Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead
Bullet strikes the helmet's head
Jim Morrison, The Unknown Soldier
PROPAGANDA- ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause.
The propaganda war is on and there are two sides to this coin.
Point in fact for the purpose of this discussion: The Chinese media is controlled by the communist government. No question. Do they use their media to further their cause? Certainly.
Who is on the other side of the coin?
You may be surprised...
The Chinese are not particularly good at propaganda outside of their sphere of influence. Their expertise is to control the narrative by shutting down sources of information internally. In these times of immediate access to damn near every iota of information, this is a losing battle for the Chinese.
The stifling of information also gives any opposition opportunity to fill the void with their "ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause".
As a result, it is difficult to get information out of Tibet. We are forced to rely on other sources. The leading source of "information" from Tibet and into Tibet is Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private radio station funded by the United States Congress that broadcasts in nine Asian languages.
Radio Free Asia was originally a radio station broadcasting propaganda for the US-American government in local languages to mostly communist countries in Asia. It was originally founded and funded in 1950 by the CIA.
Wiki
I didn't understand how a "private" radio station could be funded by the American Government and I became worried about the CIA link to RFA so I researched farther.
I was relieved to discover that RFA is not controlled or funded presently by the CIA.
Whew, I feel better now knowing RFA is funded and regulated by the
Broadcasting Board of Governors.
But then I wondered who is on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). I discovered that the BBG is headed by Bush appointee, James K. Glassman. Condi is also on the board. Reading Glassman's bio, I then discovered he is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
from wiki...
AEI lists their scholars and fellows on their web site. Some prominent current or former AEI scholars and fellows include the following:
* John R. Bolton, former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
* Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, AEI senior fellow.
* Reuel Marc Gerecht is a resident fellow. He is the director of the Project for the New American Century's Middle East Initiative and a former Middle East specialist at the CIA.
* Frederick Kagan is a military historian and signatory of Project for the New American Century manifesto titled Rebuilding America's Defenses (2000) along with his brother Robert (co-founder of the PNAC) and his father and fellow neo-conservative, Donald Kagan.
* Michael Ledeen was previously involved in the transfer of arms to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair — an adventure that he documented in his book, Perilous Statecraft: An Insider's Account of the Iran-Contra Affair.
* Richard Perle served on the United States Defense Policy Board and is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense.
* Paul Wolfowitz (Visiting Scholar), A "major architect of President Bush's Iraq policy and, within the [George W. Bush] Administration, its most passionate and compelling advocate.
* John Yoo, formerly of the Office of Legal Counsel, and a professor at Boalt Hall, is a visiting scholar.
AEI's scholars and fellows are responsible for conducting research and writing on subjects of their individual knowledge and interest, disseminating the results of their research through publications and presentations at AEI and elsewhere....
Now I'm worried again. I want to know what's actually going on in Tibet. Do I trust the Chinese Media? No.
Do I trust information that I know is strongly influenced by the AEI and the BBG? No.
And neither should you, no matter how much empathy you feel for the people of Tibet.
As you can see from the stellar list of war criminals pigs above, the AEI is an arm of Project for a New American Century (PNAC).
These scoundrels are not interested in Tibet or the plight of the Tibetan people at all. They are interested in global conflict.
PNAC's credo is officially to muster "the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests". PNAC states that the US must be sure of "deterring any potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role" -
..and who can forget this
"Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event––like a new Pearl Harbor"
...and then there's this
America has a vital role in maintaining peace and security in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. If we shirk our responsibilities, we invite challenges to our fundamental interests. The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire.
The death of the NeoCon movement has been greatly exaggerated. They are alive and well and up to their old games.
Remembering the deceit and criminal actions of these Chickenhawks responsible for the current fustercluck in the Middle East, are we to trust them at all in controlling the information coming from and going into Tibet and neighboring regions?
Are the Tibetans to be the new Iraqis, pawns in a global game of world domination proposed by the rogues gallery listed above?
We have seen distortions by all sides during the current situation in Tibet.
Stuff like this bothers me..
The Tibetan government-in-exile says up to 140 were killed in the protests ... The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia said Saturday it had unconfirmed ...
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080405/ap_on_re_as/china_tibet
And there have been some reports on Radio Free Asia that two people were .... Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans were killed, including 19 in ...
