Letters to the Editor
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I think most people have had the thoughts you voice about the Dalai Lama
Even those of us who admire him. However, who can save the Tibetans? You can ask a similar question about the extraordinary Aung Saan Sui Kyi in Myanmar or Burma. It is easier to be a symbol of a movement than to really change anything when a country as powerful as China decides to dig in its heels. China is Myanmar's only trading partner, but it is large enough to keep a brutal military regime in place that has systematically murdered the pro-Democracy party since 1990 when they won the popular vote by 90% of the vote. Su Kyi also has her hands tied. To care about her country, and yet to be helpless to do anything must be maddening.
I disagree only with your conclusion that the Dalai Lama wants to be left alone. I think that he probably does not wish to be political in the same sense that Sui Ky does, but religiously and culturally I imagine that he is going through hell watching what has been happening in Tibet.
And perhaps the more relevant question is, can the U.S. put pressure any more on a country like China to respect the human rights of the Tibetans, or to pressure the Burmese to allow people to have a voice in their government when we have our own hands dirty on the human rights issue in Iraq, and when our trade with the Chinese has proven so lucrative to our largest companies, fueling our economic growth and prosperity.
Much easier to allow Sui Kyi and The Dalai Lama to live in museums, so to speak, than to do anything about the deep injustices and repression to ordinary people that have occurred in Tibet and Burma, and that continue to occur.