Or hoax.
Do you know who Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is, readers?
"US Now Admits it is Funding "Occupy Central"
October 1, 2014 (Tony
Cartalucci - LD) - Just as the US admitted shortly after the so-called
"Arab Spring" began spreading chaos across the Middle East that it had fully funded, trained, and equipped both mob leaders
and heavily armed terrorists years in advance, it is now admitted that
the US State Department through a myriad of organizations and NGOs is behind the so-called "Occupy Central" protests in Hong Kong.
***********
Considering the overt foreign-funded nature of not only the "Arab
Spring," but now "Occupy Central," and considering the chaos, death,
destabilization, and collapse suffered by victims of previous US
subversion, "Occupy Central" can be painted in a new light - a mob of
dupes being used to destroy their own home - all while abusing the
principles of "democracy" behind which is couched an insidious,
diametrically opposed foreign imposed tyranny driven by immense, global spanning corporate-financier interests
that fear and actively destroy competition. In particular, this global
hegemon seeks to suppress the reemergence of Russia as a global power,
and prevent the rise of China itself upon the world's stage.
The regressive agenda of "Occupy Central's" US-backed leadership,
and their shameless exploitation of the good intentions of the many
young people ensnared by their gimmicks, poses a threat in reality every
bit as dangerous as the "threat" they claim Beijing poses to the island
of Hong Kong and its people. Hopefully the people of China, and the
many people around the world looking on as "Occupy Central" unfolds,
will realize this foreign-driven gambit and stop it before it exacts the
heavy toll it has on nations that have fallen victim to it before -
Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, and many others.
--MORE--"
That explains the glowing coverage it has been getting here as well as well as the agenda-pushing focus.
Now before doing any celebrating:
"China’s appetite for Western-style wines has boomed in the past two decades, though the favorite still is red, a color associated with health and good luck. Sparkling wine also might get a boost from an 18-month-old campaign by the ruling Communist Party to press officials to rein in lavish spending on entertaining. The campaign has hurt sales of high-end spirits, but Shen said it has focused the attention of more sophisticated young urban drinkers on alternatives such as wine. China is now the world’s fifth-biggest producer of wine, as well its fifth-biggest consumer."
So they were drunken protests?
"Hong Kong protests leaderless but orderly" by Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy | New York Times October 01, 2014
HONG KONG — They sleep by the thousands on what are normally the busiest boulevards of this crammed, nonstop city. They live on crackers, bananas, and bottled water. They clean up their trash, even taking the time to pick out plastic and paper for recycling.
Unlike certain other folks we know (also China's fault, btw).
Their shield of choice, and the symbol of their cause, is the umbrella: protection against the sun and rain — and the pepper spray used by the riot police.
The prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong appeared headed for a showdown with the authorities Wednesday, with larger numbers expected over a national holiday and some organizers threatening to escalate the conflict by seizing government buildings. Yet it has been a diligently clean, exceedingly polite, and scrupulously peaceful insurgency, one that supporters are calling the Umbrella Revolution.
Nice name, and a hallmark of a U.S.-assisted overthrow attempt. It's straight from the horse's mouthpiece, the NYT!!
“An umbrella looks nonthreatening,” said Chloe Ho, 20, a history student distributing apples, chocolate, and wet towels on a six-lane downtown expressway occupied by protesters. “It shows how mild we Hong Kong people are, but when you cross our bottom line, we all come out together, just like the umbrellas all come out at the same time when it rains.”
Hers is a movement without a clear leader, one in which crowds of largely young people are organizing themselves and acting on their own, overtaking months of planning by veterans of the city’s prodemocracy camp. The spontaneous, grass-roots nature of the protest is one of its strengths — it has adapted quickly and seized the momentum from the government — but it may also make it difficult for the movement to accept any compromise that the Chinese government might be willing to offer.
Sound familiar?
The mass sit-in — and for hardier participants, sleep-in — in several of Hong Kong’s key commercial districts has presented the Chinese leadership with one of its biggest and most unexpected challenges in years. The protesters are demanding the right to elect the city’s leader, or chief executive, without procedural hurdles that would ensure that only Beijing’s favored candidates get on the ballot. China’s state-run news outlets have depicted the protests as the handiwork of a conspiracy aided by the West to topple the Communist Party.
