This is a textbook case how excessive secrecy and illegal and/or dangerous/reckless bioresearch directed on creation of Frankenstein
viruses undermines the legitimacy of governments, and create the background to wild rumors and speculation extremely damaging
to the governments, including but not limited to governments of China (Wuhan biolab activities; the only BSL-4 virology lab in China)
and the USA (UNC Dr. Ralph Baric biolab, and Fort Detrick biolab activities). There is no good players in this story.
The theory asserts that the United States needs a weak,
divided China to continue its
hegemony in Asia. This multifaceted strategy is accomplished
by the United States establishing military, economic, and diplomatic ties with countries adjacent to China's borders, frustrating
China's own attempts at alliance-building and economic partnership, and the utilization of tariffs, sanctions and
lawfare. The presence of American military in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan,
and Tajikistan, Philippines;[1]
recently strengthened ties with South Korea[2]
and Japan;[3]
efforts to improve relations with
India[4]
and Vietnam;[2]
and the Obama administration's 2012
Pivot to Asia Strategy for increased American involvement in the Pacific have been pointed to as evidence of a current containment
policy. The United States had formerly claimed it had no China containment policy and that they "want China to succeed and prosper."[5]
The US has made efforts to contain China in the past however through military actions undertaken in the
Vietnam War as evidenced in the leaked
Pentagon Papers. President
Richard Nixon’s
China rapprochement
signaled a temporary shift in focus to gain leverage in containing the
Soviet Union. That position changed in 2019 when the
US State Department Director of Policy Planning, Kiron
Skinner revealed details of a study detailing a containment strategy for China that is said to be influenced by the book Clash of Civilizations by Samuel
Huntington.
The propaganda attack on China launched by Trump administration has some common features with Russiagate. Now they want to get "Muller
investigation" in which the results already predetermined. This is partially a part of Trump election campaign, partially
a destruction from the level of the USA responsibility in proliferation of dangerous "gain of function" experiments, which represent
a direct threat to mankind.
With the coronavirus epidemic China will probably experience the first year of negative GDP since the destruction of China economy
during Mao Cultural revolution.
The coronavirus epidemic amplified anti-china sentiment in the USA, which wait to be exploited by politicians too. In other way we
have almost perfect condition for the divorce, with its scandals and mutual recriminations. President Trump understands one thing:
China needs the USA markets and known how more than the USA needs their products.
There is a strong evidence of highly-coordinated anti-China propaganda campaign, the mountains of belligerent lies with the
Trump administration trying to position itself as Muller in Russiagate witch hunt. That create certain suspicion as for the USA
role in this epidemic. At any crime-scene, one must consider means, motive and opportunity, but a more complete list includes
premeditation, presence, any modus operandi, and cui bono.
One very harmful for the USA hypothesis is that it is the event similar to 9/11, which was ‘blamed’ on alleged ‘perpetrators’
who didn’t do it and here China is assigned the role of a new Osama bin Laden. May be China reaction in Wuhan was a) shock-horror
due to the potential damage and b) because they recognized the ‘stitch-up’ ploy.
“As of me, I am fully convinced that this is a bioweapon made by the CCP.”
The annonymous blogger refers to the virus as “Wuhan coronavirus” – trump would no doubt be proud of him.
There is only 2 articles posted on that blog and it was apparently created to write about the virus. The author remains completely
annonymous and there is no contact information. It looks to me like an israeloamerican-uk sort of stitch up source designed to
present credible, professional looking info that is framed in such a way to convince people there is credible evidence that “China
done it”. Their fakes can be very sophisticated and complex.
In fact, the US and Europeans, the very countries that love to teach others how to organize their societies, screwed up more
than any Asian country. They confirmed with a vengeance Russian joke “if you can’t swim, teach others”.
There is strong "fog of war" over all this epidemic. What we desperately need is a “whistle blower.” There must be many people in
the U.S. e.g. CDC personnel, doctors who treated sick people at the “Greenspring Retirement Community” in VA, etc., who know that SARS-CoV-2
was in the U.S. well before it was detected in China.
We do not know many important facts and data, but at the same time we known enough to pursue several plausible hypothesis about
its origin. There are three main countries in the world who have consistently refused to co-operate with bioweapons investigations:
Israel, US and UK. Formally the USA quit bioweapons research in the 70’s, and I think that China also has quit this type of research
at this time. Israel has NOT joined the Biological Weapons Convention. It is theoretically possible that they might do secretive bioweapons
research, though, as Gilad Atzmon mentioned, they do claim
they do not. Is the Chinese government being completely honest? Not likely. But does it make sense to assume that countries who assassinate
foreign leaders and officials and/or overthrow governments on a regular basis are more credible than China government? All mentioned
countries should be viewed as possible culprits. And the public should be asking their governments why they have bioweapons laboratories.
For the USA the shadow on "Iraq WMD" still lingers over Trump administration.
There are four main hypotheses that can explain this event:
It is the result of the jump from animals to humans in China. This is the official, politically correct hypotheses.
How true it is difficult to say, but the virus probably did not jump into human due to low sanitary standards and trading of
meat of wild animals in Wuhan seafood market. It probably happened earlier (possibly much earlier) then November 2019 and probably
in different circumstances (The
Wuhan wet market theory, compelling story it may be, has been debunked)
The virus originated in the USA and was introduced to China, probably by visiting American soldiers during the Military World
Games (who trained near Fort Detrick) , which took place in Wuhan in October 19-27, 2019 and also to Italy as first cases in Italy
were registered in November-December timeframe. The most strong arguments supporting this hypotheses can be found
in article The Last man standing and the comments to
this article at The Unz Review, Mar 22, 2020.
This hypotheses presupposes that virus circulated in humans before November 2018. It is connected with the hypotheses about
the origin of "vaping epidemic" in the USA in August 2019. It is possible that it was caused by a similar or identical virus.
The fact that CDC closed a part of Fort Detrick labs in 2019 also raises some questions (fredericknewspost.com
) and that the training grounds of the team which trained for Military World Games add to the viability of this hypothesis.
Also there were references in media that several members of the US team were treated in one of Wuhan hospitals during the games.
The virus was accidentally leaked from Wuhan lab (not necessarily bioengineered, possibly just studied). See Washington
Times
Editor’s note (March 25, 2020): Since this story ran, scientists outside of China have had a chance to study the SARS-CoV-2
virus. They concluded it does not show signs of having been manufactured or purposefully manipulated in a lab, though the exact
origin remains murky and experts debate whether it may have leaked from a Chinese lab that was studying it.
The personality of Shi Zhengli and that trail of her
previous research raises a lot of suspicions. Also desire for dollar funding at any cost might play a role too.
See for example discussion at
Leading
Bioweapons Expert Says Covid-19 Likely a Weaponized Virus – American Free Press This hypothesis is supported by the fact that
the biosecurity in those Chinese labs were extremely lax: this research was conducted on the wrong level of biosecurity (level 2
instead of 3 or 4) There are couple of interesting figures among the researchers in this lab that were involved with the experiments
with coronaviruses including creating artificial ("chimera") viruses. Some Chinese researchers such as Professor Chen Hualan,
the director of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory probably behaved recklessly in search of fame or money
(or both). There is an interesting article in RT.com published in May, 2013
Chinese scientists slammed for creating new ‘deadly’
influenza strains — RT World News about Chen "experiments".
There were very dangerous American experiments of this nature led by Dr. Baric ("gain of function") in which two Chinese
researchers including Shi Zhengli previously participated
(Nature). This research which now reads as creation of the
suspiciously similar to in the way of binding to ACE2 SARS-CoV-2 prototype created a documented alarm in the research community:
In an article published in Nature Medicine1
on 9 November, scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in China. The researchers created
a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice
and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells — proving that the surface protein of SHC014 has the necessary
structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect them. It also caused disease in mice, but did not kill them.
Editors’ note, March 2020: We are aware that this story is being used as the basis for unverified theories that the
novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 was engineered. There is no evidence that this is true; scientists believe that an animal is
the most likely source of the coronavirus.
Remind me a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.”
Proponents of this hypotheses point out than the USA was engaged in development of bioweapons for a long time. And anthrax
did leaked from Fort Detrick lab after 9/11. The USA leadership also sheltered criminal Japanese military bio researchers (who
conducted experiments on humans during WWII) after WWII. And the organizers of the anthrax poisoning cases which happened after
9/11 were never found; some attributed this tragic incident the desire of certain forces in the USA military and intelligence
community to pass Patriot Act by eliminating the resistance to it, which, if true, makes this accident suspiciously
similar to Reichstag fire.
There was some strange accident in this lab in July, 2019 which led CDC to close of the lab due to “biosafety lapses” at the
facility:
«The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland — the U.S.
military’s lead laboratory for “biological defense” research since the late 1960s — was forced to halt all research it was
conducting with a series of deadly pathogens after the CDC found that it lacked “sufficient systems in place to decontaminate
wastewater” from its highest-security labs and failure of staff to follow safety procedures, among other lapses. The facility
contains both level 3 and level 4 biosafety labs. While it is unknown if experiments involving coronaviruses were ongoing at
the time, USAMRIID has recently been involved in research borne out of the Pentagon’s recent concern about the use of bats
as bioweapons».
«The decision to shut down USAMRIID garnered surprisingly little media coverage, as did the CDC’s surprising decision to
allow the troubled facility to “partially resume” research late last November even though the facility was and is still not
at “full operational capability.” The USAMRIID’s problematic record of safety at such facilities is of particular concern in
light of the recent coronavirus outbreak in China. As this report will soon reveal, this is because USAMRIID has a decades-old
and close partnership with the University of Wuhan’s Institute of Medical Virology» outbreak of the first epidemic explosion,
which now seems almost totally overcome in the country.
Bioengineered in Canadian biolab in Winnipeg and moved or stolen to China by researchers where it was accidentally released.
A variant of the same hypothesis.
This is not the first allegation of this type. In her 2019 book ‘Bitten
The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons’ Kris Newby presented the claims of Willy Burgdorfer – who first
discovered Lyme disease – that the infection was a military experiment gone wrong. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through
the bite of an infected black-legged tick if it’s left untreated.
In no way the USA government acted as a monolith entity. It has powerful factions each of which have their own agenda. We should
remember that at the beginning of the outbreak CIA frogmarched Trump through the synthetic crisis of the Soleimani assassination (which
happened on Jan 3, when CIA should have known about coping pandemic). Add to this Pelosi impeachment gamble, which was resolved only
in early February. Another interesting nuance that attracted attention of some analysts is that this epidemic happened in worst
for China time -- during lunar year holidays. That makes “Wuhan lab leak” hypothesis slightly less plausible (Murphy law still applies
;-) . If we assume the accidental leak from laboratory hypothesis, or just from animals to humans the date of the outbreak should
be pretty random. Below is the analysis on Ron Unz which definitely deserves reading in full including comments to the article
( Our Coronavirus
Catastrophe as Biowarfare Blowback, by Ron Unz )
But with the horrific consequences of our own later governmental inaction being obvious, sources within our intelligence agencies
have sought to demonstrate that they were not the ones asleep at the switch. Earlier this month,
an ABC News story cited four separate government sources to reveal that as far back as late November, a special medical
intelligence unit within our Defense Intelligence Agency had produced a report revealing than an out-of-control disease epidemic
was occurring in the Wuhan area of China, and widely distributed that document throughout the top ranks of our government, warning
that steps should be taken to protect US forces based in Asia. After the story aired, a Pentagon spokesman officially denied the
existence of that November report, while various other top level government and intelligence officials refused to comment. But a
few days later,
Israeli
television revealed that in November American intelligence had indeed shared such a report on the Wuhan disease outbreak with
its NATO and Israeli allies, thus seeming to independently confirm the complete accuracy of the original ABC story and its
several government sources.
It therefore appears that elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency were aware of the deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan
more than a month before any officials in the Chinese government itself. Unless our intelligence agencies have pioneered
the technology of precognition, I think this may have happened for the same reason that arsonists have the earliest knowledge of
future fires.
Back in February, before a single American had died from the disease,
I wrote
my own overview of the possible course of events, and I would still stand by it today:
Consider a particularly ironic outcome of this situation, not particularly likely but certainly possible…
Everyone knows that America’s ruling elites are criminal, crazy, and also extremely incompetent.
So perhaps the coronavirus outbreak was indeed a deliberate biowarfare attack against China, hitting that nation just before
Lunar New Year, the worst possible time to produce a permanent nationwide pandemic. However, the PRC responded with remarkable
speed and efficiency, implementing by far the largest quarantine in human history, and the deadly disease now seems to be in decline
there.
Meanwhile, the disease naturally leaks back into the US, and despite all the advance warning, our totally incompetent government
mismanages the situation, producing a huge national health disaster, and the collapse of our economy and decrepit political system.
As I said, not particularly likely, but certainly a very fitting end to the American Empire…
Investigation of such incidents would be the prerogative on United Nations, which can assemble a team of researcher from non-NATO
countries to investigate the USA and China s for the possibility of the leak of the virus from one of their biolabs.
But the key issue here is the proliferation of "gain of function" experiments in which the USA played the leading role. It was the
USA that financed dangerious reseasch in Wuhan lab. The most important redeeming feature of neoliberalism is promotion of sociopathic
types up. and that unfortunately includes the bioresearch. Such people along with their green, ambitions and personal incompetence have
proclivity to surround themselves by people full of hypocrisy, and hubris.
We should not jump to conclusions. An interesting warning sign in this respect is the scope and intensity of anti-China campaign
in the USA which is trying to present China as a scapegoat for the epidemic. That raise classic question: "What they are trying to hide
using projection?" In this light of the known incident in summer of 2019 in Fort Detrick biolab (which led to temporary closure of this
lab by CDC) and absence of genomic decoding of the virus which caused "vaping pneumonia" epidemic in the USA in August of 2019 such
behaviour looks especially suspicious.
But one thing is clear: such experiments as "gain of function" experiments conducted in the USA and China are extremely dangerous,
and the researchers behaviour was unethical. Moreover it is now established that biosecurity in many cases was lax. So the escape
of pathogens represent a real threat and a real possibility that we should not discount. Much like weaponization of anthrax (which escaped
the Fort Detrick lab after 9/11 and was mailed to several Senators) gain-of-function (GOF) research involves experimentation that aims
or is expected to (and/or, perhaps, actually does) increase the transmissibility and/or virulence of pathogens. As such, as we now clearly
understand, it presents tremendous biosecurity and biosafety risks: a devastating pandemic could potentially result from a laboratory
accident involving an especially dangerous artificially created in such experiments pathogen. This sentiment is well reflected
in the following comment:
Private profit, public loss: If I create a chimera virus in a lab, or do gain-of-function research to produce a super-virus, I
might make millions of dollars and become famous. If the virus escapes, the whole world suffers the cost of the risk I took (and
by the way, escapes happen not infrequently enough, so its a matter of time)
That is a good example of an unethical decision
that should be banned. Heads: I win. Tails: everyone loses.
Coronaviruses that infect humans all appear to have respiratory transmission path, making them pathogens with the potential of creating
a pandemic. But for some (probably connected with commercial value of vaccines) reasons such a dangerous research not only became
popular, but was partially commercialized and was perform in multiple labs around the globe. So called Hanlon’s Razor suggests
that we should never attribute malice events that can be explained by stupidity. And in any "gain of function" experiments there are
multiple possibilities that things can go wrong - human error, negligence, missed step, rushed experiment, overworked or incompetent
and/or over ambitious researcher. The list of tragic errors in biolabs that resulted in the past to the release of dangerous pathogens
is long. In the paper Rethinking Biosafety in Research
on Potential Pandemic Pathogens Marc Lipsitch and Barry R. Bloom suggested that the risk is systemic in nature and is
dramatically increased with the proliferation of biolabs in the world:
An estimate for intramural laboratories at the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases is that 2 exposures
occur for every 100,000 operator-hours and that only 1 of 12 such exposures involved an actual human infection. Another set of data,
lacking a denominator of operator-hours, registered 26 incidents with 8 documented infections in U.S. BSL-3 and -4 laboratories and
5 more, all resulting in infections, in BSL-3 and -4 laboratories abroad (10). Because reporting of laboratories’ existence, size,
and activities, as well as accidents, is all incomplete, it is difficult to obtain precise rates comparable to those of NIAID. Nonetheless,
using plausible assumptions, Klotz and Sylvester (5) estimate a historical risk of an accidental laboratory escape of a potentially
pandemic pathogen of 0.3% per laboratory per year.
While these figures may sound low, the key problem is that they increase as more laboratories undertake work on PPPs and as they
do so over a longer period. Even at the NIAID, the intramural estimated rate of 2 exposures per 100,000 operator-hours, a remarkably
low rate that likely reflects very careful practices, one would expect 1 out of every 50 technicians working half-time (1,000 h)
in such a laboratory to be exposed each year and 1 of every 600 to become infected. Over a 10-year period, with 100 such laboratories
each employing 5 such technicians, one would expect 100 exposures and about 8 infections. Klotz and Sylvester estimate that with
42 laboratories working on PPP and a 0.3% risk of an escape per laboratory-year, there is an 80% risk of an escape of a PPP every
13 years (5).
... ... ...
With the proliferation of BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories across the globe, including many set up for surveillance and response to
a natural influenza pandemic, decisions by the United States and other biomedical research leaders about research on mammalian-transmissible
H5N1 viruses will have rapid consequences for the scale of research around the globe. If the wealthy countries adopt a policy that
any experiment with these viruses is acceptable as long as it is done in a containment facility, a similar ethic will likely prevail
globally, but the quality of containment will vary. If, on the other hand, they acknowledge the unique risks posed by potential pandemic
pathogens and help to generate a process that has international support, a global framework for evaluating proposed research in this
area would be a great contribution.
Opposition to BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories, when it has occurred, has often focused on threats to the local communities, who would
indeed be at higher risk if a highly lethal but low-transmissibility pathogen were accidentally released. For potential pandemic
pathogens, in contrast, the risk is global—a release that threatens Boston inevitably threatens Bangkok and Bamako. Funders, regulators,
and researchers who propose experiments that could place the global populace at risk have a responsibility to involve those whose
well-being is affected (the global public) in considering the principles for undertaking such research. Such studies should be undertaken
rarely and with extreme caution, ensuring that such risks are undertaken only when the potential benefits to global public health
are also exceptional.
That's why in 2014 the administration of US President Barack Obama called for a “pause” on funding (and relevant research with existing
US Government funding) of GOF experiments involving influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses in particular. It was not successful -- the experiments
just moved to China and for some strange reason retained the US funding. The prohibition for some reason was lifted in 2017
by Trump administration.
One of the first "gain of function" experiments were conducted in around 2010 when research, published in 2012, described in details
the creation of highly pathogenic H5N1 (avian) influenza virus strains that were airborne transmissible between ferrets (Gain-of-Function
Research Ethical Analysis):
While the decision to publish the initial ferret H5N1 influenza studies of the research teams headed by Ron Fouchier and Yoshihiro
Kawaoka (Herfst et al. 2012; Imai et al.
2012) in full was based on the judgment
that benefits of publication outweighed the risks, numerous critics have questioned the actual benefits of these studies.
Purported benefits of publication were that this would facilitate
(1) development/production of vaccines against pandemic strains of the virus and
(2) surveillance enabling early identification of, and thus response to, pandemic strains that might occur naturally.
Critics have argued that such benefits are limited, inter alia, because naturally occurring pandemic strains may turn
out be different from those created via the studies in question (in which case production of vaccines for, or surveillance targeting
of, the latter might not be very useful); international surveillance systems are too weak “to detect a pandemic viral sequence …
before it is too late” (Lipsitch and Galvani
2014, p. 3); “an important lesson learnt from pandemic H1N1 (swine flu) is that there is not much that can be done to contain
outbreaks of pandemic strains of influenza once they emerge” (i.e., so early identification via surveillance might not make much
difference) (Selgelid 2013, p. 148); and,
given the way the vaccine industry actually works, there is unlikely to be development/stockpiling of vaccines against naturally-occurring
transmissible strains of influenza before such strains actually arise (Selgelid
2013).
But the most relevant of our discussion dangerous experiment were 2015 experiments in UNC performed by the team led by Dr. Baric.
In a news conference directed at China on Friday,
President Trump issued a series of accusations against the Chinese government, accusing them of destroying American industry, of
stealing important industrial secrets.
He also announced the US pullout from the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing China of controlling it.
This is leading to banning some foreign nationals, and restrictions on Chinese students.
This is mostly just a continuation of previous Trump moves against China, which is leading to their worst relationship in decades,
and warnings of a new Cold War. Experts are predicting that China will impose some retaliatory measures against the US over this.
The Free Beacon reports that U.S. intelligence officials haven't come to a conclusion about
whether or not the students being investigated were spies, but RedState is told that whether or
not one wants to use the term "spy," those students were sent back to the United States with
specific information-gathering directives with the purpose of helping Beijing understand the US
government's response to the pandemic at a much deeper level than they could through
publicly-available documents. Those students (spies) were charged with reporting back on public
policy changes, economic response and damage, impacts on the healthcare system
(equipment/hospital bed shortages, etc), supply chain impacts (including how long it took
things like semiconductors from China to reach the United States), civil unrest, and more.
In addition, Dong has provided DIA with the following information:
Early pathogenic studies of the virus we now know as SARS-CoV-2
Models of predicted COVID-19 spread and damage to the US and the world
Financial records detailing which exact organizations and governments funded the research
on SARS-CoV-2 and other biological warfare research
Names of US citizens who provide intel to China
Names of Chinese spies working in the US or attending US universities
Financial records showing US businessmen and public officials who've received money from
the Chinese government
Details of meetings US government officials had (perhaps unwittingly) with Chinese spies
and members of Russia's SVR
How the Chinese government gained access to a CIA communications system, leading to the
death of dozens of Chinese people who were working with the CIA
Dong also has provided DIA with copies of the contents of the hard drive on Hunter Biden's
laptop, showing the information the Chinese government has about Hunter's pornography problem
and about his (and Joe's) business dealings with Chinese entities. Some of the files on Dong
has provided shine a light on just how it was that the sale of Henniges Automotive (and their
stealth technology) to Chinese military manufacturer AVIC Auto was approved.
Again, according to sources, Dong told DIA debriefers that at least a third of Chinese
students attending US universities are PLA assets or part of the Thousand Talents Plan and that
many of the students are here under pseudonyms. One reason for using pseudonyms is that many of
these students are the children of high-ranking military and party leaders.
As we initially reported, DIA has high confidence in the veracity of Dong's claims. The fact
that since our original report, which was pooh-poohed by Langley apologists, the New York Times
published a rare interview with Dr. Shi Zhengli (the WIV "Bat Woman"), ABC News has started an
"investigation" into COVID-19 origins, and now the actual name of the defector has been
published in an anti-Trump, CIA-friendly blog, demonstrates what sources told RedState today:
"This defector has the rest of the intelligence community and the LEO community scared
sh**less."
The Free Beacon reports that U.S. intelligence officials haven't come to a conclusion about
whether or not the students being investigated were spies, but RedState is told that whether or
not one wants to use the term "spy," those students were sent back to the United States with
specific information-gathering directives with the purpose of helping Beijing understand the US
government's response to the pandemic at a much deeper level than they could through
publicly-available documents. Those students (spies) were charged with reporting back on public
policy changes, economic response and damage, impacts on the healthcare system
(equipment/hospital bed shortages, etc), supply chain impacts (including how long it took
things like semiconductors from China to reach the United States), civil unrest, and more.
In addition, Dong has provided DIA with the following information:
Early pathogenic studies of the virus we now know as SARS-CoV-2
Models of predicted COVID-19 spread and damage to the US and the world
Financial records detailing which exact organizations and governments funded the research
on SARS-CoV-2 and other biological warfare research
Names of US citizens who provide intel to China
Names of Chinese spies working in the US or attending US universities
Financial records showing US businessmen and public officials who've received money from
the Chinese government
Details of meetings US government officials had (perhaps unwittingly) with Chinese spies
and members of Russia's SVR
How the Chinese government gained access to a CIA communications system, leading to the
death of dozens of Chinese people who were working with the CIA
Dong also has provided DIA with copies of the contents of the hard drive on Hunter Biden's
laptop, showing the information the Chinese government has about Hunter's pornography problem
and about his (and Joe's) business dealings with Chinese entities. Some of the files on Dong
has provided shine a light on just how it was that the sale of Henniges Automotive (and their
stealth technology) to Chinese military manufacturer AVIC Auto was approved.
Again, according to sources, Dong told DIA debriefers that at least a third of Chinese
students attending US universities are PLA assets or part of the Thousand Talents Plan and that
many of the students are here under pseudonyms. One reason for using pseudonyms is that many of
these students are the children of high-ranking military and party leaders.
As we initially reported, DIA has high confidence in the veracity of Dong's claims. The fact
that since our original report, which was pooh-poohed by Langley apologists, the New York Times
published a rare interview with Dr. Shi Zhengli (the WIV "Bat Woman"), ABC News has started an
"investigation" into COVID-19 origins, and now the actual name of the defector has been
published in an anti-Trump, CIA-friendly blog, demonstrates what sources told RedState today:
"This defector has the rest of the intelligence community and the LEO community scared
sh**less."
lay_arrow
Chief Joesph 2 hours ago
This story is totally unbelievable. First of all, the DIA is the wrong agency to turn
over information to, since it only analyze stuff that has military implications, (which of
course bioagents would be of an interest to them), but they never make any releases of
information available to the public. So, it's very doubtful the author would have gotten
any information directly from them. They are literally more secretive than the CIA. And,
the business of who had F/J visas and who went to American schools is totally irrelevant to
DIA too, which also makes this report suspicious about it's authenticity. This is simply
not the way military intelligence works.
Rudolph 1 hour ago (Edited)
Reads like a fiction. Mass number of spies in US gov't even CIA FBI must not be told of
Dong's defection ?
AmadausVoltaire 1 hour ago
Yeah, my tolerance for Hopium is so high that this story barely took the edge off...
Drowsapp123 3 minutes ago
Oh so now the Deep State is going to give me the straight story!
Wow they must have gotten jeeeeeeesus.
Never mind our military wants to go after China. This information will be totally
unbiased. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Someone tell the block heads in the military that we're not going to win when all the
parts to our war machine come from China. Seriously. This. Is. Dumb.
It was Fauci who had this crap going on in labs of Fort Detrick. When it was made
illegal here the research effort was shipped to Wuhan. There it was funded by Fauci / USSA.
China is being used as a patsy. Did China put on Event 201 where they did an exercise of a
corona pandemic in Sept 2019?? NO. It's the Davos Crowd. The Banking Cartel. Never forget
it or we'll have yet ANOTHER world war where your sons / daughters die for them. WW1 / WW2
were fought to make the world safe for the Banking Cartel and allow them to loot the
world.
pro·le·tar·i·at 35 minutes ago
Names of US citizens who provide intel to China
Dr. Anthony Fauci
bombdog PREMIUM 34 minutes ago
Financial records showing US businessmen and public officials who've received money
from the Chinese government
Joe Biden
Huginn 33 minutes ago
Swallwell
Captain Carrot 28 minutes ago
Don't forget Sheldon Adelson (Trumpy's Boss)...!
Johnny Walker 2 hours ago
US has bio weapons labs in 25 countries.
"They kept tampering with the virus for a few years, trying to make it more infectious
and more deadly. After gain-of-function research was forbidden by the US government in
2014, it was promptly offshored to Wuhan lab. The research was quietly continued with US
grants coming (partly) from the notorious Dr Fauci via the equally notorious Peter Daszak
and his EcoHealth Alliance, the beneficiary of
$39 million grant from the Pentagon . The Pentagon is a great humanitarian organization
known for its love of mankind, right? "
4.5% (inflated) infection rate and 99.7% (deflated) survival rate is not any kind of
weapon. Perhaps the research was leading to it, but covid was not any kind of obviously
effective weapon. Dont believe the neocon jibberish. The weapon was the a test of the
ability to manipulate the media and politicians to create panic and fear and submission.
Obviously totally effective.
Gotta try and keep us distracted from the tribe going on a real-estate shopping spree
via BlackRock while small hat AG Garland calls "white supremacy" the greatest terrorist
threat.
"Look over there!! It's CHINA!!!"
BaNNeD oN THe RuN 1 hour ago
Models of predicted COVID-19 spread and damage to the US and the world
So what, they obtained a copy of the Event 201 document from the Johns Hopkins Center
for Health Security.
Still it was pleasant to read a speculative propaganda piece not written by Epoch Times,
well done.
Sid Finch 32 minutes ago
This feels like more theatre to keep narrative alive. If the CDC or anyone proved a
virus exists, it would be good start. Their own PCR manuals concede that it hasn't. Anyone
can read them. It's more about creating panic to get more to want the magic mystery potion
injection. I see 4 healthy British Airways pilots died this week, and fllying does increase
clotting risks.
seems the public has become bored with the china/wuhan/bats/commies narrative, so we
needs to spice it up. facts or no facts, doesn't matter. it's all about the
clicks...........
so, umm......until some real news organizations update us on this world-shattering
story, ima take it with lott's wife.
VladLenin 2 hours ago
This sounds like BS. Someone here called it... Steele...
He approached the DIA after being in the US for 2 weeks? As a counter-intel guy, he
should know DIA HUMINT is for sh!t. They're the JV team. The only reason he might go to
them is if they had already pitched him (and maybe the Chinese found out).
So in a world of compartmentalization, this guy knows everything about everything.
Even being a high level guy, we all know executive types are incapable of doing stuff for
themselves. So, in between budget meetings and picking the new picture of Mao for the
lobby, he was downloading data to a thumb drive?
If I had to guess, this guy probably did defected. But his exploits are an amalgamation
of many potential intel sources. Pin some sh!t on him so he won't re-defect.
Citing the key bizarre and accusatory quotes in the Global Times
Reuters writes :
Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention , told state-owned tabloid the Global Times that attention should shift to the
United States, which was slow to test people in the early stages of the outbreak, and is also
the home of many biological laboratories.
"All bio-weapons related subjects that the country has should be subject to scrutiny," he
was quoted as saying.
While China's main official theory remains centered on the bats-origin claim, Beijing has
also of late promoted the extremely dubious story of "contaminated frozen food" infecting Wuhan
after being shipped from outside China.
All of this appears a desperate attempt to deflect and obfuscate amid growing calls from
Western politicians and media to conduct a deep investigation into Wuhan lab origins.
Attempting to provide enough ambiguity and cover seems precisely the Chinese strategy, which
is clearly
more and more on the defensive :
Commenting on the U.S. study on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it
was now "obvious" the COVID-19 outbreak had "multiple origins" and that other countries
should co-operate with the WHO.
However, just which of the "multiple origin" stories is the foreign ministry now calling
"obvious"?...
We seem to be witnessing the beginnings of even a Chinese tip-toeing back of the "Bat
origin" claims now in progress.
... despite astounding headlines and claims like these:
And given the latest state media GT report calling for greater scrutiny of "all bio-weapons"
capabilities in different countries, it seems that Beijing itself is now reluctantly and
inadvertently admitting the legitimacy of man-made lab origins.
Plus Size Model 7 hours ago (Edited) remove link
@Seek Shelter... ya think? It's modeled after the mortgage scam that was such a huge
success. If enough criminals pile in, they can't all get arrested and some idiot like Obama
will come out and say that they didn't necessarily do anything wrong. Meanwhile, there are
several layers to the onion.
First is Fauci and his "If Baric did gain of function, hie did it within the
guidelines." This statement has several criminal elements. Most importantly, he is culpable
for creating weapons of mass destruction - this is why he keeps pivoting to the gain of
function ruse. Fauci should be indicted immediately and he will flip. He's already
implicated Collins. Ha
Next up is the Batwoman BS. It's worthless. There are several documents linking her
to...
Next up you've got.... ah screw it. I'm lacking motivation today. Everybody is in on
it.
Our best strategy is to get EcoHeath and Daszak in front of a grand jury and go through
all of their stuff Michael Cohen style in the media. Unfortunately, I don't think China's
legal system is designed for similar measures. If someone's got them, start posting
EcoHealth documents!!
According to this article, 103 Million from the Pentagon and USAID went to EcoHealth.
EcoHealth is incorporated in NY. All of their data went through NSA filters and is probably
squirreled away in that strange AT&T skyscraper in NY with no windows. More than one
person has access to ALL of the data.
Is it asking too much for one person with big balls to put them up? You could change the
entire course of human history.
That is what happened. They released this bioweapon at the Wuhan military games,
infecting the soldiers and the Wuhan crowd just before the Chinese New Year. Wuhan is known
to be a huge transportation hub receiving millions of Chinese visitors nationwide at that
time. This would have spread like wildfire devastating China. Ron Unz at unz.com is the one only that affirms this is a biowarfare on
China.
Hamilcar 7 hours ago (Edited)
It can't be proven conclusively but the gaslighting and timing would indicate this is
indeed the case.
The reality is as bad as China is the western ruling class (Which is even worse and the
source of our all our problems) has decided Cold War with them is next on the agenda
following their "Great Reset" and crushing the populist revolt.
And the sheep are blindly following along as always.
The Chinese will not play ball and will not tolerate degeneracy or the West meddling in
their internal affairs. And with their spectacular development and corporate/military
espionage of western technology they don't need to.
Refreshing to see the comments on ZH today as most people have been conditioned into a
reflexive, irrational anti-China posture. The truth is the greatest threat to our people
and our liberties is the US government and this has been the case for decades.
There is absolutely no reason to trust or believe anything they say. They are about as
credible and trustworthy as the Zio-Corporate media.
This reversion to jingoism on behalf of an internationalist regime that despises
heritage Americans is disappointing but hardly surprising.
When liberals and Con Inc. are repeating the same talking points you can rest assured
that you're being lied to and another political catastrophe is imminent.
popeye 9 hours ago remove link
If we are playing the conspiracy theory game, who is to say the Wuhan lab narrative
isn't a deflection by the US from its own culpability? Perhaps Covid originated in the same
nation as Spanish Flu? Or perhaps not. The politicians and spooks couldn't care less where
it really started.
Whilst we focus on political nonsense rather than a serious global investigation of
origin, everything is on the table. As you say, smoke and mirrors, or alternatively, all
just a Great Game.
UnjusT1ce 10 hours ago
There was this French athlete named Elodie Clouvel that stated she was infected with
this virus at the Wuhan military games. There were many other military athletes that
confirmed her suspicions. And remember all of those outbreaks on US ships, such USS
Theodore Roosevelt, etc..
We only need to ask what happened to those military athletes that went to this event and
the mystery of Covid19, will be solved, I believe.
The Harlequin 9 hours ago
As I and others have been saying since this whole thing started. Shame on ZH for not
pursuing this further than the shallow jingoism of The Epoch Times. There are local stories
to be found everywhere, in every language of the countries who took part in the Wuhan CISM
Games 2019! Another suppressed story, another half-assed attempt at exposing the truth,
another "breaking news" story that steals the laurels that belong to another. SHAME!
UnjusT1ce 9 hours ago remove link
It was biowarfare on China, on all those participants and then on Trump. Yoichi
Shimatsu's Covid19 articles serie describes it perfectly:
Falung gong is in on this huge psychological warfare drawing the US and China into a
war.
Hamilcar 9 hours ago (Edited) remove link
Given the regime/state media 180 in the last few weeks and the "coincidence" of this
also occurring in an election year while perfectly serving ruling class interests to remove
Trump, crush dissent and siphon wealth a bio-attack by US intelligence seems highly
plausible.
I'm no fan of the Chinese but it's pretty obvious the ruling class are trying to
gaslight us into a confrontation with them now. And as other commenters have pointed out we
have seen this same script many times before.
krda 8 hours ago
Yes.
The most likely explanation is that Americans created a virus and released it in Wuhan
so they could shut down opposition in the US and start a war with China.
Except they were so 'diverse' that their virus turned out to be little worse than the
flu.
SamAdams 11 hours ago (Edited)
Empathetic Seven.... Felt so bad that it had not been hit by a plane, it fell into its
basement in solidarity with 1 & 2. What a great building! Just lots of moral character!
We should set aside a month in 7's honor.
bigdumbnugly 11 hours ago
neither side will talk about anything that approaches the truth.
so the red herring ping pong continues.
Sedaeng PREMIUM 11 hours ago
Fort Detrick shut down suspiciously just before all the [flu] crap hit.
The suspicions aren't entirely baseless, as the shutdown inside Fort Detrick happened
to be one month after a mysterious respiratory outbreak at a retirement community caused
54 residents to fall ill. The patients, who live in Fairfax County, which is only one
hour drive away from Fort Detrick, reported "respiratory symptoms ranging from upper
respiratory symptoms (cough) to pneumonia."
not to mention all the respiratory deaths blamed on [vaping] products:
Considering vaping has been around for more than a decade with tens of millions of
users across the world, and no such outbreak had yet occurred, it should've been clear to
the CDC that something other than nicotine was responsible. It should've been especially
evident since the U.S. is the only country in the world where this outbreak is
occurring""despite e-cigarettes being widely available in places such as Canada and
Europe.
But the CDC persisted in saying it couldn't rule out regular e-cigarettes as a cause
of the outbreak. As late as Nov. 1, the CDC advised: "because the specific compound or
ingredient causing lung injury is not yet known, and while the investigation continues,
persons should consider refraining from the use of all e-cigarette, or vaping,
products."
But yeah, all the above happened just before we had our [first official case] in the
US.
Why doesnt anybody want to talk about the above... supposed vaping deaths from a
mysterious 'respiratory' issues not experienced anywhere else in the World? 54 people all
falling ill with, yep, respiratory or [pneumonia like] illness, so close to a weapons lab
that gets shut down?
Miffed Microbiologist 11 hours ago
Interestingly this "vaping " disease expressed with ground glass opacity that is typical
in Covid pneumonia. Who would have thunk it??Nothing to see here move along.
Miffed
Footprint 10 hours ago
The head of Ft. Detrick at the time of the shutdown went to work as advisor to Tedros in
the WHO.
It focuses on helping nations deliver effective governance for their people, tackling
extremism and promoting peaceful co-existence, working to deliver long-"‹term
...
Footprint 11 hours ago remove link
The virus is the creation of a close partnership of US and China corporations. Labs from
the US sent virii samples and code to china. The exchange of data was intensive throughout
a decade.
Saying "China did it" is just one step behind:
"At the behest of and with technical scientific, and financial support of the CDC, NIH
Ecohealth, Defense Dept."
J Jason Djfmam 11 hours ago
Be sure to investigate that Chinese gain of function virologist Fao Chi.
Dr. "Follow The Science" Fauci controls a $7 billion budget that uses vaccines as
weaponry. Kennedy Jr. discloses that the chronic disease rate in the US in 1968 when Fauci
became director of the Institute of Infectious Disease was 6% and now is 54%. Fauci turned
his agency into an incubator of prescription drugs and vaccines. His agency has a financial
conflict of interest in vaccine patents.
Fauci runs a medical dictatorship, says Kennedy. Fauci gives away 13 times more money
than billionaire Gates.
MrBoompi 9 hours ago
There were a lot of stories about the US biolabs in former soviet states where there
were 'incidents' in those locations. Many of the locals believe they were experimented
on.
IronForge 11 hours ago (Edited)
Fort Dietrich and the US Army Team of the Wuhan Army Olympics.
Dr. "Follow The Science" Fauci controls a $7 billion budget that uses vaccines as
weaponry. Kennedy Jr. discloses that the chronic disease rate in the US in 1968 when Fauci
became director of the Institute of Infectious Disease was 6% and now is 54%. Fauci turned
his agency into an incubator of prescription drugs and vaccines. His agency has a financial
conflict of interest in vaccine patents.
Fauci runs a medical dictatorship, says Kennedy. Fauci gives away 13 times more money
than billionaire Gates.
BaNNeD oN THe RuN 8 hours ago
They're likely not wrong... I know people in Toronto who had exact Covid-19 symptoms in
November 2019.
The Chinese only "discovered" the virus by the same logic that Columbus discovered
America.
The Wuhan Military Games and Ft. Detrick closure also warrant more discussion than they
are getting.
00000000 8 hours ago (Edited)
Exactly! Sadly, if you contemplate the probable such as what you just said, then you're
likely to be shouted down as a CCP Shill.
My instincts are that it's all still lies lies lies. Only a fool thinks the truth will
ever be revealed.
UnjusT1ce 8 hours ago
The Wuhan Military Games is where it all started. We need to know what happened to the
soldiers and we'll find the answer of the Covid19 operation.
snow queen 8 hours ago remove link
Fort Derrick is one research location, that's for sure. It's important to expose the
real beginnings, because that's the only way to get to the sources of the genocide. There
are real, live, individual persons, who willingly and knowingly committed crimes against
humanity. Obama off-shored the U.S. based "gain of function" research to China. The Wuhan
Military Games were where the virus was intentionally released. There were many false flag
coverups involved.
peanuts 11 hours ago remove link
Get real for chriss sakes!! Fort Detrick, MD bioweapons lab has been in business for
over 70 years starting with the Paperclip Nazi scientists....along with the dozens of other
bio weapons labs run by the US all over the world! China may have released it....but Fouchi
brought it there...
HowdyDoody 9 hours ago
Don't forget the infamous Japanese Unit 731 'scientists'. They regarded Mengele to be a
wimp.
eatapeach 11 hours ago
It was the JFK murder/coup that put the current regime in power. If you want real
answers, investigate that.
Jack Mayorhaufer 8 hours ago
CCP is the scapegoat for the US outsourcing its research. Sure made [POTUS] 44 look like
a hero "stopping/ending" GOF research in the US
Ted Baker 10 hours ago remove link
Openness and Transparency in Science is a MUST at this very pressing times of confusion,
oppression, suppression, suffocation and tyranny...
radical-extremist 10 hours ago
Perhaps you haven't heard. Science has been compromised by political agendas and can no
longer be trusted.
1CSR2SQN 9 hours ago remove link
We don't know per se where it was let loose but we know where the "noise" started.
Usually where there is smoke there is fire. The evidence for a release elsewhere is not
found.
Anthraxed 9 hours ago (Edited)
Sure it is. Found in Italy back in September 2019 and in Spain water samples as far back
as March 2019. Also the Vape scare in the USA lung X-rays look exactly like Covid lung
X-rays. THen of course there was the outbreak that killed several at a Virginia nursing
home not far from Fort Detrick.
00000000 8 hours ago (Edited)
Spot on! The levels of deception on this issue are staggering. And regular people are
exceptionally ignorant and suggestable.
dustinthewind 9 hours ago
It all points back to those who are behind the Great Reset and that is the World
Economic Forum. Would the US military actually go after the American public? What about the
missing $2 trillion from the Pentagon and now $35 trillion?
" New Evidence that World Trade Center was Not s Surprise "" More lies?"
Videos of missing $2 trillion from Pentagon now $35 Video of Building 7 with explosions
going off where all the data was kept of missing money audio court docs
Recently, a tape has emerged from a private camera that was there during 911 filming the
collapse of World Trade Center #7 "" the only one that no plane ever hit. I have stated
that the coincidence with WTC7 collapse was a wipeout of evidence
as was the Pentagon which conveniently hit the room with all the evidence about the missing
$2.3 trillion from the defense budget.
These two very convenient buildings that were attacked were most likely a major
cover-up. That is where they took our computer system and when I asked for my legal
discovery, the SEC responded that everything was destroyed in 911. No government employees
in that WTC7 building were in there when it collapsed. They were evacuated. The motto seems
to be "" we do not kill your own, only civilians........
What people do not realize is that BECAUSE of 911 hitting the very room where all the
documents were concerning the Pentagon budget, the audit never took place. Worse still, it
seems to have endorsed a continual problem of missing money from the Pentagon. That $2.3
trillion in 2001 has grown now to $35 trillion. Clearly, the benefit of 911 has been the
ability to keep hiding missing money that nobody seems to care about...........
The collapse of WTC #7 was clearly a demolition to hide evidence. The government's claim
was it collapsed from
fire . The problem was the fire would have to have been 800 degrees celsius to do that
and the building would not have collapsed straight down. There was also no source of fuel
to burn that hot...........
I know what I had which was lost in that collapse which would have taken down all 5 of
the leading investment banks in a real justice system. That includes the evidence against
all the bank manipulations that the Department of Justice, SEC & CFTC do their best to
hide and NEVER charge any bankers personally. The banks pay huge fines at shareholder
expense to protect the bankers personally and nobody ever goes to jail. This really amounts
to shareholder fraud in that they pay huge fines and those who make huge bonuses from the
fraud keep their illegal gains.
My battle with the "Club" was one where they wanted just the perfect trades from inside
trading and bribing officials. I also hired Barclay Lieb who did his due diligence on me
before joining my firm. He confirmed that Goldman Sachs had thought they could take me
down, but I usually won................
There is absolutely NOTHING governments say which can be trusted anymore. They lie about
absolutely everything. Russia is starting to fight back with
leaking the evidence that the USA has worked with terrorists and knew about 911 if not
help the terrorists organize the attack. The Saudi's have controlled the terrorists and
threatened Russia that their Olympic Games would be safe only if they agreed to the
Saudi terms . It was the very terrorists being armed by the USA to take down the Syrian
government. The Saudi connection and the USA were exposed with the Syria attempted
invasion.
I reported that on the Benghazi
Connection . The reliable story I got from behind the curtain was that John Christopher
Stevens was supplying arms to the Syrian Rebels "" terrorists we hated so much. That is why
he was killed and the US had to step back and cover that up because the truth would expose
the terrorist connection and how they used them for political purposes. I have stated all
along there was an
admixture here for it did not make sense.
I even reported that the two World Trade Center Attacks were curiously about
8.6 years apart. Not sure if that is significant but it does seem to fit the government
cycle. The timing itself is very curious. It even took place precisely on the day of Pi
from the peak of the 8.6-year wave at that time. It seems even conspiracies are on
time.
I have maintained that WTC7 was destroyed to protect the bankers and the courts. Decades
of phone tapes would have exposed the "guaranteed trades" and the Fed bailouts for what
they were. My case was just way too critical to allow that to happen. Who knows what else
was in WTC7. No plane ever hit that building and every specialist always said it was a
controlled demolition. To do that meant that they also KNEW about 911 and when it would
take place. They had everything ready both in New York and in the Pentagon and they got
more power out of it with Home Land Security.
dustinthewind 9 hours ago
"I maintain that China did NOT leak this virus intentionally NOR do I believe it was a
careless leak. I believe those behind the Great Reset PAID an employee there to leak this
virus"
" Is a Right Wing Conspiracy Theory Becoming Fact?" vids info
Ever since COVID-19 was hurled out society and Gates' funded model that was no better
than a child's dame of SimCity predicted the next black plague so the world had to be shut
down, government experts like court-appointed lawyers who are paid to ensure they always
lose to keep the government's 99% conviction rate, have we see a herd of the most
prestigious media outlets denying what was clear to anybody with a brain capable of
rational through, that perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic that had originated in the Wuhan lab
where scientists were performing dangerous research into coronaviruses
Now the flood gates have opened and countless scientists feel free to speak at last.
They have been suppressed by the Fauci Propaganda. Now scientists are openly saying that
COVID-19 "˜
has NO credible natural ancestor "˜ and WAS created by Chinese scientists who
then tried to cover their tracks with "˜retro-engineering' to make it seem like it
naturally arose from bats. But both Fauci and the World Health Organization have been
coconspirators. Will the Democrats honestly investigate Fauci? My bet is they will NEVER
admit his involvement in anything
They refused to even discuss that Saint Dr. Anthony Fauci had previously been working
with viruses from bats was trying to give them gain of function so they could spread to
humans. You had to dive deep into the scientific press to discover the controversy that
Fauci set off with his experiments with COVID viruses deliberately trying to make them
evolve to infect humans. Mainstream press call this a conspiracy theory "" their favored
phrase that allows them not to address the facts.
The mainstream press and BigTech refused to accept any discussion that COVID was
man-made and without any proof whatsoever that it simply achieved gain-of-function on its
own and spread from animals to humans. Even as late as May 11, 2021, we find those in the
press still claiming it is the Far-Right conspiracy theory.
The mainstream press chooses the same path as Pravada and just wrote the government
propaganda as absolute truth and labeled everything else a conspiracy theory. You were
labeled a right-wing nut-job for uttering the possible thought that this deadly pathogen
might have leaked from the lab and they would usually call you a racist-conspirator as well
just to spice up the label. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTuce all joined in with the
government to promote the party-line and began canceling anyone who dares to question their
government propaganda. This is the only time perhaps I would like to have been President
for a week to send in the troops and charge the head of every one of these organizations
with treason
Suddenly, Nicholas Wade, who has been a science writer and has worked on the staff of
Nature, Science and, for many years, on the New York Times, wrote a piece that challenged
this government propaganda in an authoritative
article detailing why it was more likely that irresponsible scientists, rather than
infected animals, created the disease that has killed at least 3.5 million people
worldwide. Wade did not pronounce that he had the proof that COVID-19 emerged from a lab.
He argued that it was a very strong possibility
Part of the propaganda machine has been directed at Donald Trump by the Democrats and if
he said it was night, then he was lying, it must be the day. The joke was that Trump had
said the Vitamin D helps defeat COVID which you get from the sun and CNN announced it was
moving its entire headquarters underground. They needed people to HATE Trump to justify
turning the United States into a Marxist wonderland. Trump had to be painted as racist and
a xenophobic nut case to dare blame the Chinese for possibly leaking the virus upon the
world. Simply because Trump said that was a possibility, the LEFT, media, and BigTech in
tow, had to stamp out anyone who dared to say such a thing and cancel them for they were
not human in their books
Just on May 26th, Biden
shut down an inquiry into the lab leak theory. The World Health Organization's
"investigation" into a lab leak was a farce and they were stonewalling. Wade had forced
Biden to reverse course, calling for a new investigation into COVID's origins. All of my
sources pointed to a "convenient" lab leak precisely on schedule. The "BUILD BACLK BETTER"
slogan was coined and discussed behind closed doors at DAVOS in January 2019. I reported
that my sources were telling me that they had been told "a virus was coming" and I also
knew that Gates began selling stock in December 2019 as was the case with Klaus Schwab and
his World Economic Forum ahead of the March 2020 COVID CRASH
dustinthewind 9 hours ago remove link
All the pieces were there and I reported that our computer picked up a shift in the
capital flow in August 2019. I stated that something was seriously wrong. I did not say
there would be a virus. That I did not hear until January 2020. But the computer was
picking up that something was wrong. I am not clairavoyant. I simply relay what the
computer is projecting at that time.
Indeed, I warned that even the Dow was inverting and it was appearing that we would have
a crash with the turning point on the Economic Confidence Model and that would most likely
unfold as a 2020 low more akin to a liquidity crisis where all assets were liquidated to
raise cash.
While sources in Washington who were concerned about national security issues in the
Trump administration were arguing that it was a lab leak and the Chinese were covering it
up. Meanwhile, it appears that the bought and paid for virologists were tell the world that
the odds were overwhelming that it was not a lab leak but an animal transmission with no
direct evidence.
There was plenty of evidence that at Wuhan they were indeed experimenting with
gain-of-function where an animal virus was deliberately converted to infect humans.
Top scientists were in fact concerned about the lab leak possibility that the American
media was falling alt-right conspiracy theories. Finally, on January 24 th ,
2020, Science Magazine reported that the NIH would review once again is their highly risky
experimentation into creating gain-of-function ability would again be reviewed. The
research of Fauci has likewise fueled the Chinese response that this virus was planted in
China by the American military. Indeed, Tom Inglesby of Johns Hopkins University and Marc
Lipsitch of Harvard University joined forces to write an Op-Ed against Fauci which appeared
in the
Washington Post .
I maintain that China did NOT leak this virus intentionally NOR do I believe it was a
careless leak. I believe those behind the Great Reset PAID an employee there to leak this
virus. The investigation should look for a FORMER employee or one that came into wealth
without explanation.
I find it ironic to be against corruption in BigTech and government which somehow
justifies standing up for just what is right makes you alt-wright and automatically wrong.
What these mindless drones call the ALT-RIGHT , just may be right but they are so hateful,
they are sealing their own fate and that of their children if Gates will allow them to have
any.
This is no longer about truth. This is simply whatever Trump said was wrong and every
policy he put in place must be reversed. It certainly makes me want to find a private
island to run to and wait for the mushroom cloud to appear which will be the signal that
all is clear.
People were signing a fake petition to ban Memorial Day because it celebrates
American Imperialism . Most have no idea what it even stands for. They claim to be
WOKE, but I'm not so sure they are awake.
Don Cherry 9 hours ago remove link
All government is evil. The U.S. too? Research "Agent Orange." (No, this is not the
left's code name for Donald Trump if he worked for the CIA).
snow queen 8 hours ago remove link
"I reported that on the Benghazi
Connection . The reliable story I got from behind the curtain was that John Christopher
Stevens was supplying arms to the Syrian Rebels "" terrorists we hated so much. That is why
he was killed and the US had to step back and cover that up because the truth would expose
the terrorist connection and how they used them for political purposes. I have stated all
along there was an
admixture here for it did not make sense. "
This is correct. Hillary's team set up the betrayal and murder of Chris Stevens.
Kartolas 11 hours ago
"Doubt is the origin of wisdom"
"• Rene Descartes
observer3 6 hours ago remove link
Don't trust the Chinese government. But can we trust the US government any better? In
2018 and 2019, Trump was losing the trade war to China. Then came the virus outbreak in
Wuhan in December 2019. In January 2020, Secretary of Treasury Mnuchin gloated, "This viral
outbreak in China will allow us a win in the trade war". In 2019 the US federal government
conducted a joint exercise with 12 states to simulate a pandemic coming from China via
infected travelers!!! Exactly what took place a few months later. Even the simulated
numbers matched: millions infected, 1/2 million died.
I absolutely agree with China on this one- all US bioweapon labs should be thoroughly
investigated- we know for a fact gain of function coronavirus research was being conducted
in Ft Derrick and likely others inc. Univ of Alabama etc. Full INDEPENDENT investigation of
all of them in which the NIH, CDC, and FDA are excluded from participating in.
Youri Carma 7 hours ago remove link
LAB LEAK
Calling the zoonotic origin theory a fact and the lab leak theory a conspiracy theory is
blatant lying.
OR an excellent application of the symmetry argument;
would the US allow Chinese inspection of its biowarfare facilities in Georgia,
Kazakhstan, or Ft. Detrick?
sbin 10 hours ago
Americans should be asking for investigation and declassification of all American
bioweapon programs.
Would find some truly troubling things about what our government is doing.
Invalid Username 11 hours ago remove link
Even having a bio weapons lab should be named a crime against humanity, with the
strictest of penalties applied.
It is by far a more sinister threat than nuclear weapons, as it is far easier to deploy
in secret.
Noone should stockpile such weapons, noone should produce them, and certainly noone
should be allowed to research new variants.
I dont care what their flag looks like, this concerns every single human currently
alive, as well as every single human that will ever live.
Know shit 10 hours ago
Once you see where those facilities are build, you should get very suspicious.
If you overlay that map with outbreaks of novel diseases of the last 40 years, well make
up your own mind..
observer3 7 hours ago remove link
Check out this new article. Says that US government and University were already on track
to make the mRNA vaccine for corona virus, before out outbreak in Wuhan.
ChiComs have a long history of lies and wanton disregard and murderous intent towards
innocent people (i.e. "landlords" during the Revolution, "capitalist roaders" during the
Cultural Revolution, students during the Tienanmen Massacre, Falun Gong in the 1990's -
present for organ harvesting murders, etc).
The Wuhan Institute was right there when this erupted. Initial cases were along the
subway route connecting the lab to the rest of the city. The ChiCom government denied the
virus was transmissible and spread it to the world. The Wuhan Lab researched coronaviruses
and performed gain-of-function research. It is biologically impossible that Covid-19 came
from nature.
Sorry ChiComs, you are on the hook for trillions in damages and reparations payments.
ChiComs have to pay people to defend them. Such funds should be re-directed to the people
they harmed.
TheRapture 8 hours ago
Let's agree that whatever party is found responsible by an independent investigation
should be liable: whether that be China, or the USA.
People_are_Sheep 8 hours ago (Edited) remove link
The timing of Crimson Contagion is too perfect to
be a simply coincidence. Given US track record of using nuclear/chemical weapons in wars
and biological weapon testing on its own citizens ( Tuskegee Syphilis Study ) there
is very good reason to suspect the US. Also the fact that Fort Detrick houses research
findings of Japanese Unit 731 and was abruptly shut down in late 2019, just before
coronavirus emerges.
radical-extremist 10 hours ago
If it was meant to be a bioweapon and they purposely released it within two miles of the
lab...where they were researching corona viruses from bats. It was very poorly planned.
A good bioweapon is going to be deadly at best, extremely disruptive and not target old
people who are closer to dying anyway. The H1N1 Spanish Flu was far more effective as it
killed mostly young people, from bacterial pneumonia.
The Japanese tried spraying aersolized Plague over China in WWII with limited success.
You'd think purposely releasing a bioweapon in their own backyard would have been seriously
considered as a very stupid thing to do.
TheRapture 8 hours ago
The only real "value" of GOF is to make bioweapons. It's useless for making vaccines,
and duplicative of basic research. To argue we need to make monsters in order to know what
monsters can be made, is like arguing that we need to research new torture techniques, so
that we know what torture is possible.
Cambridge Working Group Consensus Statement on the Creation of Potential Pandemic
Pathogens (PPPs) source
VangelV 11 hours ago
I think that everyone has a problem. The labs worked together and had access to the same
viruses. Even if the COVID-19 variant was released, there is a question of who did it. Was
it an accident? Possibly. But could some intelligence agency had released it on purpose? Of
course. Those agencies are staffed with psychopaths that are trained to lie and do terrible
things. And to run black flag operations.
""¦..we are left with the strong likelihood that Covid came from a laboratory
(and) was designed as a bioweapon"¦ China was the intended target (and) America
seems the likely source of the attack"¦ The most likely suspects would be rogue
elements of our national security establishment"¦ The virus and its dispersal
devices might have been obtained from Ft. Detrick and CIA operatives"¦ would have
been sent to Wuhan to release it." Ron Unz, Editor of The Unz Review; from the text
absalom_hicks 2 hours ago remove link
It is possible that the Chinese have been framed by rogue actors. The place, Wuhan, and
time (military games and Chinese Lunar year celebrations) just fit too perfectly to be a
coincidence.
The rogue group could be anyone with a contact in a gain of function bio-lab and modest
travel funds. The rogue actors (if such) intended this to be a world wide pandemic. This is
clear from the setup. This narrows down the possible choices to religious fanatic cults,
extreme greens (claiming that the planet can only be saved by depopulation), globalist
reset proponents or even deranged individuals.
The last option should be the easiest to identify (or rule out): the individual would
have to be affiliated with a gain of function bio lab as well as having traveled at least
to Wuhan but possibly to Italy, Spain and Brazil.
Also very suspicious is the fact that the leadership of Iran was hit so early (several
died). This speaks against the deranged individual hypothesis and points to groups with
more substantial means and connections.
As Russia / China / Iran are the declared enemies of the globalists (in fact
diametrically opposed in every respect) this leads me to believe that it was either
(a) really an escape from the Wuhan lab, or
(b) a frame up by rogue globalist reset actors.
Johnny Walker 6 hours ago remove link
Do not "pursue an investigation into the origin of COVID-19 because it would
"˜open a can of worms' if it continued"....
The one thing I know FOR sure is the all the "Cases" and "Deaths" were based upon an
obviously fraudulent PCR Test with perhaps 97% false positives.
Let's start there -- something completely verifiable.
Plain and Simple.
Final Authority 7 hours ago
Good. We live in the Age of Deception and should not forget that.
I suggest we also look for evidence of the 1918 Spanish Flu that was reconstituted by
NIH and others in the US government in 2005. We should also look carefully at the goings on
in Canada, Israel and China concurrently.
The oligarchs and their tools have used this "incident", what ever it actually turns out
to be, to steal the wealth and property of 99.9% of the worlds people and cripple the
prospects of multiple generations for decades.
Shemp 4 Victory 3 hours ago remove link
a study out this week by the US National Institutes for Health (NIH)
Wait, you mean a real, peer-reviewed, bona fide research study? Not some preliminary
finding which hasn't yet been reviewed that was published on a pre-publication site? Not
some fabrication cooked up by Steve Bannon, Kyle Bass, and Guo Wengui a.k.a. "Miles Guo"
a.k.a. "Miles Kwok" via their Rule of Law Society IV Inc. and Rule of Law Foundation III
Inc. organizations and hired 'whistleblower' Li-Meng Yan?
Well that's what I've been waiting for! Finally something more than speculation. What
did the study find?
showing that at least seven Americans across five states were infected with
coronavirus weeks prior to US health authorities recording the first official cases.
Well, that's certainly interesting. I wonder where it could have come from.
Citing the key bizarre and accusatory quotes in the Global Times Reuters writes
Bizarre and accusatory are perfect terms to describe ZH coverage of Covid-19 since
January 2020. It meshes perfectly with the whole "China bad, China very bad" narrative
being pushed here for the last three years or so, such as the fabricated Uighur genocide or
the feigned concern about a fictionally 'democratic' Hong Kong.
BTW, isn't that the same Reuters that works with the British Foreign Office, along with
the BBC, intelligence contractors, and BellingCrap, on covert programs that are supposed to
"weaken Russia"?
Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, told state-owned tabloid the Global Times that attention should shift to the
United States, which was slow to test people in the early stages of the outbreak, and is
also the home of many biological laboratories.
"All bio-weapons related subjects that the country has should be subject to scrutiny,"
he was quoted as saying.
The Chinaman is right. The US has biowarfare labs in the US and around the world. Might
as well look into them - I mean, if you've got nothing to hide, then what's the
problem?
