Tag Archives: Hong Kong protests

In Hong Kong, It’s US vs. China Now, by Patrick J. Buchanan

Posted on December 3, 2019 | Leave a comment

China cannot give Hong Kong what many of its citizens are demanding. From Patrick J. Buchanan at buchanan.org:

At first glance, it would appear that five months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong had produced a stunning triumph.

By September, the proposal of city leader Carrie Lam that ignited the protests — to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to China for trial — had been withdrawn.

And though the protesters’ demands escalated along with their tactics, from marches to mass civil disobedience, Molotov cocktails, riots and attacks on police, Chinese troops remained confined to their barracks.

Beijing wanted no reenactment of Tiananmen Square, the midnight massacre in the heart of Beijing that drowned in blood the 1989 uprising for democratic rights.

In Hong Kong, the police have not used lethal force. In five months of clashes, only a few have perished. And when elections came last month, Beijing was stunned by the landslide victory of the protesters.

Finally, last month, Congress passed by huge margins in both houses a Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that threatens sanctions on Hong Kong authorities should they crush the rebels.

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Posted in Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Law, Politics

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On the Ground in Hong Kong, by Jeff Thomas

Posted on November 19, 2019 | 1 comment

It’s difficult to impossible to determine what exactly is going on in Hong Kong, especially concerning the question of outside involvement in the protests, particularly US involvement. However, here’s a report from Hong Kong, by Jeff Thomas at internationalman.com:

Hong Kong

Throughout the world, the media televise weekly reports on the protests in Hong Kong. Developments have remained highly visible, courtesy of regular demonstrations that take place like clockwork, every weekend in the business district of the city.

And these are not small demonstrations. A crowd of up to two million has gathered on at least one occasion. Although they began in the thoroughfare that divides the Admiralty from the government offices, they’ve spread east and west for a mile or more along the thoroughfares of Connaught Street, Harcourt Street and Gloucester Road.

Further, the demonstrations have occurred consistently, each weekend for several months, ensuring that the media have fodder each week for yet another update.

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Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Crime, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Insurrection, Intelligence, Media, Politics

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China, the NBA, and the massive face of Globalism, by Jon Rappoport

Posted on October 17, 2019 | 1 comment

Respect is the lifeblood of any organization.

Everything I Know About Business I Learned From The Godfather, Robert Gore

The NBA is putting profit before principle. It would be altogether fitting and proper if it lost both respect and money from its current attempt to kowtow to the Chinese government. From Jon Rappaport at nomorefakenews.com:

Support the Hong Kong protestors against the brutal mainland Chinese regime

Let’s get one thing straight. The Chinese people, whether they appear happy or sad, support their government because they’re controlled. After generations of being beaten down, the population bows the head and bends the knee to slave masters. Call that freedom if you want to.

And if you really believe the situation in America is no better than the system in China, even with the amount of censorship alive and well in America, even with the rigging of this economy, try an experiment. Move to China and start publishing articles relentlessly critical of the government there. See what happens. Be sure to leave a copy of your last Will and Testament at home.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Sports

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Behind Hong Kong’s black terror, by Pepe Escobar

Posted on October 15, 2019 | 1 comment

Pepe Escobar speculates on who is behind Hong Kong’s violent demonstrators. From Escobar at thesaker.is:

A radical protester throws a molotov cocktail at a government building in Hong Kong on Sept. 15, 2019. Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun

Deciphering who’s behind the violence leads to a long list of possibilities

“If we burn, you burn with us.” “Self-destruct together.” (Lam chao.)

The new slogans of Hong Kong’s black bloc – a mob on a rampage connected to the black shirt protestors – made their first appearance on a rainy Sunday afternoon, scrawled on walls in Kowloon.

Decoding the slogans is essential to understand the mindless street violence that was unleashed even before the anti-mask law passed by the government of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) went into effect at midnight on Friday, October 4.

