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Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

latimes.com

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Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#61

Post by dsfyu404ed »

corey_moncure wrote: post #58
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #17

What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. China is the second largest economy in the world, and has the second most powerful military. In addition, what they view as the integrity of China is one of their biggest priorities. In addition, they have always viewed British control of Hong Kong as a national humiliation and are bent on erasing all traces of that memory. The way it stands right now, China can inflic…

>What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. One thing you can definitely do is stop buying a lot of cheap made-in-China shovelware you don't need. It is more expensive and more difficult to purchase items with origins in countries with environmental and labor protection, but not impossible.

You don't need to go all the way to "origins in countries with environmental and labor protection" in order to not buy from china. There's plenty of countries with equally lax environmental and labor protections that are far less oppressive and authoritarian while offering goods at close to the same cost.

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#62

Post by notzuck »

dragonsh wrote: post #48
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #17

What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. China is the second largest economy in the world, and has the second most powerful military. In addition, what they view as the integrity of China is one of their biggest priorities. In addition, they have always viewed British control of Hong Kong as a national humiliation and are bent on erasing all traces of that memory. The way it stands right now, China can inflic…

Well even though my minority position on this issue will downvote my comment I will still write it. As most on this thread are not willing to talk the real culprit behind this protest which is economic inequality and no hope for future development. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, these protests are manifestation of inherent economic inequality in Hong Kong society. The youth in Hong Kong cannot afford a house. Th…

So why haven't the protesters said this is one of their main issues?

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#63

Post by richthegeek »

skitout wrote: post #49
richthegeek wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QED https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20916595

You made me realized I have not been clear, and my post could seems to minimize what happen in HK, which was not my intention. I just wanted to point we also need to defend democracy elsewhere, even in "democratic" countries like France.

I see - it came across as Whataboutism in a thread that is already somewhat brigaded by pro-China agents. Apologies if this was not the intention.

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#64

Post by cies »

rwmj wrote: post #54
dragonsh wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well even though my minority position on this issue will downvote my comment I will still write it. As most on this thread are not willing to talk the real culprit behind this protest which is economic inequality and no hope for future development. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, these protests are manifestation of inherent economic inequality in Hong Kong society. The youth in Hong Kong cannot afford a house. Th…

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#65

Post by scoobyyabbadoo »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #38
H8crilA wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This situation we're in is making me really uneasy. WW2 was preceded by tariffs and a freezing of global trade, which messed up the German economy too much, pushed it into an inflationary debt crisis and eventually created Nazism. Nazism was a response to a perceived foreign threat that "did a lot of damage to our people, and it's time for us to be the best". Say the trade war ends up badly and the Chinese debt bubbl…

Let's not forget that the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic was, in large part, intentional. They printed money to pay the Versailles reparations, and to inflate them away. Obviously it escalated out of control, but they weren't mere innocent victims of external events.

>Let's not forget that the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic was, in large part, intentional. They printed money to pay the Versailles reparations, and to inflate them away.

Interestingly there's been a lot of talk of central banks in EU and US encouraging people to anticipate negative interest rates soon (actually these already happen in the EU even in strong economies like Germany).

Also, back then you had the punitive Versailles treaty making Germans mad. Though perhaps a uniquely US phenomenon the same sort of bankers have been saddling large swaths of the Millennial generation with six-figure student loan debt that can't be forgiven. Don't get me wrong, my own debt just barely hits 5 figures and I do well for my family, we are saving for a house so I don't want inflation to eat our savings away, but I feel today's society caters to the sort of people that have six figure student loan debt (the emotional support animal generation) and so some type of mass loan forgiveness or massive inflation is inevitable.

Coincidentally the social revolutions today are very similar to social innovations going on in the lead up to the rise of the NSDAP. However, I think the state has a lot more surveillance technology to crush any sort of resistance on that front.

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#67

Post by VK538FY »

duxup wrote: post #60
VK538FY wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm probably a bigger fan of self-determination than you: if the people of HK, Catalonia or California wish to follow their own road, I support them, but they need to work that out on their own. When those movements are even partly the product of foreign intervention and are given uncritical coverage in the western press, that is a giant warning sign. We've been there before many times yet we never learn.

>When those movements are even partly the product of foreign intervention Do you think that is the case in HK?

Yes, I think that that is the case, based on the following elements.

1. Contacts between US consular staff and HK opposition leaders.

2. Funding by the US 'National Endowment for Democracy' of several Hong Kong groups.

3. My observations of the western media coverage of the events in the province of Xianjiang.

4. My observations of the similarities between the events in Hong Kong and other 'colour revolutions' that have the fingerprints of Washington all over them.

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#68

Post by dear »

consumer451 wrote: post #34
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #17

What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. China is the second largest economy in the world, and has the second most powerful military. In addition, what they view as the integrity of China is one of their biggest priorities. In addition, they have always viewed British control of Hong Kong as a national humiliation and are bent on erasing all traces of that memory. The way it stands right now, China can inflic…

> What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. China is the second largest economy in the world, and has the second most powerful military. While there were certainly issues with TPP[0], it would have given us some options in regards to China which we no longer have. AFAIK, that was a large part of the point of TPP. We could have had Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Si…

If China doesn't follow WTO and any international laws that go against their benefits, why do you expect this TPP would have any effect on them?

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#69

Post by dear »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #17

What can you do about this? Pretty much nothing. China is the second largest economy in the world, and has the second most powerful military. In addition, what they view as the integrity of China is one of their biggest priorities. In addition, they have always viewed British control of Hong Kong as a national humiliation and are bent on erasing all traces of that memory. The way it stands right now, China can inflic…

>What can you do about this?

The congress is doing something potentially quite powerful:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3289

Re: Eyewitnesses describe brutal beatings by HK police

#70

Post by duxup »

VK538FY wrote: post #67
duxup wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>When those movements are even partly the product of foreign intervention Do you think that is the case in HK?

Yes, I think that that is the case, based on the following elements. 1. Contacts between US consular staff and HK opposition leaders. 2. Funding by the US 'National Endowment for Democracy' of several Hong Kong groups. 3. My observations of the western media coverage of the events in the province of Xianjiang. 4. My observations of the similarities between the events in Hong Kong and other 'colour revolutions' that h…

Would any contact with locals or funding of any organization of any kind that might be sympathetic to the protesters cause be "foreign intervention"?

It seems like this is such a low bar that it would mean that nobody else could associate with people in HK without it declared "foreign intervention".

Let alone that you could declare just about anything "foreign intervention".

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