The level 3 and level 4 labs that work with deadly pathogens should all be under
international scrutiny - the US, the Chinese, the British, the Russians, the Israelis, the
Japanese, everyone. If, as they say, everyone is working on research strictly for defending
against bioweapons and pandemics, then there's no need for secrecy. Unless, of course, the
work is on defense against a bioweapon which one intends to use.
Attempting to provide enough ambiguity and cover seems precisely the Chinese strategy,
which is clearly more and more on the defensive
Considering that China has become the target of the entirety of US World Order
propaganda forces, one should hardly be surprised to see a defensive strategy. Just earlier
today we had a story about the parliaments of Belgium and Czechia declaring their intent to
congregate around and defend the lie being pushed by the US regarding Chinese oppression of
Uighurs.
[Of course, that article is just one of the many articles pushing the Falun Gong cult's
anti-China agenda appearing here daily on Epoch Hedge.]
And given the latest state media GT report calling for greater scrutiny of "all
bio-weapons" capabilities in different countries, it seems that Beijing itself is now
reluctantly and inadvertently admitting the legitimacy of man-made lab origins.
Not sure what is meant by the term "legitimacy" above. If what is meant is the
possibility or feasibility of man-made lab origins, then there is no reluctant or
inadvertent admission of this. The Chinese have experienced the reality of man-made
bioweapons, both from the Japanese during WW2 and, after the US moved the scientists of
Japan's Unit 731 from Harbin to the US, from the Americans during the Korean War.
Sounds like the Chinese would like to see some light shined on the goings on at places
like Fort Detrick, Maryland and the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center in the
outskirts of Tbilisi, Georgia. Irrespective of Chinese motivations, this is a good
idea.
Tracylewis560. 9 hours ago
Dear Attorney (AG, Governor, State Senators, House reps, US Senators)
With all the issues today with our food, and paper products having sporadic availability, I
think it is important to address the National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) level 4
lab being built in Manhattan, KS. COVID19 has created many issues for all Americans and for
Kansan's. This lab will be a danger to not only Kansas, our live stock, and our entire
country as well.
Let's start with Wuhan China, and how COVID19 correlates with my concerns with NBAF.
Firstly, Wuhan China's lab was a Level 4 lab and "accidentally" released COVID19 on the
world. Let COVID19 be a lesson to us all, as COVID19 has devastated the planet for over a
year now.
Kansas's weather is also a concern. We are placing a Level 4 Lab filled with human and
agricultural diseases, of which there is no cure, anti-viral, vaccine, antidote, or
treatment, in the middle of the country. We, here in Kansas, are not free of earthquakes,
floods, or tornadoes. The latter being extremely prevalent here in our great state of
Kansas. Imagine the devastation a tornado would have on the NBAF facility, our livestock,
and our citizens.
As mentioned, the weather of Kanas is a major concern, now add to that, Kansas is in the
middle of the country and in the middle of the 'Beef Belt'. This lab, again, is to hold
level 4 human and agricultural diseases. Do you know how quickly a disease could spread to
our animals or to the people if there were to be a natural disaster or an accidental
release of a disease? I do not think this is the safest, nor the smartest location to hold
a level 4 laboratory.
If a disease was to be unleashed on our livestock, there would be major potential in
creating a man-made famine. Imagine a disease "accidentally" escaping into our farmland and
causing a mass execution of our cattle. What kind of impact will this have on our state and
on our countries food supply. This would cause mass devastation on the Kansas economy and
people, as well as the rest of the country.
Again, let Wuhan China be an example of how easily a disease can escape, even under the
strictest of circumstances.
In closing, I do NOT want a level 4 Bio-weapons lab in my state. This type of facility
belongs on an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean or underground where these
types of incidents could be better contained. This is an absolutely horrendous idea and
completely counter to all ideas of common sense. This, in my opinion, is a disaster waiting
to happen, and any other reasonable individual would say the same when they see this. I
don't like this. I don't want this.
Thank you for seeing to this matter and ensuring the continued safety and prosperity
More than two hundred Republicans in Congress have called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to
investigate the origin of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The congressmen also demanded that
the Chinese Communist Party be "held accountable" because they believe that Beijing is to blame
for the pandemic. In addition, earlier Republicans and Democrats developed a joint bill that
allows Americans to demand compensation from the PRC for the death of relatives due to
COVID-19. Anti-Chinese rhetoric was also supported in the United Kingdom "" a number of British
media published hypotheses about the alleged artificial origin of the virus. Experts believe
that Washington and London have launched a deliberate campaign to demonize China, using the
pandemic to their political advantage.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives have called on its Speaker Nancy Pelosi to
investigate the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The letter, signed by 209 congressmen, was
previously published on Twitter by the deputy leader of the Republican minority in the lower
house of Congress, Stephen Scalis.
Republicans believe that Beijing is to blame for the spread of COVID-19 on the
planet.
"We ask that you instruct the heads of the relevant committees to immediately join the
Republican demands to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its actions that led to
the coronavirus pandemic in the world," the appeal says.
According to the congressmen, there is " more and more reason to believe that the pandemic
began in the Chinese laboratory and the CCP (Communist Party of China) she hid it."
"If this is true, the CCP is responsible for the deaths of nearly 600,000 Americans and
millions more around the world," the Republicans say.
Cross-party consensus
Democrats are also in favor of launching an investigation. Earlier, congressmen from both
leading parties prepared relevant bills. The first document provides for the creation of a
bipartisan commission to study the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to the commission
of inquiry into the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The bill was sponsored by five
Democrats and five Republicans.
However, as political scientists state, American parliamentarians are already ready to
appoint the "culprit" of the pandemic even without an investigation. The authors of the second
bipartisan bill propose to give the families of coronavirus victims the right to sue China and
other countries that deliberately misled the international community in connection with the
virus outbreak.
This is reported by the American media. According to them...
" As we have seen from the COVID-19 situation, the CCP deliberately and maliciously misled
the entire world about the scale and spread of the new coronavirus," said Brian Fitzpatrick, a
Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and cochairman of the bipartisan problem-solving
group, commenting on the initiative.
Earlier, the head of the White House, Joe Biden, said that the American intelligence
community is considering two main versions of the origin of the virus. According to one, the
new infection spread to people from wild animals, according to another-the pandemic arose as a
result of a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan.
"To date, the US intelligence community has united around two possible scenarios, but has
not yet reached a final conclusion on this issue," the president said.
Biden also said that he asked the intelligence community to step up efforts to collect and
analyze information that can help make a final conclusion, and report back in 90 days.
British flank
Simultaneously with these statements of American politicians, the British media published
materials with similar accusations against the PRC. So, The Sunday Times newspaper on May 30,
citing unnamed intelligence sources, reported that the special services consider the version of
the leak from the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology as likely.
This hypothesis, according to which the leak occurred from a laboratory where studies of
coronaviruses derived from bats (including one closely related to SARS-CoV-2) are conducted,
was regarded by Western intelligence, including the British, as unlikely.
However, a reassessment has now been carried out, and this version was considered
"possible," the sources said.
Another British media outlet, the Daily Mail, on May 29 published the conclusions of two
researchers-British Professor Angus Dalglish and Norwegian scientist, Dr. Birger
Sørensen, according to which the SARS-CoV-2 virus allegedly has an artificial
origin.
According to scientists, the virus was created in a laboratory in Wuhan. Moreover, Chinese
experts allegedly deliberately endowed the pathogen with increased virulence in order to study
the potential impact of coronaviruses on humans. Previously, a similar research program was
banned in the United States.
According to a study published in the Daily Mail, Chinese scientists allegedly took the"
framework " of a natural coronavirus found in Chinese cave bats and attached a new
protein-"spike" - to it, thereby turning it into the deadly and highly contagious
SARS-CoV-2.
The fear and anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic has negatively affected the mental
health of millions of people around the world, he said...
The researchers, who concluded that COVID-19 "has no reliable natural ancestor," also
believe that Chinese scientists have "reconstructed" versions of the virus to cover their
tracks.
"We think some viruses have been 'reconstructed'," Dalglish told the Daily Mail." They
changed the virus, and then they tried to pretend that it happened by itself many years
ago."
A wave of accusations and publications about the versions of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has
concerned the WHO leadership. Speaking at a briefing on May 28, the organization's emergency
management program director, Michael Ryan, noted that in recent days, the media has increased
the distribution of reports with "appallingly low content of real news, data or new material,"
which he found disturbing.
"However, we would like all of them (the media." RT) to separate the political component of
this issue from the science, if possible. This whole process (investigating the origin of the
virus. - RT) is poisoned by politics, " the WHO representative added.
Experts agree with this assessment. From their point of view, political speculation will not
only not help prevent pandemics in the future, but also prevent it.
"The introduction of political accusations only hinders the investigation, heightens
hysteria and xenophobia in society. Such rhetoric fuels anti-Chinese sentiment in Western
countries and plays into the hands of those politicians who advocate a tough anti" Chinese
course," Andrey Sidorov, head of the Department of International Organizations and World
Political Processes at the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, explained in a
comment to RT.
A similar point of view is shared by the deputy director of the Institute for Strategic
Studies and Problems of the RUDN, Pavel Feldman.
"Now there is a clear unwinding of a large-scale campaign against China. Trump was the first
to speak out against Beijing, and the Democrats then laughed at his conspiracy accusations.
However, now the Biden administration, as well as London, have clearly continued this line.
These accusations have become part of a big political game in the international arena between
the main centers of power" the West sees China as a challenge to its own civilization," Feldman
explained in an interview with RT.
Three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November
2019 that they
sought hospital care , according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report
(based on information "provided by an international partner" that was "potentially significant
but still in need of further investigation and additional corroboration") that could add weight
to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the
laboratory. WSJ:
One can't blame everything on Israel. Yes, it is part of five eyes, more like SIX
eyes.
Biden (JB) is building a coalition to challenge China. JB's administration wants to
neutralize Russia. Nord Stream 2 is an element of contention and by making a concession JB is
making Germany and Russia happy. Agree, that its completion will be a "huge geopolitical win
for Putin". Let's see when Nord Stream 2 becomes fully operational. Time will tell.
Russia's main focus is De-Dollarization, stability in Russia and in its neighborhood.
China's announcement about Bitcoin led to it dropping by 30%. What will China, Russia,
Turkey and Iran announcement about the U$A dollar do to its value and the market? When will
China become the #1 ECONOMY?
The US is now the largest provider of LNG, so there is relatively little more financial
advantage to be gained from a direct confrontation with Germany or Russia. Political maybe,
but the dedollarisation is starting to take hold. (Aside; even Israel depends on the strength
of the dollar to continue, like musical chairs, when the music stops there will be
precious few chairs left ). The Gas/Oil lobbies in the US who are behind the sanctions
may have some other trick up their sleeve, but the deflation of Zelensky in Ukraine, and the
opening up of a steal-fest of Ukrainian assets might compensate.
***
Note that the West has closed Syrian Embassies so as to stop Syrians voting for Assad. They
steal it's oil, and Syria is still next to Israel and doing relatively well in spite of
tanker bombings, and missiles. It is also possible that, as you say, there is a price for
non-interference in Israel itself.
After Russiagate the credibility of CIA is below zero. So this looks like a part of
propaganda compaign against China.
"Yet somehow Tony Fauci didn't know this Can we really believe that? No, of course, we
can't," Carlson continued, adding "right around the time those Chinese researchers became the
world's first COVID patients, the government of Thailand contacted the CDC and Tony Fauci's
office to say its intelligence service had picked up 'biological anomalies' around the lab in
Wuhan. In other words, there had been a leak."
ay_arrow
AUS-AUD 8 hours ago (Edited)
If fauci funded the wuhan lab then the US funded the wuhan lab.
popeye 6 hours ago
There has been no new credible information released in the past two months pertaining to
the origin of SARS-Cov-2. US Intelligence is not a credible source (lying & deception
are the tradecraft of espionage). All I see is media narrative spin based on conjecture
that you can guarantee has political origins.
Yet Americans, who complain incessantly about the dishonesty of their media, credulously
swallow the narrative fed to them without analysis or critique. Stupid. You think you are
independent rebels, when you are in reality manipulated sheep, and oh so easily
manipulated.
Lets be clear - ZH is now a part of the narrative machine.
SurfingUSA 4 hours ago (Edited)
Can't make inferences????
The Wuhan lab is just the fall guy here.
The virus,
the lab (or Army games) release,
the election impact ...
ALL either Made in the (((USA))) or close to it.
Justin Timberbieber 8 hours ago
Yep, just the CCP. No western involvement whatsoever.
E5 8 hours ago
Until you trace the scientists back to UNC. Then you see that the actual virus they
accelerated came from the US.
Heimdall - Torwart von Assguard 6 hours ago
AND Canada
Ted K. 6 hours ago
The Winnipeg lab of the fully infiltrated Canada is indeed a piece of the puzzle.
Herdee 5 hours ago
And Ft. Detrick
RedNemesis 6 hours ago (Edited)
Okay. They accelerated and released a virus obtained from the US. So is the US
responsible for a country turning yellow cake uranium mined in Nevada into a nuclear
weapon?
truth or go home 5 hours ago
Yes, if the US gives them the recipe and then pays them to develop it.
And if the US did that to get around a law that makes it illegal to do makes it even
worse - which is exactly what happened.
SteveNYC 7 hours ago
I'm going with the "populism" route. Stopping populist governments in their tracks has
always proven reason enough for panic and overkill from TPTB:
- USA
- Brazil
- India
<< Primary targets.
Heimdall - Torwart von Assguard 6 hours ago
Poland
Hungary
Venezuela
Brazil
popeye 6 hours ago
Most Americans have never left their country, many have never left their state, and few
seem to have an education. You can't expect them to know much about anything outside the
US. Basically a flat earth mentality - "the world consists only of what I can see".
junction 8 hours ago
The only certainty is that all the major facts are lies.
Jolt 5 hours ago
You're on the right track, "junction", but be aware that the virus is just an ordinary
flu/corona virus that isn't deadly for the vast majority of humans. The real culprit, the
biggest tool for creating the worldwide "emergency" is the PCR test, which is 100%
fraudulent. This is by design, thanks to the pharmaceuticals.
williambanzai7 PREMIUM 8 hours ago remove link
No Tucker, if you just want to blame the whole thing on China you are missing the
punchline: Fauci
tion PREMIUM 8 hours ago (Edited) remove link
It's all an assortment of narratives and partial truths. Tucker points the finger at
China without mentioning how Fauci was funding Gain of Function work at the Wuhan lab. Here
is just one example of people from that lab using an HIV splice to increase
transmissibility of a pathogen to humans.
In this study, we investigated the receptor usage of the SL-CoV S by combining a human
immunodeficiency virus-based pseudovirus system with cell lines expressing the ACE2
molecules of human, civet, or horseshoe bat. In addition to full-length S of SL-CoV and
SARS-CoV, a series of S chimeras was constructed by inserting different sequences of the
SARS-CoV S into the SL-CoV S backbone. Several important observations were made from this
study. First, the SL-CoV S was unable to use any of the three ACE2 molecules as its
receptor. Second, the SARS-CoV S failed to enter cells expressing the bat ACE2. Third,
the chimeric S covering the previously defined receptor-binding domain gained its ability
to enter cells via human ACE2, albeit with different efficiencies for different
constructs. Fourth, a minimal insert region (amino acids 310 to 518) was found to be
sufficient to convert the SL-CoV S from non-ACE2 binding to human ACE2 binding ,
indicating that the SL-CoV S is largely compatible with SARS-CoV S protein both in
structure and in function.
Journal of Virology, February 2008
And by the way let's not pretend that dear Donald aka President Kushner's FIL didn't
also know about Fauci's questionable involvement with unethical gain of function research
at this lab before appointing him and the PEPFAR mafia to head the Covid taskforce, putting
the foxes in charge of guarding the hen house so to speak.
TheAlmightyCorndawg 8 hours ago
Which is precisely why Tucker is Operation Mockingbird.
Billy the Poet 7 hours ago (Edited)
Then show me solid evidence that what you say is true. You do have film of Tucker
working with the CIA, right?
2+2 ≠ 5 8 hours ago remove link
Huh?
Tucker has NEVER "supported the election hoax".
In fact, Tucker is one of the very few on MSM to continually call for proper voting
audits of the 2020 election, and he repeatedly highlights the obvious fraud that took
place.
ay_arrow
GoodyGumdrops 8 hours ago
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Election fraud has been happening in the US
for decades.
The only thing new this time around is they decided to mock the American people openly,
so that they can never claim ignorance again about the corruption.
The plandemic is the real worldwide atrocity being played out right now before our
eyes.
asteroids 8 hours ago
The heads of the NIH and the CDC have been caught lying. Therefore both agencies have NO
credibility and have lost the trust of the people. ...
Flying Monkees 8 hours ago
Imagine being a total POS like Fauci who would destroy the freedom and liberties of his
fellow Americans just so he can line his own pockets...
ZH has a fire hose of 3 new stories up supporting the BS that Covid came out of the Wuhan
lab, one with a Fauci link, another unsubstantiated claim by By Eric Peters, CIO of One
River Asset Management and then a WSJ claim of Covid sickness at the lab...only skimmed
I can only conjecture that the extra pressure is for some imminent reason this
week.......if a lie is BIG enough and told OFTEN enough, unfortunately many will believe
the lie in the face of contrary information.
Thank you, I see the BIG issue for the USAi empire as being the concrete alliance between
China and Russia including Iran. That simply cannot be tolerated by empire. It goes against a
doctrine that is as old as the Chinese socialist revolution. Every dirty trick and connivance
through the cold war years has been reduced to ashes in two presidential terms ~ Obummer and
then Trump have totally f#cked it up.
Hubris uber alles is perhaps the best motto for these two d!ckhead presidents.
Blaming China for the virus and then splitting their alliance is exactly how these lame
brains think.
Expect torrential downpours of BS in the weeks to come.
I guess the Russia/China response will be request the USAi to produce sound refutation
that it did not arise from any of the dozens of university or military labs in the USA. Lets
start with that paper from November 9, 2015 in Nature Medicine and the University of North
Carolina Chapel Hill where resides the interesting Boyd L. Yount Jr.
I am sure there are many other suggestions out there.
Amid Trump's latest Huawei sanctions and his controversially taking aim at WeChat and TikTok
for "security threats" posed by the Chinese apps, also as Washington becomes isolated in the UN
over its push to impose snapback sanctions on Iran, Chinese President Xi Jinping has gone on
the offensive in new comments Tuesday,
saying America acts as if it's "the boss of the world" . In his UN address Xi urged we
should oppose protectionism and insist on openness and benefit-for-all . President Xi said
during his remarks following Trump: "Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark
room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and
air."
Trump came out swinging more directly at Beijing in his speech which wrapped up, calling on
the international body to "hold China accountable for their actions" over the still globally
raging coronavirus pandemic.
Trump said China's COVID-19 deceptions included "allowing flights to leave China and infect
the world ...". He added that "China condemned my travel ban on their country even as they
canceled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes."
"The Chinese government, and the World Health Organization -- which is virtually
controlled by China -- falsely declared that there was no evidence of human-to-human
transmission ," Trump said further.
"Later, they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease..." he said,
going through a list of China's egregious behavior and its impact on the world.
Though Xi in his prior pre-speech comments didn't specifically name the United States or any
particular country, it was clear to his listeners at a meeting in China celebrating the United
Nation's 75th anniversary just who the thinly veiled words were directed at. The pre-UN
Assembly address gave a glimpse of what Xi will say to the world in his main address following
Trump.
As originally reported in Xinhua News Agency he said that no nation should "be allowed to do
whatever it likes and be the hegemon, bully or boss of the world."
Emphasizing hope for a revival of multilateralism, he called for "more balanced"
international relations and decision-making where countries must not be "lorded over by those
who wave a strong fist at others."
"There must be no practice of exceptionalism or double standards," Xi
said . "Nor should international law be distorted and used as a pretext to undermine other
countries' legitimate rights and interests or world peace and stability."
Xi echoed these prior statements and gave similar emphasis in his remote speech to the UN
General Assembly soon after Trump's speech Tuesday.
He said "the global virus fight shouldn't be politicized."
Also with the Iran unilateral US sanctions issue still front and center, the showdown is
expected to be intense, given Pompeo has lately said the US is all too willing to go it
completely alone in enforcing sanctions on those will to trade or send weapons to Iran (when
the arms embargo expires Oct.18).
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The US-China back and forth accusations will perhaps take away from the 75th anniversary
commemorative nature of the assembly as well, but given the pandemic has forced the whole thing
go online, this may blunt what would have made for greater in-person fireworks.
Dragonlord , 3 hours ago
For those who are still unclear what this entails, well.........
Its a formal declaration of cold war 2.0 by Trump on CCP. The world is not going back to
how it was before Covid.
Goodbye to globalization and its nonsense and good riddance to the globalists' utopia
dream.
Life of Illusion , 2 hours ago
Dragon
please tell that to Blackrock and ask vanguard as well what they are doing funding
china
hestroy , 2 hours ago
He is a complete imbecile BTW... The virus was created by USA but also in China.
Fauci supported unethical gain of function research and his NIH funded the Wuhan Lab.
Son of Captain Nemo , 2 hours ago
"Goodbye to globalization and its nonsense and good riddance to the globalists' utopia
dream." ????......
And with what money... coming from what source... is globalism "gone" ?... Especially
given the creators of it in Washington, London and Brussels? ...
You're really nutty or incredibly stupid!... Take your pick
curmudgery , 2 hours ago
Utopia for who? Pedophiles and child traffickers? Thieving banksters? Fraudulent religious
organizations? Go Trump!
DEDA CVETKO , 2 hours ago
Just what the neocon doctors ordered: more wars, more war rhetoric, more milit-ind
lobbying, more might-makes-right, more law of the jungle, more survival of the fattest , more
weapons sales, more genocides, more me-first-you-last, less cooperation, less coexistence,
less trade, less economy, less interaction among the nations and less prosperity.
Here's a good 48-minute YouTube video documentary from the end of October that was put
together by some 20 expat YouTuber vloggers living in China. I came across it about a month
ago. The expats are Canadian, American, British, and other European, Asian nationalities.
In adddition to that one, this 20-minute video from an Israeli expat in China also
provides a counterweight to the Mighty Wurlitzer media machine's designated portrayal of
Wuhan.
Guess these YouTubers could be called "citizen journalists", too, not in the sense of
nationality but of ordinary people doing the job not being done by the West's professional
so-called "journalists".
I will go back to an approach that served me well with regard to the Iraq WMD story. I have
no way of evaluating Yan's claims, but there are a fair number of people and organizations that
do have the resources to evaluate. I rejected WMD claims in 2003 simply because none of the
other players with relevant competence acted in ways that indicated serious concern. What is
Yan Li-meng's evidence that others do not have? This issue of origin has to have been pursued
by at least a couple dozen organizations with the necessary competence. None of those has made
any such claims. That doesn't mean that the claims are false. But if the claims are true, then
there must be very strong motives for keeping silent. So what would be the common interest
between, say, the intelligence agencies of Germany and those of India?
Without such evidence this turns into a she-said-he-said story. Now that does not mean that
it is wrong. Suppression and intimidation would not be out of character for the Chinese
government. But again the world is loaded with very paranoid people who are capable of
evaluating that. And who are pretty much immune to Chinese intimidation. They don't have to
face off against the Chinese state. There are plenty of more roundabout ways to get the word
out if you want to do so and have government-level resources to put into the effort.
The obvious alternative to publication of the logic for detecting human agency is to engage
in simple human retaliation. Are the Chinese the only ones capable of such producing such a
catastrophe? Pretty unlikely. Would such a counterstroke catch the Chinese by surprise? Again
unlikely if they are aware of having stepped over the line. The measures they are taking
against virus outbreaks are more extreme than what western countries have imposed, but not
(yet) indicating panic. If somebody let some 1918 swine flu loose in Shanghai, would their
measures be able to counter it? (Five times as contagious as what we seeing in covid-19.)
Red State raises additional skepticism about this "scientist's interview", as well as the
oddities of the very original days of reporting about the Chinese t "flu" coming out of
China. Remembering also one of the very first ways we even started hearing about this "new
Chinese virus" in the US were reports about the Great Toilet Paper panic, even though people
here did not know why they were supposed to be hoarding it. https://www.redstate.com/michael_thau/2020/09/17/920958/
Best I could trace was to an earlier Australian toilet paper panic they claimed was hawked
by Yahoo News in Australia, and then spread via social media to the US. And our Great Toilet
Paper Hoax began in earnest here too. China was allegedly the source for all Australian TP,
so it was claimed with so many people sick in China with this "flu" there would be no more
toilet paper Down Under for their down unders.
But the US did not rely on China for TP, so the TP panic was not warrented to be set in
motion here. But it did capture attention and did trigger panic before we even knew what to
be afraid of. Greasing the skids in some manipulative way could be one jaundiced
conclusion.
Hope someone with better skills can really trace the origins of the Great Toilet Paper
Hoax, because it did wipe us out in the US. No sheet. Was that the covid panic transmission
route; and not really on a flight from Wuhan to Seattle?
No - but she may be another in a long line of useful idiots.
"Independent fact checkers?" 25 year old Humanities and Social Sciences grads working
for Facebook? Independent of what? Independent of their mommies and daddies at long
last?
Countervailing research goes light-years beyond "Independent fact checkers?".
Italicized/bold text was excerpted from nature.com a report titled:
The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and
SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with
mild symptoms6. Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from
comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer a perspective on the notable features of the
SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could have arisen. Our analyses clearly
show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated
virus.
The genomic features described here may explain in part the infectiousness and
transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not
a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other
theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2
features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related coronaviruses
in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is
plausible.
Italicized/bold text was excerpted from The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and
Hygiene a report titled:
The Origin of COVID-19 and Why It Matters
In 2007, scientists studying coronaviruses warned: "The presence of a large
reservoir of SARS-CoV–like viruses in horseshoe bats is a time bomb. The possibility of
the re-emergence of SARS and other novel viruses should not be ignored."1
Studying animal viruses that have previously spilled over into humans provides clues
about host-switching determinants. A well-understood example is influenza virus emergence
into humans and other mammals.2 Human pandemic and seasonal influenza viruses arise from
enzootic viruses of wild waterfowl and shore birds. From within this natural reservoir, the
1918 pandemic "founder" virus somehow host-switched into humans. We know this from genetic
studies comparing avian viruses, the 1918 virus, and its descendants, which have caused three
subsequent pandemics, as well as annual seasonal influenza in each of the 102 years since
1918. Similarly, other avian influenza viruses have host-switched into horses, dogs, pigs,
seals, and other vertebrates, with as yet unknown pandemic potential.2,10,11 Although some
molecular host-switching events remain unobserved, phylogenetic analyses of influenza viruses
allow us to readily characterize evolution and host-switching as it occurs in
nature.2
It should be clarified that theories about a hypothetical man-made origin of
SARS-CoV-2 have been thoroughly discredited by multiple coronavirus experts.21,28,29
SARS-CoV-2 contains neither the genetic fingerprints of any of the reverse genetics systems
that have been used to engineer coronaviruses nor does it contain genetic sequences that
would have been "forward engineered" from preexisting viruses, including the genetically
closest sarbecoviruses. That is, SARS-CoV-2 is unlike any previously identified coronavirus
from which it could have been engineered. Moreover, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain,
which has affinity for cells of various mammals, binds to human ACE2 receptors via a novel
mechanism.
Engineering such a virus would have required 1) published or otherwise available
scientific knowledge that did not exist until after COVID-19 recognition; 2) a failure to
follow obvious engineering pathways, resulting in an imperfectly constructed virus; and 3) an
ability to genetically engineer a new virus without leaving fingerprints of the engineering.
Furthermore, the 12 amino acid furin-cleavage site insertion between the SARS-CoV-2 spike
protein's S1 and S2 domains, which some have alleged to be a sign of genetic engineering, is
found in other bat and human coronaviruses in nature, probably arising via naturally
occurring recombination.24
It is also highly unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 was released from a laboratory by
accident because no laboratory had the virus nor did its genetic sequence exist in any
sequence database before its initial GenBank deposition (early January 2020). China's
laboratory safety practices, policies, training, and engineering are equivalent to those of
the United States and other developed countries,32 making viral "escape" extremely unlikely,
and of course impossible without a viral isolate present. SARS-CoV-2 shares genetic
properties with many other sarbecoviruses, lies fully within their genetic cluster, and is
thus a virus that emerged naturally.
Italicized/bold text was excerpted from nature.com a report titled:
Evolutionary origins of the SARS-CoV-2 sarbecovirus lineage responsible for the
COVID-19 pandemic
There are outstanding evolutionary questions on the recent emergence of human
coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 including the role of reservoir species, the role of recombination and
its time of divergence from animal viruses. We find that the sarbecoviruses -- the viral
subgenus containing SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 -- undergo frequent recombination and exhibit
spatially structured genetic diversity on a regional scale in China. SARS-CoV-2 itself is not
a recombinant of any sarbecoviruses detected to date, and its receptor-binding motif,
important for specificity to human ACE2 receptors, appears to be an ancestral trait shared
with bat viruses and not one acquired recently via recombination. To employ phylogenetic
dating methods, recombinant regions of a 68-genome sarbecovirus alignment were removed with
three independent methods. Bayesian evolutionary rate and divergence date estimates were
shown to be consistent for these three approaches and for two different prior specifications
of evolutionary rates based on HCoV-OC43 and MERS-CoV. Divergence dates between SARS-CoV-2
and the bat sarbecovirus reservoir were estimated as 1948 (95% highest posterior density
(HPD): 1879–1999), 1969 (95% HPD: 1930–2000) and 1982 (95% HPD: 1948–2009),
indicating that the lineage giving rise to SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating unnoticed in bats
for decades.
With horseshoe bats currently the most plausible origin of SARS-CoV-2, it is
important to consider that sarbecoviruses circulate in a variety of horseshoe bat species
with widely overlapping species ranges57. Nevertheless, the viral population is largely
spatially structured according to provinces in the south and southeast on one lineage, and
provinces in the centre, east and northeast on another (Fig. 3). This boundary appears to be
rarely crossed. Two exceptions can be seen in the relatively close relationship of Hong Kong
viruses to those from Zhejiang Province (with two of the latter, CoVZC45 and CoVZXC21,
identified as recombinants) and a recombinant virus from Sichuan for which part of the genome
(region B of SC2018 in Fig. 3) clusters with viruses from provinces in the centre,
east and northeast of China. SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 are also exceptions because they were
sampled from Hubei and Yunnan, respectively.
It is clear from our analysis that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 have been
circulating in horseshoe bats for many decades. The unsampled diversity descended from the
SARS-CoV-2/RaTG13 common ancestor forms a clade of bat sarbecoviruses with generalist
properties -- with respect to their ability to infect a range of mammalian cells -- that
facilitated its jump to humans and may do so again. Although the human ACE2-compatible RBD
was very likely to have been present in a bat sarbecovirus lineage that ultimately led to
SARS-CoV-2, this RBD sequence has hitherto been found in only a few pangolin viruses.
Furthermore, the other key feature thought to be instrumental in the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to
infect humans -- a polybasic cleavage site insertion in the S protein -- has not yet
been seen in another close bat relative of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
As if on cue Li-Meng Yan appears like manna from heaven aiding/abetting in foisting
forth the current dominant Western government/media narrative that China is bad.
Must. Pass. Foreign. Relations. Policy. Past. USDoS. First. Well that is
unforgiveable for the Masters of the Universe(TM). No-one knows exactly what's in it except
that it is substantial. Still, the USDoS is having a public aneurism tells us that they care
a lot.
Every time you "impose costs" on another country, you make more enemies and inspire more
end-around plays which take you as an economic player out of that loop. And by and by what
you do is of no great consequence, and your ability – your LEGAL ability, I should
interject – to 'impose costs' is gone.
Sooner or later America's allies are going to
refuse to recognize its extraterritorial sanctions, which it has no legal right to impose; it
gets away with it by threatening costs in trade with the USA, which is a huge economy and is
something under its control.
But that practice causes other countries to gradually insulate
themselves against exposure, and one day the cost of obeying will be greater than the
cost of saying "Go fuck yourself".
So what we have here, if we accept the basic discourse of this highly interesting article, is
therefore likely the following:
China got hit by various "flu weapons" and "livestock diseases" over the last twenty
years, to keep the "dirty commies" from "getting too uppity", but, not counting SARS, only
became capable of keeping an accurate tally of the different jabs and pokes over the last
five years.
At some point, the Chinese government decided that enough is enough. Their think-tanks
recommended the following strategy as the only feasible one: the next time they get seeded,
the instantly pounce on the new pathogen, and blow it out of all proportion, causing a) the
whole world to panic, and b) the whole world to start paying attention to the issue of new
and old pathogens floating around.
In this sense, the "it's just the flu bro" people are correct, meaning that this is not
really some apocalyptic plague that justifies shutting down the world. But on the other hand,
it was used by Beijing as an example to point out that this crap is happening, and that they
know it's happening, and that this game can't be played like this anymore.
In effect they "pulled a Trump". Through their bombastic overreaction, they forced the
whole world to notice and discuss the issue they wanted noticed and discussed.
So from now on, the whole world -- except the Anglospherical powers completely taken over
by the GloboHomo alliance of corporations, deep state, and baizuo (and where the heritage
white demographic replacement has gone farthest) -- will also be super careful about these
things, and evidence will begin to accumulate through this "forced crowd-sourcing".
Everyone was expecting US President Donald Trump to go nuclear by de facto sanctioning China
to death over Hong Kong. In an environment where Twitter and the President of the United States
are now engaged in open warfare, the rule is that there are no rules anymore.
So in the end, what was announced against China amounted to an anti-climax.
The US government, as it stands, is terminating its relationship with the World Health
Organization (WHO). The geopolitical repercussions are immense and that will take time to sink
in. In the short term, something must be blamed for the US' appalling Covid-19 record, so it
might as well be a UN institution.
Hong Kong's preferential trade status will also be terminated, but in a hazy future in still
undetermined terms.
Phase 1 of the US-China trade deal still stands – at least for now. Yet there's no
guarantee that Beijing itself won't start to doubt it.
The bottom line: "Investors" were duly appeased, for now. Team Trump seems not to be exactly
versed in the niceties of Hong Kong's Basic Law, as the president stressed the "plain violation
of Beijing's treaty obligations with the United Kingdom." The national security law was blasted
as "the latest" Chinese aggression against its own special administrative region.
Now compare all this with the Two Sessions in Beijing ending the day before, with an
intriguing, quite Keynesian performance by Prime Minister Li Keqiang. This was compelling as
much for what Li did not say as for what he chose to put on the public record.
Let's review some of the highlights. Li stressed that the NPC's resolution putting forth a
national
security law for Hong Kong is meant to protect "one country, two systems," and not as an
"aggression."
Instead of demonizing the WHO, Beijing is committed to a serious scientific investigation of
the origins of Sars-Cov-2. "No cover-up" will be allowed, Li said, adding that a clear,
scientific understanding should contribute to global public health. Beijing also supports an
independent review into the WHO's handling of Covid-19.
Geopolitically, China rejects a
"Cold War mentality" and hopes China and the US will be able to cooperate. Li stressed the
relationship could be either mutually beneficial or mutually harmful. Decoupling was described as a very
bad idea, for bilateral relations and for the world at large. China, after all, will start to
import more and that should also profit US companies.
Domestically, the absolute focus – 70% of the available new funding – will be on
employment, support for small and medium enterprises and measures to encourage consumption
rather than investment in infrastructure building. In summation, in Li's own words: "The
central government will live on a tight budget."
If not completely Sisyphean in the long term, it will at least be a "daunting task" in Li's
terminology considering the previously stated end-of-2020 deadline would be to reach President
Xi Jinping's goal of eliminating poverty across China.
Li said absolutely nothing about three key themes: the alarming Himalayan border stand-off
between China and India; the prospects for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects; and China's
complex geopolitical and geo-economic relationship with the European Union (EU).
The non-mention of the last theme is especially noticeable after Chancellor Merkel's quite
encouraging assessment earlier this week and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell's remark to
a group of German ambassadors that "the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an
Asian century" is now "happening in front of our eyes."
Confirming steady rumors emanating from Frankfurt, Berlin, Brussels and Paris, China and
East Asia are taking precedence as the EU's top trading partner. This is something that will be
extensively discussed at the upcoming EU-China summit next autumn in Germany. The EU is going
Eurasia. Team Trump won't be amused.
Dancing with wolves, remixed
Predictably, the Beijing leadership needs to focus on domestic consumption and reaching the
next level on technological production so as not to fall into the notorious " middle-income
trap ." Fine-tuning the balance between domestic stability and a very strong and wide
global reach is another tak that brings Sisyphos to mind.
Xi, Li and the Politburo very well know that Covid-19 hugely affected migrants, farmers and
small-scale family entrepreneurs. The risk of social unrest is very high. Unemployment
protection is far from Scandinavian levels. So back to business, fast, has to be the top
priority.
Enveloping this strategy is a new diplomatic offensive. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, usually
meticulously nuanced and polite, is now increasingly exasperated . Earlier this
week, Yi defined the demonization of China by the US over Covid-19 as "a product of the three
no's": no grounds, no factual basis and no international precedent.
Moreover, he described attempts to blackmail China through threats as "daydreaming." The
Global Times, for its part, has blasted the Trump administration for "typical international
hooliganism" and additionally stressed that "labeling Chinese diplomacy as 'wolf warrior'
reflects an extreme ideology."
The "wolf warrior" plot is bound to thicken. Beijing does seem ready to deploy its
diplomatic force as wolf warriors. One should always keep in mind General Qiao Liang :
if China is forced to dance with wolves, it might as well set up the rhythm.
That applies perfectly to the Hong Kong question. Whatever Team Trump thinks, Beijing has no
interest whatsoever in disturbing the Hong Kong financial system or collapsing the Hang Seng
index. That's exactly what the black block protesters last year were accomplishing.
What we saw during this week is the result of what a task force, sent to Shenzhen last year
to examine every angle of the protests, relayed back to the leadership in Beijing.
The sources of financing for the hardcore black blocks have reputedly been cut. The local 5
th columnist "leaders" have been isolated. Beijing was being very patient tackling
the whole mess. Then along came Covid-19.
The economic consensus in Beijing is that this will be an L-shaped recovery – actually
very slow on the bottom of the L. So the West will buy much less from and invest much less in
China.
This implies that Hong Kong is not going to be very useful. Its best bet has already been
offered many times over: integrate with the Greater Bay Area and be part of a booming Pearl
river delta southern cluster. Hong Kong businesses support it.
ORDER IT NOW
Another conclusion was that, whatever Beijing does, the Sinophobic hysteria in the US
– and in this case also the UK – is unabated. So now is the right moment to go for
the national security law, which of course is against subversion, against British-era "wigs"
(judges) acting as 5 th columnists and, most of all, against money laundering.
A Global Times editorial cut to the chase: the national security law is the "death knell"
for US intervention in Hong Kong.
Cold War 2.0
As much as Yi may have said, this time diplomatically, that we're "on the brink" of a new
Cold War, the fact is the Trump administration's hybrid war on China – or Cold War 2.0
– is now fully established.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is openly threatening Five Eyes allies and vassals, as
well as Israel, with consequences if they fail to ditch any projects linked to Belt and
Road.
That is intimately linked to the avalanche of threats and measures against Huawei and
everything connected to Made in China 2025, which proceeds at a fast pace but without using the
terminology.
The official Trump re-election campaign strategy "China, China, China," detailed in a
57-page memo to Republicans, is bound to be deployed as total hybrid warfare, including
non-stop propaganda, threats, infowar technologies, cyber warfare and breaking news
fabrications.
The ultimate objective shared by every Sinophobic strand, whether commercially-minded or
think tank-based, is to derail the Chinese economy – a top level competitor – by
any means necessary and thus cripple the ongoing Eurasian integration process whose three key
nodes, China, Russia and Iran, happen to be top "threats" according to the US national security
strategy.
Once again, the gloves are off. And Beijing won't stop counterpunching in kind.
It's as if Beijing had so far serially underestimated the Deep State and Beltway's larger
than life obsession with always remaining the undisputed hegemon, geopolitically and
geo-economically. Every "conflict" erupting across the chessboard is and will continue to be
directly linked to the twin objectives of containment of Russia and disruption of the Belt and
Road.
I previously referred to the
Empire of Chaos , where a plutocracy progressively projects its own internal disintegration
upon the whole world. But only now is the serious game starting, complete with Trump's
intention to test nuclear bombs again. Not against a bunch of low-life "terrorists," but
against a serious, peer-competitor: the Eurasian strategic partnership.
It would be too much to expect Team Trump to learn from Gramscian analyses
of Belt and Road, which demonstrate how the Chinese Dream – a Confucianist variant of
neoliberalism – marks the evolution of China into a core production zone in the
neoliberal world economy by profiting from the existing global legal structure.
Team Trump has vociferously announced its own strategy. Expect serial, silent Sun Tzu
counterpunches.
In the short term, something must be blamed for the US' appalling Covid-19 record, so it
might as well be a UN institution.
On January 29th 2020 Peter Navarro sent Trump a memo advocating an immediate ban on air
travel between China and the US. That Navarro's advice was not taken indicates that Trump
believed the WHO, and they believed China. Only Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and India, with their
distrust of China escaped the straight-out-of-Wunan pandemic. The WHO between 12-22 January
passed on a message to the whole wide world from China that the Wuhan disease had shown no
signs of sustained transmissibility, China had knew that was not true by the 23rd of January,
when they instituted an absolute cordoning off of Wuhan with a draconian internal closedown
of the city.
China did not bother to pass on this trifling little tidbit, they just left every other
country to find out for themselves that the Wuhan disease would cause a global pandemic.
Right into February China kept insisting and obscurely menacing that no country suspend
flights to or from China. Until February China had insisted with obscure menaces that no
country suspend flights to or from China.
The Global Times, for its part, has blasted the Trump administration for "typical
international hooliganism" and additionally stressed that "labeling Chinese diplomacy as
'wolf warrior' reflects an extreme ideology."
That is absolutely fine, and actually desirable. Each country should defend its own
interests to an extreme degree and in that way a equitable settlement of issues can be
reached. It is when one side starts thinking that the other is soft in the head and can be
taken advantage of that there are problems. Fortunately Navarro's stock with Trump is now sky
high.
I previously referred to the Empire of Chaos, where a plutocracy progressively projects
its own internal disintegration upon the whole world.
This is the total gulf in outlook between us. I happen to believe that states function to
survive over-against other states, that is the reason for their existence and they continue
to exist because they act that way. Internal power struggles do not determine the way a state
behaves, at least not to the extent of it acting like a rabid dog. It most certainly is not
true that plutocracy of any sort of cohesiveness, or lack of it, has proved less warlike that
democracy. From its first appearance in Ancient Athens, democracy was the most aggressive and
predatory of all systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_dog
Historian Chang-tai Hung suggests the term was used to invoke negative mental imagery; "The
image of a running dog parallels that of the United States as a wolf . Both bestial
representations provide convenient and familiar symbols that political artists can target,
but they also validate the use of violence since the annihilation of beasts is
justified
Canines have very low status in China, wild animals even more so. Mao Zedong compared the
US to a wolf. I think it likely Xi's statement is better translated as talking about Chinese
officials as wolf hunters .
As the United States embarks on a fourth month of a chain reaction of crises spurred by the novel Coronavirus, a president with
flagging re-election chances addressed a weary nation Friday. Donald Trump and senior members of his foreign policy and economic
teams -- top diplomat Michael
R. Pompeo , leading China hawk
Peter
Navarro , trade representative Robert Lighthizer
, National Security Council chief
Robert C. O'Brien and
Treasury secretary
Steve
Mnuchin -- unveiled fresh policy on the People's Republic of China. Trump's national address in the Rose Garden Friday was the
first since anarchic protests broke out in several American cities -- centrally, Minneapolis -- earlier this week, in response to
the controversial death of Minnesota man George Floyd at the hands of police, which followed months of national frustration.
China hawks -- including Navarro and powerbroker, informal advisors to the administration such as
Tucker
Carlson and Steve Bannon
-- have repeatedly urged an uncompromising response to the hostile actors in Beijing. Proponents of a tougher line have consistently
argued for a nationally-minded surge of power: the United States should have a tariff policy, and it should begin returning the nation's
critical supply chains closer to Washington's orbit. Yet, while Trump has been the most tough-minded president on China in at least
a generation, he has remained something of a moderate within his own court, as well as within a broader American foreign policy community
that's wised up and changed its mind on the Chinese state.
Balancing a national security legacy with shorter-term, finance-minded considerations has been a hallmark of the Trump approach.
This was perhaps most on display with the negotiation of the flawed
"Phase One " trade deal that was inked just before the pandemic began battering the American mainland. After laying out the depressing
recent history of American diplomacy toward Beijing, the president -- true to form -- began his address on the subject with an equivocal
tone: "But I have never solely blamed China for this. They were able to get away with the theft, like no one was able to get away
with before, because of past politicians, and frankly, past presidents."
Still, what was obvious Friday at the White House was a paradigm shift unimaginable even five years ago, just before Trump announced
for president. "We must have answers," Trump said. "Not only for us, but for the rest of the world. This pandemic has underscored
the crucial importance of building up America's economic independence, re-shoring our critical supply chains, and protecting America's
scientific and technological advances." The president said the United States is severing its relationship with the World Health Organization
-- under fire since the inception of the crisis for its toadyism toward the Chinese state. And he echoed the disappointing news announced
by Pompeo earlier this week -- that in the face of recent Chinese actions, the United States can longer consider the leadership in
Hong Kong distinct from the Communist Party.
The Hull Note to the Japanese Ambassador to the US in November 1941 consists of 2 sections. The first section is a "Draft mutual
declaration of policy" by stating these principles[6]:
inviolability of territorial integrity and sovereignty of each and all nations.
non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
equality, including equality of commercial opportunity and treatment.
reliance upon international cooperation and conciliation for the prevention and pacific settlement of controversies
non-discrimination in international commercial relations.
international economic cooperation and abolition of extreme nationalism as expressed in excessive trade restrictions.
non-discriminatory access by all nations to raw material supplies.
full protection of the interests of consuming countries and populations as regards the operation of international commodity agreements.
establishment of such institutions and arrangements of international finances
The second section consists of 10 points and is titled "Steps to be taken by the Government of the United States and by the
Government of Japan"[6]
The Neocons have finally corralled the President into a full blown, hegemonic Cold War with China rather than focus on reasonable
trade policies.
Hong-kong, I'm certain Pompeo and his crew has actually read the re-integration agreement w/China, given it a fair hearing
and after much reflection concluded that China is violating it rather than playing on everyone's emotions to stir up conflict.
What China has done in Hong-kong (how many deaths? zero) is worse than what the Saudis did by leveling one of their own Shiites
cities, eh, Iranian sympahtzers, we sold them the weapons.
or how France treated the Yellow Vests
or our new fascist best friends did in Bolivia by ousting an elected President and then canceling the elections they were supposed
to have in April.
"... Instead of reining in the "globalist elites" he so vociferously ran against or those corporations "who have no loyalty to America," his one legislative achievement has been to award them a massive tax cut. Through it, he has maintained their favorite mix of low revenue intake and high deficits which gives Republicans a pretext to "starve the beast" and induce fiscal anorexia. ..."
"... Trump ran as a populist firebrand -- a fusion of Huey Long and Ross Perot -- and while he never abandoned that style, he has governed for the most part as a milquetoast free market Republican in perfect tandem with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, one whose solution to everything is more tax cuts and deregulation: a kind of turbo-charged "high-energy Jeb." ..."
"... With the outbreak of COVID-19, many on the reformist right are hoping for the emergence of the President Trump they thought they were promised, a leader just as ready to break out of the donor-enforced "small government" straitjacket while in power as he was during the campaign. ..."
"... The heightened rhetoric against China will continue -- the one thing Trump is good at -- but it is unlikely to be matched with the required policy ..."
"... If neoliberalism excused inequality at home by extolling the equalization of incomes across the globe (millions of Chinese raised from poverty, while millions of American workers fall back into it!), the new position must shift emphasis back to ensuring a more equitable domestic distribution of wealth and opportunity across all classes and communities in this country. ..."
"... It is worth pondering what might have happened if the administration had gone the other way and followed the last piece of policy advice given by Steve Bannon before his ouster in August 2017. Bannon suggested raising the top marginal income tax rate to 44 percent while "arguing that it would actually hit left-wing millionaires in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street, and in Hollywood." ..."
"... It might well have put Trump on the path to becoming what Daniel Patrick Moynihan once proposed as a model for Richard Nixon when he gifted the 37th president a biography of Disraeli, namely a Tory Republican who could outsmart the left by crafting broad popular coalitions based on a blending of patriotic cultural conservatism with class-conscious economic and social policy. ..."
"... Then and even more so now, the idea resonates: a Reuters/Ipsos poll from January found that 64 percent of Americans support a wealth tax, a majority of Republicans included. Poll after poll has reaffirmed this. It seems as if there is right-wing populist support for taxing the rich more. ..."
"... There is one more thing to be said about the significance of taxing the rich. Up until very recently, there has been a prevailing tendency among the reformist right (with some important exceptions) to couch criticism of the elites primarily or even exclusively in cultural terms. There seems to have been a polite hesitation at taking the cultural critique to its logical economic conclusions. It is easy to excoriate the excesses of elite identity politics, the "woke" part of woke capitalism; it's something all conservatives -- and indeed growing numbers of liberals and socialists -- agree on. Fish in a barrel. ..."
"... But to challenge the capitalism part, i.e. free market orthodoxy, not in a secondary or tertiary way, but head on and in specific policy terms as Lofgren and a few others have done, would involve confronting difficult truths, namely that the biggest beneficiaries of tax cuts and Reaganite economic policy in general, which most conservatives enthusiastically promoted for four decades, are the selfsame decadent coastal elites they claim to oppose. It is they who more than anyone else thrive on financialized globalization, arbitrage and offshoring. ..."
"... In other words, it amounts to an honest recognition of the complicity of conservatism in the mess we're in, which is perhaps a psychological bridge too far for too many on the right, reformist or not. (Trigger Warning!) This separation of culture and economics has led to the farce of a self-styled nationalist president lining the pockets of his nominal enemies, the globalist ruling class. ..."
"... A conservative call to tax the rich would signal that the right is ready to end this charade and chart a course toward a more patriotic, public-spirited and yes, proudly hyphenated capitalism. ..."
"... Michael Cuenco is a writer on politics and policy. He has also written for American Affairs. ..."
They also left worker wages stagnant and increased the deficit. Where is our more nationalist economic policy?
Much has been written about the disappointment of certain segments of the right in the apparent capitulation of Donald Trump to
the agenda of the conservative establishment.
Instead of reining in the "globalist elites" he so vociferously ran against or those corporations "who have no loyalty to America,"
his one legislative achievement has been to award them a massive tax cut. Through it, he has maintained their favorite mix of low
revenue intake and high deficits which gives Republicans a pretext to "starve the beast" and induce fiscal anorexia.
The president has granted them as well their ideal labor market through an ingenious formula: double down on mostly symbolic raids
(as opposed to systemic solutions like Mandatory E-Verify) and ramp up the rhetoric about "shithole countries" to distract the media,
but keep the supply of cheap, exploitable low-skill labor (legal and illegal) intact for the business lobby.
Trump ran as a populist firebrand -- a fusion of Huey Long and Ross Perot -- and while he never abandoned that style, he has governed
for the most part as a milquetoast free market Republican in perfect tandem with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, one whose solution
to everything is more tax cuts and deregulation: a kind of turbo-charged "high-energy Jeb."
With the outbreak of COVID-19, many on the reformist right are hoping for the emergence of the President Trump they thought they
were promised, a leader just as ready to break out of the donor-enforced "small government" straitjacket while in power as he was
during the campaign.
Despite signs of progress, what's more likely is a return to business as usual. Already the GOP's impulse for austerity and parsimony
is proving to be stronger than any willingness to think and act outside the box.
The heightened rhetoric against China will continue -- the one thing Trump is good at -- but it is unlikely to be matched with
the required policy, such as a long-term plan to reshore U.S. industry (that doesn't just rely on blindly giving corporations the
benefit of the doubt). At this point, we already know where the president's priorities lie when given a choice between the advancement
of America's workers or continued labor arbitrage and carte blanche corporate handouts.
Lest they be engulfed by it like everyone else, the reformist right should ask: is there any way to stand athwart the supply-side
swamp yelling Stop?
Many of these conservatives lament the Trump tax cut not just because it was a disaster that failed to spark reinvestment, left
wages stagnant, needlessly blew up the deficit and served as a slush fund for stock buybacks, but more fundamentally because it betrayed
the overwhelming intellectual inertia and lack of imagination that characterizes conservative policymaking.
More than in any other issue then, a distinct position on taxes would make the new conservatism truly worth distinguishing from
the old: tax cuts were after all the defining policy dogma of the neoliberal Reagan era.
If neoliberalism excused inequality at home by extolling the equalization of incomes across the globe (millions of Chinese raised
from poverty, while millions of American workers fall back into it!), the new position must shift emphasis back to ensuring a more
equitable domestic distribution of wealth and opportunity across all classes and communities in this country.
A reformulation of fiscal policy along populist economic nationalist lines can help with that.
It is worth pondering what might have happened if the administration had gone the other way and followed the last piece of policy
advice given by Steve Bannon before his ouster in August 2017. Bannon suggested raising the top marginal income tax rate to 44 percent
while "arguing that it would actually hit left-wing millionaires in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street, and in Hollywood."
Such a move would have been nothing short of revolutionary: it would have been a faithful and full-blown expression of the populist
economic nationalism Trump ran on; it would have presented a genuine material threat to the elite ruling class of both parties, and
likely would have pre-empted the shock value of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposing a 70 percent top marginal rate.
It might well have put Trump on the path to becoming what Daniel Patrick Moynihan once proposed as a model for Richard Nixon when
he gifted the 37th president a biography of Disraeli, namely a Tory Republican who could outsmart the left by crafting broad popular
coalitions based on a blending of patriotic cultural conservatism with class-conscious economic and social policy.
Not that Trump would have needed to go back to Nixon or Disraeli for instruction on the matter. In 1999, long before Elizabeth
Warren came along on the national scene, a presidential candidate eyeing the Reform Party nomination contemplated the imposition
of a 14.25 percent wealth tax on America's richest citizens in order to pay off the national debt: his name was Donald Trump.
What ever happened to that guy? The Trump of 1999 was onto something. Maybe this could be a way to deal with our post-pandemic
deficits.
Then and even more so now, the idea resonates: a Reuters/Ipsos poll from January found that 64 percent of Americans support a
wealth tax, a majority of Republicans included. Poll after poll has reaffirmed this. It seems as if there is right-wing populist
support for taxing the rich more.
To the common refrain, "the rich are just going to find ways to shelter their income or relocate it offshore," I have written
elsewhere about the concrete policy measures countries can and have taken to clip the wings of mobile global capital and prevent
such an outcome.
I have written as well about how taxing the rich and tightening the screws on tax enforcement have implications that go beyond
the merely redistributive approach to fiscal policy conventionally favored by the left; about how it can be a form of leverage against
an unaccountable investor class used to shopping at home and abroad for the most opaque assets in which to hoard vast amounts of
essentially idle capital.
A deft administration would use aggressive fiscal policy as an inducement for this irresponsible class to make things right by
reinvesting in such priorities as the wages and well-being of workers, the vitality of communities, the strength of strategic industries
and the productivity of the real economy – or else Uncle Sam will tax their wealth and do it for them.
It would also be an assertion of national sovereignty against globalization's command for countries to stay "competitive" by immiserating
their citizens with ever-lower taxes on capital holders and ever more loose and "flexible" labor markets in a never-ending race to
the bottom.
Mike Lofgren has penned a marvelous essay in these pages about the virtual secession of the rich from the American nation, "with
their prehensile greed, their asocial cultural values, and their absence of civic responsibility."
What better way to remind them that they are still citizens of a country and members of a society -- and not just floating streams
of deracinated capital -- than by making them perform that most basic of civic duties, paying one's fair share and contributing to
the commonweal? America need not revert to the 70-90 percent top marginal rates of the bolshevik administrations of Truman, Eisenhower
or Kennedy, but proposals for modest moves in that direction would be welcome.
There is one more thing to be said about the significance of taxing the rich. Up until very recently, there has been a prevailing
tendency among the reformist right (with some important exceptions) to couch criticism of the elites primarily or even exclusively
in cultural terms. There seems to have been a polite hesitation at taking the cultural critique to its logical economic conclusions.
It is easy to excoriate the excesses of elite identity politics, the "woke" part of woke capitalism; it's something all conservatives
-- and indeed growing numbers of liberals and socialists -- agree on. Fish in a barrel.
But to challenge the capitalism part, i.e. free market orthodoxy, not in a secondary or tertiary way, but head on and in specific
policy terms as Lofgren and a few others have done, would involve confronting difficult truths, namely that the biggest beneficiaries
of tax cuts and Reaganite economic policy in general, which most conservatives enthusiastically promoted for four decades, are the
selfsame decadent coastal elites they claim to oppose. It is they who more than anyone else thrive on financialized globalization,
arbitrage and offshoring.
In other words, it amounts to an honest recognition of the complicity of conservatism in the mess we're in, which is perhaps
a psychological bridge too far for too many on the right, reformist or not. (Trigger Warning!) This separation of culture and economics
has led to the farce of a self-styled nationalist president lining the pockets of his nominal enemies, the globalist ruling class.
Already, the White House is proposing yet another gigantic corporate tax cut. Using the exact same discredited logic as the last
one, senior economic advisor Larry Kudlow wants Americans to trust him when he says that halving the already lowered 2017 rate to
10.5 percent will encourage these eminently reasonable multinationals to reinvest. There he goes again.
A conservative call to tax the rich would signal that the right is ready to end this charade and chart a course toward a more
patriotic, public-spirited and yes, proudly hyphenated capitalism.
Michael Cuenco is a writer on politics and policy. He has also written for American Affairs.
"America need not revert to the 70-90 percent top marginal rates of the bolshevik administrations of Truman, Eisenhower or Kennedy,
but proposals for modest moves in that direction would be welcome."
Those tax rates were offset by direct investment in the US economy. So if I invested in the stock market, I'd get a 90% tax
rate because that doesn't produce actual wealth. On the other hand, if I invested in building factories that created thousands
of jobs for American citizens, my tax rate may fall to 0%. And those policies created a fantastic economy that we oldsters remember
as the golden age. That wasn't bolshevism, it was competitive capitalism. What we have today is libertarianism. And as long as
conservatives are going to let the libertarian boogey-man's nose under the tent, we are going to have this ugly, bifurcated economy.
Your choice. Man up.
You ever tell hear of sarcasm, bud? I think that's what the author was going for. Don't think he was trying to say that Ike and
Truman were Bolsheviks but was rather making fun of libertarians who hyperbolically associate high tax rates with socialism and
Soviet Communism...
We absolutely do not have libertarianism operating in this country today. There is simply no evidence that there is any
sort of libertarian economic or political system in place. Oh sure, you'll whine "but globalism without actually defining
what globalism is, or what is wrong about precisely, but just that it's somehow wrong and that libertarians are to blame for it.
There's a good word for such an argument: bullshit.
We have an economy that is extraordinarily dominated by the state via mandates, regulations, and monetary interference that is
most decidedly not libertarian in any way whatsoever. The current system though does create and perpetuate a system of
rent-seeking cronies who conform rather nicely to the descriptions of said actors by Buchanan and Tullock. The problems of the
modern economy are the result of state interference, not its absence, and Cuenco's sorry policy prescriptions do nothing to minimize
the state but instead just create a different set of rent-seeking cronies for which the wealth and incomes of the nation are to
be expropriated.
If you can point to how the current situation is in any way "libertarian" without creating your own perfect little lazy straw
man definition then by all means do so. Until then your retort is without
substance (you see a no true Scotsman reply doesn't work if the facts are in the favor of the person supposedly making such an
argument. Here you fail to establish why what I said is such a case; saying it doesn't make it so). When Kent makes some throwaway
comment that we're somehow living in some sort of libertarian era he's full of it, you know it, and all you can do is provide
some weak "no true Scotsman" defense? Come on and man up, stop appealing to artificial complaints of fallacious argumentation,
and give me an actual solid argument with evidence beyond "this is so libertarian" that we're living in some libertarian golden
age that's driving the oppression of the masses.
Busted unions, contracting out and privatization, deregulation of vast swaths of the economy since the late 1970's (Jimmy Carter
has gotten kudos from libertarian writers for his de-regulatory efforts), lowered tax rates, especially on financial speculation
and concentrated wealth, a blind eye or shrugged shoulder to anti-trust law and corporate consolidation. Yeah, nothing to see
here, no partial victories for the libertarian wings of the ruling class or the GOP, at all. The Koch Brothers accomplished nothing,
absolutely nothing, since David was the Libertarian Party's nominee for Vice President in 1980; all that money gone to waste.
Sure.
So, now some sort of "partial victory" means we're living in some sort of libertarian era? And what exactly was so wonderful about
all the things you listed being perpetuated? So, union "busting" is terrible, but union corruption was a great part of our national
solidarity and should have been protected? Deregulation of vast swathes of the economy? You mean the elimination of government
controlled cartels in the form of trucking and airlines? You mean the sorts of things that have enabled the working class folks
you supposedly favor to travel to places that were previously out of reach for them and only accessible to the rich for their
vacations? Yes, that's truly terrible. Again, you're on the side of the little guy, right? Lowered taxes? Are you seriously going
to argue that the traditional conservative position has been for high tax rates? What are taxes placed upon? People and property.
