Anonymous Donation Secures Our Domain Name Against Chinese Scam

 

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Image; archivenet

Recently we have been targeted by an online scam, based in China, due to our digital activism on Tibet we maintain secure operating protocols, thankfully our computers were not compromised and no breach made on our data. The nature of this latest attempt threatens to ‘cyber squat’ a domain name, with the prospect of diverting traffic away and lowering search-engine rankings, it is though an empty intimidation. An email gets sent from a seemingly legit domain registry website that alerts you of a company which is trying to register your domain name in China. This is aimed to produce an over-reaction, a touch of scare-mongering. After all the thought of your site being hit in such a way is a cause for concern. But the scam seeks a response, it’s looking for dialog, and a hook into concerns.

Next you receive an email from the company supposedly seeking to register your domain name, in which they assert that no matter the claimed concerns of copyright abuse they are going to register anyway. This is a second-stage frightener. By now they are hoping you are scrambling around trying to prevent such an action, but just when all seems lost, guess who comes along with a solution? Yep you got it the supposed domain registry website that first contacted you! They offer a secure and lasting way to avoid your hard-earned and respected domain name from being misappropriated, register those URLs with them! Then the sting is completed when they announce that for a reasonable charge they can host the offending domain names and so protect your actual domain from abuse. That is the scam!!! Due to the vigilance and experience of folks who look after our online presence we were able to recognize this criminal action at a very early stage, and so avoid the con.

Image:archivenet

Meanwhile our Facebook team reached out for advice to an Anonymous activist who has been extremely helpful in our work on Tibet and to our amazement, as an additional layer of protection, she/he registered the offending .cn domain names. While the object of the scam was to threaten the registration of such domains, in reality that was only a bait, in all reality they would not have wasted money registering a number of names. That though misses the main point, the incredible solidarity and generosity offered by Anonymous who took action as a precaution to protect our site https://tibettruth.com

We would love to name the individual and offer our genuine thanks for such support but as Anonymous that’s not possible, she/he knows who they are and so to that person we say ‘Thank you for caring and standing with us in our activism for the just cause of Tibet’s national freedom!’

US Lawmakers Offer Platitudes That Fail The People Of Tibet

Graphic: via @tibettruth

An eight member delegation of the US Congress, headed by Nancy Pelosi has arrived in Dharamsala, India, the exiled base of the Tibetan Administration, to hold talks with the Dalai Lama and Doctor Lobsang Sangay the administration’s political leader.

They will be accorded considerable praise and gratitude as friends of Tibet, yet in truth their support is constrained to issues of human rights and culture, while this may be regarded as positive assistance it fails to address the just and historic right of Tibet’s people to national independence. The reason why Ms Pelosi and her Congressional colleagues are silent on that core subject is, that while appearing to be champions of the Tibetan cause, they are advocates of the US policy which recognizes Tibet as an integral part of China. This explains their carefully worded emphasis on cultural issues and human rights, to avoid any mention of Tibet’s status or reference to the struggle being waged inside Tibet.

It is not the Tibetan people, or their rightful determination for national liberation which is being supported by this delegation. Indeed their is something distasteful and disingenuous about these political dignitaries serving up such cynical platitudes, while across the mountains in Tibet a cause is being waged to demand (what these defenders of freedom are afraid to voice for fear of upsetting China and their own State Department), national freedom for Tibet!

UPDATE: Tibetan Self-Immolates In Bora Town, Amdo Region Of Occupied Tibet

 

UPDATE: Now confirmed that a sixteen year-old Tibetan male, named as Mr Chagdor Kyab from Bora Amdo, self-immolated in the vicinity of the local monastery, shouting, (according to a source quoted by Radio Free Asia) “Tibet wants freedom” and “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet” while engulfed by flames, It remains unclear if he survived, as he was swiftly taken away by Chinese paramilitary.

A report from VOA Tibetan today confirmed that an as yet unidentified Tibetan man self-immolated  on May 2nd in Bora, a town within Tibet’s Amdo region. According to sources he was swiftly taken away, leaving it is reported people in the town unaware that the protest took place. We shall post further details as they emerge.

