An Open Tibet: 9 / 30

9 of 30 from the Open Tibet series.

Above: The first rays of sunlight hitting the valley floor a few hours northeast of Lhasa. A string of prayer flags intersects the top half of the image.

Some recent Tibet related tomfoolery:

CNN talking head Jack Cafferty calls the Chinese 'goons' (and then later clarifies his statement to be directed only at the Chinese government). The maliciousness and racism of the comments in that YouTube thread alone are enough to make one move into the woods.

The Chinese government reacts predictably to these 'evil remarks.'

In Japan, the olympic torch is meeting some official resistance:

Security concerns and sympathy toward Tibetans prompted a Buddhist temple in Nagano, Japan, to withdraw from participation in the Olympic torch relay next week, a temple official said on Friday.

... Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted the temple official as saying, "Indiscriminate killings were undertaken in Tibet. We were concerned about Buddhists in Tibet who rose up and a subsequent crackdown against them."

Whereas not to be outdone by those 'Tibetan Separatist' sports haters, Chinese supporters of China around the world are coming together to rally with equal amount of flag waving and chanting:

Tens of thousands of Chinese in London, Paris and Berlin will hold rallies on Saturday to protest against the violent acts of Tibetan separatists, the biased coverage in some Western media reports against China and voice their support for the Beijing Olympics.

And fears of excessive protesting in Delhi led to extreme security precautions during the torch relay:

The 70-odd Indian athletes and celebrities who carried the torch down the widest avenue in New Delhi, the capital, were outnumbered by thousands of members of the Indian security forces, who stamped out any pomp and excitement, turning the occasion into a tense security operation.