons of solid gold at
his disposal in India. For a man with tens of millions of dollars in
the bank to successfully plead poverty to the United States government
is quite a feat.
Admittedly, the Dalai Lama had left the bulk of his fortune back in
Lhasa - for example, in the west chapel of the Potala Palace there is
a tomb with nearly 5 tons of solid gold encasing it, there's no need
to mention the thousands of other golden statues, tombs and works of
art.
This rather clever con trick wasn't the only time the Dalai Lama
rolled the US over, as we'll see in part 2 (coming soon).
The Dalai Lama Wikileaks - Curious Statistics
February 5th, 2011
The recent release of US State Department cables by whistle-blowing
website Wikileaks.org has revealed some curious statistics in relation
to the Tibetans in exile.
Clearly, Tibet and the Dalai Lama are at the centre of a propaganda
war between the United States and Communist China. In virtually all
western media, the Tibetans are portrayed like the Ewoks from Star
Wars - as cute, cuddly, harmless and deeply spiritual - while the
Chinese are demonized - sinophobic charicatures like Ming the
Merciless from Flash Gordon spring to Mind. This media distortion has
been carefully orchestrated with the US's vested interests in mind. A
closer analysis of the Wikileaks cables reveals statistics that
challenge this popular myth.
In one cable it reveals that far from being pacifists, most of the
Tibetans serve in the military. The cables states:
"Most Tibetan men in northeastern India join the SFF [Special
Frontier Force]. In Gangtok, [...] the majority of men work for the
SFF; and in Ravangla, 90% of the Tibetan families have at least one
family member serving."
That so many Tibetans serve in the military may come as a shock to
some readers, and they may perhaps think this must be a recent
development, quite unusual for the Tibetans. Such a view would only
demonstrate how deeply effective the Dalai Lama's efforts to rewrite
Tibetan history have been. In his illuminating article "Vegetarian
between Meals: The Dalai Lama, War, and Violence", Professor Barry
Sautman presents facts that are in stark contrast with the picture the
Dalai Lama likes to paint. Professor Sautman provides references for
every statement he makes, his sources are listed below.
The Dalai Lama has said "the people of Tibet are, by their nature,
honest, gentle and kind," that "Tibetan culture is a compassionate and
non-violent culture" under the kings and Dalai Lamas . . . and "peace
and happiness prevailed in Tibet". 20 He has also stated that "Tibetan
culture [is] based on peaceful relations," 21 and that "before 1950,
Tibet was completely a land of peace." 22
Tibetans, including monks, have however long borne arms against
outsiders and each other in wars between rulers or Buddhist sects.31
The "Great Fifth" Dalai Lama ferociously annihilated enemies and their
families. 32 Tibetan armies warred in Ladakh in 1679-84 and in Bhutan
many times in the eighteenth century, against Zunghar Mongols in 1720,
Nepal from 1788 to 1792 and 1854 to 1858, Ladakh in 1842, and Britain
in 1904.33 From the late eighteenth century, the ancient regime had a
standing army,34 and in the early twentieth century, the "Great 13th"
had a ministry of war oversee his British-trained army. He advised
Tibetans that, "where [peaceful means] are not appropriate, [they
should] not hesitate to resort to more forceful means."35 The present
Dalai Lama has noted that the Thirteenth did "raise an army, train it
as best as possible. Just between us, this isn't strictly practicing
nonviolence." During World War I, the Thirteenth offered his British
patrons one thousand troops,37 and in 1920 he dispatched his army to
help the murderously racist Russian baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
assault Mongolia's capital.38
In Eastern Tibet, in the first half of the twentieth century, Lhasa's
army fought Tibetans led by eastern chieftains and both fought
non-Tibetan warlord armies. People from Kham fought around 400-500
major battles both against the Chinese and the Lhasa government,
between 1911 and 1935. These armed guerrilla forces increasingly
occupied the central Tibetan military. The fighting intensified after
the death of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933 and the eastern
Tibetans, moreover, sought a separate state, independent from any Han
and central Tibetan control. 40 Violent conflicts occurred in Tibet
right up to around the old regime's fall. 41 Some 10 to 15 percent of
monks at three large Lhasa monasteries were fighting monks (dobdob)
who had access to guns; more generally "lamas had their own courts and
prisons, and often organized their own militias and possessed
thousands of guns and horses." 42 In a 1947 civil war, thousands of
monks fought with artillery and guns and as many as three hundred
died. 43
To illustrate just how militarized the Tibetan people were, Professor
Sautman provides us with a statistical comparison to the present
United States military:
In 1950 the Tibetan army had twelve thousand troops for a region
of 1.2 million people.44 The United States, with 761 bases abroad,
has only half that proportion of its people under arms.45
The carefully crafted image of the Dalai Lama as a benign spiritual
leader, and of Tibet as a Shangri-la, is a weapon in the CIA's
propaganda war. The Dalai Lama has knowingly colluded with the
myth-building about himself and Tibet. A more realistic assessment of
the present Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lamas through history can be
found in "A Great Deception".
