Tibet News from here and there

Chris Buckley in Guardian writes that Tibetans accused of rioting and protesting against Chinese rule will face swift trials and harsh sentences, state media said on Friday, vowing that Communist Party-run courts will back a campaign against the Dalai Lama.
Tibet's regional capital Lhasa was last month hit by Buddhist monks' protests against Chinese rule that gave way to deadly rioting on March 14, and since then security forces have poured in to reimpose control there and in other restive Tibetan areas.
Chinese officials have accused the Dalai of organising the unrest to press for Tibetan independence ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in August, and vowed to come down hard on rioters and on protesters supporting him.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the accusations and said he wants true autonomy, but not outright independence, for Tibet. Click to read more Tibet's courts vow swift, harsh punishment for unrest Breaking news guardian.co.uk Sport

Similarly ABC Radio Australia writes http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/200804/s2208507.htm?tab=latest An envoy of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has urged Beijing to cancel what he calls provocative plans to run the Olympic torch relay through Tibet.The recent crackdown by China on Tibetan protestors, has put Beijing in the spotlight ahead of the Games in August.The envoy, Lodi Gyari, has told a US Congressional hearing that Beijing's Communist leaders should abandon plans to bring the Olympic flame through Tibet, saying it would be insulting in light of recent events.The torch will pass through Tibet in May, then again when it goes through the capital Lhasa, in June. China says any protests along the torch route would not be in the proper Olympic spirit, with reports that activists' plan to use the relay to highlight the country's poor human rights record.
Larry hales under the heading Cultural genocide: In Tibet or New Orleans? Writes the Dalai Lama claims that China is committing “cultural genocide” against the Tibetan people, and his claims and news of the events unfolding in the regional capital of Lhasa have captured a great deal of attention in the major media outlets in the U.S.The “cause” of Tibet and the accusation of “cultural genocide” are not new. “Free Tibet” bumper stickers can often be seen at peace rallies, and it would seem that the case of Tibet is a real national liberation struggle of an oppressed people struggling for independence from an imperialist or colonial master.However, the issue of Tibet has been foisted upon some sectors of the movement in the U.S. in order to weaken China. The relationship between the U.S., with its aim to undermine the gains of the Chinese revolution, and the Dalai Lama and his clique is an old one and goes all the way back to the CIA manufactured “uprising” of 1959. Read more