China is erasing its border with Hong Kong

[Swordsmyth]

I know some guys in Hong Kong as well.

I reckon we could get Danke out of there...he might have to do some time in the galley for payment.

Making sammiches?

[Suzanimal]

I think it depends on which country you come from. As being part of a Crew, no passport needed. But I suspect regular passengers need to show one. And I know if you are from countries like the Philippines, a visa. The Philippine workers there regularly have to fly back to the Philippines to renew their Visas as they are only for a short duration. Everyone speaks English for the most part. Some of the bars give me a crew discount.

If you are into charity, a lot of the domestic workers are kicked out of the homes they work in on Sunday, as the families that employ them want that day to themselves. So rather than letting them spend that night on the streets (they are all over the place usually in groups) you can offer one or more a nice clean 5 star hotel room to spend the night in...so I have heard...

Edit. And HB. The slut can come along if she likes. But I'm not buying her drinks. Some drunk Chinaman can do that. Or men in her case.

You wouldn't even buy a slut drinks with a crew discount? I ain't going anywhere with your cheap ass.

[Danke]

You wouldn't even buy a slut drinks with a crew discount? I ain't going anywhere with your cheap ass.

I don't think I'll be leaving the hotel:

• Thursday, August 15: Protests at the Dharma Assembly at 20:00. This location is on Hong Kong Island.
• Friday, August 16: Protest at the Revenue Tower. This is right next to the pilot crew hotel.

[Danke]

[Swordsmyth]

Stay safe.

[Danke]

[Working Poor]

In Hong Kong they are singing our national anthem and screaming to have a 2nd Amendment. In America we have people trying to get rid of the 2nd Amendment and crying to have the national anthem outlawed. The people of Hong Kong seem to have a better understanding of freedom than that of Americans.

We need to offer asylum to them and give them voting rights.

[Swordsmyth]

Prominent Hong Kong pro-independence political activist Chen Haotian has called for a run on Chinese banks, asking that everyone withdraw their money on the same day.

Haotian is a founding member and the convenor of the Hong Kong National Party.
Arguing that large scale protests have only led to injuries and escalating police brutality, Haotian believes another method could be used to severely undermine China’s influence – a good old fashioned run on the bank.
He suggested that another method could be used, namely, impacting the financial system,” reports China Press.

“He called on Friday (August 16) that Hong Kong citizens take out all bank deposits. The primary goal is Chinese banks, but he said other banks should also be targeted, otherwise Chinese banks can borrow money from other banks to solve problems.”

Hong Kong has been rocked by weeks of violent protests by pro-independence campaigners. Earlier this week, riot police stormed Hong Kong International Airport to clear them out.


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...calls-run-bank

[Swordsmyth]

Like the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, bribe them.
After 10 weeks of violent unrest that has practically paralyzed the city, the Hong Kong government is starting to reckon with exactly how much all of this chaos has cost its economy. And to help soften the blow (and maybe help assuage the people's anger, or at least stop it from getting worse), Hong Kong's government announced a stimulus package worth more than $2 billion.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Thursday that he now expects HK GDP to grow between 0% and 1% this year, down from earlier forecasts of 2% to 3%.
Here's more from SCMP:

"If growth does hit 0 to 1 per cent, this will be the worst situation we have faced since 2009," he said, referring to the global financial crisis. Chan spelt out a total of seven measures to support enterprises and safeguard jobs, as well as seven other initiatives to relieve people’s burden.
Chan spelt out a total of seven measures to support enterprises and safeguard jobs, as well as seven other initiatives to relieve people’s burden.
"If Hong Kong’s economy grows in the third quarter at a similar pace to the second, the city will be technically in a recession," Chan said.

These dour economic pronouncements come as Hong Kong enters its 11th week of unrest - unrest that was instigated by an extradition bill that city executive Carrie Lam had tried to fast track. The bill would have allowed the mainland to more easily arrest people in Hong Kong then extradite them to the mainland, but after just a few weeks of demonstrations, including one particularly tense episode, Lam suspended the bill, but has refused to let it expire.


Now, with Lam's popularity at an all time low, her government has announced a handful of measures. One personal income tax cut is estimated to cost HK$1.84 billion ($235 million) and benefit 1.4 million people, or roughly one-sixth of Hong Kongers.
In total, the new measures will cost HK$19.1 billion, Chan said.