Turns out that is exactly what it is -- and the whole world sees it. The only ones who do not are AmeriKa's media pre$$titutes and those whose agenda they are pushing.
But what leaders in Beijing and Hong Kong face is something even more alien to party thinking: an amorphous movement that does not answer to any particular individual or agenda.
Sound familiar, American kids?
And remember, the same media extolling such virtue in Hong Kong was saying that was a weakness three years ago.
The protesters’ desire for democratic elections was first articulated by organizations dominated by academics and students, but the movement that has blockaded the city streets since the weekend is a cacophony of voices, with demands including face-to-face dialogue with the Chinese government’s hand-picked chief executive, Leung Chun-ying; his immediate resignation; and more ambitious, and unlikely, concessions from the central government.
It's always about elections because those can be fixed and they diffuse real protest. Over here it is, the political debate and conversation has begun so there is no need for further protest and it is just bu$ine$$ as usual.
The AmeriKan government is gone, folks. It has drowned itself in sea of corporate campaign ca$h. It's no longer a functioning government because it is not taking care of its own, is exposing us all to Ebola, and is spending billions if not trillions to fight overseas wars against enemies which they themselves created and control.
“The strengths of these protests are that it’s so decentralized, so first of all you can’t crush them through arresting the leaders,” said Maya Wang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong who has monitored the demonstrations. “The weaknesses are, of course, that there could be confusions and splits as the situation quickly develops. So far it has worked remarkably well, but it might not further along the way.”
Who is Human Rights Watch anyway?
Oh, just another Zionist-funded rights group pushing the agenda landing in my paper, huh?
Tensions in Hong Kong over election rules built for months and reached a peak Friday, when students stormed past the police and occupied the forecourt of the Hong Kong government’s headquarters. The standoff there drew more protesters who gathered outside, growing into a noisy carnival of disgruntled residents calling for democracy. On Sunday afternoon, however, the police moved in with tear gas.
The televised spectacle of students scattered by tear gas triggered an outpouring of anger against the Hong Kong government that drew tens of thousands onto the streets Sunday night. On Monday, the crowds were even larger, and they grew again Tuesday.
I would say something but I'm trying to let go of anger and replace it with something else.
The protesters have commandeered city buses, using them as bulletin boards for signs and messages. They have built barricades from bamboo scaffolding and borrowed cars to fend off possible police incursions.
“I came here because I don’t want to lose my Hong Kong,” said Bo Au-yeung, 20, a saleswoman at a clothing store who had volunteered to run a supply station. “I don’t want Hong Kong to be the next China.”
--more--"
"Hong Kong protest draws biggest crowds yet" by William Wan | Washington Post October 02, 2014
HONG KONG — On a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of China’s communist republic, Hong Kong residents instead swarmed the streets Wednesday to protest Beijing’s iron grip over their government and to demand democratic reforms.
The massive crowds appeared to be one of the biggest amid a week of demonstrations that have brought large parts of the city to a standstill.
Throughout Hong Kong, it was a day of jarring images and symbolism as authorities tried to carry on with National Day celebrations only to have protesters respond with acts of emotional though peaceful defiance.
Hong Kong’s top official, Leung Chun-ying, began the morning sharing a champagne toast with other Chinese officials while demonstrators nearby booed and jeered.
Sort of like Brent Scowcroft toasting Chinese officials during Tiananmen, remember?
Then, as China’s national anthem played, a group of student protesters turned their backs on a Chinese flag being raised and silently crossed their arms above their heads in a gesture of objection to the Chinese government.
A ceremony planned later to honor Hong Kong war heroes was canceled. And an afternoon event at Victoria Park drew sparse attendance, even as massive crowds began converging near government headquarters, the heart of demonstrations in recent days.
Protest leaders also warned that pressures could intensify if authorities ignore their demands, which include Leung’s resignation and forcing Beijing to back down on plans to vet candidates in Hong Kong elections. The next step, protesters said, could be attempts to occupy key government buildings.
Such a move would be a major test for authorities, who have generally held back security forces since clashes on Sunday. Already, there are hints that Beijing’s patience is running out.
So is mine with this agenda-pushing slop.
