Joe Carter, If the Dalai Lama is Jefferson Davis, Who is the Tibetan Robert E. Lee?

Does the metaphor work or not? Never mind Mr. Carter's quick rejoinder: "So does this mean the 'Free Tibet' crowd are neo-confederate sympathizers?" -- was the invasion of Tibet by the PRC in 1950 legal or just? And do the Tibetan people have a "right to self-determination"?

The comparison is not perfect -- the states were (and are) sovereign and had a right to secede; it could be argued that Tibet was de facto independent, even if the PRC held that Tibet was a part of China, a claim going back to the Chinese empire. For what other reason did the Communists invade except for the sake of unity--throughout Chinese history this was always a big, if not the most important, reason for one party in China to wage war against another in order to conquer it--and national pride?