"The extra budget measures may help relieve pressures of small businesses and households but may not be enough to stimulate spending by much," said Tommy Wu at Oxford Economics Ltd in Hong Kong. "The fiscal multiplier effect in Hong Kong is pretty small so the impact on the economy could be even smaller than what Paul Chan estimated."
Lam's government has a fiscal reserve of about HK$1.17 trillion, after scoring a budget surplus of HK$68 billion for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to government data.
Compared to the stimulus unleashed after the 2014 Umbrella movement protests, this stimulus is much larger, said one BBG economist.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...s-rock-economy

[Danke]

OK, seems nothing materialized with the planned riots close to the hotel I where I was. Anyway stayed in and just drank/drunk at the hotel lounge.

[Swordsmyth]

As the protests in Hong Kong enter their 11th week with a massive rally on Sunday, more Hong Kongers are beginning to worry that their money isn't safe any more, and a great exodus of capital has begun - an exodus that has challenged the Hong Kong dollar's multi-decade standing peg to the greenback, just as hedge fund investor Kyle Bass bet would happen.


Particularly after this week's protests at the airport, and the intensifying threats from Beijing, more people are looking for ways to move their money to safer havens, particularly as the Hong Kong market, which was resilient during the early days of the protests, has started to soften.

Sarah Fairhurst, a 52-year-old partner at the Lantau Group, an economic consulting firm, said she transferred 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $25,500) into British pounds last week because of concerns about the protests.
"It’s very unsettling here," said Ms. Fairhurst, who has lived in Hong Kong for 12 years. She said seeing videos of police using tear gas near her office have made her particularly nervous. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know that I don’t want my money trapped here.”

There has been a rash of disappointing economic data as tourism and business confidence have suffered. Meanwhile, the movement has raised uncomfortable questions about Hong Kong's ability to maintain the "one country, two systems" ethos, WSJ reports.
More are beginning to worry about their money.
Though it's clearly not the consensus view at this point, it seems like Bass is no longer alone in believing that the Hong Kong dollar's longstanding peg to the greenback - which has persisted since 1986 - could be in danger. 42-year-old Ming Chung runs a business exporting building materials. He said he dropped plans to buy a property in Hong Kong and instead invested HK$4 million ($510,000), into a greenback-based insurance product.
Why? Because he said he no longer trusts the market in Hong Kong.

"It’s a safer investment as opposed to buying property in Hong Kong," Mr. Chung said. "Because of the protests, I don’t trust the market." He said he was worried about the Hong Kong dollar’s longstanding link to the US dollar breaking and considered the latter a safer currency

And when it comes to remittances and other personal international payments, there's no question: Money leaving HK is swiftly outpacing money moving in.
TransferWise, a London-based international bank transfer company that facilitates international bank transfers, mostly for individuals and small businesses, said it has seen a significant pickup in outbound flows over the past ten weeks since the protests started. Before that, the rate of money moving into and out of HK was pretty consistent.
The company said that for every $1 that customers moved into Hong Kong in August, about $2.64 left the city.



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-protests-drag

[Swordsmyth]

The Chinese government is reportedly giving Hong Kong authorities until early September to stabilize its ongoing political crisis, Bloomberg reported Aug. 20, quoting city legislator Michael Tien. If Hong Kong fails to settle the situation, Tien added, Beijing could directly pressure Chief Executive Carrie Lam, including potentially garrisoning the special administrative region or dispatching armed police.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...e-public-order

[Origanalist]

China's Patience Runs Out As Beijing Signals It Has "Responsibility To Intervene" In Hong Kong

There was a distinct sense of foreboding that the Hong Kong situation is about to take a far worse turn for the worse during this weekend protest, the 12th in a row, which saw the HK police deploy water cannon on protesters, while three police officers who were allegedly chased and beaten by a mob of club-wielding protesters, pulled their revolvers, with one firing at least one warning shot toward the sky.

It was the first time a gun had been discharged since the protests triggered by the now-shelved extradition bill began almost three months ago. However, it won't be the last, and to make sure it is positioned properly when the real shooting begins, China sent the strongest warning yet of using troops on Hong Kong’s streets where Beijing says protests have turned into a “Color Revolution,” a clear indication that China's patience with Hong Kong's insurrection has just about ran out.

"It’s not only China central government’s authority but also its responsibility to intervene when riots take place in Hong Kong," the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Sunday in a commentary which was meant to prepare the local population for the inevitable intervention as it recalled comments by former top leader Deng Xiaoping saying Beijing has to act under such circumstances.

