04x04 - Tibetan sovereignty debate and Human rights in Tibet

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[upbeat rock music]

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[cheers and applause]

- Welcome, welcome, welcome
to "Last Week Tonight."

I'm John Oliver.

Thank you so much
for joining us,

and we begin this evening
with President Trump,

two words that still
simply do not belong together,

like "baby pubes"

or "haunted horse."

This week actually began
promisingly for the president,

as he addressed Congress
with what appeared to be

a more disciplined tone.

- The time for small thinking
is over.

The time for trivial fights
is behind us.

- Okay, here's--
here's the thing about that.

I know that's supposed to be
a reassuring statement,

but it could actually go
either way.

"The time for trivial fights
is behind us.

"The time for major fights
is here,

"which is why I'm launching

"a full-scale invasion
of Australia.

Who's with me?"

The speech actually got
rave reviews,

and for almost 24 hours,

it seemed the White House might
finally be getting on track,

until this happened.

- The "Washington Post"
now reporting tonight

that Attorney General
Jeff Sessions,

when he was still a senator

and an adviser
to the Trump campaign,

had meetings with Russia's
ambassador to the U.S.

but did not disclose them during
his confirmation hearings.

- Yes, Jeff Sessions,
Trump's attorney general

and the unfortunate result
of Dobby the house-elf's

one-night stand
with a Confederate flag,

got in trouble this--
enjoy--

got in trouble this week

for undisclosed meetings
with Russia's ambassador,

something which, in itself,
is not against the law.

The problem is,
Sessions's confirmation hearing

featured this exchange.

- If there is any evidence
that anyone

affiliated
with the Trump campaign

communicated
with the Russian government

in the course of this campaign,

what will you do?

- Senator Franken, I'm not aware
of, um, any of those activities.

I have been called a surrogate

at a time or two
in that campaign,

and I didn't have--
not have communications

with the Russians, um,

and I'm unable to comment on it.

- Now, there is an obvious
problem there.

As we now know,
what he just said is not true,

but perhaps the weirder thing
is that was an unforced error.

He wasn't even asked whether
he'd met with the Russians.

He just implicated himself
out of the blue,

which should've been
immediately suspicious.

If you asked someone
how their weekend was,

and they say, "Well,
I definitely wasn't masturbating

into the Slurpee machine
at the 7-Eleven,"

you check the f*cking security
cameras at the 7-Eleven,

and you don't act surprised.

And--and you can sort of tell

that Sessions knew
he'd f*cked up,

because watch his expression
immediately afterward.

- I didn't have--
not have communications

with the Russians, um,

and I'm unable to comment on it.

- Very well.

Um, without divulging--

[laughter]

- He looked right at the camera!

He looks like he's about
to loosen his collar

and audibly say the word "gulp."

Now, Sessions eventually recused
himself from investigating

anything to do with Russia
and the Trump campaign,

but that might not be enough.

There are now multiple calls
for his resignation,

the most forceful of which
was a damning tweet that read,

"That's not good enough,
you need to resign,"

posted by the band Smash Mouth.

And--
you know what they say,

"As goes Smash Mouth, so goes
about 8,000 people, tops."

And--and to be clear,
to be clear,

it wasn't just Sessions

meeting with Russian officials
last year.

Many Trump campaign operatives,

including J. D. Gordon
and Carter Page,

met with the Russian ambassador,
Sergey Kislyak,

as did Jared Kushner,

and again, there is nothing
inherently wrong there,

but it doesn't look great

that every time Trump associates

are asked about Russia,
they respond

like they're trying
to hide something.

Just watch former policy advisor
Carter Page on Thursday.

- Did you meet Sergey Kislyak
in Cleveland?

Did you talk to him?

- I'm not gonna deny
that I talked with him--

- So you did talk to him?

- I will say that
I never met him anywhere,

uh, outside of Cleveland.

Let's just say that much.

- So the only time that
you met him was in Cleveland?

- I-I--what--
that I may have met him,

possibly, would've--
might have been in Cleveland.

- "I mean,
when you think about it,

"Cleveland is more
a state of mind

"than a physical place, right?

"For example, sometimes,
when I need to delay an orgasm,

"I 'go to Cleveland' in my mind,

"and sometimes,
I meet Sergey Kislyak there.