An editorial read on China’s state broadcaster CCTV said Hong Kong residents should not interfere with efforts to ‘‘deploy police enforcement decisively’’ and ‘‘restore the social order in Hong Kong as soon as possible,’’ according to the Associated Press.
The message also aimed at a wider audience — putting the entire nation on notice that protests inspired by Hong Kong would not be tolerated. It may have caused some to think twice. In Macau — a former colony like Hong Kong with some degree of autonomy — just a few hundred protesters gathered late Wednesday for a demonstration of their own.
For many who have remained ambivalent about the Hong Kong demonstrations, the day was in many ways the culmination of months — and even years — of debate about their government, Chinese rule and the future of Hong Kong, a former British colony turned over to China in 1997. It all boiled down to this simple choice: to join in protest or not.
It was a decision that weighed heavily on some.
One medical student on the streets said he had spent every night since the protests began Sunday arguing with his father, who called the student-led protests not just illegal but pointless.
‘‘He told me, ‘This changes nothing.’ He said, ‘These people occupying the streets are breaking the law.’ And I agree with him,’’ the student said of his decision to finally join the protests. ‘‘But I also feel more proud to be from Hong Kong than I’ve ever felt before.’’
The student, who asked to be identified only as Lau for fear of embarrassing his father, said: ‘‘Maybe nothing will change after all this, but at least we can say we stood up for ourselves.’’
That's where AmeriKa's Occupy finds itself.
Another student, Timothy Huk, 23, said his parents also urged him to stay away.
‘‘There is a generational difference for many families in how we think about this,’’ he said. ‘‘They lived through the era of June 4 [the Tiananmen Square crackdown]. We did not. They worry about what happens if we do this. We worry about what happens if we don’t.’’
Other parents not only supported the protests but brought their school-age children with them.
‘‘I wanted my son to see for himself, this is what democracy looks like,’’ said Carman Mok, 46, his sixth-grade son in tow.
Related: HOW TO COOK UP A FAKE "PEOPLE's UPRISING"!
With Wednesday beginning a two-day holiday, many Hong Kong residents were freed by their jobs and family schedules to join the demonstrations. But others throughout the city remain opposed to the protests, including some who agree with its aims.
All week long, Shan Cheung, 37, said she has watched the demonstrations unfold from her job in a nearby building. ‘‘It’s made me so sad. The goal is good, but this is not the way to achieve it,’’ she said.
‘‘The protesters keep demanding that [Hong Kong chief executive] C.Y. Leung step down. Who is China going to send to replace him? Just another puppet of Beijing,’’ she said. ‘‘If you want to change the system, do it from the inside. Get into government. Do it step by step. Don’t try to do it by sleeping in the streets and singing songs.’’
And be implicated in its criminal conduct? No thanks.
With a foot in both camps of Hong Kong’s political divide, former chief secretary Anson Chan is part of Hong Kong’s older generation, but she has joined activists in lobbying for electoral reform.
See: Let China know the world is watching Hong Kong protests
Got an op space in the Boston Globe all to herself, huh?
For months, she has tried to push both sides toward compromise. ‘‘I don’t have the answers. But to break this impasse the government needs to make the first move,’’ she said in a phone interview.
--more--"
"Detentions of Hong Kong protest sympathizers reported in mainland" by Andrew Jacobs | New York Times October 02, 2014
BEIJING — Nearly two dozen people have been detained across mainland China for expressing support for the growing protests in Hong Kong, in an effort by the Chinese authorities to contain the spread of prodemocracy sentiment, human rights groups reported Wednesday.
In recent days, the police have moved swiftly against scores of people after they shared articles and photographs about the demonstrations online. Those not detained say they have been harassed and threatened with arrest if they continue to publicize news about the protests.
Several detainees had reportedly taken part in “Going Bald for Hong Kong,” an ad hoc solidarity campaign in which participants cut off their hair and then posted images of their newly bald heads online.
Ou Biaofeng, a social activist in the central province of Hunan who was among the first to publicize his shaved head on social media, said he was picked up by the authorities early Wednesday and driven to the countryside. “I’m on a forced vacation,” he said by telephone in a whisper, presumably because he was in the company of the police.
Wang Long, a rights advocate in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, was detained Monday on charges of “creating a disturbance” after he forwarded news reports about the protests, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an advocacy group.
