Usually 2) is solved by forcing a break up of the company after it has recovered. In this case, it's probably the best course of action.

Actually Europe has a much higher population than the US. The population of the EU countries is now over 500 million. If Europe is more unified politically, it will be the single biggest geopolitical force in the world.

Royal Mail in the UK ships parcels for many big online retailers. They offer competitive rates and good service.

HK cannot enter a defence treaty with Taiwan. As you said it is not a separate autonomous state - it doesn't have any power in defence. It does have limited foreign policy power, but only related to trade.

The real test is the plan to allow for the election of the Chief Executive in HK by the popular vote. Right now all of the candidates have to be first vetted by BJ through a selection committee of 800 BJ loyalists (out of a population of nearly 8 million). The plan for the popular vote of the entire Legislative Council and for the Chief Executive is something that BJ is actively trying to undermine.

I don't buy this argument at all. The extent of Chinese censorship and the fact that they have clones of all of the major internet services inside the great firewall of China is evidence enough to disprove it.

They are marketed as cheap but respectable smartphones for people that do not need that much from their phones. So from a strategy point of view, this announcement is a bit of a question mark.

I don't dispute this. The Chinese government doesn't seem to hide it well as well.

However, having the rights on paper and on the statue books is better than not. It curbs the most excessive abuses and raises the bar in the amount of effort needed to short-change the People.

Taiwan's political institutions are not tied to the People's Republic of China. They are remnants of the Nationalist government (KMT) after their defeat in the Civil War.

Hong Kong and Macau were both colonial outposts of Britain and Portugal respectively. These have been handled back to China and are government under a "One Country, Two Systems" approach, classifying them as Special Administrative Regions (SARs) each with a mini-constitution called the "Basic Law". In theory, a high degree of autonomy is guaranteed, but in practise, there is always political pressure being applied to intervene in all kinds of matters. A resident of the SAR has about the same rights as a person in North America or in Europe, and at least until now, the appearance normality has been maintained after the handover back to China.

This is not good for Hong Kong as it is the only place in China (apart from maybe Macau) that has a free press and significant protection on civil liberties. It's not like HK has any leverage on the decision process in Mainland China.

The left-right spectrum has nothing to do with what you said and has everything to do with ownership of the mean of production.

Seriously, has /. devolved into 4chan?

You lose all credibility and also lose the debate when you refers to the Nazi party as left wing. There is a reason why fascism and communism never got along.

/If I had mod points I would mod your post up.
//But I don't so replying instead

And speculation. Chinese property markets (such as Beijing and Shanghai) has seen multiple booms and busts in the past decade due to rampant speculation.