Hacker News Reader

Comment by knodi123 | Hacker News Reader

but it was local police, right? And it was entirely by implication?

Wouldn't that be like a new zealander visiting the LA and doing something the Bloods don't like, and so the bloods barge into his hotel room on the night before he returns to new zealand and says "hey is anybody else here"? Like, what's the intimidation? He's about to be beyond their reach, and they didn't even say anything explicitly.

If it's intimidation, it's both lame, ham handed, and ineffective.

An explanation that doesn't fit your opponent's behavior COULD still be correct, but maybe there's a better explanation - I don't know.

View on HN

The intimidation is the police demonstrating their ability to intrude in her hotel room as they please. If the police wanted to take anything or hurt her, they could. They want her to relive that moment any time she performs an investigation the state may not agree with.

Any intimidation might also be aimed at potential informants. A journalist might see this action as a sign to dig in deeper, but an informant might see this as proof that the local authorities will know if you try to spill the beans.

"We could've killed you, don't come back here" is a pretty effective intimidation tactic.

your whatboutism to compare a street gang to justify the Chinese intimidation. That's a horrible comparison. A street gang actually don't touch civilians because it attracts negative attention and feud with other Crips members.

The Chinese leadership will kill as many civilians it needs because it is the only gang in town. Unchecked power at the hands of the few results in catastrophic consequences for the citizens. I'm sure they've learned their lesson from Cultural Revolution but unable to apply those lessons because those checks and balances, once again, is unavailable because Xi decided he wants to be like Putin.

My only immediate concern is for the people of China. If Russia is a model of what a nuclear armed dictator with an inferiority complex, there's no limit to what Xi can do to his country. He's already half way there, destroying the economy and the rivals to consolidate power. He doesn't care about the well being or the economy of the country. If he did, his actions would show otherwise.

> Wouldn't that be like a new zealander visiting the LA and doing something the Bloods don't like, and so the bloods barge into his hotel room on the night before he returns to new zealand and says "hey is anybody else here"? Like, what's the intimidation? He's about to be beyond their reach, and they didn't even say anything explicitly.

> If it's intimidation, it's both lame, ham handed, and ineffective.

The intimidation is that they've shown interest in her and that they can get to her. It appears that she may have been a Chinese citizen (her account is translated), and Chinese people who annoy government officials in China may eventually be disappear into prison.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/magazine/the-lonely-crusa...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com