What do conservatives want to protect? People and property. So... arguing for higher taxes or saying that low taxes are bad or
even especially, libertarian, is really going off the rails. That's just bad reasoning. And regarding financialization, those
weren't especially libertarian in their enacting, but rather flow directly out of the consequences of the modern Progressive implementation
of neo-Keynesian monetary and fiscal policy. Suffice it to say, I don't think you'll find too many arguments from libertarians
that the policies encouraging financialization were good or followed libertarian economic policy prescriptions. Moreover, they
led entirely to the repulsive "too big to fail" situation and if there's one thing that libertarians hold to is that there is
no such thing (or shouldn't be) as "too big to fail." The objection to anti-trust law is that it was regularly abused and actually
created government-protected firms that harmed consumers. If you think anti-trust laws are good things and should be supported
by conservatives then by all means encourage Joe Biden to have Elizabeth Warren as his vice-presidential running mate and go vote
Democrat this fall.
"The problems of the modern economy are the result of state interference, not its absence". That's because the "state interference"
is working as proxy for the interests of vulture capitalist.
What we have today is vulture capitalism as opposed to free enterprise capitalism.
Exactly. The existence of a vulture capitalist or crony capitalist economy, which we have in many sectors, is evidence that "libertarianism"
is nothing more than a convenient totem to invoke as a rationale for complaint against the outcomes of the existing crony capitalist
state of affairs. My contention is that Cuenco, et al are simply advocating for a replacement of the cronies and vultures.
A very similar article(but probably coming at it from a slightly different angle) wouldn't look out of place in a socialist publication.
The culture war really is a pointless waste of time that keeps working class people from working towards a common solution to
shared problems.
I used to think that conservatism was about protecting private property and not, like Cuenco, in coming up with ever more excuses
for expropriating it.
No, that's libertarianism (or more properly propertarianism). Conservatism is first and foremost about responsibility to God,
community, family and self. Property is only of value in its utility towards a means.
As I see it, here are examples of how "conservatives" have actually practiced their "responsibility to God, community, family
and self":
The genocide of Native Americans
The slavery and murder of blacks
Their opposition to child labor laws, to womens' suffrage, etc.
Their support of Jim Crow laws
Their opposition to ending slavery and opposition to desegregation
Opposition to Civil Liberties Laws
Willingness to block, or curtail, voting rights.
Hyping the "imminent threat" of an ever more powerful communist menace bearing
down on us from the late 40s to the "unanticipated" collapse of the
USSR in '91. All of which was little more than endless "threat inflation" used
by our defense industry-corporate kleptocrats to justify monstrous increases
in deficits that have been "invested" in our meddlesome, murderous militarism all around the world, with the torture and deaths
of millions from S. E. Asia, to Indonesia, to Latin America, to the Middle East, to Africa, etc.
Violations of privacy rights (conservative hero J. Edgar Hoover's illegal domestic surveillance and acts of domestic terrorism,
"justified" by
his loopy paranoia about commies on every corner and under every bed.)
Toppling of democracies to install totalitarian despots in Iran
("Ike" '53), Guatemala (Ike, again, '54), Chile (Nixon '73), Brazil (LBJ, '64) and many, many more countries.
Strong support of the Vietnam War, the wars in Laos and Cambodia, and the Iraq War, which, according to conservative W. Bush,
God had inspired.
The myriad "dirty wars" we've fought around the world, and not only in Latin America.
With a few, notable exceptions, conservatives have routinely been on the wrong side of these issues. For the most part, it
has been the left, particularly the "hard left," that has gotten it right.
So conservatism should be entirely about taking people's property "for the good of the country"? That the purpose of a country
is to loot the people? That the people exist for the government and not the government for the people? Seems Edmund Burke and
Russell Kirk would like to have a word with you Adm.
To quote Kirk as just one example of your fundamental error:
Seventh, conservatives are persuaded that freedom and property are closely linked . [Apparently, Adm. you dispute
Kirk's assertion and accuse him thereby of conflating libertarianism and conservatism. Yes, I know Kirk was a hater of the
idea of patriotism, but he was such a raging libertarian what else could he do?] Separate property from private possession,
and Leviathan becomes master of all. Upon the foundation of private property, great civilizations are built. The more widespread
is the possession of private property, the more stable and productive is a commonwealth. Economic levelling[this
is the outcome of Cuenco's policy prescriptions by the way] , conservatives maintain, is not economic progress. Getting
and spending are not the chief aims of human existence; but a sound economic basis for the person, the family, and the commonwealth
is much to be desired.
So, either "Mr. Conservative" Russell Kirk wasn't really a conservative but a man who horribly conflated libertarianism and
conservatism, or we can say that Kirk was a conservative and that he recognized the protection of private property as crucial
in minimizing the control and reach of the Leviathan state. If the latter holds, then maybe what we've established is that AdmBenson
isn't particularly conservative.
"The more widespread is the possession of private property, the more stable and productive is a commonwealth." This status quo
has produced precisely the opposite of this. Wealth, assets, capital has been captured by the elite. The pitchforks are coming.
See this CBO chart:
View Hide
Conservatives accept taxes as a part of citizenship. Since taxes can't be avoided, a conservative insists on democratic representation
and has a general desire to get maximum bang for their taxpayer buck.
Libertarians, on the other hand, see everything through the lens of an individual's property rights. Taxes and regulation are
infringements on those rights, so a libertarian is always at war with their own government. They're not interested in bang for
their taxpayer buck, they just want the government to go away. I can't fault people for believing this way, but I can point out
that it is severely faulty as the operating philosophy beyond anything but a small community.
As for me not being particularly conservative, ya got me. It really depends on time of day and the level of sunspot activity.
I should have put the /s on my reply, but your response did give me a good chuckle. Besides, for that finger pointing at you,
there were three more pointing back at me.
And somehow people continually fall for the Trickle Down economic theory. George HW Bush was correct when he called this VooDoo
economics. Fiscal irresponsibility at it's finest.
Nah people don't fall for it, republicans do. The rest of us know this stuff doesn't work. We didn't need an additional datapoint
to realize that. The Tax Cuts and Jobs act was the single most unpopular piece of legislation to ever pass since polling began.
It never had support outside of the Republican Party which is why it's never had majority support.
John Kenneth Galbraith called Trickle Down "economics", "Oats and Horse Economics". If you feed the horse a lot of oats, eventually
some be left on the road...
Mitch is fully owned by Trump as is every republican that holds office except Romney. Mitch can't go to the bathroom with out
asking Trumps permission.
Mitch is owned by corporations and he likes it that way. He basically says as much whenever campaign finance reform pops up and
he defends the status quo.
Yep. The guy who declared war on the Tea Party. The guy who changed his tune entirely about China when he married into the family
of a shipping magnate.
I'm eagerly awaiting a GOP plan for economic restructuring. I've been waiting for decade(s). Surely there is someone in the entire
body of think tanks, congressional staffers, and political class that can propose a genuine and comprehensive plan for how to
rebalance production, education, and technology for the better of ALL Americans. Surely...
I honestly wonder if Jack Kemp might have had a "Road to Damascus" conversion away from his pseudo-libertarian and supply side
economic convictions if he had lived through the decade after the Great Recession. Probably not, given his political and economic
activity up until his death.
Trump pushed the tax cut because it saves him at least $20 million each year in taxes, probably closer to $50 million. That's
the only reason he does anything, because he benefits personally.
Thank you very much for posting the link to the wonderful essay by Mike Lofgren. Written 8 years ago it feels even more actual
than then. I have bookmarked it for future reference.
Looking at the US it always comes to my mind the way Rome and then Byzantium fell: a total erosion of the tax-base the rich
refused to pay anything to the imperial coffers, and then some of the rich had land bigger than some modern countries... And then
the barbarians came...
Lofgren: "What I mean by secession is a withdrawal into enclaves, an internal immigration, whereby the rich disconnect themselves
from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well being except as a place to extract loot."
That was in 2012, but that was what struck me about my well-to-do classmates
when I transferred from Cal State Long Beach to Columbia University in 1977 . Suddenly I was among people who saw America,
American laws, and a shared sense of civic responsibility as quaint, bothersome, rather tangential to the project of promoting
oneself and/or one's special interest.
The only way that factories would come back is when Americans start buying made in America. We can't wait for ANY government to
bring those factories and jobs ( and technology) . Only people voting with their pocketbooks can do it.
Still waiting for the day the first American asks "What have WE done wrong?" Rather than just following in Trumps step
and playing the victim card every step of the way and wondering why nothing gets better.
US Lawmakers Propose Total Ban On STEM Visas For Chinese Students by Tyler Durden Thu, 05/28/2020 -
10:45 As the White House prepares to
eject Chinese graduate students with ties to the PLA, three US lawmakers are taking things
a step further - proposing a bill which would ban mainland Chinese students from studying STEM
subjects in the United States .
Two senators and one House member said on Wednesday that the Secure Campus Act would bar
Chinese nationals from obtaining visas for graduate or postgraduate studies in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. Students from Taiwan and Hong Kong would be exempt ,
according to
SCMP .
"The Chinese Communist Party has long used American universities to conduct espionage on the
United States," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), one of the bill's sponsors, adding "What's worse
is that their efforts exploit gaps in current law. It's time for that to end."
"The Secure Campus Act will protect our national security and maintain the integrity of the
American research enterprise."
The proposed legislation comes as diplomatic relations have fractured between the world's
two largest economies. The fissures started to show during a trade war that has been rumbling
on for almost two years and have only widened amid accusations about the handling of the
Covid-19 disease outbreak , and the treatment of ethnic minority groups in China.
Hong Kong is the latest flashpoint after Beijing drew up a national security law that
Washington says tramples on the city's mini-constitution. The US threatened retaliation over
the move.
-SCMP
The bill will also tackle China's efforts to recruit talent overseas through their Thousand
Talents Program , an operation launched in 2008 by the CCP which seeks out international
experts in scientific research, innovation and entrepreneurship. It proposes that participants
in China's recruitment of foreigners be made to register under the Foreign Agents Registration
Act (FARA) , and would prohibit Chinese nationals and those participating in China-sponsored
programs from receiving federal grants or working on federally funded R&D in STEM fields
.
Any university, research institute or laboratory receiving federal funding would be required
to attest that they are not knowingly employing participants in China's recruitment programs -
a list of which the US Secretary of State would publish.
US law enforcement and educational agencies have raised red flags about undisclosed ties
between federally funded researchers and foreign governments. A crackdown has included
indictments and dismissals.
In January, Charles Lieber, 60, chairman of the chemistry and chemical biology department
at Harvard University, was arrested and charged for lying about his involvement in the
Thousand Talents Programme .
-SCMP
Meanwhile, earlier this month a professor at the University of Arkansas who received
millions of dollars in research grants, including $500,000 from NASA, was
arrested and charged with one count of wire fraud.
According to the FBI, Ang failed to disclose that he was getting paid by a Chinese
university and Chinese companies in violation of university policy. He is accused of making
false statements while failing to disclose his extensive ties to China as a member of the
"Thousand Talents Scholars" program.
63-year-old Simon Saw-Teong Ang is the
director of the school's High Density Electronics Center, which received funding from the
National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD) and
NASA. Since 2013, Ang has been the primary investigator or co-investigator on US
government-funded grants totaling over $5 million, according to the
Washington Examiner .
In November, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations chaired by Sen. Rob Portman
(R-OH) released a
109-page bipartisan report which concluded that foreign nations "seek to exploit America's
openness to advance their own national interests," the most ambitious of which "has been
China," according to the Examiner . According to the report, Chinese academics involved in
their so-called 'Thousand Talents' program have been exploiting access to US research labs
.
Backlash
According to SCMP , members of the US scientific community see the US as unfairly targeting
Chinese colleagues , and that the campaigns will discourage talented individuals from pursuing
studies at US universities.
"While we must be vigilant to safeguard research, we must also ensure that the US remains a
desirable and welcoming destination for researchers from around the world," wrote members of
60 groups - including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the
Federation of American Scientists, in a 2019 letter to science policy officials.
The US lawmakers' proposal follows China's March decision to revoke the press credentials
for US journalists from three major US newspapers - declaring five US media outlets to be
foreign government proxies. In February, the Trump administration labeled five Chinese state
media groups as "foreign missions" (via SCMP ).
There's a meme that appears now and then on Facebook and other social media: "Those who
don't study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand
by helplessly while everyone else repeats it."
That's funny. What's not is that the Trump administration and its coterie of China-bashers,
led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and aided by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, have
recently been dusting off the fake-intelligence playbook Vice President Dick Cheney used in
2002 and 2003 to justify war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. At that time, the administration of
President George W. Bush put enormous pressure on the U.S. intelligence community to ratify
spurious allegations that Saddam Hussein was in league with al-Qaeda and that his regime had
assembled an arsenal of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Fantasy claims they may have
been, but they did help to convince many skeptical conservatives and spooked liberals that a
unilateral, illegal invasion of Iraq was urgently needed.
This time around, it's the Trump administration's reckless charge that Covid-19 -- maybe
manmade, maybe not, advocates of this conspiracy theory argue -- was released perhaps
deliberately, perhaps by accident from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, the city that was the
epicenter of the outbreak late last year. It's a story that has ricocheted around the echo
chambers of the far right, from conspiracy-oriented Internet kooks like Infowars' Alex Jones to semi-respectable
media tribunes and radio talk-show hosts to the very highest reaches of the administration
itself, including President Trump.
Unlike with Iraq in 2003, the U.S. isn't planning on going to war with China, at least
not yet . But the
Trump administration's zeal in shifting attention from its own bungling of the Covid-19 crisis
to China's alleged culpability in creating a global pandemic only raises tensions precipitously
between the planet's two great powers at a terrible moment. In the process, it essentially
ensures that the two countries will be far less likely to cooperate in managing the long-term
pandemic or collaboratively working on vaccines and cures. That makes it, as in 2002-2003, a
matter of life and death.
Iraq Redux?
Back in 2002, the Bush administration launched an unending campaign of pressure on the CIA
and other intelligence agencies to falsify, distort, and cherry-pick intelligence factoids that
could be collated into a package linking al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction to Saddam
Hussein's Baghdad. At the Pentagon, neoconservatives like Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith set up an ad hoc team that
eventually took on the name of Office of Special Plans . It was
dedicated to fabricating intelligence on Iraq.
Just in case the message didn't get across, Vice President Cheney made
repeated visits to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to badger analysts to come up
with something useful. In 2003, in " The Lie Factory ," which I
co-authored with Jason Vest for Mother Jones , we reported on how Wolfowitz, Feith,
allied Defense Department officials like Harold Rhode, and neoconservative apparatchiks like
David Wurmser, then a senior adviser to Iraq-war-touting State Department Undersecretary John
Bolton (and now an unofficial
advisor to Donald Trump on Iran), actively worked to purge Pentagon and CIA officials who
resisted the push to shape or exaggerate intelligence. A year later, veteran spy-watcher James
Bamford described the whole episode in excruciating detail in his 2004 book , A Pretext for War
.
In 2020, however, President Trump is not just pressuring the intelligence community, or IC.
He's
at war with it and has been busy installing unprofessional know-nothings and sycophants in
top positions there. His bitter antipathy began even before he was sworn into office, when he
repeatedly refused to believe a sober analysis from the IC, including the CIA and FBI, that
President Vladimir Putin of Russia had aided and abetted his election. Since then, he's
continually
railed and tweeted against what he calls "
the deep state ." And he's assigned his authoritarian attorney general, Bill Barr, to
conduct a
scorched-earth offensive against the work of Special Counsel Robert
Mueller , the FBI, and the Justice Department itself, most recently by
dropping charges against admitted liar Michael Flynn, briefly Trump's first national
security advisor.
To make sure that the IC doesn't challenge his wishes and does his bidding, Trump has moved
to put his own political operatives in charge at the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence, or ODNI, created as part of an intelligence reorganization scheme after 9/11. The
effort began in February when Trump named U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as acting DNI. A highly
partisan, sharp-elbowed politico and spokesman for former National Security Advisor John
Bolton, he harbors far-right views and is a Trump loyalist, as well as an acolyte of former
Trump aide Steve Bannon. On arriving in Bonn as ambassador, Grenell soon
endorsed the rise of Europe's anti-establishment ultra-right in an
interview with Bannon's Breitbart News .
To bolster Grenell, the administration has called on another ultra-right crusader,
Kash Patel . He has
served as Republican Congressman Devin Nunes's aide in the campaign to discredit the Russia
investigation and
reportedly acted as a White House backchannel to Ukraine during the effort to stir up an
inquiry in Kiev aimed at tarring former Vice President Joe Biden.
Following that, the president
re-named Congressman John Ratcliffe of
Texas, one of the president's most enthusiastic
defenders during the debate over impeachment, to serve as Grenell's permanent replacement
at ODNI. In 2019, Trump first
floated Ratcliffe's name for the post, but it was
shot down days later, thanks to opposition from even Republican members of Congress, not to
speak of intelligence professionals and various pundits. Now,
he's back , awaiting likely confirmation.
It remains to be seen whether the Grenell-Ratcliffe tag-team, combined with Trump's
three-year campaign to disparage the intelligence community and intimidate its functionaries,
has softened them up enough for the administration's push to finger China and its labs for
creating and spreading Covid-19.
The Wuhan Lab Lies
As is often the case, that campaign began rather quietly and unobtrusively in conservative
and right-wing media outlets.
On January 24th, the right-wing Washington Times ran a
story entitled "Coronavirus may have originated in a lab linked to China's biowarfare
program." It, in turn, was playing off of a
piece that had appeared in London's Daily Mail the previous day. Written like a
science-fiction thriller, that story drew nearly all its (unverified) information from a single
source, an Israeli military intelligence China specialist. Soon, it moved from the
Washington Times to other American right-wing outlets. Steve Bannon picked it up the
next day on his podcast, " War Room:
Pandemic ," calling the piece "amazing." A few days later, the unreliable, gossipy website
ZeroHedge ran a (later much-debunked) piece saying that a Chinese scientist
bioengineered the virus, purporting even to name the scientist.
A couple of weeks later, Fox News weighed in ,
laughably citing a Dean Koontz novel, The Eyes of Darkness , about "a Chinese military
lab that creates a new virus to potentially use as a biological weapon during wartime." The day
after that, Senator Tom Cotton -- appearing on Fox, of course -- agreed that China might indeed
have created the virus. Then the idea began to go well, viral .
(Soon Cotton was even tweeting that Beijing might
possibly have deliberately released the virus.) By late February, the right's loudest voice,
Rush Limbaugh, was on the case,
claiming that the virus "is probably a ChiCom laboratory experiment that is in the process
of being weaponized." (A vivid account of how this conspiracy theory spread can be found at the
Global Disinformation Index .)
Starting in March, even as they were dismissing the seriousness of Covid-19, both Trump and
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeatedly insisted on
referring to it as the "China virus" or the "Wuhan virus," ignoring criticism that terminology
like that was both racist and inflammatory. In late March, Pompeo even managed to
scuttle a communiqué from America's allies in the Group of Seven, or G7, by
demanding that they agree to use the term "Wuhan virus." It didn't take the president long to
start threatening
retaliatory action against China for its alleged role in spreading Covid-19, while he began
comparing the pandemic to the 1941 Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor .
And all of that was but a prelude to the White House ramping up of pressure on the CIA and
the rest of the intelligence community to prove that the virus had indeed emerged, whether by
design or accident, from either the Wuhan Institute of Virology or
the Wuhan Center
for Disease Control , a branch of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An April 30th article in the New York Times
broke the story that administration officials "have pushed American spy agencies to hunt
for evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that a government laboratory in Wuhan, China,
was the origin of the coronavirus outbreak," and that Grenell had made it a "priority."
Both Trump and Pompeo would, in the meantime, repeatedly assert that they had seen actual "
evidence " that the virus had indeed come from a Chinese lab, though Trump pretended that
the information was so secret he couldn't say
anything more about it. "I can't tell you that," he said. "I'm not allowed to tell you
that." Asked during an
appearance on ABC's This Week if the virus had popped out of a lab in Wuhan, Pompeo
answered: "There is enormous evidence that that's where this began."
On April 30th, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a
terse statement , saying that so far it had concluded Covid-19 is "not manmade or
genetically modified," but that they were looking into whether or not it was "the result of an
accident at a laboratory in Wuhan." There is, however, no evidence of such an accident, nor did
the ODNI cite any.
A Finger on the Scale
The run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2002-2003 should be on all our minds today. Then, top
officials simply repeated again and again that they believed both Saddam Hussein's nonexistent
ties to al-Qaeda and his nonexistent active nuclear, chemical, and bioweapon programs were
realities and assigned intelligence community collectors and analysts to look into them (while
paying no attention to their conclusions). Now, Trump and his people are similarly putting
their fat fingers on the scale of reality, while making it clear to hopefully intimidated
intelligence professionals just what conclusions they want to hear.
Because those professionals know that their careers, salaries, and pensions depend on the
continued favor of the politicians who pay them, there is, of course, a tremendous incentive to
go along with such demands, shade what IC officials call the "estimate" in the direction the
White House wants, or at least keep their mouths shut. That is exactly what happened in 2002
and, given that Grenell, Patel, and Ratcliffe are essentially Trump toadies, the IC officials
lower on the totem pole have to be grimly aware of what their latest bosses expect from
them.
There was near-instant pushback from scientists, intelligence officials, and China experts
about the Trump-Pompeo campaign to finger the Wuhan lab. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the preeminent
American scientist and Covid-19 expert, promptly
shot it down , saying that the virus had "evolved in nature and then jumped species."
That's because actual scientists, who study the genome of the virus and its mutations,
unanimously agree that it was not generated in a lab.
Among America's allies -- Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand -- in what's called
the Five Eyes group, there was an unambiguous conclusion
that the virus had been a "naturally occurring" one and had mutated in the course of "human and
animal interaction."
Australia ,
in particular ,
rejected what appeared to be a fake-intelligence dossier about the Wuhan lab, while German
officials in an internal document ridiculed
the lab rumors as "a calculated attempt to distract" attention from the Trump administration's
own inept handling of the virus.
Finally,
according toBloomberg News , those studying the issue inside the intelligence
community now say that suspicions it emerged from a lab are "largely circumstantial since the
U.S. has very little information from the ground to back up the lab-escape theory or any
other." In the end, however, that doesn't mean top IC officials beholden to the White House
won't tailor their conclusions to fit the Trump-Pompeo narrative.
John McLaughlin, who served as deputy director and then acting director of the CIA during
the Bush administration, believes that we are indeed seeing a replay of what happened in Iraq
nearly two decades ago. "What it reminds me of is the dispute between the CIA and parts of the
Bush administration over whether there was an operational relationship between Saddam Hussein
and al-Qaeda," he
said . "They kept asking the CIA, and we kept coming back and saying, 'You know, it's just
not there.'"
Whether the tug-of-war between Trump, Pompeo, and the IC is just another passing battle in a
more than three-year-old war between the president and the "Deep State" or whether it's
something that could lead to a serious crisis between Washington and Beijing remains to be
seen. Ironically enough, in January and February of this year, the IC
provided President Trump with more than a dozen
clear warnings about the dangers to the United States and national security posed by the
coronavirus,
following clarion calls from China and
the
World Health Organization that what was happening in Wuhan could
spread worldwide -- warnings that Trump either failed to notice, disregarded, or downplayed
through March.
Were Donald Trump not so predisposed to see the intelligence community as his enemy, he
might have paid more attention back then. Had he done so, there would undoubtedly be many less
dead Americans right now and he wouldn't have had to spend his time in his own lab concocting
what might be thought of as batshit excuses for his dereliction of duty.
By the time this affair is over, the invasion of Iraq could look like the good old days.
This article has been republished with permission fromTomDispatch.
China diplomacy is trying to thread very carefully to avoid the fallout. The answer of RIA
Novosti is good example here. Counterattacks are few (see the answer to CC question with the
following money quote: "I respect your right to ask the question, but I'm afraid you're not
framing the question in the right way. One has to have a sense of right and wrong. Without it, a
person cannot be trusted, and a country cannot hold its own in the family of nations. " This is
implicit slap in the face for the USA.
RIA Novosti: How do you assess China-Russia relations in the context of COVID-19? Do you
agree with some people's characterization that China and Russia may join force to challenge US
predominance?
Wang Yi: While closely following the COVID-19 response in Russia, we have done and will
continue to do everything we can to support it. I believe under the leadership of President
Vladimir Putin, the indomitable Russian people will defeat the virus and the great Russian
nation will emerge from the challenge with renewed vigor and vitality.
Since the start of COVID-19, President Xi Jinping and President Putin have had several phone
calls and kept the closest contact between two world leaders. Russia is the first country to
have sent medical experts to China, and China has provided the most anti-epidemic assistance to
Russia. Two-way trade has gone up despite COVID-19. Chinese imports from Russia have grown
faster than imports from China's other major trading partners. The two countries have supported
and defended each other against slanders and attacks coming from certain countries. Together,
China and Russia have forged an impregnable fortress against the "political virus" and
demonstrated the strength of China-Russia strategic coordination.
I have no doubt that the two countries' joint response to the virus will give a strong boost
to China-Russia relations after COVID-19. China is working with Russia to turn the crisis into
an opportunity. We will do so by maintaining stable cooperation in energy and other traditional
fields, holding a China-Russia year of scientific and technological innovation, and
accelerating collaboration in e-commerce, bio-medicine and the cloud economy to make them new
engines of growth in our post-COVID-19 economic recovery. China and Russia will also enhance
strategic coordination. By marking the 75th anniversary of the UN, we stand ready to firmly
protect our victory in WWII, uphold the UN Charter and basic norms of international relations,
and oppose any form of unilateralism and bullying. We will enhance cooperation and coordination
in the UN, SCO, BRICS and G20 to prepare ourselves for a new round of the once-in-a-century
change shaping today's world.
I believe that with China and Russia standing shoulder-to-shoulder and working back-to-back,
the world will be a safer and more stable place where justice and fairness are truly
upheld.
Cable News Network: We've seen an increasingly heated "war of words" between China and the
US. Is "wolf warrior" diplomacy the new norm of China's diplomacy?
Wang Yi: I respect your right to ask the question, but I'm afraid you're not framing the
question in the right way. One has to have a sense of right and wrong. Without it, a person
cannot be trusted, and a country cannot hold its own in the family of nations.
There may be all kinds of interpretations and commentary about Chinese diplomacy. As
China's Foreign Minister, let me state for the record that China always follows an
independent foreign policy of peace. No matter how the international situation may change, we
will always stand for peace, development and mutually beneficial cooperation, stay committed
to upholding world peace and promoting common development, and seek friendship and
cooperation with all countries. We see it as our mission to make new and greater
contributions to humanity.
China's foreign policy tradition is rooted in its 5,000-year civilization. Since ancient
times, China has been widely recognized as a nation of moderation. We Chinese value peace,
harmony, sincerity and integrity. We never pick a fight or bully others, but we have
principles and guts. We will push back against any deliberate insult to resolutely defend our
national honor and dignity. And we will refute all groundless slander with facts to
resolutely uphold fairness, justice and human conscience.
The future of China's diplomacy is premised on our commitment to working with all
countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind. Since we live in the same
global village, countries should get along peacefully and treat each other as equals.
Decisions on global affairs should be made through consultation, not because one or two
countries say so. That's why China advocates for a multi-polar world and greater democracy in
international relations. This position is fully aligned with the direction of human progress
and the shared aspiration of most countries. No matter what stage of development it reaches,
China will never seek hegemony. We will always stand with the common interests of all
countries. And we will always stand on the right side of history. Those who go out of their
way to label China as a hegemon are precisely the ones who refuse to let go of their
hegemonic status.
The world is undergoing changes of a kind unseen in a century and full of instability and
turbulence. Confronted by a growing set of global challenges, we hope all countries will
realize that humanity is a community with a shared future. We must render each other more
support and cooperation, and there should be less finger-pointing and confrontation. We call
on all nations to come together and build a better world for all.
From MOA
comment by Noirette: "IMHP the WHO has been co-opted by oligarchic interests melding
State and Corps, by the richest / those most poised to profit from disease and 'cures' or
other moves as reactions to epidemics or other health scares. The MSM plays out the
perception of the WHO as an oppo between China and 'others.' (China controls Tedros, etc.)
Margaret Chan was a very powerful director of the WHO. Fierce and Feared. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Chan
"
And another: "After the OPCW scandal over Douma, I cannot imagine any UN organization being
trusted again, certainly not the head administrators who all seem to have been positioned by the
Western [neoliberal] oligarchy."
Virginia Kruta
Associate Editor March 18, 2020 12:37 PM ET Font Size: The World Health Organization (WHO)
tried to cam fears of a pandemic on Jan. 14 by repeating China's claim that coronavirus was not
contagious among humans.
"Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear
evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in
#Wuhan, #China," the WHO tweeted.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear
evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus
(2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan , #China
????????. pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG
But the virus' means
of transmission was far from the only misinformation coming from Chinese officials.
Beijing reported that the first known cases of the novel coronavirus were recorded in
mid-December -- but later reporting from outside sources suggested that the earliest cases were
tracked in November and kept under wraps.
China's first confirmed Coronavirus case was on November 17, 2019.
In addition, Caixin Global reported that Chinese officials had identified the virus as early
as mid-December -- but were instructed to destroy both their test results and their
samples.
A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of
the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China
did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks
later.
The WHO announced that China had provided the necessary data on the virus in mid-January, a
full month after initial data and information had been reportedly destroyed and a week after
officials had reported that it still had not been identified.
Chinese authorities informed WHO that they have ruled out a number of causes of the
outbreak of #pneumonia in
Wuhan City, ????????. The pathogen is not influenza, avian flu, adenovirus, SARS or MERS.
Work continues to identify the cause.
BREAKING: WHO has received the genetic sequences for the novel #coronavirus
(2019-nCoV) from the Chinese authorities. We expect them to be made publicly available as
soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/h1w7A0jBm2
Despite the lack of cooperation from China as other nations began to grapple with the spread
of coronavirus, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Chinese President Xi
Jinping for China's response with regard to testing protocols and quarantines.
The
South China Morning Post noted that one British member of the WHO had referred to the
shuttering of Wuhan under a mass quarantine -- affecting some 11 million people -- as
"heroic."
Fending off criticism that he made the appreciative remarks just to save China "face,"
Tedros insisted that China "doesn't need to be asked to be praised" for its efforts to contain
the spread of the virus.
"China has done many good things to slow down the virus," Tedros said. "The whole world
can judge. There is no spinning here."
In addition to its apparent failure to press the Chinese government on the lack of
cooperation and refusal to provide all available data, the WHO gave Beijing an assist in
pushing back against American outlets -- and even President Donald Trump -- claiming that it
was "racist" to comment about the virus' origin.
DON'T – attach locations or ethnicity to the disease, this is not a "Wuhan Virus",
"Chinese Virus" or "Asian Virus".
The official name for the disease was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatization https://t.co/yShiCMfYF3
pic.twitter.com/belHrq5HVo
-- World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 2,
2020
A number of public figures also joined the rallying cry, blaming Trump for "renaming" the
virus to place
blame unfairly on China.
The #Coronavirus
has now been very deliberately renamed the "Chinese Virus" by Trump to deflect his
incompetent handling of a pandemic. If you're cool with this, and his incitement of hate
towards innocent Asian-Americans, it's simply because you're a fucking racist. Period.
But as some were quick to point out, American media outlets -- some of the same who later
pivoted to call it "racist" -- referred to the coronavirus as "Wuhan coronavirus" before its
rapid spread.
Liberal media pundits want you to think referring to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan" or
"Chinese" virus is racist.
Even Chinese state media did the same before engaging in a pivot as well.
Chinese state media initially called it "Wuhan virus"; now China says that's racist.
Meanwhile WHO won't call the coronavirus by its name, SARS-CoV-2, which some Chinese
scientists say hurts social stability. On the fraught geopolitics of naming the virus:
https://t.co/kcrz3NavOm
"... The recently published Pentagon budget request for 2021 makes clear that the United States is retooling for a potential intercontinental war with China and/or Russia. It asks for $705 billion to "shift focus from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a greater emphasis on the types of weapons that could be used to confront nuclear giants like Russia and China," noting that it requires "more advanced high-end weapon systems, which provide increased standoff, enhanced lethality and autonomous targeting for employment against near-peer threats in a more contested environment." The military has recently received the first batch of low-yield nuclear warheads that experts agree blurs the line between conventional and nuclear conflict, making an all out example of the latter far more likely. ..."
"... "Our governments spend over 1.75 trillion dollars every year on wars, on weapons, on conflict If we could deploy that sort of resource to address the coronavirus crisis that we're currently living through, imagine what else we could be doing. Imagine how we could be fighting the climate crisis, how we could be addressing global poverty, inequality. Our priority should never be war; our priorities need to be public health, the environment, and human well being." ..."
Just three years ago, Americans had a neutral view of China (and nine years ago it was
strongly favorable). Today, the same polls show that 66 percent of Americans dislike the
country. As the U.S. military turns its attention from the Middle East to conflict with Russia
and China, American war planners are advising that the United States greatly expand its own
online "psychological operations" against Beijing.
A new report from the Financial Times details
how top brass in Washington are strategizing a new Cold War with China, describing it less as
World War III and more as "kicking each other under the table." Last week, General Richard
Clarke, head of Special Operations Command, said that the "kill-capture missions" the military
conducted in Afghanistan were inappropriate for this new conflict, and Special Operations must
move towards cyber influence campaigns instead.
Military analyst David Maxwell, a former Special Ops soldier himself, advocated for a
widespread culture war, which would include the Pentagon commissioning what he called
"Taiwanese Tom Clancy" novels, intended to demonize China and demoralize its citizens, arguing
that Washington should "weaponize" China's one-child policy by bombarding Chinese people with
stories of the wartime deaths of their only children, and therefore, their bloodline.
A not dissimilar tactic was used during the first Cold War against the Soviet Union, where
the CIA sponsored
a huge network of artists, writers and thinkers to promote liberal and social-democratic
critiques of the U.S.S.R., unbeknownst to the public, and, sometimes, even the artists
themselves.
Manufacturing consent
In the space of only a few months, the Trump administration has gone from praising China's
response to the COVID-19 pandemic to blaming them for the outbreak, even suggesting they pay
reparations for their alleged negligence. Just three years ago, Americans had a neutral view of
China (and nine years ago it was strongly favorable). Today, the
same polls show that 66 percent of Americans dislike China, with only 26 percent holding a
positive opinion of the country. Over
four-in-five people essentially support a full-scale economic war with Beijing, something
the president threatened
to enact last week.
The corporate press is certainly doing their part as well, constantly
framing China as an authoritarian threat to the United States, rather than a neutral force
or even a potential ally, leading to a surge in
anti-Chinese racist attacks at home.
Retooling for an intercontinental war
Although analysts have long
warned that the United States gets its "ass handed to it" in hot war simulations with China
or even Russia, it is not clear whether this is a sober assessment or a self-serving attempt to
increase military spending. In 2002, the U.S. conducted a war game trial invasion of Iraq,
where it was catastrophically defeated by Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper, commanding Iraqi forces,
leading to the whole experiment being nixed halfway through. Yet the subsequent invasion was
carried out without massive loss of American lives.
The recently published Pentagon budget
request for 2021 makes clear that the United States is retooling for a potential
intercontinental war with China and/or Russia. It asks for $705 billion to "shift focus from
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a greater emphasis on the types of weapons that could be
used to confront nuclear giants like Russia and China," noting that it requires "more advanced
high-end weapon systems, which provide increased standoff, enhanced lethality and autonomous
targeting for employment against near-peer threats in a more contested environment." The
military has recently received the first batch of low-yield nuclear warheads that
experts agree blurs the line between conventional and nuclear conflict, making an all out
example of the latter far more likely.
There has been no meaningful pushback from the Democrats. Indeed, Joe Biden's team has
suggested
that the United States' entire industrial policy should revolve around "competing with China"
and that their "top priority" is dealing with the supposed threat Beijing poses. The former
vice-president has also attacked Trump from the right on China, trying to present him as a tool
of Beijing, bringing to mind how Clinton portrayed him in 2016 as a Kremlin asset. (Green Party
presidential frontrunner Howie Hawkins has promised to cut the military budget by 75 percent and
to unilaterally disarm).
Nevertheless, voices raising concern about a new arms race are few and far between. Veteran
deproliferation activist Andrew Feinstein is one exception, saying :
"Our governments spend over 1.75 trillion dollars every year on wars, on weapons, on
conflict If we could deploy that sort of resource to address the coronavirus crisis that
we're currently living through, imagine what else we could be doing. Imagine how we could be
fighting the climate crisis, how we could be addressing global poverty, inequality. Our
priority should never be war; our priorities need to be public health, the environment, and
human well being."
However, if the government is going to launch a new psychological war against China, it is
unlikely antiwar voices like Feinstein's will feature much in the mainstream press.
The USA still subscribe to Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine. It might play with the USA the same joke as attempt to catch up
to the USA in military expenses played with the USSR.
Communism and neoliberalism are two sides of the same coin: Neoliberalism is simply Trotskyism for the rich...
Notable quotes:
"... "Understand you have an enemy," he continued. "They're an adversary. It's called Communist China. They're not here to help us, all right?" ..."
"... Scott's anti-China broadsides are not the musings of a single Republican war-hawk. Instead, they represent a growing consensus in the US, with bills threatening Beijing with sanctions being introduced and a number of Republican saying they will sue the Chinese administration for its alleged role in the coronavirus pandemic. That's as President Donald Trump has been raging at China throughout the pandemic, suggesting that Covid-19 was cooked up in a Chinese laboratory, and threatening to "cut off the whole relationship" with Beijing. ..."
"... Trump's outburst was likely hyperbolic, but the official line coming from the White House is equally uncompromising. In a policy document outlining its strategic approach to China, the White House this week revealed a "fundamental re-evaluation of how the United States understands and responds to the leaders of the world's most populous country." ..."
"... Accusing China of "predatory economic practices" and "malign behaviors" that undermine national security, the document stated that the US is now engaged in "long-term strategic competition" with Beijing, and will orient its military toward this competition, and toward supporting its "regional allies and partners" in the Pacific. And all of this on top of the Pentagon prioritizing China as an adversary in 2018. ..."
The US is "absolutely" engaged in a new Cold War with China, Florida Senator Rick Scott
declared, accusing Beijing of plotting "world domination." Meanwhile, Washington's anti-China
stance goes all the way to the White House. Speaking to talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Friday,
the Florida Republican slammed Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and its economic
policies. Asked whether relations between the two superpowers had entered a "Cold War 2"
phase, Scott replied "absolutely."
"There's no question about it," he said. "They're in for world domination. They
take our jobs, they take our technology, they put people in prison for their religion."
"Understand you have an enemy," he continued. "They're an adversary. It's called
Communist China. They're not here to help us, all right?"
Scott called Beijing's decision not to alert the World Health Organization about the
Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan until January "intentional," and suggested a boycott of
Chinese-made products until the east Asian superpower is held "accountable."
The Floridian lawmaker, who sits on the Senate's Armed Services and Homeland Security
committees, then called for the US to sanction China "for violating
Hong Kong's independence." China, on the other hand, has accused the US of deliberately
stoking protest in the semi-autonomous city-state.
Scott's anti-China broadsides are not the musings of a single Republican war-hawk. Instead,
they represent a growing consensus in the US, with bills threatening Beijing with sanctions being
introduced and a number of Republican saying they will sue the Chinese administration for its
alleged role in the coronavirus pandemic. That's as President Donald Trump has been raging at
China throughout the pandemic, suggesting that Covid-19 was cooked up in a Chinese laboratory,
and threatening to "cut off the whole relationship" with Beijing.
Trump's outburst was likely hyperbolic, but the official line coming from the White House is
equally uncompromising. In a policy
document outlining its strategic approach to China, the White House this week revealed a
"fundamental re-evaluation of how the United States understands and responds to the leaders
of the world's most populous country."
Accusing China of "predatory economic practices" and "malign behaviors" that
undermine national security, the document stated that the US is now engaged in "long-term
strategic competition" with Beijing, and will orient its military toward this competition,
and toward supporting its "regional allies and partners" in the Pacific. And all of this
on top of the Pentagon prioritizing China as an
adversary in 2018.
Beijing's responses, meanwhile, have been subtler. In Hong Kong, it has sought to portray
the US as meddling in its affairs, and the conflict between protesters and mainland authorities
as an internal matter. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, China has threatened
to respond with "painful" countermeasures if Congress applies sanctions or files
lawsuits. Globally, as the US continues to deal with more than a million active cases of
Covid-19, China has gone on a charm offensive, shipping test kits and protective equipment to
the worst-hit countries in Europe.
Militarily though, Beijing continues to pump money into hypersonic weapons and artificial
intelligence research – two areas in which it has the edge on America. Its navy has also
not been deterred by American patrols in the South China Sea, and continues to assert
sovereignty over this hotly disputed tract of water.
After the Soviet collapse thirty years ago, that order expanded its jurisdiction. Proponents sought to subsume the old Eastern
Bloc, including perhaps Russia itself, into the American sphere. And they wanted to do so firmly on Washington's terms. Even as the
country began to deindustrialize and growth slowed, American leadership developed a taste for fresh crusades in the Middle East;
exotic savagery, went the subtext, had to be brought finally to heel. China was a rising force, but its regime would inevitably crater
or democratize. Besides, Beijing was a peaceful trading partner of the United States.
2008, 2016 and 2020 -- the financial crisis, Trump's election and now the Coronavirus and its reaction -- have been successive
gut punches to this project, a hat trick which may seal its demise. Ask anyone attempting to board an international flight, or open
a new factory in China, or get anything done at the United Nations: the world is de-globalizing at a speed almost as astonishing
as it integrated. Post-Covid, U.S.-China confrontation is not a choice. It's a reality. The liberal international order is not lamentable.
It's already dead.
This was the argument made by Bannon. It had other backers, of course, within both the academy and an emerging foreign policy
counter-establishment loathe to repeat the mistakes of the past thirty years. But coming from the former top political advisor to
the sitting president of the United States, it was provocative stuff. Bannon articulated a perspective which seemed to be on the
tip of the foreign policy world's tongue. And it riled people up. The most fulsome rebuttal to the zeitgeist was perhaps The Jungle
Grows Back , tellingly written by Robert Kagan, an Iraq War architect. The peripheral world was dangerous brush; the United States
was the machete.
Trumpian nationalism has chugged along for nearly three years since -- stripped, some might say, of its Bannonite flair and intelligence.
The most hysterical prophecies of what the president might do -- that he might withdraw from the geriatric North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, for instance -- have not come to pass. Trump has howled and roared, true: but so far, his most disruptive foreign policy
maneuver has been escalation against Iran.
It's very good to hear the right getting a little humility in them now and talking less empire, more multilateralism. Trump has
been way too concerned with his MAGA personality cult to understand the value of humility.
The world's a big place. The reality is, America first will more and more mean working together with other nations for mutual
benefit, and often their gain will indirectly be to our own also.
Working more and more, yes. This is why US is undercutting Germany's competitiveness, by blocking a cheap source of energy via
NS2...
As Bush said, you are either with us or against us. Nothing has changed and nothing will change, but it will become uglier.
If it were to desire multi-polarity, the US would tolerate not only states, like KSA, where the Royals own everything, but also
states, like Iran, or Cuba, where the people (through the government/state) owns assets (land and productive facilities). But
the US does not tolerate such type of multi-polarity, not open to US "investment" and ownership (bought with fiat money).
Cold War II started in 2007, with Putin. Popcorn & beer lads!
It does seem like there's a creeping idea, not just on dissident internet sites now like before, that the Russian rivalry is a
luxury of the past. Even the liberals are going to have to reconcile with liberal hegemony not being workable and settle for something
less. Owing to distance and mutual interest (common rivals Britain and Germany) Russia and America had a long history of friendship
before the Cold war.
I sadly agree about the predatory nature of much of America does. I think it really is a reflection of partially, imperial
arrogance, but even moreso a matter of who runs the country. Oligarchy is poorly checked in modern America. Maybe we can hope
for a humbled oligarchy, at least.
Trump is indeed an empty suit and a demagogue, but he ran on a decent nationalist platform (probably thanks to Bannon, who is
almost certainly a closeted gay. No joke... a deep-in-the-closet, self-hating gay. The navy can change a man, and he's a fraud
in other ways: see Eric Striker's article "International Finance's Anti-China Crusade"). Trump does have an absurd ego, and he
probably figured becoming president would impress Ivanka too.
Also, the Uyghurs are not totally innocent victims... Some of them are US-financed revolutionaries and some of them have committed
terrorism: see Godfree Roberts at Unz Review: "China and the Uyghurs" (January 10, 2019) and Ajit Singh at The Grayzone: "Inside
the World Uyghur Congress: The US-backed right-wing regime change network seeking the 'fall of China'" (March 5, 2020). Some of
our pathetic propagandists make it seem like they're in concentration camps, but there is objective reporting that suggests it's
more like job training programs and anti-jihad classes. Absurd lies have certainly been told about North Korea and many other
countries, so be skeptical.
Yeah, let's get that hate on for China - why they're as bad as Russia, Iran and Venezuela put together and there are so many more
of them. Especially a lot are available right here in the US and have lots of restaurants that can be boycotted. Not that many
Venezuelan restaurants around. Seriously, can Americans get over this childishness? When the US closes down its 800+ overseas
bases and withdraws its fleet to its own shores instead of Iran's and China's, then maybe Americans will be entitled to complain
about someone else's imperialism.
Most of anti-China stuff Hawley, much like Trump, claims always feels empty populism for WWC voters.
1) It is reasonable to be against our Middle East endeavors and not be so anti-China.
2) I still don't understand how it is China fault for stealing manufacturing jobs when it is the US private sector that does it.
(And Vietnam exist, etc.) So without Charles Koch and Tim Cook behind this trade stuff, it feels like empty populism.
3) The most obvious point on China to me is how little they do use military measures for their 'imperialism.'
One problem with all this populism emptiness, is there is a lot issues with China to work on:
1) This virus could have impact economies in Africa and South America a lot where the nations have to renegotiate their loans
to China. I have no idea how this goes but there will be tensions here. Imperialism is tough in the long run.
2) There are nations banding together on China's reaction to the virus and it seems reasonable that US joining them would be more
effective than Trump's taunting.
3) To prove Trump administration incompetence, I have no idea how he is not turning this crisis into more medical equipment and
drugs manufacturing. (My guess is this both takes a lot of work and frankly a lot of manufacturing plants have risks of spreads
so noone wants to invest.)
Hawley is a "fake populist" according to Eric Striker's article "International Finance's Anti-China Crusade" and I just saw fake-patriot
airhead Pete Hegseth claim China wants to destroy our civilization, on fake populist Tucker Carlson's show. It's well-established
that Fox News and the GOP are still neocons and fake patriots... after all, the Trump administration is run by Jared Kushner,
a protégé of Rupert Murdoch and Bibi Netanyahu.
Hawley's speech on the Senate floor yesterday deserves much more criticism than it gets here. This article from Reason
does a good job breaking down the speech and pointing out what's right AND wrong about it:
What if there is reduced wars and civil wars n the world today than ever. (So say anytime before 1991?) I get all the Middle East
& African Wars but look at the rest of the world. When in history have the major West Europe powers not had a major war in 75
years. After issues of post Cold War East Europe is probably more peaceful than ever. Look at South America. In the 1970s the
Civil Wars raged in all those nations. Or the Pacific Rim? Japan, China, and other nations are fighting with Military right now.
This is certainly less than perfect but the number of people (per million) dieing in wars and civil wars are at historic lows.
The fall of Soviet Union and weakening of Russia allowed US and Western Europe to attack Serbia in 1990s. A stronger Russia wouldn't
have allowed that to happen (who's trying to get Crimea from Russia's control now?). But with US aggressiveness and bellicosity
(including nuclear posture) at Russia's borders do not bode well.
But it is true, less important people are dying now...
Chinese imperialism? Uh ... other than shaking trees and drumming up fear can I get like one example of that.
Taiwan, part of China since the 1500's and they are have not issued any new threats since 1949.
Hong Kong - stolen from China and now reluctantly given back with lots of conditions. If they deserve the right of independence
through referendum I'm all for it as long as we apply this standard uniformly including parts of Texas, San Diego, New Mexico,
Arizona, any place that has a large foreign population will do.
Yeah, "Chinese imperialism" is complete nonsense, just like the claim that they definitely originated the coronavirus, caused
Americans to be under house arrest, and caused a depression. In fact, the origin of the virus is far from clear, and it wasn't
China who hyped up and exaggerated the danger and wrecked the economy. It was our superficial corporate media and government that
did that (perhaps deliberately)... the same people who are desperately trying to deflect blame onto the CCP. The same people who
have been mismanaging and ruining America for decades in order to enrich themselves.
"Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The
net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless."
Most people would be well served to read Chomsky a first time.
However, it should be noted, Chomsky's critiques of neoliberalism aren't grounded in nationalism, xenophobia, and racism. So a
lot of TAC readers (and especially writers) may be disappointed.
Hawley seems like the natural choice for the potential future of the GOP, that is a post-fusionist or post-liberal GOP. However
the one thing that worries me is his foreign policy. He talks the talk, but I'm having trouble to see if he walks the walk. As
Mills noted he didn't vote to end support for the genocidal war in Yemen, a war that serves purely the interests of Saudi Arabia
and not our own. He has criticized David Petraeus before, but its important not to be fooled by just rhetoric. While accepting
he'll be better than any Tom Cotton or (god forbid) Nikki Haley in 2024, his foreign policy needs to be examined more until then.
Our response to the epidemic was 100% 'made in China'. The entire 'Western World' decided to copy Beijing. If that doesn't establish
a new level of leadership for China, I don't know what would. I'm surprised this is not more widely recognized. You can run down
the many parallels, including the pathetic photo-op attempt by the West to build those emergency hospitals (Nightingale in the
UK, Javits Center, etc. all across the US), which were just to show 'hey we can build hospitals in a few weeks also' ... never
mind they could never, and were never used for anything at all.
At this point, Hawley is all talk. Further, much of his talking amounts to little more than expressing resentment. I agree that
the US needs to follow a more nationalist pathway, which involved making itself less dependent on its chief geopolitical rival.
But accomplishing this is going to require more than bashing China and asserting that cosmopolitan Americans are traitors. At
this point, Hawley has no positive program to offer. Giving paid speeches that vilify coastal elites and China is not a political
plan.
Further, I agree that we're probably moving away from the universalist order that's guided much of our thinking since the 1990s.
But isolationism is not the answer. We need to begin building a multilateral order that takes full account of China's rise as
a worthy rival. This means that we need to develop a series of smaller-scale agreements with strategic partners. The TPP is a
good example of such an agreement. But where is the call to revive it?
Lastly, I find the article's reference to China's treatment of gays and lesbians to be curious. I'd first note that using the
term "homosexual" in reference to people is generally viewed as an offensive slur. Further, China's treatment of gay people isn't
so bad, and tends to be better than what Hawley's evangelical supporters would afford. Moreover, China is a multi-ethnic country.
It's program in Xinjiang has more to do with maintaining political order than a desire to repress non-Han people.
The general chest puffing nature of the American right makes it hard for them to understand that America might need to work with
other countries at a deep level, and not as vassals either.
". We need to begin building a multilateral order that takes full account
of China's rise as a worthy rival. This means that we need to develop a
series of smaller-scale agreements with strategic partners. The TPP is a
good example of such an agreement. But where is the call to revive it?"
The thing is that the post-WWII liberal international order was good for things like that.
Trump and the GOP quite deliberately destroyed it. Before that, the US would have the trust of many other governments; now they
don't trust the US - even if Biden is elected, the next Trump is on the way.
"We benefit if countries that share our opposition to Chinese imperialism -- countries like India and Japan, Vietnam, Australia
and Taiwan -- are economically independent of China, and standing shoulder to shoulder with us,"
OK....then can someone explain why Hawley opposed the TPP, which was designed to accomplish just this. The TPP was supposed
to create trading relationships between these countries and the United States in the context of an agreement that excluded China.
In this instance people like Hawley were advancing China's position and interests (I suspect simply because it was a treaty negotiated
under Obama, which apparently was enough to make it bad).
Probably because Hawley seems more interested in demagoguery than accomplishing anything productive. Never mind that 95% of the
people who voted for him probably couldn't find Japan or Vietnam on a map.
TPP was not geared against China as a blanket thing, as an entire exclusion of China. The perfidy of TPP was that it was against
any economic interactions with State Owned Enterprises (didn't mention the origin, didn't have to). The ultimate goal wasn't to
isolate China but to force privatization of said SOEs, preferably run from Wall Street.
Private property good and = Democracy; State property bad = Authoritarianism, dictatorship, etc. It is a fallacy here somewhere,
cannot really put my finger on it...
Except this is all lies. On each chance to actually do something Hawley has sided with international corporations, as a good conservative
will always do. Fixing globalism will never come form the right, this is all smoke and mirrors for the religious right, aka the
rubes. And they are perpetual suckers and will keep buying into this crap as our nation is hollowed out and raided by the rich.
And that, is TRUE conservatism.
"Now we must recognize that the economic system designed by Western policy makers at the end of the Cold War does not serve
our purposes in this new era," proclaimed Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. "And it does not meet our needs for this new day." He
continued, perhaps too politely: "And we should admit that multiple of its founding premises were in error."
The "error" in the founding premises of the post-WWII economic system was that it assumed that the US would act in a responsible
manner. Instead we have run huge budget deficits and borrowed the difference from foreigners, randomly invading other countries,
undermined the institutions we set up, bullied smaller countries rather than working with them, and abused our control of the
financial system.
No, that old economic system served our interests very well, as long as we respected the institutions we set up and kept our
own house in order. We haven't been doing any of that for at least 20 years.
Let's bear in mind that the Republican leader of the Senate married into a wealthy Chinese family that makes its money from hauling
Chinese exports to our shores and the shores of other developed nations.
This is all just hollow bravado meant to appeal to the right's nativist base.
I am not into the thinking that everyone whose politics I don't support is acting in bad faith. We are talking about the actions
of literally millions of people. Accusing this or that person of acting in bad faith because of personal interest is just dirty
politics dressed up as perceptiveness. I am not accusing any specific person of acting in bad faith, although some of the people
who pushed opening up to China because more business in China would create a class of people who would eventually push for Democracy
there, were indeed acting in bad faith. They wanted access to cheap labor with no rights.
Yet, no doubt many of them actually believed the propaganda, because it supposedly happened in South Korea, Taiwan and other
places. And especially the ones who switched the line to "globalism" when it was clear that the supposed indigenous pressures
for Democracy did not materialize also acted in bad faith. I only assume that some of were because once I understood the rationale
of the CCCP it was clear to me that China was radically different, and there is no way that so many of those guys who are smarter
and more knowledgeable about political systems than me, did not figure it out. But I am not going to behave as if it the Republicans
alone who were pushing either of these two false messages.
Criticizing China for "imperialism" is the height of hypocrisy on multiple levels. First, the United States has engaged in economic
imperialism, sometimes enforced with military intervention, for a hundred years. Read Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket" if you
doubt that. Second, this is the same guy who voted against our proxy war in Yemen. Third, one could very reasonably argue that
China is simply applying the lessons it learned at the hands of Western imperialists since 1800s..
It's good that SOME Republicans are at least giving lip service to the idea of bringing back manufacturing in this country.
But you have to thank Trump for that, not the GOP establishment. The offshoring of American manufacturing as part of "free trade"
was strongly supported (if not led) by the GOP going back to the 1980s.
And check out John Perkins's books ("Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", etc.) for up-to-date information. It's obviously true
that criticizing China for "imperialism" is ridiculously hypocritical but people like Senator Hawley know they can get away with
it because they understand how propaganda works on the dumbed-down masses.
They understand doublethink, repetition, appeal to patriotism, appeal to racism, appeal to fear, etc. People like Rupert Murdoch
do this every day... poorly, but well enough to be effective on a lot of people.
Incidentally, the Republicans may talk about bringing manufacturing back to the US but they're actually planning on shifting
it to India (see Eric Striker's article "International Finance's Anti-China Crusade").
That does not mean the end of the USA superiority. That is an action of china which can be
called "better late then never". What it means that the fight with China moves from trade war
into Cold war. And the USA is pretty tncous in enforcing COCOM like measures against China, with
corresponding for China consequences.
Notable quotes:
"... under the Trump administration the U.S. has introduced more and more measures to shackle China's development. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed last year by the U.S. Congress demands that the U.S. government reports on Hong Kong and punishes those who it deems to be human right violators. The sanctions against Chinese companies and especially Huawei, recently expanded to a total economic blockade of 5G chip deliveries to that company, demonstrate that the U.S. will do anything it can to hinder China's economic success. ..."
"... The 'Cold War 2.0' the U.S. launched against China will now see significant counter moves. ..."
"... Under the new law the U.S. will have to stop its financing of student organization, anti-government unions and media in Hong Kong. The opposition parties will no longer be allowed to have relations with U.S. influence operations. ..."
"... No U.S. action can prevent China's government from securing its realm. Hong Kong is a Chinese city where China's laws, not U.S. dollars, are supreme. ..."
"... The U.S. seems to believe it can win a cold war with China. ..."
"... When the U.S. prohibits companies which use U.S. software or machines to design chips and make they sell to China then those companies will seek to buy such software and machines elsewhere. When the U.S. tries to hinder China's access to computer chips, China will build its own chip industry. Ten years from now it will be the U.S. which will have lost access to the then most modern ones as all of those will come from China. ..."
"... In his 2003 book After the Empire Emmanuel Todd described why the U.S. was moving towards the loss of its superpower status ..."
"... The Covid-19 crisis has laid all this bare for everyone to see. Will the U.S., as Todd predicted, now have to give up its superpower status? Or will it start a big war against China to divert the attention elsewhere and to prove its presumed superiority? ..."
"... Of the existing 30 or so high-tech productive chains, China only enjoys superiority at 2 or 3 (see 6:48). It is still greatly dependent on the West to development and still is a developing country. ..."
Blaming China for the Covid-19 pandemic
is false . But the U.S. will continue to do so as a part of its larger anti-China
strategy.
As the U.S. is busy to counter the epidemic at home China has already defeated it within
its borders. It now uses the moment to remove an issue the U.S. has long used to harass it.
Hong Kong will finally be liberated from its U.S. supported
racists disguised as liberals .
In late 1984 Britain and China signed a formal agreement which approved the 1997 release
of Britain's colony Hong Kong to China. Britain had to agree to the pact because it had lost
the capability to defend the colony. The Sino British Joint Declaration stipulated that China
would create a formal law that would allow Hong Kong to largely govern itself.
The ' Basic Law of
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ' is the de
facto constitution of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. But it is a national law
of China adopted by the Chinese National People's Congress in 1990 and introduced in Hong
Kong in 1997 after the British rule ran out. If necessary the law can be changed.
Chapter II of the Basic Law regulates the relationship between the Central Authorities and
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Article 23 of the Basic Law
stipulated that Hong Kong will have to implement certain measures for internal security:
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act
of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government , or
theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from
conducting political activities in the Region , and to prohibit political organizations or
bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies
.
Hong Kong has failed to create any of the laws demanded by Article 23. Each time its
government tried to even partially implement such laws, in 2003, 2014 and 2019, protests and
large scale riots in the streets of Hong Kong prevented it.
China was always concerned about the foreign directed unrest in Hong Kong but it did not
press the issue while it was still depending on Hong Kong for access to money and
markets.
In the year 2000 Hong Kong's GDP stood at $171 billion while China's was just 7 times
larger at $1.200 billion. Last year Hong Kong's GDP had nearly doubled to $365 billion. But
China's GDP had grown more than tenfold to $14,200 billion, nearly 40 times larger than Hong
Kong's. Expressed in purchase power parity the divergence is even bigger. As an economic
outlet for China Hong Kong has lost its importance.
Another factor that held China back from deeper meddling in Hong Kong was its concern
about negative consequences from the U.S. and Britain. But under the Trump administration
the U.S. has introduced more and more measures to shackle China's development. The Hong Kong Human
Rights and Democracy Act passed last year by the U.S. Congress demands that the U.S.
government reports on Hong Kong and punishes those who it deems to be human right violators.
The sanctions against Chinese companies and especially Huawei, recently expanded to
a total economic
blockade of 5G chip deliveries to that company, demonstrate that the U.S. will do
anything it can to hinder China's economic success.
The Obama administration's 'pivot to Asia' was already a somewhat disguised move against
China. The Trump administration's
National Defense Strategy openly declared China a "strategic competitor using predatory
economics to intimidate its neighbors while militarizing features in the South China
Sea".
Thus, small Marine forces would deploy around the islands of the first island chain and the
South China Sea, each element having the ability to contest the surrounding air and naval
space using anti-air and antiship missiles. Collectively, these forces would attrite
Chinese forces, inhibit them from moving outward, and ultimately, as part of a joint
campaign, squeeze them back to the Chinese homeland.
The 'Cold War 2.0' the U.S. launched against China will now see significant counter
moves.
Last year's violent riots in Hong Kong , cheered on by the borg in Washington DC, have
demonstrated that the development in Hong Kong is on a bad trajectory that may endanger
China. There is no longer a reason for China to hold back on countering the nonsense. Hong
Kong's economy is no longer relevant. U.S. sanctions are coming independent of what China
does or does not do in Hong Kong. The U.S. military designs are now an obvious threat.
The central government is to table a resolution on Friday to enable the apex of its top
legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), to craft
and pass a new national security law tailor-made for Hong Kong, it announced late on
Thursday.
Sources earlier told the Post the new law would proscribe secessionist and subversive
activity as well as foreign interference and terrorism in the city -- all developments that
had been troubling Beijing for some time, but most pressingly over the past year of
increasingly violent anti-government protests.
...