By the way, the anti-mask law is the sort of measure that was authorized by the 1922 British colonial Emergency Regulations Ordnance, which granted the city government the authority to “make any regulations whatsoever which he [or she] may consider desirable in the public interest” in case of “emergency or public danger”.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Geopolitics, Governments, Politics

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What The HELL Is Happening In Hong Kong? by Brandon Turbeville

Posted on August 26, 2019 | Leave a comment

This is a very good albeit lengthy analysis of what is happening in Hong Kong. From Brandon Turbeville at theorganicprepper.com:

Over the past few months, both mainstream and alternative news outlets have been covering massive protests in Hong Kong where tens of thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations that have since devolved into violence both with police, counter-protesters, and others. These protests have seen injuries on both sides and have now caught the eye of the world.

But the question is more nuanced than simply whether or not one supports the protests. After all, we have seen plenty of protests in the past that, at first glance, seemed legitimate, but unfortunately turned out to be merely tools of Western governments. So the first question is “Are the protests legitimate or are they a color revolution?” In 2019, it is no longer safe to assume that protesters are organic. However, it is also not safe to assume that every action of civil unrest is because the United States has organized a coup.

The Back Story

Before we look into whether or not the protests are legitimate, it is important to understand the trigger for the demonstrations that are currently taking place. The first protests in Hong Kong began in response to a proposed extradition bill that would have seen individuals who are wanted in territories with which Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement to be detained. Many of the opponents of the bill felt that it would have placed both Hong Kongers and visitors to the territory essentially under the jurisdiction of mainland China, thus making the “one country, two systems” setup obsolete. Others, however, argued that the extradition bill made sense. After all, since it would be difficult to negotiate an extradition agreement with Taiwan or China, it would be useful to at least provide some sort of avenue for justice for individuals who committed crimes and subsequently crossed the border to evade jail time or other punishment.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Geopolitics, Governments, Insurrection

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What Is the US Role in the Hong Kong Protests? by Reese Erlich

Posted on August 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

Is Hong Kong another US-sponsored color revolution, like Ukraine? From Reese Erlich at antiwar.com:

I first met Jason Lee when he was promoting jazz concerts in his hometown of Hong Kong. More recently, he has been sending me Facebook messages about the Hong Kong protests. You would think that a relatively prosperous, 43-year-old Hong Konger would support the demonstrations that have rocked that city since June. Well, you may be surprised by his views.

Lee, who spends time in both Hong Kong and mainland China, says protesters’ attacks on police and government buildings “are going too far.” Referring to how they recently closed the Hong Kong airport, he asks, “Would the USA let JFK airport be occupied for one day?”

Protesters carrying British flags and spray painting anti-communist slogans on legislative offices don’t understand the region’s colonial history when British troops brutally occupied Hong Kong, Lee tells me in a phone interview.

“I’m Chinese from Hong Kong,” says Lee. “I love my country, China.”

The protest movement began in opposition to a proposed extradition law, which demonstrators claimed would allow political dissidents to be extradited to China. Hong Kong officials said the law wouldn’t be used forpolitical repression but later withdrew it.

Some Hong Kongers, Lee included, think the protesters’ calls for “democracy” are really demands for independence from China, even a return to British colonial rule.

“They want the movement to go on and on by raising new demands,” Lee says. “And then they claim the government isn’t responding.”

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With Hong Kong Crippled By Mass Strike, Lam Says She Won’t Resign, Condemns Protesters For Creating “Very Dangerous Situation”, by Tyler Durden

Posted on August 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

Will China crush a Hong Kong eruption? From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

While the world is transfixed by the fireworks unleashed by the plunge in China’s yen to a record low, the real geopolitical hotspot for China remains Hong Kong, and there things are getting progressively uglier following Monday morning’s press conference by Karrie Lam who once again said she will not resign, and warned that “some people” have put Hong Kong in a very dangerous situation as protesters’ actions challenge the “one country, two systems” model and threaten prosperity by seeking to ruin the city by calling for “revolution” or the “liberation of Hong Kong.”

https://twitter.com/next_china/status/1158210146809438209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1158210146809438209&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fnews%2F2019-08-04%2Fhong-kongs-lam-wont-resign-condemns-protesters-creating-very-dangerous-situation

In a press conference in which Lam was flanked by eight top officials, including chief secretary, chiefs of finance, commerce, transport, security, health and civil service as well as home affairs undersecretary, she said she is taking responsibility by staying on to serve, arguing that resignations by her or others won’t help (several million protesters would beg to differ). Her solution: “Upholding the rule of law is the way out”, by which she means the people conceding to Beijing’s demands.

“Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain demands or uncooperative movement have seriously undermined Hong Kong’s law and order, pushing our city, the city we all love and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” Carrie Lam says.

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Ai Weiwei: “Why Hong Kong can be a new Tiananmen and why Assange is a political prisoner”

Posted on June 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

The Chinese government is bent on crushing dissent, and Western governments are moving in the same direction. From an interview with Ai Weiwei at repubblica.it:

An exclusive interview with the most famous Chinese artist, dissident and activist on Beijing expanding his power, the European countries “like Italy begging for China’s money”, the death of Europe as we know it, human rights under attack, the comeback of the 1930s and the “total failure of today’s intellectuals”

LONDON. Ai Weiwei, 61, is the most famous Chinese artist and dissident, he is based in Berlin but this week he came to London for a couple of cultural initiatives. Moreover, he met Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder jailed in a London prison and now at risk of extradition. Ai has always been a prominent advocate of Assange’s cause but in this interview done in a West London hotel he talks also about Hong Kong protests, the decay of both Europe and the West, the “total failure” of intellectuals nowadays and why our times are similar to the 1930s.

Mr Ai Weiwei, what do you think about the Hong Kong demonstrations? Are they going to be successful?
“Well, Hong Kong’s demonstrations are very grand scale, it’s very impressive. But I would not measure the demonstration as successful or not. If the demonstration has content or meaning, then a demonstration is always successful. There were over one million people in the streets in Hong Kong. China’s political inference wants to make Hong Kong become another Mainland-controlled territory. According to reports, 90 percent of the people taking part in the demostrations are from 19 to 25 years old. That shows great hope for a new generation of Chinese. And I’m deeply impressed to see young people organizing it on such a scale, but rationally, peacefully and making a continuous effort in trying to protect Hong Kong’s freedom. That is extremely interesting. And also it’s a new lesson for the world to know. There are people who are concerned about China’s brutal violations of human rights, also because China is trying to expand its influence in territories where law, freedom and democracy are established”.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Governments, Surveillance

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Hong Kong’s protesters find ways to outwit the surveillance state, by Shibani Mahtani

Posted on June 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

This is good news for those of us who think we may have to outwit the surveillance state someday. From Shibani Mahtani at lmtonline.com:

HONG KONG – The moment the 25-year-old protester got home from demonstrations that turned violent – tear gas still stinging her eyes – she knew what she had to do: delete all of her Chinese phone apps.

WeChat was gone. So was Alipay and the shopping app Taobao. She then installed a virtual private network on her smartphone to use with the secure messaging app Telegram in an attempt to stay hidden from cyber-monitors.

“I’m just doing anything” to stay ahead of police surveillance and hide her identity, said the protester. She asked to be referred only by her first name, Alexa, to avoid drawing the attention of authorities amid the most serious groundswell against Chinese-directed rule in Hong Kong since 2014.

Protests that expanded over the past week against a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China were marked by something unprecedented: A coordinated effort by demonstrators to leave no trace for authorities and their enhanced tracking systems.

Protesters used only secure digital messaging apps such as Telegram, and otherwise went completely analogue in their movements: buying single ride subway tickets instead of prepaid stored value cards, forgoing credit cards and mobile payments in favor of cash, and taking no selfies or photos of the chaos.

They wore face masks to obscure themselves from CCTVs and in fear of facial recognition software, and bought fresh pay-as-you-go SIM cards.

And, unlike the pro-democracy movement in 2014, the latest demonstrations also have remained intentionally leaderless in another attempt to frustrate police, who have used tear gas and rubber bullets against the crowds.

On Saturday, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam announced the postponement of the extradition bill, saying she hoped to return peace to the streets of the city. But the measure was not fully withdrawn and Lam still expressed support.

Protesters, meanwhile, have called for another major show of defiance on the streets on Sunday.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Intelligence, Privacy, Surveillance

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