Along the $ame lines as Juman Rights Watch, I'm sure.
As many as 20 people in the nearby city of Guangzhou were rounded up Tuesday after they gathered in a park to show support for the protests unfolding 80 miles away, Chinese Human Rights Defenders said.
The ruling Communist Party has taken a zero-tolerance approach to calls for political liberalization since popular unrest began sweeping the Arab world four years ago. But analysts say Chinese leaders are especially concerned about the potential spread of pro-democracy sentiment from Hong Kong, a former British colony that enjoys prodigious liberties, including an uncensored Internet, and is a popular tourist draw for mainlanders.
“The Hong Kong protests present a huge challenge to China because everyone here speaks Chinese and there are so many close ties between Hong Kong and China,” said Maya Wang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong. “No matter how hard the government might try to stop news from getting in, the border remains porous.”
Even if mine did, it no longer matters. Once you realize the forces behind them and the scum frontmen and women for what they are you can't go back to believing.
--more--"
"Hong Kong leader offers talks, but won’t quit" by Austin Ramzy and Keith Bradsher | New York Times October 03, 2014
HONG KONG — One of the two main student groups behind the demonstrations, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, issued a statement [that] said the protesters’ “occupation” of key parts of Hong Kong would continue and the outcome of the talks would determine whether students adopted more aggressive tactics.
Another key protest group, Occupy Central, also welcomed the offer of talks but reiterated demands that Leung Chun-ying, who was anointed by Beijing to lead Hong Kong two years ago, step down and Beijing withdraw its ruling limiting political change.
A sure sign and hallmark of U.S-sponsored destabilization effort. The leader must go!
Leung’s remarks, made at a late-night news conference, were greeted with skepticism by some of the protesters camped outside his offices.
*************
Faced with a government strategy to wait them out, the protesters, who have taken over key areas of Hong Kong for days, appeared unsure whether they should escalate their confrontation or begin searching for an exit strategy....
A face-saving way out?
Protesters interviewed gave no indication that a retreat was imminent. But many wondered how long they could sustain the turnout necessary to block key roads in the city and just what would mark an acceptable victory. Further escalation by the protesters could alienate members of the public resentful of a demonstration that affects their daily lives.
What?
I Can't ImAgine why the Chinese public would resent these well-meaning kids!
--more--"
"Protest camp in Hong Kong comes under attack" by Chris Buckley, Austin Ramzy and Edward Wong | New York Times October 04, 2014
HONG KONG — Pro-democracy demonstrations in two of Hong Kong’s most crowded shopping districts came under attack Friday from unidentified men who assaulted protesters and tore down their encampments, as the Beijing-backed government sent sharply conflicting messages about how to grapple with the unrest.
Sound familiar, American kids?
Of course, they were wearing police and security uniforms over here.
The protesters said the attackers were pro-government gangs, and several protest groups called off planned negotiations with the government in response. Whoever the culprits were, and by Saturday morning it was still unclear, they drew crowds of angry supporters, neighbors fed up with the inconvenience of the protests and happy to see gangs step in where the police refused to go.
Yeah, "whoever" they were, tells me the propaganda pre$$.
Btw, same complaints were issued by businesses in AmeriKa back when. They were also happy the thugs went in and busted 'em up!
A week after the protests began with a student rally, both the pro-democracy movement and the government were showing increasing signs of wear and desperation, each improvising its next moves like chess players in the face of dwindling options.
OMG, what garbage!
The protest movement, fighting to remain relevant, was suffering from internal discord and exhaustion even before the attacks began. The sit-ins on major roads across this financial capital still drew thousands Friday night, but the crowds were diminished as the city returned to work after a two-day holiday.
Translation: the attempted US overthrow and destabilization campaign has failed.
The Beijing-backed government, meanwhile, continued to deploy one contradictory strategy after the next, sending in riot police officers with tear gas one day, pulling them back the next, refusing in principle to talk to protesters then calling for talks, announcing a plan to wait out the protests, then appearing to sit on its hands as the protesters were attacked.
They are acting like the AmeriKan government!
The new elements injected Friday were the gangs of attackers, who entered the fray a day after the Communist Party warned that there would be “chaos” in Hong Kong if the protests did not end.