According to a mainland source familiar with Hong Kong affairs, Beijing had come to the
conclusion that it was impossible for the city's Legislative Council to pass a national
security law to enact Article 23 of the city's Basic Law given the political climate. This
was why it was turning to the NPC to take on the responsibility.
On May 28 the NPC will vote on a resolution asking its Standing Committee to write the
relevant law for Hong Kong. It is likely to be enacted by promulgation at the end of June.
The law will become part of Annex III of the Basic Law which lists "National Laws to be
Applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region".
Under the new law the U.S. will have to stop its financing of student
organization, anti-government unions and media in Hong Kong. The opposition parties will no
longer be allowed to have relations with U.S. influence operations.
Hong Kong has flourished as a bastion of liberty. The United States strongly urges Beijing
to reconsider its disastrous proposal, abide by its international obligations, and respect
Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, democratic institutions, and civil liberties, which
are key to preserving its special status under U.S. law. Any decision impinging on Hong
Kong's autonomy and freedoms as guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law would inevitably impact our assessment of One Country, Two Systems and the status
of the territory.
We stand with the people of Hong Kong.
It is not (yet?) The
Coming War On China (video) but some hapless huffing and puffing that is strong on
rhetoric but has little effect. No U.S. action can prevent China's government from
securing its realm. Hong Kong is a Chinese city where China's laws, not U.S. dollars, are
supreme.
The U.S. seems to believe it can win a cold war with China. But that
understanding is wrong.
Since the US-China tech war began in April 2018 with Washington's ban on chip exports to
China's ZTE Corporation, "de-Americanization of supply chains" has been the buzzword in the
semiconductor industry.
Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia purchased about 50% more Chinese products in
April 2020 than they did in the year-earlier month. Japan and Korea showed 20% gains.
Exports to the US rose year-on-year, but from a very low 2019 base.
China's imports from Asia also rose sharply.
When the U.S. prohibits companies which use U.S. software or machines to design chips
and make they sell to China then those companies will seek to buy such software and machines
elsewhere. When the U.S. tries to hinder China's access to computer chips, China will build its own chip
industry. Ten years from now it will be the U.S. which will have lost access to the then
most modern ones as all of those will come from China. Already today it is China that
dominates
global trade .
The chaotic way in which the U.S. handles its Covid crisis is widely observed abroad.
Those who see clearly recognized that it is now China, not the U.S., that is the responsible
superpower . The U.S. is overwhelmed and will continue to be so for a long time:
This is why I don't see the talk about a possible "Cold War 2.0" as meaningful or relevant.
If there were to be any sort of "cold war" between the United States and China, then U.S.
policymakers would still be able credibly to start planning how to manage this complex
relationship with China . But in reality, the options for "managing" the core of this
relationship are pitifully few, since the central task of whatever U.S. leadership emerges
from this Covid nightmare will be to manage the precipitous collapse of the globe-circling
empire the United States has sat atop of since 1945.
...
So here in Washington in Spring of 2020, I say, Let 'em huff and puff with their new
flatulations of childish Sinophobia. Let them threaten this or that version of a new "Cold
War". Let them compete in elections -- if these are to be held -- on versions of "Who can
be tougher on China." But the cold reality shows that, as Banquo said, "It is a tale, told
by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
In his 2003 book After the Empire Emmanuel
Todd described why the U.S. was moving towards the loss of its superpower status :
Todd calmly and straightforwardly takes stock of many negative trends, including America's
weakened commitment to the socio-economic integration of African Americans, a bulimic
economy that increasingly relies on smoke and mirrors and the goodwill of foreign
investors, and a foreign policy that squanders the country's reserves of "soft power" while
its militaristic arsonist-fireman behavior is met with increasing resistance.
The Covid-19 crisis has laid all this bare for everyone to see. Will the U.S., as Todd
predicted, now have to give up its superpower status? Or will it start a big war against
China to divert the attention elsewhere and to prove its presumed superiority?
Posted by b on May 22, 2020 at 17:41 UTC |
Permalink
If Washington lured the Soviet Union into it's demise in Afghanistan, which
left that minor empire in shambles - socially, militarily, economically - it was the nuclear
conflagration at Chernobyl that put the corpse in the ground.....
(Watch the GREAT HBO five-part tragedy on it and you will see that the brutally heroic
response of the Soviets, that saved the Western World at least temporarily, but is the
portrait of self-sacrifice)
What was lost in the Soviets fumbling immediate post-explosion cover-up was the trust of
their Eastern European satellite countries. That doomed that empire. So much military might
was given up in Afghanistan, then on Chernobyl, it was not clear if the Soviets had the
wherewithal to put down the rebellions that spread from Czechoslovakia to East Germany and
beyond.
Covid-19 will do the same to the American Empire.
As its own infrastructure has been laid waste by the COLLASSAL MONEY PIT that is the
Pentagon, its flagrant use of the most valuable energy commodity, oil, to maintain some 4000
bases worldwide, this rickety over-extended upside down version of old Anglo-Dutch trading
empires, will finally collapse.
Loss of trust by the many craven satellites, in America's fractured response, to Covid-19
will put the final nail in its coffin.
The U.S. and its vassals will use every dirty trick in the book even while shooting
themselves in the foot, as they have demonstrated in the past (and presently). Short of
starting a nuclear war, the level of moral turpitude could not be any lower.
That the pro-USA bloc in HK has to complain of supposed violations of the non-binding
aspirational 1984 Joint Declaration shows their position is one of complaint not dialogue.
As early as last May, protesters interviewed by international media were pleading for the
US to enact the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
They got their wish last autumn, but now they get the blowback from that decision. The
pro-USA bloc is now openly discussing a new strategy of rising like a phoenix from the ashes
of the temper tantrum they will stage in response. The hysteria meter will rise to 10.
My god, the cringe-inducing arrogance of the Washington regime is something else! Imagine
after Hurricane Maria and the subsequently dismal aid effort that devastated Puerto Rico, the
Chinese issued a statement lambasting the US response and saying "we stand with the people of
Puerto Rico".
The new law only prohibits organized protest movements funded from abroad (Us of north A or
G-Britain, for instance), and not those protests paid for by tax and corruption refugees from
Mainland China-- nor those from Táiwan that adhere to the unity of the Chinese state.
Seems to me that Chinese dominion of HK has long been in the cards. Not sure that the
Chinese moves signal anything more than the obvious: USA/EMPIRE desire to stomp on Chinese
ambitions.
Kissinger laid out the plan in 2014 in his WSJ Op-Ed:
Henry Kissinger on the Assembly of a New World Order . Even though I repeatedly refer
back to Kissinger's Op-Ed, few really seem to 'get it'. USA Deep State are not the complete
idiots that some want to make them seem.
Start a war with China? Not likely any time soon.
USA/EMPIRE have got what it wanted from HK, didn't they? They used HK to antagonize China
and for anti-China propaganda. China's looming "crackdown" on UK will get lots of attention
in the West, as USA economic sanctions on multiple countries are largely ignored and Assange
rots in prison with nary a word from the press.
IMO The real test of USA/Empire is coming soon in the Caribbean. Will USA 'blink' and
allow Iran to deliver gas to Venezuela?
We are dealing with the same group, the descendants of the men who dropped the bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki not to end WWII but to show the USSR and the world that the Western
Empire had the world at its feet.
The idea that this group will not use nuclear weapons again is foolish.
I don't know why people keep using the irrelevant term "cold war" when the US is engaged
in hybrid warfare throughout the globe and there is nothing cold about it.
As Ou Si @ 11 states, other nations have similar laws prohibiting foreign influence through
the use of non-government organisations posing as charities or religious institutions via
embassies and consulates. Moreover as in the case of Russia (I believe, but people can
correct me if I'm wrong), the law that prohibits such activity is based on the equivalent US
law that apply to foreign organisations on US soil.
In the not so distant future, we can expect to see truckloads of US and UK consulate staff
being kicked out of HK and religious and other various "humanitarian" and "cultural"
organisations in HK having to pack their bags and go.
Where they will all relocate though is another worry.
ot but related... vancouver is witnessing a greater number of attacks on asian people at
present... it seems the 'hate china' memo is working itself thru the msm system with these
kinds of results... when i have an article to go with this, i will share...
The US is already at war with China, and will escalate from hybrid/economic war to hot war
eventually because the US believes it has no alternative. Giving up global hegemony and
yielding to the rising power is not perceived as a viable option. Allowing China's rise will
lead to the destruction of the Empire, and America will not allow that without using the best
tools of imperialism it has left, which is its military.
The Chinese need to understand this, and I believe they do understand it, but they need to
accurately grasp how the US will respond to the shooting conflict when it starts. The US will
escalate the violence to stay at least one level more brutal than their adversary. If the
Chinese shoot at and damage an American ship, then the Americans will respond with ten times
the force and sink a Chinese ship. If the Chinese sink an American ship, then the Americans
will (try to) sink every Chinese ship.
The point here is that the Chinese cannot entertain the illusion that they can just give
America a light military slap and the Americans will reconsider their imperialist behavior.
There is precisely 0% chance of that working. When the Chinese do take action it has to be
big and decisive. If the Chinese want any chance of escaping the Thucydides Trap without
all-out war, then they must punch their way out with enough "Shock & Awe™"
to disrupt America's otherwise inevitable escalation.
Keep in mind that the United States will use atomic weapons to defend its hegemony
if allowed to escalate to that level. The only way to prevent that is to leapfrog past all of
the levels of escalation that America is prepared for at the given moment and in the process
stun America into inability to respond. China certainly has the means to accomplish this, but
they cannot be timid about it.
It is still greatly dependent on the West to development and still is a developing
country.
So, yes, the West still has a realistic chance of destroying China and inaugurating a new
cycle of capitalist prosperity.
What happens with the "decoupling"/"Pivot to Asia" is that, in the West, there's
a scatological theory [go to 10th paragraph] - of Keynesian origin - that socialism can
only play "catch up" with capitalism, but never surpass it when a "toyotist phase" of
technological innovation comes (this is obviously based on the USSR's case). This theory
states that, if there's innovation in socialism, it is residual and by accident, and that
only in capitalism is significant technological advancement possible. From this, they posit
that, if China is blocked out of Western IP, it will soon "go back to its place" - which is
probably to Brazil or India level.
If China will be able to get out of the "Toyotist Trap" that destroyed the USSR, only time
will tell. Regardless, decoupling is clearly not working, and China is not showing any signs
so far of slowing down. Hence Trump is now embracing a more direct approach.
As for the USA, I've put my big picture opinion about it some days ago, so I won't repeat
myself. Here, it suffices to say that, yes, I believe the USA can continue to survive as an
empire - even if, worst case scenario, in a "byzantine" form. To its favor, it has: 1) the
third largest world population 2) huge territory, with excellent proportion of high-quality
arable land (35%), that basically guarantees food security indefinitely (for comparison, the
USSR only had 10% of arable land, and of worse quality) 3) two coasts, to the two main Oceans
(Pacific and Atlantic), plus a direct exit to the Arctic (Alaska and, de facto, Greenland and
Canada) 4) excellent, very defensive territory, protected by both oceans (sea-to-sea),
bordered only by two very feeble neighbors (Mexico and Canada) that can be easily absorbed if
the situation asks to 4) still the financial superpower 5) still a robust "real" economy -
specially if compared to the micro-nations of Western Europe and East-Asia 6) a big fucking
Navy, which gives it thalassocratic power.
I don't see the USA losing its territorial integrity anytime soon. There are separatist
movements in places like Texas and, more recently, the Western Coast. Most of them exist only
for fiscal reasons and are not taken seriously by anyone else. The Star-and-Stripes is still
a very strong ideal to the average American, and nobody takes the idea of territory loss for
real. If that happens, though, it would change my equation on the survival of the American
Empire completely.
As for Hong Kong. I watched a video by the chief of the PLA last year (unfortunately, I
watched it on Twitter and don't have the link with me anymore). He was very clear: Hong Kong
does not present an existential threat to China. The greatest existential threat to China
are, by far, Xinjiang and Tibet, followed by Taiwan and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is a
distant fourth place.
Much appreciated article, thanks for that! I know nothing about China and Hong Kong, so I'm
much obliged for your analysis.
Seems really like the thing to do for the Chinese, not to meddle too much in the city's
internal affairs, but make sure that hostile powers can't meddle there either. When those
protests slash riots came up, I was racking my brain about why the Chinese would put up with
any festering US consulate in Hong Kong. Just throw those "diplomats" out on whatever thin
pretext. That's also what Venezuela should have done long ago, and Syria too, back in 2011
when that certified creep Robert Stephen Ford was hopping from couch to couch, inciting civil
war and probably looking to get laid by impressionable Arab guys as well. They could have
saved themselves a lot of trouble by just 'neutralising' Jeff-Man Feltman over in Lebanon,
too, before said Feltman managed to neutralise his host Rafic Hariri.
One problem with your scenario is that the US navy may be over-extended in parts of the
world where all the enemy has to do is to cut off supply lines to battleship groups and then
those ships would be completey helpless. US warships in the Persian Gulf with the Strait of
Hormuz sealed off by Iran come to mind.
Incidents involving US naval ship collisions with slow-moving oil tankers in SE Asian
waters and some other parts of of the the world, resulting in the loss of sailors, hardly
instill the notion that the US is a mighty thalassocratic force.
It's my understanding also that Russia, China and maybe some other countries have invested
hugely in long-range missiles capable of hitting US coastal cities and areas where the bulk
of the US population lives.
And if long-range missiles don't put paid to the notion that projecting power through
sending naval warships all over the planet works, maybe the fact that many of these ships are
sitting ducks for COVID-19 infection clusters might, where the US public is concerned.
I agree the new anti-ship missile technology may have changed the rules of naval
warfare.
However, it's important to highlight that, contrary to the US Army, the USN has a stellar
record. It fought wonderfully against the Japanese Empire in 1941-1945, and successfully
converted both the Pacific and the Atlantic into "American lakes" for the next 75 years. All
the Americans have nowadays it owes its Navy.
But you may be right. Maybe the USN is also susceptible to degeneration.
The US Navy has had some pretty serious lapses in the past decade, the multiple collisions
with cargo ships and the failed Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) design. Putting aside the unproven
allegations that the Chinese or the Russians somehow "spooled" the GPS of the ships to cause
the collisions the fact the US ships didn't have lookouts posted means they either got lazy
or they are so understaffed they cut vital roles they felted were better off being automated.
Also, I seem to recall that the US navy reduced their offshore training program for their
officers a few years ago (meaning their newest officers are learning on the fly at sea). So
i'm not sure if they've avoided the problems of a bloated military
Of the existing 30 or so high-tech productive chains, China only enjoys superiority
at 2 or 3 (see 6:48). It is still greatly dependent on the West to development and still is
a developing country.
Based on what I've read, China is on a fast track to develop technology on their own. In
addition, technology development is world-wide these days. What China can not develop itself
- quickly enough, time is the only real problem - it can buy with its economic power.
"if China is blocked out of Western IP, it will soon "go back to its place" -
which is probably to Brazil or India level."
Ah, but that's where hackers come in. China can *not* be blocked out of Western IP. First,
as I said, China can *buy* it. Unless there is a general prohibition across the entire
Western world, and by extension sanctions against any other nation from selling to China -
which is an unenforceable policy, as Iran has shown - China can buy what it doesn't have and
then reverse-engineer it. Russia will sell it if no one else will.
Second, China can continue to simply acquire technology through industrial espionage.
Every country and every industry engages in this sort of thing. Ever watch the movie
"Duplicity"? That shit actually happens. I read about industrial espionage years ago and it's
only gotten fancier since the old days of paper files. I would be happy to breach any US or
EU industrial sector and sell what I find to the Chinese, the Malaysians or anyone else
interested. It's called "leveling the playing field" and that is advantageous for everyone.
If the US industrial sector employees can't keep up, that's their problem. No one is
guaranteed a job for life - and shouldn't be.
"1) the third largest world population"
Which is mostly engaged in unproductive activities like finance, law, etc. I've read that
if you visit the main US universities teaching science and technology, who are the students?
Chinese. Indians. Not Americans. Americans only want to "make money" in law and finance, not
"make things."
"2) huge territory, with excellent proportion of high-quality arable land (35%), that
basically guarantees food security indefinitely"
In military terms, given current military technology, territory doesn't matter. China has
enough nuclear missiles to destroy the 50 Major Metropolitan Areas in this country. Losing
100-200 millions citizens kinda puts a damper on US productivity. Losing the same number in
China merely means more for the rest.
"3) two coasts, to the two main Oceans (Pacific and Atlantic)"
Which submarines can make irrelevant. Good for economic matters - *if* your economy can
continue competing. China has one coast - but its Belt and Road Initiative gives it economic
clout on the back-end and the front-end. I don't see the US successfully countering that
Initiative.
"4) excellent, very defensive territory, protected by both oceans (sea-to-sea)"
Which only means the US can't be "invaded". That's WWI and WWII thinking the US is mired
in. Today, you destroy an opponent's military and, if necessary, his civilian population, or
at least its ability to "project" force against you. You don't "invade" unless it's some weak
Third World country. And if the US can't "project" its power via its navy or air force,
having a lot of territory doesn't mean much. This is where Russia is right now. Very
defensible but limited in force projection (but getting better fast.) The problem for the US
is China and Russia are developing military technology that can prevent US force projection
around *their* borders.
"bordered only by two very feeble neighbors (Mexico and Canada) that can be easily
absorbed if the situation asks"
LOL I can just see the US "absorbing" Mexico. Canada, maybe - they're allies anyway.
Mexico, not so much. You want a "quagmire", send the US troops to take on the Mexican drug
gangs. They aren't Pancho Villa.
"4) still the financial superpower"
Uhm, what part of "Depression" did you miss? And even if that doesn't happen now,
continued financial success is unlikely. Like pandemics, shit happens in economics and
monetary policy.
"a big fucking Navy, which gives it thalassocratic power."
That can be sunk in a heartbeat and is virtually a colossal money pit with limited
strategic value given current military technology which both China and Russia are as advanced
as the US is, if not more so. Plus China is developing its own navy quickly. I read somewhere
a description of one Chinese naval shipyard. There were several advanced destroyers being
developed. Then the article noted that China has several more large shipyards. That Chinese
long coast comes in handy for that sort of thing.
China Now Has More Warships Than the U.S.
But sometimes quantity doesn't trump quality. [My note: But sometimes it does.] https://tinyurl.com/y7numhef
That's just the first article I found, from a crappy source. There are better analyses, of
course.
"I don't see the USA losing its territorial integrity anytime soon. There are separatist
movements in places like Texas and, more recently, the Western Coast. Most of them exist only
for fiscal reasons and are not taken seriously by anyone else."
I'd agree with that. I hear this "California secession" crap periodically and never
believe it. However, for state politicians, the notion of being "President" of your own
country versus a "Governor" probably is tempting to these morons. State populations are
frequently idiots as well, as the current lockdown response is demonstrating. All in all,
though, if there are perceived external military threats, that is likely to make the states
prefer to remain under US central control.
"... The Chinese will not start a shooting war and the US has no guts for one. Its industry has been hollowed out not just by outsourcing but by corruption as well. The campaign of demonization against China is very obvious, how far it is working I have no way of telling. Among the 5-eyes probably quite well, in the rest of the World rather less well, I would imagine. Notably, the British economy has been hollowed out in exactly the same manner as the US's. Canada's, Australia's, NewZealand's? Could they, would they support a war? ..."
"... Right now, China is leading the vaccine race and has developed an antibody treatment for Covid-19 that should be ready this year. ..."
"... Interesting article by Escobar. If one cares to notice, this anti-China cold war is a neocon based aggression. The primary movers of it are mostly neocons or the sorts who follow the neocon lead. ..."
"... "Again! Trump is talking nonsense." Trump seems to be losing his mind right now. Even he has such crazy ideas of cutting ties with China, US politicians, businessmen and Americans would not allow him to do so, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times. ..."
"... Jin Canrong, the associate dean of Renmin University of China's School of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that Trump made very irresponsible and emotional remarks in the interview. ..."
"... "For Trump, fantasy is power; bluffing is power, so he might use the future of his country to gamble with China. Although China always believes cooperation is the only right choice for the two countries to solve the problems together, if the US unilaterally and irrationally chooses all-out confrontation, China also needs to be prepared." ..."
Washington wants to prevent Russia and China supplanting US interests. Moscow and Beijing
pursue what they see as their own legitimate interests. What we face is not a "hybrid" war or
"New Cold War" but a world war. https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
What we face is not a "hybrid" war or "New Cold War" but a world war.
Honestly, I don't see it. My reasoning is simple, maybe too simple. The Chinese will
not start a shooting war and the US has no guts for one. Its industry has been hollowed out
not just by outsourcing but by corruption as well. The campaign of demonization against China
is very obvious, how far it is working I have no way of telling. Among the 5-eyes probably
quite well, in the rest of the World rather less well, I would imagine. Notably, the British
economy has been hollowed out in exactly the same manner as the US's. Canada's, Australia's,
NewZealand's? Could they, would they support a war?
The other reason I think a shooting war is less likely than might appear, is that the the
MIC is doing so well with the current cold war; that it would seem stupid to allow the
massive disruption and uncertainty that a shooting war would cause to interrupt the torrent
of cash being shoveled its way at the moment.
[Hide MORE]
1990. China's economy has come to a halt. The Economist
1996. China's economy will face a hard landing. The Economist
1998. China's economy's dangerous period of sluggish growth. The Economist
1999. Likelihood of a hard landing for the Chinese economy. Bank of Canada
2000. China currency move nails hard landing risk coffin. Chicago Tribune
2001. A hard landing in China. Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas
2002. China Seeks a Soft Economic Landing. Westchester University
2003. Banking crisis imperils China. New York Times
2004. The great fall of China? The Economist
2005. The Risk of a Hard Landing in China. Nouriel Roubini
2006. Can China Achieve a Soft Landing? International Economy
2007. Can China avoid a hard landing? TIME
2008. Hard Landing In China? Forbes
2009. China's hard landing. China must find a way to recover. Fortune
2010: Hard landing coming in China. Nouriel Roubini
2011: Chinese Hard Landing Closer Than You Think. Business Insider
2012: Economic News from China: Hard Landing. American Interest
2013: A Hard Landing In China. Zero Hedge
2014. A hard landing in China. CNBC
2015. Congratulations, You Got Yourself A Chinese Hard Landing. Forbes
2016. Hard landing looms for China. The Economist
2017. Is China's Economy Going To Crash? National Interest
2018. China's Coming Financial Meltdown. The Daily Reckoning.
2019 China's Economic Slowdown: How worried should we be? BBC
2020. Coronavirus Could End China's Decades-Long Economic Growth Streak. NY Times
Forbes – May 15 2012 – Meghan Casserly The American Dream Is Alive And Well In New Jersey
American Express – November 6 2012 – Rieva Lesonsky The American Dream is Alive and Well -- and Transformed
The Telegraph – August 4 2014 – Jeremy Warner The American Dream is alive and well, if you are trained for the jobs of the future
Forbes – September 30 2015 – John Tamny – FreedomWorks Ignore The Left And Right, The American Dream Is Alive And Well
FOX Business – August 22 2016 – Steve Tobak The American Dream Is Alive and Well
Forbes India – November 1 2016 – Monte Burke The American dream is alive and well
Washington Times – June 19 2017 – Ed Feulner – Heritage Foundation The American Dream, alive and well
KEDM – July 4 2018 – Byron Moore, Argent Advisors, Inc. The American Dream is Alive and Well
New York Times – February 2 2019 – Samuel J. Abrams – American
Enterprise Institute The American Dream Is Alive and Well
Daily Caller – February 6 2019 – Steve Sanetti – NSSF Firearm Industry
Trade Association The American Dream Is Alive And Well
FOX Business – September 30 2019 – Julia Limitone Eric Trump: The American Dream is alive and well
Mail Online – October 2019 – Lauren Fruen The American Dream is still alive! Children of poor immigrants still beat US-born kids up the
ladder – just as they did 100 years ago – but now Chinese and Indian migrants
have replaced Italian and Irish as the most successful
CNBC – November 14 2019 Billionaire Bob Parsons: The American Dream is alive and well
FOX News – November 26 2019 – Carol Ross Carol Roth: The American Dream is alive and well -- Let's be thankful for it
Clarion Ledger – December 10 2019 – Lynn Evans The American Dream is alive and well, but redefined
Wall Street Journal – January 31, 2020 – Michael R. Strain, American
Enterprise Institute The American Dream Is Alive and Well
Newsweek – February 27 2020 – Lee Habeeb The American Dream Is Alive and Well. Just Ask District Taco's Osiris Hoil
The Independent Voice – May 7 2020 – Barbara Ball The American Dream is alive and well
eKenyan – May 8 2020 Opinion | The American Dream Is Alive and Well
New York Times – May 18 2020 – Michael R. Strain – American Enterprise
Institute The American Dream Is Alive and Well
Chinese strategists like Liu He publicly acknowledge that epidemics can catalyze geopolitical
changes.
Right now, China is leading the vaccine race and has developed an antibody treatment
for Covid-19 that should be ready this year.
If development is successful and if it donates the cure to the world as Xi promised
and if WHO's investigation shows China is not the source of the virus, and if
China's economy is firing on all cylinders in November, it's game over: 3-0 China.
Interesting article by Escobar. If one cares to notice, this anti-China cold war is a
neocon based aggression. The primary movers of it are mostly neocons or the sorts who follow
the neocon lead. China is one country the zionazi-gays have not been able to dominate.
Coupled with China's economic rise and appeal to developing countries, these zionazi
oligarchs are going apeshit trying to bring China down. In addition to other articles
referenced in the article, see also this Global Time report:
[MORE] "Again! Trump is talking nonsense." Trump seems to be losing his mind right now. Even he
has such crazy ideas of cutting ties with China, US politicians, businessmen and Americans
would not allow him to do so, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at
Fudan University, told the Global Times.
He noted that Trump is bluffing and acting tough toward China to win more support. Fox
News, which has been regarded as Trump's defender and is notorious for a lack of
professionalism, is also making eye-catching news to draw attention.
Jin Canrong, the associate dean of Renmin University of China's School of
International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that Trump made very
irresponsible and emotional remarks in the interview.
"The China-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world and
involves huge interests of the two countries, as well as the rest of the world. Therefore, it
is not something he can cut off emotionally," Jin said.
"If the US unilaterally cuts off ties, the American people will pay a heavier price than
us, because China's domestic market is huge and 75-80 percent of Chinese manufacturers are
supplying China's market, and the 2 to 5 percent that supply the US can also be absorbed by
the domestic market," he noted.
China has nothing to be afraid of as "in the past, we didn't solve the Taiwan question
because we wanted to maintain the China-US relationship, and if the US unilaterally cuts it
off, we can just reunify Taiwan immediately since the Chinese mainland has an overwhelming
advantage to solve this long-standing problem."
"Trump is like a giant baby on the brink of a meltdown as he faces tremendous pressure due
to massive failures that caused such a high death toll," Shen Yi, an expert from Fudan
University, told the Global Times. "It's like someone who wants to show his guts when he
passes by a cemetery in midnight. He needs to shout to give himself the courage," he
said.
Shen also noted that the American companies and industries would suffer the most severe
consequences, because the supply chain has been integrated with China.
"The Chinese public would only take such bluffing as a joke," Shen said, adding that there
has been no US president in the history who has made such a ridiculous statement against
China, not even during the Cold War.
Yuan Zheng, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said he
could not even remember any US leader who took a similar action. "His flip-flop rhetoric is
unprecedented, but we need to take a look at whether Trump will take real action," he said,
noting that there is no need to pay attention to claims that are unrealistic and
meaningless.
"For Trump, fantasy is power; bluffing is power, so he might use the future of his country
to gamble with China. Although China always believes cooperation is the only right choice for
the two countries to solve the problems together, if the US unilaterally and irrationally
chooses all-out confrontation, China also needs to be prepared."
@Godfree
Roberts China's economy won't be firing on all cylinders by November, but the important
parts of it will be. The manufacturers I talk to have weathered the worst of it, and their
order books for Q4 are more or less back to what they were in January (or at least healthy
enough to prevent soft skill losses). Many are upbeat about the future. (Not all of them will
survive, and the ones that die probably should have done so years ago.)
Compare this to the rest of Asia (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, and
others): they are a mess. Bangladesh put all its eggs in the huge volume low quality basket
and will now pay a fatal price. Pakistan was dead before corona, and is now in a
manufacturing death spiral. India has the capacity to succeed, but is hamstrung by a
caste-based barbarism that has jettisoned all pretense of decency by throwing migrant workers
in the informal economy to their deaths. This will not be forgotten and I predict years of
trouble. The others only have a manufacturing sector because the Chinese moved their
factories there. Vietnam has some chance, and should be a big winner as China moves out of
low- to middle-end manufacturing.
Countries in South America have lost their opportunity. China passed them by years ago.
It's a tragedy, but they really have themselves to blame for it. And Africa, the last
frontier, is already dominated by China (15 years ago I'd bump into Chinese businessmen who'd
ship a 40-foot container of – 'insert any product you can think of' – to some
back of beyond place in Africa and refuse to come home until everything was sold). They've
moved up the ladder since then. Ethiopia, the fastest-growing economy on the continent, is
essentially an industrial zone for Chinese manufacturing.
Australia has become a mine/farm for China. New Zealand and Canada likewise, and a nice
place to send your teenagers to get educated and perhaps for retirement.
The EU, led by Germany, will be back on track soon. The winners here should be the former
USSR countries, with low labor costs and strong soft skills. With EU companies wanting to
bring the supply chain closer to home, this is their moment. If they screw it up, they will
spend another 30 years wondering what went wrong. I hope they won't, but if you spend any
time working with these people you know they often fail at the final hurdle (as though on
purpose – the psychology of self-destruction is their Achilles heel).
It's China's game to lose. And quite frankly, at this point, I don't see how. This has
been in the making since the late 70s. Perhaps earlier. I admire them for their intelligence,
their work ethic, their organizational capacity, their can-do spirit, and – yes –
their creativity (if you think China is Japan in the 60s, you need to spend some serious time
with younger Chinese in China).
The Chinese problem is, of course, its culture of responsibility avoidance. But even with
this issue, they are on track for a knockout victory. Most people in the West have no idea
what going on, which is exactly how You Know Who likes it.
I have no intention of letting my tribe be overrun by Chinese. But I have enough
experience to know they're smarter than my tribe, and it would be a wise thing to start
thinking more strategically and tactically about how to carve out a space in a new world most
people are unable to imagine (which is less than 10 years away).
The center of gravity of global economic power keeps moving, inexorably, toward
Asia.
it's game over
While the U.S. spent recent decades policing the world in pointless wars, China was about
the business of building an infrastructure in which all roads lead to Beijing, railroad cars
and boatloads of wealth. Just keep it coming, folks. Those roads and railroads and shipping
are linking nothing less than Eurasia, Sir Halford's World Island. It took this coronavirus
to show the imperial subjects that the Empire is naked and that China had already surpassed
it economically several years ago. It seems like it really is game over. I'm sad in a way,
but I would rather have a normal country than a hegemon; that is, if normalcy is still a
possibility.
What about the biggest hybrid war going on since centuries ago: jews (including crypto-jews,
hybrids and minions) versus everybody else?
The chinese had the full cooperation of diaspora jews (and their sayanim network) and
israelis. Specially the Chabad Lubavich.
From the referenced Global Times article, the US attack on Huawei (with its 5G leadership +
NSA proof encryption ) is at the heart of the story:
Based on Global Times sources, if the US further pinches Chinese telecommunication giant
Huawei by blocking companies such as TSMC from providing chips to the company, China will
carry out countermeasures, such as including certain US companies into its list of
"unreliable entities," imposing restrictions on or investigating US companies such as
Qualcomm, Cisco and Apple, and suspending purchases of Boeing aircraft.
The US would lose this fight. Apple for example manufactures in China with only a small
percentage of the sales price staying in China. If Apple manufacturing is shut down then
Apple is the big loser. They're already trying to move manufacturing to India but that's not
going to work.
We must be clear that coping with US suppression will be the key focus of China's
national strategy. We should enhance cooperation with most countries. The US is expected to
contain China's international frontlines, and we must knock out this US plot and make
China-US rivalry a process of US self-isolation.
China has plenty of alternative markets. US corporations mostly only sell to the US using
(now very sophisticated) Chinese manufacturing. Take this away, and Apple for example, have
no alternative supplier for the volumes, quality, sub-contractor network and export
infrastructure required.
General Qiao dismisses the possibility that Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India
and other Asian nations may replace China's cheap workforce: "Think about which of these
countries has more skilled workers than China. What quantity of medium and high level human
resources was produced in China in these past 30 years? Which country is educating over 100
million students at secondary and university levels? The energy of all these people is
still far from being liberated for China's economic development."
True.
This will imply a concerted offensive, trying to enforce embargoes and trying to block
regional markets to Chinese companies. Lawfare will be the norm. Even freezing Chinese
assets in the US is not a far-fetched proposition anymore.
If the US steals the $ trillions China has invested in US treasuries, then the US dollar
also forfeits its claim to be the world reserve currency (safe place to hold international
trade balances).
Still, scores of nations are being asked, bluntly, by the hegemon to position themselves
once again in a "you're with us or against us" global war on terror imperative.
9/11 was fakery pumped up by the MSM to target Iraq/Iran and Covid-19 is more of the same
– this time targeting China. European states are getting tired of this game. For
example they were all dragged into supporting the Venezuela CIA coup that fizzled, and are
now trying to disentangle from it.
General Qiao counsels, "Don't think that only territorial sovereignty is linked to the
fundamental interests of a nation. Other kinds of sovereignty – economic, financial,
defense, food, resources, biological and cultural sovereignty – are all linked to the
interests and survival of nations and are components of national sovereignty."
If the US public look carefully at General Qiao's list they will realize that they have
already lost more than 50% of these sovereignties.
" General Qiao dismisses the possibility .. India and other Asian nations may replace China's
c: "Think about which of these countries has more skilled "
Everyday US. news are amplifying the bipartisan chorus against China . India is begging
for favors from USA while serenading USA with reinforcing American position.
India is stealing land from Nepal and Indian media thinks that ultranationalist of Nepal
are to blame for questioning Indian stance .
China is under a real threat of concerted attacks by the US 's opportunistic vassals.
There will be a seismic change affecting the alliances and the future .
Can China persuade Nepal Bangladesh Pakistan Sri Lanka Afghanistan Iran and Myanmar to work
together and persuade them move out of India's hegemony ?.
It's always astounding to read a geopolitical analysis by a journalist who completely ignores
the climate pollution crisis with it's impending effects overhanging every strategy any state
may envision to dominate the planet. It's as if the writer lives in an imaginary world devoid
of nature, along with his supposed expert sources and well placed powerful state movers and
shakers. This is delusional. China's cheap forced labor, making more crap for the planet's
shrinking population of affluent consumers, competing with other countries with equally
desperate workers. Countries competing to build the most dangerous bio-weapons in their
unsafe, leaky level 4 labs. All the while the atmosphere is being polluted to the point of
melting all the ice on the planet, the air is being degraded to the point of being disgusting
to see and carcinogenic to breath, the fresh water supply is being depleted and polluted, the
oceans degraded into radioactive chemical cesspools (soon to be a brown sludge inhabited by
only bacteria, viruses and fungus), the land ceded with thousands of chemicals that have no
purpose other than to kill. The existential threshold is within a few years. The geopolitical
strategy of the US and China can be summarized as a strategy to kill all sentient life on the
planet in order to have a some sort of imaginary strategic dominance. It is mass psychosis.
@foolisholdman
Old man, don't be foolish, they all hate us human scum, and will gladly go to war, are at
war. Remember how, in Catch 22, the opposing sides eventually saved a crap load of money by
geting Milo de Milo to bomb their own airfields using his supply planes? Its already
happening, us plebs are just in the way. In the end, the Protocols calls for one government
ruling what's left of mankind "with an iron staff." I cannot tell you (yet) what Zion's hold
on Beijing is, but be assured, "bring on the war" is the swill of Zion being lapped up by
little globalist piggies trying to get to the trough.
People think 'hybrid warfare" is some kind of technological term. Zion chooses its words very
carefully, and your first defence is your dictionary. The USAGE of words change with time,
the MEANING is constant. Now let's go find them hybrids, before Bill Gates can create enough
microcephalics to man his man/machine interfaced battle 'droids armed with depleted uranium
bullets and virally-delivered vaccines.
@carlusjr
Pollution sure is an important issue, one of the most important of our time, yes. The subject
matter at hand though, is mostly military, with economics as a condiment to explain the sour
taste. China might be the one manufacturing plastic turds, but it is the so-called western
media that is teaching your children the dire need to own the latest version of plastic poop.
China would not bother with plastic poop, but you voted for people who decided China makes
the best poo at the lowest cost and highest profit. Don't blame China for taking advantage of
YOUR leadership's desire to disown YOU and hand your habitat over to those who "know how to
make a profit" from your suffering, while dangling a piece of plastic poop in front of you,
calling it ambition, and deplatforming you if you refuse their offer of improved
turdiness.
But yah, now we know you hate pollution. Soon we will close down all the factories, and ban
all cars, and only those on "official business" will be alowed on aeroplanes, and then you
can breathe freely, as you stand in line, so the Special Agents can see if you have the Bill
Gates vaccine licence to visit the plastic poop and soylent green depository that we used to
call a supermarket.
A toxic racism-meets-anti-communism matrix is responsible for the predominant
anti-Chinese sentiment across the US, encompassing at least 66% of the whole
population.
No it isn't.
A hint of what is responsible is this from the same article:
"They have state of the art technology, but not the methods and production capacity. So
they have to rely on Chinese production."
Our jobs, our industry, our hard-earned intellectual property, and our money have all gone
to China. Our own leaders of industry and government are to blame for our predicament, but
our anger at China is the result.
Funny this from the Chinese General Qiao:
"as a producing country, we still cannot satisfy our manufacturing industry with our own
resources and rely on our own markets to consume our products."
No kidding, General. Your country built itself up by selling to us! We made you into our
own rival. Thanks are in order, but instead you plot to weaken us.
@Godfree
Roberts Sounds like a man who has no understanding of the science regarding the matter,
but so doesn't most of the world. Vaccine? Anti-body treatment? Does anybody know what they
are and how they work (or doesn't) or mean? From those tests to those invasive ventilators,
it shows me how people can easily be herded towards slaughter, for their safety, ofc, because
"science." And just over a mild cold no less.
So much for China's brilliance; they are as dumb or brainwashed by 'accepted science' as the
next moronic authority figure.
But exploiting the situation, that's something else that should be appreciated.
This will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in
developing countries." The Global South is paying attention.
Do the underdeveloped (hate the PC term "developing") countries even want a vaccine? They
have too many people anyway, any moderate dying will be an advantage to their societies. And
another point is that the anti-vaxxer movement there might be on the rise, just as it is in
America – remember how the Philippines government was watching a conspiracy video about
evil Bill Gates? I have talked to anti-vaxxer people in my Ukrainian university!
"Containment" will go into overdrive. A neat example is Admiral Philip Davidson –
head of the Indo-Pacific Command – asking for $20 billion for a "robust military
cordon" from California to Japan and down the Pacific Rim, complete with "highly
survivable, precision-strike networks" along the Pacific Rim and "forward-based, rotational
joint forces" to counteract the "renewed threat we face from great power competition."
My prediction is the US goes into a civil war > the liberals start losing > the
liberals invite the Chinese into California > the Chinese exterminate all Americans and
get a large Lebensraum in the East.
a Korea War pictorial. Nice.
It's long long ago since China made the last movie about Korea War. Too long ago that they
are in black and white.
Recently someone is preparing for a new movie: The Chosin Lake.
I really hope it will be well made. I love war movies, especially the ones on historical big
wars.
@Buzz
Mohawk I think the Western globalists though that China would be subservient to them and
not get any funny ideas, this virus is just a cover for antipathy that was building up for
years, similar to how the poor Jews being persecuted in Germany was used by propagandists to
whip up Germany sentiment, because of German economic prowess.
Western thinking is dominated by this balance of power mentality, the same mentality such
caused it to enter into two fratricidal wars not too long ago.
One can only hope this is good news for us, but I fear the globalists will just use this
time to move manufacturing to other Third World countries instead of bringing it back
home.
I agree that it was a huge mistake transferring our IP to China, they would simply have
not got to this point if we hadn't. This is also why the Chinese are not taking any chances
in their BRI, and are using Chinese labour instead of doing the more sustainable thing and
training up local workers, that would mean a destruction of their market! Sadly this will
continue, on top of the terrible policy of mass Third World immigration, we let Chinese into
out top companies and research facilities, some of whom no doubt pass this information back
home.
So the Global South is going to be "grateful" to China for coming up with vaccination after
innudating it with the Chinese virus in the first place Pepe, lay of the Mezcal because is
clouding your opaque thinking!
Let me make this clear. America is self-destructing. A malignant narcissist in charge and a
man who cannot construct a sentence is an alternative. A stock market devoid of reality and a
1 percent devoid of conscience. Any remote consideration of the other 99 percent is soley
based on profit. Any civilization that cannot reverse itself is doomed. China maybe a
shortterm factor yet not a factor in the longer considerations.
{ .. and the US has no guts for one. Its industry has been hollowed out not just by
outsourcing but by corruption as well.}
Even in the 50s when US industry was not hollowed out ( ran supreme) and China had no
nukes, US was unable to defeat China in a ground war in Korea. Of course there was talk in US
of using nukes against China (Gen. MacArthur), but cooler heads prevailed, arguing that, that
would trigger USSR to use nukes too, resulting in world wide nuclear conflagration.
Now China has nukes, and delivery systems, and US cannot possible defeat China
conventionally, so US will huff-and-puff, try to damage China financially, or steal its
holdings in US*, but nothing will come out of it.
Sad that US screwed itself over the years so badly that it is in this predicament now.
_____________________________
* There has been semi-serious talk in US of just taking $ hundreds of billions of Chinese
holdings in US as payment for ' damages' China has supposedly caused US by
Covid-19.
All this big nation state fluff stinks today as it did when the first two Western ones,
England and France had a 100 Years War and it has stunk throughout history.
We humans are born naked, helpless, and totally ignorant. We also have an evil streak in
us; vide Adam and Eve. And as Shakespeare stated we must consign ourselves to a willing death
each eve or we die. We are so haughty yet the first thing we must do upon wakening from our
nightly death is evacuate waste.
We have never respected Nature. Now we spray aluminum and plastic microns in the upper
atmosphere which we all breathe as they fall and have virtually destroyed the ozone layer and
the biosphere. We live in 1984 right now!
True libertarianism which is no aggression against person or property and backed up by
cheap, Natural Law arbitration courts works. It is that or sayonara humans.
My reasoning is simple, maybe too simple. The Chinese will not start a shooting war and
the US has no guts for one.
You may be right about the Chinese (their government looks after 1,3 billion people) and
that the US has no guts. But what is the "US"? If you mean the (mostly Jewish) ruling cabal
and their goyim political clowns and puppets, you have no reason to be so sanguine about the
"no guts". It's not their guts that will be on the line, for they will be quite happy so
sacrifice millions of the plebes for the greater good of Israel and rebooting the "economy".
War devastations (and pandemics) are the greatest source for immiserating and culling the
masses and channeling wealth to the banksters.
Facing the demise of the Jewish-led hegemony through its PNAC's "full-spectrum dominance"
– and what that could do to the SHITIS (shit-state of Israel) – it is reasonable
(in their twisted minds) to step to the brink and beyond. Besides, the most recent great wars
(the greatest carnages in the world's history) were not intended to end the way the warhawks
wanted (neither Hitler not Chamberlain wished the destruction of country or empire) but the
power dynamics unleashed by geopolitical gamesmanship suppresses reason.
@paranoid
goy Non-CO2 pollution is a non-issue. It was far worse in the USA and China 50 years ago
(air and water), and in Europe/East coast USA over 200 years ago. Wildlife populations are
also rebounding. Every time I hear some retard complaining about pollution on the internet, I
want to reach through the monitor and pepper spray them.
The zionists are in control of China and the ZUS and Russia and Europe and India and
everywhere in central and South America, and the fact is the zionist control was proven by
every country that forced their people into the forced lockdown, using this scam of a
coronavirus as an excuse.
These wars are a deversion, as the zionist install their global prison.
General Qiao dismisses the possibility that Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India
and other Asian nations may replace China's cheap workforce: "Think about which of these
countries has more skilled workers than China. What quantity of medium and high level human
resources was produced in China in these past 30 years? Which country is educating over 100
million students at secondary and university levels? The energy of all these people is
still far from being liberated for China's economic development."
Once again, I must caveat this with the proclamation I was not and I am not an advocate
for Obama's TPP. The reason I'm not an advocate is for environmental purposes. I believe
growth is killing the living planet and soon enough will extinct humans as well as many, most
even, other species on the planet. The TPP did nothing to address growth and instead enabled
it further by enhancing global trade versus diminishing it.
That being said, the TPP was a strategy to contain China's growing influence. It was
intended to put global trade eggs in many baskets and not just in the basket labeled China.
What does Trump do? He puts all the trade eggs in China's basket under the aegis/rubric of
repatriating manufacturing to America. He put a knife in TPP and killed it but he never
brought manufacturing back to America. Now America is truly good and fucked. Over a barrel.
No options. Can you believe this moron and the cabal that's using him as a foil? Like I said
before, if Trump didn't exist, the CCP would have to invent him because more than any other
power player, be it Russia or Saudi Arabia or Israel, Trump has been extremely beneficial to
China. Under Trump's watch, China is now the most powerful country in the world. Because of
Trump, China is now the leader of the world. America, finally, has been knocked from its
perch just as England was over 100 years prior. Once knocked from the perch, there is no
regaining the status you once enjoyed. I suspect that within five years the dollar will no
longer be the world's currency. When that happens, it's lights out for America FOR REAL. All
this banter is whistling past the graveyard. What's done is done.
House Democrats who've been interfering with President Barack Obama's ability to
negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership are missing something very important: The trade
deal isn't primarily significant because of the economy. It matters because it's part of
the broader American geostrategic goal of containing China -- which pointedly hasn't been
invited to join the TPP.
In the new cool war, China's rising economic influence is giving it greater geopolitical
power in Asia. The TPP is, above all, an effort to push back on China's powerful trade
relationships to reduce its political clout. By weakening Obama's ability to pursue it,
congressional Democrats had been unintentionally weakening the U.S. side in the cool
war.
In all this, China is using its close economic relationship with its neighbors as
leverage to build its geopolitical position. Its ultimate goal is to displace the U.S. as
the regional hegemon. President Xi Jinping's slogan of the "Chinese dream" requires nothing
less.
The TPP aims to reduce some of China's geopolitical resurgence by damping down the
extent of China's regional trade dominance. China itself has a proposed regional trade
alliance, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, that would include 16 members
and exclude the U.S. Australia, Japan and South Korea are all involved in negotiations to
become members. The TPP is a direct, competitive counterpart to the RCEP.
Fyi, the following cartoon is per China Daily , a publication owned and run by the
CCP. It's favorable to Trump. It's clear by virtue of Trump's cozy relationship with Putin
and Xi that Trump is a communist in capitalist clothing. He is a communist trojan horse in
the oval office. But he's even more than that. He has many hats. He's a tool, a
self-promoting front man, for any tyrant or tyranny that expands his brand masquerading as a
man of the people. As if. He's a man, albeit an insane moron, of the extractive elite and the
extractive elite are transnational and transcultural. The extractive elite are a nation and
culture unto themselves and the rest of us are their slaves on this global plantation.
@Weston
Waroda Once reserved currency status of dollar is over n done with, there would be zero
need for the huge military budget. That is the silver lining of this whole thing. The wars
might finally stop. But living standards will take a hit from the devaluation of the dollar.
But but, Jobs would return through that weakened dollar as off shoring jobs would no longer
make sense. And just maybe, our political class might finally focus on domestic issues and
improve the country after 4 decades of stagnation.
@Miro23
Apple follows every single law in China. Apple makes a lot of money in China, but also pays
alot of taxes. I highly doubt it would be a target of retaliation. But other companies are
fair game. Just something I noticed.
@carlusjr
Spot on. Humans are drowning in their own filth. There's an adage, "don't shit where you
eat." Humans invented the saying but apparently don't abide by it and in fact zealously defy
it. Here we are. It will be one pandemic after another from now until human is no more. Rapid
pace, like automatic weapon fire. The center cannot hold and is not holding. Civilization is
going down. Will the Samson Option be utilized? Man's last act? Destroy the planet
entirely if he can't have it entirely? My bet is this is how it will go down. All you have to
do is extrapolate the curve.
@bigduke6
It is quite obvious why they are doing, they are using Europeans' own liberal ideology
against them. In today's Western world, nothing is worse than being a "racist" (except maybe,
just maybe a paedophile necrophiliac, but even that is a close one) as such they will use
these terms to beat down Europeans. Erdogan recently likened Greece to "Nazis", due to their
brave defiance to Third World invaders.
As if they genuinely give a shit about Nazis, a particularly European obsession due to
decades of brainwashing by the Jewish media elite. Even if one believes the textbooks in
relation to Nazi atrocities, the fact is that such things are normal for history. No other
people's beat themselves down over bad stuff they've done, hell, the Mongolians have erected
a big statue of Genghis Khan, one of the greatest mass murderers in history!
Extremely misleading headline. Since the Asia Times story is actually about economic
and political sovereignity – always a big issue for China ever since the Eight Powers
carved up the nation in the past: Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, Italy,
Austria-Hungary, and the U.S.
It doesn't speak about warfare against the U.S. It speaks about meeting a threat from the
U.S. It does speak of taking Taiwan, though by avoiding outright warfare. This is not
something we should desire, but it is not war against the U.S., as the misleading headline is
intended to make people believe.
As usual most of the rubes will only read the headline and look at the pictures, maybe
skim through the text a bit, before typing out an angry post based on whether they like or
dislike whatever nation is mentioned. Much like cruzbots and Bush lovers use Breitbart
comments to screech against Iran and praise Israel. No facts needed.
"... An example, referring to Covid-19, is the capacity to produce ventilators: "Out of over 1,400 pieces necessary for a ventilator, over 1,100 must be produced in China, including final assembly. That's the US problem today. They have state of the art technology, but not the methods and production capacity. So they have to rely on Chinese production." ..."
"... The gold standard expression has come in a no-holds barred Global Times editorial : "We must be clear that coping with US suppression will be the key focus of China's national strategy. We should enhance cooperation with most countries. The US is expected to contain China's international front lines, and we must knock out this US plot and make China-US rivalry a process of US self-isolation." ..."
"... An inevitable corollary is that the all-out offensive to cripple Huawei will be counterpunched in kind, targeting Apple, Qualcom, Cisco and Boeing, even including "investigations or suspensions of their right to do business in China." ..."
"... So, for all practical purposes, Beijing has now publicly unveiled its strategy to counteract U.S. President Donald Trump's "We could cut off the whole relationship" kind of assertions. ..."
"... The politicians controlling US foreign policy are leading us straight into the 19th century, with their updated gunboat diplomacy ..."
The bulk of his argument concentrates on the shortcomings of U.S. manufacturing: "How can
the US today want to wage war against the biggest manufacturing power in the world while its
own industry is hollowed out?"
An example, referring to Covid-19, is the capacity to produce ventilators: "Out of over
1,400 pieces necessary for a ventilator, over 1,100 must be produced in China, including final
assembly. That's the US problem today. They have state of the art technology, but not the
methods and production capacity. So they have to rely on Chinese production."
... ... ...
Gloves Are Off
Now compare General Qiao's analysis with the by-now-obvious geopolitical and geo-economic
fact that Beijing will respond tit for tat to any hybrid war tactics deployed by the United
States government. The gloves are definitely off.
The gold standard expression has come in a no-holds barred Global Times editorial : "We must be
clear that coping with US suppression will be the key focus of China's national strategy. We
should enhance cooperation with most countries. The US is expected to contain China's
international front lines, and we must knock out this US plot and make China-US rivalry a
process of US self-isolation."
An inevitable corollary is that the all-out offensive
to cripple Huawei will be counterpunched in kind, targeting Apple,
Qualcom, Cisco and Boeing, even including "investigations or suspensions of their right to do
business in China."
So, for all practical purposes, Beijing has now publicly unveiled its strategy to counteract
U.S. President Donald Trump's "We could cut off the whole relationship" kind of assertions.
A toxic racism-meets-anti-communism matrix is responsible for the predominant anti-Chinese
sentiment across the U.S., encompassing at least 66 percent of the whole population. Trump
instinctively seized it – and repackaged it as his re-election campaign theme, fully
approved by Steve Bannon.
The strategic objective is to go after China across the full spectrum. The tactical
objective is to forge an anti-China front across the West: another instance of encirclement,
hybrid war-style, focused on economic war.
This will imply a concerted offensive, trying to enforce embargoes and trying to block
regional markets to Chinese companies. Lawfare will be the norm. Even freezing Chinese assets
in the U.S. is not a far-fetched proposition anymore.
Every possible Silk Road branch-out – on the energy front, ports, the Health Silk
Road, digital interconnection – will be strategically targeted. Those who were dreaming
that Covid-19 could be the ideal pretext for a new Yalta – uniting Trump, Xi and Putin
– may rest in peace.
"Containment" will go into overdrive. A neat example is Admiral Philip Davidson – head
of the Indo-Pacific Command – asking for $20 billion for a
"robust military cordon" from California to Japan and down the Pacific Rim, complete with
"highly survivable, precision-strike networks" along the Pacific Rim and "forward-based,
rotational joint forces" to counteract the "renewed threat we face from great power
competition."
Davidson argues that, "without a valid and convincing conventional deterrent, China and
Russia will be emboldened to take action in the region to supplant U.S. interests."
... ... ...
From the point of view of large swathes of the Global South, the current, extremely
dangerous incandescence, or New Cold War, is mostly interpreted as the progressive ending of
the Western coalition's hegemony over the whole planet.
Still, scores of nations are being asked, bluntly, by the hegemon to position themselves
once again in a "you're with us or against us" global war on terror imperative.
... ... ...
For the first time in 35 years, Beijing will be forced to relinquish its economic growth
targets. This also means that the objective of doubling GDP and per capita income by 2020
compared with 2010 will also be postponed.
What we should expect is absolute emphasis on domestic spending – and social stability
– over a struggle to become a global leader, even if that's not totally overlooked.
... ... ...
Internally, Beijing will boost support for state-owned enterprises that are strong in
innovation and risk-taking. China always defies predictions by Western "experts." For instance,
exports rose 3.5 percent in April, when the experts were forecasting a decline of 15.7 percent.
The trade surplus was $45.3 billion, when experts were forecasting only $6.3 billion.
Beijing seems to identify clearly the extending gap between a West, especially the U.S.,
that's plunging into de facto New Great Depression territory with a China that's about to
rekindle economic growth
Zhu , May 20, 2020 at 00:34
"A toxic mixture of racism and anti-communism" sounds about right. The Chinese government
is not submissive and the "Chinks" are getting too prosperous. That's bound to infuriate both
elite and grass-roots Americans.
Drew Hunkins , May 20, 2020 at 00:34
"For the first time in 35 years, Beijing will be forced to relinquish its economic growth
targets. This also means that the objective of doubling GDP and per capita income by 2020
compared with 2010 will also be postponed. "
Good, good, just wonderful. This will really endear the United States to the Chinese
people.
All that the Chinese govt did for its people over the last 30 years is totally eliminate
poverty, that's all. Gotta love how our Western mass media won't shut their mouths about this
small achievement.
Drew Hunkins , May 20, 2020 at 00:15
"Those who were dreaming that Covid-19 could be the ideal pretext for a new Yalta –
uniting Trump, Xi and Putin – may rest in peace."
Rest in peace, no doubt. Washington is all about unilateralism, period. This is the crux
of the issue, the rapacious capitalist-imperialists who infest Wall St, the military
contractors and corporate mass media want nothing to do with a multi-polar world. This could
lead to putting the far east on a dangerous path with U.S. warships provocatively traversing
the area.
gcw , May 19, 2020 at 21:08
The politicians controlling US foreign policy are leading us straight into the 19th
century, with their updated gunboat diplomacy . Never a thought to the impending
disaster of climate change and unparalleled social and environmental chaos, they dream
instead of yet another Cold War (Yellow-Peril 2.0), all the time sustaining a gargantuan
military establishment which is draining the life-blood from American society. The Covid-19
virus is just a warning to us: we have about 5% of the world's population, yet lead the pack
in deaths from the virus. If this monumental display of incompetence doesn't wake us up, what
will?
A day after the WHA approved a resolution authorizing a WHO-led investigation to the origins
of the coronavirus in China, President Trump just lashed out at China's state-approved
conspiracy-peddlers who are desperately trying to convince the Chinese people that the virus
didn't come from China - but actually originated in the US.
Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the
Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that
it was the "incompetence of China", and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide
killing!
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20,
2020
The rhetorical tit-for-tat between the US and China has intensified in recent days, as the
White House lambasted President Xi's promise to share a vaccine "with the world" and pump $2
billion into the WHO's effort to help the poorest countries as a "token" gesture to try and
obviate China's obvious culpability.
Trump and many members of his administration have bashed the WHO for uncritically accepting
information provided by the CCP - despite having an office on the ground in Beijing - and
writing glowing reports praising China's early response while the government knowingly withheld
information that could have inspired a more stringent response.
Instead, the organization hemmed and hawed, playing down the virus's destructive potential,
and celebrating China's response as "a model" for other developing nations.
Twitter blue checks immediately pounced on the comment, reminding the world of the Trump
Administration's "failings".
Some wacko in the White House is blaming everyone but himself for the disastrous spread of
the COVID-19 coronavirus in America. The original sin is China's but the Trump administration
had plenty of time to deal with the gathering storm. It's not like it arrived unannounced.
https://t.co/ZMltpmHhcB
Thanks for the link. For those who haven't read the article yet, I have one advice: keep
reading. The article begins with a summary; this may seem unsatisfying, but it is just a
summary. A fuller rebuttal follows.
On the other hand, they [the Chinese] may keep the "secret" as a useful bargain chip in
the fulness of time. Cheers.
Dear Parfois, I think this is the case. We have become so accustomed to the vulgarity and
bravado of Western politicians that we dont realise anymore how diplomatic ties between
nations are normally operated.
If you and the moderator allow me, I will give an example of how "chess-playing", long
term vision-diplomacy operates.
Until about a year ago, I always believed with awe and admiration that US space engineers
sent a manned mission to the Moon. Of course, I'd always heard my British colleagues arguing
about the photos of the mission being obviously fake, etc.. Never thought much of it: what
are photos worth compared to space engineering, eh?
Then, I read the UR article on the Moon Landing, and to my great surprise, I found out
that commenters whom I highly consider and always read carefully, such as Erebus, were making
a mockery of this technological prowess.
I made more research on other media, and found on RT Arabic a four-part documentary
interviewing Alexander Popov, an eminent Russian professor, who absolutely tore into pieces
the Moon Landing narrative with Physics and Engineering arguments.
He also explained that the USSR knew all the way about the hoax, how they captured the empty
Apollo 13 capsule off the Azores island, embarked it on a submarine and used it to blackmail
the US for funding, grains, goods and industrial investment.
In summary, sophisticated thinkers don't brag about their winning cards and keep their
powder dry for the best time and opportunity to optimise its effects. Best.
@Harold Smith Also, taking the Chinese to court could start a precedent. Of note on their
webpage the Chinese mentioned AIDS starting off in the US. It made me wonder if by the
American courts blaming China, the US might make themselves a target for people and
governments looking for repatriations from the AIDS epidemic.
@skrik If I may add to that, the intel agencies quite intentionally feed disinfo to
outlets like the Daily Mail , to continually promote the polarization of people in
society, i.e., divide et impera (divide and conquer) by keeping us arguing about different
details/spins we've read on different outlets and to maintain the status quo .
There's the infamous case of the Zinoviev Letter, a fraudulent document published by the
UK's Daily Mail 4 days before the UK General Election in October 1924. The letter was
supposedly a "directive" from the head of the USSR's Communist International (Comintern),
Grigory Zinoviev, to the Communist Party of Great Britain, ordering it to engage in seditious
activities. It said the resumption of diplomatic relations (by a UK Labor government) would
hasten the radicalization of the working class in Britain. It was thought by many that, if
true, this would've been major meddling in UK elections (sound familiar?), and so
offended a lot of British voters, turning them against the UK's Labor Party. The letter aided
the Conservatives, aka Tories, by hastening the collapse of the Liberal Party vote, resulting
in an election landslide for the Tories. To some in the media, the letter was claimed to be
authentic, but historians now agree it was a fraud.
See how long this has been going on for now? The Cabal is well versed in these kinds of
tactics.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published an article on COVID-19, rebutting
claims made by the U.S. administration with regard to China's responsibility in the pandemic.
In the article, China refutes 24 claims from the U.S., including that the virus stemmed
from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Ministry says it will continue to rebut the "false
claims" if new ones come up.
The article is backed by very comprehensive bibliographie; it is worth saving.
Reality Check of US Allegations Against China on COVID-19
"... The pandemic only accelerated the timeline. The Health Silk Road will run in parallel to the multiple overland Silk Road corridors and the Maritime Silk Road. In a graphic demonstration of soft power, so far China has offered Covid-19-related equipment and medical help to no fewer than 89 nations – and counting. ..."
"... China has helped 89 countries during the pandemic, while we've helped...(check notes)...no one. China is making us look bad. Not only are we not helping anyone, we are actively hurting those countries that help other countries. ..."
"... China has even helped the US : It has now sent 2.4 billion face masks to America - 7 masks per person. China has also sent 1,255 ventilators to Los Angeles and 1,000 to New York City. ..."
"... The author of a piece at Zerohedge -- "China Floods the World With Defective medical supplies. It's from the Gatestone Institute which wiki says is a far right anti-Muslim organization; John Bolton the former chair. ..."
