Background on the News - 2008-03-26

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March 26, 2008

Tibet's Tiananmen?

	On March 14, anti-Chinese riots erupted in Lhasa, Tibet. Chinese security forces suppressed crowds with teargas and bullets in what has become the most violent confrontation there in two decades. The Tibetan government-in-exile claimed Chinese forces killed over 100 people, while Beijing claims only 19 have died. Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, urged his followers and the Chinese to refrain from violence while the Chinese government blamed him directly for fomenting the unrest. In a 1998 Foreign Affairs essay, Melvyn Goldstein argued that the Dalai Lama would have to acquiesce in violence by militants or compromise in order to preserve a Tibetan homeland. Goldstein predicted that the Dalai Lama would resist both options and urged the United States to facilitate negotiations. On March 24, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for direct talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama as the only solution to the current impasse. Full text of original essay (January/February 1998)
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	Previously in Background on the News
	Serbia's Final Frontier? March 12, 2008 Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on February 17 was welcomed in Washington and many European capitals, but it drew protests in Moscow and Belgrade. . . . Read more

	Another One Bites the Dust February 6, 2008 Last week Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al Qaeda leader responsible for military operations inside Afghanistan, was killed by a U.S. missile strike in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. . . . Read more

	Pakistan on the Brink January 23, 2008 As Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf tours Europe, violence along the border with Afghanistan continues and many observers doubt whether the elections scheduled for February 18 will be free and fair. . . . Read more

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