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China Tibet

Last Days of Empire

IMPERIAL ARROGANCE CREATES ITS OWN DOWNFALL Reflections on a visit to Vienna at the invitation of SaveTibet, and a talk given at Universitet fur Bodenkultur, 11 April 2011, by Gabriel Lafitte Here in Vienna, as always, the situation is critical but not yet serious. On the surface all is well, the heurigen (wine bars) do […]

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Tibet

Restoring Sustainability to Tibet

HOW THE TIBETAN PLATEAU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE IMPROVEMENT A briefing to European Union Directorate-General on Environment, and EU Directorate-General on Climate, 4 April 2011 By Gabriel Lafitte www.rukor.org, editor@www.rukor.org +613 407 840 333 TIBET: HEART OF EURASIA Environmental impacts do not respect national boundaries; they are invariably transboundary issues. Eurasia is […]

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Tibet

Kang Rinpoche: holiest of pilgrimages or mass tourist destination?

ECO-TOURISM IN TIBET: WITH CHINESE, TIBETAN OR GLOBALISED CHARACTERISTICS? Several big new hotels, badged with high profile global brand names, are under construction in Lhasa; the StRegis luxury hotel is already open. When the four new hotels are complete, by the end of 2012, Lhasa will for the first time have about 2700 premium priced […]

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China Tibet

Eight Chinese myths about Tibetan nomads

WHAT COULD EUROPE DO TO HELP TIBET? A briefing by Gabriel Lafitte Presented at European Parliament Tibet Intergroup 30 March 2011 www.rukor.org, editor@rukor.org, +613 407 840 333 In a world where active, violent conflicts inevitably dominate headlines and the attention of policymakers, unresolved conflict over Tibet attracts less attention. It is a political reality of […]

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China Tibet

MODERN FREEDOMS, NOMADIC FREEDOMS

MOBILITY AND MOBILISATION: WHY MODERN STATES CANNOT TRUST NOMADS Gabriel Lafitte March 2011 China, at its imperial centre, has long mistrusted the mobility of the nomads of its northern and western edges. The mobility of the nomads was always the core of imperial fears and strategies. Mobility was an ever-present problem for successive dynasties facing […]

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Tibet

DEPOPULATING THE TIBETAN GRASSLANDS

NOMADS AND NOMADOLOGY A presentation by Gabriel Lafitte to “Der Dritte Pol in Gefahr – Chinas Umweltpolitik in Tibet” conference of Tibet Initiative Deutschland 15 March 2011, Berlin glafitte@aanet.com.au, www.rukor.org +613 59623434 +613 407 840 333 Table of Contents THE CAMPAIGN TO REMOVE ANIMALS TO GROW GRASS 1 “HAS THERE BEEN DIFFICULTY?” 2 FEARLESSLY EMBRACING […]

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China Tibet

SWALLOWING TIBET?

CHINA’S FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR TIBET     By Gabriel Lafitte                                             March 2011   China’s 12th Five-Year Plan has been launched, covering the years 2011 through 2015. This twelfth plan continues a lineage of central plans originating in the revolutionary years when Stalin’s Soviet Union was the model for everything, including the dream of a […]

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Tibet

CENTRALLY PLANNING TIBET IN 2011

CHINA’S CENTRAL PLANNERS: THE VISION OF PERFECTED RATIONALITY   By Gabriel Lafitte March 2011 In the west, central planning is the antithesis of efficiency; in China it remains the epitome. China’s 12th Five-Year Plan for China, including Tibet, has just been launched. Central planning got a bad name in the Soviet bloc, synonymous with waste, […]