Freedom is dying in Hong Kong

It is terrible to watch from afar as one of the great cities of the world withers under ever-heavier oppression. This is Hong Kong today. Once a center of culture and business and a bridge between east and west, it is now almost wholly subsumed by the authoritarian regime of Xi Jinping. Advertisement The passage this week of what are known as Article 23 security laws is likely to extinguish what remains of the peninsula's self-determination. Advertisement The Chinese Communist Party's official line is that these laws are intended to prevent "potential sabotage and undercurrents that try to create trouble."…