Are we really alone?

What, or who is out there, beyond the blue sky we see at daytime, or the mysterious blackness, interspersed with a myriad of twinkling stars dazzling us at nighttimes?

Is there any life out there beyond the tiny sliver of our biosphere, any creatures, perhaps just single cell amoebas, or creatures we might recognize, or even someone else, just like us?

This question is probably as old as the rise of our conscious faculties, and must have puzzled peoples around the globe alike for millennia.

Frank Drake pioneered the search for extraterrestrial life in the early 60s when he listened for signals that might be distinguished from the known cosmic ‘noise’, and emanate from some unknown intelligent civilisation beyond our own fragile spaceship. But since then, no signal candidate has emerged which might give us hope that indeed we’re not alone.

Now the conditions for life to emerge in the vastness of the Universe appear quite stringent, we seem to be extremely lucky to live on a planet, and in a solar system which enjoys just the right conditions.

First, the star providing the necessary energy to warm a planet circling it, plus powering the required photosynthesis for plant growth, and ultimately food production for higher animals, must be of the ‘right kind’.

This means the star must fall into the right range on the HR diagram. 1.)

To keep it brief:

• A star must be: of the right spectral type, long lived, stable.
  
• ‘Metallicity’, the elements other than H and He in astronomers’ parlance. A star, and hence planets circling it must be born of a gas cloud with high metallicity. So its candidate planets must be similar to earth: rocky, contain Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and all the other elements required for life. 1.)
  
• Planets of a terrestrial type must be placed in the Goldilock’s Zone, i.e. at a distance from the star for it to be not too hot or too cold, and have water in liquid form.
  
• The planet must rotate so as not to fry one side and freeze the other.
  
• The planet must enjoy long periods free from meteor impacts.
  

Quite an ask one might contend.

Yet, we can safely assume the following:
All laws of physics are the same anywhere in the Universe.

Therefore, all the dynamics are the same throughout the Universe.

This means that the formation of stars, and solar systems with planets, follows the same dynamics as in our own.
Rocky planets form closer to the star, near the ‘Goldilock’s Zone’, and larger gaseous planets at the outer fringes.

To date some 300 plus extra solar planets around 260 individual stars have been identified, which might indicate that there should be planets circling most every star in the Universe. Though the planets identified to date are not of the terrestrial type like earth and mars, as they are too small to detect, as yet, the search for these is just intensifying.

We also know the approximate number of stars in our own Galaxy, and a (very) rough guess of the number of Galaxies in the visible Universe:

Stars in the Milky Way Galaxy: perhaps 200, maybe up to 400 billion.

Galaxies in the ‘visible’ Universe: perhaps up to many trillions, but ‘decent’ sized ones perhaps 300 billion.

Stars in the ‘visible’ Universe: perhaps 50 billion trillion, i.e. (50 sextillion) 50x10²¹.

One can discard a very large number of stars that would not qualify and meet the stringent criteria for life to emerge, and still be left with a rather impressive number of probable stars with solar systems that could be harbouring life!

Keep just one in a thousand and you’ll still be left with 50x10¹⁸ possible worlds.

Or keep only one in a million: That leaves 50x10¹⁵

Or even just one in a trillion: You’re left with 50x10⁹

That is still Fifty Billion probable worlds in the visible universe as we know it.

Enough probable solar systems with planets to provide the conditions for life, one might contend.

Now even in the solar neighbourhood a probable 10 to 30 percent of stars would meet these conditions; that is the stars, as we don’t know about any planets circling them.

By comparison, in nature as we know it, maybe one in a ten, or even just one in a hundred of seeds may sprout and grow into a plant.
Or on the other end of the scale, one out of 200 to 400 Million sperms has the fortitude and good fortune to be the one to fertilize a waiting egg!

Nature’s largesse is splendid, but so is also its harshness!

Will we ever in the future, or have been in the past, be visited by extraterrestrial beings?

No

The distances are just too great, and time travel is, and will remain a topic for science fiction writers.

Just to travel to the nearest star system Alpha Centauri at the fastest speed of any man made object ever achieved (250,000km/h by Helios) it would take close to 20,000 years, one way.
This would men a lot of provisions to take along for the ride! And presumably a very large spaceship harbouring enough “breeding stock” to prevent inbreeding over the 1,000 generations or so it would take to get there. Of course frozen sperm could be the answer to that, but this would make the journey all the more tedious!

And as an ultimate test for human nature, would they’ve wiped each other out in the close confines during this rather lengthy journey, before they even arrive?

Will we ever communicate with extraterrestrial beings?

Perhaps

Again because of the vast distances and the time it takes even for signals travelling at the speed of light, communication might be rather awkward.

Conversation’ with intelligent beings on the nearest probable planet in the Alpha Centauri star system:

“Hello, is anybody there”

8 ½ years later:
ñ౜ٶ䁲1ἲŁ}ش ŀ}ش£}ش핾ñ}ش ౜ٶ䁲1ٶ䁲1ἲŁŀ ἲ}ش Ł ش£ŀ}ش£

Reply:
“Sorry Chaps, didn’t get that, can you translate that into Earth-Language”, preferably English if you don’t mind!


