Barak Meets the Dalai Lama, But Still Manages to do a "Gordon"

BARACK Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House yesterday - but kept the talks low-key in a bid to avoid angering China. The closed talks were held at the White House's Map Room instead of the more official Oval Office, in an attempt to signal to China that it was a private, not a political meeting.

This follows Obama's refusal to meet with his Holiness during the exiled Tibetan leader's visit to Washington in October last year. It also copies the precedent set by Gordon Brown in holding the meeting in a less than official location.

Still, it's a move in the right direction even though the probable motive is to stand up to Chinese bullying of the U.S. rather than pushing for Tibetan freedom.

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