Tibetan Genetic Origins Distorted By Chinese Linked And Funded Academic Studies

Image:activistpost

This is something of an update to a previous post we wrote on the subject. Prompted by the fact we just received a report from Science Daily on the subject of genetic traits that enabled Tibetans to adapt and thrive in the extreme conditions that apply in Tibet. On the face of it another scientific paper saturated with jargon that offers a balanced and impartial analysis. But as subscribers to this Blog will be aware whenever the Chinese regime’s involved a particularly careful scrutiny needs to be applied. especially on matters relating to Tibet. So with that in mind take a look at the following:

“Further analysis showed that Han Chinese and Tibetan subpopulations split as early as 44 to 58 thousand years ago, but that gene flow between the groups continued until approximately 9 thousand years ago.“ (Emphasis added) Source: Hu H, Petousi N, Glusman G, Yu Y, Bohlender R, Tashi T, et al. Evolutionary history of Tibetans inferred from whole-genome sequencing. PLOS Genetics, April 2017

Now away from the rarefied exactitude of genetic science, what is being implied by the comments above regarding the Tibetan population? Maybe you see it differently but we’re reading that Tibetan DNA has been associated with the Han Chinese population since very ancient times indeed.  A curious assertion, and a touch misleading, after all there was not existing at that time period a ‘Han’ society, nor such an entity as ‘China’. These are political and cultural terms, which we should remind ourselves are actively promoted, exploited and enforced by no less than the propaganda ministry of China’s regime. Indeed the idea that Tibet has been ‘part of China since ancient times’ is a recurring and bogus claim made by the Chinese authorities to attempt to legitimize and justify its rule over Tibetans.

Any supplementary material which could bolster such fact-free assertions would be of service to China’s government, especially if it had the seeming authority of an independent and objective study! Does this perhaps explain the puzzling presence, in an otherwise dry research on genetic adaptations, of comments that carry more resemblance to political disinformation than empirical neutrality? Are academics being manipulated? Or is it a willing complicity from researchers who have compromised in order to service and progress their academic status and opportunities of working within China and occupied territories such as Tibet?

We’ve raised such questions before and there’s a history of scientific papers on Tibet that slyly promote the official dogma of China’s regime on the matter of Tibet. A 2014 Chinese academic study concluded ancient  migrations into Tibet came  from an area known as the Loess Plateau, which just happens to be within contemporary Chinese provinces!

“This study reconstructs the history of human migration to the Tibetan Plateau (sic) and discusses the possible mechanisms involved. We propose that humans first arrived in the relatively low elevation Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (sic) from the adjacent Western Loess Plateau via the He-Huang Valley, and then moved further south to the central plateau.”

Source: D. Zhang, G. Dong, H. Wang, X. Ren, P. Ha, M. Qiang, F. Chen, History and possible mechanisms of prehistoric human migration to the Tibetan Plateau, Chin. Sci. Bull. (2016)

No surprise that this paper seeks to legitimize, through dubious claims and flawed science, that Tibetans are derived from Chinese territory, politics and the demands of China’s propaganda saturate any academic activity regarding Tibet. Of course the distant time of such migrations was, if it occurred, long before Han Chinese culture, or the territorial entity of China existed. Such facts though are not allowed to obstruct the covert objectives of this study. To promote the falsehood that Tibetans, their culture, history and lands are derived from and part of China.

Genetic anthropology is the new kid on the breaking-science block, a mixture of hard laboratory research, spiced with statistical extrapolation and sometimes reaching conclusions that are supported more by affirmation than objective and empirically verifiable evidence. It’s smoke and mirrors, given a sexy make-over by the gleam of 21st Century genetic pioneering. However unlike its older scientific brothers and sisters its findings, particularly relating to ancient genetic histories are open to question and cannot be as easily or conclusively proved through regular scientific process.

This enables considerable space for speculation and assertions, that while attracting media attention, in themselves should be treated with caution, especially when such studies seek to ascribe a particular ethnological origin to a present day people. Our genetic heritage on a personal and collective level derives from a vastly rich and diverse source, through countless generations we have received numerous ethnological inputs, while ancient migrations traversed the continents carrying an admixture of Haplogroups, Successive contacts between differing groups and later cultures combined to ensure that we are more ‘children of the universe’ than belonging to one particular ethnic culture. Long live that variety!

Researchers in the field however seem to take a different view and invest considerable time and effort in claiming that the genetic origins of a present day population group can be determined, innocent enough you may think. What though if such claims could serve a political agenda, or perhaps an even darker motive?