In Sunday’s commentary, Xinhua said Hong Kong’s protests have turned into a Color Revolution aimed at overturning the Special Administrative Region’s constitutional institutions, a signal it was ready to take further action. Previously, Chinese officials had described the protests as having some characteristics of a “color revolution.”

To confirm that it had dotted all of its legal i's, Xinhua also said that Hong Kong’s Basic Law and Garrison Law have relative clauses on possible China intervention.

Echoing the Xinhua commentary was a tweet from the Global Times' Editor in Chief, Hu Xijin, who took a break from commenting on the trade war between the US and China, to prepare the public for what was coming, saying "mobs violently smashed a police vehicle and attacked police officers. See how police exercised restraint in order to avoid bloodshed. Feel sympathy for Hong Kong police."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...vene-hong-kong

[Swordsmyth]

Saturday Protest Canceled In Hong Kong After Sudden Arrest Of Key Activists

[Swordsmyth]

China’s worst nightmare may be happening: Mainland Chinese citizens are now participating in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, according to recent reports.

Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a “small cohort of mainlanders have joined the demonstrations, taking extraordinary risks to support a society that offers freedoms unavailable back home.”
“My understanding is that ‘one country, two systems’ is a creative set of ideals,” a 24-year-old Chinese graduate student living in Hong Kong with the last name Chen told the paper. “Now those ideals are threatened.”
The mainlanders said they value Hong Kong’s autonomy from Chinese control and have joined marches, signed open letters supporting Hong Kong, and defended the movement on social media.
Their participation is an indication that the movement could spread to mainland China, despite attempts by the government to brand the Hong Kong protesters as traitors.
Chinese authorities are reportedly checking travelers’ smartphones as they reenter China for evidence of participation in the demonstrations.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/national-s...ng-protesters/

[GunnyFreedom]

Prominent Hong Kong pro-independence political activist Chen Haotian has called for a run on Chinese banks, asking that everyone withdraw their money on the same day.

Haotian is a founding member and the convenor of the Hong Kong National Party.
Arguing that large scale protests have only led to injuries and escalating police brutality, Haotian believes another method could be used to severely undermine China’s influence – a good old fashioned run on the bank.
He suggested that another method could be used, namely, impacting the financial system,” reports China Press.

“He called on Friday (August 16) that Hong Kong citizens take out all bank deposits. The primary goal is Chinese banks, but he said other banks should also be targeted, otherwise Chinese banks can borrow money from other banks to solve problems.”

Hong Kong has been rocked by weeks of violent protests by pro-independence campaigners. Earlier this week, riot police stormed Hong Kong International Airport to clear them out.


More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...calls-run-bank

collapsing the economy will only provoke China to take over faster. HK’s brilliant economy is one of the primary things making China reluctant to kill the goose laying golden eggs.

[Swordsmyth]

collapsing the economy will only provoke China to take over faster. HK’s brilliant economy is one of the primary things making China reluctant to kill the goose laying golden eggs.

Maybe that's the plan, make them do it when it is not the best time instead of waiting for them to do it when they think it's best.
It will happen sooner or later but if China ends up collapsing HK might get the chance to be free again.

[GunnyFreedom]

China’s worst nightmare may be happening: Mainland Chinese citizens are now participating in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, according to recent reports.

Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that a “small cohort of mainlanders have joined the demonstrations, taking extraordinary risks to support a society that offers freedoms unavailable back home.”
“My understanding is that ‘one country, two systems’ is a creative set of ideals,” a 24-year-old Chinese graduate student living in Hong Kong with the last name Chen told the paper. “Now those ideals are threatened.”
The mainlanders said they value Hong Kong’s autonomy from Chinese control and have joined marches, signed open letters supporting Hong Kong, and defended the movement on social media.
Their participation is an indication that the movement could spread to mainland China, despite attempts by the government to brand the Hong Kong protesters as traitors.
Chinese authorities are reportedly checking travelers’ smartphones as they reenter China for evidence of participation in the demonstrations.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/national-s...ng-protesters/

This is HK’s real hope. To be so damn inspiring that they stir up mainland China and the Chinese turning gun shy to avoid making the problem worse.

[GunnyFreedom]

Maybe that's the plan, make them do it when it is not the best time instead of waiting for them to do it when they think it's best.
It will happen sooner or later but if China ends up collapsing HK might get the chance to be free again.

Well, all the troops in HK right now look like a single Chinese division split between at least 2 cities. China, being the evil bastards they are, would ordinarily not hesitate to put as many as 12 divisions in HK if they needed to to sort the problem, and they could probably manage that in 48-72 hours.