"... To answer the essays title: Trump's faction of billionaires has a preference for war with China, and apparently that's the ruling view now. ..."
gjohnsit on Sat, 04/25/2020 - 10:05pm I've been
puzzled by the amount of anti-China propaganda, until I read
this .
The pandemic only accelerated the timeline. The Health Silk Road will run in parallel to the multiple overland Silk Road corridors
and the Maritime Silk Road. In a graphic demonstration of soft power, so far China has offered Covid-19-related equipment and
medical help to no fewer than 89 nations – and counting.
That covers Africa (especially South Africa, Namibia and Kenya, with Alibaba in fact announcing it will send help to all African
nations); Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru); the arc from East Asia to Southwest Asia; and Europe...
A Health Silk Road is already in effect when we see China, Russia – and Cuba with its first-class health system – sending teams
of doctors and virologists as well as planes with medical equipment to Italy, and China sending drugs, test kits and supplies
to illegally sanctioned Iran.
China immediately understood what was at stake as it saw Covid-19 ravage many hot points of world-famous Made in Italy.
China has helped 89 countries during the pandemic, while we've helped...(check notes)...no one. China is making us look bad.
Not only are we not helping anyone, we are
actively hurting
those countries that help other countries.
WASHINGTON has come under fire for blocking much-needed medical supplies from reaching Cuba for a second time, with Swiss
groups branding the six-decade-long economic blockade "a criminal act."
The aid had been collected by the Swiss solidarity group MediCuba Switzerland and had been intended for Covid-19 patients on
the socialist island.
...
Because of the blockade Cuba is unable to receive vital medical supplies needed to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic including
ventilators and masks along with fuel and food for its people.
That'll teach those Cuban doctors! Just the other day the world witnessed
something rarely seen .
Venezuela has received refining materials via plane shipment from Iran to help it start the catalytic cracking unit at the 310,000
barrels-per-day Cardon refinery, which is necessary to produce gasoline, an official said on Thursday.
The shipments mark a new stage in cooperation between the two OPEC nations that are both facing crippling U.S. sanctions, with
their levels of oil production and exports declining in recent years due in part to the pressure from Washington.
Meanwhile
Europe
has defied U.S. sanctions for the first time.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom confirm that INSTEX has successfully concluded its first transaction, facilitating the
export of medical goods from Europe to Iran. INSTEX and its Iranian counterpart STFI will work on more transactions and enhancing
the mechanism. pic.twitter.com/0z4KJwDjuw
: It has now sent 2.4 billion face masks to America - 7 masks per person. China
has also sent 1,255 ventilators to Los Angeles and 1,000 to New York City.
China is able to supply at least 14,000 non-invasive ventilators in April, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Nikkie
Lu, based on what factories supplied Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, in the month of March. She estimated the collective
value of these machines at $100 million to $300 million.
The author of a piece at Zerohedge -- "China Floods the World With Defective medical supplies. It's from the Gatestone
Institute which wiki says is a far right anti-Muslim organization; John Bolton the former chair.
To answer the essays title: Trump's faction of billionaires has a preference for war with China, and apparently that's
the ruling view now.
"But if you read carefully through those articles, you find that the allegation is merely
that they are attempting hack in to gain access to the research.
"Because the UK and the US are attempting to hide their vaccine and treatment research
results from the rest of the world to make money out of them."
I highly suggest watching the 25 min long "The
Karma of Big PHarma"Renegade Inc program featuring Gerald Posner who just
published a book on the subject.
I've discussed patents before, shown why they're immoral and exposed the illogic that's
called intellectual property and its theft. Copyright is altogether different as it doesn't
try to monopolize something that has its basis in Nature.
In a round of interviews on US television talk shows, the top Trump trade adviser and
anti-China hawk, Peter Navarro, stepped up the White House attack on Beijing, suggesting that
it had purposely started the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Making China the scapegoat for the outbreak not only serves to deflect attention from the
Trump administration's criminal responsibility for the horrific death toll in the United
States, but feeds directly into the anti-China trade war measures for which Navarro has
aggressively advocated.
Speaking on the "This Week" program on ABC News, Navarro repeatedly referred to COVID-19 in
xenophobic terms as the "China virus" -- a patently unscientific term intended to blame Beijing
for the pandemic. While declaring he did not say that China deliberately unleashed the virus on
the world, he immediately made clear that was exactly what he was implying.
President Donald
Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, May 15, 2020, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon)
Claiming to present "the facts," Navarro stated: "The virus was spawned in Wuhan province.
Patient zero was in November. The Chinese, behind the shield of the World Health Organization,
for two months hid the virus from the world, and then sent hundreds of thousands of Chinese on
aircraft to Milan, New York, and around the world to seed that."
In another demonstration that the entire US media and political establishment is on board
the anti-China campaign, ABC presenter George Stephanopoulos did not dispute any of these
so-called "facts." In reality, China was wrestling with the sudden emergence of a previously
unknown disease: its causes, let alone the means for testing and treating it, had to be
identified and developed.
Any objective examination of the record shows that Chinese authorities provided information
as it became available to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries, including
the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States.
* The first identified case was diagnosed in Wuhan on November 17, 2019 followed by a second
on December 1, 2019.
* On December 21, 2019, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention published a
report on a cluster of patients with a "pneumonia of unknown cause."
* By January 3, Chinese scientists determined that the disease was caused by a novel
coronavirus, which the WHO confirmed on January 9.
* Less than a week later, on January 13, Chinese virologists published the genome sequence
for the virus.
* By January 21, a total of 291 cases were reported across major cities in China, the first
deaths in China had occurred and cases were being reported outside China.
* On January 24, the Chinese leadership placed not only Wuhan but the entire Hubei province
under lockdown.
To conclude on this basis that the Chinese regime "sent hundreds of thousands of Chinese on
aircraft to Milan, New York, and around the world to seed that [virus]," is another of the big
lies promoted by the Trump administration as part of its propaganda war against China. The very
terms used are chosen to imply that Beijing deliberately "seeded" a catastrophic global
pandemic.
Whatever the flaws in China's response, they pale into insignificance in comparison to the
Trump administration's dismissal of the dangers, its lack of preparation, its failure to take
action for weeks in the face of mounting scientific advice, and its promotion of snake oil
cures.
Navarro, however, simply ignored the facts, repeating Trump's line that "they could have
kept it in Wuhan So, that's why I say the Chinese did that to Americans and they are
responsible." In reality, it is Trump, along with the protracted decay of the American health
system, who is responsible for the horrendous US death toll that is now more than 90,000, even
as the White House is pressing for a return to work in unsafe conditions.
Navarro made clear that China-bashing is going to be integral to Trump's bid for reelection,
branding his leading Democrat candidate, Joe Biden, as a longstanding "friend of China" and
referring to "the billion dollars that his son took from the Chinese" -- a claim he was forced
to withdraw. For his part, Biden and the Democrats are attacking Trump on an equally xenophobic
basis as not being tough enough on China.
Navarro also lashed out at China for breaching its trade deal with the US signed on January
15 and for allegedly hacking vaccine research in the United States. The FBI and Department of
Homeland Security, which made the claims, have provided no evidence of Chinese electronic
espionage. That did not stop Navarro from declaring that China was "stealing" vaccine research
"to profiteer and hold the world hostage."
Navarro directly linked his scapegoating of Beijing over the COVID-19 pandemic with trade
war against China and his protectionist agenda. He absurdly declared: "I'm happy to report that
this president, Donald J. Trump, in three-and-a-half years built the most beautiful economy in
modern history. And the Chinese did take that down in about 30 days."
In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the inner rot and historic decline of American
capitalism, which only accelerated under the Trump administration. Trump simply epitomises the
rise of the parasitic financial oligarchy at the expense of the gutting of the real economy
and, above all, the working class.
The trade war measures championed by Navarro are a desperate attempt to maintain the global
hegemony of American imperialism by undermining its rivals, above all China, by every means
necessary, including economic and military warfare. Last week, Trump even threatened to cut off
all economic ties with China, claiming this would save the US $500 billion in imports.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration is preparing punitive
measures against China, some of which have already been enacted. These include the blocking of
government pension funds in Chinese shares and tough new measures designed to prevent Chinese
electronics giant Huawei accessing semi-conductors.
These measures are being accompanied by the continued US military buildup in the
Indo-Pacific in preparation for conflict with China, as well as naval provocations in the South
China Sea adjacent to the Chinese mainland. As in the 1930s, the current massive crisis of
global capitalism is leading to trade war and war. Navarro, the author of the book The
Coming China Wars , is well aware of the catastrophic potential consequences of his
actions.
Under these conditions, the Trump administration delivered a belligerent pre-recorded video
from its Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, which doubled down on Washington's
unfounded allegations against both the WHO and China.
"We must be frank about one of the primary reasons this outbreak spun out of control," Azar
said. "There was a failure by this organization to obtain the information that the world
needed, and that failure cost many lives."
Azar's denunciation came amid reports that US President Donald Trump has decided to extend
indefinitely a freeze his administration imposed on US funding for the WHO, $400 million that
constitutes one-fifth of world health body's annual budget.
Turning his fire on China, Azar echoed the lurid conspiracy theories hatched by the Trump
White House casting Beijing's response to the outbreak of the pandemic as a deliberate attempt
to infect and debilitate the United States.
"In an apparent attempt to conceal this outbreak at least one member state made a mockery of
their transparency obligations, with tremendous costs for the entire world," Azar said. "We saw
that WHO failed at its core mission of information-sharing and transparency when member states
do not act in good faith."
All of this is nonsense. As WHO chief Tedros Adhanon Ghebreysus made clear in his own speech
to the meeting, the WHO "sounded the alarm early, and we sounded it often." On January 30, the
WHO declared a global health emergency, its highest level of alert, based on information
supplied by China. At the time, there were less than 100 confirmed cases and not a single death
outside of China.
The US government decided to ignore the alert, concerned above all to downplay the dangers
of the coronavirus in order to keep share prices rising on Wall Street. Its response, once the
impact of the pandemic was undeniable, was to direct the overwhelming majority of resources
into a massive multi-trillion-dollar bailout of the financial markets.
Washington's criminal negligence and indifference had its inevitable effect, making the US
the number one nation by far in terms of the spread of the coronavirus and its mass death toll.
With barely four percent of the world's population, the United States has recorded close to a
third of the world's confirmed infections and fully 29 percent of the world's deaths.
There could not be a more irrefutable indictment of US policy. The spurious attacks on the
WHO and China are aimed at diverting attention from this criminal record, while at the same
time advancing US imperialism's pursuit of global geo-strategic interests by escalating the war
drive against its main global rival.
While in the United States and Europe, the first epicenters of the pandemic, capitalist
ruling classes are attempting to launch a premature "reopening of the economy" in order to
resume the unrestrained exploitation of the working class -- no matter what the cost in terms
of health and lives -- the pandemic continues it global spread.
In his remarks to to the global health meeting, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned
that "the virus has spread across the world and is now moving into the global South, where its
impact may be even more devastating."
The WHO's director general, Tedros, made a similar warning stating that "developing states
and those suffering from violence and conflict are trying to confront this threat in the most
challenging of circumstances."
"How do you practice physical distancing when you live in crowded conditions?" he asked.
"How do you stay at home when you have to work to feed your family? How do you practice hand
hygiene when you lack clean water?"
These are the conditions that confront the majority of humanity, leading to the most
explosive growth of the pandemic in the former colonial and historically oppressed
countries.
For weeks, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been claiming
without evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic is linked to a lab in Wuhan that researches bat
coronaviruses. Their efforts are clearly calculated to distract from Trump's
bungled response to the virus ,
and, for rational observers, they have tainted the notion that the outbreak began with a lab
accident or safety breach.
But while many scientists think a lab origin is unlikely, biosafety experts still see it as
a possibility. The administration's posturing may ultimately make it much more difficult to
figure out what actually happened in the earliest days of the outbreak -- even if, ironically,
the clues do end up leading back to a lab.
Based on the available evidence, SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes Covid-19 -- likely
emerged in bats in the wild and then jumped to humans, possibly via an intermediary animal.
What is unclear is where that pivotal transmission, called a "spillover" event, occurred.
Chinese authorities have pushed the theory that it happened at Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale
Market, where 27 of the 41 earliest cases were clustered. Some scientists believe it could have
happened in nature, for example in the villages surrounding the caves in southwestern China
where bats harboring coronaviruses live. As countries urbanize and humans encroach onto
animals' habitats, natural spillovers have become increasingly common. But other experts say
that the possibility of a lab accident, infection during fieldwork, or other safety breach
cannot yet be ruled out -- and that determining whether such a breach occurred is
imperative.
"An open investigation is absolutely warranted and absolutely essential," said Richard
Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University. A longtime biosafety proponent,
Ebright believes that a lab error is "at least as probable" as an entirely natural spillover
event. "Unsupported claims by Trump and Pompeo have politicized and polarized the issue and
likely have had the effect of making an open investigation less likely."
Read
Our Complete Coverage The Coronavirus Crisis Last month, Australia led the way in calling
for such an investigation, suggesting that it would raise the issue at the World Health
Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, at its meeting this week.
"We just want to know what happened so it doesn't happen again," Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison said at a press conference on May 8. Canada, Germany, and Sweden backed the
idea. But U.S. meddling sabotaged the effort, and the result is a watered down resolution,
backed by the European Union and over 100 countries, calling for an inquiry into the
international response to the pandemic. The resolution avoids singling out China, and on Monday
Beijing threw its support behind the weakened language. It was adopted on Tuesday, but the
world will need to wait for a full investigation.
Such an effort is needed for many reasons. China has been conducting its own investigation
but has
not shared any information with the World Health Organization. And the Chinese government's
early cover-up of the outbreak and silencing of critics does not instill confidence that it
will be forthcoming as to the origins of the virus.
Virologists say that learning more about how the coronavirus infected humans could help ward
off future outbreaks. The discovery of an animal species carrying a closely related virus, for
example, could help the world prevent a resurgence in cases by showing where to focus control
efforts. A wet market origin could fuel an international movement to close wildlife markets.
And for scientists, knowing whether a lab accident played any role is critical to ensuring safe
research conditions going forward.
But by relentlessly pushing the lab leak theory without giving evidence to back it up, Trump
and Pompeo have narrowed the chances that the world will get clarity on the pandemic's origins.
Both men have clouded the discussion by touting the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was
deliberately made in a Chinese lab as a bioweapon -- an idea that has been roundly rejected by
both scientists
and
intelligence officials . Trump has also called on China to compensate the United States for
the outbreak. Pompeo, meanwhile, has so angered Beijing that on Monday, Chinese foreign
ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called him a " lying blabbermouth." By most
accounts, the international push for an investigation came about not because of the extreme
U.S. position, but in spite of it.
Speculation about the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a biosafety level 4 facility built with
French assistance, started early on. In January, a study
published by Chinese scientists in The Lancet found that the first patient diagnosed with the
coronavirus, on December 1, had no connection to the wet market.
That set off guesses and conspiracy theories alike. "We need to look wider than just the wet
market origin," said Filippa Lentzos, a biosafety expert at King's College London. "At the
moment it's still an open question." The closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2 is
a bat coronavirus that was sampled by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but the two viruses are
not close enough to suggest a direct link.
A number of recent outbreaks, including HIV, Zika, and the first SARS virus, were caused by
purely natural spillovers. And yet, there have also been outbreaks caused by lab accidents. A
1977 outbreak
of H1N1 in the Soviet Union and China is believed to have been caused by Soviet scientists
experimenting with a live virus in a lab, perhaps to make a vaccine. In a 2007 breach at Pirbright, a biosafety
level 4 animal research facility in Surrey, in the United Kingdom, wastewater containing live
virus leaked out of drainage pipes and into the soil, sickening animals in the region with
foot-and-mouth disease. The first SARS virus escaped from labs in Asia on three occasions. Even
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratories -- which are considered
state-of-the-art -- have experienced serious
safety breaches .
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The Wuhan Institute of Virology worked with U.S. collaborators on controversial experiments
called gain-of-function studies, which involve making viruses more dangerous to test their
transmissibility. Years before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, gain-of-function experiments
were at the center of a global scientific controversy . Proponents
said that the studies could help advance knowledge of infectious diseases and prevent the next
pandemic. Detractors warned that they were too risky and that they might also cause the next
pandemic. The National Institutes of Health, which funded work at the Wuhan Institute of
Virology through its PREDICT program, placed a moratorium on such research in 2014 and lifted
it in 2017 after developing a new review framework for the studies. Today, most
gain-of-function research is funded by the United States.
In order to determine what happened, these experts say, the world needs a neutral inquiry
untainted by the Trump administration's efforts to divert attention away from the botched U.S.
response. "The investigation shouldn't be about apportioning blame," said Lentzos. "The
investigation needs to be about finding a credible answer for how the pandemic started and then
using that to develop an early warning for the future."
When Australia called for an inquiry in April, its government aimed to counter the Trump
administration's posturing with a more sensible proposal. The goal was "to minimize the reach
of conspiracy theories about the virus that have been surfaced by U.S. and Chinese officials
alike," said Natasha Kassam, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute, a think tank in
Sydney.
For years, Australia had been a loyal ally of the United States, backing American foreign
policy goals even as the rest of the world balked. During the Iraq War, as the Bush
administration pushed faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, Australian Prime
Minister John Howard was so pliant that commentators dubbed him Washington's " deputy
sheriff ." The Trump presidency has seriously tested Australia's devotion, though. Pompeo
tested it further when he
suggested , following Australia's announcement, that the country was merely supporting U.S.
efforts to pinpoint an origin.
A "dossier"
leaked to the Australian press caused further problems. The document, which was detailed by
the Australian paper the Daily Telegraph in a breathless article published on May 4, dealt with
China's handling of the outbreak and cast suspicion on the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Many of
the details were familiar, including the fact that China had silenced doctors, thwarted early
attempts at international cooperation, and subjected academic papers on the virus to special
review. It later
emerged that the dossier was in fact a
summary of existing news reports that is believed to have been circulated by the U.S.
embassy in Canberra.
These developments annoyed Chinese officials, who last week threatened to place steep
tariffs on Australian beef and barley. "They see it, through their dialectical lens, as a
coordinated and direct attack by Australia on behalf of the United States," said Andrew Chubb,
an expert on Chinese politics and international relations at Lancaster University in the United
Kingdom. Australia ended up backing down, and the Morrison government threw its support behind
the milder World Health Assembly resolution. China imposed the tariff on barley and banned
exports from four Australian meat processing plants anyway.
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[email protected] If a full investigation is eventually conducted, biosafety
experts hope that it will include a review of samples and safety protocols from the Wuhan labs
as well as the wet market. Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris,
said it would be useful to see lab records from Wuhan going back to August, as well as any
records from work with other mammalian viruses.
"If it was a breach, we need to know, because then clearly we are overestimating our
capacities to contain some of these viruses," he said. "We need to know this as scientists
because if it can infect one scientist then it can infect a third, fourth, fifth."
The Trump administration's determination to find a scapegoat is short-sighted, he said, and
the notion of asking China to pay for the outbreak is unprecedented. "No country can pay
retribution for a thing like this," Wain-Hobson told The Intercept. "What about a bit of
compassion?"
Opposition to lab leak "proofs" Posted by: Yul | May 18 2020 18:24 utc | 50
It is interesting that the opponents include intelligence agencies of Australia (32% of
export to China, 5% to USA) and UK's Belingcat. Both would cheerfully join black propaganda
before. Atlanticists have their limits. Australia can be ruined by a double hit from slack
world-wide market and the closure of Chinese market if Australia joins an extreme version of
a trade war that Trumpians seem to contemplate.
I assume that exporters of Australia are well connected to their version of "bipartisan
consensus". UK would not be affected with similar severity, but whatever the cost is, they
have COVID-19 bills and their version of bipartisan consensus does not want to pay for a
folly which is not their own British folly.
Canada may also re-think their status as New Trumpland, while the fifth eye, New Zealand,
probably is most pacifist of them all (and the exporters to China are farmers who are easy to
be angry).
"The 73rd World Health Assembly conference that started Monday will discuss a proposal of
the EU to investigate the novel coronavirus' origin. Media reported that 62 countries,
including EU member countries, have backed the proposal. We believe Beijing will be open to a
scientific and fair investigation while it is Washington that will worry about a serious and
scientific investigation....
"To make its nonsense seem rational, the US wants a conclusion which claims Wuhan is the
origin, ideally the virus was leaked from a Wuhan lab. However, what Washington has recently
found goes against its wish. New findings have potentially altered the timeline of the
coronavirus outbreak in the US, with a large number of COVID-19 cases misclassified as
influenza last winter. What if the investigation finds the US is the origin of the
coronavirus? That would destroy the Trump administration's narrative and its reelection
strategy."
It's very clear China has No Fear regarding this type of investigation for as we've noted
at MoA the timeline now greatly favors China's narrative of events whereas TrumpCo behavior
long ago sank the current Blame China narrative due to its massive lack of credibility and
Treasonous Do Nothing Policy.
The document, which NBC News first published and reported on May 8, made its way to
Capitol Hill just days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in an interview that
there was "enormous evidence" to suggest that the virus came from the lab in Wuhan.
He appeared to back away from that claim this weekend telling Breitbart: "We know it
began in Wuhan, but we don't know from where or from whom."
Also notable is the fact that Kadlec's April 2001 report cites the largely
discredited yet still influential Ken Alibek on several occasions, including his allegation
that anyone with internet access and a few bucks could produce and unleash weapons-grade
anthrax with ease. Some of the nation's top anthrax experts would discredit this claim, with the
exception of William C. Patrick III.
This is likely because it was Patrick who had been asked by the CIA to "vet" Alibek
after he had first defected from the Soviet Union 1992, making Patrick responsible for
determining the credibility of Alibek's controversial claims, including his incorrect
assertions that Saddam Hussein had overseen a massive biological weapons program. Regarding
their meeting, Patrick
would later say "I won't say we fell in love, but we gained an immediate respect for one
another."
At the time of Alibek's defection, Robert Kadlec – who had been assigned to the
Pentagon's Office of the Secretary of Defense for Counter-proliferation policy after the Gulf
War – would later recall
during 2014 Congressional testimony having "witnessed the efforts to ascertain the truth
behind the former Soviet Union's BW [biological weapons] effort" that had intimately involved
Alibek and Patrick. Kadlec would also note that "the fate of these agents [related to the
Soviet Union's BW program] and associated weapons," including those described by Alibek, "was
never satisfactorily resolved."
Alibek's shocking yet dubious claims were often used and
promoted by Joshua Lederberg (who had
debriefed other Soviet bioweapons researchers after their defections), Patrick and others
to support their favored "biodefense" policies as well as the need for "defensive" bioweapons
research, including clandestine efforts to genetically-engineer anthrax on which Patrick and
Alibek would later collaborate.
KA says:
Show Comment May
15, 2020 at 2:41 am GMT 100 Words 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he
defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible
reality.'
That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and
when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously,
as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and
that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors and you, all of you, will be left to
just study what we do'
Karl Rove to Ron Suskind .
You have to hand it to him. How foresighted was that bastard ! That cruel fella was a genius
.
This unreal world has been in making for years . Read More Reply Agree/Disagree/Etc. More...
This Commenter Display All Comments
Bunch of super intelligent people go into discipline like medicine, human health and security
, get into preemptive positions against terrorism ,against lack of supplies or preparedness
and bring the fellow travelers under many different umbrellas with little oversight of the
citizen ( that position itself is interesting , American citizen are sharp and intelligent
but not the people they chose to represent them – this eliminating any government
involvement while money from the citizen through the gov keep on flowing ) or media scrutiny.
They engineer bunch of deadly pathogens . They teach the military about threat of deadly
pathogen from other countries . They deal with pharma and get them produce bunch of medicine
molecules and vaccine . US tax payers support the engineering ,development of drugs and
vaccine by the pharmaceutical . US tax payers also support their salaries .
Then the virus escape at anthrax escapes .
The need to medicate and vaccinate become the 24/7 only sound coming out of the TV
ostensibly for securing the health and safety . Tax payers again for something for which they
have paid already few times over .
Is it nay wonder ,people are losing faith in medicine in vaccine in drugs ? Is it any
wonder that people seek other explanations than what offered by Gov?
Meanwhile the big tent that incorporate these organizations and the vice they come with,
send gas canister to be blown in Syrian desert so that White Helmet can rescue a baby and
wage war against a recalcitrant regime not enthralled by the prospect of the paradigm the big
tent wants to offer .
After seeing all of the hoopla on the internet, my copy of Biological Warfare finally
arrived. The first essay in it is by Kadlec and Zelicoff. By the time I got to page 12 I had
discovered:
1. Biological warfare basically does not exist. No military commanders are interested in
using it because in the entire history of warfare there ain't one single example where using
biological weapons enabled the accomplishment of a single tactical or strategic
objective.
2. When it does exist on planet earth since the recorded history of the universe it falls
into the category of:
a. propaganda;
b. employment program for microbiologists;
or
c. stupid warlords got the dumb idea they wanted some bio weapons and made a small and
useless arsenal of them.
Item (c.) is very unusual. Sadam built some in the late 80's but never used them and by
2003 they did not have jack.
"Those repositories, which compose the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), are the exclusive
domain of HHS' ASPR, a post created under Kadlec's watchful eye and tailored over the years
to meet his very specific requirements.
From this perch, Robert Kadlec has final say on where the stockpile's contents are
sourced, as well as how, when and where they are deployed. He is the sole source procurer of
medical material and pharmaceuticals, making him the best friend of Big Pharma and other
healthcare industry giants who have been in his ear every step of the way" actually the
President has the final say, Kadlec serves at his discretion.
Which makes some of Kadlec's replies at his Senate confirmation hearings in Aug., 2017,
thought provoking. Such as this exchange with Sen.Warren:
'Question 17. President Trump has linked vaccines to autism and has embraced vaccine
''skeptics.'' Do you believe that there is any scientific or medical validity to President
Trump'sconcerns about vaccine safety? If so, please indicate which sources lend scientific or
medical validity to his concerns.
Answer 17.[Kadlec] There is abundant evidence that vaccines are safe. They remain a
cornerstone of public health and biodefense strategies.
Question 18. Are you concerned that President Trump's statements may dissuade members of
the public from receiving flu or other vaccines?
Answer 18.[Kadlec] Vaccinations are a critical component of our national health resiliency
and national security. With that in mind, I am very confident in the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's work to uphold vaccine safety and efficacy. ASPR works with its industry
partners and FDA to ensure that all vaccines manufactured under the Biomedical Advanced
Research Development Authority (BARDA) are safe and effective to protect the American people.
While BARDA does issue contracts to stockpile some items prior to FDA approval, data on
patient safety of the therapies or vaccines are reviewed prior to stockpiling."'
The next political battlefield in the cultural war over the Chinese plague will be fought
over vaccines. Who will be required to submit to them & why. And what will happen if you
don't. The President has spoken optimistically recently about their development but not about
their deployment. It's still not clear whether he now shares Kadlec's enthusiasm for such
vaccines but it could prove to be the next big test of his presidency & hopes for
re-election.
If Kadlec is at the center of these networks, it supports Ronald Thomas West's argument that
Christ crazies at the Air Force Academy are rooting for the rapture. But of course the
atheist scientists of NIH have also funded this germ warfare attack.
A careful list of COTRs and how they scoped their contracts will lead you to the CIA focal
points who compartmented the work to avoid attribution. CIA OPSEC is the ultimate smoking
gun. Find their bodyguard of lies and make them rat each other out. The UR commentariat has
people who can help you with this.
By 1995, Kadlec was already imbued with the bioweapons alarmism that had been championed
by Lederberg and Patrick. That year, he fleshed out several "illustrative scenarios"
regarding the use of "biological economic warfare" against the United States. One of these
fictional scenarios, titled "Corn Terrorism," involves China planning "an act of
agricultural terrorism" by clandestinely spraying corn seed blight over the Midwest using
commercial airliners. The result of the "Corn Terrorism" scenario is that "China gains
significant corn market share and tens of billions [of] dollars of additional profits from
their crop," while the U.S. sees its corn crop obliterated, causing food prices to rise and
the U.S. to import corn. Another scenario, entitled "That's a 'Lousy' Wine," involves
"disgruntled European winemakers" covertly releasing grape lice they have hidden in cans of
paté to target California wine producers.
Really? What a crackpot this dude is! He should writing B-movies scripts for Hollywood,
not working in Washington.
"... William C. Patrick III would also become involved the FBI's Amerithrax investigation, even though he was initially suspected of involvement in the attacks. However, after having passed a lie detector test, he was added to the FBI's "inner circle" of technical advisors on the Amerithrax case, despite the fact that Patrick's protege , Stephen Hatfill, was the FBI's top suspect at the time. Hatfill was later cleared of wrongdoing and the FBI eventually blamed a Fort Detrick scientist named Bruce Ivins for the crime, hiding a "mountain" of evidence exonerating Ivins to do so, according to the FBI's former lead investigator. ..."
"... That same year, Hatfill offered Patrick another consulting job at SAIC and commissioned Patrick to perform a study describing "a fictional terrorist attack in which an envelope containing weapons-grade anthrax is opened in an office." The Baltimore Sun would later report that Patrick's study for SAIC discussed the "danger of anthrax spores spreading through the air and the requirements for decontamination after various kinds of attacks" as well as how many grams of anthrax would need to be placed within a standard business envelope in order to conduct such an attack. ..."
"... In addition, the FBI's supposed "smoking gun" used to link Bruce Ivins' to the anthrax attacks was the fact that a flask in Ivins' lab labeled RMR-1029 was determined to be its "parent" strain. Yet, it would later be revealed that portions of RMR-1029 had been sent by Ivins to Battelle's Ohio facility prior to the anthrax attacks. An analysis of the water used to make the anthrax also revealed that the anthrax spores had been created in the northeastern United States and follow-up analyses narrowed down the only possible sources as coming from one of three labs: Fort Detrick, a lab at the University of Scranton, or Battelle's West Jefferson facility. ..."
"... After Ivins' untimely "suicide" in 2008, Department of Justice civil attorneys would publicly challenge the FBI's assertions that Ivins had been the culprit and instead "suggested that a private laboratory in Ohio" managed by Battelle "could have been involved in the attacks." ..."
"... As previously noted in Part II of this series, BioPort was set to lose its contract for anthrax vaccine entirely in August 2001 and the entirety of its anthrax vaccine business was rescued by the 2001 anthrax attacks, which saw concerns over BioPort's corruption replaced with fervent demands for more of its anthrax vaccine. ..."
"... Of course, at the time, the only government known to be genetically engineering a pathogen was the U.S., as reported by the New York Times ' Judith Miller . Miller reported in October 2001 that the Pentagon, in the wake of the anthrax attacks, had approved "a project to make a potentially more potent form of anthrax bacteria" through genetic modification, a project that would be conducted by the Battelle Memorial Institute. ..."
"... This was the continuation of the project, which had involved William Patrick and Ken Alibek, and the Pentagon moved to restart it after the attacks, though it is unclear if either Patrick or Alibek continued to work on the subsequent iteration of Battelle's efforts to produce a more virulent strain of anthrax. That project was paused a month prior when Miller and other journalists disclosed the existence of the program in an article published on September 4, 2001. ..."
A POWERFUL NETWORK OF POLITICAL OPERATIVES, A GLOBAL VACCINE MAFIA AND THEIR MAN IN WASHINGTON.
Last Friday, a group of Democratic Senators "
demanded " that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Robert
Kadlec, "accurately disclose all his personal, financial and political ties in light of new reporting that he had failed to do so
previously" after it was revealed that he had failed to note all "potential conflicts of interest" on his nomination paperwork.
The report in question, published
last Monday by The Washington Post , detailed the ties of Kadlec to a man named Fuad El-Hibri, the founder of a "life
sciences" company first known as BioPort and now called Emergent Biosolutions. Kadlec had previously disclosed his ties to El-Hibri
and Emergent Biosolutions for a separate nomination years prior, but had failed to do so when nominated to head ASPR.
Though The Post does note Kadlec's recent failure to disclose these connections, the article largely sanitizes Kadlec's
earlier yet crucial history and even obfuscates the full extent of his ties to the BioPort founder, among other glaring omissions.
In reality, Kadlec has much more than his ties to El-Hibri looming large as "potential conflict of interests," as his decades-long
career in shaping U.S. "biodefense" policy was directly enabled by his deep ties to intelligence, Big Pharma, the Pentagon and a
host of corrupt yet powerful characters.
Thanks to a long and deliberate process to introduce biodefense policy, driven by Robert Kadlec and his sponsors, $7 billion dollars-worth
of federally-owned vaccines, antidotes and medicines – held in strategically arranged repositories across the country in case of
a health emergency – are now in the hands of one single individual. Those repositories, which compose the Strategic National Stockpile
(SNS), are the exclusive domain of HHS' ASPR, a post created under Kadlec's watchful eye and tailored over the years to meet his
very specific requirements.
From this perch, Robert Kadlec has final say on where the stockpile's contents are sourced, as well as how, when and where they
are deployed. He is the sole source procurer of medical material and pharmaceuticals, making him the best friend of Big Pharma and
other healthcare industry giants who have been in his ear every step of the way.
Kadlec assures us, however, that the fact that he now holds the very office he worked so long to create is merely a coincidence.
"My participation in the ASPR project began at that time when I was working for the chairman of the Subcommittee on Bioterrorism
and Public Health Preparedness The bill was made law and the ASPR was created. It just was a coincidence that, 12 or 14 years later,
I was asked to become the ASPR," Kadlec
stated in 2018.
It was all a random twist of fate, Kadlec asserts, that saw him occupy ASPR at this crucial moment in U.S. history. Indeed, with
the country now in the middle of a WHO-declared coronavirus pandemic, Kadlec now has full control over the far-reaching "emergency"
powers of that very office, bestowed upon him by the very law that he had written.
The story of how a former USAF flight
surgeon came to have the exclusive dealer license over the single biggest stash of drugs in the history of the world is as disturbing
as it is significant in light of current events, particularly given that Kadlec
now leads the
coronavirus response for all of HHS. Yet, Kadlec's rise to power is not a case of an evil mastermind conquering a uniquely vulnerable
point of the nation's resources. Instead, it is a case of a man deeply enmeshed in the world of intelligence, military intelligence
and corporate corruption dutifully fulfilling the vision of his friends in high places and behind closed doors.
In this third installment of "
Engineering Contagion:
Amerithrax, Coronavirus and the Rise of the Biotech-Industrial Complex ," Kadlec is shown to hail from a tight-knit group
of "bioterror alarmists" in government and the private sector who gained prominence thanks to their penchant for imagining the most
horrific, yet fictitious scenarios that inspired fear among Presidents, top politicians and the American public. Among those fictitious
scenarios was the "Dark Winter" exercise discussed in
Part I .
Some of these alarmists, among them "cold warriors" from Fort Detrick's days of openly developing offensive weapons, would engage
in unsettling anthrax experiments and studies while developing suspect ties in 2000 to a company called BioPort. As noted in
Part II of this series, BioPort stood to lose everything in early September 2001 due to controversy over its anthrax vaccine.
Of course, the 2001 anthrax attacks that followed shortly thereafter would change everything, not just for BioPort, but U.S. biodefense
policy. With the stage set, Kadlec would quickly spring into action, guiding major policy changes on the heels of subsequent major
events and disasters, culminating in his crowning as King of the stockpile.
THE ACCIDENTAL MADMAN
Robert Kadlec describes himself as having been an "accidental tourist" regarding his introduction to biological warfare. An Air
Force physician who had specialized in tropical diseases, Kadlec would later say his interest in the field began when he was assigned
to be a special assistant for Chemical and Biological Warfare to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC),
advising
then-head of Special Operations Command Maj. Gen. Wayne Downing, on the eve of the first Gulf War.
Kadlec
would
later state that he had witnessed firsthand how the military, immediately prior to the Gulf War, had "lacked the necessary protective
equipment, detectors, and medical countermeasures including vaccines and antibiotics against the immediate threats posed by Iraq,"
allegedly prompting him to want to better U.S. biodefense efforts.
While holding this post at JSOC, Kadlec was privy to the advice of
William
C. Patrick III , a veteran of the U.S.' bioweapons program who had developed the U.S.' method for weaponizing anthrax and held
no less than five classified patents related to the toxin's use in warfare. Patrick, who had left government service in 1986 to become
a consultant, advised the Pentagon -- then headed by Dick Cheney -- that the risk of a biological weapons attack by Iraq, particularly
anthrax, was high. Patrick's warning prompted the U.S. military to vaccinate tens of thousands of its troops using the controversial
anthrax vaccine "anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA)." Kadlec would
personally
inject AVA into around 800 members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Kadlec
would
later note in Congressional testimony that no definitive proof of an alleged Iraqi biological weapons program was found during
the war or afterwards, but nevertheless claimed elsewhere that "the Iraqis later admitted they had procured large quantities of a
biological agents-anthrax and botulism toxin," suggesting that Patrick's warnings had had some basis in reality.
However, Kadlec failed to point out that these anthrax and botulism samples had been sold, with the U.S. government's full approval,
to Iraq's Ministry of Education by a U.S. private non-profit called the American Type Culture Collection. Donald Rumsfeld, who was
then an envoy for the Reagan administration and running a pharmaceutical company later sold to Monsanto,
would also be
involved in the shipment of these samples to Iraq.
Following the war, American microbiologist Joshua Lederberg was tasked by the Pentagon to head the investigation into "Gulf War
Syndrome," a phenomenon that studies
later linked to the adverse effects of the anthrax vaccine. Lederberg's task force argued that evidence regarding an association
between the symptomology and the anthrax vaccine was insufficient. However, he would later come under fire after it was reported
that he sat on the board
of the American Type Culture Collection, the very company that had shipped anthrax to Iraq's government between 1985 and 1989 with
the U.S. government's blessing. Lederberg
later admitted that the
investigation he led had not spent enough "time and effort digging out the details". The taskforce's findings were later
harshly criticized
by the Government Accountability Office.
Dr. Lederberg would prove to be an early, if not seminal, influence on Robert Kadlec's outlook regarding the subject of biowarfare.
The Nobel Laureate and long-time president of Rockefeller University was one of the fathers of bioterror alarmism in the United States,
alongside William C. Patrick III and other members of a tight-knit group of "cold warrior" microbiologists. Kadlec and Lederberg
would
go on to collaborate
on several books and
policy studies throughout the late 1990s and into 2001.
Years later, at a Congressional hearing, Kadlec
would
say that Lederberg's words "resonate constantly with me and serve as a practical warning." Aside from Lederberg, Kadlec was also
writing numerous books and articles with Randall Larsen, who
would later hire the
Medical doctor to teach "military strategy and operations" at the National War College, where Larsen's
close friend – William C. Patrick III
–
also taught .
A POISONED OASIS
Many of Kadlec's bioterror ravings have been preserved in 25-year old textbooks, like a U.S. Air War College textbook entitled
" Battlefield of the Future
" where Kadlec calls on the government to create a massive stockpile of drugs and vaccines to protect the population from a biological
weapons attack, particularly anthrax or smallpox. In one chapter, Kadlec
argued that stockpiles of necessary antibiotics,
immunoglobulins and vaccines would have to be procured, maintained, and be readily available to administer within hours."
Kadlec's views on the matter at the time of writing were greatly influenced by his first tour as a UNSCOM weapons inspector in
Iraq in 1994, where he was accompanied by William Patrick, among others. Kadlec would later return to Iraq in the same capacity in
1996 and 1998 in search of Iraq's alleged stores of weaponized anthrax that Patrick had been so sure were there, but had never materialized.
After three visits, Kadlec would later confess that, despite
what
Kadlec called "the most intrusive inspection and monitoring regime ever conceived and implemented" by the UN, the UNSCOM weapons
inspectors, including himself and William Patrick, "failed to uncover any irrefutable evidence of an offensive BW program." Kadlec
would
later return to Iraq on two separate occasions following the 2003 U.S. invasion of country, again finding no proof of the program's
existence.
By 1995, Kadlec was already imbued with the bioweapons alarmism that had been championed by Lederberg and Patrick. That year,
he fleshed out several "illustrative scenarios"
regarding the use of "biological economic warfare" against the United States. One of these fictional scenarios, titled "Corn Terrorism,"
involves China planning "an act of agricultural terrorism" by clandestinely spraying corn seed blight over the Midwest using commercial
airliners. The result of the "Corn Terrorism" scenario is that "China gains significant corn market share and tens of billions [of]
dollars of additional profits from their crop," while the U.S. sees its corn crop obliterated, causing food prices to rise and the
U.S. to import corn. Another scenario, entitled "That's a 'Lousy' Wine," involves "disgruntled European winemakers" covertly releasing
grape lice they have hidden in cans of paté to target California wine producers.
Around this same time, in 1994, the relatively young
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment
or OTA , which informed policy decisions around questions of technological and scientific complexity on matters of national security,
was cut by the new Republican majority that took both houses in the pivotal 1994 midterms elections. At the time of its defunding,
Lederberg sat on the OTA's Technology Assessment Advisory Council (OTA-TAAC),
along with pharma industry insiders from
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lilly Research Labs and pre-merger Smith-Kline, and chaired one of its last study panels.
In OTA's place, an independent, non-profit entity called The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS) was co-founded by Special
Consultant to President H.W. Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) and a former CIA program monitor, Michael S. Swetnam,
who was reportedly " tasked with profiling
Osama Bin Laden before the September 11th attacks were enacted ."
The defunding of the OTA and subsequent creation of PIPS transferred policy-making on what are, perhaps, the most sensitive issues
of national security away from Congress and into a private foundation teeming with operators from the vast underbelly of the military
industrial complex (MIC). Former military officers,
DARPA scientists , NASA policy experts,
FBI agents,
CIA operatives and defense contractors like Northrop Grumman can all be found on their member rolls and in their boardrooms.
PIPS and its sponsors would shadow Robert Kadlec's career in government from the very beginning and remain in close proximity
to him today. One PIPS-linked individual would work particularly closely with Kadlec, Tevi Troy – a senior fellow at PIPS and an
adjunct fellow at the much more polished Hudson Institute, itself a major funder of PIPS. Troy has long been integral in shaping
Kadlec's biodefense policy agenda, which would remain conspicuously static and unchanging throughout the career he was just beginning.
POX AMERICANA
By 1996, talks had begun within military
leadership regarding what would become the Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccination program, a policy tirelessly promoted by Joshua
Lederberg, who was involved in "investigating" the links between the anthrax vaccine and Gulf War Syndrome. The private talks took
place in parallel with a public push to bring biological warfare to the forefront of American public consciousness. One particularly
egregious example occurred when then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen
went on ABC News with
a five-pound bag of sugar, stating that "this amount of anthrax could be spread over a city -- let's say the size of Washington.
It would destroy at least half the population of that city."
At the same time, Joshua Lederberg was also advocating for the stockpiling of a smallpox vaccine, which the U.S. military also
took to heart, giving
a company called DynPort an exclusive multi-million dollar contract to produce a new smallpox vaccine in 1997. Soon after, BioPort,
DynPort's sister company , was formed and would soon come to monopolize the production of that vaccine.
By the time BioPort (now known as Emergent Biosolutions) had controversially gained control over this lucrative Pentagon contract
in 1998, then-President Bill Clinton was publicly warning
that the U.S. must "confront the new hazards of biological and chemical weapons," adding that Saddam Hussein specifically was
"developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them." However, there was no intelligence to back
up these claims, especially after the failed attempts by weapon inspectors, like Robert Kadlec and William Patrick, to find any evidence
of an Iraqi biological weapons program.
Despite the lack of evidence regarding Iraq's alleged "WMD" programs, Clinton's concern over a biological weapons threat was
said to have been the result of his reading of
"The Cobra Event", a novel about how a genetically-modified pathogen called "brainpox" ravages New York City. The novel's author,
Richard Preston,
had been advised on biowarfare and genetically-modified pathogens by none other than William Patrick. Patrick,
then an adviser to the CIA, FBI and
military intelligence, also participated in closed
door meetings with Clinton on biological weapons, claiming that their use was inevitable and that the deadliest of pathogens could
easily be made in a "terrorist's garage."
It is also likely that Clinton's alarmism over biological and chemical weapons had been informed, in part, by a roundtable hosted
at the White House on April 10, 1998. This "
White House Roundtable on Genetic Engineering and Biological Weapons ," included a group of "outside experts"
spear-headed by Joshua
Lederberg and included several other bioterror alarmists, such as: Jerome Hauer, then-serving as Director of New York City's Office
of Emergency Management (who also was advised
by William Patrick III) and Thomas Monath, a vaccine industry executive and chief science advisor to CIA director George Tenet.
Discussed in-depth at the roundtable were "both the opportunities and the national security challenges posed by genetic engineering
and biotechnology" as well as "classified material
relating to threat assessments and how the United States responds to particular scenarios."
Robert Kadlec, despite being a Republican, remains very fond of Bill Clinton, perhaps because the former president was so attentive
to the dire predictions of the "biodefense experts" who shadowed Kadlec's own career. Kadlec credits the former president with doing
a "lot of good things" and
making important
contributions to the advancement of the biotech industrial complex's policy agenda.
Clinton would issue several executive orders and Presidential Decision Directives (PDDs) during this period, such as PDD-62, which
specifically addressed preparations for a "WMD" attack on the U.S. and called for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
then-led by Donna Shalala, to lead the national response to a WMD attack. Fortuitously for Kadlec, PDD-62 also called for the construction
of a national stockpile of vaccines, antibiotics and other medical supplies.
At the time, Kadlec was already evangelizing the public about a seemingly imminent, doomsday anthrax attack he was certain would
strike at any second. As quoted in
a 1998 article from the
Vancouver Sun , Kadlec speculated:
"If several kilograms of an agent like anthrax were disseminated in New York City today, conservative estimates put the number
[of] deaths occurring in the first few days at 400,000. Thousands of others would be at risk of dying within several days if proper
antibiotics and vaccination were not started immediately. Millions of others would be fearful of being exposed and seek or demand
medical care as well. Beyond the immediate health implications of such an act, the potential panic and civil unrest would create
an equally large response."
Kadlec's doomsday speculations about biological weapons attacks had caught the attention of Randall Larsen, the
then-director of the National War College's Department of Military Strategy
and Operations, who hired
Kadlec because he "had become convinced that the most serious threat to national security was not Russian or Chinese missiles,
but a pandemic – either man-made or naturally occurring." Soon after, Kadlec and Larsen
would collaborate closely
, co-authoring several studies together.
Meanwhile, their colleague at the National War College, William Patrick III was simultaneously working for the U.S. military and
intelligence contractor, the Battelle Memorial Institute, where he was secretly developing a genetically-modified, more potent form
of anthrax for a classified Pentagon program.
THE BIOTERROR INTELLIGENTSIA
A year after hiring Robert Kadlec to teach at the National War College, Randall Larsen was also involved in the creation of a
new organization called the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security (ANSER-IHS), and served as its director. This Institute for Homeland
Security, first initiated and funded in October 1999, was an extension of the ANSER Institute, which itself had been spun off from
the RAND Corporation in the late 1950s. The RAND Corporation is a national security-focused "think tank" with long-standing ties
to the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and the Carnegie Corporation.
ANSER's expansion through ANSER-IHS was foreshadowed by the entry of "homeland defense" into popular political discourse within
the Washington Beltway. The term is
alleged
to have first originated from a National Defense Panel report submitted in 1997 and is credited to Defense Panel member and former
CIA officer with ties to the agency's Phoenix program, Richard Armitage. Armitage was part of the group known as the "
Vulcans ," who
advised George W. Bush on foreign policy matters prior to the 2000 presidential election.
As journalist Margie Burns pointed out in
a 2002
article , the need for "homeland defense" as a major focus of U.S. government policy, including the push to create a new "homeland
security" agency, was dramatically amplified following its alleged coining by Armitage in 1997. This was thanks, in part, to a web
of media outlets owned by
South Korean
cult leader and CIA asset Sun Myong Moon, including the Washington Times, Insight Magazine and UPI , all of which
published numerous articles penned by ANSER analysts or that heavily cited ANSER reports and employees regarding the need for a greatly
expanded "homeland security" apparatus.
One such article, published by Insight Magazine in May 2001 and entitled "
Preparing for the Next
Pearl Harbor ," heavily cites ANSER and its Institute for Homeland Security as being among "the nation's top experts" in warning
that a terrorist attack on the U.S. mainland was imminent. It also stated that "the first responders on tomorrow's battlefield won't
be soldiers, but city ambulance workers and small-town firefighters."
ANSER-IHS was created at the behest of ANSER's CEO
, Dr. Ruth David, who became ANSER's top executive after leaving a lengthy career at the CIA, where she had served as the agency's
Deputy Director for Science and Technology. On
ANSER-IHS's board at
the time, alongside David, were Joshua Lederberg and Dr. Tara O'Toole, then-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Bio-defense
Studies who would later co-write
the Dark Winter exercise
.
Though first created in 1999, ANSER-IHS did not officially launch until April 2001. That same month, Robert Kadlec, at the National
War College, sponsored the paper "
A Micro-threat
with Macro-Impact: The Bio-Threat and the Need for a National Bio-Defense Security Strategy ." That paper starts by citing several
former CIA officials as well as Dr. O'Toole (who now works for the CIA's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel) as proof that a bioterrorist
attack is "perhaps the greatest threat the U.S. faces in the next century" and that such an attack would inevitably target "Americans
on American soil."
This Kadlec-sponsored report also called for the creation of the National Homeland Security Agency (NHSA), the framework for which
was contained in H.R. 1158, introduced a month prior in March 2001. The paper urged that the creation of this new cabinet-level agency
be enacted "quickly, so the resulting single executive agent (identified from here on as the NHSA) can begin its critical work."
It also argued that this agency include "a deputy director position specifically responsible for preparing and responding to a bio-attack."
Other measures recommended in the paper included greatly expanding the national defense stockpile; creating a national disease
reporting system; and the creation of real-time, automated bio-threat detectors. The latter would be initiated soon after the publication
of this paper, resulting in the controversial Biological Aerosol Sentry and Information Systems (BASIS). BASIS was discussed in
Part I of this series,
particularly its role in "induc[ing] the very panic and social disruption it is intended to thwart" during and after the 2001 anthrax
attacks that would occur months later. BASIS was developed largely by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, whose
national security
fellow – former Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) director Jay Davis, was
then-chairman of ANSER's
board of directors.
Also notable is the fact that Kadlec's April 2001 report cites the
largely discredited yet still
influential Ken Alibek on several occasions, including his allegation that anyone with internet access and a few bucks could produce
and unleash weapons-grade anthrax with ease. Some of the nation's top anthrax experts
would discredit this claim, with the exception of
William C. Patrick III.
This is likely because it was Patrick who had been
asked by the CIA to "vet" Alibek after he had
first defected from the Soviet Union 1992, making Patrick responsible for determining the credibility of Alibek's controversial claims,
including his
incorrect assertions
that Saddam Hussein had overseen a massive biological weapons program. Regarding their meeting, Patrick
would later say "I won't say we fell in love, but we gained an immediate respect for one another."
At the time of Alibek's defection, Robert Kadlec – who had been assigned to the Pentagon's Office of the Secretary of Defense
for Counter-proliferation policy after the Gulf War – would later recall
during
2014 Congressional testimony having "witnessed the efforts to ascertain the truth behind the former Soviet Union's BW [biological
weapons] effort" that had intimately involved Alibek and Patrick. Kadlec would also note that "the fate of these agents [related
to the Soviet Union's BW program] and associated weapons," including those described by Alibek, "was never satisfactorily resolved."
Alibek's shocking yet dubious claims were often used and
promoted by Joshua Lederberg (who
had debriefed other
Soviet bioweapons researchers after their defections), Patrick and others to support their favored "biodefense" policies as well
as the need for "defensive" bioweapons research, including clandestine efforts to genetically-engineer anthrax on which Patrick and
Alibek would later collaborate.
SETTING THE WHEELS IN MOTION
Just a few months before ANSER-IHS' "official" launch, another organization with a related focus was launched -- the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (NTI). Created by media mogul Ted Turner and former Senator Sam Nunn in January 2001, NTI aimed not only to "reduce the
threat" posed by nuclear weapons, but also chemical and biological weapons.
In announcing NTI's formation on CNN , the network Turner had founded,
Nunn stated that while "nuclear weapons pose
the gigantic danger, but biological and chemical weapons are the most likely to be used. And there are thousands of scientists in
the former Soviet Union that know how to make these weapons, including chemical, biological and nuclear, but don't know how to feed
their families." Nunn continued, stating that NTI hoped "to begin to help, some hope for gainful employment for people that we don't
want to end up making chemical and biological and nuclear weapons in other parts of the world." NTI's mission in this regard likely
came as welcome news to Joshua Lederberg, who
had long advocated that the
U.S. offer employment to bioweapons researchers from the former Soviet Union to prevent their employ by "rogue regimes."
Alongside Nunn and Tuner on NTI's board was William Perry, a former Secretary of Defense; former Senator Dick Lugar, for whom
the
alleged U.S. bioweapons lab in Georgia is named; and Margaret Hamburg, who was NTI's Vice President overseeing its work on biological
weapons. Margaret Hamburg's father, David Hamburg, a long-time president of the Carnegie Corporation, was also
an advisor and "distinguished fellow"
at NTI. David Hamburg was a longtime
close advisor ,
associate , and
friend of Joshua Lederberg.
Both Sam Nunn and Margaret Hamburg of NTI, as well as top officials from ANSER, would come together in June 2001 to participate
in an exercise simulating a bioweapons attack called "Dark Winter." Nunn would play the role of president in the exercise and Hamburg
played the head of HHS in the fictional scenario. Jerome Hauer,
then-managing director
of the intelligence-linked outfit Kroll Inc. and a Vice President at the military-intelligence contractor Scientific Applications
International Corporation (SAIC), played the head of FEMA.
The Dark Winter exercise itself was largely written by Tara O'Toole (ANSER-IHS board member) and Thomas Inglesby of the Johns
Hopkins Center for Civilian Bio-defense Studies as well as Randall Larsen of ANSER-IHS. Robert Kadlec also participated in the creation
of the script and appears in the fictional, scripted news clips used in the exercise.
As detailed in Part I
of this series, the Dark Winter exercise eerily predicted many aspects of what would follow just months later during the 2001
anthrax attacks, including predictions that threatening letters would be sent to members of the press with the promise of biological
weapons attacks involving anthrax. Dark Winter also provided the initial narrative for the 2001 anthrax attacks, which held that
Iraq and Al Qaeda had been jointly responsible. However, soon after the attacks, evidence quickly pointed to the anthrax having originated
from a domestic source linked to military experiments. In addition, several Dark Winter participants and authors either had apparent
foreknowledge of those attacks (especially Jerome Hauer) and/or were involved in the FBI controversial investigation into the attacks
(including Robert Kadlec).
On the day of September 11, 2001, Kadlec and Randall Larsen were set to begin co-teaching
a course
on "Homeland Security" at the National War College. It's course syllabus draws from quotes on the imminent threat of bioterrorism
from Joshua Lederberg as well as Dark Winter participant and former CIA director James Woolsey, who called a biological weapons attack
"the single most dangerous threat to U.S. national security in the foreseeable future."
The course was also set to include its own lengthy use of the Dark Winter exercise, where students would re-enact the June 2001
exercise as part of an end-of-semester research project. However, given the events that took place on September 11, 2001, Kadlec
never went on to teach that course, as he instead went to the Pentagon to focus on the "bio-terror threat" in the weeks that preceded
the 2001 anthrax attacks.
THE AFTER (ANTHRAX) PARTY
Immediately after the events of September 11, 2001, Kadlec became
a special
advisor on biological warfare to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz. In the days that followed,
Rumsfeld openly and publicly
stated that he expected America's enemies, specifically Saddam Hussein, to aid unspecified terrorist groups in obtaining chemical
and biological weapons, a narrative that was analogous to that used in the Dark Winter exercise that Kadlec had helped create.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Dark Winter's other co-authors -- Randall Larsen, Tara O'Toole and Thomas Inglesby -- personally
briefed Dick Cheney on Dark Winter, at a time when Cheney and his staff had been warned by another Dark Winter figure, Jerome Hauer,
to take the antibiotic Cipro to prevent anthrax infection. It is unknown how many members of the administration were taking Cipro
and for how long.
Hauer, along with James Woolsey and New York Times reporter Judith Miller (who also attended Dark Winter),
would spend the weeks
between 9/11 and the public disclosure of the anthrax attacks making numerous media appearances (and, in Miller's case, writing dozens
of reports) regarding the use of anthrax as a biological weapon. Members of the controversial think thank the Project for a New American
Century (PNAC), which included Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld among its ranks, also warned that a biological weapons attack was
set to follow on the heels of 9/11. These
included Richard Perle,
then advising the Rumsfeld-led Pentagon, and Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard .
One would think that all of these well-timed warnings would have left this clique of government insiders the least surprised once
the anthrax attacks were publicly disclosed on October 4, 2001. However, despite constantly warning of doomsday anthrax attack scenarios
for a decade and advising the Pentagon on this very threat immediately beginning just weeks prior, Robert Kadlec
would
subsequently claim to have yelled, "You gotta be sh*ttin' me!" when he first learned of the attacks.
Another pre-attack anthrax prophet, Judith Miller, would recall becoming distraught and despondent upon receiving a letter that
appeared to contain anthrax. Her first reaction
was to call William C. Patrick III, who calmed her down and told her that the anthrax powder contained in the letter "was most
likely a hoax." Indeed, Patrick would prove correct in his analysis as the powder in the letter Miller had opened was, in fact, harmless.
Kadlec quickly began contributing to the FBI's controversial investigation into the attacks, known by its case name "Amerithrax."
Kadlec
was tasked with following up on the alleged presence of bentonite in the anthrax used in the attacks. Bentonite was never actually
found in any of the anthrax samples tested by the FBI, but claims that it had been found were used to link the anthrax used in the
attacks to Iraq's alleged use of bentonite in its biological weapons program, the very existence of which still lacked conclusive
evidence.
This erroneous claim was
first
mentioned to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz by Peter Jahrling, a Fort Detrick scientist, who claimed during a briefings
that the spores "appeared to have been treated" with a "particular chemical additive" resembling bentonite. Jahrling then added that
Iraq's government had used bentonite to "suspiciously" produce bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a "nonlethal cousin" of anthrax
widely used in agriculture. "Everyone grabbed
on to that," Kadlec would later remember of Jahrling's haphazard link between bentonite and a harmless, distant cousin of anthrax.
Tasked by Wolfowitz with shoring up evidence for the bentonite "smoking gun," Kadlec
would
contact a Navy scientist that had accompanied him and William Patrick to Iraq in their unsuccessful efforts to find proof of
Iraq's biological weapons back in 1994, James Burans. Burans was unconvinced of the bentonite connection and other government scientists
soon agreed.
Nonetheless, media outlets continued to play up the bentonite-anthrax claim as proving Iraq's role in the anthrax attacks, despite
findings to the contrary. By late October 2001, one nationwide poll
found
that 74% of respondents wanted the U.S. to take military action against Iraq, despite a lack of evidence connecting the country
to either 9/11 or the anthrax attacks. A month later, Rumsfeld
would draw up plans in consultation with Wolfowitz
regarding justifications for initiating war with Iraq, including discovering links between Saddam Hussein and the anthrax attacks
and initiating disputes with Iraq over WMD inspections.
While the Kadlec-advised Pentagon was seeking to link the anthrax attacks to Iraq, the NTI – headed by Dark Winter "president"
Sam Nunn – kicked its agenda into over-drive,
earmarking "$2.4 million in initial grants to finance scientific collaboration with scientists who once worked in the former
Soviet Union's covert biological weapons program." NTI also set aside millions more for transforming former Soviet Union bioweapons
labs into "vaccine production facilities" and "helping identify Western drug companies willing to work with former Soviet bioweaponeers
on commercial ventures."
CLOSED DOOR INVESTIGATION
William C. Patrick III would also become involved the FBI's Amerithrax investigation, even though he was initially suspected of
involvement in the attacks. However, after having passed a lie detector test, he was
added to the FBI's "inner circle"
of technical advisors on the Amerithrax case, despite the fact that Patrick's
protege , Stephen Hatfill, was the FBI's top
suspect at the time. Hatfill was later cleared of wrongdoing and the FBI eventually blamed a Fort Detrick scientist named Bruce Ivins
for the crime, hiding a "mountain" of evidence exonerating Ivins to do so,
according
to the FBI's former lead investigator.
In the 1990s, Patrick had told associates of his desire to find someone who would carry on his work, eventually finding this person
in Stephen Hatfill. Hatfill and Patrick's friendship was close, with one bioterror expert
calling them "like father and son." Hatfill
traveled together often and, on occasion, Hatfill would drive Patrick to his consulting jobs at the military and intelligence contractor
SAIC. In 1999, Patrick would return the favor by helping Hatfill score a job at SAIC. A year later, Jerome Hauer, a friend to both
Hatfill and Patrick, would join
SAIC as a Vice President.
That same year, Hatfill offered Patrick another consulting job at SAIC and commissioned Patrick to perform a study describing
"a fictional terrorist attack in which an envelope containing weapons-grade anthrax is opened in an office."
The Baltimore Sun
would later report that Patrick's study for SAIC discussed the "danger of anthrax spores spreading through the air and the
requirements for decontamination after various kinds of attacks" as well as how many grams of anthrax would need to be placed within
a standard business envelope in order to conduct such an attack.
Patrick's involvement in this SAIC study is particularly interesting given that he was also involved in another project involving
anthrax at the time, this one managed by Battelle Memorial Institute. In 1997, the Pentagon created plans to genetically engineer
a more potent variety of anthrax, spurred
by the work of Russian scientists who had recently published a study that found that a genetically engineered strain of anthrax
was resistant to the standard anthrax vaccine, at least in animal studies.
