Tibetans and their supporters worldwide have taken to the streets in record numbers lately to protest human rights abuses in China and the 58-year-old Chinese occupation of Tibet. Over the years, a lot of things have stood between Beijing’s dictatorial rule and Tibet’s freedom — but you’d never guess the most formidable barrier: The Dalai Lama himself.
Muslim true/false
As blogger Scott Adams aptly put it, ask a devout Christian who he’d rather live next to–a bearded Muslim possibly plotting an attack or an atheist possibly skilled at setting up wireless networks–and the answer would be clear: The Christian will pick the atheist over the Muslim. Chalk it up to prejudice–when it comes to Muslims, the majority of Americans have plenty to be ignorant about, say renowned Islamic scholar John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Center for Muslim Studies at Gallup, in an op-ed article published April 2 in the Los Angeles Times and reproduced here with the authors’ permission. They co-wrote the recently published book, “Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.”
China Syndrome
Tibet has been a thorn in China’s side ever since Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army invaded the Roof of the World in 1950. The recent unrest in Lhasa resulted in a Chinese crackdown that has effectively transformed the Beijing Olympics into what some are calling the “Human Rights Games.” In a wide-ranging interview with AsiaScoop Editor Ajay Singh, veteran Sinologist Richard Baum, a professor of political science at UCLA, dissects China’s Tibet challenge and other major problems that plague the nation. Baum’s latest book, China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom, will be published in early 2009.
