Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday November 07 2016, @03:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the ain't-gonna-have-none-of-that-anti-talk dept.

China has barred two pro-independence politicians from taking seats in Hong Kong's legislature:

China's parliament passed a ruling on Monday that effectively bars two Hong Kong pro-independence politicians from taking office, Beijing's most direct intervention in the territory's legal and political system since 1997 handover. The National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing ruled that lawmakers must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China and that candidates would be disqualified if they changed the wording of their oath of office or if they failed to take it in a sincere and solemn manner.

The prospect of the ruling had sparked protests in the former British colony on Sunday. Foreign diplomats were watching closely, stressing the importance of the rule of the law to the city's international reputation. While the controversial decision effectively bars the two pro-independence Hong Kong politicians from being sworn in, a court in the Chinese-ruled city must still rule on the case, taking Beijing's decision into consideration.

Also at NYT and Washington Post.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Monday November 07 2016, @05:14PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 07 2016, @05:14PM (#423614) Journal

    and yet there is barely a significant percentage of stupid 'merikans who realize we ARE a militaristic Empire by just about any meaningful metric youcan think of...

    How about the metric of territory held?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Monday November 07 2016, @05:48PM

    by fritsd (4586) on Monday November 07 2016, @05:48PM (#423635) Journal

    I find an interesting metric: "how many non-U.N. military bases does your country have inside another country?"

    So the almost 40 year old UNIFIL doesn't count, but Akrotiri and Dhekelia [wikipedia.org] does.

    (I don't know of any lists of this btw)

    Because for most countries in the world, this number is 0.

    • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Monday November 07 2016, @05:52PM

      by fritsd (4586) on Monday November 07 2016, @05:52PM (#423642) Journal

      D'oh.. just found the list on Wikipedia:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_overseas_military_bases [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday November 07 2016, @10:29PM

        by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday November 07 2016, @10:29PM (#423791)

        Germany's offshore military bases are inside the United States. lololol

        --
        "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 07 2016, @06:13PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 07 2016, @06:13PM (#423657) Journal

      I find an interesting metric: "how many non-U.N. military bases does your country have inside another country?"

      I don't. After all, most empires, past and present didn't have military bases in other countries, they had them in their own territory. If you had a Roman fortress nearby, it was because you were part of the Roman empire either directly or as a completely subservient client state. Rome didn't have equal relationships with its clients like the US has with Japan, Taiwan, Canada, or Europe, for example, which are all regions that the US has military bases with.

      Another metric is balance of trade. A huge trade deficit like the US has run forever, is kind of the opposite of what an empire does. It accumulates wealth and resources instead of dispersing them.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @07:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @07:20PM (#423699)

        The US doesn't have military bases in Taiwan.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @06:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 07 2016, @06:45PM (#423677)

    Wikipedia has a helpful list [wikipedia.org] of empires by size.
    First is, of course, the British Empire, with 13.71 million square miles, in 1920.

    #5 is the Spanish Empire, 5.29 M mi2, 1810.

    The US isn't on the list, because everyone knows it's not an empire. But the 3.80 M mi2 of the USA proper (including coastal waters, but not including overseas territories) would put it between #11 (Portuguese Empire, 4.02 M mi2, 1815) and #12 (Xiongnu Empire, 3.47 M mi2, 176 BC).

    The Ottoman Empire is #22, 2.01 M mi2, 1683, and the Roman Empire is #24, 1.93 M mi2, 117.