Opinions

The officially stated purpose of the event is "to bring women from the entire Himalayan region onto one platform to celebrate the beautiful cultures, people, and nature of the Himalayan region.' However, since the creation of beauty pageants in exile in 2002,

When someone kills a man, he is put in prison. When someone kills twenty people, he is declared mentally insane. But when someone kills 200,000 people, he is invited to Geneva for peace negotiation- Sarajevo joke, circa 1994

A certain defensiveness is settling over the elected leadership of the Tibetan government-in-exile (TGIE). The self-immolation crisis in Tibet and the resignations of the Tibetan Envoys have placed extreme pressure on the TGIE

Now that His Holiness has devolved all his political powers and the Kalon Tripa is the political leader, the time has come for Tibetan democracy to adapt to the fact that the Kalon Tripa is truly in charge. This includes developing the necessary back-up structures to provide for what is called “Continuity of Government”, or COG.

At a time when Tibetans mourn the 49th self-immolation in Tibet, some uplifting news comes out of Washington DC. Two members of Congress have released an August 9 letter they sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling on the Obama Administration to strengthen public diplomacy and form a multilateral forum to resolve the Tibet crisis.

Dharamsala, like all political centers, is awash in games. Nevertheless, I hope that a more mainstream audience will hear what I have to say, considering the merit of my points rather than my lack of power or prestige.

Things are happening in Tibet today that rip my heart apart. Independencelessness has always been one of them. Back in 1985 at Bodhgaya we were reassured by the Dalai Lama that the dawn of independence had arrived and that the sunrise of independence was a matter of minutes.

Once every four years we witness the grand sporting spectacular of the Olympics. For me this is a refreshing chance to appreciate coverage of some of the sports outside my usual sporting interests.

This year marks 25 years since His Holiness the Dalai Lama first unveiled before the US Congress his Five Point Peace Plan for Tibet. This peace plan, along with the Strasbourg proposal of 1988,

Over the past few months I would go to bed every night praying not to wake up to another horrifying self-immolation in Tibet. My prayers have been going unanswered. Today I woke up to yet another self-immolation by a young monk in my hometown of Aba, Sichuan