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88236362&ft=1&f=2100302 -
Mar 18, 2008 ... "We have unconfirmed reports that about 100 people have been killed ... US-based Radio Free Asia on Saturday also quoted Tibetans in Lhasa ...
www.thaindian.com/news-snippet/
Mar 18, 2008 ... Radio Free Asia, a radio station funded by the U.S. government, .... in India said about 100 were believed dead, citing unconfirmed sources. ...
forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=116551
Radio Free Asia, funded by the U.S. government, quoted a Lhasa resident saying that as Tibetan rioters ransacked shops, police were firing "live ammunition" ...
www.thestar.com/printArticle/346411
The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia said it had unconfirmed reports ...Forbes
Apr 5, 2008 ... The London-based Free Tibet Campaign said Friday police fired on ... The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia said it had unconfirmed ...ABC
All of these "unconfirmed" reports originating from Radio Free Asia appear to contradict eyewitness reports from a BBC reporter on the ground during the riots and a German reporter that interviewed local Tibetans in Lhasa that I have linked to below.
Watch and listen to this from Exile Government spokesperson Dawa Tsering as he explains how they gather information for dissemination on RFA and more shockingly, his rationalization that beating Chinese and Hui people is "non-violent" and that the deaths of the 5 young girls, the 10 month old baby and others that were immolated as they hid from the rioters were "accidents" because they didn't run away fast enough. This is the epitome of bad PR and irresponsible journalism as well as a heretical view of non-violent Buddhism. I have double checked this and can say that this representative for the Government in Exile said this on Radio France Internationale, But, I know some will claim it is bogus so here's the links.
Source: www.tibet.com
This site is maintained and updated by The Office of Tibet, the official agency of His Holiness His Holiness the Dalai Lama in London. This Web page may be linked to any other Web sites. Contents may not be altered.
Last updated: 27-Feb-2008
www.tibet.com/NewsRoom/newoot1.htm
Mr. Dawa Tsering, Additional Secretary at the Department of Information and International Relations will be the new representative at the Taiwan office.
Department of Information and International Relations
Kalon - Kesang Y. Takla (Mrs.)
Secretary (Information) - Thubten Samphel
Secretary (International Relations) - Sonam Norbu Dagpo
Secretary - Lobsang Tsultrim Jeshong
Additional Secretary - Dawa Tsering
This is the link to Radio France Internationale's website that verifies the interview took place on April 2, 2008. Sorry, it's in Chinese, but it is a transcript of the interview with Dawa on the official website of RFI.
Wiki
Radio France Internationale (RFI) was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France.
RFI operates under the auspices and primary budget of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. It broadcasts in various languages, including English, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Chinese and Spanish.
This is what Dawa Tsering said in Chinese with English translation.
And now a word from a real journalist James Miles, a reporter for The Economist and BBC, was in Lhasa by chance when the riots broke out he was allowed to stay and was unattended. Below are some cuts of his eyewitness account that was shown on CNN International on March 20th .
Q. How easy was it for you to see what you wanted to see?
A. Well remarkably so, given that the authorities are normally extremely sensitive about the presence of foreign journalists when this kind of incident occurs.
Q. What you say you saw corroborates the official version. What exactly did you see?
A. What I saw was calculated targeted violence against an ethnic group, or I should say two ethnic groups, primarily ethnic Han Chinese living in Lhasa, but also members of the Muslim Hui minority in Lhasa. And the Huis in Lhasa control much of the meat industry in the city. Those two groups were singled out by ethnic Tibetans. They marked those businesses that they knew to be Tibetan owned with white traditional scarves. Those businesses were left intact.
A. Well the Chinese response to this was very interesting. Because you would expect at the first sings of any unrest in Lhasa, which is a city on a knife-edge at the best of times. That the response would be immediate and decisive. That they would cordon off whatever section of the city involved, that they would grab the people involved in the unrest. In fact what we saw, and I was watching it at the earliest stages, was complete inaction on the part of the authorities. It seemed as if they were paralyzed by indecision over how to handle this. The rioting rapidly spread from Beijing Road, this main central thoroughfare of Lhasa, into the narrow alleyways of the old Tibetan quarter. But I didn't see any attempt in those early hours by the authorities to intervene
Q. When you were told to leave, what were you told?
A. Well I had an 8-day permit to be in Lhasa. That permit began two days before the rioting, on March 12, and was due to run out on March 19. My official schedule was basically abandoned after a couple days of this. Many of the places on my official itinerary turned out to be hotspots in the middle of this unrest. They left me to my own devices. I was stopped by the police at one point, taken to a police station. They made a few phone calls and then let me go back out on the streets full of troops and police carrying out the security crackdown. They insisted however that when my permit did expire on the 19th that I had to leave. I asked for an extension and they said decisively no.
Another report from a Western journalist that was in Lhasa
He says some Tibetans who took part in the riots said they were proud that they were finally able to stand up to the Chinese; others said they were ashamed of the violence.
They complained about social discrimination, unequal pay and rumors that almost everyone had heard that Tibetan monks had been arrested, and even killed, in the days before the riots.
As much reading as I have done on this, I have yet to find any mention of Monks being killed "in the days before the riots".
Where did these rumors originate? If I have missed something, please inform me.
Who "marked those businesses that they knew to be Tibetan owned with white traditional scarves"? Who spread the rumor that Monks had been "killed in the days before the riots"? Why did this happen just a few days before the elections in Taiwan and the Olympic Torch Relay?
I've previously written on the geo-political and socio-economic forces that must be considered in this region. If you haven't read this, please do so. At least check out the maps I included. (Speed reading is allowed).
Here
The civilian Tibet people were provoked to riot. It was not a religious uprising but a race riot manipulated by a group that desires conflict by any means.
Perhaps the PNAC crowd and their tool George W. Bush are promoting the current instability in Tibet using the issues of Human Rights and Freedom of Religion to further their goal of "A New American Century". A large part of the dis-information is coming from Radio Free Asia, which you can plainly see is an organ for The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the warhawks at the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Motive and opportunity.
They could actually care less about why people are fighting, just as long as they are fighting. And if people need a little nudge, they can catapult just about anything they believe to be disruptive into not only the MSM but the only source of information available to the victims of their twisted worldview, The Tibetans, via Radio Free Asia.
Or perhaps the Chinese desire chaos as the sports world turns its eyes to Beijing. This seems illogical and highly doubtful in my opinion. Opportunity but no motive.
Whoever instigated the riots, the result is the angry confrontation of two different groups staunchly arguing two different arguments benefiting only those that desire conflict, and any conflict will do. One side is claiming religious persecution, which is a valid claim. The other is arguing national security claims as it pertains to border security and access to vital resources. Proposed solutions by either camp leave no room for compromise, which creates the desired effect of instability in the region.
Remember this? It got a smattering of coverage in America when Bush said this during a BBC interview just this past February.
People have written off the Middle East. It's impossible to change the conditions there. Let's just ignore it. Or let's promote stability, which was part of the foreign policy of the past. I chose a different course. Stability didn't work. Stability created the conditions that were right for these terrorists to emerge and recruit.
You might have to read that two or three times as it is a direct quote from George W. Bush.
During the same interview, he also said..
There's a lot of issues that I suspect people are gonna, you know, opine, about during the Olympics. I mean, you got the Dali Lama crowd. You've got global warming folks. You've got, you know, Darfur and... I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way 'cause I do it all the time with the president. I mean. So, people are gonna be able to choose - pick and choose how they view the Olympics.
...in a public way? What does he do in "a private way"? Easy answer, he lets his catapulters do it in the dark, behind the scenes. Stability doesn't work you know?
We are caught in the middle (information-wise) in The War of Propaganda, some of us are aware of this. Others that rely solely on news from The Main Stream Media and their feeders are not aware of the powerful people that catapult the propaganda and are easily swayed by emotional images, distortion, and the omission of facts from both sides to "further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause".
The Tibetans are being used. The Buddhist religion is being used.
If the thugs at AEI and PNAC have their way, the ethno-Tibetan area would be no more a "zone of peace" now than it has been during anytime in history. It has always been an area in conflict. There is no such thing as a brief reading of Tibetan History, it goes on and on, war after war for thousands of years.
Ancient warriors fought over the Silk Road trade route. Modern warriors will fight over the oil pipelines that have replaced the old trails through these lands and the waters that flow from its glaciers. The Tibetan Plateau contains the sources of drinkable water for 1/2 of the world's population. Water, the next oil.
The Chickenhawks have manipulated this into a religious issue, which then creates the Human Rights issue, which if they can properly stoke the fires of fear and hatred, will turn the area into a group of warring states. America (hell yeah) wins. It would become a Zone of War, "deterring any potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role" - but America wins.
Yes, we are deeply engaged in a Propaganda War best described by Noam Chomski
The beauty of the democratic systems of thought control, as contrasted with their clumsy totalitarian counterparts, is that they operate by subtly establishing on a voluntary basis-aided by the force of nationalism and media control by substantial interests- presuppositions that set the limits of debate, rather than by imposing beliefs with a bludgeon. Then let the debate rage; the more lively and vigorous it is, the better the propaganda system is served, since the presuppositions (U.S. benevolence, lack of rational imperial goals, defensive posture, etc.) are more firmly established. Those who do not accept the fundamental principles of state propaganda are simply excluded from the debate (or if noticed, dismissed as "emotional," "irresponsible," etc.).
There is more here than meets the eye. Even more so when the eye has wool pulled over it. The masters of geo-political jujitsu have twisted progressive beliefs in equality, freedom and tolerance into a means to create chaos and instability to impose their twisted desire for global power at any cost.
There has to be a better solution than falling into the NeoCon trap. Demonstrating against a flame serves no one but those that thrive on fanning fires of hatred. An Olympic boycott serves no one but those that try to divide nations instead of uniting them even if it's only to play games peacefully for a few weeks in August of 2008.