Professor Sautman's sources:
. . .
The Dalai Lama Cables: No Noble Peace - Epilogue
February 1st, 2011
In this series of articles we comprehensively refuted the Dalai Lama's
qualification for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (please see
previous articles below)
Throughout the articles please bear in mind the words of Egil Aarvik
when presenting the Dalai Lama with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize:
This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded "first and foremost
for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people's
struggle to regain their liberty.
"This is by no means the first community of exiles in the world,
but it is assuredly the first and only one that has not set up any
militant liberation movement."
Please also bear in mind that the Dalai Lama is a fully ordained
Buddhist monk with vows to forsake killing and any actions of harming
others.
Over the course of the previous articles in this series we showed how
the Dalai Lama personally requested the CIA involvement in Tibet - an
involvement that led to thousands of deaths on both sides.
Now we can contrast the evidence found in the US State Department
documents with the Dalai Lama's own words:
Some quotes from his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:
"The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and
determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated."
"Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our
struggle must remain nonviolent."
And some from the Nobel Lecture he gave thereafter:
"I speak to inform you of the sad situation in my country today and
of the aspirations of my people, because in our struggle for
freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess."
"Despite the fact that we have not drawn attention to our plight by
means of violence, we have not been forgotten."
He has always, and continues to this day, to distance himself from the
CIA activities in Tibet. He blames his brothers, claims they acted
without his knowledge, claims he wasn't informed, and so on and so
forth.
In his autobiography "Freedom in Exile" he says:
"The other sad episode concerned the guerillas, trained and equipped
by the CIA, who continued their struggle to regain Tibetan freedom
by violent means. On more than one occasion, I tried to discover
detailed information about these operations from Gyalo Thondup and
others, but I have never heard the full story ...
"Although I admired the determination of the guerillas, I had never
been in favour of their activities."
How hollow all these words sound now, in the light of the truths
revealed.
The Dalai Lama Cables: No Noble Peace - Part 5
January 29th, 2011
In this series of articles we will comprehensively refute the Dalai
Lama's qualification for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Throughout the articles please bear in mind the words of Egil Aarvik
when presenting the Dalai Lama with the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize:
"This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded ... first and
foremost for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his
people's struggle to regain their liberty.
"This is by no means the first community of exiles in the world, but
it is assuredly the first and only one that has not set up any
militant liberation movement."
Please also bear in mind that the Dalai Lama is a fully ordained
Buddhist monk with vows to forsake killing and any actions of harming
others.
As illustrated in the previous article in this series, the Dalai Lama
called in the deal he had made with the US Government for military and
financial support for a war against the Chinese Communists over Tibet.
Here we give some details as to the measure of the support that was
afforded. This previously top secret document is now publicly
available. We urge everyone interested in the Dalai Lama and Tibet to
read it.
This shows that the US government was true to its words and for the
best part of two decades provided millions of dollars each year to
fund the Dalai Lama's war. Included in this was an annual personal
subsidy of $180,000 to the Dalai Lama. We also note that the CIA was
behind the development of "Tibet Houses" around the world - a subject
we will return to later.
In conclusion to this series of articles, we have comprehensively
refuted the claim that the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. Egil Aarvik's
praise of him for "his consistent resistance to the use of violence in
his people's struggle to regain their liberty" could not be any more
hollow.
2) In the aftermath of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Dalai Lama
and the Tibetan refugees were inundated with aid in the form of money,
food, clothing, blankets, medicines, land, accommodation, livestock
and so forth.