The skirmishing opened in the Mong Kok neighborhood, a hive of shops, apartment blocks, and hotels that is one of the world’s mostly densely populated places, and quickly turned ugly. As skies darkened and rain fell, a couple of dozen men stormed a protest encampment in the middle of a major thoroughfare usually packed with traffic and shoppers.
They shoved and punched protesters, sometimes kicking them after they fell to the ground. Others grabbed the scaffolding of canopies and pulled at them until the tents collapsed in heaps.
Were they loaded onto dump trucks like here?
Residents said the police were outnumbered and slow to react, and hours passed before reinforcements arrived to protect the protesters from a jeering, hostile crowd.
Brawls also broke out at another protest encampment, in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, as tourists hustled by clutching shopping bags.
“We began to see radicalists, some I suspected paid to stir up trouble here,” said Eva Sze, a volunteer at the site.
We know all about it. It's a lashing out by US agents after failure to try and keep this thing going.
After nearly a week in which the tens of thousands of protesters who have taken over parts of the city were, for the most part, not only nonviolent but assiduously polite and clean, the attacks came as a shock.
“I feel really hurt,” said Nick Tse, 22, an art student. “We worked so hard for this, and they destroyed it.”
But if the violence was intended to intimidate the protesters, it did not entirely succeed.
I'm sorry, folks, but I can not read any more of this one-sided, sympathetic propaganda spew from the NYT.
Several protest leaders urged the demonstrators to leave Mong Kok but they refused, instead joining arms and forming human chains, and as news of the attacks spread, waves of supporters joined them. By late evening, thousands of protesters were standing together in the streets.
The mayhem derailed proposed talks between the Hong Kong government and student protesters, who are demanding democratic elections for the city’s leader, the chief executive.
AND WHO BENEFITS THERE!!??
The Hong Kong Federation of Students and one of the main protest groups, Occupy Central With Love and Peace, said Friday night that they would not participate in the talks, and blamed the government for the violence.
One thing you also notice is NOT ONCE is there ever a COMPARISON to the OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT in AmeriKa, and the OMISSION in the reporting could not be more glaring and telling.
“Yesterday the government stated it was willing to hold a dialogue with students,” the federation said in a statement. “Today, it has broken its promise to the people, broken faith and without justification cracked down on the Occupy movement, treating the people as enemies.”
We didn't even get a promise of dialogue over here. The message from on high was diverted into the political debate with bu$ine$$ as usual.
Leung Chun-ying, the chief executive, issued an appeal for a return to peaceful order, and urged residents to disperse from the tense streets, especially schoolchildren.
“I appeal to them to leave immediately,” he said in a written statement. “I have absolutely no wish that any residents, especially young people, be injured in clashes.”
The biggest road occupations, near the government headquarters and the legislature, remained in place Friday, and many hundreds of activists maintained their siege of Leung’s office. The demonstrators have demanded that he resign and that his successors be democratically elected, without prior vetting of the candidates by Beijing. The Chinese Communist Party has rejected those demands.
--more--"
"Hong Kong protesters are warned to open roads" by Austin Ramzy and Chris Buckley | New York Times October 05, 2014
HONG KONG — Prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong held one of the largest rallies of their campaign Saturday, a gesture of defiance after attacks on their encampments and a declaration by the territory’s leader that major roads they have occupied for the last week must be cleared by Monday morning.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the main protest site at Admiralty, outside government headquarters, after the territory’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, said that “all actions necessary” would be taken to ensure that government workers could go back to work.
He did not specify what those actions would be, but police used tear gas in an attempt to break up a protest a week ago, leading to a wave of larger demonstrations.
“We know that every time they assault us, we resist harder,” Alex Chow Yong Kang, the secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, told the crowd. “And we know we’re on the right path, otherwise the government wouldn’t have been so afraid of us.”
So is mine. That is why they are collecting all our data and running psyops that advance tyranny.
As the rally ended, a large number of people remained in the protest area and rumors spread through the crowd that police would act to clear out the protesters overnight, the Associated Press reported.
The sharpening positions and deepening distrust between both sides reduced the already limited potential for compromise.
The assaults on the protest camps Friday by men who police believe had underworld ties incited a new resolve, student demonstrators said Saturday. Participants in the prodemocracy protests, which have come to be known as the Occupy movement, appeared unwilling to meet the government’s call to remove road barricades.
