The democracy movement in Hong Kong has claimed its first two victims, reports the Telegraph, but this has more to do with displeasing Peking that with displeasing the people of Hong Kong. The puppet masters send inspectors to the colony, not to figure out what lamebrain set of the demos, but to find out who's organizing them. Look, prominent officials resigned over SARS, too, but nobody thinks this is going to usher in a golden age of multiparty pluralism. The sad part is, there probably is no next step for the democracy movement. The business community in Hong Kong has never defended civil rights with any vigor, and while they generated opposition to Article 23, they're likely to put the brakes on anything that actually smacks of real rebellion. It's too bad. I'm always ready to root for guys who are ready to fight for themselves.