GCHQ to the Rescue

Hurray for GCHQ! That's not a sentence you've read very often here on 1820. But the doughnut-shaped complex, near Cheltenham racecourse has come up trumps forthe beleagured incarnations of Avalokiteśvara. Some wags have pointed out that the struggle in Tibet is akin to the Archbishop of Canterbury saying he wanted to rule, say, Yorkshire, and is more of a feudal - religious anomaly than a nations struggle for self-determination. But given the choice between Maoist-Proto Fascist Capitalists (talk about the worst of all worlds) and some monks, we know where we stand:

"Britain's GCHQ, the government communications agency that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

GCHQ analysts believe the decision was deliberately calculated by the Beijing leadership to provide an excuse to stamp out the simmering unrest in the region, which is already attracting unwelcome world attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer. For weeks there has been growing resentment in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, against minor actions taken by the Chinese authorities. Increasingly, monks have led acts of civil disobedience, demanding the right to perform traditional incense burning rituals. With their demands go cries for the return of the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold the high spiritual office."