Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over • Hacker News Board

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#61

Post by maeln » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:03 AM UTC

nobody0 wrote: post #50

bitanarch wrote: post #28

The new protests happened because a new round of violence from the HK Police, towards both protesters and people unrelated to protests. e.g. Firing less-lethal rounds directly at head level, causing permanent blindness https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/cowgje/a_female_p... e.g. Planting evidence into protester's backpack https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/coypg7/police_put... e.g. Firing tear gas in…

Well, some of those 'protesters' threw firebombs toward the police. [0] and some of them met officials from the U.S. [1] [0] https://www.foxnews.com/world/firebombs-set-off-near-2-hong-... [1] https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2019/08/evidence-of-cia-meet...

they met the "political unit chief of US Consulate General" from the article. Where is the relation with the CIA.

The fox news article also mention "one protester". Seems like a isolated incident. Why talk about "the protesters" ?

EDIT: The parent post was saying "meeting" the CIA before they change it to "official of the US", hence my mention of the CIA.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#62

Post by Multicomp » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:05 AM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #48

oraphalous wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll just leave this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yellowbird

This is very interesting, but what does it have to do with the CIA?

Looks like an operation that CIA assisted in spiriting away protesters from the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre.

The reader is expected to see that article and see that the CIA took some action in HK in the 90s and come to the conclusion that because they helped protesters to flee the country in the 90s they are behind the current protests by inference.

I personally see a coincidence or red herring.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#63

Post by yyhhsj0521 » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:05 AM UTC

317070 wrote: post #41

oraphalous wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The protesters may not clearly understand their own endgame, but the CIA certainly understands its own... which is to precipitate an armed crackdown that diminishes Chinese prestige - giving the U.S. further leverage in the current battle for global pre-eminence that is occurring between the two powers. And no - I don't have evidence of CIA involvement, except for the somewhat co-incidental timing of the unrest relat…

Just a thought, but the cause-and-effect relationship you suggest between the protests and the trade war might be the other way around? I.e. the protests causing the timing of the trade war?

The tension has been building up for a while, way before there was any sign of a protest.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#64

Post by barking » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:05 AM UTC

eric-hu wrote: post #15

barking wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought they should have stopped the protests when the administration suspended the extradition bill. But then again as it is, people are disappearing from HK and reappearing in Chinese jails, so maybe they are right to push on. It's hard to see them winning though.

The protesters announced that suspension seemed like a ploy to wait for a time when the public lost focus and reintroduce it again later. It's a pretty legitimate concern IMO.

I can understand that, I fear they are fighting a losing battle though.

I listened to a commentator over the weekend talking about this whole business. He said that China have very many economic levers they can apply to HK to get their way and that military force is still a very distant option. The first thing that will happen is that Carrie Lam will be pushed aside and replaced with someone more hardline. They won't do it now because it would look like a victory for the protesters.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#65

Post by xhruso00 » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:05 AM UTC

Unfortunately Hong Kong can't be saved. Government officials are puppets of Beijing and they are all afraid of their future. They want to avoid hard labour and re-education camps...

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#66

Post by CogitoCogito » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

notwumao wrote: post #55

I am a mainland-born Chinese who studied in the US and have been living in HK for over a decade. Just want to share what I saw recently: an overwhelming majority of Chinese people who grew up in mainland, regardless of where they live and work now, disapprove of the HK protesters' activities. Many mainland Chinese living in HK, who were largely not interested in politics in the past, have started donating money to pr…

May I ask you why you are against the protests? Also would you support the CCP making a public statement taking a step back and agreeing to listen to the protesters' concerns?

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#67

Post by oraphalous » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

Multicomp wrote: post #56

yshnurxghtfh wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why has this been downvoted? Of course everyone who plays the game will evaluate what they can make out of a new situation.

In response to the protests, the government line has been to continue to stall and to claim that everything happening in Hong Kong is magically just the result of foreign interference by actors like the CIA, that way they don't have to actually listen to their own people, they can just plug their ears and say lalalalala the CIA did it all. This comment appears to support that general narrative, so I suspect people ar…

How are the ringleaders surviving? Not a lot of bank to made protesting I suspect.

I resent the claim tho that my comment supports the "general narrative" - I explicitly disavow the Chinese regime as authoritarian that "deserves comeuppance". I'll add here that I think the protesters have a genuine cause that deserves support.

I do, however, think that the CIA, the U.S. and the west generally - doesn't actually give a fuck about the interests of the HK people. It's just convenient to them currently to make China look bad.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#68

Post by vijucat » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

Complicating the nature of these protests is that the 5 overt demands put forth by protestors (all related to the Extradition Bill) do not reflect a large cause of the latent / tacit discontent: the inability of youngsters to buy a home and raise a family due to collusion between property developers and government to restrict land supply. This author has stated the problem better than I can:

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3022107/midst-h...

Decades of this squeeze have placed youngsters in a position where they have nothing to lose: Hong Kong has so many shiny buildings and not a square foot to their name. I was once getting flowers for my wife and ended up talking to a couple planning for their wedding reception at the florist. I was shocked to learn that they had discussed it and will not be having children because it is unaffordable. In my opinion, the Extradition Bill is just the final straw that broke that camel's back.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#69

Post by kitsune_ » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:07 AM UTC

EliRivers wrote: post #21

dustinmoris wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I don't think that HK have an actual plan here. They just protest for the sake of protesting. China will never step down and if anything HK makes it really really easy for China to claim more control now over HK because HK proves itself to be not in control of its citizen. China is the most important market in the world, no other country will intervene with China, especially not given that the largest country…

In China people looked relaxed, spent time relaxing in parks and socialising. I went to Hong Kong and it was unbearable crammed, people were stressed and over worked and there was no escape from the hamster wheel. No wonder mainland Chinese have little sympathy for HK. I don't follow. If life in China is so nice and life in HK is so stressed and unbearable, wouldn't the people of mainland China have more sympathy for…

Why would they? You need a pretty convincing story to justify protests that disrupt 'normal' life, especially to mainlanders who saw a miraculous improvement of their living standards in their life time. It's pretty easy to exploit the scenes of protestors throwing a Chinese flag into the sea and drumming up a patriotic sentiment with it.

Re: Hong Kong Airport shuts down as protesters take over

#70

Post by johnmarcus » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 10:07 AM UTC

pishpash wrote: post #36

You gotta ask with a critical mind, why is it that things are going just fine in Macau with the same One Country Two Systems setup?

If I remember correctly, Maccau was a troubled place with a lot of gang violence (probably related to the large number of casino's) when it was handed over the to Chinese from the Portuguese. I don't think they enjoyed quite the same level of democratic and independent rule that Hong Kong-ers became accustomed to.

Macau's economy is also largely based on casino's.