"Does that count?
Does that count?

Am I still talking?"

And that is part of a pattern
of suspicious responses

you can trace back
to last summer,

when Paul Manafort,
Trump's then-campaign manager,

did this.

- So to be clear, Mr. Trump has
no financial relationships

with any Russian oligarchs?

- That's what he said.

I didn't--that's what I--

that's obviously what
the proposition is.

- Holy shit!

That was so unconvincing,

it probably set off
an unplugged polygraph machine

just sitting
in a closet somewhere.

"I don't know what happened,
Sarge.

"I went in
to get some paper clips,

and the needle
was just going crazy!"

And look, it is not clear

what is really
going on here yet,

although one possibility
is that this all amounts

to what I'm going to call
Stupid Watergate:

a potential scandal with
all the intrigue of Watergate,

except everyone involved
is really bad at everything.

And--and the relevant question
isn't so much,

"What did the president know,
and when did he know it,"

as it is, "Is the president
physically capable

of knowing things at all?"

Because yesterday, he decided
that this was the best way

to dispel everyone's suspicions.

- It was just before sunrise
in Palm Beach

when the President
of the United States

took to Twitter to make

one of his most stunning
accusations ever.

"Terrible!
Just found out

"that Obama had
my 'wires tapped'

in Trump Tower just before
the victory. Nothing found."

Followed by four more
presidential outbursts

taking on President Obama
and misspelling "tap."

[laughter and applause]

- Okay.

Let me give you some context
for where we are.

In 1992,
Dan Quayle misspelled "potato,"

and it became one of
the most famous dumb moments

in political history,

but we are now at a point
where the president is so busy

hurling destabilizing
conspiracy theories around,

we can't even pause
to enjoy the fact

he misspelled the word "tap."

And his evidence for suggesting

President Obama has
committed a crime

seems pretty thin.

- Because the president
cited no proof,

it is not clear tonight

whether he based
his allegations

on a top-secret
White House briefing

or whether it came
from reading an article

on the conservative
"Breitbart" website,

posted Friday,
the detailed speculation

from a conspiracy-loving
talk show host,

Mark Levin.

- Okay, I think
we can now officially declare

that Trump has
a worse media diet

than the Son of Sam k*ller,

and he got all his news

from a talking dog
who told him to m*rder.

And rather than
providing evidence

to support the accusation,

this morning,
the White House urged Congress

to look into the allegations,
and it seems odd

that a president would issue
a firm statement of fact

and then launch an investigation
to try and support that claim,

something that was pointed out
to a White House spokesperson

just this morning.

- The President
of the United States

is accusing the former president
of wiretapping him.

- I think that this is, again,
something that--

if this happened, Martha--

- If, if, if, if!

- [laughs]
I agree that--

- Why is the president saying
it did happen?

- Look, I think he is going off
of information that he's saying,

that has led him to believe,

uh, that this is
a very real potential.

[laughter]

- Let's break that down.

She "thinks"
the President saw information

that led him to "believe"
that this is a real "potential."

So I guess this is just how
things are going to work now.

The president once saw
a banana with a bruise

that looked like a picture

in an article he read
in a dream,

and that is why
we're at f*cking w*r!

And the sad thing is...
[cheers and applause]

Deep down, we probably all knew

that this week would end
this way,

and if you need proof of that,

just look at Paul Ryan's face

immediately after
Trump made his call

for an end to triviality
on Tuesday.

- The time for trivial fights
is behind us.

We just need the courage

to share the dreams
that fill our hearts.

[laughter and applause]

- That is the face of a man
thinking,

"Don't laugh.
He's the President."

Which incidentally should now be

the official slogan
of the Republican party.

And now this.

- All right,
my fellow pop culture nerds.

All right, you Apple nerds,
myself included.

Here's how big of a nerd I am.
We political nerds--

All of us political nerds...
I was a huge nerd

and sat and watched
the entire last debate.

Gonna put on my news nerd hat.

Big old news nerd.

I'm a bit of a word nerd.

I was a big "Lost" nerd.

I was a bit of
a Shakespeare nerd.

Big music nerd.

I wanted to have
a geek-out moment with you.

I'm officially
an archeology geek.

I'm a little bit of
a self-professed geek myself.

