Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

A currency crisis is starting to bite in Lebanon, but what's surprising is that banking chaos hasn't happened before, even during 15 years of civil war. That has a lot to do with one determined central banker protecting a giant stash of Ottoman gold bars.

And in Canada's Arctic, there aren't that many Inuit,

but they have a sprawl of dialects and a conflicting jumble of written symbols.

Now, after an eight-year effort by linguists,

they've all been brought under one unified writing system.

But first... We, or at least,

We, or at least myself, 30 years ago,

didn't believe for a second that the soldiers would shoot people in Chanan Avenue.

In 1989, Han Dong Feng was asked by fellow protesters in Tiananmen Square whether there would be

bloodshed. The response he gave still haunts him. I keep telling my people, trust me, I serve three years an army, and we were told every

day that our purpose is serve people, not shooting people.

I don't believe we will do it, but it happened.

This generation, people in Hong Kong, they know how far this regime can go.

As pressure mounts in Hong Kong, the shadow of Tiananmen Square booms large over people who've been protesting against the government for the past 18 weeks.

The demonstrations began peacefully, but have become increasingly violent.

Hong Kong's police stand ready to club, tear gas and arrest anyone that they deem a threat.

Carrie Lam, the territory's leader, has recently suggested

that military intervention from the mainland is not out of the question.

That is also the position of the central government that Hong Kong should tackle the problem on her own.

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