Ms Anna Di Rienzo, a Professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago has just released the findings of a study in which she claims: “Modern Tibetans appear to descend from populations related to modern Sherpa and Han Chinese. Tibetans carry a roughly even mixture of two ancestral genomes” (Editorial Note: Why she implies Sherpas are a distinct people from Tibetans is curious as it is considered that they are originally a group from Tibet who about 500 years ago migrated to the area now claimed by Nepal)

No doubt such a claim will delight the propaganda ministry of China’s regime which is un-sleeping in its efforts to convince the world that Tibetans are Chinese and Tibet historically a part of China. The assertions made by Ms Di Renzio refers to ‘two ancestral gene pools – one belonging to a group that migrated 30,000 years ago and adapted to high altitudes’. Now while China’s antiquity is given special emphasis

“Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations.[1] The written history of China can be found as early as the Shang Dynasty (c. 1700–1046 BC),” (Source;Wiki)

It’s cultural identity and territorial existence most certainly did not exist in the time frame of the supposed migration referred to by the study, indeed it appears that evidence of any remotely ‘Chinese’ culture made its first appearance during the Neolithic, which began around 10,200 BC, nearly 20, 000 years AFTER the claimed migration of the claimed ancestral gene-pool migration that Ms Di Rienzo suggests party formed the present Tibetan population!

900, 000 Year-Old Foot Prints Revealed In England

900, 000 Year-Old Foot Prints Revealed In England

Image:naturalhistorymuseum/telegraph

It would be like an Archeologist describing the recently discovered 900,000 year-old foot prints in England as being made by a group from France!

Equally it’s a touch misleading to describe a mysterious and unverifiable population group that seemingly existed, some 20, 000 years (prior to even the emergence of the Neolithic) as ‘Han-Chinese’! That being so just why has this respected and experienced academic’s findings been phrased in such a way as to suggest that Tibetans are genetically part Han-Chinese? At this point the question is which party would most benefit from claiming that Tibetans partly are genetically derived from the Han-Chinese?

The answer is of course China’s Regime. Now nobody is saying that Ms Di Rienzo is part of an orchestration designed to promote the propaganda claims of the Chinese authorities. Yet the presentational wording of her study could be very easily seen in that light. Such an interpretation is given additional credibility by those troubled to see the involvement of Case Western Reserve University, whose anthropology department has a long association with China, lead by Melvyn Goldstein a figure who divides opinion within the Tibetan movement and has been criticized as an ‘anthro-apologist’ for China’s rule in Tibet. His writings on Tibet have attracted serious concern, notably from Tibetan author Jamyang Norbu

“Beijing appears to regard Goldstein as the premier Tibet scholar on its side. If one goes into the Chinese government white papers on Tibet and checks out The Historical Inevitability of Tibet’s Modernization, The first and key reference cited is Goldstein’s History of Modern Tibet: the Demise of the Lamaist State. This book is extremely important to China’s propagandists, because it is the only extensive account of pre-invasion Tibet and its government that is not only harshly condemnatory of Tibetans, but presents a very convincing appearance of meticulous research and authentic scholarship” (Source: http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2008/07/13/running-dog-propagandists/ )

Whatever the facts the manner in which these researches have been presented has the appearance of a political gloss, yet they are factually misleading and lack any verifiable empirical testing to conclusively prove the claims made. Would it not have been possible for Ms Di Rienzo and her academic partners to have outlined the results in the following, more neutral fashion?

‘The data our research has produced suggests that Tibetans are genetically linked to a possible migration that could have occurred some 30, 000 years ago, the precise location of a source point is unknown’

We leave it to our subscribers and visitors here to judge if this study constitutes independent science or propaganda disguised as bona-fide research?

Snow Leopard Trust Collaborates With Chinese Regime In Eradicating Tibet From The Map

Image: kinganimals

We see it so much, well meaning organizations choosing to collaborate with the Chinese regime. They try justifying such an ethically worrying association by arguing that without such cooperation their work would not be possible. Some go further implying that their noble objectives absolve them of moral accountability or ethical principles.

So on that line-of-reasoning they jump into bed with a tyranny. Which, as the world knows, inflicts the most brutal human rights violations against its own people. While violently oppressing Tibet, East Turkistan, Southern Mongolia and Manchuria. But hey! The end justifies the means, right? If such complicity, for that it was it is, means they get to conduct conservation work on rare species such as the snow leopard then their decision to be fully compliant with the political demands of the Chinese authorities is justified. Right? Well not really!

Where’s the line drawn exactly? How far are organizations such as the Snow Leopard Trust (SNT) and Panthera Cats prepared to go in order to secure that precious travel visa or funded field trip to lands under the draconian grip of China?

