Tibet

I'm sure there are a lot of people who know more about this than I do, but I'd be willing to bet that I know more than the average American would on the subject.

I think the tight Chinese control over the media pertaining to recent events in Tibet tells us everything we need to know. They want to get things in place to put as positive a spin on the situation as they can manage before any foreigners see anything firsthand. In one respect, I understand that they're trying to keep their image as positive as possible leading up the Olympics, but on the other hand, it makes their statements regarding what's happening in Tibet a lot less credible.

Another thing I think hurts the Chinese government's credibility is their statements regarding the Dalai Lama. They claim that he's actually the brains behind the violence, which doesn't square at all with everything I've ever read about him from anyone except the Chinese government. There was a representative from the Chinese government (can't remember his name or position) who said in one news story that he'd be willing to talk to the Dalai Lama regarding a peaceful resolution to the situation if the Dalai Lama would agree to two things up front, both of which the Dalai Lama has already publicly agreed to. And yet there's been no meeting, and it doesn't sound as though there will be one.

I'm hard pressed to think of a situation where rioting would be justified, especially on the part of Buddhist monks (if those were, in fact, Buddhist monks, which I have a hard time believing based on that behavior), so there may be blame to be laid on both sides of this equation, but I still think the Chinese are handling Tibet poorly and need to reconsider their actions. While you can rule people with force in the short term, it simply doesn't work in the long term. You've got to speak with them and get some level of cooperation. I think the rest of the world needs to step up and show them just how unacceptable the Chinese handling of this situation is in the eyes of the world community. The exact means will depend on the country, and how far they're willing to go.