The stated goal of the Pentagon's plan,
per a 2001
report in The New York Times , was "to see if the [anthrax] vaccine the United States intends to supply to its armed forces
is effective against that strain." Battelle's facility at West Jefferson, Ohio was contracted by the Pentagon to create the genetically-modified
anthrax, a task that was overseen by
Battelle's
then-program manager for all things bioweapons, Ken Alibek.
A 1998 article in the New Yorker
noted that William Patrick, also a consultant for Battelle and Alibek's "close friend," was working with Alibek on a project
involving anthrax at the time. It would later be revealed that access to the very anthrax strain used in the attacks, the Ames strain,
was controlled by Battelle.
In addition, the FBI's supposed "smoking gun" used to link Bruce Ivins' to the anthrax attacks was the fact that a flask in Ivins'
lab labeled RMR-1029 was determined to be its "parent" strain. Yet, it would
later be revealed that portions of RMR-1029 had been sent by Ivins to Battelle's Ohio facility prior to the anthrax attacks.
An analysis of the water used to make the anthrax also revealed that the anthrax spores had been created in the northeastern
United States and follow-up analyses narrowed down the only possible sources as coming from one of three labs: Fort Detrick, a lab
at the University of Scranton, or Battelle's West Jefferson facility.
After Ivins' untimely "suicide" in 2008, Department of Justice civil attorneys
would publicly challenge the FBI's assertions that Ivins had been the culprit and instead "suggested that a private laboratory
in Ohio" managed by Battelle "could have been involved in the attacks."
Patrick's work with Battelle on creating a more potent form of anthrax, as well as his work with SAIC in studying the effect of
anthrax sent through the mail, began around the same time that BioPort had secured a monopoly over the production of the anthrax
vaccine, recently made mandatory for all U.S. troops by the Pentagon. As detailed in
Part II of this series, BioPort's facility that produced its anthrax vaccine was, at the time, rife with problems and had lost
its license to operate. Despite the Pentagon having given BioPort millions to use for renovations of the factory, much of that money
instead went towards senior management bonuses and redecorating executive offices. Millions more simply "disappeared."
In 2000, not long after receiving its first Pentagon bail-out,
BioPort contracted none other than
Battelle Memorial Institute. The deal gave Battelle "immediate exposure to the vaccine" it was using in connection with the genetically-modified
anthrax program that involved both Alibek and Patrick. That program then began using the BioPort-manufactured vaccine in tests at
its West Jefferson facility. At the time, Battelle was also lending "technical expertise" to BioPort and hired 12 workers to send
to BioPort's troubled Michigan facility "to keep the operation running."
At the time, a BioPort spokeswomen stated "We have a relationship with Battelle to extend our reach for people we are trying to
attract for critical positions on our technical side. They're also assisting with our potency testing as really sort of a backup.
They're validating our potency tests." Reports on the BioPort-Battelle contract
stated that the terms of their
agreement were not publicly disclosed, but also noted that the two companies had "previously worked together on an unsuccessful bid
to make other vaccines for the government."
As previously noted in
Part II of this series, BioPort was set to lose its contract for anthrax vaccine entirely in August 2001 and the entirety of
its anthrax vaccine business was rescued by the 2001 anthrax attacks, which saw concerns over BioPort's corruption replaced with
fervent demands for more of its anthrax vaccine.
RUMSFELD SAVES BIOPORT
One of the post-attack advocates for salvaging the BioPort anthrax vaccine contract was Donald Rumsfeld,
who stated after the attacks that, "We're going
to try to save it, and try to fashion some sort of an arrangement whereby we give one more crack at getting the job done with that
outfit [BioPort]. It's the only outfit in this country that has anything under way, and it's not very well under way, as you point
out."
While Rumsfeld and others worked to salvage the troubled BioPort-anthrax vaccine deal, another recurrent figure in this sordid
saga, Jerome Hauer, would also play
a key role in pushing for increased purchases of BioPort's most lucrative and most controversial product. In addition to being
managing director of Kroll Inc. and a Vice President at SAIC, Hauer was also a national security advisor to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson
on September 11, 2001. It was also this same day that Hauer would also tell top administration officials to take Cipro to prevent
anthrax infection.
Hauer played a key role advising HHS leadership as the anthrax attacks unfolded. After the attacks, Hauer
pushed Thompson to create the Office of Public Health Preparedness (OPHP) within HHS, which was created later that year. It was
first headed by D.A. Henderson, a close associate of Joshua Lederberg and
the original founder of the Johns
Hopkins Working Group on Civilian Biodefense, which included Jerome Hauer and Henderson's protege Tara O'Toole. Hauer himself would
come to replace Henderson as OPHP just a few months later.
Subsequent legislation, shaped in part by Robert Kadlec, would see OPHP give way to the position of Assistant Secretary for Public
Health Emergency Preparedness (ASPHEP), a position Hauer would also fill. Hauer would use this post to push for the stockpiling of
vaccines, including BioPort's anthrax vaccine. Hauer and his deputy, William Raub, would then
help push
the Pentagon to restart vaccinating the troops, despite long-standing concerns over the vaccine's safety. Soon after leaving
HHS in 2004, Hauer would quickly be added to the board of directors of BioPort under its new name Emergent Biosolutions, a post he
still holds today.
ALL SYSTEMS GO
In the aftermath of the anthrax attacks, Robert Kadlec's doomsday predictions for bioterror incidents went into over-drive. "It's
not your mother's smallpox," Kadlec
would tell the LA Times in late October 2001, "It's an F-17 Stealth fighter – it's designed to be undetectable and to kill. We are flubbing our efforts
at biodefense. We don't think of this as a weapon – we look naively at this as a disease." As the article notes, this "stealth fighter"
strain of smallpox did not exist. Instead, Kadlec – who now had Rumsfeld's ear on issues of biodefense – expected that such a strain
might soon be genetically engineered.
Of course, at the time, the only government known to be genetically engineering a pathogen was the U.S.,
as reported by the New York Times ' Judith Miller . Miller reported in October 2001 that the Pentagon, in the wake of
the anthrax attacks, had approved "a project to make a potentially more potent form of anthrax bacteria" through genetic modification,
a project that would be conducted by the Battelle Memorial Institute.
This was the continuation of the project, which had involved William Patrick and Ken Alibek, and the Pentagon moved to restart
it after the attacks, though it is unclear if either Patrick or Alibek continued to work on the subsequent iteration of Battelle's
efforts to produce a more virulent strain of anthrax. That project was paused a month prior when Miller and other journalists disclosed
the existence of the program in
an article
published on September 4, 2001.
After news broke of the Pentagon's plans to again begin developing more potent anthrax strains,
accusations were made that the U.S.
was violating the bioweapons convention. However, the U.S. narrowly avoided having to admit it had violated the convention given
that, just one month after the Dark Winter exercise in July 2001, the U.S.
had rejected an agreement that would
have enforced its ban on biological weapons.
The New York Times noted specifically
that the genetically-modified anthrax experiments being performed by Battelle's West Jefferson facility were a "significant reason"
behind the Bush administration's decision to reject the draft agreement and the U.S. government had
argued at the time that "unlimited
visits to pharmaceutical or defense installations by foreign inspectors could be used to gather strategic or commercial intelligence."
Of course, one of those "pharmaceutical or defense installations" was ultimately the source of the anthrax used in the attacks.
THE GROUNDWORK
On the heels of the chaos of late 2001, Kadlec's vision for U.S. biodefense policy was rapidly coming to fruition before his very
eyes. The first enabling statute for the SNS was the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2002, largely motivated
by the anthrax attacks, which directed the Secretary of HHS to maintain a "
Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)." The legislation
had been the direct result of a process begun years earlier when Congress earmarked funding for the CDC to stockpile pharmaceuticals
in 1998. The program was originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) program.
Kadlec's role in directing subsequent developments in the SNS and other related legislative developments was considerable given
that, in 2002, he became director for
biodefense on the recently created Homeland Security Council. His work on the council, which he left in 2005, resulted in the Bush
administration's "National Biodefense Policy for the 21st Century," which unsurprisingly echoed the recommendations of the paper
Kadlec had sponsored at the National War College.
On March 1, 2003, the NPS became the Strategic National Stockpile program and was managed jointly by DHS and HHS after George
W. Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-5). Two days before, Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge and
then Secretary of HHS Tommy Thompson had presented the Project BioShield Act to Congress. It was a sweeping piece of legislation
that established what would become a government money teller-window for Big Pharma, called the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development
Authority (BARDA), among other entities and powers, not least of which was moving control of the SNS away from DHS and closer to
HHS.
Soon after BioShield was signed into law, BioPort/Emergent BioSolutions
co-founded a lobby group called the Alliance for Biosecurity as part of its strategy to easily secure lucrative BioShield contracts.
That lobby group saw Emergent BioSolutions join forces with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Biosecurity, which
was then-led by Tara O'Toole and advised by Randall Larsen.
With this framework in place, the Kadlec-drafted National Biodefense Policy for the 21st Century was used as the framework for
Bush's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 10 ( HSPD-10
), which further expanded BioShield, the SNS and other controversial programs. Project BioShield was made law in 2004 and, one
year later, Kadlec joined Senator Richard Burr's subcommittee on bioterrorism and public health. There, Kadlec served as staff director
on the committee that drafted the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), containing the specific policy directives for
the roll out of Project BioShield and creating Kadlec's future position at HHS.
PAHPA was passed the following year in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and established the statutory relationship between the
various agencies enacted or included in the
BioShield legislation . This includes
delegating to the newly creation position of HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to "exercise the responsibilities
and authorities of the Secretary [of HHS] with respect to the coordination of "the stockpile and to oversee the advanced research
and development of medical counter-measures funded by BARDA, but conducted by Big Pharma. ASPR was also given the leadership role
in directing HHS' response to a national health emergency.
Serving alongside Kadlec in the White House throughout this entire process was Tevi Troy, a Special Assistant to the President
for Domestic Policy; a role which made him the White House's lead adviser on health care, labor, education and other issues with
a special focus on crisis management . Troy, who had come
up through the department of labor as
deputy assistant for policy was already a Senior fellow at both the Hudson Institute and its satellite think tank, the Potomac
Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS), where the real policy development work was undertaken.
Both Troy and Kadlec would exit the administration at the end of Bush's first term and not return until the latter half of his
second term. In the meantime, the wheels had been set in motion with the passing of Project BioShield and PAHPA and, soon after their
passage, panic over a "Bird flu" outbreak began, which had spread first in 33 cities in Vietnam and then led to an outbreak of the
poultry-killing disease that affected all of Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East. The outbreak
sparked panic in the U.S. in late 2005, thanks
in large part to over-the-top warnings made
by Tommy Thompson's successor as head of HHS, Michael Leavitt.
Despite the fact that Leavitt's claims were wildly inaccurate, some administration officials benefited financially from the fear-mongering,
such as Donald Rumsfeld, whose stock holdings in the pharmaceutical company Gilead
netted him $5 million once the scare had ended. Part of the reason for Gilead's jump in profitability resulted from the decision
of the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies to stockpile 80 million doses of Tamiflu, a drug promoted to treat the Bird Flu
that was originally developed by Gilead. Rumsfeld had been the top executive at Gilead before joining the George W. Bush administration.
Aside from those who benefited monetarily, the Bird Flu scare also gave a considerable boost to the biodefense "stockpile" agenda
that Kadlec and other insiders supported.
Kadlec would return to the White House as Special Assistant for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Biological Defense Policy
in 2007 to further solidify his eventual grip on the Strategic National Stockpile and the office of ASPR, along with his Hudson Institute/PIPS
sidekick, Tevi Troy, concurrently appointed Deputy Director of HHS. This put Troy in charge of implementing the very policies enshrined
in PAHPA and the departmental changes enacted as part of Project BioShield.
The Bush administration came to its inevitable conclusion as Barack Obama was elected and sworn in, early 2009. Kadlec and Troy,
once again, left their government posts and disappeared into their private sector lairs. But, that same year, the first practice
run for Kadlec's freshly retrofitted SNS took place when the "Swine Flu" (H1N1) pandemic
triggered its "largest deployment"
ever, distributing nearly 13 million antiviral regimens, as well as medical equipment and other drugs nationally and internationally
in conjunction with BARDA . Gilead (and Rumsfeld)
again profited
handsomely, as did other large pharmaceutical companies, which were eager to restock the SNS after its large-scale deployment.
The virus' origins have been a matter of controversy for several years, alternatively identified as having sprung from pigs in
Mexico or Asia. One of the last studies
conducted in 2016 claims to have definitively traced the source to hogs in Mexico. Regardless of its true origins,
interested observers were able to glean vital data
from the exercise to prepare for the "next one."
TROY'S HORSES
Departing HHS Deputy Director Tevi Troy soon took a gig as a
high-powered lobbyist for the JUUL e-cigarette company , which had run into some regulatory barriers as a result of the Tobacco
Control Act, which had just been signed by then-President Obama. Margaret Hamburg,
founding member of the NTI, was
then Commissioner of the FDA and
stalled enforcement of the new regulations; a tacit non-enforcement policy had persisted at the FDA until the recent vaping flavor
ban, which followed renewed health concerns raised by
a 2018 NIH report .
Why a former HHS official would take up the mantle to promote the use of a product known to be injurious to health can be answered
by looking at Dr. Troy's close links with PIPS and the Hudson Institute. Couched in free-market rhetoric, these institutions are
vehicles for the policy initiatives their billionaire funders want to see implemented, with its subsidiary think tanks, like PIPS,
serving as satellites orbiting closer to the center of power.
As an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute
and senior fellow at PIPS, Tevi Troy appears to play a pivotal role coordinating between the two. The Hudson Institute was founded
in 1961 by former RAND military strategist, systems theorist and Dr. Strangelove inspiration Herman Kahn. After Kahn's passing in
1983, the Institute was "heavily recruited" by the Lilly Endowment –
the largest private foundation in the United States , by far – and became a magnet for the same radical conservative billionaire
networks that patronize it today.
Among its biggest donors are familiar names like Microsoft, Lockheed Martin Corporation, The Charles Koch Foundation, Boeing and
Emergent BioSolutions. In 2004, Lilly Endowment returned to Washington D.C., announcing it would "
return to its roots
of national security and foreign policy " as a result of the war on terror becoming an "overarching national concern".
PIPS and the Hudson Institute would come to play a central role in Kadlec's upcoming efforts to make biodefense a national priority
with him at the helm of a vastly expanded office of ASPR. But, it would be a few years yet. Meanwhile, there was more to be done
in the area of legislation, not to mention private enterprise.
Building on all previous versions of Kadlec's original PAHPA, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act (PAHPRA)
of 2013 established two more instruments that strengthened his ultimate goal. First, the PHEMCE Strategy and Implementation Plan
(SIP) was codified into law, which formalized the original legislation's ties to the budget office and secondly, it streamlined the
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) facility for the FDA to fast-track drug approvals.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Soon upon returning to the private sector, Robert Kadlec helped found a new company in 2012 called "East West Protection," which
develops and delivers "integrated all-hazards preparedness and response systems for communities and sovereign nations." The company
also "advises communities and countries on issues related to the threat of weapons of mass destruction and natural pandemics."
Kadlec formed the company with W. Craig Vanderwagen,
the first HHS ASPR after the post's creation had been largely orchestrated by Kadlec. The
other co-founder of East West Protection was Fuad
El-Hibri, the founder of BioPort/Emergent Biosolutions, who had just stepped down as Emergent's CEO earlier that year.
El-Hibri has numerous business connections to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he and his father, Ibrahim El-Hibri, had
once sold stockpiles of anthrax vaccine to the Saudi government for
an exorbitant price per dose. East West Protection chased after the opportunity to fit the Kingdom with a custom-built biodefense
system, but ultimately failed to finalize the deal despite El-Hibri's connections. Instead, East West Protection
sold its products to a handful of U.S. states.
Kadlec was
the firm's director from its founding
until
at least 2015 , later selling his stake in the company to El-Hibri. Upon being nominated to serve as ASPR in the Trump administration,
Kadlec failed to disclose his ties to East West Protection and El-Hibri and he has since claimed to only have been involved in the
founding of the firm,
despite
evidence to the contrary .
Robert Kadlec's forays into the private sector during this period went far beyond East West Protection. Kadlec's consultancy firm,
RPK Consulting, netted him in $451,000 in 2014 alone, where he
directly advised Emergent Biosolutions as well as other pharmaceutical companies like Bavarian Nordic. Kadlec was
also a consultant
to military and intelligence contractors, such as the
DARPA-backed firm Invincea and NSA contractor Scitor, which was
recently acquired
by SAIC.
Kadlec's consulting work for intelligence-linked companies earned him the praises of spooks turned entreprenuers, including Steve
Cash – a former CIA officer and founder of Deck Prism , itself
a consultancy firm that retained Kadlec. Cash
recently told The Washington Post that "Everybody loves Dr. Bob [Kadlec]," adding that he was a "national treasure."
ON BIOWARFARE'S EVE
Kadlec had certainly been accumulating a treasure chest of power aided by some very cozy relationships in the consulting business
and, by now, the stage had been set for a big push to create an official body within the halls of the legislature; an embedded consultancy
firm, of sorts, to promote the designs of the biowarfare clique.
That year, Robert Kadlec put together a Blue Ribbon Study Panel sponsored jointly by the Hudson Institute and a PIPS subsidiary
institution called the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies ( IUCTS
), managed by Dr. Yonah Alexander. Kadlec's Blue Ribbon Panel was chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman and included the indispensable
input of Tom Daschle, Donna Shalala and other members of the biowarfare policy club.
The study panel issued a report in late 2015 entitled "
A National Blueprint for
Biodefense " calling for 33 specific initiatives, such as the creation of a "
biodefense hospital system " and
implementing a "military-civilian collaboration for biodefense." In addition, the panel recommended that the office of the Vice President
lead a White House "Coordination Council" to oversee and guide biodefense policy.
An official body called the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
would be formed shortly thereafter with all the Blue Ribbon Panel members and many others like Commission co-chair Tom Ridge
and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Tevi Troy and Yonah Alexander, who serve as Ex-officio members. Alongside them is Lewis "Scooter" Libby,
former Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney and Senior Vice President of the Hudson Institute, which also happens to be the fiscal sponsor
of the Commission.
In the acknowledgements
, the panel's 2015 report includes an homage to Robert Kadlec to whom they bestow credit for the achievement, which only "exists
because of the foresight, forbearance, and perpetual optimism of Dr. Robert Kadlec. Bob understood that as much progress as had been
made in the national effort to prevent and prepare for biological threats, it is not yet enough. He knew that with the right impetus,
we could do much more, and he envisioned this Panel as a means to that end. We are glad he did."
Kadlec mounted this last offensive while serving as Deputy Staff Director for Senator Richard Burr's Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, a position he would hold until the eve of Donald Trump's election in 2016. Trump would then nominate him to the office
of the ASPR and Kadlec would be confirmed in early August of the following year.
Only one piece of the puzzle was left, but it wouldn't be very long before Robert Kadlec would become the biggest capo of them
all with a subtle change that was introduced in the
2018 PAHPRA :
Title III – Sec 301
1) DELEGATION TO ASPR. -- Subsection (a)(1) of section 319F–2 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–6b) is amended
by striking ''in collaboration with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention'' and inserting ''acting through
the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.''
Rather than sing the same sad song about the source of the coronavirus, the United States
needs to lead a choir of nations in a hymn about how this pandemic, like SARS before it, was
made possible by the lack of transparency intrinsic to China's national socialist political
system. It is only through collaboration among democracies can the United States seize the day
and create what the world desperately needs: a muscular coalition of like-minded nations that
will prevail in this crisis, as well as secure the future of free markets and liberal values in
its aftermath .
For seventy years, one of the greatest sources of American power has been the country's
willingness to take the moral high ground during crises. The United States has the most
influence and power when it is seen as a force for good in the world -- meaning the global
public goods it provides are not only ethical but also politically astute. Today, however, the
ongoing blame game both internationally and domestically over coronavirus and its origins
threatens to miss a historic opportunity for America to do well by doing good.
Source: New
Eastern Outlook Unfortunately, the author's hopes that attempts to seek monetary
compensation from China for its alleged role in the SARS-COV-2 pandemic would involve
individuals rather than countries (and their nation-wide policies), first and foremost the
United States, have been dashed
.
On 6 April, Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican senator, stated China needed to "pay
for" its response to the crisis that enabled the contagion to spread around the world, and
added President Donald Trump was not to blame for the almost catastrophic in nature outbreak in
the United States.
A few days later, another Republican senator, Ron Johnson, said the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee would begin
"a wide-ranging probe into the origins of and response to the Coronavirus pandemic".
On 24 April, a 57-page memo, prepared by O'Donnell and Associates a week earlier and sent by
the National Republican Senatorial Committee (working on electing Republicans to this body) to
campaigns, was (somehow and for some reasons) leaked to the
press . The document, meant for internal use only, essentially included recommendations for
Republicans on how to use the "Coronavirus" angle in the battle against their opponents, the
Democrats.
In response to the leak, the PRC Foreign Ministry Spokesperson asked a legitimate question:
"Why do some US forces take every chance to smear China?". He also said that Beijing firmly
opposed certain US individuals and groups taking advantage of the PRC "to garner votes" or
vilifying China "using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse ".
It seems important to focus on the position taken by Donald Trump's administration when
discussing the overall issue of "USA-China SARS-COV-2 pandemic". Earlier, the author reported
that there had been disagreement on it among the US leadership. China's tabloid newspaper The
Global Times described the situation at the time as follows :
"Over the past three months, instead of responding to the outbreaks rationally and
collectively, the Trump administration has continuously been flip-flopping in its policies,
ignoring advice from medical professionals, being willfully blind, but coming up with
groundless accusations, xenophobic and racist comments."
The stance adopted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is decidedly anti-Chinese, President
Donald Trump, on the other hand, has tried to avoid an uncontrollable downward spiral in US
relations with the PRC up until recently. It appears that severing ties (especially in trade)
with China is not part of President's plans. And the fact that the so-called US-China
"Phase-One" Trade Deal was signed on 15 January adds credence to the above hypothesis
.
Donald Trump's mission is tied, first and foremost, to reducing USA's foreign-trade deficit
and not only with the PRC but with other key allies too. Hence, until recently, the US
President's statements directed at China had either barely touched upon or had failed to
include various issues deemed as sacred by his rivals from the "swamp" of Washington politics.
And they include the "human rights" situation in Hong Kong, Tibet and the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region (XUAR).
However, as the general election battle intensifies in earnest, it appears as if (the now
infamous) "circumstances beyond one's control" are starting to have an impact. The issue of who
will be held responsible for the seemingly apocalyptic Coronavirus outbreak in the USA is
further exacerbated by the equally depressing state of the US economy and could thus have a
significant impact on the outcome of the (re?-)election in November.
Perhaps as a result, recently, Donald Trump, citing a "precedent in Germany", started
talking about the possibility of demanding China compensate the USA for damages caused by the
Coronavirus outbreak with a monetary award far exceeding that expected by Berlin. The United
States has other potential partners, aside from Germany, who would also like to see the PRC pay
for the consequences of the pandemic.
The author is first and foremost interested in the positions taken on this issue by India,
Japan and Australia, who together with the USA are the founding members of the (more conceptual
for now) security framework called the Quad (an anti-Chinese military and political alliance).
Washington has been trying to turn this concept into something more tangible starting in the
second half of 2000s. The attempts have not yielded any concrete outcomes thus far, however,
Quad ministerial meetings are held regularly.
The fact that the alliance remains in its dormant phase is evidenced by, for instance, the
reaction (or more accurately the absence of one) of India and Japan in response to the cue from
Washington regarding its intentions to hold China financially responsible for the consequences
of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic.
It is worth noting that the nature of relations between Beijing and both New Delhi and Tokyo
can be described as "complicated". Still, it is hard to imagine that either India or Japan
would be prepared to take such a clearly unfriendly step at present by claiming compensation,
as the USA and Germany are doing, from China for the COVID-19 outbreak.
The distinct position occupied by Australia in the region has been discussed in the New
Eastern Outlook on more than one occasion . And it is
essentially determined by the nation's (difficult, from the onset) quest for the right balance
between two mutually competing factors. The author is referring here to the fact that
Australia's let us say "stomach" is, for the most part, located in China, while its "soul" is
(naturally) in the Anglosphere. In fact, the aforementioned balance is fairly fluid and its
nature is directly linked to the party affiliation of the government in office at any given
time. At present, the right-wing coalition led by the Liberal Party of Australia is at the helm
of power (for the second term). During its rule, the balance has seemingly shifted towards the
nation's "soul" to a certain extent, and this change has been accompanied by some deeds with a
negative impact on China. One of the most significant acts was the decision to ban Chinese Tech
giants (first and foremost, Huawei) from participating in building Australia's 5G network in
2018.
According to The Global Times, Scott "Morrison's adventurism" was not entirely unexpected.
And it entailed him making a series of phone calls "to several world leaders, including US
President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron,
appealing for their support of Australia's 'independent inquiry into 'the origin and spread' of
the COVID-19 outbreak ". In the opinion of the author
of the above article, China was "the thinly veiled target" in their discussions, while money
was not mentioned at all, but unregulated "wet markets trading in wildlife" were.
In response, it is impossible not to comment on increasingly frequent anti-Chinese attacks
made by (sadly, not only US) "experts on everything under the sun". Insinuations that "unusual"
culinary traditions in China were one of the factors that caused the SARS-COV-2 pandemic appear
to be especially unseemly.
It is worth reminding our readers that national cuisine is an integral part of culture,
which is shaped over thousands of years and centuries. Chinese people, whose contribution to
the global culture is impossible to underestimate, do not need such "lectures" on this
particular issue or on any others. And they certainly have no use for demands for monetary
compensation either.
It seems that even actual experts do not yet know where the Coronavirus originated and how
the contagion subsequently spread. And, at present, answering such questions is not a priority.
These issues can be dealt with once a victory against the pandemic has been declared. In fact,
the PRC has been urging the world to unite in their fight against the Coronavirus. And
Washington is still viewed as one of the key partners in Beijing despite the "attacks" being
discussed in this article.
Once the pandemic recedes, the amount of available information that can be used to draw more
or less sound conclusions is bound to increase dramatically.
It is also worth reiterating that the current focus on the issue of "who is to blame" for
the Coronavirus outbreak stems only from immediate (i.e. for the most part, insignificant and
self-serving) political needs.
Still, the increasingly blatant attempts to once again thoughtlessly use any convenient
excuse to ostracize the second most powerful nation in the world may have very negative
consequences for the global state of affairs.
Amidst the storm of controversy raised by the lab-origin theory of COVID-19 extolled by such
figures as Nobel prize winning virologist Luc Montagnier, bioweapons expert Francis Boyle, Sri
Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, an elaborate
project was undertaken under the nominal helm of NATURE Magazine in order to refute the claim
once and for all under the report 'The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2'
.
This project was led by a team of evolutionary virologists using a line of reasoning that
"random mutation can account for anything" and was parroted loudly and repeatedly by Fauci, WHO
officials and Bill Gates in order to shut down all uncomfortable discussion of the possible
laboratory origins of COVID-19 while also pushing for a global vaccine campaign. On April 18,
Dr. Fauci (whose close ties with Bill Gates, and Big Pharma have much to do with his control of
hundreds of billions of dollars of research money),
stated :
"There was a study recently that we can make available to you, where a group of highly
qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences there and the sequences in bats as
they evolve. And the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally
consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human."
I think at this moment, rife as it is with speculative arguments, confusion and
under-defined data, it is useful to remove oneself from the present and look for higher
reference points from which we can re-evaluate events now unfolding on the world stage.
Article, 15 May 2020, lays out the facts (dates all correct, afaik) that supports an 'escaped
from a lab' type-theory, in this case, from Fort Detrick USA, with the virus sent to Wuhan
co. the US soldiers for the military games.
A *possible* take imho. (I have checked the dates of Dr. Li's group e mails, the
reprimands by the Chinese, the Bat Lady's publication of the genome, etc. and though they are
very tight they can fit.)
It's seductive because the 'atypical pneumonia cases' in the US, Springfield July 2019
(author mentions these) and the vaping illness which clearly had nothing to do with vaping
which I posted about previous, June 2019, were so weird, and seemed to be treated as of 'no
account' or with soothing or loopy explanations. "No infectious agent found" .. old ppl near
death anyway .. "acetate in the vaping products" (?? - note no cases outside the US, with the
exception of Canada..)
This throws Event 201 into a strange light, the aim of this post. October 18
2019, in NY, a bunch of 'experts' gathered to join in an event where they would play
themselves (their roles would be their own personae!) and how they would act, react, to a
pandemic, 'simulated' for the occasion, due to a novel coronavirus which would create
symptoms from mild flu-like to severe pneumonia > death .
Event 201 was organised and supported by John Hopkins, the World Economic Forum, the
Bill + M Gates foundation. There was much talk of coordination, cooperation between global
business, Govmts, health organisations. Supply chains were a concern. How the anti-viral med.
or vaccine could be distributed came up several times. Repressing fake news and panic and
controlling social platforms.. The stated aim was how to diminish socio-economic consequences
(i.e. protect biz. etc.) Vids on site, I reco watching at least the first, 11 mins.
- note how the simulation produces its own 'fake' - here admittedly and purposely fake
- product. Event 201 mimics CNN! A simulation attempts to act, copy, 'fake' or 'real'
news..to try and gauge effects..and what to do in 'real life' - that is, the distorted
picture of 'real life' these 'experts' have.
>- note how the simulation produces its own 'fake'
I watched it, all 12 painful minutes of it. It's complete B.S., also known as
marketing. It seems to be advertising for "Put Us In Charge = We'll Save You!". It's all
hand-waving from people who would fail at organizing a lemonade stand.
Where is the plan from this exercise, you know, the document that says who would do
what, and when, and how to make it happen. I thought there would be rooms of people making
phone calls like, "We need x thousand masks - how many can you ship?" Instead, it is just a
bunch of talking heads having meeting, to be followed by cocktails at 5 pm.
Gain of function experiments has the potential of crating of bioChernobil, and may be they
already produced one.
Notable quotes:
"... "Whilst the facts cannot be known at this time, the nature of this event and its proximity to a high-risk biosecurity facility at the epicenter of the outbreak demands a full and independent international enquiry to ascertain whether a virus of this kind of COVID-19 was being cultured in the facility and might have been accidentally released," wrote Petrovsky. ..."
study led by Flinders University
vaccine researcher Nikolai Petrovsky in Australia reveals that SARS-CoV-2, the virus which
causes COVID-19, is optimized for penetration into human cells vs. animal cells - undermining
the theory that it naturally evolved in animals before jumping to humans, according to
LifeSiteNews ' Matthew Cullinan Hoffman.
Petrovsky says that the results, which are not peer-reviewed, suggest " a remarkable
coincidence or a sign of human intervention ."
The authors of the study, led by vaccine researcher Nikolai Petrovsky of Flinders
University in Australia, used a version of the novel coronavirus collected in the earliest
days of the outbreak and applied computer models to test its capacity to bind to certain cell
receptor enzymes, called "ACE2," that allow the virus to infect human and animal cells to
varying degrees of efficacy.
They tested the propensity of the COVID-19 virus's spike protein, which it uses to enter
cells, to bind to the human type of ACE2 as well as to many different animal versions of
ACE2, and found that the novel coronavirus most powerfully binds with human ACE2, and with
variously lesser degrees of effectiveness with animal versions of the receptor .
According to the study's authors, this implies that the virus that causes COVID-19 did not
come from an animal intermediary, but became specialized for human cell penetration by living
previously in human cells, quite possibly in a laboratory . -
LifeSiteNews
Typically, "a virus would be expected to have highest affinity for the receptor in its
original host species, e.g. bat, with a lower initial binding affinity for the receptor of any
new host, e.g. humans. However, in this case, the affinity of SARS-CoV-2 is higher for humans
than for the putative original host species, bats, or for any potential intermediary host
species," wrote the authors.
A "possibility which still cannot be excluded is that SARSCoV-2 was created by a
recombination event that occurred inadvertently or consciously in a laboratory handling
coronaviruses , with the new virus then accidentally released into the local human population,"
they added.
Engineered, naturally...
In a separate statement about the research, Petrovsky suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may not have
been 'spliced' - which would leave fingerprints of genetic manipulation - but was instead
'cultured' to evolve.
"Our and other analyses of the genomic sequence of the virus do not reveal any artificial
gene inserts that would be the hallmark of a gene jockey , genetic engineers who manipulate
or even create viruses by splicing in artificial inserts into their genome. These are
generally easily recognisable and hence clear signatures of human intervention in the
creation of a virus. The fact that these artificial inserts are not present has been
interpreted by some to mean this virus is not the result of human manipulation.
However, this logic is incorrect as there are other ways in which humans can manipulate
viruses and that is caused by natural selection . What do I mean? All viruses and bacteria
mutate and adapt to their environment over time, with selection of the fittest individuals
for survival in that particular environment.
Take a bat coronavirus that is not infectious to humans, and force its selection by
culturing it with cells that express human ACE2 receptor , such cells having been created
many years ago to culture SARS coronaviruses and you can force the bat virus to adapt to
infect human cells via mutations in its spike protein , which would have the effect of
increasing the strength of its binding to human ACE2, and inevitably reducing the strength of
its binding to bat ACE2.
Viruses in prolonged culture will also develop other random mutations that do not affect
its function. The result of these experiments is a virus that is highly virulent in humans
but is sufficiently different that it no longer resembles the original bat virus . Because
the mutations are acquired randomly by selection there is no signature of a human gene
jockey, but this is clearly a virus still created by human intervention." -Nikolai
Petrovsky
Petrovsky finishes the thought by suggesting that the virus "could have escaped the facility
either through accidental infection of a staff member who then visited the fish market several
blocks away and there infected others , or by inappropriate disposal of waste from the facility
that either infected humans outside the facility directly or via a susceptible vector such as a
stray cat that then frequented the market and resulted in transmission there to humans."
In an email to LifeSite , Petrovsky said that his study suggests that "there are some highly
unusual features, including optimal human adaptation, that in the absence of identification of
a close to identical virus in an animal population from which COVID19 could have arisen, would
point in the direction of human intervention at some point in the evolution of COVID19."
He also noted that researchers around the world have been unable to produce evidence of the
novel coronavirus in animals , which would support their theory of natural development.
"If an animal vector and virus could be found then of course this would resolve the matter
completely," he told the outlet, adding "One would have thought that the Chinese would be
intensively sampling all conceivable animals trying to find such a virus to exonerate their
labs. If no such intense search is going on (which I don't know one way or the other) then
the inference could be that they are not looking because they already know what they might
find."
That said, Rutgers molecular biologist Richard Ebright urged caution over the conclusion -
teling LifeSite that while Petrovsky's results "are plausible," they are "from computational
modelling, not from experiments, and therefore must be considered provisional at best."
Ebright noted that an earlier study on
ACE2 receptor binding found that a bat coronavirus similar to the COVID-19 virus had strong
binding power with the ACE2 of tree shrews and ferrets, making them possible animal
intermediary candidates. However, the study did not compare the binding power of the virus'
animal species' ACE2 receptors with the binding power with humans, as does Petrovsky's study
. Moreover, it did not use a gene sequence from an early version of the novel coronavirus
itself, as does Petrovsky's study, but rather used the gene sequence of a similar bat
coronavirus reported by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, called RaTG13.
Ebright told LifeSite that he believes that multiple physical experiments that will
ultimately determine if the novel coronavirus is optimized for binding with human cells are
"probably underway in multiple locations," although he did not cite any specific studies. -
LifeSiteNews
According to Petrovsky, an international investigation into the real origins of COVID-19 is
required - something the Chinese government has refused to collaborate over.
"Whilst the facts cannot be known at this time, the nature of this event and its proximity
to a high-risk biosecurity facility at the epicenter of the outbreak demands a full and
independent international enquiry to ascertain whether a virus of this kind of COVID-19 was
being cultured in the facility and might have been accidentally released," wrote Petrovsky.
sp0rkovite, 6 minutes ago
There's a reason why this computer model study isn't peer reviewed. Opinions of scientists
and doctors isn't how science works. The last quote of this "researcher" shows his bias.
Jim in MN, 10 minutes ago
Only raw intel--cell phone intercepts, photos etc.--can settle the question of who
released the WMD strike and why.
The more we keep the origin story in the public eye, the more likely that we get real
information. Some has already leaked/been released. We need more.
Fire_Hog, 3 minutes ago
Ferrets were used in the virus Gain of Function work at Ralph Barrick's lab at UNC. At
least one of his lab people was from the Wuhan Virus Lab. This is documented in Barrick's
paper and the Wuhan lab website.
spoonful, 15 minutes ago
The U.S.P.T.O. should immediately void all patents related to pharmacology and vaccines -
this problem would go away immediately
journey80, 9 minutes ago
Better yet, do that and force Congress to revoke the damn 1984 law that protects vaccine
makers from liability. The Bill Gates./Big Pharma Get Out Of Jail Free law.
"The UNC scientists wanted to see if cousin viruses -- coronaviruses that are carried by
Chinese horseshoe bats -- also posed a threat to people. They used one, SHC014, as a
representative of the group.
They inserted a key part of the virus, its spike protein, into a SARS virus and then ran
experiments to see if the hybrid virus could infect human respiratory tract cells (in a dish)
and mice that were vulnerable to the SARS virus.
More to follow. I'll bet the US bio-weapon labs have dozens if not hundreds of deadly
viruses in store for use against Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and the rest of the
world when neocon loonies feel desperate in their drive for world domination.
Never One Roach, 34 minutes ago (Edited)
The facts all point toward their innocence. That's why they quickly destroyed all the test
tubes, lab data, bleached the entire bat lab and surrounding 20 blocks and disappeared all
the doctors, witnesses and scientists who had first hand knowledge of their innocence.
These are the actions of an innocent accused.
socalbeach, 15 minutes ago (Edited)
About 4 weeks ago, YouTuber "J.C. on a Bike" produced an interesting video about American
epidemiologist Michael Olsterholm trying to hoodwink Joe Rogan about the origin of the
virus.
Who Tried to Deceive Joe Rogan about Coronavirus? -- Special Report -- J.C. on a bike
"... The US funded research into bat coronaviruses in a lab in Wuhan, China, that is now under scrutiny for possibly being behind the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Facebook Recent revelations that the US National Institute of Health (NIH) had been funding gain-of-function (GOF) research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology has shone a spotlight on China's controversial research in biomedical sciences. ..."
"... GOF research involves taking a pathogen and altering it to make it more deadly and infectious, and the US government had placed a research moratorium from 2014 to 2017 on three potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) of influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). ..."
"... Not only does China engage in GOF research, it also conducts another controversial experiment – creating human-animal chimeras for vaccines and organ transplants. A chimera is an organism whose cells come from two or more "individuals," and the word comes from Greek mythology, which describes a creature that was part lion, part goat and part snake. ..."
The US funded research into bat coronaviruses in a lab in Wuhan, China, that is now under scrutiny for possibly being
behind the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Facebook
Recent revelations that the US National Institute of Health (NIH) had been funding gain-of-function (GOF) research in
the
Wuhan
Institute of Virology
has shone a spotlight on China's controversial research in biomedical sciences.
GOF research
involves taking a pathogen and altering it to make it more deadly and infectious, and the US government
had placed a research moratorium from 2014 to 2017 on three potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) of influenza, Middle
East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Not only does China engage in GOF research, it also conducts another controversial experiment – creating human-animal
chimeras for vaccines and organ transplants. A chimera is an organism whose cells come from two or more "individuals,"
and the word comes from Greek mythology, which describes a creature that was part lion, part goat and part snake.
China provides legal loopholes
Because of more stringent regulations of public health and bioethics in the US and other Western countries, American
and European scientists tend to outsource GOF and chimeric research to China, where it does not face such
restrictions.
For example, when the Chinese Academy of Science's
Kunming
Institute of Zoology
created the first
human-monkey
chimera
in July 2019, the project was led by a Spanish scientist, Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, from the
American Salk Institute in San Diego, in collaboration with the Murcia Catholic University in Murcia, Spain.
Their report was published in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, revealing the research was conducted in China "
to
avoid legal issues
." In the US, the NIH bans federal funding to create human-monkey embryos, while in Canada,
putting non-human stem cells into human embryos is a criminal offense under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.
China is thus viewed as a dumping ground and giant test tube for all kinds of dangerous and ethically controversial
research outlawed by Western countries, similar to how it became a
dumping ground
for recyclable waste in past decades.
Not only has this team of Spanish, American and Chinese scientists created a human-monkey chimera, but Professor
Belmonte also created a
human-pig
embryo
in the past. Last December, a team of scientists in Beijing brought to term a
pig-monkey
chimera.
Scientists see chimeras as a potential way to address the shortage of organs such as kidneys, livers and hearts for
transplantation, and believe organs genetically matched to a particular human recipient could one day be grown inside
animals. The approach is based on taking human cells and reprogramming them to become stem cells, which are introduced
into the embryo of another species.
In April 2019, Chinese researchers inserted into monkey embryos a human gene critical for human brain development.
Some scientists propose humanizing large portions of the monkey brain, such as the hippocampus, to be entirely
human-derived, in order to study human neurological disorders.
However, this raises many ethical questions, given that the brain is the center of cognition and reflection. For
example, should the human-animal hybrid develop a human-like nervous system capable of consciousness, at what point then
does a chimeric brain become less monkey, and more human?
As Dr
Judy
Illes
, professor of neurology and Canada research chair in neuroethics at the University of British Columbia, asked:
"Why humanize a monkey, if that's what we need to do? If that's justified scientifically, then we just need to be doing
the experiment on humans. We don't need to do it on a humanized monkey."
Grafting man with beast
Nonetheless,
chimeric
research
seems to be gaining traction, not only for organ transplants and studying diseases, but also for developing
vaccines. In 2017, Portuguese researchers created a chimera virus, a mouse virus with a human viral gene, that enabled
them to investigate new ways to treat cancer caused by human herpes virus infection. Human viruses are also cultured on
animal cells to help produce vaccines.
Scientists are also looking to human-animal chimeras with a "humanized" immune system to test
vaccines.
For
example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded a project at Peking University through its Grand Challenges in
Global Health Initiative to develop a "
humanized"
chimeric mouse
model to develop vaccines for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV).
This grafting of man and beast to recombine their DNA more closely, and the merging of different species to study
disease through GOF or chimeric research, is also advancing the
One
Health Initiative
that seeks to produce a
cross-species
vaccine
for both human and animals.
The cross-species approach is to advance human vaccine research for the benefit of veterinary vaccines and vice
versa, with researchers collaborating to unlock shared biological mechanisms underlying disease immunity, thereby
accelerating the design and development of vaccines across species.
However, in the aftermath of Covid-19, one shudders to think what would happen should these monster germs and
chimeras escape from the labs.
Christina Lin is a California-based foreign and security policy analyst. She has extensive US government
experience working on national security and economic issues and her current focus is on China-Middle East/Mediterranean
relations.
May 16, 2020 The emergence of Covid-19 was first reported by the authorities in China on
December 31, as acknowledged by the World Health Organization. But that emergence does not
necessarily mean the pandemic originated in China.
By January 30, 2020, a WHO situation report cited nearly
8,000 cases of the respiratory disease globally in 18 different countries. The vast majority of
the infections at that stage were in China. It has since exploded to four million cases in
virtually all 194 nations with the United States hosting by far the majority of infections and
deaths (80,000 fatalities as of this week).
The early pattern of the disease spreading may suggest that China and its central city of
Wuhan was the origin of the pandemic. It is widely speculated that the novel coronavirus
residing in bats or some other mammal infected humans.
However, the report this week that a hospital in France
detected Covid-19 in a patient as early as December 27, 2019, raises questions about the global
origin. The French man, who went on to recover from the disease, was previously thought to have
been suffering from pneumonia. The Paris hospital retested biomedical samples of patients and
found that the man had in fact contracted Covid-19.
Curiously, the French patient had not travelled from abroad before he became ill at the
end of last year. So, how does this finding square with claims that the disease originated in
China? It has been speculated that the man's wife who worked near Charles De Gaulle
international airport may have been exposed. But she did not show symptoms of the disease. Her
link as an "asymptomatic" disease carrier and her presumed contact with air travelers from
China is therefore tenuous speculation.
French doctors are not certain if the case of the cited man represents that country's
"patient zero", that is, the first case of Covid-19 in France. But the detection of the disease
in France on December 27 is a full month before it was officially recorded as having arrived in
France. In other words, the suspicion now is that Covid-19 may been circulating undetected
in France and perhaps other European countries, as well as the United States, at the end of
last year. Many of these infections and accompanying deaths may have been misidentified as due
to seasonal flu or pneumonia.
It is understandable why the Chinese authorities are "defensive", as the New York Times
snidely
headlines , about China being described as "the origin" of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This week China was
accused of "censoring" an article penned by the European Union's ambassador to the country.
The article was published in news outlet China Daily but mention of "the outbreak of the
coronavirus in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three
months " was edited out. That led to recriminations in Western media about the EU pandering to
Chinese state "censorship".
Yes, the disease appears to have first emerged in large numbers in China at the end of
December. But it is not yet determined how and where the virus originated. That will require
further scientific study. Thus, for China to bridle at assertions about being "the origin" is
not necessarily sinister censorship, but rather prudence to not prejudge.
What we have seen is an unseemly haste to politicize the pandemic with a view to blame China
for infecting the rest of the world.
U.S. President Donald Trump is the most vocal in blaming China. But Australia, Britain
and the EU have also antagonized Beijing by demanding an "independent" investigation into the
origin of the disease. The inference is that China is at fault. Given the way, Western
so-called "independent" investigations are prone to political bias to achieve preconceived
conclusions (the Dutch-led MH17 airliner crash, for example), one can hardly object to China's
wariness about such calls.
Why should China submit to Western demands for "investigation" into Covid-19 when these
Western demands are all one-way?
Why limit it to China? Surely international investigations would be merited for determining
the actual appearance of Covid-19 in Europe or North America. The French case of Covid-19 in
December misidentified as pneumonia suggests the disease was present contemporaneously with
cases in China's Wuhan.
Then there is the case of unidentified and deadly respiratory disease
outbreaks in Fairfax, Virginia, in July 2019. Why shouldn't international investigators be
allowed into the U.S. to determine the precise nature of those disease outbreaks. Where they
early incidents of Covid-19, a new unknown disease which happened to be first identified in
China only months later?
The Trump administration has made unsubstantiated allegations that Covid-19 may have been
released by a laboratory in Wuhan. No evidence has been provided by Trump or his bullish
secretary of state Mike Pompeo. International scientific consensus has dismissed Trump's
allegations as a "conspiracy theory". The Wuhan Institute of Virology has a solid reputation
for safeguards over its study of infectious diseases.
The same cannot be said for the United States' top biowarfare laboratory in Fort Detrick,
Maryland, which was
ordered to close last August by the federal Center for Disease Control due to concerns
about substandard safety controls and danger of releasing deadly pathogens. Were U.S. army
scientists studying novel coronaviruses?
If China's Wuhan laboratory can be fingered and smeared for no sound reason, then why can't
a Pentagon biowarfare center that had to be shuttered for lack of safety? Chinese officials
have already made an
accusatory link to American personnel attending the Military World Games in Wuhan in
October 2019 as being a possible cause of infection.
The origin of Covid-19 is far from clear. Trump wants to scapegoat China for obvious cynical
reasons of distracting from his own disastrous mishandling of the disease. The same
scapegoating instinct applies to other Western states where governments have been derelict in
protecting the public from tens of thousands of deaths.
Investigations are indeed due. But determining the origin of Covid-19 will not be made by
politicized probes that presume China's fault for the pandemic.
This one rejects the pangolin theory, I *think* because of other genetic differences
elsewhere in the virus dna of the pangolin cov.
However, they seem to find patterns suggesting that mixing of viral dna from different cov
strains is possible. (presumably the missing training place still in bats?)
Recombination analysis showed that S gene of pangolin-CoV-2020 might be constructed by
fragment from Bat-CoV-ZC45 or Bat-CoV-ZXC21 and fragment from Bat-CoV-RaTG13.
In regards the crucially important S1/S2 cleavage site discussed on yesterday's thread
Interestingly, the cleavage site between S1 and S2 in SARS-CoV-2 had multiple
insertions (i.e. PRRA), compared with those of Bat-CoV-RaTG13 and pangolin-CoV-2020, which
may result from an additional recombination event.
Note again that there exist both Bat and Human cov's that do have the cleavage site in
common with sars-cov-2, but lack the efficient ACE2 binding part which the pangolin-cov and
sars-cov-2 have.
[link referred via that trashy-eclectic artifact of our culture, zerohedge]
One theory is that the spike protein gene of Bat Coronavirus' HKU9 or RmYN02 could be the
probable source of the putative insert that adds the RRAR furin site to SARS-CoV-2. The
nucleotide code sequence matches and the insertion could be via copy choice errors in cells
from a person simultaneously infected with both bat viruses. http://virological.org/t/tackling-rumors-of-a-suspicious-origin-of-ncov2019/384/4
This would require the insertion to take place during a co-infection with one still
unknown source virus' and the virus containing the cleavage site.
It has been speculated that a strain of COVID-19 was spreading in the US as early as the summer of 2019, causing among other
an outbreak in Virginia in July 2019 and thousands of cases of the unexplained "vaping illness". (We may call this strain "COVID-18"
for now.)
Genetic study of the known virus strains give no support for this theory. The
phylogenetic
trees constructed from the online genomes show that all infections can be traced back to two strains isolated in Wuhan: the
reference strain Wuhan-Hu-1 found at the seafood market, and another strain labeled as
H3 or H4 that is believed to be the
ancestor strain of the reference strain. Much of Europe has "
Clade G ", an offspring of Wuhan-Hu-1 that may have came
from Shanghai with the first German COVID-19 patient who was diagnosed on January 28, 2020.
None of the genomes in the databases are consistent with a pre-Wuhan existence of COVID-19. One explanation is that an earlier
strain existed but it has been overtaken by more transmissible newer strains from Wuhan. A similar effect is
seen in Europe as Clade G overtakes
earlier, slower spreading Wuhan strains.
Another explanation might be that the RT-PCR tests in use do not pick up earlier pre-Wuhan strains.
Americans were very reluctant to start testing, and even forbid doctors in Washington state from analyzing samples taken from
likely COVID-19 patients in January. A conspiracy theory would suggest that American knew that a domestic strain of SARS-CoV-2
was spreading among the US population but did not want it to be identified. The German
PCR test promoted
by the WHO was banned from the US as it would have picked up the earlier strain. Instead a new test was developed by the CDC specifically
to distinguish between the earlier strain ("COVID-18"), and COVID-19. To disprove this theory one would have to analyze all existing
samples from 2019. But as I said, this is a conspiracy theory without any support in any of the published data.
A third explanation is that the outbreak started in Wuhan and no previous human strain of COVID-19 ever existed.
Less than 300 yards from the seafood market is the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers from that facility and the nearby Wuhan Institute
of Virology have posted articles about collecting bat coronaviruses from around China, for
study to prevent future illness. Did one of those samples leak, or was hazardous waste
deposited in a place where it could spread?
Richard Ebright, a Rutgers microbiologist and biosafety expert, told me in an email that
"the first human infection could have occurred as a natural accident," with the virus passing
from bat to human, possibly through another animal. But Ebright cautioned that it "also could
have occurred as a laboratory accident, with, for example, an accidental infection of a
laboratory worker." He noted that bat coronaviruses were studied in Wuhan at Biosafety Level 2,
"which provides only minimal protection," compared with the top BSL-4.
Ebright described a December video from the Wuhan CDC that shows staffers "collecting bat
coronaviruses with inadequate [personal protective equipment] and unsafe operational
practices." Separately, I reviewed two Chinese articles, from 2017 and 2019, describing the
heroics of Wuhan CDC researcher Tian Junhua, who while capturing bats in a cave "forgot to take
protective measures" so that "bat urine dripped from the top of his head like raindrops."
Ignatius unapologetically admits that what's increasingly clear is that the initial "origin
story" - that the virus was spread by people who ate contaminated animals at the Huanan Seafood
Market in Wuhan - is shaky.
"... "There are many things we could do," Trump said, "we could cut off the whole relationship." explaining that if that happened "[US would] save USD 500bln if you cut off the whole relationship. ..."
"... Pro-Beijing tabloid the Global Times responded to the interview almost immediately, urging China to take "tougher countermeasures" against the US's recent "provocations." ..."
"... Shortly after Trump's interview aired on Fox Business, former Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" to rebut Trump's comments in an obvious attempt to signal to the national party that Silicon Valley still values its business relationship with the mainland, even if the political climate in the US appears to be turning. ..."
"... The problem with this "decoupling" from China being pushed by the trade hawks is that once the Chinese market is closed to the US, there won't be any more cooperation. ..."
"... We understand where Schmidt is coming from. With his still-extremely-close ties to Alphabet and now-formal role in the US government, Schmidt sees China through the rose-colored glasses of Silicon Valley: It's a market where money grows on trees. ..."
Asked about the US-China bilateral relationship, Trump replied "we could cut off the whole
relationship," saying the US "could save $500 billion" by doing so. For those who don't
understand the significance of this last remark, it's a reference to cancelling some of the
massive pile of Treasury debt held by China. Rates have continued to drop even as China has
dumped a large chunk of its US foreign-exchange holdings, which has prompted some economist
know-it-alls to insist that the Fed could simply soak up the entire slug of debt held by China,
dismissing the risk of a destabilizing spike in interest rates.
"There are many things we could do," Trump said, "we could cut off the whole relationship." explaining that if that
happened "[US would] save USD 500bln if you cut off the whole relationship. At what point - and I said this for
years...and I said it about other countries also. Nato, I was able to get them to pay hundreds of billions more. You know who
is my biggest fan in the world? Secretary Stoltenberg [the head of NATO]."
After that, Trump launched into a tangent about NATO before Bartiromo managed to bring him
back to the topic at hand. Moving on, she pressed Trump about whether he's raised any of these
complaints with President Xi, with whom he has reportedly spoken at least one time since the
beginning of the year.
Trump waved away the suggestion, saying he hasn't spoken to Xi recently and seemed to
suggest he doesn't plan to. He added that China had "called" about the trade deal today and
yesterday (the two sides reportedly held a virtual meeting last week). But with China,
unfortunately, "you can't have an even deal"...seeming to suggest once again that the "Phase 1"
trade deal is as good as dead,
even as China ramps up its agriculture purchases.
Pro-Beijing tabloid the Global Times responded to the
interview almost immediately, urging China to take "tougher countermeasures" against the US's
recent "provocations."
"China needs to take tougher countermeasures against the US, given the latter's recent
hyped up provocations, including accusing China of stealing US COVID-19 vaccine information,
experts and Chinese netizens said."
Shortly after Trump's interview aired on Fox Business, former Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt
appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" to rebut Trump's comments in an obvious attempt to signal to
the national party that Silicon Valley still values its business relationship with the
mainland, even if the political climate in the US appears to be turning.
The problem with this "decoupling" from China being pushed by the trade hawks is that once
the Chinese market is closed to the US, there won't be any more cooperation.
"They're not coming back - and that hurts us. we are stronger globally when we have a
common information platform when we communicate with each other...we're never going to be
great friends but we can collaborate on common problems."
"On business, you've had all sorts of instances of companies working together without
trusting each other...why can't we do that with China? When we compete, we want to win...I
strongly believe American technology can win with all the other challengers.
We need to be on a footing where we get China to use these platforms not the
opposite."
We understand where Schmidt is coming from. With his still-extremely-close ties to Alphabet
and now-formal role in the US government, Schmidt sees China through the rose-colored glasses
of Silicon Valley: It's a market where money grows on trees.
As we mentioned earlier, Trump also said he's examining Chinese companies that trade on the
NYSE and Nasdaq but don't follow US accounting rules. "We are looking at that very strongly,"
he said, though he warned that taking action could backfire.
But as far as we can tell, there are some obvious errors in Schmidt's reasoning, most
glaringly this: The Communist Party has no interest in allowing any American multinationals to
take a dominant position in China, and - what's more - the party is willing to guarantee that
this won't happen by adopting policies that disadvantage foreign competitors while subsidizing
Chinese state-backed companies. While Beijing under Xi has made a few token gestures toward
"liberalization", it's clear that the president's authoritarian bent has already moved China in
the opposite direction, more aligned with the hardliners in the party who have been suspicious
of the US since the 1970s, and whose suspicion, bitterness and contempt only intensified after
the fall of the Soviet Union.
A fortune made at a secretive hedge fund led by Robert Mercer -- one of Donald Trump's
biggest donors -- appears to be fueling a push for a confrontation with China across a number
of connected media properties.
A tax document not intended for public disclosure reveals that a branch of the Epoch Media
Group -- a conservative media empire controlled by Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement
with a stated goal of destroying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) -- received over $900,000
from and was formerly led by one of Mercer's longtime employees, Huayi Zhang, at the hedge fund
Renaissance Technologies.
Most of Epoch Media Group's work has been devoted to portraying China in the most
dangerous and sinister ways possible and the emergence of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan played
directly into their narrative. Since 2005, the outlet has branded infectious disease outbreaks
in China as "CCP Virus."
But Epoch has expanded outside of its hawkish anti-Beijing editorial line, emerging as one
of the most prolific pro-Trump media outlets. Its newspaper, Epoch Times, has become a reliable
Trumpist mouthpiece. In August 2019, Facebook banned future ad buys from the Epoch Media Group
after it spent over $9
million on ads, including approximately 11,000 pro-Trump Facebook advertisements, more than
any other organization other than the Trump campaign. Facebook said that Epoch evaded the
company's transparency rules for political advertising
and "repeatedly violated a number of our policies, including our policies against
coordinated inauthentic behavior, spam and misrepresentation, to name just a few."
NBC News , which reported extensively on Epoch's pro-Trump Facebook ad-buys and the
subsequent ban, spoke with former Falun Gong members who told the network "that believers think
the world is headed toward a judgment day, where those labeled 'communists' will be sent to a
kind of hell, and those sympathetic to the spiritual community will be spared. Trump is viewed
as a key ally in the anti-communist fight."
Trump, for his part, doesn't seem like a natural ally for Falun Gong or Epoch Media. He
swings between praising Chinese President Xi Jinping at one moment and playing to a
xenophobic audience by amplifying the labels "China Virus"
or "Wuhan Virus" in the next. Nevertheless, Falun Gong's media empire dramatically shifted its
focus to promoting Donald Trump, both through paid advertising and its own reported and
editorial output -- a massive change in focus and resource allocation for the little-known news
outlet.
An
IRS filing showing the largest contributors to Universal Communications Network -- a
nonprofit that operates as "New Tang Dynasty Television," the digital media and TV producer for
the Epoch Media Group -- sheds light on the group's funding and its tangential ties to one of
Trump's deep-pocketed funders.
The document reveals that a couple, Huayi and Siuling Zhang, contributed $909,500 to New
Tang Dynasty between 2012 and 2016. Zhang also served as chair of the organization's board in
2004, 2005 and 2007 to 2010. He was listed as a director in 2006.
Scarce information is available about Huayi and Siuling Zhang, but a now deleted biography
for Huayi that was published on New Tang Dynasty Television's website in 2010 and accessed
via
Archive.org says that Huayi worked at Mercer's hedge fund and is associated with Falun
Gong.
"Dr. Huayi Zhang is a principal of Renaissance Technologies," says the biography. "Dr.
Zhang joined Kepler Financial Management, the predecessor of Renaissance's equity arm, in 1989
and became a principal researcher in devising the company's mathematical trading system. Dr.
Zhang is a Trustee of the Dongfang College. He is also on the Board of the Asia Vision
Foundation."
Both Dongfang College and Asia Vision Foundation are Falun Gong related entities.
Zhang leans to the right in his political giving, contributing $5,000 to Mitt Romney's
presidential campaign in 2012, $500 to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2018,
and $500 to Rep. Lee Zeldin's (R-NY) reelection campaign in 2018. Zhang's wife, Siuling,
contributed $10,000 to Romney's 2012 election efforts.
Huayi Zhang also listed Renaissance Technologies as his employer in campaign contributions,
suggesting he was still an employee at the fund until at least 2018.
Renaissance Technologies is a highly secretive hedge fund specializing in quantitative
models to guide systematic trading and has over $100 billion under management. It gained
notoriety as the source of wealth for Trump mega-donor, Robert Mercer, who served as co-CEO of
Renaissance from 2009 to 2017. Mercer stepped down from his co-CEO role following backlash
against the firm over Mercer's extensive political activism on the far-right.
Those activities included investing at least
$10 million in Breitbart News in 2011, which at the time was led by Steve Bannon. Breitbart
-- a virulently anti-immigrant and conspiracy theory promoting outlet -- offered highly
favorable coverage to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, funded "Clinton Cash," an error
riddled book and documentary making bold claims about Bill and Hillary Clinton's finances,
and contributed $2 million to Secure America Now (SAN), a group that ran
mock travel ads propagating an Islamophobic conspiracy theory that Muslims are seeking to
overrun western countries like France, Germany, and the United States.
There is no evidence that Zhang and Mercer, through their shared affiliation with
Renaissance Technologies and their respective affiliations with right-wing media outlets Epoch
Media and Breitbart, coordinated their efforts to drive a hawkishly anti-Beijing agenda and
develop two of the most prolific pro-Trump megaphones on the Internet. But the largely parallel
stories of two men with backgrounds in mathematics, fortunes made with the secretive
quantitative trading systems at Renaissance Technologies, and an ideological tilt toward
right-wing politics, appears to have produced eerily similar outcomes in the pro-Trump
mediasphere.