I understand the strategy of provoking an inevitable crisis early when the terms are more favorable. At this specific point in time that looks more like suicide by dictator, just to make a point to the world. Which if that’s his thing God bless him.

[Swordsmyth]

The head of Hong Kong Court Prosecutors Association has reportedly taken the extraordinary step of accusing the police of lying, potentially opening a unprecedented rift in the legal and security establishment as unrest in the territory enters its 14th week.
According to government broadcaster RTHK, the chairman of the association, William Wong, sent an email to all staff at the Department of Justice claiming that it was clear that police lied when they described the arrests of activists and lawmakers a day before a mass rally as a “coincidence.”
In his extraordinary communication, Wong said that “No court or reasonable jury properly directed would believe what police said” and, according to RTHK, added that police had also lied in “recent months.” He then called on the justice minister to ensure that the police maintained “honesty in doing their job.”

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/rift-reported...084736345.html

[Swordsmyth]

In the years since the handover, Beijing has been respectful of Hong Kong's economic power and unique way of life - particularly freedom of expression and legal independence.
The demonstrators took the streets due to what they consider an attempt to undermine that way of life. And, as Statista's Niall McCarthy notes, in the years after the handover, the share of people in Hong Kong identifying as Chinese increased, reaching 38.6 percent in 2008.
Dissatisfaction with Beijing's policies towards Hong Kong has seen that share decline significantly in recent years and it stands at just 10.8 percent today, according to the most recent polling from Hong Kong University.



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...entify-chinese

[Swordsmyth]

After lots of growling from Beijing about how the communist regime wouldn't "sit on its hands" over the massive protests disrupting Hong Kong, and new threats to "show no mercy" to the protesters, the Chicoms have folded.

Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed puppet leader, Carrie Lam, has withdrawn the extradition bill that triggered the protests, the one that permitted Beijing to freely snatch back anyone who displeases Red China to face what passes for "justice" in the communist dictatorship.
According to the New York Times:

HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, said Wednesday that the government would withdraw a contentious extradition bill that ignited months of protests in the city, moving to quell the worst political crisis since the former British colony returned to Chinese control 22 years ago.
The move eliminates a major objection among protesters, but it was unclear if it would be enough to bring an end to intensifying demonstrations, which are now driven by multiple grievances with the government.
"Incidents over these past two months have shocked and saddened Hong Kong people," she said in an eight-minute televised statement broadcast shortly before 6 p.m. "We are all very anxious about Hong Kong, our home. We all hope to find a way out of the current impasse and unsettling times."
Her decision comes as the protests near their three-month mark and show little sign of abating, roiling a city known for its orderliness and hurting its economy.

It is a striking concession from Beijing. But it's probably too little, too late.
The protests that have engulfed Hong Kong have morphed into cries for full democracy, something that has to be Beijing's worst nightmare. As Austin Bay, citing the reporting of Michael Yon on the ground in Hong Kong, has noted., the protests have moved well into the realm of civil unrest. Anecdotally, the whole world has seen how they have featured American flags, the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner, and signs calling for a Second Amendment. Young Hong Kong leaders have turned up in Taiwan with talks about taking in refugees now. Even leftists in the states have started scolding each other for not taking a more assertive stance on standing up for the Hong Kongers.
There's a feeling a Rubicon has been crossed, a bridge has been burned.
The other thing worth noting in this is that Beijing's nightmare is far from over. The protests not only have engulfed Hong Kong, but are actually no longer about Hong Kong. Chinese citizens have been caught sneaking over the border into Hong Kong for no other reason than to join the protests. The impact of the protests has already spread — far into the Chinese interior and into Taiwan.
Gordon Chang, that most astute of Hong Kong observers, notes this:

Lam's formal withdrawal of the extradition bill will not placate #HongKong, but it could embolden people in #China to act on their own grievances. #XiJinping should now expect things to go badly for him everywhere. https://t.co/umg2k1Zni0

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) September 4, 2019

A genie seems to be out of the bottle. Beijing is going to have a hard time putting it back in.



https://www.americanthinker.com/blog...he_bottle.html

[Origanalist]

After lots of growling from Beijing about how the communist regime wouldn't "sit on its hands" over the massive protests disrupting Hong Kong, and new threats to "show no mercy" to the protesters, the Chicoms have folded.

Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed puppet leader, Carrie Lam, has withdrawn the extradition bill that triggered the protests, the one that permitted Beijing to freely snatch back anyone who displeases Red China to face what passes for "justice" in the communist dictatorship.
According to the New York Times:

HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, said Wednesday that the government would withdraw a contentious extradition bill that ignited months of protests in the city, moving to quell the worst political crisis since the former British colony returned to Chinese control 22 years ago.
The move eliminates a major objection among protesters, but it was unclear if it would be enough to bring an end to intensifying demonstrations, which are now driven by multiple grievances with the government.
"Incidents over these past two months have shocked and saddened Hong Kong people," she said in an eight-minute televised statement broadcast shortly before 6 p.m. "We are all very anxious about Hong Kong, our home. We all hope to find a way out of the current impasse and unsettling times."
Her decision comes as the protests near their three-month mark and show little sign of abating, roiling a city known for its orderliness and hurting its economy.

It is a striking concession from Beijing. But it's probably too little, too late.
The protests that have engulfed Hong Kong have morphed into cries for full democracy, something that has to be Beijing's worst nightmare. As Austin Bay, citing the reporting of Michael Yon on the ground in Hong Kong, has noted., the protests have moved well into the realm of civil unrest. Anecdotally, the whole world has seen how they have featured American flags, the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner, and signs calling for a Second Amendment. Young Hong Kong leaders have turned up in Taiwan with talks about taking in refugees now. Even leftists in the states have started scolding each other for not taking a more assertive stance on standing up for the Hong Kongers.
There's a feeling a Rubicon has been crossed, a bridge has been burned.
The other thing worth noting in this is that Beijing's nightmare is far from over. The protests not only have engulfed Hong Kong, but are actually no longer about Hong Kong. Chinese citizens have been caught sneaking over the border into Hong Kong for no other reason than to join the protests. The impact of the protests has already spread — far into the Chinese interior and into Taiwan.
Gordon Chang, that most astute of Hong Kong observers, notes this:

Lam's formal withdrawal of the extradition bill will not placate #HongKong, but it could embolden people in #China to act on their own grievances. #XiJinping should now expect things to go badly for him everywhere. https://t.co/umg2k1Zni0

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) September 4, 2019

A genie seems to be out of the bottle. Beijing is going to have a hard time putting it back in.



https://www.americanthinker.com/blog...he_bottle.html

Interesting times, I don't we will see a Soviet Union style collapse, but who know where all this might lead?

[Swordsmyth]

Interesting times, I don't we will see a Soviet Union style collapse, but who know where all this might lead?

I think we will see an economic collapse followed by a massive many sided civil war, that has been China's pattern throughout history.

[Swordsmyth]

Economists are downgrading their forecasts for economic growth in China again, to below a level seen as necessary for the Communist Party to meet its own goals in time for its centenary in 2021.
Oxford Economics, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Bloomberg Economics on Tuesday all cut their forecasts for gross domestic product growth in 2020 to below 6% as a result of increasing risks from the tariff war with the U.S. UBS Group AG also cut their estimate on Tuesday, although they’ve been estimating sub-6% expansion since mid-August. In addition, Bank of America’s Helen Qiao and others are warning that the government’s current approach to stimulus is proving insufficient.
China is refraining from cutting benchmark policy rates or pumping large volumes of cash into the economy even as growth slows to the weakest in almost three decades and the tariff escalation in August adds further headwinds. That’s endangering President Xi Jinping’s ability to claim China has reached a “moderately prosperous society” that has doubled 2010 GDP by next year, as a rate above 6% in 2019 and 2020 would be needed.


Demand for credit has been weak, and while targeted policy easing since late last year has helped moderate the slowdown, the impact has been small, according to a report by Louis Kuijs, chief Asia economist at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong. With all the issues facing China, “more policy easing is needed to convincingly stabilize economic growth,” Kuijs said.

China’s economic growth will likely slow to 5.7% in the last quarter of 2019 and remain broadly at that pace in 2020, Kuijs said. Output growth softened to 6.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier, close to the lower bound of the government’s full-year target of between 6% and 6.5%. Earliest indicators compiled by Bloomberg showed the economy slowed further in August.


Bank of America’s chief Greater China economist Helen Qiao said their 2020 forecast has been cut to 5.7% from 6.0%, and warned of the risk that policy makers are falling behind the curve on support to the economy.
“The key reason for delayed policy response is policy agencies are waiting for the instruction from top decision makers to shift policy stance towards easing,” Qiao wrote in a note.