Thank you for allowing me

to get my Supreme Court geek on
with you.

As a huge space geek...

Listen,
you know I'm a space geek.

All right,
my fellow space geeks.

All right, my fellow
space geeks, check it.

All right,
my fellow space nerds.

Thank you, my fellow space nerd.

- You know I'm a bit of a nerd

about these things--
- I'm a nerd!

Are you geeking out
like I'm geeking out here?

- Oh, my God, come on!
- Is this not amazing?

Thank you very much for having
a nerd moment with me here,

live on CNN.

- Moving on.

For our main story tonight,

we'd like to talk about someone

you may not have thought about
for a while:

the Dalai Lama,
a man so enlightened,

he's basically
the original woke bae.

According to a Gallup poll,

the Dalai Lama is actually

the sixth-most admired man
in America,

and when you mention his name
to people in the street,

you can see
how widely he's revered.

- Lot of respect,
inspiration from what he says.

- He says, like,
a lot of good quotes.

- He has some really great
quotes about life.

- He's said
a lot of good things.

- I guess he's a peaceful man.

- He's about peace.

- Okay, so he's peaceful,

admired,
and has some good quotes.

That is pretty broad.

They could be describing

either the Dalai Lama

or Matthew McConaughey,

but watch what happens
when those same people are asked

a simple follow-up.

- Oh.

- I have no idea.
I'm not even gonna lie.

- I don't know.
He just...

I don't--
I'm not really sure.

- He's a very important figure

for, um, Hinduism?

- That's like,
Buddhist God, right? No?

- No, not a god.
He's a real person.

He's alive.
- Oh, shit.

- He just said "oh, shit"

like he owes the Dalai Lama
money.

"He's alive?
Oh, shit.

"I've got to disappear
for a while.

That guy does not
f*ck around."

Now, the Chinese government,
however,

have a very different view,

'cause instead of vaguely loving
the Dalai Lama,

they very specifically hate him.

They've referred to him
as a "wolf in monk's robes"

and have banned his image.

They've even retaliated
against Americans

for even meeting with him.

- Britain's "Guardian" says

China reportedly banned
Lady Gaga.

That's because she met
with the Dalai Lama

in Indianapolis
to discuss yoga.

- Wow.

Not only is it incredible
that they banned her for that;

it's incredible that
that event happened at all.

Lady Gaga was with
the Dalai Lama in Indianapolis

discussing yoga.

That is
only slightly less ridiculous

than Elton John meeting
Ben Bernanke on Easter Island

to talk about Roombas.

Now--now,
the Chinese government's hatred

of the Dalai Lama
stems from its desire

to main control of Tibet,

a region in southwest China,

and Tibet was something
of a celebrity cause

in the 1990s.

There were
Tibetan Freedom Concerts

featuring the Beastie Boys,
and Richard Gere

even brought it up
at the Oscars.

- I was wondering
if this kind of...

[scattered applause]

If something miraculous,
really kind of movie-like

could happen here,

where we could all kind of send
love and--and truth

and a kind of sanity

to Deng Xiaoping
right now in Beijing

that he will take his troops

and take the Chinese away
from Tibet

and allow these people to live

as free independent people
again.

[applause]

So.

Thoughts.
We send these thoughts.

Send this thought out.
Send this thought.

- "We send this thought.

"We send it out right now--
oh, you know what?

"I'm sorry.
There's been a mistake.

"The thoughts are actually
supposed to be sent

"to the producers
of 'Moonlight.'

"Uh, this is not a joke.

"'Moonlight,'
these thoughts are for you.

"There's been
a horrible mistake.

'Moonlight,' take the thoughts."

But--
but there is a lot about Tibet

that you might not
actually know.

For a start, it's larger
than you probably think.

China say it's this area,
but Tibetan exiles will say

it's even larger,
encompassing an area

that is roughly 1/4 of China,

so it's very big
in a confusing way,

which, and this is true,

is also how
director Lars von Trier

characterized
Willem Dafoe's d*ck.

Seriously, he told reporters,

"It's too big.

Everybody got very confused
when they saw it."

What I'm saying is,

Tibet is the Willem Dafoe's d*ck
of Planet Earth.

It is surprisingly large.

