> With some guns, some tanks, some international support, and the right leader, Hong Kong could win their independence from the monsters who run China.
The moment military grade weaponry is used by freedom fighters (or protesters, or anything that stands in the way of mainland China) the whole thing will be over in 48hours to China's advantage.
International support ? So, going at war with one of the top 3 nation on earth. Considering how Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. benefited from international support, what can go wrong ?
> Considering how Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. benefited from international support, what can go wrong ?
At least the women in Afghanistan did - and now piece by piece their freedom is taken away from them with every day as the Taliban advance to re-take control again.
The mistake of the Western world in all three conflicts was not entering it (one might argue it was neccessary to protect the human rights of the populace against the dictators), the mistake was completely ignoring the needs of the people and never having a clear long term plan in the likes of the post WW2 Marshall Plan.
> At least the women in Afghanistan did - and now piece by piece their freedom is taken away from them with every day as the Taliban advance to re-take control again.
How can you say this? Freedom is not disconnected from economic conditions. All the US army did in Afghanistan was kill as many "talibans" (which most were not) as possible and give away public infrastructure to private (usually foreign) corporations.
Neither men nor women have ever benefited from an army invading their land. That's why the talibans who once were a tiny conservative formation have been growing since the US invaded.
Pretending to invade a country to protect its women is deeply rooted in the history of colonization. France did the same in Algeria, for example.
> How can you say this? Freedom is not disconnected from economic conditions. All the US army did in Afghanistan was kill as many "talibans" (which most were not) as possible and give away public infrastructure to private (usually foreign) corporations.
Where the Taliban has power, schools for girls get closed and their freedoms that they gained (like, not having to wear a niqab/burqa) get taken away. Women in Afghanistan are actually afraid that the West pulling out of Afghanistan will leave them up for grabs: https://www.apnews.com/a63dfde74c594c9a8b13cfc366ea9c55
>Considering how Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. benefited from international support, what can go wrong ?
It's called a proxy war. Literally every other regional power is salivating over the idea of a massive thorn in China's side that a) gets them slapped with first world sanctions and b) gives them less free time to bully everyone else in the region. You're kidding yourself if you think all their intelligence agencies aren't coming up with shovel ready plans to get the the protestors the things they need if they decide to become freedom fighters.
I think that if China forcefully suppresses HK, that will drive Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei--and to a lesser extent Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Australia--into a regional alliance with the US, a sort of ASEAN++/SEATO2. Its major agenda would likely be diplomatically evicting China from territorial claims in the South China Sea, particularly with respect to the "nine dash line".
If HK can be portrayed as the model of what PRC does to dominate, suppress, and assimilate lesser economic powers, and its occupation of Paracels and Spratlys as an overture to securing absolute control over all economic resources in the South China Sea, the neighboring nations will likely line up behind the US to discourage a hot military war, and then do everything they can to close ranks diplomatically and economically to keep PRC from taking pieces of their pie.
The mass-internment of Uighurs is also likely to spur the Muslim populations of Indonesia and Malaysia to wrongfoot China diplomatically and raise international support for sanctions.
China's main crime is carrying a really big stick, and speaking loudly instead of softly. If a country uses its strength too much, then it starts creating problems that only greater shows of force can fix. All that work on soft power in South America and Africa could go straight down the drain.
The 50-Cent Brigade doesn't need a reason beyond "not unequivocally pro-China". The major obstacle to that is the karma minimum for accessing the down-voting function, but sufficient investment into a user account can get there eventually. You only need a handful with the capability to blast a newish post into the grey before too many people read it.
The moment military grade weaponry is used by freedom fighters (or protesters, or anything that stands in the way of mainland China) the whole thing will be over in 48hours to China's advantage.
International support ? So, going at war with one of the top 3 nation on earth. Considering how Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. benefited from international support, what can go wrong ?