On a philosophical level the question is one of whether we should assume that our solar system, our planet earth, and that we, ourselves, warrant to be considered a special case in the Universe.

Now if you’re of a religious bent that may come naturally.
For as we marvel at the smooth workings of the solar system, the meticulous turning of our planet, the clockwork like appearance of the sun, moon, day and night, and the natural flow of the seasons, there seems to be the hand of superior being at play.
We might just be the chosen ones and enjoy the benevolence and generosity of this supernatural being.

Yet fortunately science has provided answers for most every question we might have asked in the past and is uncovering more and more as we search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the Universe.

To Nature, life is cheap; it is engendered easily for its virility, and yet lost just as quickly for its fragility.

So again, our solar system could hardly be of such uniqueness that in all the vastness of probabilities no other solar system should have provided the same conditions for life to emerge and evolve to the stage of questioning beings like us.

Then yet again, should a star explode in a massive supernova nearby, or even just our own sun have some unexpected ructions before she is ‘due’ to die, and expand inexorably in about 5 to 10 billion years; we’d all be doomed in an instant!

Nature is profligate in its giving and its taking!

Or one more of those massive meteorites or comets hit our fragile spaceship, and we’d perish in a slow, agonising demise.
Not quite the fate one would expect from a benevolent provider and protector of life on a unique oasis, in an otherwise desolate expanse of an unfathomably vast Universe.
But these are the distinct possibilities we have to contend with, and that they haven’t happened to date is not proof of a superior protector, or the uniqueness of our planet.
Meteorites have struck earth and wiped out whole arrays of species, the most famous, and most recent perhaps, being the mighty Dinosaur, 60 million years ago, which is very recent, indeed in astronomical terms.
It is also no proof that things always work this way, for the numbers are just too “astronomical”, so that many worlds out there might have perished along with all its precious cargo of life, at whatever stage of evolution.
Equally, myriads of worlds must have endured for the required billions of years for life to evolve to the stage of “intelligent” beings, as we like to call ourselves, which ponder and ask questions such as these:

Why are we here, how did we get here, and is anyone else out there?

1. 
   The HR diagram plots the stars according to their colour, (spectral type) versus luminosity.
   The categories are classified as:O B A F G K M
   Ranging from (O) the Hottest, Largest, Shortest Lived and of the colour Blue, to (M) the Coolest, Smallest, Longest Lived, and of the colour Red.
   The sun is a G2 star, so placed somewhere in the lower middle range.
   
   
2. 
   Metallicity is a development which comes with age of a galaxy. All matter in the universe was created in the Big Bang, mainly H and He, and that’s the same for all galaxies. Now some galaxies may be slower and some faster in developing stars which manufacture these higher elements, and then in dying contribute it to the galaxy. Larger Galaxies have an advantage over smaller ones in the formation of new stars.
   Metallicity varies from older, ‘metal’ poorer stars to younger, ‘metal’ richer ones.
   
   

In the spirit of the Olympics, indeed!

Just a short few weeks away and the regime in Beijing will have pulled off one of the most remarkable stunts at deception and disingenuousness in human history, and this is filled with trickery and dishonesty indeed, from politicians and regimes alike.
All the promises of freedoms, liberalisations and improvements in human rights to come will have all but disappeared in the thick, choking smog of the host city.

Indeed, so smug and arrogant is this regime that even after having been extraordinarily rebuked by the IOC after their vitriolic outburst in Lhasa, Tibet, a blatant politicising of the torch relay, they audaciously scoffed at the reprimand and anyone highlighting their brazen abuse of the Olympic spirit, and their obligations they’ve signed up to as the Olympic host.

In fact it was the Chinese who ‘promised’ to use the Olympics to improve their human rights situation. But by any examination, this has grown far worse in the lead up to, and, due to the Olympics.

The grotesque spectacle of the torch relay jetting around the globe in its own plane filled with PAP thugs to guard it was another blatant politicisation of the Olympics.
This torch relay deserved to be disrupted and used as a rallying point, at every stop, to highlight all the flagrant contraventions of human rights this regime is perpetrating.

The Chinese imperial nation is an invention by the Han creed, and their justification thereof is based on the grotesque fabrication of the ‘nation family of 56 ethnic groups’.
It is an attempt at masquerading their occupation, annexation and settlement of all these minorities’ lands, from the Tibetan, Uighurs, Mongols to the Manchus etc.

Only the Han hold the power, and only the Han dictate what’s allowed, it is a racist regime far worse than the old Apartheid regime ever was.

Just on the overt racism alone the Olympics should never have been awarded to this regime.
Let alone the blatant human rights abuses, the abominable oppression in Tibet, executions on demand for the organ trade, and all the other travesties this regime commits, yet shows not the least bit of compunction, or pangs of conscience.