The point is,

China invaded Tibet in 1950,

and ever since,
they've imposed strict controls

on the institutions
of Tibetan Buddhism there.

Temples and monasteries
have been destroyed,

and hundreds of thousands
of Tibetans have been k*lled,

and things inside Tibet
are still grim.

When Freedom House scored
countries and territories

for political rights
and civil liberties,

Tibet came in second-worst,

behind Syria

and ahead of both Somalia
and North Korea.

The whole territory is
a gross human rights violation,

which is interestingly
another way

that Lars von Trier
has described

Willem Dafoe's penis.

And perhaps the clearest sign
of just how bad conditions are

is the fact that
since early 2009,


in Tibet and China,

setting themselves on fire
in protest,

to which the Chinese police
have been less than sympathetic.

[unintelligible yelling]

- Well, every part of that
is f*cking horrifying,

and China is unlikely to loosen
its grip on the region.

Tibet has
incredibly rich resources,

from gold and lithium

to rivers supplying
hydroelectric power and water

to over a billion people,

so they are very sensitive

to any perceived threat
to their control,

which brings us back
to the Dalai Lama.

Traditionally, he's been both
a spiritual and political leader

of Tibetan Buddhists,
sort of a cross

between a pope and a president,
a popesident, if you will,

but you shouldn't,
so please don't.

China has done
everything they can

over the years
to diminish his power.

He even fled Tibet in 1959
under fear of arrest,

and he hasn't been back since,

an escape that was reported
at the time

by the most British man
who has ever lived.

- The young Dalai Lama,

revered by his people
as a living Buddha,

was reported under arrest
by the Reds,

but,
according to other sources,

is safely in hiding.

One clear fact:

Red tyranny is not wanted

by these intensely religious
people.

- "Yes, damn that unwanted
creeping Red tyranny,

"down with those thieving
imperialists,

"and good night
to Her Majesty's subjects

"in Bahrain, Maldives,
Rhodesia, Jamaica,

"Barbados, Kenya, and Uganda.

Nighty night.
Sleepy tight."

[cheers and applause]

And so, for over 50 years,

the Dalai Lama has lived
in exile in India,

and he's lived quite a life.

He's met with
the last four presidents,

and when he was a child,
FDR gave him

a beautiful
Patek Philippe pocket watch,

which he still has to this day,

and George W. Bush gave him
an even greater gift

by painting his portrait,
this portrait,

and I give Bush's skills
as an artist

the same review I give
his time as president:

not bad for a five-year-old.

Now, the Dalai Lama
officially stepped down

from running
the Tibetan government in exile

in 2011, but he is still

of profound importance
to the Tibetan people

as a spiritual leader
and a figurehead,

and here, here is where

this story gets
absolutely amazing,

because he's 81 years old,

so thoughts
have inevitably turned

to his next reincarnation,

but it turns out there's a bit
of a problem with that.

Let me explain.

Broadly speaking,
when the Dalai Lama dies,

he reincarnates as a child

somewhere on Earth,
and traditionally,

a key person
in the process of finding him

is someone called
the Panchen Lama,

and when the Panchen Lama dies,

the Dalai Lama plays
a similar role in finding him,

and so on, and so on.

They're basically playing
a Buddhist version

of hide-and-seek.

So the ninth Panchen Lama
helped to identify

the current Dalai Lama,

who in turn identified
this six-year-old boy

as the Panchen Lama,

but this is where it starts
to get tricky,

because that boy has not been
seen in more than 20 years.

- These are
the last known pictures

of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,

the boy chosen
to be Panchen Lama.

The Chinese authorities
rejected his appointment,

arrested the boy
and his family.

- It's true.

China kidnapped a six-year-old,

and no one has
heard from him since,

although just two years ago,

a senior Chinese official said
he is "being educated,

"living a normal life,
growing up healthily,

and does not wish
to be disturbed,"

which is a little suspicious
'cause it sounds like

the kind of thing
a former child star's publicist

would scream into a phone.

"She's growing up healthy,
living a normal life,

"and those track marks
on her arms

"are just where they inject
the vitamins.

She's fine!
She's fine!"

But China didn't stop at
just stealing the Panchen Lama.

They had another trick
up their sleeve.

