Word: barnette
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...fact, the Dalai Lama's chief goal in holding the extraordinary meeting of exiles is the exact opposite, says Columbia professor and renowned Tibetologist Robbie Barnett. He says the summit is an attempt to "reunify all the factions in the Tibetan exile movement" at a time when it appears to be at its most fragmented. "He's been criticized strongly in the past for not allowing free discussion. This is a great way to answer that criticism," Barnett says. He thinks the likelihood of the more radical voices gaining the upper hand in the discussions is low. "They...
...highest ranking monk in the Tibetan hierarchy, the Panchen Lama. "He's already indicated that he's ready to consider a number of non-traditional possibilities such as appointing a child successor now or having a lay person follow him around, or even contemplating having a woman successor," says Barnett. "This seems to be turning into the forum where they can discuss issues like that...
...That would be consistent with the simple policy many analysts believe the Chinese have settled on: waiting until the Dalai Lama dies and refusing to concede anything in the meantime. Still, as strong a hand as Beijing seems to have, that approach could backfire. "They are very confident now," Barnett says "and feel that they have the upper hand. But it's consistent with their behavior in the past that they may well overplay their hand and make decisions now that help the Tibetans in the future...
...perhaps the biggest wild card in the talks will be Tibetans inside Tibet, says Robbie Barnett, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University in New York City. (There are 5.5 million, compared with about 130,000 in the global diaspora.) They won't be able to attend in person, but many of them are making their views heard through informal or secret communications. And with this group, too, there is a wide range of views, from radicalized former prisoners to those who are pushing for more concessions to China in the hopes of bringing the Dalai Lama back...
...stating in July that the talks were not about the future of Tibet but about arrangements for the Dalai Lama's own future, including when he might be allowed to return to China. "That's exactly what caused the collapse of talks all the way back in 1985," says Barnett. "They must have known what would happen if they humiliated him that way again." Once they had returned to that phraseology, Barnett says the Dalai Lama had almost no choice but to repudiate them. Considering everything, he says, "the only real surprise is that it took so long...