Thursday, August 15, 2019

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 15, 2019

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.

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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