- In an attempt to discredit
the Dalai Lama's choice

of one of Tibet's
top Buddhist spiritual leaders,

Chinese officials used
a 200-year-old ceremony

to name their own Panchen Lama.

- Yes, they made
their own fake Panchen Lama.

They basically counterfeited
a religious leader

like a knockoff handbag.

That doesn't say "Coach."
That says "Cough."

And--and China's tactics here
are obvious.

If they control
the Panchen Lama,

they can use him
to pick a new Dalai Lama

who might,
completely coincidentally,

be very favorable
to the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama,
understandably,

is pretty pissed off about this.

- The one thing
that I want to make clear

as far as my own rebirth
is concerned,

the final authority is myself.

No one else.

And obviously not
Chinese Communists.

- Yeah.

That is some forceful language
too.

He's basically saying,

"They can make that decision
over my dead body,

except, you know,
specifically not that."

He's now actually saying
that he will either not

reincarnate as the Dalai Lama
at all

or, if he does, it won't be
inside Chinese-controlled Tibet,

it will be somewhere else,
which is incredible

because that means
that when he dies,

we could plausibly wind up
with two rival Dalai Lamas,

and the already fraught
situation in Tibet

could spiral out of control.

And for the time being,
there is really only one person

who can fill you in on
what is happening

in the Dalai Lama's head,
but he lives in India,

and that is
a 14-hour flight away,

and the reason I know that

is I went to speak
to the Dalai Lama in India.

Enjoy.

[cheers and applause]

[Indian music]

Yes, I traveled
to the Himalayan foothills

of Dharamsala, India,

a journey
that involved considerably more

uphill walking,

cows, and monkey traffic

than I'd been led to believe,

all to talk with the Dalai Lama
about China,

conditions in Tibet,
and what comes next for him.

Your Holiness,
it is an honor to speak to you.

May I say, tashi delek.

- Tashi delek.
Thank you.

- How is my pronunciation?

Tashi de--
- I think very good.

- In my defense, I just started
learning Tibetan 40 seconds ago.

- [laughs]

- So let's talk about China.
- Mm.

- Because the Chinese government

absolutely hates you,
don't they?

- Yes.

- Publicly,
one government official said

you're a wolf
wrapped in monk's robes.

- Mm.

- And photos of you
are forbidden in many places.

You don't, to me,
look like an evil wolf.

- [laughs]

They describe me as a demon.

- You're a demon?
Yeah.

- Then I immediately reacted,

"Yes, I'm demon with horn."

- Yeah, 'cause that's
the classic demon, right?

- Yes.

- I think that's--
when they look at you,

that's what they see.

- Oh, whatever they want to see,
that's their freedom.

I have no such--
no negative feeling.

I just feel a laugh, like that.

I practice, you see,
taking others' anger, suspicion,

distrust,
and give them patience,

tolerance, and compassion.

I practice that.

- But it seems
the Chinese government

are particularly good
at taking your positivity,

turning it back into negativity

and oppression
of the Tibetan people,

and they hand it back to you
as it was.

- Yes.

- Just outside
the Dalai Lama's temple

is a local memorial
honoring Tibetans

who've self-immolated
in protest

against Chinese oppression,

acts that put him
in a very difficult position.

This is a hard question.
- Oh.

- The self-immolation
that has happened...

- Oh.

- 140 Tibetans...
- Yes.

- Have burned themselves.

It is very, very sad.

- Indeed, yes.

- Why is it hard for you
to definitively tell them

to stop doing it?

- This is, I find, very
difficult sort of situation.

Right from the beginning,
when I first heard that,

firstly, I express
my sort of sadness.

Then, meantime,
if I say their action is wrong,

then their family, they will--
they feel very sad.

One of their family member

did something
against the Dalai Lama's wish.

- Right.
- I don't want to create that.

Then, certainly,
I cannot support that,

the act of k*lling.

From Buddhist viewpoint,
self-k*lling, not good.

So therefore, my position
is very, very difficult,

so then best thing is,
remain silent.

Keep quiet.

- The Dalai Lama
is painfully aware

how powerful his words are,

and he occasionally uses them
in targeted

and sometimes
surprisingly specific ways,

like this example,

which he offered up
out of nowhere.

- One of my previous visit,
Mongolia.

They took lot of vodka.

The Russians sort of
hard philosophy.

