REVIEWING THE PROPOSITION THAT THE U.N. SHOULD GRANT NON-MEMBER OBSERVER STATUS TO TIBET...

SUCH A PROPOSITION MAY BE SUPERFICIALLY APPEALING BUT SUBSTANTIALLY WEAK.

The idea of non-member observer status at the UN for Tibet may or may not be uniquely mine, and I do not know, if it has ever been a goal of the Dalai Lama;  I do know that the Dalai Lama has publicly expressed his wish that China allow Tibet to function as an autonomous region of China.

It may be that non-member observer status at the UN, rather than furthering the cause of Tibet against Chinese Occupation, would instead put the lid on both Tibetan autonomy and independence.  Any such internationally legal voice gained by the Dalai Lama under the aegis of a theoretically independent Tibet having non-member observer status could be a voice less substantial than the wind, having no territorial hegemony.

The Dalai Lama may have chosen the harder, longer, more painful, more difficult, ultimately necessary road -- the road of the Tibetan Buddhist, may it lead to the reconstitution of Tibet.