Awarding them the Olympics is a lasting shame and blemish on the “Nobel” Games.

Perhaps it is time to have the Olympics located permanently in Greece.
At least in ancient times the participants laid down their arms and ceased hostilities to pursue the high ideals, and uphold the ‘Olympic spirit’.

Beijing is only busy trying to hide all the atrocities and human rights abuses, and is engaged in one of the least subtle games of deception by having tightly controlled journo tours to Tibet, and suddenly allowing the odd foreign internet site.

There is no way that journalists will be able to verify what happened in Tibet over the last few months, what the fate is of all the monks and all the missing Tibetan people, thousands of them.

Still incarcerated, and many of them massacred by the Han Chinese security forces is what the trickle of information emanating from the completely locked-down Tibet is proving.

What would the outcry have been had the IOC awarded the Olympics to the old South Africa?
But then there wasn’t as much lucrative trade in the offing.

Letter to Hu Jintao, 给胡锦涛的信件

Mr. President

Let me take you on an imaginary journey, if you dare.

Instead of being a member of the ruling, and by numbers, the overwhelmingly largest and domineering creed, picture yourself now as a member of a society, race and country that is uniquely distinct and different from all the surrounding peoples and countries, and which is just a small minority, overwhelmed by your own creed.

You only number a few million, but your people are very proud of your own identity, heritage, culture and country, and have conducted all your own affairs for millennia, have fought wars, defeated enemies, conquered territories and occupied lands during your long history.

From time to time your country entered into bilateral agreements with neighbouring states which were mutually beneficial to the signatories.
Your country, at all times always knew that you were an independent nation and that these arrangements never inferred any impingement on your own sovereignty.
Your country ran all the civil services, as any country does, issued your own currency, post stamps and passports, which were accepted by other countries.
There were no foreign diplomats, no government officials, no representatives, no residents of any sort at all present in your country from your, by numbers, domineering neighbouring state.

Your country knew it was a sovereign nation and conducted itself accordingly on the international stage.
You were so fiercely independent that you refused permission for Allied forces to cross your sovereign country, as you wanted to maintain being a neutral, non-aligned state.
Yet, even so, your country was arbitrarily and illegally invaded by this overwhelming neighbour, without provocation, justification or rationale.
They held a gun to your head and forced you, by threat of complete invasion, to sign an agreement, which they themselves never honoured, not one clause of it.
They’ve destroyed your culture, heritage, massacred your people, and are oppressing you, even today, for almost 60 years now, in medieval fashion more akin to ancient barbarism than to 21st century enlightened behaviour.

They’ve reinvented history, falsified and fabricated documents and harked back to ancient times and reinterpreted arrangements between your country and a historical, neighbouring state this creed themselves was only a part of, at the time.
Though this past state now no longer exists, as this hegemonistic Empire collapsed over ninety years ago, and with it any contractual arrangements, obligations and treaties it may have had, they still claim, by virtue of their fabrications and lies, that they 'own' your country.

You contend that there is something deeply and profoundly perverse and depraved about this other ethnic group, claiming to “own” your land, your soil, your country, and with it your people.
Even if this claim were not based on lies and deceit, which you know it is of course, it would strike you as the most grotesque perversion and violation of all international laws and conventions, and an abject abrogation of any human notion of fairness and moral and ethical conduct.

And that is exactly what all eminent scholars and legal experts have found; your nation was illegally invaded, it was a sovereign, independent country, and to this day has the all rights to full, unfettered sovereignty, enshrined in international law.

Your leaders have attempted, through dialogue and peaceful negotiations, to bring about an improvement to the suffering of your oppressed people.
But your oppressors have never shown even the slightest hint of sincerity and honest intent, and only engage in puerile, disingenuous berating of your leader and questioned his sincerity and legitimacy of representing your people.

But you know that the questionable legitimacy lies in fact with your oppressors, as they rose, and only hold on to power at the barrel of the gun, and never have been democratically elected.
And this ethnic creed holds not just your country, Tibet, under occupation but also the Uighurs, the Mongolians, the Manchus and many other minorities’ lands.
This ruling creed has invented the myth of the ‘Nation family of 56 ethnic groups’ to justify their occupation, annexation and settlement of your, and these other minorities’ lands.
But you know, and experience, that it is only this creed, the Han which holds the power, only the Han have all the rights, only the Han make all the decisions, only the Han language, customs, culture, values have any acceptance and are tolerated under their repressive rule.

In fact, all experts and Human Rights organisations have found that this creed is perpetrating the most onerous racist policies in Tibet, far outstripping the old Apartheid Regime in malice and inequity.

The world is in disbelief and utterly aghast over these deplorable contraventions of all accepted standards, international laws and conventions.

