Sorry about the thread derailment, I should have realized my comments would spark a bit of an uproar.
All of us can agree that genocide is bad, but when you look at the historical record, it is clearly shown to bring a lot of wealth and peace to the people who commit it (as opposed to the people it's commited on.) Look at the Spanish in the Americas, the Persians in Babylon, the Americas and their "manifest destiny," etc. Yes, there is a significant human cost, but the question is: were the state's objectives fulfilled? Did it "work"?
It wasn't just Saddam Hussein who wanted to gas villages. Winston Churchill also advocated the use of poison gas against the Kurds, back when Iraq was still part of the British Empire. It's easy to lump the world into good and evil, right and wrong, when you look at it from far away. But the truth of the matter is much more grey- all states do terrible things to maintain their power, and every great nation's hands are stained with blood. This is mostly a response to the guy who said we should avoid certain acts because "they are evil." I believe that such logic is a path to defeat. If you still don't like what I said, well, let's just agree to disagree.
On a side note, Tibet has prospered, and the Tibetans themselves haven't been harmed any worse than any other group in China has been harmed (including the Han majority.) The bulk of grievances Tibetans bring to bear against the Chinese are from the Cultural Revolution, a disastrous time for the entire country. There was no specific effort against the Tibetans. Even today, the "government immigrants" you hear about are mostly skilled, educated people who move into the interior in pursuit of new development and business opportunities. The government wants to encourage this economic growth in impoverished areas, so it provides them with extra compensation because they need to move away from their homes, family, and friends in the cities.
Also, I don't appreciate being told my thoughts aren't valid because I'm "a Chinese Communist."
