Three Ts (Tibet, Turkestan, Taiwan); Hesher

[Mark Odegard]

Barry wrote
>THREE Ts (TIBET, TURKESTAN, TAIWAN)
>
>    From William F. Buckley, Jr.'s column in the NEW YORK POST, 18 April
>2001, pg. 45, col. 1:
>
>    ...for the (Chinese--ed.) Communists to stay in power indefinitely,
>unreformed, but in full control of the "three T's" (Tibet, Turkestan,
>Taiwan)...
>
>(I'll be going to two Ts in Tajikstan and Turkmenistan--ed.)
>

Buckley is speaking of Chinese Turkestan = Xinjiang = Sinkiang. Turkmenistan
is a separate geographic and political entity (it borders the Caspian). I
gather that Turkmenbashy (its second city) is the perhaps the bleakest city
in Central Asia.

Xinjiang is the real place where east meets west. The northwestern corner,
overlooking the Tarim Basin, is where Tocharian was spoken, and where the
Urumqi mummies are found.


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com