But your country has committed itself to a peaceful resolution to this longstanding, illegal occupation and refrained from violent actions or even guerrilla warfare to free itself from this horrific yoke.
All appeals to fairness, justice and adherence to international laws has fallen on deaf ears, and your country is at the end of its tether, for it is at the complete mercy of a recalcitrant regime of the most dissolute and repugnant mindset.

Mr President, by now, if there is a soul, and a human heart beating inside you, your blood just be boiling at the iniquities and injustices perpetrated against your people and nation, and you must be questioning what your country has to do to end this illegal, malevolent occupation and oppression of your people.

Would you call to arms, would you use any tactic from civil disobedience, to guerrilla warfare, to assassinations of the perpetrators, from the President of your occupying regime on down; for he particularly is well remembered by your people as the 'Butcher of Lhasa' for the mass murder of hundreds of innocent, peacefully protesting monks?
And you know in your heart that this is what freedom struggles throughout history have always been; an oppressed peoples’ only recourse, and by all accounts, Legitimate means of fighting for their Just Cause.

But your country has vowed to pursue non-violent means, and is waiting patiently for some semblance of rational and ethical behaviour on the part of your tormentors.
Or perhaps a leadership change which would finally see people in charge with a moral and ethical conscience, and sense of integrity and justice more commensurate with 21st century enlightened principles than ancient barbarism.

You wait and hope, and the whole world is crying out and grieving with you and is imploring your oppressors for acceptance and implementations of international laws, conventions and treaties, to which they are subject to, and bound to comply with.

But you and your people might be running out of patience, for you’ve taken the civilized, and compassionate path and displayed the most admirable, inconceivable forbearance, but only run up against a cold, heartless, brutally dissolute adversary for far too long with your despotic oppressors.......

I leave you now to ponder your accountabilities and the scrutiny of your conscience!

onejustworld

Freedom, Justice, Equity for All - from Tibet to Myanmar, to Darfur to North Korea to Zimbabwe …..

Of Patriotism and Motherlands - the Tibet issue.

some text The Chinese machinations behind the Riots in Tibet, and the incitation of fervent Patriotism.

The incessant invocation by the CCP of “Motherland”, the “Splitting of the Chinese Motherland”, “Splittist” “Dalai Lama Clique”, “Separatists” etc is a very dangerous game indeed, and has been played to disastrous results during the thirties in Germany by the Nazis, as we all know.
The incantation was the same then; just the semantics had a masculine slant.

It is clearly designed to rally the masses behind the Powers that Be, i.e. the CCP, for they’re in deep trouble with an unruly, discontented and disillusioned population.
60,000 “mass incidents”, speak protests, per annum must be a troublesome development for a ruling junta that has not tolerated any dissent, protest or free expression for over 50 years.
But drag out the tried and proven scheme of inciting patriotism, and labelling anyone who’s not screaming along at full cry, or isn’t absolutely one hundred percent engrossed in the madness and hysteria, a traitor, and you’ve diverted the anger from yourself to some hapless, unsuspecting target.
The Jews learnt this to their horror during the Nazi era, and the ensuing mass slaughter has only been made possible by this ‘paving the way’ of patriotic fervour and hysteria.

The frantic hysteria sweeping across China, and the globe in the expat Chinese community, aided and abetted by their ‘minders’ from the Chinese Embassies is testimony to the dangerous excesses possible when playing with this fire.
The parents of one unsuspecting student wanting to bridge the chasm between the rabid Chinese mobs and Tibetans had to go into hiding after receiving death threats and their personal ID details were made public, details only the Authorities in China could have disclosed!

In 2008 the Tibetans find themselves the target of just this same devious scheming, with the CCP’s labelling of the “Dalai Lama Clique” as the perpetrator and instigator of the March 14th riots.
Chinese Media and CCTV showed scenes of burning Lhasa ad nauseam, underscored with the most vitriolic commentary, and accusing the Tibetans of the most heinous crimes.
It was a carefully orchestrated plot by the CCP to divert the ire of their disgruntled masses away from themselves to the Tibetan People.
The venom and vitriolic diatribes emanating from the highest ranking cadres on down, including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, are clear testimony to this sly plot.

The notions of Patriotism and Motherland should be seen in the light of all the misery and atrocities committed in their name, and are by any measure an outdated and derisory concept.
Today’s world has its fair share of hatred and conflict based on racism, xenophobia and them against us, so a feeling of belonging to a particular group of ethnicity or nationality only incites the sentiments of them and us and exclusivity instead of inclusiveness.

Humanity should move on from such whimsy comfort notions if we are ever to overcome the scourge of mankind; hatred, war, conflict, oppression of the ‘other’, exploitation of the weaker and ignorance.
For ignorance arises from just such dangerous concepts and becomes a meme, and once hostage to such, the ability to discern, seek the truth and follow one’s true conscience and speak for a better world becomes impossible for fear of loosing that soother.

Cultural Genocide in Tibet under Chinese rule?

Is the Dalai Lama justified in his claim of Cultural Genocide in Tibet?

