A FRIEND ON FACEBOOK OBSERVES: “If you’ve been paying attention — and almost no one has — Hong Kong was strangled over the past several days, as the Communist apparatus rolled up much of the protest leadership, and asserted its right to rule in any fashion it wishes. ‘One country, two systems’ is dead. The city itself will now likely go into decline: ordinarily with Shenzhen taking over its role in commerce, but who can say now? Another light goes out. The Communist Party of China is tying up loose ends and, to borrow a phrase, taking care of all family business. This isn’t the main event. This is preparatory to that. The main event is coming — and it is hastened by a Zhongnanhai calculation that the United States possesses neither the attention span nor the competence to do something about it. You can pick your metaphor: August 1914, December 1941. Just be aware that what they’re contemplating will end up a metaphor all its own.”