Alex Christoforou
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s withdrawal of the extradition bill that sparked three months of protests.
Lam and the Chinese mainland are hoping for an end to the crisis, but protesters appear to be digging in with more demands.
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Extradition Bill Withdrawn, Will Hong Kong Protests End? by The Duran
The Duran Quick Take: Episode 297. The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s withdrawal of the extradition bill that sparked three months of protests. Lam and the Chinese mainland are hoping for an end to crisis, but protesters appear to be digging in with more demands.
Via Zerohedge…
Following controversial reports that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam would have left office if Beijing would have allowed it, the city-state’s chief executive surprised her detractors on Wednesday by announcing that she would formally withdraw the hated extradition bill.
Lam said the bill would be formally withdrawn as soon as Wednesday night (local time).
Well, the news wasn’t entirely unexpected: In a report published earlier in the day, the South China Morning Post previewed the news. Still, many remained skeptical.
Killing the extradition bill is only one of the five demands articulated by protesters, so it’s unlikely that meeting this one demand would end the protests entirely. But it will certainly help take the wind out of the movement’s sails. Lam didn’t offer any indication that she would meet the other four demands.
Lam met with senior city leaders early Wednesday in the US (late in the afternoon Hong Kong time) before announcing her decision. Over the weekend, protesters, who have been reduced to a core group of dedicated marchers from the nearly 2 million people who took to the streets for a peaceful march early in the summer, engaged in some of the most violent struggles yet, clashing with police and vandalizing train stations and engaging in scuffles with the police.
Still: “This gesture to formally withdraw is a bid to cool down the atmosphere,” one source said. Another source added that the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill is the easiest way to turn down ongoing tensions.
Lam started to change her mind on the extradition bill two weeks ago after a meeting with city leaders: “The chief executive started to change her mind after meeting with 19 city leaders two weeks ago. She heeded their views on how to de-escalate the tensions.”
Aside from pulling the extradition bill, protesters have asked for the government to set up a commission to investigate police conduct during the protests, grant amnesty to those who have been arrested, stop describing the protests as “riots,” and restart the city’s stalled process of political reforms. They have also pushed for Lam to resign.
Earlier in the summer, Lam declared the withdrawal bill “dead”, but refused to formally remove it from the agenda. Unsatisfied with this, nearly 2 million peaceful demonstrators took to the streets the following day.
On social media, the initial reaction to reports of the bill’s withdrawal was skepticism, as few were convinced that Lam will follow through.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
As shown in this article, Twitter has made moves to impact the use of its social media platform during the demonstrations in Hong Kong:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/08/twitter-and-truth-about-hong-kongs.html
In this post-truth era, it is almost impossible to suss out the truth on this (or any other) series of events and the actions by Twitter are increasingly making it difficult for anyone to discern both sides of the story.
There is only one side to this story and it is definitely not the one that Twitter is supporting.
Protesters who de facto wanted sedition/separatism should be trialed in HK and serve sentences in HK prisons.
It’s one thing to squeeze concessions out of Beijing with regard to HK autonomy, it’s another to invite foreign powers to assert sovereignty over HK and implicitly over CHina.
Thing is HK is seperate. The land was originally China’s, then Britains and since 1997 technically Chinese, but…When you’ve lived under 2 flags for so long you find yourself wishing for a third to fly, your own. I say this living in Northern Ireland. Few want to simply jump from one master to another when one you don’t know and the other doesn’t care. It isolates a people. That’s why a provision was made in the Good Friday Agreement that Northern Ireland decides when to jump. HK should be given the same imo.
The will of China must prevail.
Carrie lamb is in big trouble as the target of the demonstrators. She will fail when China must intervene to save Hong Kong from the rioters.
The sooner China sends in the National Guard the more Hong Kong will be spared from a situation that is out of control.
Will they end? Not as long as ‘the fix’ is in.
How Tony Blair ‘fixed’ the Iraq attack with Bush. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36722312
How Tony Blair ‘fixed’ the Yugo attack with Clinton. Same way. (Milosevic was no Saddam by any stretch but no matter)
Tony Blair: ‘The Fixer”.
Now that Blair’s gone, the tradition continues. ‘Fixing’ Ukraine…..leads to ‘fixing’ Hong Kong.
Blair’s a bona fide war criminal on so many fronts, it’s hard to keep track.
The “protests” will end when the NED/CIA say so. As they see that the Chinese govt is waiting them out, the logic of cost/effectiveness will come into play, and the CIA will close shop. Nothing personal, just business.