There is a group of CCP and military cadres, implementing the expressed policies of the top echelons of the CCP, including Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, [see Footnotes: a] and devising and executing this meticulously planned attack on Tibetans and their identity and culture.

Wang Lequan, current Member of the Politburo in Beijing, Li Dezhu, Head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission, Zhang Qingli current Party Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party of the Autonomous Region Tibet, General Tong Guishan and General Zhang Guihua

Purported picture of General Zhang Guihua

have systematically implemented policies, accompanied with an ever accelerated mass Han migration into Tibet, which are designed to wipe out Tibetan identity once and for all.
[see Footnotes: b]
And with it of course, the desire of a distinct people to be free, and their legitimate demand for genuine Autonomy and Independence.
To quote Li Dezhu: "The Problem with minorities will definitively be solved by mass Han Chinese migration once and for all".

China’s “Final Solution” for Tibetans!

The real political power in Tibet - Zhang Qingli, Wen Jiabao, Wang Lequan, Hu Jintao, Li Dezhu (left to right)

Dezhu has been behind the official policy of “abandoning the preservation of ethnic identities” and to ruthlessly eradicate any vestiges of culture and ethnicity with which ethnic minorities could identify with.
He is also behind the policy labelled "Destroying ethnic cultures and disintegrating religious minorities through the promotion of materialism".

Zhang Qingli, protégé of Hu Jintao and Bovver Boy for the CCP in Tibet has ruthlessly attacked the Tibetan culture and identity by introducing policies to “change man” and to refashion them, in the truly archaic, Maoist doctrine mould.
He reinforced “patriotic education”, which is code for the repetition by rote of the CCP’s doctrine of "Love for the Chinese Motherland", and denouncing the Dalai Lama and anything Tibetan. For monks for instance these gruelling sessions have to be endured for over half the available time, that is up to 20 days per month.

To quote this guy: "For China the Tibetans are children which must be indoctrinated with the love for China…… The real Buddha for Tibetans is the Central Party Committee."

As a further illustration of the general hue and lofty intellect these indoctrination sessions are made of, the answer to one of the questions about the Dalai Lama is:

"The Dalai is the head of the Serpent and the Chieftain of the separatist organization conspiring for independence in Tibet and he is the root-cause of all social instability in Tibet."
(Note the omission of the word Lama, designed as an added insult, first tendered by Wen Jiabao to belittle and denigrate the Dalai Lama while brandishing him as a "Liar", and now repeated ad nauseam by hundreds of millions of Han ultra nationalist net propagandists in the form of 'DaLie'.)

Wang Lequan has ample experience in eradicating the Uyghur identity and to dilute and wipe them out through his ruthless policies:
• The deportation of hundreds of thousands of young girls of marriageable age, 16 to 23, to east coast factories to prevent ‘ethnic breeding’.
• The outlawing of the Uyghur language in schools and a forced mass migration of Han Chinese into the Uyghur territory to dilute and destroy their identity once and for all.

He since has turned his “skills” in cultural genocide to Tibet with intensified vigour and brutality and extended these policies.

These policies have robbed the Tibetans of their basis for cultural identity; the loss of their language in school, commerce, in dealings with authority, news, and even entertainment.
They have lost the right to freely practising their beloved religion, the adherence to the Tibetan way of life, they've lost their once sacred, pristine environment, and their confidence as a people, for they’re truly treated as third class citizens in their own country under Han Chinese occupation.

From here it is a small step to the complete eradication of a once unique and proud, contented and confident people through the marginalisation by mass migration, which would render them an insignificant minority. A minority that can be completely overlooked and ignored, for the Han Chinese hold all the power; economic, military, financial and political.

The Han Chinese “reasoning” goes, that once Tibetans no longer exist as a distinct people, and their land is settled with a majority of Han Chinese, China will have “legitimised” their illegal occupation and annexation of Tibet.

The looting and pillaging of natural resources of Tibet of course has long since escalated into a feeding frenzy.
With no environmental controls or regulations to speak of, Han Chinese are stripping the land bare of forests, minerals, gold and anything of value, with all of it shipped east back to China.

Tibetans have an innate desire to follow their customs and traditions, to be left alone and to self determination.
Independence is a dream that will never die, but with China’s complete intransigence and puerile obstinacy, pragmatism would dictate that the least they could hope for is some form of Autonomy within China.
An autonomy which was guaranteed by Mao's China as part of the ‘17 Point Agreement’, and which is enshrined in the PRC's Constitution, and guaranteed under the UN conventions signed up to by the PRC, but as all other legal undertakings entered into by the CCP, blatantly flouted and contravened. Read more here
However talk, and paper, is cheap, and it is unlikely that this leopard will ever change its spots.

There shouldn’t be any delusion that China has any honourable intentions in Tibet, or is even sincere with talks sporadically being held with representatives of the TGE (Tibetan Government in Exile).

The ‘stakes’ are far too high for the Han Chinese Communists; Tibet is a prize they’ll never let go without a huge fight.

