Bomb-Throwing Monks and Nancy Pelosi

Things seem to be going from bad to worse in China. Information is so hard to come by and worse, hard to rely on. Here's a real thriller from the South China Morning Post, followed by Al-Jazeera providing hard news.
World warned about Tibetan 'terrorist' group
Beijing goes on verbal offensive against activists,
Nancy Pelosi
Josephine Ma in Beijing and Reuter, Apr 14, 2008
Beijing has gone on the offensive against western critics of its handling of the riots in Tibet by slamming US politician Nancy Pelosi as "the least popular person in China" and labelling the Tibetan Youth Congress as the No1 common enemy of humankind.
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=56d95afa63849110VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=China&s=News
Get this: you have to pay to read the rest!!! Now that's real communism, BushCo Style!
Tibetan monks held for 'bomb plot'
Al-Jazeera, April 13, 2008
Lhasa, Tibet (China) -- Nine Tibetan Buddhist monks have been arrested for involvement in an alleged bomb attack on a government building in China's Tibetan region, the official Xinhua News Agency says.
The monks from the Tongxia monastery fled after the homemade bomb exploded at the building in Gyanbe township on March 23, and later confessed to planting the explosive, Xinhua said late on Saturday.
Arrests confirmed
Xinhua did not explain why the alleged incident was not reported earlier, and it did mention any casualties or damage in the explosion.
A man who answered the phone at the Gongjue county "public security bureau" confirmed that nine suspects had been detained.
Six were planting the bomb and three were shielding the suspects and covering up their crimes, he said.
The man refused to give his name because he said he was not authorised to talk to the media.
A woman at the Tibetan regional public security department said she was not sure about the case because it was still under investigation.
The attack was the first alleged bombing reported in Tibet since anti-China protests began on March 10 in the capital, Lhasa.
[...] Hu Jintao, the Chinese premier, spoke on the issue for the first time on Saturday, during a meeting with Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, on the sidelines of a regional economic forum in Hainan.
"Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem," Xinhua quoted Hu as saying, referring to supporters of the Dalai Lama.
"It is a problem either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland."
Earlier this month, Beijing accused Tibetan independence forces of organising suicide squads of launching violent attacks against China.
Wu Heping, a spokesman for China's public security ministry, also claimed that searches of monasteries in Lhasa had uncovered a large cache of weapons.
On Friday, China labelled a group linked to the Tibetan government-in-exile a "terrorist organisation".[…]
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=46,6220,0,0,1,0

Chinese Goons Take Over London?

Photo: YUI MOK/The Associated Press

Along London's Olympic torch route, a police officer Sunday tackled a man protesting China's human rights record and the recent crackdown on Tibet.
A fellow blogger has forwarded a very important and unexplored, (here in the USA) angle on the Olympic torch problem, at least regarding the events in London. I’ve selected a few paragraphs but you can go to the link below for the full blog:
Curly’s Corner Shop,
The Blog
April 8, 2008
Black Tuesday for Brown
Any good news for the PM?
[...] I wonder how comfortable our Scottish Prime Minister has felt seeing images of Chinese goons manhandling protesters on the streets of London, and pushing and urging on their British police counterparts as the Olympic Flame stumbled on it’s way? Apparently, Kevin Rudd, the Australian PM has declared that they will not be able to do the same job in his country, the Aussies will look after security themselves, the big question must be ‘who gave the authority for this display of Chinese security tactics?’
Geoffrey Wheatcroft writing in the Daily Mail says:
“The Prime Minister hadn’t himself planned this dismal event, and it would be nice to think that he hated every moment of it.”
Yes, he had a horrified look upon his face as the Olympic Torch closed in on him in Downing Street, he was at pains to ensure that he did not touch it himself, why doesn’t he take a big brave Merkel type decision to stay away from the games’ opening ceremony in Beijing?
In another article Lord Coe condemned the army of Chinese “thugs” who accompanied the Olympic torch relay through London.
The head of London’s 2012 Games described as “horrible” the burly henchmen who barged their way through the capital, shoving the public and even police out of the way.
“One thing in Paris is to get rid of those guys. They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English. They were thugs.”
The blue track suited goons were seen on television using judo tactics to bring down protesters before pushing the ‘yellow jacket’ British Police towards them, and what were they all carrying in those bum bags on belts around their waists? I sincerely hope they were first aid kits!
So who authorised their presence? Was it the British Olympic Association or the Greater London Authority? Where did the Home Office fit into the jigsaw puzzle? [my bold]
Either way, the Metropolitan Police do not seem impressed at all;
Privately, police were said to be furious as officers were made to look ridiculous, jogging along in cycle helmets and holding hands to form a chain around the bearers.



http://curly15.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/black-tuesday-for-brown/
Not to be frivolous, but I got a thrill when my fave “AbFab” gal, Jayne Secker, was interviewed on the video report, expressing “the greatest abhorrence” at what the Chinese government was doing to Tibet and other ethnic minorities. A great actor and citizen. Right on!