Military vehicles are parked on the grounds of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen, China, August 15. Chinese paramilitary forces conducted exercises across the border from Hong Kong, raising fears that Beijing may be preparing to act against mass demonstrations. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
USA Today editorial: As China faces fate on Hong Kong, America and other democracies face a choice
Donald Trump tweets as Xi Jinping lines up his military tanks and Hong Kong protesters wave American flags and sing the U.S. national anthem: Our view
Chinese President Xi Jinping faces an ominous choice. He can abide by China's "one country, two systems" treaty obligation, made in 1997, that gives Hong Kong 50 years of crucial and autonomous rights, including free speech and peaceful assembly.
Or Xi can crush the growing dissent among Hong Kong's freedom-loving people and send in thousands of military troops amassed outside the city, reminding the world of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989 and reinforcing the perception that, for all of its economic progress, China remains just another dictatorship.
Read more ....
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 15, 2019
How a Crackdown in Hong Kong Would Reverberate, From Shanghai to Taiwan -- Howard W. French, WPR
Hong Kong's police describe their side of the protests -- Ivan Watson, CNN
China and a Global Economic Contraction -- George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures
China Pushes Back, Weakly -- Milton Ezrati, City Journal
Tiananmen Square organiser fears Hong Kong protests will come to 'showdown moment' -- Stephen Stockwell and Ruby Jones, ABC News Online
The Uncomfortable Truth about Afghanistan's Future -- Paul R. Pillar, National Interest
Kashmir is potentially a global point of conflict -- Vijay Prashad, Asia Times
The Syria Safe Zone Will Cripple the Kurds -- Dakota Wood & James Phillips, National Interest
A Turkish-Kurdish war in Syria is still possible -- Joe Macaron, Al Jazeera
Why Erdogan Gambled on Russia -- Laura Pitel, Aime Williams & Henry Foy, Financial Times
The Omar and Tlaib ban from Israel is a disgrace. True democracies aren’t afraid of critics -- L.A. Times editorial
Israel smart about Omar, Tlaib – They are enemies of the Jewish state -- Brooke Goldstein, FOX News
Japan’s ongoing battle over war commemorations -- Jake Adelstein, Asia Times
Scottish Independence, Now? -- Madeleine Kearns, National Review
No, This Is Not the Fall of Rome -- Niall Ferguson, Boston Globe
