At the very end of a longish post, Gedänkenpundit wonders how Freedom House can list Lebanon as "partly free" when it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of unfree Syria. Surely the same way Hong Kong can be freer -- or less unfree -- than China. It has nothing to do with the goodness of their masters' hearts, which is severely limited. It is rather that the masters worry about killing the economic goose that lays the golden eggs. Hong Kong and Beirut could hardly operate as major financial centers if they were as unfree as China and Syria. The masters may also think that their own citizens have been inured to slavery by long endurance. Subjects added to their empires more recently will have to be handled with care, at least until those old enough to remember what it is like to be at least partially free die off.