Many international charities, such as The Red Cross, CARE, Catholic
Relief Services, The National Christian Council, the American Friends
Service Committee, the American Emergency Committee for Tibetan
Refugees and others, gave extensively.
Many national governments, such as the UK, France, Canada, New
Zealand, the US and especially India gave generously to the Tibetan
cause.
In the over fifty years since the Chinese invasion, the plight of the
Tibetans rarely leaves media attention for long. It has become without
doubt one of the most successful on-going fund-raising campaigns ever,
drawing millions and millions of dollars in donations, merchandise and
event-tickets each year.
Where has all the money gone? What has it been used for? When
Australian journalist Michael Backman tried to discover the answer to
these fundamental questions he found:
"Details of the government-in-exile's funding today are far from
clear."
"It is not clear" how donations enter its budgeting. These are
likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama's
Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or
of their "sources".
Certainly, there are plenty of rumours among expatriate Tibetans of
endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the
Dalai Lama.
In part one of this series of articles we quoted from Tashi Tsering's
autobiography, before helping Gyalo Thondup transport the Dalai Lama's
treasure from Sikkim to Calcutta, whilst back in Lhasa before the
Chinese invasion, he had worked in the treasury of the Tibetan
government. He recounted his experiences there (p63 of the
autobiography):
"I was still disillusioned and angry about what I had seen going on
in the treasury office in Lhasa. The ordinary people sent their
taxes and tribute in the form of money and goods, and both monk and
lay officials just took what they wanted. There were ledgers filled
with accounts of tea bricks, butter, cloth, gold, and silver. I saw
the records that showed that the more powerful monks, especially
those from aristocratic families and the Dalai Lama's household,
"borrowed" any of these things they wished and never returned
them. There was no overall record, no auditing. The officials and
their friends and family could come in and take anything they
fancied. I saw them doing so with my own eyes."
Tashi Tsering was offered a position in the newly formed
Tibetan-Government-in-Exile, but turned it down:
"I felt that going to work for the exiled aristocrats and monks
would have meant going to work to restore the same old system."
Could this be the answer to Michael Backman's questions? Could this be
where the money went? In his pursuit of answers, Backman, uncovered
some more inconvenient truths:
"Like many Asian politicians, the Dalai Lama has been remarkably
nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of
prominence. In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag,
or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama."
"An older brother served as chairman of the Kashag and as the
minister of security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra
movement in the 1960s."
"A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile's
planning council and its Department of Health."
"A younger sister served as health and education minister and her
husband served as head of the government-in-exile's Department of
Information and International Relations."
"Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in
exile. A younger brother has served as a senior member of the private
office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as education
minister."
"The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the representative of
the Tibetan government-in-exile for northern Europe and head of
international relations for the government-in-exile. All these
positions give the Dalai Lama's family access to millions of dollars
collected on behalf of the government-in-exile."
In part one, we showed how despite having tens of millions of dollars
worth of gold stored in banks in Calcutta, the Dalai Lama successfully
pleaded poverty to the United States government and secured a tax-free
hand out of $180,000 per annum from 1959 onwards.
By the 60s, however, some in the US administration were questioning
the wisdom of these payments to the Dalai Lama, and the on-going
financial support of the Tibetan refugees.
One illustration of this is the response to a letter from the Dalai
Lama to the US President in late 1966, where the Dalai Lama mentions
his plan to resettle with 400 Tibetans in the United States... with
the apparent assumption that the US government will foot the $425,000
bill for this.
For details see
http://www.agreatdeception.com/news
-----
Some indirect confirmation from the NYT 14/April/2013:
By EDWARD WONG
Published: April 13, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/world/asia/china-makes-inroads-in-nepal-stemming-tibetan-presence.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
. . .
The earliest Tibetan refugees arrived in Nepal in 1959, when the Dalai
Lama fled Tibet, and they settled in refugee camps, of which there are
still 13. A Tibetan enclave sprang up around Boudhanath. Some Tibetans
became rich by making carpets and handicrafts, and prominent Tibetan
monasteries amassed wealth and purchased prime real estate in the
Katmandu Valley.
>
>
>http://www.tibetsun.com/news/2013/05/10/refrain-from-statements-denigrating-dalai-lama-us-to-china
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