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I begin to see HK living in a made up reality world with tightly scripted role to play, forced onto her as a result of far bigger powers' ambitions, contest of will, dominance and money. She won't escape from this fate regardless of what they believe or are led to believe. She is trapped in an intense power struggle for money and dominance among global powers since the Europeans set foot in there. A bell weather crossroad of realism and geopolitics, money and power. It a rugged piece of rock the true nature of which is that it's an appendage of China, a far bigger, exponentially more powerful country that stands for the 1C in 1C2s. This 1C is the hard cold fact and they can't get away from it, even with all these violent manifestations of cognitive dissonance. Violent frictions are bound to happen as young kids can't tell what is real and what is not. Far sharper minds in HK can capitalize on now not so subtle difference between a scripted realty show and the actual reality that some are trying to wake up to.
Yes it is true, for sure, there are bigger power behind the current situation, and it is in their interest that this is prolong!
And the seeds of all this discontent by the minority mob (yes minority! Majority of HKers would prefer the status quo, and some even moving towards "true" unity with the motherland)!
This seed was sowed just before the British left. By allowing free movements of foreigners, together with religious education which provide a back door entry for all NGOs. Keeping the British judicialry. I could go on, but you get the picture