Thread by @_centrists_

@IrwinCotler The time to do any of that was back in the 1990s. Chinese rule has been a fact for 20 years, now.

@IrwinCotler Beijing is not given to yielding to external pressure (note the aftermath of the Tianamen Square massacre and Tibet) and it enjoys the confidence given to it by a well entrenched position. The Chinese government will not back down.

@IrwinCotler I believe that this is the point at which the American conservatives of a generation ago get to say "we told you so and are amazed that the bad outcome took as long to show up as it did."

@IrwinCotler Britain arrogantly disposed of Hong Kong, its future and its people without bothering to ask any of them what they thought of the matter, handing them over to a corrupt, faux-communist neo-fascist regime. How was that going to end well?

@IrwinCotler How did the British manage to be surprised? Were there not people in the outside world, trying to get you guys to listen to reason on this point?

But as always, that post-colonial overconfidence that can make you guys into such a nightmare to deal with had to make its appearance

@IrwinCotler Well, here you are, the mess is made and it's just going to get worse. Do you feel bad for the people of Hong Kong? Who doesn't, but when the Chinese send in the tanks and troops and crush the demonstrations, what, realistically, is anybody going to do about that?

@IrwinCotler Invade? At best, that would be an insanely bloody conventional war that China, with superior numbers and high technology courtesy of free trade and outsourcing (bad ideas that that both London and Washington were on board with) would have an excellent chance of winning.

@IrwinCotler Because, you see, little tiny Britain would have to exert force from around the world, while the large and powerful Chinese, jumped up to superpower status with the help of trendy, short-sighted Western economic policy, would have much shorter supply lines to maintain.

@IrwinCotler And, well, duh.

As for the US backing the UK up on such a suicidal fool's errand, should Britain ever consider such an insane course of action, Trump might want to oblige you, but the American people wouldn't support it.

@IrwinCotler We'd have the sense to look at the proposed conflict, think "potential nuclear war, because the Chinese will think of this as being an invasion" and be in favor of backing off quickly.

So what does that leave you with? Economic sanctions?

@IrwinCotler Bush, the doctrinaire id.iot, signed on to a free trade treaty with what was then a soft currency country that wasn't above using its many political prisoners as slave labor, and big surprise, industry drifted over there.

Britain seemed to like this idea.

@IrwinCotler Globalism - what a good plan! So brilliant, that the Brits and the rest of Europe started getting preachy when Trump, in one of his rare lucid moments, got the idea that maybe free trade with a police state was taking us all in a bad direction.

@IrwinCotler Maybe because there are things to worry about other than short term profit? Like maybe the long term security implications of allowing industry to drift into the territory of a hostile regime that has demonstrated its willingness to act aggressively toward its neighbors?

@IrwinCotler What, exactly, made Europeans line up in support of the idea that taking China from the country that only managed to get 12 miles inside of Vietnam prior to the Sino-Soviet War before logistical breakdowns made them stop, and turning them into the 2nd largest economy was wise?

@IrwinCotler Such a good plan that, hey, we all should have gone on doing that, because what could possibly go wrong with such a brilliant idea?

Well, take a good look at Hong Kong. That's just the start of the answer life is about to provide you.

@IrwinCotler Come to the aid of Hong Kong? At this point, would even the US armed forces be well advised to attempt that? I'm picturing the sheer carnage of a landing on the Chinese coast, even if they never launch a single missile.

Which would call for remarkable restraint on their part.

@IrwinCotler On top of that, what would be the point of trying? The war that followed would end up destroying the former not-quite city-state we were trying to save.

There's nothing any of us can do. The Chinese know it, so why would they back down?

@IrwinCotler Is the UK hoping that the world will rally around it, in its support of Hong Kong? The rest of the world will see this as an interference in Chinese internal affairs by a fading Western power.

@IrwinCotler Europe may love the memory of its colonial past, but the rest of the world tends to resent it.

The world (outside of Europe) will either line up behind the Chinese or (like the US) have the sense to sit this one out.

@IrwinCotler So, come to terms with it. The pooch has been scr.ewed, that's life, so give the furry little bas.tard a cigarette and let's move on.

There's nothing left to be done, other than for us to think about the d.umb things our countries just did and pledge to never do them again.

@IrwinCotler That, and apologize to the people of Hong Kong for all that they're about to endure, because the UK couldn't find enough humility in itself to show them a little basic respect.

It's too late to do any more than that.

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