When contacted about Zhang's roles as a major donor, chairman and a board member of
Universal Communications Network, Jenny Chang, New Tang Dynasty's Vice President of Broadcast
Programming, said, "Huayi Zhang does not hold any leadership role at Universal Communications
Network or any other Epoch Media Group-related entities. He has not been involved with Epoch
Media Group for at least seven years."
"We are also not aware of any donations from any other employees of Renaissance
Technologies," she added. "No one from Renaissance Technologies has any involvement in any
Epoch Media Group-related entities."
Zhang did not respond to a request for comment. But Mercer and Zhang's media funding overlap
in their respective promotion of Bannon, who served in Trump's White House as chief strategist.
Bannon, despite suffering a reported falling out with Mercer, continues to receive generous
promotion by Breitbart (Robert Mercer's share is now owned by his daughters) and SAN.
That promotion of Bannon is closely mirrored by Epoch Media's positive coverage of him.
Bannon embraced hyper-nationalistic and anti-Beijing messages long before the COVID-19
pandemic, and he has continued since. "The devastation, not just human lives which has been
horrible, but the devastation economically, the devastation on capital markets will literally
take us 10 years," he said on a
recent SAN podcast in March. "It will take us a decade to go through the carnage that the
Chinese Communist Party visited on the rest of the free world."
In October, Bannon's new feature film, "Claws of the Red Dragon," premiered on the pro-Trump
One America News Network, offering his unique spin on the legal battle following the arrest in
Canada of a Huawei executive. The film tells a story of how Huaxin, a fictional company clearly
based on Huawei, works toward "the realization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
government's global cyberspace dominance," according to a synopsis on the film's website , and concludes with
Canada on the brink of a clash with China.
New Tang Dynasty Television, the group Zhang funded and chaired for several years, funded
Claws of the Red Dragon,
The Daily Beast previously reported.
And Falun Gong's Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty Television have emerged as significant
platforms for Trump allies seeking friendly interviews and uncritical coverage of the
administration's policies, striking a similar tone to the anti-Beijing and hyper-nationalist
messages emerging from Mercer-linked groups like Breitbart and SAN.
Bannon and current and former Trump confidantes including Trump's daughter-in-law Lara
Trump, former Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka, White House Innovation Chief
Brooke Rollins, former White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp,
Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought, Fred Fleitz, former
Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development Ben Carson have all sat down for extended one-on-one interviews for Epoch's
"American Thought Leaders" online interview series.
At the end of March, Bannon, who has appeared on multiple Epoch Media outlets for
interviews, sat down for a half
hour interview about COVID-19 with New Tang Dynasty and appeared to be speaking directly to
Falun Gong members, who want to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party. "This is the most
important thing in the twenty-first century," said Bannon. "We now have to assist the Chinese
people in their freedom from the Chinese Communist Party. If we do that, if we assist the
Chinese people in their freedom and their quest for freedom, the rest of the century is gonna
take care of itself."
Bannon concluded, echoing Epoch Media's language, "[The Chinese Communist Party] has proven
they are an illegitimate government by what they allowed to happen in this pandemic and the CCP
and the spread of the CPP virus."
"Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on May 8,
2020....
"The Paper: US Secretary Pompeo and State Department Spokesperson Ortagus recently said in
multiple interviews that the virus originated from Wuhan; China was aware of the epidemic
last December but didn't act fast enough; China's data is not factual or accurate; the
international community should hold China accountable, seek damages and conduct
investigations. I wonder if you have any comment?
"Hua Chunying: Indeed, Secretary Pompeo, State Department Spokesperson and others seemed
to be busy taking interviews lately, where they continued unwarranted attacks against China
on COVID-19, accusing China of not acting fast enough or providing accurate data, and calling
for investigations to hold it accountable. We've repeatedly stated our position on these.
However, since the US kept repeating these lies, we must strive to help the world see the
truth through facts time and again.
"They claimed China didn't act fast enough. China is among the first countries hit by
COVID-19. We have repeatedly shared the timeline of China's response. On December 27, 2019,
relevant Wuhan authorities received the first report of suspected cases. On December 30,
Wuhan Municipal Health Committee issued an "urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of
unknown cause". From January 3, 2020, China started to send timely updates to WHO, relevant
countries including the US and regions. On January 7, China CDC identified the first novel
coronavirus strain. On January 12, the NHC shared genetic sequencing information of the virus
with WHO. On January 23, Wuhan entered lockdown. On April 8, the lockdown was lifted. To
date, there have been no new local confirmed cases for 5 days in a row and no fatalities for
23 consecutive days.
"Now let's turn to the US. On January 3, it was officially notified by the Chinese side
and started receiving daily updates. On January 25, it was the first to withdraw all
personnel from its Consulate-General in Wuhan, and there was one confirmed case in the US. On
February 2, it closed its border to all Chinese citizens and foreigners who had been to China
in the past 14 days. There were 11 confirmed cases then according to official data from the
US. On March 13, it declared a national state of emergency. At that point the number rose to
1,264. On March 19, confirmed cases passed 10,000. On March 27, the number surged to more
than 100,000. On April 8, when the lockdown on Wuhan was lifted, the number of confirmed
cases in the US was 400,000. Today, it's more than 1.2 million, with more than 70,000 fatal
cases. Who didn't act fast enough? The facts are as plain as day. Just compare the numbers.
It's simple math.
"They questioned the factuality of China's numbers. People in their right mind will not
assert blindly that other people are lying just because others' numbers look better than
their own. This is not children playing make-believe. The fight against the virus is a
serious matter of life and death. Behind every number is a living human being, a family.
China has been open, transparent and responsible in releasing information on the epidemic.
The revision of data in Wuhan shows a sense of responsibility to history, to the people and
to the lives lost to the virus. It can stand the test of history. We hope the US can also
make sure that what they say and do and their data is responsible to the people and could
stand the test of history.
"They talked about accountability and compensations. As was mentioned just now, survey
results from Singapore show the Chinese people giving their government the highest rating for
its response to COVID-19. Heads of the UN, WHO and many countries as well as medical experts
in disease control all spoke highly of China's swift, strong and effective response which
contributed to the global fight. I wonder what is the accountability a few Americans have in
mind? Despite having unrivaled medical resources and technology, the US is registering the
highest numbers of confirmed cases and fatal cases in the world. In spite of all this, some
are still openly deflecting responsibility to China. Have they no shame? Don't they owe the
American people an apology? Disregarding facts and shifting blame to China only illustrates
what it means to be scoundrels."
As I've said, Trump and Pompeo are playing with fire and most certainly will get burnt
if they continue as all the known and emerging facts are completely against them , and
even BigLie Media doesn't seem eager to finish destroying what remains of its credibility. As
Posner remarked in his interview, Social Media's become a Game Changer because it can inform
people of news and other factual items like the above presser that in the recent past would
go unreported--the mockingbirds are now shitting in their own nest. From further in the
presser:
"I noted that US officials said their administration is different from that of China.
Indeed, we are different from the US in that the CPC and the Chinese government have
always put people's life first. We cherish every life and will save everyone for whatever it
takes . From the elderly as old as 108 to babies as young as 30 hours old, we have tried
our best to treat them. In Hubei alone, more than 3600 elderly patients over the age of 80
were cured." [My Emphasis]
My emphasized passage above shows reality is contrary to the spokeswoman's following
statement:
"The political systems in China and in the US are not in conflict with each other and the
two countries can surely coexist in harmony. This also serves the interests of the two
peoples."
That's current CPC talking point, but it's not backed by current reality.
The Trump administration has ordered the prevention of federal retirement assets from being
invested in Chinese equities, according to documents obtained by Fox Business.
Fox published a copy of a letter on Monday, in which two top White House officials,
Robert O'Brien and Larry Kudlow, tell Labour Secretary Eugene Scalia that the
administration wants the Thrift Savings Plan to call off directing $4.5 billion, citing
"significant and unnecessary economic risk".[.]
O'Brien and Kudlow wrote in the letter that the grounds for holding back the funds were
the alleged violation of US sanctions laws by Chinese companies and China's "culpable
actions" regarding the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic[.]
And the consequences of which comes to mind? China halts buying US Treasuries and there'll
be 100s of Trillions of those to finance the 2020 deficit, and COVID-19 financial assistance
to corporations, states and individuals.
=========
Oh, this bit of not being forewarned of pandemic risk:
Posted by: Likklemore | May 12 2020 18:16 utc | 157
"Trump presents his first invoice for COVID-19 costs to China. Poisoning the
relationship, which may end being irreparable."
I'm sorry you're way behind. I knew before covid-9 during US-China trade war back when
"Trump threatened more tariffs on Chinese imports if President Xi Jinping is not at this
month's G-20 meeting (June 2019)."
The event illustrates Xi Jinping don't like Trump, avoids meeting him. And that mother
freaking piece of shit keep saying publicly him and Xi Jinping are friends, even my brother
(emigrated in 70s) in Australia believe they are still good friends. Think and think hard -
isn't that bullying?
Since January 2004 on NBC Trump show "the Apprentice" I watch not more than two shows
decided this idiot was raciest, bullies and sex bastard young girls.....
How on earth anyone can vote for him is beyond my comprehension. Granted two freaking
idiots in 2016 election... Choice? My freaking smelling foots. That's not democracy? I
imagine Trump would love Xi bow and beg for mercy from a filter rich White
bastard?
Since, even earlier how many poison pills adding and continue poising.... Xinjiang, HK
democracy, Wuhan flue, Huawei, 5G, Chinese students, Confucius, soy beans, beef, Taiwan, WHO,
IP, "Chinese never invents anything, they cheat, steal, lied...... I lost counts...
Its odd that both MoA and The Saker will not accept any commentary that suggests to any
degree that Covid-19 was anything other than a naturally occurring virus. Seems a bit hasty
to shutdown the discussion. I can see a need to throttle back wacko theories but there is
enough credible evidence that the human hand was involved in the creation of these particular
strains of the Corona virus. Several high-powered scientists say as much. It may all amount
to nothing but, again, its way to early to declare FINAL TRUTH.
Yes, I agree. It might well be a naturally-occurring virus, although that French
epidemiologist was filling everyone full of how it had malaria and HIV spliced into it,
presumably to make it more debilitating. That's the very foundation of genetic biowarfare
– take a common rhinovirus (the common cold), which is very infectious but not
particularly dangerous, and add elements to it to make it very debilitating or even deadly.
But while it is very possible there is no connection at all to Fort Detrick, it is a matter
of public record that the CDC shut it down for procedural violations, some of which were
quite serious. And they mess around with serious bugs like that all the time. I'd want to
know that if I lived anywhere near it.
If any of that stuff about it having genetic markers for malaria and HIV is true, then it
is not a naturally-occurring virus. And the United States is very interested in pinning it on
China. Maybe everything else is coincidence, but everything is so controlled now and
governments so routinely operate outside the law that it is getting hard to believe in
coincidence.
If you google 'was the coronavirus genetically altered?' you get stuff like this from
Newsweek, which tries to squeeze every Ruusian trope into the same article. It barely
mentions genetic tampering other than this batshit crazy line;
"The decree by the country's Prosecutor General's office follows the widespread sharing
on YouTube and Russian social networking sites of a series of outlandish claims, such as the
virus "is a genetically-modified bioweapon artificially created to implant microchips into
the population and establish a global world order."
What's widespread? And who would believe in a virus that implants microchips? They're
mashing together two separate theories, and Bill Gates was indeed funding research into
microchip implants, although it had to do with pay and financing rather than viruses or
anything like them. But Newsweek is the hysterical fringe of western publications, and its
readers are tailored to its content. Then there's this:
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, USA, says "the nation's collective
intelligence community does not believe that the coronavirus was manmade or genetically
modified." That's the same group that said there was definitely Russian meddling in the
Trump/Clinton election, too, so forgive me if I do not find that at all convincing. I note,
however, that it represents a reversal for the Trump government, as Trump himself claimed to
have seen intelligence which made him suspicious it was created in a Chinese lab.
If it was indeed naturally-occurring, then the USA will have to make a case for deliberate
release or a very sloppy response or even a coverup if it really wants to take China to
court. I don't see it happening.
Here's an example of how Trump is losing the bubble on the whole coronavirus thing. A
Chinese-American reporter asked him why he cared that the US is allegedly far ahead of the
rest of the world on testing, why is it a global competition with him, since it was not
preventing Americans from dying and the emergence of more new cases. A simple and sensible
answer might have been, "Well, Weijia, it's important to me and it should be important to you
because a high proportion of coronavirus cases present as asymptomatic. We will never know
that person is positive for coronavirus and therefore a potential carrier of it without
testing, because that case is probably not going to sneeze or cough or give any other
indication of being sick, but they are, and they can make others sick. That's why being far
ahead in testing is important" (don't forget to wind up by reconfirming your answer, in case
someone has forgotten the question).
Instead, he said "Maybe you should ask CHINA!", which was an immediate red flag without
yellow stars because he was talking to a Chinese woman. So she challenged him on that and he
started to freak out and just point randomly in different places, and then ended the press
conference and stalked off as if he had been unforgivably insulted. We've seen so many
performances from him that are way outside diplomatic behavior that you would think nothing
could surprise any more. But this simply illustrates what child's play it is to goad him into
a tantrum.
Yes, B at MoA took down a comment in which I noted that his post did not mention where
Fairfax County, where the Greenspring assisted-care facility, was located. I took a look at
the Washington Post article the ATL post linked to and saw that the author writes on issues
in Maryland and Virginia states. Fort Detrick and the facility where the pneumonia outbreak
occurred in mid-2019 are about 46 miles or 74 km apart.
The other possible reason that B could have taken down the comment was I observed
that pigs are quite
close to humans in their immune systems and I suggested that the SARS-COV-2 virus could
have jumped from pigs to humans. Indeed, if anyone has ever watched Steven Soderbergh's film
"Contagion" (did anyone who saw it cheer when Gwyneth Paltrow's Patient X character died
early on?), the jump from bats to pigs to humans is made very explicitly if in a crude manner
that might appear racist: the bat drops a banana which lands in a pig farm and a pig eats it;
later pork meat from that pig is being prepared and Paltrow's character then poses with the
fellow who was chopping the meat and didn't wash his hands.
Well, as to the genetic code of coronavirus having HIV spliced into it, it appears that did
actually come from a scientific paper, but it was a preliminary study and they may have made
some mistakes or were simply viewing too small a sample.
But the effort to back away from the position that it was an engineered weapon devised to
infect China's enemies is quite striking now. I'd like to believe cooler heads prevailed and
the west realized its position was ridiculous, but it might also have been based on an
implied threat from China.
As an aside, it is amusing to see the New York Times hailing Australia as a maverick
global leader simply because it is doing what the Democrats want done, and demanding an
international investigation which will 'prove' China's guilt.
Australia is all aw-shucks modesty, but we all know at some point in whatever initiative
it might get rolling, the United States will barge in and demand to lead it, it is too
important to be left to minions, and Australia will deferentially step aside.
"Mr. Morrison has insisted that his call for a global inquiry is not directed at any
one country, but all available evidence points to China as the birthplace of the pandemic,
which means Australia could hardly have chosen a more sensitive subject for its leap onto the
world stage."
All available evidence points to China as the birthplace of the pandemic. Does it? Where
have we heard that 'There's so much evidence you wouldn't believe it' before? General Flynn's
case, maybe? What about those French cases in late December, nearly a month before what were
thought to be the first cases in France and before the report of the first case in China?
Isn't that considered 'evidence'?
As I mentioned earlier, cases in Nevada of people who fell ill after conventions in Las
Vegas in December and January were identified by the Nevada Health Response Team as positive
for COVID-19.
Ah, yes! Xenotransplantation. Pigs hearts etc. being suitable for humans and as part of the
solution for a shortage of donors. Vis CoVid-19, I've read elsewhere that the chain may be
bat-owl-human. Apparently people eat owls. How weird is that?
Crimes against humanity must be punished. We need Nuremberg II trials.
I say we should not leave this offence against humanity unchallenged. Who will be the
instigation team to assemble a process?
I Agree with you Pft entirely and my view is that a citizens tribunal be established by
some key people with the respect and standing to convene a process. I recall the work of the
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation see here and here . These were
convened as International War Crimes Tribunals to investigate and reveal War crimes in
Vietnam and South America. The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation has carried out
investigative work in Palestine as well.
There is significant evidence that the Covid-19 assault on humanity has been accompanied
by grievous decisions to either withhold evidence, medical capability, material resources etc
from both the public and the medical profession. There is also serious conjecture that the
virus may have been the result of either or both natural and laboratory designed virus
evolution. This is a matter going to the very heart of civil rights, the rights of the child,
the obligations of both scientists and medical practitioners to do no harm, the provisions of
existing treaties on the use of chemical and biological weapons.
The viral assault is accompanied by an attack by some governments on peoples income, their
capacity to provide necessities of life giving food and shelter. This is crime in most
nations let alone a crime against humanity. Governments have designed and signed
international treaties intended to respect human rights and they cannot then turn to their
citizens and say but we wont apply those treaty provisions to you the people that elected us
notables.
So I say MoA barflies should call for the assembly of a people's commission to consider
the evidence and get started soon.
Nevada reported cases that occurred much earlier than the first American cases were known to
have occurred, which was thought to be March. Persons who believed they picked up a serious
respiratory illness at a convention in Las Vegas tested positive for COVID-19, and were
believed to have been infected in December.
Many signs that 'leaders' knew something was up and/or coming in January 2020 exist -- news
etc. was pretty public
(25 jan - about 2.7 K were infected, 80 died in Wuhan, it was later reported..)
- Several reports of Trump being warned of a dangerous disease etc. which he ignored
- Agnes Buzyn, the then F Min. of Health has admitted that in Jan "she foresaw the tsunami
that was to come" - she lied to the public, was reassuring
- Shi Zengli (the Bat Lady, expert on viruses) published 'the' paper detailing the genome
sequence of the 2019-nCoV (published 3 Feb, it must have been submitted in Jan.)
What does all this mean? One possible answer is that the virus has been 'active' since,
say, March 2019, or even earlier (see previous thread), but was not identified as a cause
(confused with flu, pneumonia, vaping, old age co-morbidities, etc.) until ppl started
falling down in Wuhan, and only the Chinese, in the shape of Bat Lady and her team, were
capable of realising and detailing what was happening. Maybe. Maybe not.
mistake, i posted in the wrong thread, so this is a copy, apologies.
Petri 14, I posted re. the vaping illness near the top. Your 2) i didn't know about, good to list. took note of the wi link.
VAP19 was COV19, imho. My judgment might be off, but consider:
How the description / classification came about is quite alarming - atypical pneumonia or respiratory 'upset' with no infectious
agent identified was immediately tied to X, something new that directly touches the lungs -> vaping.
Smoking tobacco / hash / other / was not considered as this common behavior is ancient and has 'known' medical consequences,
it can't suddenly lead to atypical pneumonia and/or a list of weird symptoms, incl. gastro, with elevated T cells.
So vaping it was, for those who vaped and became ill! Recall, 60 out of 2.7K hospitalised died. Now, either vaping did make
ppl more vulnerable to COV19 (possible, no idea how) or there were many others (non-vapers) ill The vapers were honed in on, because
they used 'some substance' -> infectious disease tied to intake of X, personal habits, etc.
Idk how many ppl in the US vape, that might be a start to some facile indicative calculations - those who died were, more men
than women, and imho 'old' for vapers, but that is from vague news reports, not a data-base. (Here vapers are young and 'cool'
, over 50-s smoke cigs and joints, idk about California )
Then late 2019 this category of 'disease' was 'dropped' - rather, was said to have died out. (see link)
OK, docs have interpretations, takes, which don't pan out. Yet, analysing what went on is vital. NOT done even if the follow
up is basic and costs close to nothing.
Contacting 500 vape-survivors and > sero analysis for COV antibodies would provide an interesting picture, good indications
and possibly precious clues. (Yes, the tests may be poor, specially for false neg. much less or not at all for false pos.)
Apparently physicians can not really tell what is caused by vaping and what is caused by something else:
EVALI remains a diagnosis of exclusion because, at present, no specific test or marker exists for its diagnosis, and evaluation
should be guided by clinical judgment.
Influenza cannot be distinguished from EVALI by signs, symptoms, clinical features at presentation (medical examination),
or testing.
I wonder how doctors have much "clinical judgement" for a new illness they have never seen before. If two diseases can not
be distinguished one from the other, perhaps they are really the same disease? One sees this all the time in the fantasy world
of "psychosomatic illness" and all its various manifestations, which is a very twisted and complicated off-topic subject.
The CDC suggests the epidemic suddenly disappeared because perhaps evildoers quit contaminating vaping cartridges with Vitamin
E, but they have no data to that effect. So it is a guess. So maybe EVALI is a diagnostic fad, or maybe those people actually
had corona virus.
In any event, CDC has completely lost interest in EVALI. Personally, when the vaping disease hit the media, I assumed it was
just another in a long line of moral panics designed to generate clicks and fear, as it is always useful to keep populations off-balance
and stampeding to and fro.
I mentioned Fort Detrick early on in this comments forum, I asked how close it was to the Greenspring retirement village (I
found out that the assisted-care facility and Fairfax County in northern Virginia are not far from Frederick County in Maryland
where the biolab is situated), where the mystery pneumonia outbreak occurred in July 2019, just a month before the biolab was
shut down) and for some reason that comment of mine was deleted. Others had noticed my comment before it was taken down: the distance
between the two is just under 50 miles or 74 kilometres.
No slight was intended against your comments @ 138 and 146.
Btw, it is possible to 'construct' or 'replicate' such a virus de novo in a lab. A
synthetic clone has been produced by the Swiss (also the Japanese? idk)
Many signs that 'leaders' knew something was up and/or coming in January 2020 exist -- news etc. was pretty public
(25 jan - about 2.7 K were infected, 80 died in Wuhan, it was later reported..)
- Several reports of Trump being warned of a dangerous disease etc. which he ignored
- Agnes Buzyn, the then F Min. of Health has admitted that in Jan "she foresaw the tsunami that was to come" - she lied to
the public, was reassuring
- Shi Zengli (the Bat Lady, expert on viruses) published 'the' paper detailing the genome sequence of the 2019-nCoV (published
3 Feb, it must have been submitted in Jan.)
What does all this mean? One possible answer is that the virus has been 'active' since, say, March 2019, or even earlier (see
previous thread), but was not identified as a cause (confused with flu, pneumonia, vaping, old age co-morbidities, etc.) until
ppl started falling down in Wuhan, and only the Chinese, in the shape of Bat Lady and her team, were capable of realising and
detailing what was happening. Maybe. Maybe not.
Obviously there's still far too little information to make any definite conclusions about the exact origins of the virus. However,
There was a big hullabaloo in the US last fall about aggressive cases of influenza that the media kept blaming on the vaping crazy.
I remember thinking at that time why was there such a fuss about vaping when plane old regular cigarettes were still killings
tens of thousands per year vs a few dozen deaths caused by vaping. I don't support vaping, it just seemed to me that the media
attention was overblown given the number of deaths involved, maybe the crumbling US health services tried to conceal the early
outbreak of the virus in the US by blaming the unusual number of influenza deaths on vaping.
I posted about Bergamo and Brescia v. complicated maybe more later.
Springfield, an old ppls home, btw, is a favorite 'Outbreak' quoted by the Chinese, Russians and others. (Another old ppl home
nearby was also affected.)
==========
"Symptoms typically develop over a period of days but sometimes can manifest over several weeks. Many cases, patients reported
a gradual start of symptoms, including: breathing difficulty, shortness of breath, and/or chest pain before hospitalization. (
.) patients have experienced respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain), and some have also experienced
gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea) or non-specific symptoms (fatigue, fever, or weight loss). ( ) Fever,
elevated heart rate, and elevated white blood cell count have been reported, even though no infectious disease has been identified.
Many patients have required medical treatment with supplemental oxygen. Some required assisted ventilation. Some patients have
been treated with corticosteroids with demonstrated improvement. Evidence does not suggest an infectious disease is the cause
of the severe pulmonary disease.
( .)
On September 12, 2019 the CDC no longer reported possible cases. The CDC changed its reporting methodology "
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The Vaping Lung Illness, first cases Illinois, Wisconsin April 2019. 2,799 hospitalised and 60 deaths. Reporting dropped
in Sept. 2019.
Nothing has been reported about it since, despite so called inquiries to be launched. How this came about idk, maybe many had
atypical pneumonia, and if 'vaping' were immediately considered as having a clear cause. (It was a category at the CDC.) COV19
imho.
google: 2019 vaping lung illness wiki (direct link doesn't work)
A group of doctors in Japan said they used antibody tests to find Japanese hospital patients who had it in September and one patient
who had it in August. They've yet to publish in a peer review journal but released the results on social media.
Coronavirus was detected in Greenspring in March 30.
Wow, so a disease detected in Greenspring in March 30 is caused by a virus whose the closest known relative infects bats in
central China. The plot thickens...
I wrote a few days ago that Trump and Pompeo were playing with fire by blaming China. Hopefully, they'll both get burnt to political
crisps with the continuing revelations that there were multiple cases occurring in vastly separated geographic regions such that
in no possible way can any blame be laid on China and the world will avoid a hot war started by Trump to divert from his Treasonous
actions beginning in January or before as it's now very clear his policy was to do nothing--Treason--in the face of a Pandemic.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Legislation has been introduced in Congress authorizing President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on China
if Beijing fails to cooperate and provide a full accounting of the events leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak, nine Senators said
in a statement.
"Without certification, the president would be authorized to impose a range of sanctions such as asset freezes, travel bans, visa
revocations, restricting United States financial institutions from making loans or underwriting to Chinese businesses and prohibiting
Chinese firms from being listed on American stock exchanges", Senators Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mike Braun,
Rick Scott, Steve Daines, Todd Young, Jim Inhofe, and Roger Wicker said on Tuesday.
The senators added that the measure requires the US president to provide a certification to Congress within 60 days that China
has shared a full and complete accounting to any COVID-19-related investigation led by the United States, its allies, or UN agencies,
including the World Health Organization.
The White House should also notify US lawmakers if China "closed operating wet markets that may expose risk to humans and released
all Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates that were arrested in the post-COVID-19 crackdowns",
the
statement said .
Senator Graham called for pushing back against China's narrative regarding COVID-19 and holding it accountable.
"We must determine how the virus came about and take steps, like closing the wet markets, to ensure it never happens again", Graham
added.
Some members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, and several US media outlets have consistently put
the blame on China amid the coronavirus pandemic, slamming the country for what they consider to be its poor performance during the
crisis, while also accusing the country of data concealment and even creating the virus.
China has repeatedly denounced the accusations , urging US politicians not to politicize the deadly pandemic.
As of Tuesday, the World Health Organization has registered near 4.1 million
cases of COVID-19 and more than 283,000 coronavirus-related deaths all over the world since the start of the outbreak.
Washington, May 13 (PTI) A group of nine influential US senators has introduced a
legislation in Congress seeking to authorise the President to impose sanctions on China if it
fails to cooperate and provide a full accounting of the events leading up to the outbreak of
the coronavirus.
More than 250,000 people have died and over 4 million infected due to the coronavirus
pandemic around the world. The US is the worst-hit country with more than 80,000 deaths and 1.4
million cases.
The COVID-19 Accountability Act, authored by Senator Lindsay Graham and co-sponsored by
eight others, was introduced in the Senate -- the upper chamber of Congress, on Tuesday.
It mandates the President to make a certification to Congress within 60 days that China has
provided a full and complete accounting to any COVID-19 investigation led by the US, its allies
or the UN affiliates such as the World Health Organization and has closed all operating wet
markets that have the potential to expose humans to health risks through the introduction of
zoonotic disease into the human population.
Without the certification, the President would be authorised to impose a range of sanctions
such as asset freezes, travel bans, visa revocations, restricting United States financial
institutions from making loans or underwriting to Chinese businesses and prohibiting Chinese
firms from being listed on American stock exchanges.
'I'm convinced that without the Chinese Communist Party deception, the virus would not be
here in the United States,' said Graham.
'China refuses to allow the international community to go into the Wuhan lab to investigate.
They refuse to allow investigators to study how this outbreak started. I'm convinced China will
never cooperate with a serious investigation unless they are made to do so. This hard-hitting
piece of legislation will sanction China until they cooperate with the investigators,' he
said.
'We must determine how the virus came about and take steps, like closing the wet markets, to
ensure it never happens again. It's time we push back against China and hold them accountable.
More than eighty thousand Americans are dead and millions more are jobless today because of
China's failure to contain and prevent the spread of the virus,' Graham said.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) must be held accountable for the detrimental role they
played in this pandemic. Their outright deception of the origin and spread of the virus cost
the world valuable time and lives as it began to spread, Senator Jim Inhofe said.
'The COVID-19 Accountability Act will force China to provide a full account of the events
leading up to this devastating outbreak. America is strong and we will come out of this crisis,
but China must be forced to face the facts and take accountability for their actions,' he
said.
Inhofe said that the CPC has proven time and again that it will only cooperate when
forced.
The CPC's continued suppression of the truth amidst the coronavirus outbreak cannot go
unchecked, said Senator Roger Wicker.
This legislation would authorise the President to take appropriate actions against the
Chinese government to ensure similar outbreaks do not happen in the future, he said.
This legislation is about taking necessary actions against China to hold them accountable
for the cover up of the COVID-19 outbreak and to prevent the spread of future pandemics, said
Senator Steve Daines.
'We must send a clear and strong message to China that there will be consequences for their
reckless actions,' he said.
The Chinese government engaged in one of the biggest cover-ups in modern history -- lying to
the world and allowing the spread of the COVID-19 outside its borders, said Senator Thom
Tillis.
The CPC's mistakes enabled the coronavirus to grow from a local issue to a global pandemic.
Instead of being transparent, Chinese diplomats are sharing propaganda. It is clear that China
intends to use this crisis to their advantage by extending their influence around the world,
Senator Todd Young said.
'China must be more forthcoming as investigations begin and we endeavor to learn lessons
from this disaster. This legislation will demonstrate to the communist regime in Beijing that
the world needs answers on how this pandemic started and spread misery across the globe,' said
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
'I know firsthand China doesn't play fair from building a business for 38 years, and their
failure to operate on-the-level regarding COVID-19 has caused untold global devastation," said
Senator Mike Braun.
China must be held accountable, and if it does not cooperate with these reasonable measures
to fairly investigate the origins of the coronavirus, closes wet markets and releases
pro-democracy advocates arrested during the pandemic, then it should face the serious
consequences described by this legislation, he said.
'Communist China started a global pandemic and failed to provide any information that could
have helped save thousands of lives. They need to be held accountable. If Communist China
refuses to be honest about the origins of the Coronavirus, the US will not wait for history to
judge them harshly.
'We will take action and we will do everything we can to hold Communist China accountable
for the devastation they have caused around the world,' Senator Rick Scott said. PTI LKJ
CPS
"More complex is the issue of Pentagon bioweapon labs in the former USSR – an issue
also closely followed by Beijing. Moscow has identified a lab near Tblisi in Georgia, and 11
of them in Ukraine. And way back in 2014, when Crimea was reunited with Russia, scientists
also found a lab in Simferopol."
But those israeloamericans would never think of actually unleashing biowarfare against
China or Russia no, no, no, that would be dumb (according to a u.s. regime affiliated
biowarfare wonk). All that lab investment has nothing to do with creating an active
biowarfare element in zionazia's wmd arsenal.
But those israeloamericans would never think of actually unleashing biowarfare against
China or Russia no, no, no, that would be dumb
But that is the very reason why they would do it – because of being dumb! That's
what they have been doing for donkey's years – dumb and dangerous stuff, hence the
usual shit and recognizable modus operandi. You cant expect rational behaviour from an insane
coterie of political schemers.
On the other hand, what other options do they have to sustain a rotting US? The nuclear
one is out and I don't think the Russians are losing their sleep over the "targets" (US
bases) around their borders, otherwise they would have issued an ultimatum a la Kennedy as a
pre-notice to obliteration. The economic/financial option is out because the Chinese-Russian
entente makes that complementarity (adjoining enormous land mass and resources + population
and industrial clout) unbeatable and a magnet for the world outside the NATO vassalage. And
the dollar, the fiction that built US power, is already shedding its cover to reveal its
nothingness and coming demise.
Faced with the impending doom and powerless to stop it, what else can they do to delay the
inevitable? A sane nation would realize the need to make compromises with others and abstain
from acting like an amoral gangster (even Mafia dons have some morality). But the US has and
is squandering the opportunities to avoid the enduring climate of hate it has fostered on the
rest of the world by its criminal actions.
But the US ruling cabal of vacuous politicians and vicious moguls entwined in a
supremacist Jewish ideology cannot countenance the prospect of dealing with others other than
as a puffed-up master. Therefore, it has to resort to underhand schemes to delay the
inevitable and to hell with the newcomers who will have to suffer the consequences of their
crimes. They intimidate, coerce, blockade and attack other, weaker countries who cannot
retaliate; but against the "two adversaries" such tactics don't work. The only option left is
bio-warfare and they have been working on it for many years. In their insane way, it makes
sense.
Looks like China has obviously made a certain decision about the information war, and chosen
not to play it with fact in hand to hit the USA were it hurts: dirty history of biowarfare and
inhuman experiments.
"Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on May 8,
2020....
"The Paper: US Secretary Pompeo and State Department Spokesperson Ortagus recently said in
multiple interviews that the virus originated from Wuhan; China was aware of the epidemic
last December but didn't act fast enough; China's data is not factual or accurate; the
international community should hold China accountable, seek damages and conduct
investigations. I wonder if you have any comment?
"Hua Chunying: Indeed, Secretary Pompeo, State Department Spokesperson and others seemed
to be busy taking interviews lately, where they continued unwarranted attacks against China
on COVID-19, accusing China of not acting fast enough or providing accurate data, and calling
for investigations to hold it accountable. We've repeatedly stated our position on these.
However, since the US kept repeating these lies, we must strive to help the world see the
truth through facts time and again.
"They claimed China didn't act fast enough. China is among the first countries hit by
COVID-19. We have repeatedly shared the timeline of China's response. On December 27, 2019,
relevant Wuhan authorities received the first report of suspected cases. On December 30,
Wuhan Municipal Health Committee issued an "urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of
unknown cause". From January 3, 2020, China started to send timely updates to WHO, relevant
countries including the US and regions. On January 7, China CDC identified the first novel
coronavirus strain. On January 12, the NHC shared genetic sequencing information of the virus
with WHO. On January 23, Wuhan entered lockdown. On April 8, the lockdown was lifted. To
date, there have been no new local confirmed cases for 5 days in a row and no fatalities for
23 consecutive days.
"Now let's turn to the US. On January 3, it was officially notified by the Chinese side
and started receiving daily updates. On January 25, it was the first to withdraw all
personnel from its Consulate-General in Wuhan, and there was one confirmed case in the US. On
February 2, it closed its border to all Chinese citizens and foreigners who had been to China
in the past 14 days. There were 11 confirmed cases then according to official data from the
US. On March 13, it declared a national state of emergency. At that point the number rose to
1,264. On March 19, confirmed cases passed 10,000. On March 27, the number surged to more
than 100,000. On April 8, when the lockdown on Wuhan was lifted, the number of confirmed
cases in the US was 400,000. Today, it's more than 1.2 million, with more than 70,000 fatal
cases. Who didn't act fast enough? The facts are as plain as day. Just compare the numbers.
It's simple math.
"They questioned the factuality of China's numbers. People in their right mind will not
assert blindly that other people are lying just because others' numbers look better than
their own. This is not children playing make-believe. The fight against the virus is a
serious matter of life and death. Behind every number is a living human being, a family.
China has been open, transparent and responsible in releasing information on the epidemic.
The revision of data in Wuhan shows a sense of responsibility to history, to the people and
to the lives lost to the virus. It can stand the test of history. We hope the US can also
make sure that what they say and do and their data is responsible to the people and could
stand the test of history.
"They talked about accountability and compensations. As was mentioned just now, survey
results from Singapore show the Chinese people giving their government the highest rating for
its response to COVID-19. Heads of the UN, WHO and many countries as well as medical experts
in disease control all spoke highly of China's swift, strong and effective response which
contributed to the global fight. I wonder what is the accountability a few Americans have in
mind? Despite having unrivaled medical resources and technology, the US is registering the
highest numbers of confirmed cases and fatal cases in the world. In spite of all this, some
are still openly deflecting responsibility to China. Have they no shame? Don't they owe the
American people an apology? Disregarding facts and shifting blame to China only illustrates
what it means to be scoundrels."
As I've said, Trump and Pompeo are playing with fire and most certainly will get burnt if
they continue as all the known and emerging facts are completely against them, and even
BigLie Media doesn't seem eager to finish destroying what remains of its credibility. As
Posner remarked in his interview, Social Media's become a Game Changer because it can inform
people of news and other factual items like the above presser that in the recent past would
go unreported--the mockingbirds are now shitting in their own nest. From further in the
presser:
"I noted that US officials said their administration is different from that of China.
Indeed, we are different from the US in that the CPC and the Chinese government have
always put people's life first. We cherish every life and will save everyone for whatever it
takes . From the elderly as old as 108 to babies as young as 30 hours old, we have tried
our best to treat them. In Hubei alone, more than 3600 elderly patients over the age of 80
were cured." [My Emphasis]
I've no quarrel with you or anyone here. I don't know what "Fort Detrick" got to do with
me. Whatever differences you have settled without me...
While surfing came across an interesting piece CGTN about Fort Detrick and the dirty
tricks played for years and blamed China Wuhan Flue without any evidences. It's wrong what
the Trump administration doing to China, and it hurt everyone especial minority like me. Even
my neighbor said to me "Chinese never invents anything, they cheat, steal,
lied......"
...I had never heard of Fort Detrick before even if I had long forgotten except, the
passage or similar to "anthrax attacked sometime in 2001. A scientist was arrested and later
sued the Gov.... This is real and did not make up. Therefore, CGTN mentioned many other cases
in the article....
"anthrax attack, where several letters containing the deadly germ was mailed to American
media and government offices. "
For all the people who keep citing that recent Nature article by (naturally conflict of
interest-free) "experts" claiming that SARS-COV-2 could NEVER EVER have come out of a lab,
here's that not so recent Nature article again, singing an entirely different (dissonant)
tune:
Crimson Contagion was a simulation administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services from January to August 2019 that tested the capacity of the U.S. federal
government and twelve U.S. states to respond to a severe influenza pandemic originating in
China. The exercise, which was conducted months prior to the start of the coronavirus
pandemic, involves a scenario in which tourists returning from China spread a respiratory
virus in the United States, beginning in Chicago. In less than two months the virus had
infected 110 million Americans, killing more than half a million. The report issued at the
conclusion of the exercise outlines the government's limited capacity to respond to a
pandemic, with federal agencies lacking the funds, coordination, and resources to
facilitate an effective response to the virus.
Within just two days of our story airing, the Nevada Health Response team confirmed what the
people we spoke to suspected. That they got sick here in Las Vegas in December and January, and
the illness was COVID-19.
Many of those people attended conventions and thought those events were super-spreaders.
From Texas to Washington to Colorado, visitors to Las Vegas say they came here for
conventions like the Consumer Electronics Show and left sick. Sicker than they've ever
been.
Although CES hasn't heard any official word of an attendee being exposed, Nevada officials
are now indicating coronavirus was likely here at that time or even before - a key new
distinction.
The Nevada Health Response's statement says, "Based on the information we have seen from
other states, we know there were earlier cases than the first positive reported in Nevada. We
recognize this is a nationwide issue."
The issue now is what to do with that data and the revised timeline it represents.
Antibody testing won't indicate when or if a person was ever symptomatic, but the state says
it's the logical next step.
The Health District says due to resources and a focus on stopping the spread it will not go
back and re-investigate cases that occurred before March 5th, which is the first confirmed
positive here in Nevada.
But state officials say examining that data is an important part of the overall public
health response, and it will help them understand the full parameters of this outbreak.
They also say that identifying antibodies in those people is important in determining who
was infected, and they are now discussing a strategy to do antibody testing of that
population.
I mentioned Fort Detrick early on in this comments forum, I asked how close it was to the
Greenspring retirement village (I found out that the assisted-care facility and Fairfax
County in northern Virginia are not far from Frederick County in Maryland where the biolab is
situated), where the mystery pneumonia outbreak occurred in July 2019, just a month before
the biolab was shut down) and for some reason that comment of mine was deleted. Others had
noticed my comment before it was taken down: the distance between the two is just under 50
miles or 74 kilometres.
No slight was intended against your comments @ 138 and 146.
Content is automatically generated by Microsoft Azure Translator Text API. CGTN is not
responsible for any of the translations.
Images removed.
Military biolabs are dangerous by definition and as such are prone to deadly incidents like
anthrax leaks "...Over the past decades, leading researches on a wide range of viruses and
bacteria were conducted inside the sprawling complex. Its state-of-the-art facilities also store
some of the most dangerous toxins known to mankind, including Ebola, anthrax and the SARS
coronavirus."
Notable quotes:
"... Project MK Ultra was brought to life by the godfather of America's intelligence empire – CIA Director Allen Dulles ..."
Over the past decades, leading researches on a wide range of viruses and bacteria were
conducted inside the sprawling complex. Its state-of-the-art facilities also store some of the
most dangerous toxins known to mankind, including Ebola, anthrax and the SARS coronavirus.
The obscure army base came under the spotlight in 2008 after one of its scientists was
suspected to have perpetrated the 2001 anthrax attack, where several letters containing the
deadly germ was mailed to American media and government offices.
Last year, one of the most prominent high-security labs inside the campus was shut down by
health authorities due to safety violations. Besides a few incidents here and there, Fort
Detrick seems like an ordinary place for modern medical science. Dialing back to history a
little further, however, a period of purely freakish history begins to emerge.
After World War II, Fort Detrick became a site of horrifying scientific experiments
conducted under a top-secret CIA quest to control the human mind, known as Project MK Ultra.
After more than 20 years, the project ended in abysmal failure and led to an unknown number of
deaths, including a scientist who participated in the project, and at least hundreds of
American and Canadian victims subjected to mental and physical torture. The experiments not
only violated international law, but also the agency's own charter which forbids domestic
activity.
Project MK Ultra was brought to life by the godfather of America's intelligence empire
– CIA Director Allen Dulles , whose ever-fiery rhetoric about Soviet threat helped
him prop up an omnipotent national security apparatus that would come to define American
politics. In 1953, after capturing American pilots who admitted to deploying anthrax during the
Korean War, Dulles began touting theories that they had been brainwashed by then communists of
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. To ensure national security, he argued, the U.S.
must devise its own brainwashing program.
Dulles' claim turned out to be based on nothing more than pure Cold War fantasy as a report
he later commissioned rejected the communist brainwashing claims. Yet, the cunning spymaster
Dulles who was known to have actively rescued several top Nazi officials against the will of
his own government, continued the program for a far more nefarious reason.
As explained by David Talbot in his book The Devil's Chessboard , many spies
recruited in the early days of the Cold War were sketchy, undependable characters motivated by
inner vulnerabilities such as greed, lust or revenge. Meanwhile, the agency was looking for
ways to rule out these psychological variables by creating human machines that would act on
command, even against his own conscience. March 19, 2020, laboratory scientist Andrea Luquette
cultures coronavirus to prepare for testing at U.S. Army Medical Research and Development
Command at Fort Detrick. /AP
March 19, 2020, laboratory scientist Andrea Luquette cultures coronavirus to prepare for
testing at U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command at Fort Detrick. /AP In official
terms, the main goal of the program was "research and development of chemical, biological, and
radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human
behavior," according to a declassified memo produced by the CIA Inspector General. It quickly
ballooned in scale, branching into 149 sub-projects involving at least 80 institutions
including universities, hospitals, prisons and drug companies across the United States and
Canada.
To master mind control, a cadre of rogue scientists freely tested extreme methods on humans
that would land anyone in prison had it not been inside the parameters of Fort Dertrick. These
include forced administration of psychoactive drugs, forced electroshocks, physical and sexual
abuses, as well as a myriad of other torments all silently carried out behind the high walls of
"national security."
Dulles was especially keen on finding out if hallucinogens like LSD could induce selected
individuals to carry out "acts of substantial sabotage or acts of violence, including murder,"
recalled the agency's top poisons expert Sidney Gottlieb who spearheaded the program.
Declassified documents reviewed by CGTN showed the premises being investigated under the
program ranged from the bizarre to the extremes of science fiction: Drugs that would "cause
mental confusion;" "provide a maximum of amnesia;" "produce pure euphoria with no subsequent
let-down;" "lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men;" and many others.
Throughout its two-decade lifespan, MK Ultra was executed in extreme secrecy as the agency
had expected significant political backlash had it become public knowledge. It was so
secretive, in fact, that only a few top agency officials were aware of its existence.
Unbeknownst to neither the White House nor Congress, people of the forgotten corner of
America – the prisoners, prostitutes and the homeless – were picked off the streets
as unwitting participants in the mad science at Fort Derrick: "People who could not fight
back," in the words of Gottlieb. However, the program also relied on people who could,
including American soldiers and unsuspecting patients who inadvertently stumbled into MK
Ultra-associated hospitals and clinics across North America.
In July 1954, airman Jimmy Shaver at the Lackland Air Force Base was accused of raping and
killing a three-year-old girl in San Antonio. Throughout the incident, he was often reported to
be in a "dazed" and "trance-like" state. While under arrest, Shaver also seemed to have lost a
tremendous amount of his memory, including those involving his wife. Four years later, he was
executed on his 33rd birthday. It wasn't until later the public learned that Shaver, who had no
previous criminal record, was one of the guinea pigs used by MK Ultra. The mind-control project
had played a significant role in sending Shaver to the electric chair, according to The
Intercept.
Others who survived the brutal experiments revealed the horrendous aftereffects of the
CIA-sanctioned brainwashing. Linda McDonald, a 25-year-old mother of five young children,
reported that she had essentially turned into an infant after going through the notorious Sleep
Room experiments, which she was told would treat her non-existent acute schizophrenia. For 86
days, McDonald was in a coma induced by rounds of powerful narcotics and electroshocks that
fried her brains 102 times.
Former U.S. President Gerald Ford apologizing in 1975 to the family of Frank Olson, who died
in 1953 after the CIA gave him a dose of LSD. /AP
"I had to be toilet trained," McDonald said. "I was a vegetable. I had no identity, no
memory. I had never existed in the world before. Like a baby."
Yet, of all the 180 doctors and researchers who took part in these illegal experiments, few
had expressed any suspicion or remorse. The one who did turned up dead.
Frank Olson was a biochemist and father of three children who worked in the Biological
Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick. He was one of the MK Ultra scientists who regularly
traveled between "black sites" in Europe to observe different human experiments. After a 1952
visit to the Camp King, a notorious CIA safe house in Germany, he was particularly shaken by
the cruelty to which Soviet prisoners were subjected to, according to Talbot.
"He had a tough time after Germany drugs, torture, brainwashing," Olson's former colleague
at Detrick, researcher Norman Cournoyer was quoted as saying. By the time he returned from
Germany, Olson had suffered a "moral crisis" and was ready to give up his science career to
become a dentist, according to Olson's family. Yet, before he could change his life, the
scientist himself had unknowingly become one of many unwitting victims of MK Ultra.
A week before Thanksgiving, Olson was invited to a weekend retreat in a secluded CIA
facility at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. One night after dinner, Olson and other unsuspecting
scientists were given LSD-laced drinks, after which he began to hallucinate wildly. The ordeal
ended a week later, when he crashed through the 10th floor window at the Statler Hotel in
Manhattan. The scientist's death was hastily concluded by CIA officials as suicide. However,
Olson's children could hardly accept the "narrative" and began their own investigation into the
tragic end of their father.
After decades back and forth with the U.S. government and investigation by Frank's son Eric
and Nils, including an exhumation autopsy, substantial evidence have weighted toward the
possibility of the scientist's murder. After examining Olson's remains, Forensic pathologist
James Starrs pointed out several key inconsistencies that contradicted with the official
narrative suicide. Despite having landed on his back, the skull above Olson's eye had cracked,
suggesting a blunt force to the head prior to crashing through the window.
"The death of Frank Olson on 28 November 1953 was a murder, not a suicide," Eric Olson
declared. "This is not an LSD drug-experiment story, as it was represented in 1975. This is a
biological warfare story. Frank Olson did not die because he was an experimental guinea pig who
experienced a 'bad trip.' He died because of concern that he would divulge information
concerning a highly classified CIA interrogation program in the early 1950s, and concerning the
use of biological weapons by the United States in the Korean War."
I've read A LOT of testimonies on message boards (and heard from acquaintances in person)
where people strongly suspect they may have had CV-19 in early Feb, January or even December or
earlier. Most of these people say they tested "negative" for "seasonal flu" and strep. Some
have actually gotten antibody tests and said these too were "negative" for any CV-19
antibodies.
My question then becomes: What in the heck did these people have? It wasn't hay fever or the
common cold they are describing. In fact, all their symptoms are identical to what we're told
the CV-19 symptoms are - notably bad and persistent cough, acute shortness of breath, loss of
lack of taste, etc. Few if any say they had the runny nose and congestion common to flu.
Was there some other virus widely circulating in the country in November, December, January
and February that was not this year's flu and was not CV-19? Is it a close cousin of CV-19? I
know this: It was something ... and it was wide-spread.
Interesting, the Fr vice-minister of defense was interrogated today by the Senate about the
gov response to the epidemy, and she said there was no plan to test the athletes who
participated in the military olympics in Wuhan "because even if they tested positive there
would be no way to know when they caught it"... no kidding? And if they were all positives,
wouldn't that give a hint?
(in French, from Le Parisien live covering)
12h55. Pas de dépistage pour les athlètes des Jeux militaires. La
secrétaire d'Etat aux Armées Geneviève Darrieussecq, interrogée
lors d'une audition au Sénat, estime que dépister les athlètes
français présents en octobre aux Jeux militaires mondiaux de Wuhan, en Chine,
n'aurait " pas de sens " car les tests, si positifs au Covid-19, n'indiqueraient pas la date
de contamination.")
"In July 2019, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services launched a coordinated
epidemiologic investigation ..."
"ranging from April 24 to September 19, 2019"
"Illinois cases predominantly occurred in the northeast region of the state (in Chicago and the surrounding counties, close
to the Wisconsin border) but have since been reported in other regions of the state."
"Most Wisconsin cases were initially clustered in the southeastern region of the state but have since been reported throughout
western and central Wisconsin as well."
Why would these mysterious COVID-19-like lung illnesses initially have been clustered around Chicago/Milwaukee? Perhaps it
was caused by a local vaping product that was first available and adopted only in that particular region??? The vaping-associated
lung illnesses only seems to have occurred in the US, with a handful of possible cases later on in Canada. That kind of local
clustering and eventual spreading sounds more like a virus spreading ...
"... "We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that % divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential" ..."
"... I am affraid that this "S protein divergence" that was searched in the project (by "infectious clone technology") is what could perfectly cause the "spillover" around the world we see now, and the project was made in the I.V. of Wuhan. ..."
"... it was developed in some lab somewhere by serial passage through ferrets (an animal with ACE2 receptors like humans) which would result in a 4% divergence in a compressed timeframe (maybe a few years for tens of passages). We know that such research has been conducted in labs around the world. We know that accidental leakage also occurs frequently (more often than anyone likes). ..."
"... We should also take note that many experts who are involved with Gain of Function research have been very vocal about how SARS-COV-2 was definitely natural, but they have a conflict of interest - they do not want to be blamed for doing dangerous research so they do not even discuss that their research exists, and the media politely do not enquire ..."
In a world with thousands of international flights everyday you cannot say exactly where the
virus appeared or was spreading, in our globalized world an epidemic became a pandemic in
just 24 hours due to a very infectious virus; you can only estimate the origin from the place
with a very big cluster of people infected, and that was Wuhan (simple probabilities).
Of course the theory of man made origin has not been debunked, someone can say is less
probable, but it is far from impossible, and the time required for the mutations we see in
the Covid-19 could be a proof that the virus genome was fine-tuned to achieve certain
characteristics, not as a weapon, but to study the possible mutations that make the virus
more infectious, just to avoid a pandemic....And that is exactly the scope of this project
(to study the risk of epidemic from bat coronavirus):
"We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo
infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that %
divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential"
I am affraid that this "S protein divergence" that was searched in the project (by
"infectious clone technology") is what could perfectly cause the "spillover" around the world
we see now, and the project was made in the I.V. of Wuhan.
Experts estimate that it took 20 to 70 years for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its relative in
bats to develop from a common ancestor. The development of SARS-CoV-2 likely did not take
place within bats but in some animal which has an organism more similar to the human one.
These two points are not in dispute, but the conclusion is not a "slam-dunk".
These facts suggest two possibilities:
1. the virus developed naturally over the last 70 years, maybe involving raccoon dogs,
maybe pangolins, maybe something else, but unfortunately we have not detected it in any
animal population. It made the jump to humans, but unfortunately we have not detected the
several unsuccessful attempts that are generally associated with zoonotic transfer.
2. it was developed in some lab somewhere by serial passage through ferrets (an animal
with ACE2 receptors like humans) which would result in a 4% divergence in a compressed
timeframe (maybe a few years for tens of passages). We know that such research has been
conducted in labs around the world. We know that accidental leakage also occurs frequently
(more often than anyone likes).
Have we seen enough evidence at this point to come down hard on one side rather than keep
an open mind?
We should also take note that many experts who are involved with Gain of Function research
have been very vocal about how SARS-COV-2 was definitely natural, but they have a conflict of
interest - they do not want to be blamed for doing dangerous research so they do not even
discuss that their research exists, and the media politely do not enquire.
"... "Patients, mostly otherwise healthy and in their late teens and 20s, are showing up with severe shortness of breath, often after suffering for several days with vomiting, fever and fatigue. Some have wound up in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks. Treatment has been complicated by patients' lack of knowledge -- and sometimes outright denial -- about the actual substances they might have used or inhaled." ..."
"... Grace Tatter produced this hour for broadcast. ..."
"... This program aired on September 4, 2019. ..."
New York Times : "
The Mysterious Vaping
Illness That's 'Becoming an Epidemic' " -- "An 18-year-old showed up in a Long Island emergency room, gasping for breath, vomiting
and dizzy. When a doctor asked if the teenager had been vaping, he said no.
"The patient's older brother, a police officer, was suspicious. He rummaged through the youth's room and found hidden vials of
marijuana for vaping.
"'I don't know where he purchased it. He doesn't know,' said Dr. Melodi Pirzada, chief pediatric pulmonologist at NYU Winthrop
Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., who treated the young man. 'Luckily, he survived.'
"Dr. Pirzada is one of the many physicians across the country treating patients -- now totaling more than 215 -- with mysterious
and life-threatening vaping-related illnesses this summer. The outbreak is 'becoming an epidemic,' she said. 'Something is very wrong.'
"Patients, mostly otherwise healthy and in their late teens and 20s, are showing up with severe shortness of breath, often
after suffering for several days with vomiting, fever and fatigue. Some have wound up in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator
for weeks. Treatment has been complicated by patients' lack of knowledge -- and sometimes outright denial -- about the actual substances
they might have used or inhaled."
Washington Post : "
As vaping-related lung illnesses spike, investigators eye contaminants " -- "State and federal health authorities are focusing
on the role of contaminants or counterfeit substances as a likely cause of vaping-related lung illnesses -- now up to 354 possible
cases in 29 states, nearly double the number reported to be under investigation last week, The Washington Post has learned.
"Officials are narrowing the possible culprits to adulterants in vaping products purported to have THC, the component in marijuana
that makes users high, as well as adulterants in nicotine vaping products.
"The sudden onset of these mysterious illnesses and the patients' severe and distinctive symptoms have led investigators to focus
on contaminants, rather than standard vaping products that have been in wide use for many years."
"The agencies said they need more information to understand whether there's a relationship between specific products or substances
and the reported illnesses. As of now, it does not appear the cases are linked to one particular product, the agencies said, noting
that in 'many' of the cases, patients reported using THC or CBD, compounds found in cannabis.
"'Even though cases appear similar, it is not clear if these cases have a common cause or if they are different diseases with
similar presentations, which is why our ongoing investigation is critical,' CDC Director Robert Redfield and acting FDA Commissioner
Ned Sharpless said in a joint statement."
"... France recently also reported a case in November ..."
"... That is why the earlier lauding of the Intelligence Community Statement here https://twitter.com/ODNIgov/status/1255868108356681728 on the basis that it said the virus was not manmade nor genetically modified, was so dangerous; it appeared countervail the harshest China critique. But what that Statement also did was, tenuously and without providing any evidence, flatly assert that the " COVID-19 virus originated in China ". I cautioned against embracing this IC Statement in a comment to the article of May 1st. ..."
"... Obviously there's still far too little information to make any definite conclusions about the exact origins of the virus. However, There was a big hullabaloo in the US last fall about aggressive cases of influenza that the media kept blaming on the vaping crazy. I remember thinking at that time why was there such a fuss about vaping when plane old regular cigarettes were still killings tens of thousands per year vs a few dozen deaths caused by vaping. I don't support vaping, it just seemed to me that the media attention was overblown given the number of deaths involved, maybe the crumbling US health services tried to conceal the early outbreak of the virus in the US by blaming the unusual number of influenza deaths on vaping. ..."
"... The Vaping Lung Illness, first cases Illinois, Wisconsin April 2019. 2,799 hospitalised and 60 deaths. Reporting dropped in Sept. 2019. ..."
The South China Morning Post
says that earliest known Chinese patient one fell ill on November 17:
According to the government data seen by the Post, a 55 year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to have
contracted Covid-19 on November 17.
From that date onwards, one to five new cases were reported each day. By December 15, the total number of infections stood
at 27 – the first double-digit daily rise was reported on December 17 – and by December 20, the total number of confirmed cases
had reached 60.
In late December doctors in Wuhan connected six cases of pneunomia which had similar rare progression of the disease and concluded
that there was a new bug in town. After it was established that the disease was caused by a new virus a systematic look for earlier
occurrences was launched. It is not at all astonishing that previously unrecognized cases were found.
But it was not only in Wuhan that earlier cases were found.
Anecdotal evidence from Bergamo, Italy, that was ravaged by the virus in February,
strongly suggests earlier cases:
A "strange pneumonia" was circulating in northern Italy as long ago as November, weeks before doctors were made aware of the novel
coronavirus outbreak in China, one of the European country's leading medical experts said this week.
"They [general practitioners] remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December
and even November," Giuseppe Remuzzi, the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, said in
an interview with the National Public Radio of the United States.
"This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of] Lombardy and before we were aware of this
outbreak occurring in China."
Covid-19 cases in France can be dated back to as early as November 16, nearly 10 weeks before the country's first confirmed cases
of the disease were thought to have occurred, according to a French hospital.
The November case was identified by the hospital's medical imaging department after carrying out a retrospective study on about
2,500 chest scans performed between November 1 and April 30.
...
In France, some cases were already in circulation in November, said Michel Schmitt, chief doctor of the medical imaging department
at Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the town of Colmar in Alsace, near the border with Germany.
...
"[There was a] very slow progression of the pathology's negative impact until the end of February, then a rapid increase in its
impact, peaking on March 31."
But archived chest scans are not the only signs that the disease has occurred in a former patient. Subsequent blood tests for
antibodies can identify patients who recovered from the disease. That apparently
happened in New Jersey:
The mayor of Belleville is making a startling yet uncorroborated claim that he contracted the coronavirus in New Jersey in November,
two months before the first confirmed U.S. case in Washington State.
Mayor Michael Melham said he recently asked his doctor, days after a routine physical, to test his blood for COVID-19 antibodies
-- and got a positive finding on Wednesday.
...
He recounted becoming ill while in Atlantic City attending the New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference.
"I was definitely feeling sick when I was there, and fought my way through it," he told NJ Advance Media on Thursday.
After returning home Nov. 21 from the convention, Melham said a doctor diagnosed his worsening symptoms -- including a 102-degree
fever, chills, hallucinations and a sore throat that ended up lasting for three weeks -- as a bad case of the flu.
"I have never been sicker in my entire life," Melham said, though he acknowledged that he did not have the respiratory problems
often associated with the coronavirus.
In a phone interview, Melham conceded he does not know he had the coronavirus.
"Nobody can be sure," he said.
"But I am nearly certain, for two reasons: I have never been that gravely ill in my adult life, and the antibodies that I have
are the longer-term ones, not the most recent ones," he said.
His test result showed the IgG antibody, which according to Science News lasts longer than the IgM antibody that typically
is produced about a week after infection.
Melham said he has done no traveling in recent months, other than a late-January trip to Puerto Rico. He lives alone.
The symptoms the mayor describes, especially the hallucinations which are uncommon in patients with a flu, fit those of a 'mild'
case of Covid-19. And while the quick blood tests can have some false positives they only rarely react on antibodies to other viruses.
Some enterprising researcher will hopefully ask the mayor for another blood sample and use a more specific laboratory test to give
a definitive judgment of the case.
The above show likely and definitely mid-November occurrences of Covid-19 in China, Italy, France and the United States. More
such findings from elsewhere are likely to come up in the near future.
That the virus had traveled so far back in November means that it must have been around for much longer than anticipated.
A conspiracy theory by one George Webb had suggested that a U.S. soldiers, Sergeant Maatje Benassi, carried the virus to the Military
World Games in Wuhan and had spread it there. The claim
has been debunked
and in the text below his original video Webb, who is known
to peddle disinformation, retracted it while spinning a new conspiracy theory:
I am officially retracting my earlier reporting that Maatje Benassi tested positive for CoronaVirus. I realize now I was being
fed bad information to entrap me ...
The Military World Games in Wuhan ended on October 27. It is unlikely that the virus spread from there to come up just two weeks
later in completely unrelated persons in four different countries.
