Through a Blurry Cellphone Video, Darkly

LANGUAGE, IDENTITY & REVOLUTION IN TIBET . The task of getting news out of Tibet these day has taken on the frustrating ambience of  cold-war research methodology. We haven’t exactly gone back to the days of Sovietologists and China watchers poring over precious photographs of Mayday line-ups for scraps of usable information, but we’re heading …

Investigating Lobsang Sangay’s “Obama of China” Statement

Thanks to Lobsang Sangay la and Jamyang Norbu la, the Kalon Tripa race has its first Sarah Palin incident. Palin, of course, is the defeated 2008 U.S. vice presidential candidate who supposedly said she had foreign policy experience because she could “see Russia” from her house in Alaska. That gaffe was taken somewhat out of context to criticize the half-term governor for her perceived weakness; in her case inexperience.

Further Musings on the Upcoming Elections

Readers must forgive me for nit picking, but the term “kalon-tripa”, literally “the enthroned minister” bothers me. It doesn’t exactly sit well (no pun intended) in a democratic system. Thrones might be okay, these day, for titular sovereigns as the Queen of England or the King of Thailand, and certainly for His Holiness who Tibetans …

Football, Robben Island & the Relativism of Political Cruelty

Well, the World Cup’s over and the teams and visitors have all gone home, but the afterglow of achievement hasn’t entirely faded for South Africans. The people of this struggling “rainbow nation”, especially its new president Jacob Zuma, can be deservedly proud of having successfully hosted this tremendous international sporting event. Over forty years ago …

Funeral Games*

Few pleasures can beat the funeral of someone you loathe. It is not, I admit, a very Buddhist sentiment, but I think karma (the hardcore, not the new age version) will, this once, overlook my rancor, when I add that the someone in question is the late…