• Militarily highly strategic as a buffer and playground
• Vast, sparsely populated land mass for migration
• Huge natural resources to be exploited
• Source of vital river systems with huge hydroelectric power production

Though anachronistic, and their occupation of Tibet illegal under International Law, Han ruled and dominated “China” is, and has always been a racist and imperialistic power; a power without a conscience, intent on expansion and conquest of other peoples’ lands.

The invention of the ‘Nation of a family of 56 ethnic groups’ is but a racist ploy, which has always been just a façade to masquerade Han Chinese imperialism, and the forceful subjugation of all the other, hapless, oppressed minorities! See more details here

For further details of cultural genocide and systematic repression see here and here
Footnotes:


■ a) Though the CCP maintains a façade of Tibetan autonomous self-rule and government, the real power, as everywhere in China, rests with the party, which is strictly ruled from the top down, and there ultimately with the CCP Politburo Standing Committee.
There is no real power vested outside the party, but policy is delegated to regional party branches and the execution of directives is their responsibility.
In Tibet unfettered power thus is vested with the Party Secretary, Zhang Qingli and his executive henchman of the military, the army commander of Tibet General Tong Guishan.

Present members (2009) of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee:

1) Hu Jintao - President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the CPC, Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

2) Wu Bangguo - Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

3) Wen Jiabao - Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

4) Jia Qinglin - Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference

5) Li Changchun: ‘Propaganda Chief’

6) Xi Jinping - Vice President of the People's Republic of China, top-ranked member of CPC Secretariat

7) Li Keqiang - Executive Vice Premier

8) He Guoqiang - Head of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

9) Zhou Yongkang - Head of Political and Legislative Affairs Committee


Present members of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee:

Hu Jintao
Wen Jiabao
Wang Lequan
Hui Liangyu
Liu Qi
Liu Yunshan
Li Changchun
Wu Yi
Wu Bangguo
Wu Guanzheng
Zhang Lichang
Zhang Dejiang
Luo Gan
Zhou Yongkang
Yu Zhengsheng
He Guoqiang
Jia Qinglin
Guo Boxiong
Cao Gangchuan
Wang Zhaoguo
Zeng Qinghong
Zeng Peiyan



■ b) The list of men accused of genocide and crimes against humanity and facing trial in a Spanish court are:

• Liang Guanglie - Defence Minister
• Geng Huichang - Minister for State Security
• Zhang Qingli - Communist Party Secretary in Tibet
• Wang Lequan - Politburo member
• Li Dezhu - Ethnic Affairs Commission head
• Tong Guishan - People’s Liberation Army Commander in Lhasa
• General Zhang Guihua - Political commissar in the Chengdu military command

Tibet's Loss - China's gain, the Dorje Shugden controversy!

Now this Dorje Shugden deity controversy is marked with all the intrigues and underhand tactics worthy of a high-power-play political thriller.

Are these street protesters aware of the shadowy background to their perceived grievances they so vocally scream out in servitude to their masters?

Do they question the motivation behind the rhetoric, the origin to the murky, unsubstantiated allegations, or the methods used in their leader’s ‘war’ against the Tibetan people?

These Shugden warriors sadly have become to be the naïve puppets of a much wider power play waged by the very masters of Deception and Propaganda-Lies, and occupiers of the Tibetan homeland; the CCP.

These unwitting propaganda soldiers surely are carrying out one of the more sordid smear campaigns against the Tibetans, the CTA, and particularly the Dalai Lama in order to undermine their legitimacy to represent the Tibetans and their just cause.

Divide and rule; sow dissent and reap power over a divided society, so the CCP’s motives.

While the CCP is busy exploiting this rift by favouring, and handing out grants to monks and funding monasteries if they are a hotbed of Shugden worship inside Tibet, they foment this split in the Tibetan society inside and outside Tibet in order to destroy any unity and opposition to their oppressive rule over Tibet.

Expatriot Tibetan monks of the Shugden persuasion are frequent and welcome visitors to Chinese run, and tightly controlled Shugden monasteries inside Tibet, and they carry the seed of dissent and disharmony back to the exiled Tibetan communities.

One only has to look at the methods used by the Kadampa sect and their servile propaganda warriors carrying placards with their vitriolic slogans to get an idea of what their credentials really are:

Calling press conferences that attract world wide media including, of course, the CCP’s mouth piece Xinhua etc.
Where they decry the Dalai Lama with vitriolic venom copied straight from the CCP’s own Propaganda-Lies Unit.

Court action in Indian Courts against the CTA, the Dalai Lama, and the Tibetan people by proxy.

The release of rancorous press releases with copies sent to the President, Prime Minister and Government Ministers of India to undermine the very tenuous existence the homeless refugee Tibetans manage to cling to in India.

The dissemination of anonymous pamphlets full of lies, in a smear campaign more like it is coming straight from the CCP’s own Propaganda-Lies Unit.

