Barack Obama's decision not to personally meet the Dalai Lama at the White House this week is creating controversy, with many calling it an obvious move to pacify the Chinese government and ignore the plight of the Tibetan people. 
 
But in a CNN interview, the Dalai Lama himself expressed no such disappointment, and was optimistic about a future meeting. 
 
Meanwhile, there may be some good news on the horizon-at least for the Tibetan cause. Bollywood has been abuzz with news of an upcoming film that's to begin shooting next month. The Lost Country will star American, Indian, Nepalese and local talent. And 20 of the actors in the film will be cast from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. It will focus on the condition of Tibetan exiles around the world and their struggles with culture and identity. 
 
The Lost Country is written and produced by an exiled Tibetan, Kargyur Rinpoche, who will also be directing. He says: 'It took me more than 12 years to realise this film. I am hopeful that (it) will reflect the true picture of the plight of people of Tibet-both inside and outside the country.' 
 
Rinpoche has recruited a professional Bollywood film crew from Mumbai and the film's budget is set at $3 million, making it the most expensive Tibetan film ever made. According to the Indo-American News Service, about 140,000 Tibetans currently live in exile.

Expanding on my post earlier on North Korean art and its 'cultural renaissance under Kim Jong-Il,' -there also appears to be growing interest in DPRK art worldwide. 
 
This summer a private collection of North Korean paintings was unveiled to the public at the Granite Room gallery in the US. The exhibit, North Korea Art Exhibit, displayed works from some of 'the most distinguished artists in North Korea', with its organizer claiming this was the 'the first of its kind' in the United States. 
 
In a nice philanthropic gesture, the show also donated 50% of its sales proceeds from the artwork to a program to feed orphans in the DPRK through soymilk factories. 
 
Over in Beijing, a group of British, Chinese and Korean art specialists run The Pyongyang Art Studio where they have been dealing exclusively with fine art from North Korea since 1993. They describe the North Korean contemporary socialist realism art scene as, 'highly developed in DPRK as it is part of daily life, mainly in the form of posters in streets, schools, cinemas, and official buildings.' Their online gallery of paintings is interesting. The series of portraits of North Korean citizens performing an array of activities has one obvious thing in common-radiantly smiling faces. 
 
Those who have seen the official photographs from meetings between Kim Jong-Il and visiting world leaders may have noticed a hard-to-miss mural serving as a backdrop. The Wall Street Journal recently used Bill Clinton's visit as an opportunity for a closer look at this large painting of crashing waves and birds in an article 'Why Dictators Love Kitsch.' It says that: 'This is no ordinary painting but art with a purpose.. The message of the painting. is a simple one: Kim Jong-Il's regime as a force of nature.'

A new exhibition at Taipei's National Palace Museum has optimists talking progress over Taiwan-China relations. Last year, China surpassed the US to become Taiwan's second largest importer. But this major art collaboration goes beyond the merely practical and economic. The exhibit, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times opened yesterday and runs until early next year. 
 
Meanwhile, Chinese PM Wen Jiabao's 3-day visit to North Korea has also sparked speculation of improving relations between these two countries, though here I think we can assume that there are no cooperative art projects on the horizon. 
 
Like everything else in the DPRK, the art scene is a mystery to outsiders. According to Canadian Content, all artists in North Korea are registered members of the Korean Artists' Federation and receive monthly salaries to produce a certain number of works. The KWP Central Committee's Propaganda and Agitation Department and the Culture and Arts Department reportedly control all art in North Korea and forbid abstract or conceptual art. There's a national art exhibition every year. 
 
And according to some sources, the philosophy of Juche guides all North Korean art. Prior to 1970, Juche limited themes to those portraying the General, the military, the creation of socialism, national pride etc. Later, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is said to have stated that, 'The idea of describing nature in a socialist country is to promote patriotism, heighten the national pride and confidence of the public.' prompting a huge increase in the number of oil painted natural landscapes. 
 
North Korean media also has in the past reported a cultural renaissance under Kim Jong-Il. And Kim is said to be an avid consumer of Western popular culture as evidenced in a CNN report some time back claiming Kim has a collection of approximately 20,000 videotapes, including the full James Bond movie series.

Close to one million Indian women of low socioeconomic status are said ready to boycott the upcoming Oct.13 assembly elections in the Maharashtra state. *Note the Maharashtra region is, according to recent GDP stats, the richest in India. Many of them are from the devadasi class-'married' to a god or deity-and have fallen victim to a now-diminishing traditional Hindu custom. Their low level of education and savings are major liabilities in their increasingly modern, capital-based society.

The issue such news raises about women's status in society brings me to my final post (for now) on the topic of ethical travel. Eco-tourism is more successful than ever, while region-specific tips are increasingly available on-line and in travel books. But for the conscientious traveler, it's still paramount-on top of using common sense-to investigate a little bit further.

For example, Nepal is deemed one of the worst countries for treatment of women in the world. Early marriage (at an average age of 16) and childbirth is commonplace. Girls who aren't married off may be sold to traffickers before they reach their teens. The country is also the 'deadliest place in the world to give birth outside Afghanistan and a clutch of countries in sub-Saharan Africa,' according to a recent report by the International Federation of the Red Cross.

However, shops in Nepal sell handicrafts made by low-income women. Most of these shops are run by non-profit development organizations and the money goes to the craftspeople in a fair wage-form -- www.mahaguthi.org: 'Craft with a Conscience' and www.acp.org.jp: Association of Craft Producers, are a couple such groups. ACP works with a network of 1,200 artisans from 15 districts of Nepal, of which 90% are women. The organization says it is: 'Committed to its social welfare programs, which provide strong benefits to the artisans, such as a savings program, school scholarships focusing on girls' education.'

As mentioned in an earlier post, landmine warnings as t-shirt graphics and child labor-produced Burmese jade goods raise some serious questions about the ethics of 'souvenir-ing' in Asia. 
 
Let's expand a bit and think about war-related souvenirs in Vietnam. Just as a reminder, The Vietnam War cost the US a tragic 58,000 lives and Vietnam a devastating 1.5 million (a rough estimate, excluding civilian casualties). Yet, souvenir shops in certain Vietnamese museums (such as the National Vietnam War Museum) sell an extensive range of war-themed souvenirs-from US compasses and field glasses to NVA helmets and medals to shiny artillery cartridges turned flower vases and tiny sets of US flag earrings. 
 
Ho Chi Minh t-shirts and NVM paraphernalia in particular may offend Vietnamese living overseas and thus should be displayed (or hidden) with sensitivity. 
 
But that said, perhaps with enough time old wounds can heal.and items sold without too much meaning attached. The best example here is camouflage-the pattern itself. 
 
American military began wearing camouflage during the Vietnam War. The black and green pattern was well suited to jungle warfare and was adopted by armies around the world in different variations of color and print. But in the '60s, camouflage became a symbol of anti-war protests when some disenchanted American Vietnam veterans demonstrated wearing their uniforms. Over time it became a symbol of group identity and a statement of anti-establishment or general rebellion. Now it's simply a common and benign part of modern pop culture and fashion.
 
Andy Warhol used camouflage as inspiration. The Gagosian Gallery in NY commented on the iconic artist's 'Camouflage' painting series:?'This historically burdened design was brightened and lightened by colours to such an extent that we stand.ready to lose ourselves in the camouflages as in a landscape.'