Remind you of something, AmeriKan kids?
In a speech Saturday, Leung said the protests “severely affected residents’ daily lives, income, and the ability of the government to provide services.”
He demanded that demonstrators remove their blockade of roads in Hong Kong Island’s Western, Central, and Wan Chai districts by Monday, and let 3,000 government employees go to work at the main office complex, which has been besieged by protesters.
Both sides accuse the other of bearing responsibility for the street mayhem that erupted Friday after the protest camps came under attack. The Mong Kok district was the scene of more confrontation Saturday, evidence a week after the protests began that the conflict has slipped beyond the grip of leaders on either side.
The US Consulate warned citizens on Saturday to avoid protest areas in Hong Kong “due to the potential risk of escalating violence.”
On Saturday morning, Hong Kong police said 19 men, including eight linked to organized crime gangs, or triads, had been arrested over the violence in Mong Kok. The police also said at least 18 people had been injured in the violence, including six police officers.
The attacks on Friday led the main student group to withdraw from proposed talks with the government, which they blamed for not protecting them.
Protesters and prodemocracy politicians said the assaults, and what appeared to be a delayed police reaction, bore the hallmarks of acts by organized crime groups that were condoned by the authorities, or at least made worse by a lax official response.
“They vandalized and attacked peaceful occupiers,” Alan Leong Kah-kit, the leader of the Civic Party, one of the city’s prodemocracy parties, said of the attackers at a news conference Saturday. The activists, he said, were asking to meet with local officials to “manifest our strongest condemnation, and want them to make sure that what happened would not repeat today or in the future.”
Hong Kong’s secretary for security, Lai Tung-kwok, adamantly denied that the police condoned the attacks.
Instead of leaving Mong Kok, protesters, mostly students, expanded their encampment Saturday on Nathan Road, a major avenue usually crammed during the weekend with tourists and shoppers, many from mainland China.
So what happened in just under two days?
Throughout the day and evening the barricades were again besieged by groups of middle-aged men, who screamed at the protesters to leave.
Poor kids. That's abuse, isn't it?
--more--"
As always, I turn to the Globe editorial staff for solutions:
"Hong Kong protests demand face-saving solution" | October 01, 2014
Today, the uneasy truce between Hong Kong and China — “one country, two systems” — looks more fragile than ever. Under these tense circumstances, prodemocracy protesters who crowded Hong Kong’s streets Tuesday should be seeking compromises that give Beijing a face-saving pretext to ease up.
China’s leaders have been anxiously witnessing the recent wave of
protests around the world, from Egypt’s Tahrir Square to the Euromaidan
rallies in Ukraine. Earlier this year, the People’s Daily, the official
Communist Party newspaper, warned that those uprisings had only brought instability and insinuated that Western powers had been eager to “get into the act of chaos.”
**************
The Hong Kong protest is their worst nightmare. China’s president, Xi Jinping, will want to nip this habit in the bud before it reaches Beijing. So far, he’s been able to black out news of the protest in China’s media. But the more attention it gets in the rest of China, the more likely Chinese leaders will be to crack down on the protesters to prove that such activities gain nothing. A Tiananmen Square-style reaction is unlikely, but not impossible. If China lashes out violently, there is little the United States can do to a country that has become such an important investor and trade partner.
The good news is that China is not eager to be seen as an imperial ruler. That’s why there is a chance that a new agreement could be struck with Hong Kong in which each side could claim victory....
Meanwhile, protesters should be careful to give China a dignified way out of the crisis. If they overplay their hand, they could be dealing with the Chinese army, not just local authorities in Hong Kong. If China overreacts violently, Hong Kong residents could end up with fewer freedoms than they had before.
--more--"
I think they got one due to the fact that the coup attempt has fizzled:
"Prodemocracy demonstrators, defiant but their numbers diminished, eased their blockade of Hong Kong government offices and allowed civil servants to return to work Monday morning as the sit-in campaign, which entered its 11th day, appeared at a crossroads, plagued by confusion and seesaw reversals among demonstrators who were exhausted and increasingly divided over how to proceed. The Monday deadline had set up a possible confrontation between the passionate and often disjointed protest movement and a government that, taking its cue from Beijing, has refused to compromise."
