Putin is self-centered – Dalai Lama

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama criticized Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as “self-centered” in a German newspaper interview on Sunday. Pointing out that Putin had served as Russian president, then prime minister and then president again, the Dalai Lama commented: “His attitude is: ‘I, I, I’ … This is very self-centered.” The Buddhist leader also had more criticism for Russia than for China, which has ruled Tibet since its 1950 invasion. The Dalai Lama said he hopes the “modern world supports China becoming a democratic country.” But he said that Russia, which is now in the worst standoff with the West since the Cold War, appears to want to “rebuild the Berlin Wall,” alluding to the shattering of the Communist bloc begun 25 years ago.

Read the full story on Rappler.