Propaganda foot soldiers taking to the streets with their bizarre accusations to publicly vilify and embarrass the Dalai Lama , which, by any examination, has no basis in fact whatsoever.

Ask, are these the actions of true Buddhists, who by virtue of just simply claiming to be ‘Buddhists’ would refrain from any of these actions?

Are these the deeds of anyone having even a seed of compassion, concern, or just the least bit of consideration for the effects of their activities, and for the implications to the Tibetan cause?

Or are they so bereft of any morals or ethics, or the slightest bit of insight into the wider issue that they’re incapable of questioning their own motives and actions, and are immune to any pangs of conscience?

Perhaps it is in the nature of their cult, and or the worship of this Shugden deity which has taken hold of their moral compass and blinded them completely from seeing, and seeking the facts and truth.

Their actions, behaviour and pronunciations are clearly that of a cult in the true sense; servile, perfunctory mob behaviour, slogan shouting and recitation of prescribed propaganda lines, and the sole acceptance of the one “truth”, authority and Guru.

And anyone who’s not exactly of the same belief, mind, or school is a non-believer, deviant and a heretic.

The Dalai Lama now has taken on this role in their minds, so they can project their venom and emotions against this perceived “villain”.

They’ve become so entangled in their referential, circulatory and delusionary thinking, and strayed so far from the path of Dharma, that they’re truly in need of help and compassion.

The sad thing is that probably they’ve started out with sincere motives, wanting to become true Buddhists and serve all sentient beings through their practise of the tenets and ideals of Buddhism.

They’ve been led astray by amoral leaders pursuing their unholy vendetta and aims, and in the process their beliefs have become an insidious meme.

And once such a pernicious meme has gotten hold of a feeble mind, it is but a puppet on a string at the command of the puppeteer, with the puppet unaware of the surreptitious manipulation.

To complete the picture, they seem to be afraid of even investigating the issue and questioning their leader’s motives for fear of having their beliefs shaken and loosing that soother of a meme.

By the sweetest of irony, they, the Shugden cult themselves are the ultimate rationale and attestation for the Dalai Lama’s advice to refrain form propitiating this Shugden deity.

By their very inconsiderate and un-Buddhist actions they’ve demonstrated just the very point; the objectionable disharmony, sectarianisms and split they’ve wreaked on the Tibetan society at a time they just don’t need any such externally incited torment.

But that’s just the CCP’s game-plan; the Shugden puppets have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker, and even gone to extraordinary lengths to serve the CCP’s heinous purpose.

1:0 to the CCP, and an irreparable setback to the Tibetan cause!

Well done Shugdeneers!

More background information about this cult:


http://info-buddhism.com/Western_Shugden_Society_unlocked.html

http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/116

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=His+Holiness+the+Dalai+Lama's+Advice+Concerning+Dolgyal+(Shugden)&id=21437

http://info-buddhismus.de/new_kadampa_tradition.html

China's Crackdown

There is so much mention of a "harsh crackdown" by the Chinese in Tibet.

But what does this really mean, and is it just a ‘severe' form of restriction of movement, or the arrest of some ‘hooligans' which attacked some Han Chinese shops?

Well, best to let a Tibetan speak and reveal a glimpse of what life in Tibet under Han Chinese occupation really means.

(Details omitted to protect the identity of the person)

"On (*) March, around one hundred soldiers came to my house, broke down five doors, checked everything and threw it all on the floor and hit everyone present there. It was like a robbery or burglary. There were a lot of firearms and they were very rough with us. I was arrested. They took me with them, with my thumbs tied behind my back, very tightly, resulting in the whole area being numb since then"

"They treated us very harshly. Talking to each other, they said, "This is our chance", and they beat us. At first I thought that they were going to kill me, they hit my head a lot, and skull can be broken easily. It is not like the rest of the body. They took me to prison. For four days they didn't ask me anything, they just threw me in. They gave us half a steamed bun a day. That's very small. Everyone was very thirsty and a lot of people drank their urine [the detainees were not provided with water]. We had no clothes, no blankets, nothing to lie down on, nothing [just cement floors] and it was very cold. For four days nobody spoke to us, they just left us there."

"We heard a lot of things. Many people had their arms or legs broken or had gunshot wounds inflicted, but they weren't taken to hospital. They were there with us. It was really terrible. I can't believe that we are in the 21st century. For instance, one boy who was shot four times, one from here to there [the bullet entered from the left side of his back and exited from the left side of his chest, near his heart], one from here to here [from inner left elbow to inner left wrist], and one here [a horizontal wound on his upper right arm]. Some people had their ribs broken. One man was punched in his [right] eye, and it was all swollen and black and blue, very bad. People had their teeth broken, these are just examples. A lot of terrible things were done."

