>Actually, the present dance around Tibet is just playing with fire. Chinese rule over Tibet was always fine with everyone, including Tibet - before the Chinese went communist. Now while I believe that they aren't soft on local issues, I don't see them as any worse than any other country dealing with a province where a rebellion was dormant until stoked from outside. The US have supported far worse than that (and still do - look at them Saudis), and there wasn't such a media orchestration going on.
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>And parading Dalai Lama (elected by who exactly?) just because he's a religious figure, to spite the Chinese for being officially atheist... is wise how? What if Falun Gong are worse than Islamic fundamentalists? What if The Party there just decided some day that anyone who claims being persecuted for religious beliefs is free to leave the country? How many thousands of this sort of jihadists are the US ready to receive? I'd think about that.
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>However, this sort of dance can be solved far more easily. The first guy who says to China "you should take in some of our values - you took the dollars already" may provoke a "dollars? We don't need no dollars - anyone want to buy dollars real cheap?" reaction, which... too stiff to imagine what that would look like. So far, the Chinese seem to react to this Olympic pissing contest with calmness and dignity (which probably irritates the righteous even more).
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>> China is manipulating currencies which disadvantage us. China needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs China.
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>Dare try? The Chinese had the last famine only two generations ago, and they still haven't forgotten how poor they were. Many still are. Just how long would a tug last? With Walmart operating with minimal stock (to maximize profit and minimize the capital tied on shelves) and others operating in a similar manner, in order to survive on the market, the US would be without pants (all made in China) within weeks. China could tag along for months on rice alone.

I'm still waiting for anyone to notice the elephant in the room. Seems to be, TV is permanently on.