"Hong Kong protest led to dialogue, organizers say" by Michael Forsythe | New York Times October 07, 2014
HONG KONG — As the protests dwindled and life in Hong Kong returned to its frenetic routine on Monday, organizers of the biggest prodemocracy movement in China since the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, said they had moved the needle toward a more democratic future for the city.
A polite way of saying it failed.
Before the movement made headlines around the world more than a week ago, the prospect of meaningful talks between democracy advocates and a government bent on doing Beijing’s will was nonexistent, democrats said.
Now preliminary talks have begun, and the student-led movement has strengthened the hand of Hong Kong’s democratic lawmakers.
“The power shown by the people in this civil protest is the power of the powerless,” Albert Ho, the former head of the Democratic Party and a candidate for chief executive in 2012, said in a telephone interview.
As an American citizen, this coverage is reaching the point of insulting offensiveness.
“We have been able at least to create sufficient pressure on the government for the commencement of a dialogue,’’ he said. “They know that the theme of discussion is political reform. Previously, everybody treated this as a closed chapter.”
Although the protest leaders and the remaining participants, who still numbered in the low thousands, insisted that the so-called Umbrella Revolution was a long-term project that was far from over, there was a sense on Monday of a winding down and, after 11 days of overnight street protests, a dissipation of energy.
“I’m very, very, very tired,” said Dennis Chan, 28, letting out a sigh as he prepared to go home to sleep after 10 days at the sit-in near the government center. “We all are.”
“It won’t end today, but maybe tomorrow, maybe later, too, when there are fewer and fewer people,” he added. “It’s hard to say that we’ve won this battle. But it’s been positive in making pressure on the government to open a conversation with the students.”
Be sure to go vote!
Even the protest leaders, as they began to reflect on what the movement achieved and where it failed, were already adopting the past tense [as] it was business as usual in this bustling financial hub.
Same in Wa$hington D.C.
Even People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, scaled back its criticism of the movement on Monday.
No such luck here. Even worse, they are now just ignored as if it never happened.
Although past days had featured front-page articles denouncing the movement as causing chaos, dismissing any chance of compromise, and warning of dire consequences if it continued, the Monday edition confined coverage of the events in Hong Kong to the fourth page, with one article criticizing the movement as undemocratic because it represented only a minority of Hong Kong’s citizens.
Despite the lowered tensions, the two sides remained miles apart and the existence of talks hardly assured their success....
But I'm told “we won,” whatever that means.
--more--"
Someone else they are talking to:
"Dalai Lama, China in talks over Tibet" by Annie Gowen | Washington Post October 03, 2014
DHARMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama said Thursday that informal talks with the Chinese are continuing over his possible return to his homeland of Tibet — if only for a visit — and cautiously praised China’s president, Xi Jinping, as a realist.
The Dalai Lama, 79, sat for a brief interview in his temple in the north Indian town of Dharmsala before a celebration of the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize, after a month of media speculation of a thaw between the exiled leader and the Chinese government.
Now that Obummer has one, that prize is nothing but worthless, self-adulating, self-aggrandizing back-slap.
The two sides have sparred for years over Tibet. The Dalai Lama argues for autonomy for the Himalayan region he fled in 1959, while the Chinese accuse him of being a separatist. Just this week, another gathering of Nobel winners was canceled in South Africa after that country would not give the Dalai Lama a visa, reportedly under pressure from China.
Norway knuckled under, too, and we know why.
The Chinese have continued to increase their control over the Tibetan region, with a new railway line opening last month that will give greater access to its rich natural resources. Foreign travel is still restricted. And more than 130 people have self-immolated to protest the Dalai Lama’s exile and press for freedom for Tibet since 2009, including two during Xi’s recent visit to New Delhi.
Elsewhere in China, Hong Kong’s streets have been filled in recent days with thousands of pro-democracy protesters.
The Dalai Lama said he had been closely watching the events unfold in that city.
‘‘I’m seriously watching the situation, but it’s very, very complicated and it’s difficult to say why,’’ he said. ‘‘My wish is that the problem be solved peacefully with mutual benefit. That’s the only thing I can do — prayer, hope.’’
I always wondered what was under those robes.