"The worst thing - this is Gondzhe [the name of the prison], in Lhasa there are nineteen prisons, the biggest is Drapchi and there is one in Chushul [Ch: Qushu County], they are empty, they showed the visitors that nobody is in prison, it's just for show. Usually there is no prison at the train station, but they rented a very big building and they put people there and in Du-Long [Toelung Dechen County] and at the train station, and in Gondzhe; they put people in these three places. At night they bring a big bus, and many soldiers come, and one hundred to one hundred and fifteen go to Du-Long. They say it's time to go home, "You haven't done anything wrong, you're going home," but they put them in a huge bus to Du-Long or to the train station."

"Some monks had sacks put over their heads and they were taken away and didn't come back, so maybe they were killed".

"A brother and sister from (*), the brother was younger, were sleeping in the same room and all of a sudden soldiers came and threw them out of the window from a high floor to the ground, the brother was killed on the spot. Yes, right outside the building. The sister didn't die, but she can't lie down, she has to remain in a sitting position all the time. They took the body away and told her that she is forbidden to tell anyone. (*).These are just a few examples. There are many problems like this."

"You know that they say that there are no soldiers in Lhasa, but they're in civilian dress and they check identity papers."

"I want to talk and that people should know what's happening in Tibet. If they beat me that's okay [he means that his family may be hurt as well], I didn't do anything bad in Lhasa. "

"Many young people in Lhasa, for example, if we were together on the 14th [of March], I was beaten, so I was "sold" and then you're with me [with the prison warden doing the beating]. But I have friends in (*) monastery, I would rather die than give them away. I saw a lot of things that they did in prison. "

"A guy from Dhadezhe [possibly Dartsedo County] had a new jacket, so they beat him and he died, because of the jacket, because it was very new, so they said he stole it, so because of his new coat he was killed."

"There are a lot of high school students from Sauko . A seventeen-year-old who had not participated in the events of the 14th [of March], all his clothes were taken away, they tied his hands and they pushed a wagon at him until he fell, there are all kinds of torture methods. This kid was very young and he didn't even do anything. Afterwards he said that he'd done all kinds of things, that happens to a lot of people, they pressure people to admit things they never did. "

"And one day, a Chinese man was asked some questions, someone called and asked how many people had been arrested and he said less than Ten Thousand, and that doesn't include Drepung, Sera, Ramoche, Jokhang. After they let us out they arrested the monks. When I got out [of prison] I heard that many were arrested at Drepung Monastery. "

"A boy named (*), aged (*), from Anishim near Lhasa, is in prison, and two of his friends were shot to death. He and his 18 year-old brother were from Phenpo. In the prison at Gondzhe there are a lot of people from Phenpo."

"During the day it's very quiet, everything happens at night, everything's very secret.

"Outwardly they show people that everything is very nice but inside it's really terrible. People did really bad things and forced us to make this problem. At Ramoche they didn't do anything, but thousands of soldiers surrounded the monastery and all the temples, and many vehicles closed off the gates like a prison. We can't be tolerant anymore, we should be tolerant but we can't be tolerant anymore. There are no human rights and cultural genocide is the reality,, for instance in Lhasa, on a main street like Beijing Lu [Lu means street in Chinese], or Gengshu Lu, how many Tibetans have businesses on streets like those? "

"I'm worried about the small Tibetan population. Many people are dying today or being crippled with broken arms and legs, and that's very bad. And people are in prison, like me, and I think about the people in prison all the time. I think about the terrible state they are in. Young people, 16 or 17 years old, crying all the time - it makes me really sad. I saw people with broken limbs and people who'd been shot - seeing their pale faces is very, very sad."

This, of course, is but one account, the Han Chinese Communists also widely planted ‘evidence' in many monasteries to further discredit the monks, and in order to arrest even more, and shut down monasteries completely they perceive to be trouble spots of resistance to their occupation.

They've arrested Tens of Thousands all over Tibet and keep them under the most barbaric conditions without proper care, provisions or amenities.

The arrested face the most horrific brutality, torture and degradation.

Countless have been rendered cripples, beaten beyond recognition, had inflicted horrific internal and external injuries and are left to die a slow and agonising death, or have been murdered outright, if they're lucky.

Amnesty International has confirmed that over 1,000 Tibetans are missing and are unaccounted for since they've been arrested and disappeared in the Han Chinese occupation system.

There has been absolutely no letup in this crackdown, with daily reports trickling out of wanton arrests of monks, who just seem to endure the misfortune of having fallen foul of the Han Chinese occupying "authorities".

Tibetans desperately seeking information about their missing loved ones have nowhere to turn to. Should they dare to voice their concerns, they risk disappearing themselves and end up in a secret mass grave somewhere beyond the gaze of any critical eyes.

(And then there is the "Execution for organs on order" trade that has widely been verified by various groups; but that's for another story.)

Of course China has obstinately refused any outside investigation by the UN, or anyone at all for that matter!

Or even made good on its promise to the IOC of free access for journalists across China.

Let the Olympics begin!

Original post can be viewed here:

http://www.tchrd.org/press/2008/pr20080519.html