The chief exectuive of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, is currently negotiating with the protesters about possible compromises on the question of how candidates from Hong Kong can be nominated for elections. He had an opportunity to be interviewed by the international press, and he is quoted by the Financial Times (the FT has a paywall so if you wish to see the full article, you should use a College computer) as saying:
“If it’s entirely a numbers game – numeric representation – then obviously you’d be talking to half the people in Hong Kong [that] earn less than US$1,800 a month,” he said in reference to the median per capita wage. “You would end up with that kind of politics and policies.”
The statement suggests that Mr. Leung fears the power of the poorer sectors of the Hong Kong population. The South China Morning Post articulates the fear in this way:
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has one of the biggest income divides in the world, with growing discontent at increased inequality and exorbitant property prices fuelling the protests which turned increasingly violent at the end of last week.
The statement is likely to harden the position of many, but not all, of the protesters.
Swedish and NATO fighter planes were scrambled to intercept a Russian airplane that entered the national airspace of NATO-member Estonia. The provocative behavior comes as the Swedes continue to hunt for the mysterious submarine that is in Swedish territorial waters. The pattern of incursions over recent years is cataloged by Newsweek:
“In 2010, only one Russian military vessel was spotted close to Latvian waters. This year, the figure has already exceeded 40, Latvia’s ministry of defence says. During the same period, the number of Russian military approaches to Latvian airspace resulting in scrambles by Nato’s Baltic air policing mission has skyrocketed from around five to more than 180. Neighbouring Lithuania has already seen 132 scrambles this year, up from four in 2010. Estonia, meanwhile, is seeing not just unwelcome approaches to its airspace and waters but also the abduction of one of its intelligence officers to Russia.
“Then there is the smaller number of violations of neighbours’ airspace and waters. In 2010, there were no Russian violations of Finnish airspace. This year, the Finnish ministry of defence figures show, there have already been five.”
It is difficult not to conclude that the Russians are deliberately trying to probe the defensive capabilities and will of NATO.
The US and Canada put their military forces on high alert after a gunman shot and killed a Canadian soldier at the Canadian War Memorial. There is little solid information about the event, but it follows a serious event near Montreal yesterday when a person ran over two Canadian soldiers, killing one of them. Authorities in Canada identified the driver of the car as Martin Couture-Rouleau, a person who was considered by Canadian authorities as a sympathizer of the Islamic State. Needless to say, speculation is running rife, but we have no hard evidence of any coordination between the two attacks.
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