- They like a drink.

Yeah.
Vodka.

- Then, I said,
"Drink much less vodka."

- Yeah, they love to hear that.

- Instead of that,
their tradition

is to drink horse milk.

- Wait, hold on.
- Horse milk.

- Wait, you tried
to wean them off vodka

by giving them horse milk?

- Oh, yes.
They--they follow.

- What?
- They follow.

Since then, I think
a majority of Mongolian

no longer any drink.

- Hold on, that is a--
that is a huge claim.

You cured Mongolia
of alcoholism...

- Yes.
- Using horse milk?

- Yes.
- Yeah, not to labor the point--

I'm just concerned I would see
horse milk, and I'd think,

"Oh, that came from a horse."

- This--
- Oh, oh.

- That's illogical.

What's differences,
cow milk and horse milk?

What differences?

- One comes out of a cow.

The other, I don't know
how you get it out of a horse.

- [laughs]

- Finally, we were having fun,

and I knew just how
to keep the party going.

Let's talk about
a lighter subject: death.

You are going to die,
and when you do,

it's going to be
a massive problem

because there are issues
regarding your reincarnation

regarding China.

- I do not match concern
about that.

My main concern is well-being
of 7 billion human being

and then preservation
of rich Buddhist tradition,

which we kept.

- But you're intertwined
with that.

- No, no.
As an individual person,

not much important.

You know.

- Right,
but you're the Dalai Lama.

- But Buddhism,
over 2,600 years,

still very much alive.

- So do you think you might be
the last Dalai Lama?

- Very possible.

- You do?
- Yes.

- You might be it?

- If I become last Dalai Lama,
I feel very happy.

- Why,
because you were a good one?

- Oh, yes, I may say,
quite intelligent.

- Oh, oh, you're calling
yourself intelligent, are you?

- Oh, I think so.

- So a little bit of arrogance
there, as well.

But if you don't resolve
your reincarnation issue,

are you not worried
that China will appoint

their own Dalai Lama

and he may not speak
like you're speaking now?

- That also, if, may I say so?
- Yeah.

- That's also, you see,
one of the foolish act.

Short-sighted.
- China.

- Without using
human brain properly.

It's harmful.

- That's--
that is a guaranteed way

to calm
the Chinese government down,

to tell them they're not using
the human brain properly.

- I told them,

our brain usually, you see,

have the ability
to create common sense.

The Chinese hardliners,
in their brain,

that part of brain is missing.

- Zing.

- But you know what I think?

The Chinese leaders,
Chinese Communists,

they are very much concerned
about image of China.

- I'm happy to sit here
and criticize China with you,

because I know
the consequences for me

are not necessarily as bad
as they are for you.

- [laughs]

So, so I wish--
you see, they call me demon,

so I want another demon,

so you become demon.

- No, no, no.
You can't transfer--

you can't reincarnate the demon
into me.

- Oh, yes, yes.

- No, no, no, no.

Don't make me a demon.

- [laughs]
- No, no, no.

You can't do--
we--you cannot do that.

- You know...
- Can he do that?

- As I've been telling you,
you see.

- Oh, no.
- [laughs]

- This is not how I wanted
this interview to go.

So the Dalai Lama
seems determined

to keep his reincarnation plans
private for the time being,

leaving millions of Tibetans
waiting for an answer,

and as our time drew
to a close,

I wanted to cement
our new friendship.

You were given a watch by
President Roosevelt.

Is that true?
- Yes, true.

At that time, I think one...
Patek Philippe.

- Patek Philippe.
A beautiful watch.

- Pocket watch.
- Right.

Well, I have
a special gift for you.

It is not a beautiful watch
from a president,

but it is a special watch
from me.

Here it is.

It's a calculator watch.

- Ah.

- Right?

- Oh.

- Roosevelt may have given you
a fancy watch,

but that is water-resistant.

- Wonderful.
Thank you.

Roosevelt watch,
I think, old-fashioned.

- Yeah.
- Now this new-fashioned.

- Well, not so much
new-fashioned as from the 1980s.

- Thank you.

Thank you.
Thank you much.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- My demon friend.

- [laughs]
- It was an honor.

[cheers and applause]

That's our show.
Thanks for watching.

See you next week.
Good night!

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