Hey, I like France… so long as Sarko is in power, anyway

Yeah, and he had my vote, every time. But I’ll add, so long as I don’t spend more than 3 weeks per year in France… And I already spent like 8 weeks! Too much!

Sarkozy’s not the nicest person on Earth, but he is indeed busy, and he has Herculean tasks awaiting for him. So yeah. Busy, not soft-spoken, but that’s what France needs at the moment.

Apparently you don’t understand my English (perhaps because it’s been underused for about 3 years) and apparently I can do nothing but put words in your mouth or take things out of context, so let’s stop being offended at each other’s misinterpretations. I’ll make my point in a few hopefully simple sentences, free of any trace of your comments.

I’m just saying Korea is being unnecessarily deferential to China. Korea would not suffer any significant damage in any areas (relations, economy, etc.) from the commies for hosting the Dalai Lama for his intended mission in Korea.

“Bum, I’m not sure what you meant by modifying, but I hope you didn’t think I was insinuating that you were comparing the DL with Farrakhan.”

My point was that pissing off China for some intangible deed is a foolish bravado (hence the brass ball comment) - even if the impact isn’t apparent in economics, screwing up an international relationship JUST FOR Dalai Lama is pretty retarded. You were implying that I thought inviting Dalai Lama was inherently risque.

Dude, I’m not against Dalai Lama visiting Korea. I’m just saying it’s not THAT unreasonable for South Korea to refuse visa to Dalai Lama considering the relations they have to maintain.

for clarification:

bum said:
”

‘Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.’

Right, way to modify what I said to fit your need and taking the issue out of context - i.e. ‘pissing off the country (China)’

”

Bum, I’m not sure what you meant by modifying, but I hope you didn’t think I was insinuating that you were comparing the DL with Farrakhan. That was sarcasm, and should have been obvious… Anyway, my point was exactly that the DL is an international symbol of peace, and thus, by granting the guy a visa, it wouldn’t make Korea look like they are trying to proudly flash their “brass balls” to China on the international stage, as you suggested it would be. This is especially obvious when you consider the purpose of the DL’s visit. What was the purpose again?

“to visit the country as a symbol of global peace amid warming inter-Korean relations after the second inter-Korean summit in October and progress in ongoing multilateral talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons ambitions.”

Look what we have here. The DL wanted to come to Korea to support a common agenda as China. He is on China’s side in this battle–China wants peace on the Korean peninsula, and China wants progress in the multilateral nuke talks, and China wants the Norks to end their nuclear weapon ambitions. ..the exact things the DL was intending to come to Korea to promote. China is well aware of the DL’s international status, his great record, and the fact that he’s the spiritual leader of Buddhists throughout the world. They are also aware that Korea has many Buddhists, and they probably would have caught wind of the reason why the DL was invited to Korea this time around. Were the DL granted a visa, China wasn’t going to suspect that Korea was inviting the DL to Seoul to be the grand marshall in any “Free Tibet” parades down Sejongno. The DL’s visit was not going to be Korea endorsing the DL and his cause wrt Tibet. Korea was not going to give the guy the Congressional Medal of Honor (like the US a few weeks back) or honorary citizenship (like Canada has done). And as a result of granting the DL a visa, Korea would have, at worst, paid the same price as the US and Canada–they’d have received strongly worded statements of disappointment/rhetoric from Beijing.

2) U.S. sells about 4.3% of its export to China and imports about 13.3%. China, however, sells 21% of it export to U.S. (as opposed to 4.7% to Korea) and buys about 8.0% of its imports from U.S. (as opposed to 11.1% from Korea)

It’d be “nice” if Korea allows Dalai Lama to visit, but not allowing them doesn’t deserve the level of criticism that you guys are displaying.

“Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.”

Right, way to modify what I said to fit your need and taking the issue out of context - i.e. “pissing off the country (China)”

And about China buying 13% of Korea’s exports: do you think some guy in Shanghai is going to decide against buying a Korean-made cellphone because the Dalai Lama got a visa into Korea? I doubt it.

Nor is China is going to suddenly do a 180 and start to support NK’s rights to nukes over the issue.

Finally, allowing the Dalai Lama, the Farrakhan-esque incitor that he is(n’t), is not showing a huge pair of brass balls.

Anyway, this reminds me of the thread a week or so back talking about SK without the US’s military presence. In such a scenario, this kind of bowing to one of the bigger neighbors is an example of how things just might be more often, and on more fronts, for SK.