Legitimizing Your State

When I look at the current situation in Hong Kong, with mass demonstrations against China and the new extradition law that allows the Communist party to extradite anyone they want to the mainland for whatever purposes the Chinese government thinks pertinent, I think it is very likely they are in danger of creating the same situations U.S. forces created in small Iraqi towns, where they won every battle, but radicalized so many people so fast that they basically lost.

The behavior of the state must appear legitimate. In order to appear legitimate, there must be some level of proportionality.

I am certainly aware that the same forces that created the color revolutions in Eastern Europe could be in Hong Kong. But it is a mistake to imagine the protests and the hunger strike is merely fodder for Western media. The protests and the government response can easily contribute to the view that the government is immoral. This is the overall problem with the color revolutions, the leftist funded migrations, and many other events apparently encouraged by- at the very least- Hillary Clinton's state department (among others). While they no doubt felt themselves immune to the modern state's fall as any sort of entity of morality, they were in fact weakening themselves.

The state seems weak, and continues to do so, since Trump seemingly can't get the offenders put in jail, and must instead protest the poor treatment he has been subjected to in tweets. The border continues to be wide open, and foolishness continues to reign.

But what does that have to do with Hong Kong? Or China?

Ultimately, it's going to come down to a similar view. They refuse to follow the liberal lies, but they hold fast to the Communist moniker. Xi's already president for life; it would be better to be emperor, and dethrone all the lies. Because, after all, it was the Communists who taught our people the 'useful' lie, where they put you in a struggle session and force you to assent to a lie so that they know they can control you. A very short term usefulness, but one that leads to dysfunction.

And in this case, Hong Kong is easily ruled indirectly. The business interests and Asian family ties are predictable. What is predictable is governable.

But if the response to the government in the aftermath of these clashes is radicalization, and it certainly can be, then it becomes unpredictable. And folks from Hong Kong are far smarter than Iraqis. It is a mistake to think the overwhelming power China can bring to bear on the situation would result in something the Chinese government wants. If power alone were the answer, American meddling in the Middle East would not have been such an awful, pointless waste.