Well clearly the SNT are happy to cooperate in wiping Tibet off of the world map! Just take a look at their published output on snow leopards and see how they describe those magnificent big cats as living ‘in China’s (so-called) Qinghai or Xinjiang Provinces’. Indeed on their website they announce: “China is one of the most influential countries for our conservation efforts, as it contains as much as 60% of all snow leopard habitat areas.”

Now these are political and territorial fabrications, engineered to promote China’s bogus claims, over what in fact are Tibetan lands or the territory of East Turkistan. Re-branding such areas as Chinese provinces is a cynical deception, designed to to mislead people into regarding those locations as being legitimate part of China. In truth they are nations and cultures which have been invaded, occupied and ruthlessly oppressed by China.

That dark reality though doesn’t appear to bother those who value their non-governmental, environmental or conservation projects above principles of human rights or justice. As long as they get to do their research they don’t give a damn! This ethical-free attitude is reflected in a tweet received 4/25/17 by our colleagues @tibettruth from the Snow Leopard Trust in which they stated:

“We’re not experts on geopolitics. We’re experts on snow leopards. To them (and us) countries don’t matter much – only mountains do.”

So there you have it, a supposedly responsible and respected conservation organization is essentially saying: ‘screw Tibetans, their plight, or the harrowing excesses of China’s regime’, while ignoring its active collaboration in eradicating Tibet from the map!

Google Earth Wiping Tibet Off The World Map

Image: original photo NASA/amended for fair use & education by @tibettruth

Like all expansionist aggressors and colonizers China, having invaded then occupied lands such as Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia and Manchuria enforces policies upon those subject peoples, which seek to assimilate and eradicate cultural values and traditions. The native peoples of North America suffered such an assault, as did the Irish under British rule. Presently Tibetan children are being forced to learn Chinese, yet another example of this process, the aim being to Sinocize a generation and thus extinguish a sense of national identity.

The tyranny which conducts such a cultural genocide not only seeks to ensure a dilution and eventually extinction of a peoples tradition, history and language, but through force seeks to justify its claims over the territory it has invaded and occupied. After all the world must be convinced, and what more persuasive and relatively objective evidence is there than a map. The geography of the imperialist.

China has done just that during its illegal occupation of Tibet, indeed the communist regime even has a ‘Place-Names Committee’ which is tasked to engineer Chinese versions of all the settlements and natural features in areas under China’s control, which are then imposed. Tibetan place-names are disappearing fast across Tibet’s landscape, rivers, mountains and sacred sites are being re-branded as ‘Chinese’. Not only is this an demonstration of colonialism, but equally a key propaganda exercise to promote China’s bogus claims that Tibet is legitimate Chinese territory. In fact it is not at all, but the illusion of a map, complete with Chinese named locations and features has a power to convince, and that is the objective.

Image: print-screen Google Earth/Amended @tibettruth (double click for enlarged view)

We can of course expect little else from a totalitarian regime such as China’s, it has been redrawing the maps of lands it has invaded and promoting such deceptions for many years. What though are we to make of organizations which seemingly value human rights, freedom, and justice yet who are collaborating with China in assembling and promoting such cynical distortions? Enter Google Earth! 

As folks who follow our account across Twitter may have noted, recently we launched an awareness campaign to bring  attention to the troubling fact that Google Earth is wiping Tibetan place-names from its global maps. These are being replaced by Chinese versions, no doubt to the approval China’s regime, whose psychopaths must be delighted that their geographic disinformation is being promoted by the internet’s go to map resource.

We must presume that Google Earth has no ethical concerns about being complicit in a process that endorses colonialism and defines territorial legitimacy by military invasion and occupation. Or as in this case, based on the assertions of a regime which is not only erasing Tibet from the map, but also violently suppressing Tibetan culture and its people.

Image:Wiki-Media Commons

Well since Google Earth seem willing partners in publishing the geographic propaganda of the Chinese authorities we can expect that it will be amending its map of Arunachal Pradesh (part of India), which China has again recently claimed sovereignty over. Indeed China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced April 14 that its has renamed six locations in that region as; Wo’gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidengarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bumo La and Namkapub Ri. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/china-announces-standardised-names-for-6-places-in-arunachal/articleshow/58253902.cms Of course China makes the usual noise about this being about its ‘territorial sovereignty’, the truth is that the area in question traditionally, historically and ethnically was within the sphere of influence of Tibet! The claims issued by China are no more than a calculated fabrication, political machinations that seeks to expand its control. Not that such facts have troubled Google Earth who are peddling as geographic fact, the falsehoods and deceptions of China’s Ministry Of Disinformation.