UBS Group AG sees stimulus coming in the form of more monetary easing, but expects policy makers to refrain from boosting the property market unless there’s a significant downturn. Wang Tao, chief China economist, now sees growth of 5.5% in 2020, after cutting the growth forecast on Tuesday from 5.8%. That’s the second time they’ve lowered in less than a month, down from 6.1% in early August.
How much leeway the central bank has in terms of policy easing is questionable, however, as additional tariffs on import products and domestic supply shocks will fuel inflation pressure with the yuan weakening 3.9% since August. Analysts including Citic Securities Co.’s Ming Ming said consumer price growth could breach the government target of 3% in the coming months.

More at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...economics-says

[dannno]

[Swordsmyth]

As the violence in Hong Kong escalates with every passing week, culminating on Friday with what was effectively the passage of martial law when the local government banned the wearing of masks at public assemblies, a colonial-era law that is meant to give the authorities a green light to finally crack down on protesters at will, one aspect of Hong Kong life seemed to be surprisingly stable: no, not the local economy, as HK retail sales just suffered their biggest drop on record as the continuing violent protests halt most if not all commerce:


We are talking about the local banks, which have been remarkably resilient in the face of the continued mass protests and the ever rising threat of violent Chinese retaliation which could destroy Hong Kong's status as the financial capital of the Pacific Rim in a heart beat, and crush the local banking system. In short: despite the perfect conditions for a bank run, the locals continued to behave as if they had not a care in the world.
Only that is now changing, because one day after a junior JPMorgan banker was beaten in broad daylight by the protest mob, a SCMP report confirms that the social upheaval has finally spilled over into the financial world: according to the HK publication, the local central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, was forced to issue a statement warning against a "malicious attempt to cause panic among the public" after rumors were spread online about the possibility of the government using emergency powers to impose foreign-exchange controls.

And while the de facto central bank stressed that the banking system remained robust and well positioned to withstand any market volatility, some of the statistics it provided gave a rather troubling impression: the monetary authority said that not only were more than 10% of 3,300 ATMs damaged and could not function, but that banks were negotiating with logistics firms to refill cash machines as 5% of them had run out of money, adding that banknote delivery was affected by the closure of shopping malls and MTR stations.

Will this be enough to prevent a bank run on the remaining ATMs? The answer will largely depend on what happens in the next 24-48 hours in Hong Kong, although the signs are grim.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...c-among-public

[tebowlives]

Watching a good 60 Minutes video showing people from Hong Kong fighting government for their freedoms. They have more balls than most Americans.

[Swordsmyth]

U.K. lawmakers on Oct. 24 debated the escalating tensions in Hong Kong, and whether to give British nationality to residents of the former British colony. Dozens of young Hong Kong supporters watched the debate from the public gallery.

Lord Alton, who proposed the debate, says the U.K. should follow in the footsteps of the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed four bills, three of which related directly to Hong Kong.
“What those laws do, if the autonomy in Hong Kong, the two systems in one country, go on being eroded, Hong Kong will lose its special economic status, there will be implications for some of the individuals,” Alton said. “Should the U.K. do the same, yes we should.”
He is calling for an international push to provide second citizenship, as an insura.nce policy, for all Hong Kong residents. This initiative garnered support from over 170 members of both Houses of Parliament last month.
While Thursday’s debate didn’t have a formal vote, the U.K. Human Rights Minister Tariq Ahmad was there to respond.
“The Government share[s] the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and indeed of all noble Lords, about the situation, in particular, the violent clashes between protestors and the police,” Lord Ahmad said.

More at: https://www.ntd.com/uk-lawmakers-deb...ip_397299.html

[Pauls' Revere]

https://www.businessinsider.com/chin...-taiwan-2020-5

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged his army to increase its preparedness for "armed combat" as protests in Hong Kong ramp up over a proposed new law that would effectively strip away the city's autonomy.

Xi on Tuesday told Chinese military officers on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC) — an annual weeklong gathering of China's top legislative bodies — that the military must "explore ways of training and preparing for war" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The new proposal to target secession, subversion, and foreign interference in Hong Kong, is expected to be passed Thursday at the NPC.

The head of China's garrison in Hong Kong, Chen Daoxiang, also vowed on Tuesday that the military outpost would protect China's national security interests and would "act with firm resolve" to implement China's plans for the city.

The aggressive move by China has prompted thousands to take to the streets in Hong Kong over the weekend, resulting in police officers firing tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray onto crowds that gathered at the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay.