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The Dalai Lama has accused Chinese troops of opening fire on a crowd of Tibetan protesters, killing 140. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's accusations came as the world spotlight remained focused on China as host of the Beijing Olympics, which has been marred by scuffles between Free Tibet protesters and Chinese authorities. The Dalai Lama told the French newspaper Le Monde that the army opened fire during a protest in the eastern Tibetan region of Kham on Monday. "I gather that 140 Tibetans were killed, although the figure needs to be confirmed," the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying. "Since...

Chinese may have killed 140 Tibetans this week: Dalai Lama 2 hours, 14 minutes ago Chinese security forces opened fire on a crowd this week in eastern Tibet and may have killed 140 people, the Dalai Lama told a French daily on Thursday. "The Chinese army again fired on a crowd on Monday August 18, in the Kham region in eastern Tibet," he told Le Monde. "One hundred and forty Tibetans are reported to have been killed, but the figure needs to be confirmed."

PARIS (AFP) – The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing a crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the "Olympic truce", the Dalai Lama's "answer was very clear: no," said former French justice minister Robert Badinter. "While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue," said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw the abolition of the death penalty in France. The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived on...

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who will attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics despite domestic criticism, announced Thursday that he would not meet the Dalai Lama later this month in France. Instead, Mr. Sarkozy’s office said, his wife, Carla, would meet with the Dalai Lama, taking part in a religious ceremony to open a Buddhist temple in southern France on Aug. 22. Mr. Sarkozy’s political party, however, said the president would meet with him before the end of the year. France holds the presidency of the European Union, and Mr. Sarkozy is representing Europe in Beijing as well....

Personally, I do have some mixed feelings about the Dalai Lama. While I do not buy into all of the conspiracy theories about links between him and the CIA or his involvement in the recent Tibet uprisings, I am not convinced that his organization is as clean ‘as the driven snow’ as so many would like to suggest. I realize that he won a Nobel Peace Prize some years ago, but after it was bestowed upon Al Gore last year, I lost faith in the value of that distinction. No matter how peaceful of a man he is able to...

THE DALAI Lama came to town, and I went to see him. After all, how often do you get to see a world figure, a Nobel Peace Prize winner? I saw his holiness at the majestic Kimmel Center, the perfect setting for such a holy man. --snip-- The angry murmur that went through the crowd when His Holiness proclaimed his love for George Bush was the exact opposite reaction you think you'd get from a bunch of peace-loving folk

Sen. John McCain will have his own international summit -- of a sort -- tomorrow when he meets with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the keynote speaker at a three-day seminar at the Aspen Institute in Colorado that will bring together scholars, teachers and others to explore Tibet's history and culture. McCain already had a speech scheduled in Denver, and will then fly to Aspen for a private meeting with the leader.

John McCain will step off the campaign trail tomorrow to sit down with the Dalai Lama. McCain will meet with the Tibetan spirtual leader and international icon in Aspen, Colorado, according to a McCain aide. The Dalai Lama is there as part of a three-day Aspen Institute conference billed as "A Celebration of Tibetan Culture." The Arizona senator was already scheduled to be in the state to speak to a military gathering in Denver. McCain has been outspoken about the Chinese crackdown in the Tibetan region, issuing a statement earlier this year praising the The Dalai Lama and urging the...

Madison, WI - Seated cross-legged onstage in a large upholstered chair, one of the world's best-known religious leaders delivered his trademark messages of compassion, peace and unity with typical humor, verve and humility Saturday afternoon. In response to a written question from the audience about Tibetan culture being strong enough to still mount widespread demonstrations against Chinese rule this year, he also ventured into the political arena. “I want to make clear. We always respect the Chinese people, not the Chinese government,” he said, to loud applause, adding that the uprisings were pro-freedom, not anti-Chinese. For the more than 7,000...

"...During a question-and-answer session following the mostly lighthearted talk, he added that reaching out to other religions is the best way to combat violent religious extremism. "Sometimes in the West, [there is] some impression that Islam is something militant. Totally wrong," he said. "Since [the] Sept. 11 event, I try to reach out to Muslim brothers and sisters. ...They are wonderful -- Islamic people. Very warm-hearted. Very sensible," he said, adding that some Christians, Buddhists and Hindus are also extremists. "These few mischievous people cannot represent whole traditions," said the Dalai Lama, who will continue lecturing at Lehigh through Tuesday...

PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, whose office announced Wednesday that he would, after all, attend the opening ceremonies of Beijing's Olympic Games, was warned by China on Tuesday not to meet with the Dalai Lama in France next month. China's ambassador to France, Kong Quan, told reporters there would be "serious consequences" for Chinese-French relations if Sarkozy meets the Dalai Lama, asserting that it "would be contrary to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs." Sarkozy has been vague on whether he will meet personally with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader in exile, regarded by China as a...

It was back to 'business as usual' for the Chinese government on Saturday when it condemned Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and members of the British Parliament for meeting with the Dalai Lama. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing was quoted as saying that the meeting in Britain "interferes in China's internal affairs and hurts the Chinese people's feelings as well." Britain is just one country in a list of countries that China has criticized for meeting with the Dalai Lama.

In an effort to publicize the plight of Tibet, the Dalai Lama protests the Beijing Olympics by wearing a hat imported from China.

Demonised in the West as goons guarding the Olympic torch along its chaotic world tour, these pictures show how China's paramilitary police learn their unwavering discipline. Officers of the People Paramilitary Police preparing for the Olympics are drilled on the parade ground with pins in their collars and crosses on their backs to ensure perfect posture. But instead of the blue tracksuits members wore while escorting the flame, they are kitted out in full dress uniform during the exercise at their base in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

Paris Draws China’s Wrath Even as France Tries to Smooth Things Over By STEVEN ERLANGER PARIS — China stepped into an internal French political spat on Tuesday, fiercely condemning a decision by the Socialist city council of Paris to make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of Paris. “China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the honor, said the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu. “This act of crude interference in China’s domestic affairs has seriously damaged the Sino-French relationship, and in particular the existing friendly ties between Paris and Beijing.” Not only that, Ms. Jiang said, “To make...

Dalai Lama draws 50,000 to Seattle stadium By Laura Myers Sat Apr 12, 7:27 PM ET Tens of thousands of people packed a Seattle sports stadium on Saturday to hear the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, call for nonviolence and to make the 21st century a "century of dialogue." Drums played, American Indian chiefs wearing feathered head-dresses danced and organizers said about 51,000 people -- many of them families -- listened under sunny skies to the Dalai Lama speak about compassion. Sitting in a red chair under a canopied stage on the stadium field, the robed leader made no...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said on Friday he did not support a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games. Asked on NBC "Nightly News" whether he wanted the world to boycott the Olympics this summer, the Dalai Lama replied, "No." Asked if he wanted the United States and other world leaders to boycott the opening ceremony in support of Tibet, he replied, "That's up to them." "It is very important to make clear, not only just the Tibet case. But in China proper, the report of human right is poor. And their freedom, also very...

via translation - BEIJING - Tibetan monks have demonstrated Wednesday in front of foreign journalists who were visiting a monastery in the north-west of the country, under the aegis of the Chinese authorities, "said a witness. Fifteen of the monks lamasserie of Labrang in Gansu province, carrying banners and shouted their support for the Dalai Lama in front of foreign reporters, said the witness, a member of the delegation. The official China News Agency confirmed that monks had halted the visit, but that it had quickly resumed.

Ahmedabad, January 18 Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama calls himself a Marxist monk, because “Marxism is more ethical, unlike capitalism”. At a gathering at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), he said: “I am a Marxist monk, a Buddhist Marxist. I belong to the Marxist camp, because unlike capitalism, Marxism is more ethical. Marxism, as an ideology, takes care of the welfare of its employees and believes in distribution of wealth among the people of the state.” Delivering a lecture on Ethics and Business, the Tibetan leader-in-exile said the global economy has created vast economic differences in every...

Lobbyist and activists who serve anti-China plots might gloatingly, but mistakenly, think they have found a soft rib in China when Tibetan riots coincidentally occurred dramatically with the approaching of the Beijing Olympic Games. They called for boycott of the Olympiad, hoping to make China submit to their demands, but they apparently overestimated their weight, no matter what heavyweights they could be. Closely tied to China's national interests in territorial integrity, the Tibet issue is one where the government will never compromise, even if those boycotters see the Olympics as a historical chance to pressure the country. The noisy boycotts...

BEIJING - China vowed Saturday to ramp up a campaign requiring Tibetan Buddhist monks to denounce the Dalai Lama and declare their loyalty to Beijing. But resentment over "patriotic education" has ignited protests that have left eight people dead in recent days in a southwestern province and could fuel future unrest despite a massive security presence aimed at quelling the demonstrations. The Tibet Daily newspaper reported Saturday that the government pledged to "strengthen patriotic education" especially among young monks to help them "become patriotic, religion-loving and law-abiding." "We should strengthen patriotic education so as to guide the masses of monks...

Politicians from Germany's main political parties have condemned a member of the far-left Left Party after she compared the Dalai Lama to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Christiane Schneider, the deputy floor leader for the Left Party in Hamburg's state assembly, sparked controversy with a speech she gave to the assembly Wednesday on the issue of how China is dealing with the ongoing Tibet crisis.

Monks disrupt journalists' tour of Tibet Editor's note: CNN was denied permission to join the group of reporters to Tibet by China's foreign ministry. LHASA, Tibet (AP) -- A government-managed visit by foreign reporters to Tibet's capital backfired Thursday when Buddhist monks disrupted the tour, screaming that there was no religious freedom and that the Dalai Lama was not to blame for Lhasa's recent violence.

March 24, 2008 China accuses Dalai Lama of being a terrorist The Chinese government continue to present the violence in Tibet as a plot supported by only a minority Jane Macartney in Beijing Far from heeding international calls for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, China has accused Tibet’s exiled god-king of colluding with Muslim terrorists to destabilise the country before the Olympic Games. State-run newspapers have issued prominent leading articles that are part of a campaign to portray the Dalai Lama as the mastermind of the deadly riots that have rippled through Tibet and ethnic Tibetan communities. In Lhasa, the...

"US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, center, reacts on receiving a souvenir from Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche, right, as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left, gestures at a public reception at the Namgayal complex in Dharamsala, India."

China on Saturday vowed to “resolutely crush� the “Tibet independence forces� even as the Dalai Lama, Buddhist spiritual leader, warned that the younger generation may launch more vigorous and violent struggle against Beijing after his death. Updating its earlier toll of 13 in the unrest in Lhasa, which started on March 10 coinciding with the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Communist rule in Tibet, Chinese authorities said the violence claimed the lives of 18 civilians and a police officer. “[We must] resolutely crush the ‘Tibet independence’ forces’ conspiracy and sabotaging activities,� The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the...

China says using Dalai to reach ulterior motive doomed to fail China said Friday that near 100 countries had already demonstrated their support for China's action in the Tibet riot, noting that attempts of "using Dalai to reach ulterior motive" were doomed to fail. The governments of almost 100 countries had conveyed to China or demonstrated in public their support for China's action to safeguard the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability in Tibet and condemned the violence and those who masterminded the crimes, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a written statement, "It is a clear proof that...

DHARAMSALA, India (CNN) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday criticized China for its crackdown on anti-government protesters in Tibet and called on "freedom-loving people" worldwide to denounce China. The Dalai Lama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greet each other Friday in Dharamsala, India. "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world," Pelosi told reporters. "The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world." She made the comments during...

TONGREN, China - A Tibetan monk crouched in the quiet courtyard of a nearly deserted monastery and bitterly recalled the words he and his fellow monks have been forced to recite every year at government-organized classes: "I love this country." The "patriotic education classes" have been imposed on the monks for the past decade, but the young monk in the centuries-old Rongwo monastery still can speak his own mind to a journalist. "We want freedom," he said. "We want the Dalai Lama to come back to his land." The monastery is located in the valley town of Tongren, in Qinghai...

What is the Chinese view of the Dalai Lama? Wen Jiabao, the premier, has said that the rioting by Tibetans was "organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique", whose claims to be pursuing not independence but peaceful dialogue "are nothing but lies". Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party secretary in Tibet, has described the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast". Yet Wednesday Mr Wen told Gordon Brown by phone that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the exiled Tibetan leader if he...

DHARMSALA, India - The Dalai Lama offered Thursday to meet with Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao, but said he would not travel to Beijing unless there was a "real concrete development" in relations between the government and Tibet. Chinese officials said they would talk with the Dalai Lama on condition he "stopped separatist activities" and recognized Tibet and Taiwan as parts of China. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly offered to meet with Chinese leaders and has long maintained he is not seeking independence for Tibet but wants dialogue aimed at giving Tibetans autonomy under Chinese rule. Beijing, however, has...

WASHINGTON - The White House said Thursday that China's crackdown in Tibet is not cause for President Bush to cancel his attendance at the Beijing Olympics. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino Bush's position is that "this should be about the athletes and not necessarily about politics." She said that Bush, in accepting the invitation last year from Chinese President Hu Jintao to attend the Olympics, told him that the games would "shine a spotlight on all things Chinese." "That's not necessarily a bad thing," Perino added. Bush agreed to go to the Olympics during a meeting with Hu in Australia last...

March 19, 2008 China brands Dalai Lama a monster and forces students to denounce him (Arko Datta/Reuters) "The Dalai Lama is a wolf wrapped in a habit, a monster with human face and the hearf of an animal," said the Chinese leader of Tibet Jane Macartney in Beijing The hardline leader of Tibet has branded the Dalai Lama a “monster” as it emerged that Tibetan students in Beijing have been ordered to effectively renounce any allegiance to their god-king. Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party Secretary in Tibet, said that the struggle to crush the unrest in the deeply Buddhist Himalayan...

Dalai Lama is a wolf in monk's robes: China March 19, 2008 18:57 IST Unmindful of global protests and calls for dialogue with the Dalai Lama [Images], China on Wednesday dubbed him a "wolf in monk's robes" and admitted that it was locked in a "life-and-death battle" in Tibet after the strongest challenge to Beijing's [Images] rule there in two decades. Initially led by monks, the demonstrations began peacefully on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising in 1959 against the Chinese rule, and then spiraled out of control in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, claiming at least 13 lives...

Dalai Lama 'wolf in monk's robes': China March 19, 2008 ] Associated Press BEIJING – A top Chinese Communist party official has launched a stinging personal attack on the Dalai Lama, calling Tibet's revered religious leader a "wolf in monk's robes." Zhang Qingli, hardline leader of the Communist party in Tibet, also says China is locked in a "life-and-death battle" with protesters making their biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Himalayan region in almost two decades. China's state media, meanwhile, says more than 100 people have surrendered to police in and around Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa, where peaceful protests...

BEIJING - Premier Wen Jiabao accused the Dalai Lama and his supporters of orchestrating violent clashes to taint the Beijing Olympics, saying Tuesday that they were provoking violence to promote Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama urged his followers to remain peaceful, saying he would resign as head of Tibet's government-in-exile if the situation spun out of control. But he also suggested the Chinese may have fomented the protests in Tibet and neighboring provinces in order to discredit him. In China's highest-level response to the unrest, Wen underscored the Communist leadership's determination to regain control of Tibet and nearby parts of...

MOSCO (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday called on China to open talks with the Dalai Lama amid mounting international unease over China's crackdown on protests in Tibet. The Netherlands summoned the Chinese ambassador to express concern and the European Union also said it was troubled, but Russia insisted the Tibet crisis was an "internal matter" for China. Rice renewed a US appeal for China to show restraint in Tibet saying there was now a "terrible situation". "We have really urged the Chinese over several years to find a way to talk with the Dalai Lama,...

Dalai Lama under fire from Tibetan radicals (AFP) 17 March 2008 DHRAMSHALA, India - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama came in for tough criticism Monday from prominent radical exiles demanding a review of his non-violent campaign for autonomy within China. The leader of the pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress publicly criticised the Dalai Lama’s refusal to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games and urged protests in the Himalayan region to continue. ‘China does not deserve to host the Olympics. Human-rights issues inside Tibet have deteriorated. It’s evident that they do not deserve the Olympics,’ Tsewang Rigzin told...

Dalai Lama: China causing 'cultural genocide' (CNN) -- The Dalai Lama on Sunday called for an international probe of China's treatment of Tibet, which he said is causing "cultural genocide" of his people. The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet spoke at a news conference Sunday in Dharmsala, India, two days after violent clashes between pro-autonomy demonstrators and Chinese security forces in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. A spokesman for the Tibetan exile government said it has confirmed at least 80 deaths in Friday's violence and that protests were continuing outside the capital on Sunday, further undermining China's hopes of a smooth...

Tibet is in the news. Chinese troops in Lhasa are violently suppressing demonstrations that commemorate the rising 49 years ago which forced the Dalai Lama into exile. Meanwhile, on the country's northern edge, six months of snow and record low temperatures have created a catastrophe in the Chinese province of Chingai. According to China's official news agency, 500,000 animals have died and three million people face starvation. When a similar if much smaller crisis 10 years ago hit Ladakh, in northern Kashmir, thousands of lives were saved by the expert intervention of a British charity, ApTibet, working with the Dalai...

'100 Dead' In Anti-China Protests In Tibet By Sky News SkyNews - 9 minutes agoChina has locked down the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and set a deadline for rioters to surrender following the worst violence in 20 years. Beijing said that 10 people had been burnt to death during a day of unrest, while Tibet's government-in-exile in India warned that the number could be much higher. In a statement from its northern India base, it said: "We have unconfirmed reports about 100 people had been killed and martial law imposed in Lhasa." The government said it was "deeply concerned" by...

KATHMANDU—Chinese authorities in Tibet today detained dozens of Tibetan monks staging a rare protest march into the regional capital, Lhasa, on a key anniversary. An authoritative source who declined to be identified told RFA’s Tibetan service as many as 300 monks set out from Drepung monastery outside Lhasa on the roughly 10-km (5-mile) walk into the city center. Sources said the monks were marching to the Potala Palace in the heart of Lhasa to demand the release of monks detained last October shortly after the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, received a Congressional Gold Medal in Washington. Police,...

(BEIJING) — In a blast of harsh rhetoric, China lashed out Thursday at the Dalai Lama and critics of Beijing's support for Sudan, saying attempts to link political issues to the Beijing Summer Olympics betrayed the spirit of the games. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China could "definitely not accept" rights groups that say China's support for Sudan's government is prolonging the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. "To link the Darfur issue to the Olympics is a move to politicize the Olympics and this is inconsistent with the Olympics spirit and will bear no fruit," Jiang told reporters at a...

Chinese authorities have been forcing Tibetans to sign a petition opposing the Dalai Lama's return, a London-based group said, in apparent retaliation for the award of a high U.S. honour to Tibet's spiritual leader. President George W. Bush gave the exiled god-king the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington in October, infuriating Beijing. It came on the heels of the Dalai Lama's reception by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September. The Dalai Lama, 72, has lived in exile in India since fleeing his predominantly Buddhist homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule. Closed-door talks between Beijing and his...

OTTAWA (Reuters) When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper tried to explain in a year-end interview why he'd met the Dalai Lama in his Ottawa office, it was clear he wanted to show respect for the exiled Tibetan leader. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come out that way. "I met the Dalai Lama in my office but I meet everyone in my office. I don't know why I would sneak off to a hotel room just to meet the Dalai Lama. You know, he's not a call girl," Harper told OMNI television. He quickly added: "As I say, he's a respected international...

What could the USS Kitty Hawk and Citigroup possibly have in common? I'll start with the aircraft carrier because I'm still stewing over what happened when the People's Republic of China abruptly denied the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying ships and submarines their routine, scheduled Thanksgiving berth in Hong Kong, where hundreds of crew members' families had gathered (at considerable expense) to celebrate the holiday with their loved ones. First, there was the nasty act itself. News accounts speculated about the "reason" -- was it President Bush's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama? Our latest arms agreement with Taiwan?...

China: Navy Spat Not a Misunderstanding By ANITA CHANG – 15 hours agoBEIJING (AP) — China's last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday, adding that ties had been "disturbed and harmed" by Congress' honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.Spokesman Liu Jianchao denounced an earlier report from Washington that said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told President Bush the incident was a misunderstanding.But Liu offered no concrete explanation as to why China barred the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its...

The Buddhist leader is due in Rome on December 13th next. Despite having no diplomatic relations with the Holy See, the Chinese Foreign Minister warns that bilateral relations will be seriously damaged should the meeting between Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama go ahead. Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Chinese government yesterday warned the Vatican of “serious repercussions� to bilateral relations if the Pope meets with the Dalai Lama, who is due in Rome on December 13th.  Currently there are no diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Beijing.Liu Jianchao, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Minister, said: “We hope the Vatican...

Having never met the Dalai Lama, I am not sure why he appears to be giggling so often. Perhaps he is just overflowing with joy. Perhaps he has a great sense of humour and is waiting for an opportunity to share a joke. Perhaps he finds it incongruous that a simple monk travels the world like a leading diplomat or captain of industry. Or perhaps he is laughing at how foolish his travels make the People's Republic of China look. To be sure, what the PRC has done to Tibet and the Buddhist monks who animate its culture is no...

When it comes to Western governments' contacts with the Dalai Lama, China talks loudly, but carries a little stick. Every time a president or prime minister meets with the exiled spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet -- as Prime Minister Stephen Harper did yesterday -- the Chinese threaten severe repercussions, typically the fraying of the trade arrangements Western corporations covet so much because of China's 1.3 billion consumers. But critics who, on this basis, warn against official meetings with the Dalai Lama need to remember one thing: China needs bilateral trade every bit as much as the West, perhaps more...