Fifty years of Chinese rule in Tibet

Technically, today is the 50th anniversary of China's invasion of Tibet that brought that country under Communist rule. Of course, for several years prior to that, Tibet had been dominated by the Chinese, and 10 March 1959 was just the beginning of active rule after the Tibetans got a bit peeved by the fact that the Chinese were encroaching on their affairs. The fact that the United States, which went to war in Korea and Vietnam to stop tiny Communist countries from expanding, ignored this breach of international boundaries is somewhat disconcerting. It's not like we "learned" our lesson in Korea - we went to war in Vietnam after this. The Americans believed that Tibet was Commie, too, although they didn't do much research into it, which is probably why they ignored the invasion. I don't mind realpolitik at all, because it's all that states really practice, but I do mind when it's dressed up as ideological concerns, which it usually is. The U. S. should have said, "Tibet is of absolutely no strategic use to us, so what do we care if the Chinese take it over?" At least that would have been honest.

Anniversaries!

Today is the 75th anniversary of the passage of the ratification of the 21st Amendment. Yes, the repeal of Prohibition went through on this day in 1933. Hallelujah!

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting opinion piece about drug prohibition and why the repeal of alcohol prohibition was easier than making drugs legal. I agree with the writer - let's hope that we can begin to discuss legalizing drugs without freaking out and screaming "Won't someone think of the children?!?!?!?" Wouldn't that be nice?

Meanwhile, in local news, today is the 50th anniversary of Arizona State College being officially renamed Arizona State University. The name change had been approved through voter initiative in November 1958, but it took a month before the school officially became a university. You can read more about it at the official site (of course there's an official site!). The University of Arizona had a bit of a hissy fit about the state getting another university, although it's unclear why (this article gives some history, but not really why they were so bent out of shape about it). It seems to stem from some jealousy about being the only university in the state, which seems incredibly petty, but what the hell. Anyway, it's the 50th year of ASU! Whoo-hoo! Celebrate by drinking your completely legal alcohol!