'Hong Kong protests have taken the globe by storm. Now the world must stand up to China'

“Freedom for Hong Kong”: we have all the freedoms of a modern
liberal society

This article is all in with the protesters (the “yellow ribbons”). Two authors, all the way from Yale University....

A couple of comments:

The placard in the above photo, which heads their article, says in the top part: “Restore Hong Kong; Revolution of our Times”. Which I read as being separatist, pro Hong Kong independence.  Some of the yellow ribbons, like Joshua Wong, say they are not for “independence” for Hong Kong (an absolute red line for Beijing), but their acolytes surely do. Independence is simply a no-goer.  Not now, not never.

"Freedom for Hong Kong”: I’ve said many times that Hong Kong enjoys (enjoyed?) every freedom of a modern, democratic, pluralistic society. At least we did, until the “yellow ribbons”, because unless you agree with them, you have no freedom of speech and no freedom of assembly on pain of death or injury: being killed with a brick or burnt alive. If you speak freely, and they don’t agree with you, they will doxx you and trash your business.  And that’s “Freedom” and that’s the Rule of Law, yellow-ribbon-style.

From the article:

• "These events, like those in Hong Kong, have turned violent at times”: but the only cases of violence mentioned are those by pro-China students (“blue ribbons”).  By far the most violence has come from the yellow ribbons. By far.
• The authors clearly think that the US’ Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act should be passed by the Senate. But it would be dire for Hong Kong, because it would remove our special status and only hasten the merger with Hong Kong, not protect us.
• Carrie Lam calls the violent protesters “hooligans”, a term the authors clearly don’t approve of. But “Hooligans” is the perfect word: “A violent young troublemaker”. Exactly.
• "The people of Hong Kong are making tremendous economic sacrifices for democracy.”  Well, yes, but how many are doing this willingly?  Increasingly not.
• “... the struggle for representative government that was promised by Beijing will continue to reverberate throughout the world.” [my emphasis]. I had something to say about the “promise” on universal suffrage before.