Speculation about improved relations between China and the Dalai Lama has been fueled by remarks given by a Chinese Communist Party undersecretary, who said discussions were underway. In September, a popular Chinese website briefly displayed an article that said the Dalai Lama might return for a visit to a Buddhist shrine and to meet party leaders.
The Dalai Lama also contributed to the media hubbub, praising Xi as more ‘‘realistic’’ and ‘‘open-minded’’ than his predecessors while Xi was in India in September. On Thursday, the Dalai Lama praised Xi for having ‘‘courageously tackled’’ government corruption. But he voiced concern over China’s imprisonment of dissidents.
‘‘The thing to say is that he’s approached these problems more realistically,’’ than other leaders in the past, the Dalai Lama said of Xi. The Chinese leader’s past praise of the Buddhist faith has also given the Dalai Lama hope.
‘‘This is something new for a Communist Party leader to say something about spirituality,’’ the Dalai Lama noted. ‘‘We’ll see. I have some optimistic view. Still too early to say.’’
Some Tibet experts have scoffed at reports of an improvement in the relationship between China and the Dalai Lama, noting that China’s strategy has long been to wait until the Dalai Lama dies to resolve the Tibet issue — as well as that of the holy man’s successor. The Dalai Lama has said that his successor should be chosen by the Tibetan people, a desire which, if not honored by the Chinese government, could result in widespread unrest.
The Dalai Lama and Tibet’s government in exile launched a campaign in June to promote his ‘‘Middle Way Approach,’’ which advocates for greater autonomy for Tibet but not independence. But finding complete support in the fractious Tibetan community around Dharmsala has been difficult, said Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of Tibet’s government in exile. Most younger activists continue to seek independence.
The Dalai Lama has said he longs to take a pilgrimage to see Wu Tai Shan, a sacred mountain in Central China. The talks are proceeding with retired Chinese military officials and business leaders.
‘‘It’s not yet finalized but the plan is there,’’ he said. Then he quipped: ‘‘As soon as something is finalized, I’ll let you know.’’
I probably will not. Sorry.
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I'm no longer fooled.
You all LinkedIn now, readers?
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Hong Kong officials, protesters agree on Democracy talks" by Michael Forsythe and Alan Wong | New York Times October 08, 2014
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s government and the student groups responsible for huge protests that have attracted worldwide attention agreed Tuesday to hold negotiations on the future of democracy here, but some students expressed disappointment at the narrow range of the planned discussions.
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With the government demanding that streets be cleared by the start of business this week and calls from some protest supporters to scale back the sit-ins, the number of demonstrators has dwindled drastically, but many barricades have been maintained.
Following a familiar pattern established last week, by nightfall Tuesday the number of people in the protest zones was swelling again as supporters returned from work and school, but remained much lower than in previous days.
This propaganda is really becoming laughable.
At dinnertime, more than 200 people were in the protest zone in Causeway Bay, a shopping district. Many of those inside the zone — which in normal times is a busy thoroughfare for cars, trams, and buses — were looking at their cellphones. A few slept on plastic sheets.
In the morning, the number of people camped out on Harcourt Road near the office of the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, whose resignation many protesters have called for, appeared to be no more than 100.
The scene in Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor in Kowloon, was similar. Protesters numbered only in the dozens, with their copious provisions — tents, crates of food, water bottles — giving the illusion of a much larger crowd.
That's what my propaganda did about three paragraphs ago. Now the contradictions and lies are almost right next to each other. Nice, NYT.
Hui Chan-tak, the chief spokesman of the Hong Kong Police, called Tuesday afternoon for an end to protests in Mong Kok and strongly criticized protest leaders for suggesting their supporters remain there. “I urge students to leave for their own safety,” he said.
Michael C. Davis, a law professor at Hong Kong University, said that the movement should “declare victory” and end the sit-in now, rather than have it dwindle and allow the police to end it with a clearing operation. That way, he said, they can preserve the threat of future movements to get more leverage in talks with the government, a tactic he said was used by Poland’s Solidarity labor movement in the 1980s.
Why would a bust up kill the movement? If anything, it would swell again, right?
“I think they moved the needle a little because they shocked the government,” Davis said in a telephone interview. “But to turn it into a victory there are more steps to take and I think just lingering on the street isn’t necessarily going to get them there.”
What now? Politics like in AmeriKa?
Pffft!
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