Thanks Mr Obama

Thank you Mr Obama for receiving the Dalai Lama at The White House (though at a low profile, as papers say).

I'm not talking for political reasons. I know reasons are never all at on side only.

Nevertheless I can't help observing the U.S.A., also in this event, have given an example of democracy.

Nobody is perfect in the world but we have to be able to distinguish(and sometimes choose) between good and evil; between freedom and oppression; between democracy and dictatorship.

Every people in the world have the right to self governement, basically according to their own culture, traditions and beliefs.

To know more By Mail Foreign Service on DM on line

The Dalai Lama and U.S president Barack Obama met for the first time at the White House today, defying furious protests from China.
The two Nobel Peace Prize winners seemed intent on keeping the meeting low-key, in order avoid worsening tensions between the two countries.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who was also denied a meeting in the Oval office, left via a side entrance where rubbish bags were piled up and The White House didn't release photos of the meeting until several hours afterwards.

Men of peace meet: The Dalai Lama and Barack Obama during their meeting at The White House
Wearing sandals and burgundy robes, he said he had expressed to Mr Obama his admiration for the U.S. as a 'champion of democracy, freedom, human values'.
The Dalai Lama also pictured touching snow heaps shovelled to the side of White House paths following recent blizzards in Washington.

Not-so-grand exit: The Dalai Lama leaves the White House via an exit where rubbish bags are kept on the ground following his meeting with Barack Obama
China, which is increasingly at odds with the U.S. over currency exchanges, Taiwan arms sales and internet censorship, said the meeting would further damage ties.
But, by going ahead, Mr Obama may be trying to show his resolve against increasingly assertive Chinese leaders after facing criticism for being too soft on them during his trip to China in November.
Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said dismissively of the visit: ‘Chinese officials have known about this and their reaction is their reaction.’

His meeting with Mr Obama was delibately low profile because of China's outrage
Although admired by millions around the world as a man of peace, the Dalai Lama is accused by Beijing of being a dangerous separatist who foments unrest in Tibet.
The White House insisted America and China - the world’s largest and third-biggest economies respectively - have a ‘mature relationship’ capable of withstanding disagreements.
But mindful of Chinese sensitivities, the White House sought to strike a balance in the Dalai Lama’s visit.

The Dalai Lama said he admired America's stance on freedom
The President is also currently attempting to secure China's help in settling North Korean and Iranian nuclear standoffs.
So, seeking to avoid alienating Beijing, Mr Obama had delayed meeting the Dalai Lama until after first seeing Chinese leaders during his Asia trip last year.


During today’s visit, Mr Obama - like his White House predecessors - denied the Dalai Lama the symbolism of meeting in the Oval Office.
Instead, they met in the lesser-known Map Room. Such distinctions signalled to China that the Tibetan monk was not being received as a political leader.
The Dalai Lama entered the White House out of sight of journalists, and the talks were closed to media coverage.
The White House planned to release a photograph later.
But honouring the Dalai Lama could still help Obama burnish his administration’s credentials among human rights activists.
They accuse him of focusing on global issues with Beijing at the expense of promoting Chinese democratic reforms.
Ahead of the talks, Tibetans living near the Dalai Lama’s birthplace welcomed the White House meeting with a defiant show of fireworks.
The midnight display along a valley dotted with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries was a reminder that the Dalai Lama remains a potent figure in his homeland. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1251888/Dalai-Lama-meet-Barack-Obama-U-S-defies-protests-China.html#ixzz0eddaTmcn

How lucky we are

When I read such news, as this one showed below, from today's Guardian, by Ian Black, I think that we are really lucky on living in a western country, where all human rights are fully respected. Of course we will ask for more, in order to improve our democratic standard of life, but please, let us not forget unhappy brothers all over the world. Thanks to Amnesty International for highlighting such brutal reality in Iran.

Abuse and show trials – Amnesty reports on Iran
Human rights group criticises increase in political repression in six months since reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Ian Black
The Guardian, Thursday 10 December 2009
Article history

Convicted men publicly hanged in Mashhad, north-west Iran, in 2007. The situation today is no better than 20 years ago, says Amnesty. Photograph: Halabisaz/AP
Human rights abuses in Iran are now as bad as at any time in the past 20 years, Amnesty International reports tomorrow in a survey marking six months since June's disputed presidential election.
Amnesty documents "patterns of abuse" by the Basij militia and revolutionary guards involving beatings, rape, death threats, forced confessions, intimidation and official cover-ups. Many detainees have been subjected to show trials and five have been sentenced to death.
"The authorities have resorted to exceptionally high levels of violence and arbitrary measures to stifle protest and dissent," says the 80-page report. "The courts have not been an instrument of justice to hold police, security forces and other state officials to account … or to protect the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association and religion."
According to official figures, 36 people died in violence after the election, but the opposition puts the figure at more than 70. At least 4,000 people were arrested after the poll on 12 June and some 200 remain in jail. This week, 200 people were arrested during protests around university campuses on national students day.
Protests began when the sitting president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed victory over the leading opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, amid claims that the result had been rigged.
Amnesty quotes an unnamed former detainee who was held with 75 others for more than eight weeks in a container at the notorious Kahrizak detention centre in Tehran. He was told his son would be raped if he did not "confess" and was beaten unconscious with a baton .
Last month, Ramin Pourandarjani, a young doctor who had treated inmates at Kahrizak and had reportedly been forced to certify the death of at least one torture victim as resulting from meningitis, died in suspicious circumstances.
Ebrahim Mehtari, a 26-year-old student, described being held in a tiny cell, interrogated while blindfolded and accused of "working with Facebook networks" and tortured into making a confession. He said: "They frequently beat me on the face; I was burned with cigarettes under my eyes, on the neck, head. I was beaten all over … They threatened to execute me and they humiliated me."
An independent medical examination substantiated his claims. But all the relevant documents disappeared, the authorities refused to investigate and his family were warned not to talk about the case.
Amnesty says Iran refused to co-operate with its investigation and has denied the organisation entry into the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Many of the cases have been documented previously, but the cumulative effect of the data underlines what Amnesty calls "a clear pattern of systematic gross human rights violations by Iranian security forces condoned or even encouraged by powerful political and religious figures in Iran."
The report says government officials "have done their utmost to ensure that accounts of rape are discredited and not circulated further".
Amnesty has harsh words for the show trials of leading opposition figures. "The trials, broadcast to the nation, featured coerced 'confessions', 'apologies' and incrimination of others. Rather than bringing people to justice, the purpose was to validate the authorities' account of the post-election unrest and to make clear the severe consequences of opposing the authorities."