One will probably have to go back further to find possible first outbreaks. This July 2019
cluster of pneumonia of unknown cause in Fairfax County now looks awfully suspicious:
A third person has died following an outbreak of respiratory illness at a Fairfax County assisted-living facility that began more
than two weeks ago, county health officials said Wednesday.
The outbreak at Greenspring Village in Springfield also spread to the unit's staff, affecting 19 employees, Fairfax County
Health Department officials said.
At a news conference Wednesday at the agency's headquarters, Benjamin Schwartz, director of epidemiology and population health
at the Fairfax County Health Department, said tests, including those conducted on 17 samples by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, have failed to identify a likely cause. Tests for Legionnaires' disease have also come up negative. Officials
tested for a range of common virus- or bacteria-borne respiratory illnesses.
...
[In a] notice that went out on July 10 from Donna L. Epps, an administrator at Greenspring, said several residents had been having
symptoms of respiratory illness, including fever, coughing and body aches. Epps's notice, which says the symptoms recede in about
five to seven days with treatment but have caused pneumonia, also announced limits on visitors, enhanced sanitation measures and
other steps.
...
Late Tuesday, the Health Department gave an updated tally, saying 63 people in the assisted-living and skilled-nursing unit have
become sick. The agency said there have been no new hospitalizations since 23 people were admitted after the outbreak began June
30. The agency was alerted to the outbreak on July 8.
Greenspring Village
has high ratings and is expensive. They presumably have qualified staff. They isolated early and thereby probably prevented a
further spread. The symptoms and the timing of the disease fit to a Covid-19 diagnosis and the patients tested negative for all other
known causes. One hopes that the chest scans from the pneumonia patients still exist and can be used to make a definite judgment.
Who the first human was who carried the virus and where it was infected is still unknown. That the virus was first detected in
Wuhan does not mean that it originated there. Th experts agree that the virus evolved naturally. The epidemic was certainly not caused
by someone who recently ate a bat. It is likely unrelated to the 'wet' farmers market where a cluster of early patients came from.
While the virus was definitely spreading there in December it is unlikely that the market is the original place where the virus moved
from an animal to a human.
The appearance of cases in November in different global regions points to a much earlier first infection than previously assumed.
All the early accusations against China have now shown to be as false as the promotion of the
useless but potentially dangerous
Hydroxychloroquine as a therapy for Covid-19.
Posted by b on May 11, 2020 at 18:35 UTC |
Permalink
That is why the earlier lauding of the Intelligence Community Statement here
https://twitter.com/ODNIgov/status/1255868108356681728
on the basis that it said the virus was not manmade nor genetically modified, was so dangerous; it appeared countervail the harshest
China critique. But what that Statement also did was, tenuously and without providing any evidence, flatly assert that the "
COVID-19 virus originated in China ". I cautioned against embracing this IC Statement in a comment to the article of May
1st.
Obviously there's still far too little information to make any definite conclusions about the exact origins of the virus.
However, There was a big hullabaloo in the US last fall about aggressive cases of influenza that the media kept blaming on the
vaping crazy. I remember thinking at that time why was there such a fuss about vaping when plane old regular cigarettes were still
killings tens of thousands per year vs a few dozen deaths caused by vaping. I don't support vaping, it just seemed to me that
the media attention was overblown given the number of deaths involved, maybe the crumbling US health services tried to conceal
the early outbreak of the virus in the US by blaming the unusual number of influenza deaths on vaping.
I posted about Bergamo and Brescia v. complicated maybe more later.
Springfield, an old ppls home, btw, is a favorite 'Outbreak' quoted by the Chinese, Russians and others. (Another old ppl home
nearby was also affected.)
==========
"Symptoms typically develop over a period of days but sometimes can manifest over several weeks. Many cases, patients reported
a gradual start of symptoms, including: breathing difficulty, shortness of breath, and/or chest pain before hospitalization. (
.) patients have experienced respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain), and some have also experienced
gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea) or non-specific symptoms (fatigue, fever, or weight loss). ( ) Fever,
elevated heart rate, and elevated white blood cell count have been reported, even though no infectious disease has been identified.
Many patients have required medical treatment with supplemental oxygen. Some required assisted ventilation. Some patients have
been treated with corticosteroids with demonstrated improvement. Evidence does not suggest an infectious disease is the cause
of the severe pulmonary disease.
( .)
On September 12, 2019 the CDC no longer reported possible cases. The CDC changed its reporting methodology "
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
The Vaping Lung Illness, first cases Illinois, Wisconsin April 2019. 2,799 hospitalised and 60 deaths. Reporting
dropped in Sept. 2019.
Nothing has been reported about it since, despite so called inquiries to be launched. How this came about idk, maybe many had
atypical pneumonia, and if 'vaping' were immediately considered as having a clear cause. (It was a category at the CDC.) COV19
imho.
google: 2019 vaping lung illness wiki (direct link doesn't work)
Timing games might be a fun game to play, but in fact viruses similar to this one are always going around (no need to propose
July 2019 pneumonia cases, e.g., were the Wuhan Magic Mystery Flu), usually in winter.
The important thing is, by now it's clear that this one just isn't the kind of Apocalypse Virus it was marketed to be:
Purely anecdotal, but; a work mate returned from a month's long vacation in Vietnam in September and got very sick with what would
now be deemed highly likely to be Covid. The guys sitting closest to him in the break room got sick soon after, I being one. It
was a very bad flu, with breathing problems, (though I didn't experience the degree of what has since been related). It was the
worst bug I can remember getting, and I'm no spring chicken. That was late September 2019.
A group of doctors in Japan said they used antibody tests to find Japanese hospital patients who had it in September and one patient
who had it in August. They've yet to publish in a peer review journal but released the results on social media.
"... It started way before October. The bullshit induced moral panic over pot-vaping I mean illness spiked in August. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html ..."
"... Assuming the best case scenario, that it was only incompetence that made the US miss the outbreak of a pandemic on its soil, a fair conclusion is that the Chinese government has more care and more respect for its people than so-called "democracies" . Unlike others, China took the pain to identify and contain an epidemic that would have otherwise taken a high toll on the elderly, the vulnerable and health personnel. ..."
"... -- As the ground glass opacity (white patches) can be easily seen in CT scans of the lungs of patients with the novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia, it should have been an easy thing to separate the cases of COVID-19 and H1N1 flu. But why were there so many misdiagnoses? ..."
"... -- Why are there new [US] biological laboratories in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan? Are those labs for biochemical warfare? ..."
"... Considering that the Jul 2019 lab breach of containment has happened in a unique location, involving limited personnel, and was found out, is it not possible that the US authorities had locally applied the same measures China did, almost quenching a nascent epidemic and postponing its outbreak? ..."
"... President Trump's charges are indeed ridiculous: he pretends that his country is the only one on Earth not to have received the epidemic warnings issued by China, while all other nations have been applying more or less strict containment measures for months. ..."
"... There is also the possibility that the "doubling period" was not initially (in the early stages, in the U.S.) so short as every 5 or even 3 days when there were very few initial cases, or indeed, only ONE ("Patient Zero") initial case. ..."
"... That is to say, unless and until a minimum critical mass of infected is reached, the rate of spread of Detrick-19 virus could be significantly slower. INITIALLY. ..."
"... It is possible the infected "Patient Zero from Ft. Detrick" simply had little opportunity to interact with others for some time (for example, he might have been someone who spent time alone, liked to read, a bit of a shut-in, who knows?) ..."
"... You start with only one person accidentally exposed and sick. It COULD theoretically have taken 2 weeks to a month to infect a second, and another 2 weeks/1 month for those 2 infected people to become 4 infected. And so forth. ..."
"... UNTIL you hit say 100 or more people infected and interacting in society all at once, at which time an inflection point is reached, and the daily rate of increase trends sharply upward. ..."
"... IF, in fact, a critical mass of infected people need to be present for the Detrick-19 Virus to spread quickly, then, I have to admit, it does point rather heavily in the direction of a deliberate (vice accidental) effort to spread the virus in Wuhan, China and Qom, Iran -- in other words, NOT AN ACCIDENT, but a premeditated act of war by the United States against China and Iran. ..."
And this commenter got it before that. With no vaping of anything. I don't get anything. So did xymph. It was persistent and
bad but fortunately pneumonia and fibrosis did not ensue. And Lola Short was not the first fake flu death, either. CDC emergency
response is classified in part because they were testing for it novel coronavirus along.
Many thanks to the author for yet another great article.
Assuming the best case scenario, that it was only incompetence that made the US miss the outbreak of a pandemic on its
soil, a fair conclusion is that the Chinese government has more care and more respect for its people than so-called "democracies"
. Unlike others, China took the pain to identify and contain an epidemic that would have otherwise taken a high toll on the elderly,
the vulnerable and health personnel.
Not everyone believes in the best case scenario, however.
From CGTN Chinese website, this "1o Questions to the US government " article asks in particular:
-- As the ground glass opacity (white patches) can be easily seen in CT scans of the lungs of patients with the novel
coronavirus-infected pneumonia, it should have been an easy thing to separate the cases of COVID-19 and H1N1 flu. But why were
there so many misdiagnoses?
-- Why are there new [US] biological laboratories in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan? Are those labs for biochemical warfare?
As we know from China, Northern Italy, and most recently New York, Coronavirus is *extremely* contagious. In the absence
of severe government restrictions, the number of infected individuals tends to double ever 3-5 days
As of the 5th March, where no stringent health measures had been implemented yet except in Asia, the number of infected people
globally was around 100,000 and was doubling every 6 days. At the same time, and by implementing strict containment, China had
managed to extend the doubling rate to two months .
Considering that the Jul 2019 lab breach of containment has happened in a unique location, involving limited personnel,
and was found out, is it not possible that the US authorities had locally applied the same measures China did, almost quenching
a nascent epidemic and postponing its outbreak?
America has a population of something like 330 million, and if so few Americans were infected in October 2019 that nobody
here noticed, the likelihood that tiny handful would happen to include the ones visiting Wuhan is nil.
Just before major competitions, sports team gather for extensive training and "friendly" games; it is always the case. It is
possible that one or two American individuals only were infected, then contaminated their colleagues during training just prior
to the games, thus making the cluster that brought the virus to Wuhan only a little time before the games.
So instead they concocted this ridiculous "Oops!" theory just so that they have something to say in response to Trump's
ridiculous charges.
President Trump's charges are indeed ridiculous: he pretends that his country is the only one on Earth not to have received
the epidemic warnings issued by China, while all other nations have been applying more or less strict containment measures for
months.
These assumptions are for an accidental contamination.
As we know from China, Northern Italy, and most recently New York, Coronavirus is *extremely* contagious. In the absence
of severe government restrictions, the number of infected individuals tends to double ever 3-5 days, thereby increasing by
a factor of something like 100-1000x per month. And it seems to kill at least 1% of the population, perhaps rising to 5% when
the health system collapses under the strain of the 20% who require hospitalization
(Allow me to play Devil's Advocate):
There is also the possibility that the "doubling period" was not initially (in the early stages, in the U.S.) so short
as every 5 or even 3 days when there were very few initial cases, or indeed, only ONE ("Patient Zero") initial case.
That is to say, unless and until a minimum critical mass of infected is reached, the rate of spread of Detrick-19 virus
could be significantly slower. INITIALLY.
(A 5-day doubling period would be a rough compounded increase of 15% a day, while a 3-day doubling period would be a rough
compounded increase of 26% a day -- these are obviously very fast).
What if, for reasons of the patterns and frequencies of travel and typical interaction and circulation of individuals in society
(all the usual activities -- driving on the freeway, playing video games, fixing up his own house etc.), as long as only a few
individuals were sick, the doubling period was as long as 30, even 45 days?
It is possible the infected "Patient Zero from Ft. Detrick" simply had little opportunity to interact with others for some
time (for example, he might have been someone who spent time alone, liked to read, a bit of a shut-in, who knows?)
You start with only one person accidentally exposed and sick. It COULD theoretically have taken 2 weeks to a month to infect
a second, and another 2 weeks/1 month for those 2 infected people to become 4 infected. And so forth.
UNTIL you hit say 100 or more people infected and interacting in society all at once, at which time an inflection point
is reached, and the daily rate of increase trends sharply upward.
(Devil's Advocate mode off.)
OTOH,
IF, in fact, a critical mass of infected people need to be present for the Detrick-19 Virus to spread quickly, then, I
have to admit, it does point rather heavily in the direction of a deliberate (vice accidental) effort to spread the virus in Wuhan,
China and Qom, Iran -- in other words, NOT AN ACCIDENT, but a premeditated act of war by the United States against China and Iran.
To which reasonable conclusion, quite a few of our countrymen have come.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. (ABC7) -- The Fairfax County Health Department is now reporting a new total of individuals sickened by a mysterious
illness at a Springfield retirement community.
As of Tuesday, a total of 63 individuals out of 263 residents in the assisted living and skilled nursing sections of the Greenspring
Retirement Community have become ill. Although no new hospitalizations have been reported, there are now three deaths associated
with the outbreak.
The Fairfax County Health Department does not know the full medical history and the extent to which the respiratory illnesses
have contributed to the deaths.
Additionally, the Fairfax County Health Department has been informed that 19 employees have also reported symptoms of the upper
respiratory illness since the outbreak began on June 30.
The results of testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are still pending.
This is a developing story and will be updated once more information is available.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. (WJLA) -- The symptoms usually start with a cough.
In less than 2 weeks, a mystery virus at Springfield's Greenspring Retirement Community has gotten 55 residents sick. Twenty have
been hospitalized -- some with pneumonia -- and two people have died.
Dr. Benjamin Schwartz is the director of epidemiology at the Fairfax County Health Department. He says the county has seen similar
outbreaks but they're usually influenza in the winter.
"Our most important concern right now is ensuring the safety of other residents who are there," said Dr. Schwartz.
The outbreak has only been reported in the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, but the retirement center's management
is still telling residents visitation is suspended until further notice, and no Garden Ridge residents, healthy or sick, should leave
their respective neighborhoods.
Dr. Schwartz says the community is taking proper steps and thoroughly cleaning the facility while Inova Health and the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention work to figure out what kind of a virus this is and how it is spreading.
"These panels have looked for several of the most common pathogens and they have been negative so far," said Dr. Schwartz.
Unknown respiratory illness hits a care home in Virginia in July 2019
Virginia Department of Health
warns residents of increase in respiratory illnesses on July 19, 2020
Health officials said last week what was striking about the outbreak was the
number of residents impacted and the time of year -- summer instead of winter, when flu
and respiratory illness usually spread.
SCIFs are usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. Ordinary cell
phones and computers can't be brought into the chambers. HHS has SCIFs because
theoretically it would play a major role in biowarfare or chemical
attacks.
The following content is circulating in Chinese cyberspace.
42 employees of the Oriental Hotel were diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the
first cluster in Wuhan. At the time only 7 people from the market had been thus diagnosed
(and treated before the hotel staff). All 7 had contact with the 42 from the hotel. From
this source, the virus spread to the rest of China.
The hypothesis that COVID-19 first started spreading in California in the fall of
2019 is one explanation for the state's lower than expected case numbers.
The facts presented by Dr. Roberts have checked out. They provide an alternative theory
for the origin of the SARS-2 Coronavirus. It is after all only a theory, same as the theory
that it came from Wuhan bats. We'll probably never know unless everyone works together on the
investigation. Even then, we won't be absolutely sure. While both sides like to say
everything is on the table, cooperation apparently is not included. I think China is tired of
getting insulted and attacked by morons, which is understandable. I myself do enjoy the
freedom to lie and insult and be ignorant, and the Chinese will have to pry that away from my
cold dead fingers.
As for Ron's opinion on the contagious character of the current strains, we should
remember that viruses mutate very frequently. Therefore the early Coronavirus strain that
first infected humans may have survived in the hosts for long periods without causing harm or
readily transmitted to another human. Eventually, a mutuation creates the protein spikes that
lets the virus grab onto human cells (see linked scientific article below), especially
bronchial and pulmonary epithelial cells. Then all hell breaks loose. I would like to make
Dr. Roberts's theory a bit more complete by adding that the SARS-2 Coronavirus likely
originated from a bat. It is known to be studied in Fort Detrick ostensibly for scientific
purposes. On this, America is not alone. Many governments and research institutes know that
this is coming and have been studying on ways to defend humans from the next outbreak. The
only thing that seems a little suspicious is why Fort Detrick? Googling Fort Detrick and MK
Ultra will give us some background.
In any case, something happened at the Fort Detrick lab that caused the CDC to shut it
down last July. Humans may have been contaminated (it's possible but we won't know unless
Fort Detrick work is declassified). Since the Coronavirus did not have that protein spike for
attaching to human cells, the infected persons did not get sick, and there was minimal or no
transmission. To the rest of the world, nothing happened. The next significant mutation
may allow the virus to become transmitted to another human host, similar to how even today
over eighty percent of the infected are asymptomatic or experience only slight flu symptoms.
People would think that it's just a cold. The next big mutation probably occurred shortly
before or after the GIs arrived at Wuhan. The protein spikes are now much better adapted to
attaching to human pulmonary epithelial cells, which causes pneumonia and since there is no
defence against this new virus, the result could be deadly. Subsequent mutations may have
further adapted SAR-2 to human cells making the virus very contagious among humans. This is
of course, still a theory, but hopefully answers Ron's concern that Dr. Roberts is a
propagandist for the CCP. At the end of the day, we all believe what we want to believe. I
believe I'll have a beer.
"... Yes, we must have confidence in all of our 16,000 intelligence agencies because Frank Church exposed just how praiseworthy and trustworthy they are. ..."
Once upon a time in the United States there was a consensus among national politicians that
there were two areas where there should be a unified approach to policy. They were national
security and foreign policy, both of which involved other nations, which made desirable a
perception of unity on the part of the president and his cabinet, no matter who was in power.
That meant that dissent from individual politicians should never rise to the level of pitting
one party against another on the basic Establishment view of what was desirable in terms of
U.S. national interests.
That viewpoint has survived at least somewhat intact to this day, even weathering the
turmoil of Vietnam, but the apple cart has been somewhat upset by new players in the game,
namely the various federal bureaucracies, to include law enforcement, intelligence and the
Pentagon. The 2016 election demonstrated that the FBI and CIA in particular were willing to get
involved in the game of who should be president, and in so doing they compromised major foreign
policy and national security norms, which produced Russiagate as well as the wildly inflated
current claims being leveled against China and Russia and even Iran looking ahead to elections
in November.
As noted above, the Establishment view on foreign and national security policy was based on
the principle that there must always be a united front when dealing with situations that are
being closely watched by foreigners. If a cabinet secretary or the president says something
relating to foreign or military affairs it should be the unified view of both the
administration and the loyal opposition. Unfortunately, with President Donald Trump that
unanimity has broken down, largely because the chief executive either refuses to or is
incapable of staying on script. The most recent false step involved the origin of the corona
virus, with the intelligence community stating that there was no evidence that the virus was
"man made or genetically modified" in a lab followed by the president several hours later
contradicting that view asserting that he had a "high degree of confidence" that the
coronavirus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China based on secret information
that he could not reveal .
There has also been reports that the Trump White House has in fact been pushing the
intelligence community (IC) to
"hunt for evidence" linking the virus to the Wuhan laboratory, suggesting that the entire
China gambit is mostly political, to have a scapegoat available in case the troubled handling
of the virus in the United States becomes a fiasco and therefore a political liability. This
pressure apparently prompted an additional statement from the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence saying: "The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information
and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals
or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has
claimed without providing any details that there is "overwhelming evidence" that
coronavirus came out of the Wuhan laboratory, is reportedly leading the push to demonize China.
He and other administration officials have expressed their frustration over the C.I.A.'s
apparent inability to come up with a definitive explanation for the outbreak's origin. C.I.A.
analysts have reportedly responded that there is no evidence to support any one theory with
"high confidence" and they are afraid that any equivocating response will immediately be
politicized. Some analysts noted that their close monitoring of communications regarding the
Wuhan lab suggest that the Chinese government itself does not regard the lab as a source of the
contagion.
To be sure, any intelligence community document directly blaming the Chinese government for
the outbreak would have a devastating impact on bilateral relations for years to come, a
consequence that Donald Trump apparently does not appreciate. And previous interactions
initiated by Trump administration officials suggest that Washington might use its preferred
weapon sanctions in an attempt to pressure other nations to also hold China accountable, which
would multiply the damage.
Given what is at stake in light of the White House pressure to prove what might very well be
unprovable, many in the intelligence community who actually value what they do and how they do
it are noticeably annoyed and some have even looked for allies in Congress, where they have
found support from the Pentagon over Administration decision making that is both Quixotic and
heavily politicized.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith of Washington
has responded to the concerns expressed to him by both the military and intelligence
communities, admitting that he is " worried about a culture developing" where many senior
officials are now making decision not on the merits of the case but rather out of fear that
they will upset the president if they do not choose correctly.
While the intelligence agencies are concerned over the fabrication of a false consensus over
the coronavirus, similar to what occurred regarding Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of
mass destruction in 2002-3, the Defense Department is more concerned that fundamental
mechanisms that have been in place since the Second World War are now under attack, including
how the military maintains discipline and punishes officers and enlisted men who have deviated
from established policies.
@Exile "public confidence in government" LOL -- arresting/jailing women for cutting hair
while flushing Child Rapists out of prison because they might catch the Flu that's the
current state of the "Government" in the USA .– look around, also look at the utter
Clowns in Congress who worked with the NWO Globalist Clowns in the FBI/DOJ and CIA to try and
stage a coup to overthrow the last election -- the esteem for the "Intelligence Community" of
this author is laughable, there is no "intelligence" in most of that "Community" but lots of
thugs, networked thieves and career criminals at work enriching themselves and working at
destroying the world and our freedoms as part of that enrichment process --
The CIA is little more than an ongoing Criminal Enterprise (including massive Drug
Dealing/Trafficking and Murder) and has been since its inception, before that their precursor
creeps at OSS murdered Gen. Patton because he was going to run for President to try and take
on/out the massive Communist infiltration in the USA Government that Stalin had working for
him, the actual assassin actually came out years later at some spook reunion and admitted
Bill Donovan had him do it, there's a book written about it . -- the Citizens of the USA
would be much better off without an "Intelligence Community" like the one that ALLOWED 911 to
happen, probably participated in it actually, and which profits off having forever Wars --
John Brennan was a career Officer and the Head/Director of the CIA. Does anyone need to say
anymore as to it given that fact?Disband it and prosecute each and everyone of them for their
previous crimes against humanity.
@Getaclue How about you get a clue instead of telling everyone else to get one. Correct,
intelligence agencies are malevolent, sadistic, undemocratic criminal scoundrels but then so
too is Donald Trump. They want him where he is right now, otherwise he would have been Six
Feet Under five years prior. The intelligence agencies never would have allowed Trump to
ascend if they didn't figure his presidency would be useful in some way. Trump, no doubt
unwittingly, is playing the role they want him to play but that doesn't make him any less
culpable.
Of course the Intel Agencies are going to stay far away from the microphone. They want to
hide in the shadows, because they know exactly where this virus was weaponized. Take your
pick – there are hundreds of BioWeapons labs that belong to the US, Britain, and Israel
– for sure. The only question in the Media [ any media} for the next 6 mos. should be
– who weaponized this virus and spread it. Maybe China, USA, Israel, Britain, and some
others – all should be blamed and their labs destroyed – wouldn't want to be
racist or discriminatory about it – so get rid of them all. Including the CIA ones in
the " higher institutions labs " like Dr. Liebers lab in Harvard .
The core problem is that Donald Trump is a wholly owned asset of the Likud party, but is
merely a figurehead. Serious decisions are being made by a cabal of Jewish appointees like
Steve Mnuchin and Jared Kushner and their organized crime connected partners.
Donald Trump is an undisciplined carnival barker who nevertheless is the only one who can
rally any support among the American population via his personality and false promises. So
the administration is constantly trying to put out fires set by the President's undisciplined
tongue and Twitter account.
Once upon a time in the United States there was a consensus among national politicians
that there were two areas where there should be a unified approach to policy. They were
national security and foreign policy, both of which involved other nations, which made
desirable a perception of unity on the part of the president and his cabinet, no matter who
was in power. That meant that dissent from individual politicians should never rise to the
level of pitting one party against another on the basic Establishment view of what was
desirable in terms of U.S. national interests.
I loved that opening, Mr. Giraldi. You exude pure nostalgia for those good old days of
unanimity on those things that really matter to our entrenched elites, e.g. bigger profits,
bribes, influence, careers. Like, say, 2004 when, after four years of rampant Ziocon lunacy
had destroyed both nearly defenseless Afghanistan and Iraq for no particular reason, the
loyal opposition candidate John Tweedledie Kerry and the incumbent George W. Tweedledum Bush
pretended to battle one another ferociously with exactly the same "national security" and
"foreign policy" platform, so neither one could possibly lose.
After all, we deplorables and our deep state had to stick together then for a Global War
on Terror. Thank heavens, that mysterious 911 caper had come out of the blue just in the nick
of time to replace the 40-year Cold War on the Soviet Union, after the bad Russians had
inconveniently turned into good non-communist Russians. But, of course, things got
complicated when some of CIA-friendly Al Qaeda terrorists then morphed into our occasional
ISIS allies in Syria and Iraq. Nevermind, time now for a new, improved enemy, like the
invisible germs said to be causing the media/government p(l)andemic now replacing freedom and
democracy with masks and lockdowns.
Gore Vidal touched on this quintessential trick of American governance by quoting the
first cold warrior, Harry Truman, who said it was easy, you just scare the pants off the
citizens with the dire threat of some foreign enemy, and the rest is easy. I'm told that
analysts in your old IC alphabet company even pinpointed the last century's biggest disaster
for U.S. political cohesion -- the untimely abdication of the Soviet enemy in 1990. Some
credible new threat had to be found pronto. Now that the terrorist thing hasn't panned out
and the second Russia menace has fizzled, I guess we'll just have to recruit China. Will that
be enough to restore precious Beltway policy unanimity in a bankrupt country looking more and
more like Humpty Dumpty after his fall?
That meant that dissent from individual politicians should never rise to the level of
pitting one party against another on the basic Establishment view of what was desirable in
terms of U.S. national interests.
"individual politicians" (the elected president of the United States) should not be
allowed to deviate from the "basic Establishment view" (Zionist domination of our federal
government)?
Are you the evil twin of the guy who just wrote an article on the USS Liberty?
what was desirable in terms of U.S. national interests
you gotta be fucking kidding me. In what bizarro universe has the ZUS federal government
EVER considered what was good for the American people or U.S. (with out the Z)
national interests?
The 2016 election demonstrated that the FBI and CIA in particular were willing to get
involved in the game of who should be president, and in so doing they compromised major
foreign policy and national security norms, which produced Russiagate
Yes, all true..
the Establishment view on foreign and national security policy was based on the
principle that there must always be a united front when dealing with situations that are
being closely watched by foreigners. If a cabinet secretary or the president says something
relating to foreign or military affairs it should be the unified view of both the
administration and the loyal opposition. Unfortunately, with President Donald Trump that
unanimity has broken down
*"Unfortunately"* ? With all due respect, are you out of your mind, Sir?
largely because the chief executive either refuses to or is incapable of staying on
script.
Perhaps the most succinctly stated defense of president Trump I've ever read. And you say
it in a disparaging way.
The most recent false step involved the origin of the corona virus, with the
intelligence community stating
Dude, since I guess you haven't been paying attention, "the intelligence community" of
this nation has less credibility than even the NYT, (if that's even possible).
Good Lord, is Mr. Giraldi angling to get his job back at the American Cuckservative?
blaming the Chinese government for the outbreak would have a devastating impact on
bilateral relations for years to come, a consequence that Donald Trump apparently does not
appreciate.
The Chinese government looks out for the interests of the Chinese government first, and
the Chinese people second. The interests of the American people are very low on their
list.
In fact, no one has had the interests of the American people on their list for decades,
and indeed, quite the contrary. And our close ties to China have not helped the lot of the
average American one whit, there again- quite the contrary. So perhaps Trump is right about a
more 'arms length' approach to sending our jobs and technology to China. China is not the
enemy, but for once, it would be amazing if our federal government stopped being the enemy of
the American people, which it OBVIOSLY has been now for at least as long as I've been
alive.
Washington might use its preferred weapon sanctions in an attempt to pressure other
nations to also hold China accountable, which would multiply the damage.
If it did so, and if history is any precedent, then it would be doing so for the same
motivation that it does every thing else, because Israel wants it to. Duh.
the White House pressure to prove what might very well be unprovable, many in the
intelligence community who actually value what they do and how they do it are noticeably
annoyed and some have even looked for allies in Congress, where they have found support
from the Pentagon over Administration decision making that is both Quixotic and heavily
politicized.
Mr. G, you worked for the CIA, and we here didn't, but that doesn't mean that we don't all
know very well indeed, exactly what it is that the IC does. (Tell lies and destabilize
governments and assassinate for the (((regime)))). Duh.
How many times have we heard 'all sixteen intelligence agencies all agree that 'babies
were taken out of incubators', or Saddam has WMD, or Assad attacked his own people, or Russia
hacked the election, or God knows how many times they've trotted out that tiresome
(shit-stained) mantra about what 'all sixteen intelligence agencies agrees upon'.
They're traitors and liars, Mr. G. Up and down the line. Scumbags of the very worst sort.
And you act like they still have a shred of credibility. It's astounding!
where many senior officials are now making decision not on the merits of the case
OK, what have you done with Phil, evil twin? Since when has the IC ever given a rat's ass
about the 'merits of the case'?!
They're whores, Sir. Have you ever heard of a guy named John F. Kennedy?
While the intelligence agencies are concerned over the fabrication of a false
consensus
Why, because for once their lies and fabrications aren't being believed anymore?
similar to what occurred regarding Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass
destruction in 2002-3, the Defense Department is more concerned that fundamental mechanisms
that have been in place since the Second World War are now under attack, including how the
military maintains discipline and punishes officers and enlisted men who have deviated from
established policies.
Ahhh..
OK, I'm finally starting to get it . Sorry for being so slow.
This is a sardonic mocking of the IC! And the entire lied-about narrative we've all
marinated since WWII. I of all people should have seen that coming.
Kudos Sir, you had me there for a while!
Navy Captain Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his command after he went public with
complains about the spread of coronavirus on his ship. In early April the president said "I
may just get involved."
Every decent person in America wanted Captain Crozier exonerated. Yep, this is an oblique,
veiled paean to the president.
Who'd a thunk it'd come from Dr. G?!
To be sure, Donald Trump is not about to change and if he is re-elected one can only
expect four more years of the same, but public confidence in government can only be
maintained if there is at least some belief that decision making is a rational process.
"public confidence in government', as if that exists. And since it hasn't in my lifetime,
Dr. G. is using his high-powered mind to psychologically reverse / point out that Trump is
the alternative to our current and long lasting "public confidence in government" and all the
respect we Americans have in our "intelligence community'.
It's pure genius.
His implying that what we all really need is to return to putting our faith in John
Brennan and James Comey, and things will return to 'normal'. Hehe.
My hat is off to you Sir.
His characterization of senior officials, many of whom he himself appointed, as "losers"
casts the entire government in a bad light. Whether the strategy of divide and conquer
within one's own administration will work out for Trump will certainly be decided in
November.
Not since Michael Moore's 'fuck you' video, has anyone tried so hard to "impugn" Donald
Trump, while effectively accomplishing the exact opposite.
"... I tend to doubt that Chinese leaders have any overwhelming commitment to the truth, and the reasons for their greater veracity are probably practical ones. American news and entertainment completely dominate the global media landscape and they face no significant domestic rival. So China recognizes that it is vastly outmatched in any propaganda conflict, and as the far weaker party must necessarily try to stick closer to the truth, lest its lies be immediately exposed. Meanwhile, America's overwhelming control over global information may inspire considerable hubris, with the government sometimes promoting the most outrageous and ridiculous falsehoods in the confident belief that a supportive American media will cover for any mistakes. ..."
"... These considerations should be kept in mind as we attempt to sift the accounts of our often unreliable and dishonest media in hopes of extracting the true circumstances of the current coronavirus epidemic. Unlike careful historical studies, we are working in real-time and our analysis is greatly hindered by the ongoing fog of war, so that any conclusions are necessarily very preliminary ones. But given the high stakes, such an attempt seems warranted. ..."
"... Last month, a team of five WSJ reporters produced a very detailed and thorough 4,400 word analysis of the same period, and the NYT has published a helpful timeline of those early events as well. Although there may be some differences of emphasis or minor disagreements, all these American media sources agree that Chinese officials first became aware of the serious viral outbreak in Wuhan in early to mid-January, with the first known death occurring on Jan. 11th, and finally implemented major new public health measures later that same month. No one has apparently disputed these basic facts. ..."
"... It therefore appears that elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency were aware of the deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any officials in the Chinese government itself. Unless our intelligence agencies have pioneered the technology of precognition, I think this may have happened for the same reason that arsonists have the earliest knowledge of future fires. ..."
Even more serious charges are also being raised, with senior government officials informing
the media that they suspect that the Covid-19 virus was developed in a Chinese laboratory in
Wuhan and then carelessly released upon a vulnerable world. Such "conspiracy theories" were
once confined to the extreme political fringe of the Internet, but they are now found in the
respectable pages of my morning New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Whether plausible or not, such accusations carry the gravest international implications, and
there are growing demands that China financially compensate our country for its trillions of
dollars in economic losses. A new global Cold War along both political and economic lines may
soon be at hand.
I have no personal expertise in biowarfare technology, nor access to the secret American
intelligence reports that seem to have been taken seriously by our most elite national
newspapers. But I do think that a careful exploration of previous Sino-American clashes over
the last couple of decades may provide some useful insight into the relative credibility of
those two governments as well as that of our own media.
During the late 1990s, America seemed to reach the peak of its global power and prosperity,
basking in the aftermath of its historic victory in the long Cold War, while ordinary Americans
greatly benefited from the record-long economic expansion of that decade. A huge Tech Boom was
at its height, and Islamic terrorism seemed a vague and distant thing, almost entirely confined
to Hollywood movies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of large scale war
seemed to have dissipated so political leaders boasted of the "peace dividend" that citizens
were starting to enjoy as our huge military forces, built up over nearly a half-century, were
downsized amid sweeping cuts in the bloated defense budget. America was finally returning to a
regular peacetime economy, with the benefits apparent to everyone.
At the time, I was overwhelmingly focused on domestic political issues, so I only paid
slight attention to our one small military operation of that period, the 1999 NATO air war
against Serbia, intended to safeguard the Kosovo Albanians from ethnic cleansing and massacre,
a Clinton Administration project that I fully endorsed.
Although our limited bombing campaign seemed quite successful and soon forced the Serbs to
the bargaining table, the short war did include one very embarrassing mishap. The use of old
maps had led to a targeting error that caused one of our smart bombs to accidentally strike the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three members of its delegation and wounding dozens more.
The Chinese were outraged by this incident, and their propaganda organs began claiming that the
attack had been deliberate, a reckless accusation that obviously made no logical sense.
In those days I watched the PBS Newshour every night, and was I shocked to see their
U.S. Ambassador raise those absurd charges with host Jim Lehrer, whose disbelief matched my
own. But when I considered that the Chinese government was still stubbornly denying the reality
of its massacre of the protesting students in Tiananmen Square a decade earlier, I concluded
that unreasonable behavior by PRC officials was only to be expected. Indeed, there was even
some speculation that China was cynically milking the unfortunate accident for domestic
reasons, hoping to stoke the sort of jingoist anti-Americanism among the Chinese people that
would finally help bind the social wounds of that 1989 outrage.
Such at least were my thoughts on that matter more than two decades ago. But in the years
that followed, my understanding of the world and of many pivotal events of modern history
underwent the sweeping transformations that I have described in my American Pravda series . And some
of my 1990s assumptions were among them.
Consider, for example, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which every June 4th still evokes an
annual wave of harsh condemnations in the news and opinion pages of our leading national
newspapers. I had never originally doubted those facts, but a year or two ago I happened to
come across a short article by journalist Jay Matthews entitled "The Myth of
Tiananmen" that completely upended that apparent reality.
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened, but was merely a
media artifact produced by confused Western reporters and dishonest propaganda, a mistaken
belief that had quickly become embedded in our standard media storyline, endlessly repeated by
so many ignorant journalists that they all eventually believed it to be true. Instead, as near
as could be determined, the protesting students had all left Tiananmen Square peacefully, just
as the Chinese government had always maintained. Indeed, leading newspapers such as the New
York Times and the Washington Post had occasionally acknowledged these facts over
the years, but usually buried those scanty admissions so deep in their stories that few ever
noticed. Meanwhile, the bulk of the mainstream media had fallen for an apparent hoax.
Matthews himself had been the Beijing Bureau Chief of the Washington Post ,
personally covering the protests at the time, and his article appeared in the Columbia
Journalism Review , our most prestigious venue for media criticism. This authoritative
analysis containing such explosive conclusions was first published in 1998, and I find it
difficult to believe that many reporters or editors covering China have remained ignorant of
this information, yet the impact has been absolutely nil. For over twenty years virtually every
mainstream media account I have read has continued to promote the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Hoax, usually implicitly but sometimes explicitly.
Even more remarkable were the discoveries I made regarding our supposedly accidental bombing
of the Chinese Embassy in 1999. Not long after launching this website, I added former Asia
Times contributor Peter Lee as a columnist, incorporating his China Matters blogsite
archives that stretched back for a decade. He soon published a 7,000 word
article on the Belgrade Embassy bombing, representing a compilation of material already
contained in a
half-dozen previous pieces he'd written on that subject from 2007 onward. To my
considerable surprise, he provided a great deal of persuasive evidence that the American attack
on the Chinese embassy had indeed been deliberate, just as China had always claimed.
According to Lee, Beijing had allowed its embassy to be used as a site for secure radio
transmission facilities by the Serbian military, whose own communications network was a primary
target of NATO airstrikes. Meanwhile, Serbian air defenses had shot down an advanced American
F-117A fighter, whose top-secret stealth technology was a crucial U.S. military secret.
Portions of that enormously valuable wreckage were carefully gathered by the grateful Serbs,
who delivered it to the Chinese for temporary storage at their embassy prior to transport back
home. This vital technological acquisition later allowed China to deploy its own J20 stealth
fighter in early 2011, many years sooner than American military analysts had believed
possible.
Based upon this analysis, Lee argued that the Chinese embassy was attacked in order to
destroy the Serbian retransmission facilities located there, while punishing the Chinese for
allowing such use. There were also widespread rumors in China that another motive had been an
unsuccessful attempt to destroy the stealth debris stored within. Later Congressional testimony
revealed
that the among all the hundreds of NATO airstrikes, the attack on the Chinese embassy was the
only one directly ordered by the CIA, a highly-suspicious detail.
I was only slightly familiar with Lee's work, and under normal circumstances I would have
been very cautious in accepting his remarkable claims against the contrary position universally
held by all our own elite media outlets. But the sources he cited completely shifted that
balance.
Although the American media dominates the English-language world, many British publications
also possess a strong global reputation, and since they are often much less in thrall to our
own national security state, they have sometimes covered important stories that were ignored
here. And in this case, the Sunday Observer published a remarkable expose in October
1999, citing several NATO military and intelligence sources who fully confirmed the deliberate
nature of the American bombing of the Chinese embassy, with a US colonel even reportedly
boasting that their smartbomb had hit the exact room intended.
This important story was immediately summarized in the Guardian ,
a sister publication, and also covered by the rival Times of London and many of the
world's other most prestigious publications, but encountered an absolute wall of silence in our
own country. Such a bizarre divergence on a story of global strategic importance -- a
deliberate and deadly US attack against Chinese diplomatic territory -- drew the attention of
FAIR, a leading American media watchdog group, which published
an initial critique and
a subsequent follow-up . These two pieces totaled some 3,000 words, and effectively
summarized both the overwhelming evidence of the facts and also the heavy international
coverage, while reporting the weak excuses made by top American editors to explain their
continuing silence. Based upon these articles, I consider the matter settled.
Few Americans remember our 1999 attack upon the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and if not for
the annual waving of a bloody June 4th flag by our ignorant and disingenuous media, the
"Tiananmen Square Massacre" would also have long since faded from memory. Neither of these
events has much direct importance today, at least for our own citizens. But the broader media
implications of these examples do seem quite significant.
These incidents represented two of the most serious flashpoints between the Chinese and
American governments during the last thirty-odd years. In both cases the claims of the Chinese
government were entirely correct, although they were denied by our own top political leaders
and dismissed or ridiculed by virtually our entire mainstream media. Moreover, within a few
months or a year the true facts became known to many journalists, even being reported in fully
respectable venues. But that reality was still completely ignored and suppressed for decades,
so that today almost no American whose information comes from our regular media would even be
aware of it. Indeed, since many younger journalists draw their knowledge of the world from
these same elite media sources, I suspect that many of them have never learned what their
predecessors knew but dared not mention.
Most leading Chinese media outlets are owned or controlled by the Chinese government, and
they tend to broadly follow the government line. Leading American media outlets have a
corporate ownership structure and often boast of their fierce independence; but on many crucial
matters, I think the actual reality is not so very different from that in China.
I tend to doubt that Chinese leaders have any overwhelming commitment to the truth, and the
reasons for their greater veracity are probably practical ones. American news and entertainment
completely dominate the global media landscape and they face no significant domestic rival. So
China recognizes that it is vastly outmatched in any propaganda conflict, and as the far weaker
party must necessarily try to stick closer to the truth, lest its lies be immediately exposed.
Meanwhile, America's overwhelming control over global information may inspire considerable
hubris, with the government sometimes promoting the most outrageous and ridiculous falsehoods
in the confident belief that a supportive American media will cover for any mistakes.
These considerations should be kept in mind as we attempt to sift the accounts of our often
unreliable and dishonest media in hopes of extracting the true circumstances of the current
coronavirus epidemic. Unlike careful historical studies, we are working in real-time and our
analysis is greatly hindered by the ongoing fog of war, so that any conclusions are necessarily
very preliminary ones. But given the high stakes, such an attempt seems warranted.
When my morning newspapers first began mentioning the appearance of a mysterious new illness
in China during mid-January, I paid little attention, absorbed as I was in the aftermath of our
sudden assassination of Iran's top military leader and the dangerous possibility of a yet
another Middle Eastern war. But the reports persisted and grew, with deaths occurring and
evidence growing that the viral disease could be transmitted between humans. China's early
conventional efforts seemed unsuccessful in halting the spread of the disease.
Then on Jan. 23rd and after only 17 deaths, the Chinese government took the astonishing step
of locking down and quarantining the entire 11 million inhabitants of the city of Wuhan, a
story that drew worldwide attention. They soon extended this policy to the 60 million Chinese
of Hubei province, and not longer afterward shut down their entire national economy and
confined 700 million Chinese to their homes, a public health measure probably a thousand times
larger than anything previously undertaken in human history. So either the China's leadership
had suddenly gone insane, or they regarded this new virus as an absolutely deadly national
threat, one that needed to be controlled at any possible cost.
Given these dramatic Chinese actions and the international headlines that they generated,
the current accusations by Trump Administration officials that China had attempted to minimize
or conceal the serious nature of the disease outbreak is so ludicrous as to defy rationality.
In any event, the record shows that on December 31st, the Chinese had already alerted the World
Health Organization to the strange new illness, and Chinese scientists published the entire
genome of the virus on Jan. 12th, allowing diagnostic tests to be produced worldwide.
Unlike other nations, China had received no advance warning of the nature or existence of
the deadly new disease, and therefore faced unique obstacles. But their government implemented
public health control measures unprecedented in the history of the world and managed to almost
completely eradicate the disease with merely the loss of a few thousand lives. Meanwhile, many
other Western countries such as the US, Italy, Spain, France, and Britain dawdled for months
and ignored the potential threat, and have now suffered well over 100,000 dead as a
consequence, with the toll still rapidly mounting. For any of these nations or their media
organs to criticize China for its ineffectiveness or slow response represents an absolute
inversion of reality.
Some governments took full advantage of the early warning and scientific information
provided by China. Although nearby East Asian nations such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and
Singapore had been at greatest risk and were among the first infected, their competent and
energetic responses allowed them to almost completely suppress any major outbreak, and they
have suffered minimal fatalities. But America and several European countries avoiding adopting
these same early measures such as widespread testing, quarantine, and contact-tracing, and have
paid a terrible price for their insouciance.
A few weeks ago British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that his own disease
strategy for Britain was based upon rapidly achieving "herd immunity" -- essentially
encouraging the bulk of his citizens to become infected -- then quickly backed away after his
desperate advisors recognized that the result might entail a million or more British
deaths.
By any reasonable measure, the response to this global health crisis by China and most East
Asian countries has been absolutely exemplary, while that of many Western countries has been
equally disastrous. Maintaining reasonable public health has been a basic function of
governments since the days of the city-states of Sumeria, and the sheer and total incompetence
of America and most of its European vassals has been breathtaking. If the Western media
attempts to pretend otherwise, it will permanently forfeit whatever remaining international
credibility it still possesses.
I do not think these particular facts are much disputed except among the most blinkered
partisans, and the Trump Administration probably recognizes the hopelessness of arguing
otherwise. This probably explains its recent shift towards a far more explosive and
controversial narrative, namely claiming that Covid-19 may have been the product of Chinese
research into deadly viruses at a Wuhan laboratory, which suggests that the blood of hundreds
of thousands or millions of victims around the world will be on Chinese hands. Dramatic
accusations backed by overwhelming international media power may deeply resonate across the
globe.
News reports appearing in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have been reasonably consistent. Senior Trump Administration
officials have pointed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a leading Chinese biolab, as the
possible source of the infection, with the deadly virus having been accidentally released,
subsequently spreading first throughout China and later worldwide. Trump himself has publicly
voiced similar suspicions, as did Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo in a
FoxNews
interview. Private lawsuits against China in the multi-trillion-dollar range have already
been filed by
rightwing activists and Republican senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham have raised similar
governmental demands.
I obviously have no personal access to the classified intelligence reports that have been
the basis of these charges by Trump, Pompeo, and other top administration officials. But in
reading these recent news accounts, I noticed something rather odd.
Back in January, few Americans were paying much attention to the early reports of an unusual
disease outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which was hardly a household name. Instead,
overwhelming political attention was focused on the battle over Trump's impeachment and the
aftermath of our dangerous military confrontation with Iran. But towards the end of that month,
I discovered that the fringes of the Internet were awash with claims that the disease was
caused by a Chinese bioweapon accidentally released from that same Wuhan laboratory, with
former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and ZeroHedge , a popular right-wing
conspiracy-website, playing leading roles in advancing the theory. Indeed, the stories became
so widespread in those ideological circles that Sen. Tom Cotton, a leading Republican Neocon,
began promoting them on Twitter and FoxNews, thereby provoking an
article in the NYT on those "fringe conspiracy theories."
I suspect that it may be more than purely coincidental that the biowarfare theories which
erupted in such concerted fashion on small political websites and Social Media accounts back in
January so closely match those now publicly advocated by top Trump Administration officials and
supposedly based upon our most secure intelligence sources. Perhaps a few intrepid
citizen-activists managed to replicate the findings of our multi-billion-dollar intelligence
apparatus, and did so in days while the latter required weeks or months. But a more likely
scenario is that the wave of January speculation was driven by private leaks and "guidance"
provided by exactly the same elements that today are very publicly leveling similar charges in
the elite media. Initially promoting controversial theories in less mainstream outlets has long
been a fairly standard intelligence practice.
Regardless of the origins of the idea, does it seem plausible that the coronavirus outbreak
might have originated as an accidental leak from that Chinese laboratory? I am not privy to the
security procedures of Chinese government facilities, but applying a little common sense may
shed some light on that question.
Although the coronavirus is only moderately lethal, apparently having a fatality rate of 1%
or less, it is extremely contagious, including during an extended pre-symptomatic period and
also among asymptomatic carriers. Thus, portions of the US and Europe are now suffering heavy
casualties, while the policies adopted to control the spread have devastated their national
economies. Although the virus is unlikely to kill more than a small sliver of our population,
we have seen to our dismay how a major outbreak can so easily wreck our entire economic
life.
During January, the journalists reporting on China's mushrooming health crisis regularly
emphasized that the mysterious new viral outbreak had occurred at the worst possible place and
time, appearing in the major transport hub of Wuhan just prior to the Lunar New Year holiday,
when hundreds of millions of Chinese would normally travel to their distant family homes for
the celebration, thereby potentially spreading the disease to all parts of the country and
producing a permanent, uncontrollable epidemic. The Chinese government avoided that grim fate
by the unprecedented decision to shut down its entire national economy and confine 700 million
Chinese to their own homes for many weeks. But the outcome seems to have been a very near
thing, and if Wuhan had remained open for just a few days longer, China might easily have
suffered long-term economic and social devastation.
The timing of an accidental laboratory release would obviously be entirely random. Yet the
outbreak seems to have begun during the precise period of time most likely to damage China, the
worst possible ten-day or perhaps thirty-day window. As I noted in
January, I saw no solid evidence that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, but if it were, the
timing of the release seemed very unlikely to have been accidental.
If the virus was released intentionally, the context and motive for such a biowarfare attack
against China could not be more obvious. Although our disingenuous media continues to pretend
otherwise, the size of China's economy surpassed that of our own several years ago, and has
continued to grow much more rapidly. Chinese companies have also taken the lead in several
crucial technologies, with Huawei becoming the world's leading telecommunications equipment
manufacturer and dominating the important 5G market. China's sweeping Belt and Road Initiative
has threatened to reorient global trade around an interconnected Eurasian landmass, greatly
diminishing the leverage of America's own control over the seas. I have closely followed China
for over forty years, and the trend-lines have never been more apparent. Back in 2012, I
published an article bearing the provocative title "China's Rise, America's Fall?" and
since then I have seen no reason to reassess my verdict.
Which superpower is more threatened by its "extractive elites"?
RON UNZ • THE
AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, APRIL 17, 2012 • 7,000 WORDS
For three generations following the end of World War II, America had stood as the world's
supreme economic and technological power, while the collapse of the Soviet Union thirty years
ago left us as the sole remaining superpower, facing no conceivable military rival. A growing
sense that we were rapidly losing that unchallenged position had certainly inspired the
anti-China rhetoric of many senior figures in the Trump Administration, who launched a major
trade war soon after coming into office. The increasing misery and growing impoverishment of
large sections of the American population naturally left these voters searching for a
convenient scapegoat, and the prosperous, rising Chinese made a perfect target.
Despite America's growing economic conflict with China over the last couple of years, I had
never considered the possibility that matters might take a military turn. The Chinese had long
ago deployed advanced intermediate range missiles that many believed could easily sink our
carriers in the region, and they had also generally improved their conventional military
deterrent. Moreover, China was on quite good terms with Russia, which itself had been the
target of intense American hostility for several years; and Russia's new suite of revolutionary
hypersonic missiles had drastically reduced any American strategic advantage. Thus, a
conventional war against China seemed an absolutely hopeless undertaking, while China's
outstanding businessmen and engineers were steadily gaining ground against America's decaying
and heavily-financialized economic system.
Under these difficult circumstances, an American biowarfare attack against China might have
seemed the only remaining card to play in hopes of maintaining American supremacy. Plausible
deniability would minimize the risk of any direct Chinese retaliation, and if successful, the
terrible blow inflicted to China's economy would set it back for many years, perhaps even
destabilizing its social and political system. Using alternative media to immediately promote
theories that the coronavirus outbreak was the result of a leak from a Chinese biowarfare lab
was a natural means of preempting any later Chinese accusations along similar lines, thereby
allowing America to win the international propaganda war before China had even begun to
play.
A decision by elements of our national security establishment to wage biological warfare in
hopes of maintaining American world power would certainly have been an extremely reckless act,
but extreme recklessness has become a regular aspect of American behavior since 2001,
especially under the Trump Administration. Just a year earlier we had kidnapped the
daughter of Huawei's founder and chairman, who also served as CFO and ranked as one of China's
most top executives, while at the beginning of January we suddenly assassinated Iran's top
military leader.
These were the thoughts that entered my mind during the last week of January once I
discovered the widely circulating theories suggesting that China's massive disease epidemic had
been the self-inflicted consequence of its own biowarfare research. I saw no solid evidence
that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, but if it were, China was surely the innocent victim of
the attack, presumably carried out by elements of the American national security
establishment.
Soon afterward, someone brought to my attention a very long article by an American ex-pat
living in China who called himself "Metallicman" and held a wide range of eccentric and
implausible beliefs. I have long recognized that flawed individuals can often serve as the
vessels of important information otherwise unavailable, and this case constituted a perfect
example. His piece denounced the outbreak as a likely American biowarfare attack, and provided
a great wealth of factual material I had not previously considered. Since he authorized
republication elsewhere I did so, and
his 15,000 word analysis , although somewhat raw and unpolished, began attracting an
enormous amount of readership on our website, probably being one of the very first
English-language pieces to suggest that the mysterious new disease was an American bioweapon.
Many of his arguments appeared doubtful to me or have been obviated by later developments, but
several seemed quite telling.
He pointed out that during the previous two years, the Chinese economy had already suffered
serious blows from other mysterious new diseases, although these had targeted farm animals
rather than people. During 2018 a new Avian Flu virus had swept the country, eliminating large
portions of China's poultry industry, and during 2019 the Swine Flu viral epidemic had
devastated China's pig farms, destroying 40% of the nation's primary domestic source of meat,
with widespread claims that the latter disease was being spread by mysterious small drones. My
morning newspapers had hardly ignored these important business stories, noting
that the sudden collapse of much of China's domestic food production might prove a huge boon to
American farm exports at the height of our trade conflict, but I had never considered the
obvious implications. So for three years in a row, China had been severely impacted by strange
new viral diseases, though only the most recent had been deadly to humans. This evidence was
merely circumstantial, but the pattern seemed highly suspicious.
The writer also noted that shortly before the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, that city had
hosted 300 visiting American military officers, who came to participate in the 2019 Military World
Games , an absolutely remarkable coincidence of timing. As
I pointed out at the time, how would Americans react if 300 Chinese military officers had
paid an extended visit to Chicago, and soon afterward a mysterious and deadly epidemic had
suddenly broken out in that city? Once again, the evidence was merely circumstantial but
certainly raised dark suspicions.
Scientific investigation of the coronavirus had already pointed to its origins in a bat
virus, leading to widespread media speculation that bats sold as food in the Wuhan open markets
had been the original disease vector. Meanwhile, the orchestrated waves of anti-China
accusations had emphasized Chinese laboratory research on that same viral source. But we soon
published
a lengthy article by investigative journalist Whitney Webb providing copious evidence of
America's own enormous biowarfare research efforts, which had similarly focused for years on
bat viruses. Webb was then associated with MintPress News , but that publication had
strangely declined to publish her important piece, perhaps skittish about the grave suspicions
it directed towards the US government on so momentous an issue. So without the benefit of our
platform, her major contribution to the public debate might have attracted relatively little
readership.
Around the same time, I noted another
extremely strange coincidence that failed to attract any interest from our somnolent national
media. Although his name had meant nothing to me, in late January my morning newspapers carried
major stories on the
sudden arrest of Prof. Charles Lieber, one of Harvard University's top scientists and Chairman
of its Chemistry Department, sometimes characterized as a potential future Nobel Laureate.
The circumstances of that case seemed utterly bizarre to me. Like numerous other prominent
American academics, Lieber had had decades of close research ties with China, holding joint
appointments and receiving substantial funding for his work. But now he was accused of
financial reporting violations in the disclosure portions of his government grant applications
-- the most obscure sort of offense -- and on the basis of those accusations, he was seized by
the FBI in an early-morning raid on his suburban Lexington home and dragged off in shackles,
potentially facing years of federal imprisonment.
Such government action against an academic seemed almost without precedent. During the
height of the Cold War, numerous American scientists and technicians were rightfully accused of
having stolen our nuclear weapons secrets for delivery to Stalin, yet I had never heard of any
of them treated in so harsh a manner, let alone a scholar of Prof. Lieber's stature, who was
merely charged with technical disclosure violations. Indeed, this incident recalled accounts of
NKVD raids during the Soviet purges of the 1930s.
Although Lieber was described as a chemistry professor, a few seconds of Googling revealed
that some of his most important work had been in virology, including technology for the
detection of viruses. So a massive and deadly new viral epidemic had broken out in China and
almost simultaneously, a top American scholar with close Chinese ties and expertise in viruses
was suddenly arrested by the federal government, yet no one in the media expressed any
curiosity at a possible connection between these two events.
I think we can safely assume that Lieber's arrest by the FBI had been prompted by the
concurrent coronavirus epidemic, but anything more is mere speculation. Those now accusing
China of having created the coronavirus might surely suggest that our intelligence agencies
discovered that the Harvard professor had been personally involved with that deadly research.
But I think a far more likely possibility is that Lieber began to wonder whether the epidemic
in China might not be the result of an American biowarfare attack, and was perhaps a little too
free in voicing his suspicions, thereby drawing the wrath of our national security
establishment. Inflicting such extremely harsh treatment upon a top Harvard scientist would
greatly intimidate all of his lesser colleagues elsewhere, who would surely now think twice
before broaching certain controversial theories to any journalist.
By the end of January, our webzine had published a dozen articles and posts on the
coronavirus outbreak, then added many more by the middle of February. These pieces totaled tens
of thousands of words and attracted a half million words of comments, probably representing the
primary English-language source for a particular perspective on the deadly epidemic, with this
material eventually drawing many hundreds of thousands of pageviews. A few weeks later, the
Chinese government began gingerly raising the possibility that the coronavirus may have been
brought to Wuhan by the 300 American military officers visiting that city, and was
fiercely attacked by the Trump Administration for spreading anti-American propaganda. But I
strongly suspect that the Chinese had gotten that idea from our own publication.
As the coronavirus gradually began to spread beyond China's own borders, another development
occurred that greatly multiplied my suspicions. Most of these early cases had occurred exactly
where one might expect, among the East Asian countries bordering China. But by late February
Iran had become the second epicenter of the global outbreak. Even more surprisingly, its
political elites had been especially hard-hit, with a full 10% of the entire
Iranian parliament soon infected and at least
a dozen of its officials and politicians dying of the disease, including some who were
quite
senior . Indeed, Neocon activists on Twitter began gleefully noting that their hatred
Iranian enemies were now dropping like flies.
Let us consider the implications of these facts. Across the entire world the only political
elites that have yet suffered any significant human losses have been those of Iran, and they
died at a very early stage, before significant outbreaks had even occurred almost anywhere else
in the world outside China. Thus, we have America assassinating Iran's top military commander
on Jan. 2nd and then just a few weeks later large portions of the Iranian ruling elites became
infected by a mysterious and deadly new virus, with many of them soon dying as a consequence.
Could any rational individual possibly regard this as a mere coincidence?
Biological warfare is a highly technical subject, and those possessing such expertise are
unlikely to candidly report their classified research activities in the pages of our major
newspapers, perhaps even less so after Prof. Lieber was dragged off to prison in chains. My own
knowledge is nil. But in mid-March I came across several extremely long and detailed comments
on the coronavirus outbreak that had been posted on a small website by an individual calling
himself "OldMicrobiologist" and who claimed to be a retired forty-year veteran of American
biodefense. The style and details of his material struck me as quite credible, and after a
little further investigation I concluded that there was a high likelihood his background was
exactly as he had described. I made arrangements to republish his comments in the form of
a 3,400 word
article , which soon attracted a great deal of traffic and 80,000 words of further
comments.
Although the writer emphasized the lack of any hard evidence, he said that his experience
led him to strongly suspect that the coronavirus outbreak was indeed an American biowarfare
attack against China, probably carried out by agents brought into that country under cover of
the Military Games held at Wuhan in late October, the sort of sabotage operation our
intelligence agencies had sometimes undertaken elsewhere. One important point he made was that
high lethality was often counter-productive in a bioweapon since debilitating or hospitalizing
large numbers of individuals may impose far greater economic costs on a country than a
biological agent which simply inflicts an equal number of deaths. In his words "a high
communicability, low lethality disease is perfect for ruining an economy," suggesting that the
apparent characteristics of the coronavirus were close to optimal in this regard. Those so
interested should read his analysis and judge for themselves his possible credibility and
persuasiveness.
One intriguing aspect of the situation was that almost from the first moment that reports of
the strange new epidemic in China reached the international media, a large and orchestrated
campaign had been launched on numerous websites and Social Media platforms to identify the
cause as a Chinese bioweapon carelessly released in its own country. Meanwhile, the far more
plausible hypothesis that China was the victim rather than the perpetrator had received
virtually no organized support anywhere, and only began to take shape as I gradually located
and republished relevant material, usually drawn from very obscure quarters and often
anonymously authored. So it seemed that only the side hostile to China was waging an active
information war. The outbreak of the disease and the nearly simultaneous launch of such a major
propaganda campaign may not necessarily prove that an actual biowarfare attack had occurred,
but I do think it tends to support such a theory.
When considering the hypothesis of an American biowarfare attack, certain natural objections
come to mind. The major drawback to biological warfare has always been the obvious fact that
the self-replicating agents employed will not respect national borders, thus raising the
serious risk that the disease might eventually return to the land of its origin and inflict
substantial casualties. For this reason, it seems very doubtful that any rational and
half-competent American leadership would have unleashed the coronavirus against China.
But as we see absolutely demonstrated in our daily news headlines, America's current
government is grotesquely and manifestly incompetent , more incompetent than one could
almost possibly imagine, with tens of thousands of Americans having now already paid with their
lives for such extreme incompetence. Rationality and competence are obviously nowhere to be
found among the Deep State Neocons that President Donald Trump has appointed to so many crucial
positions throughout our national security apparatus.
Moreover, the extremely lackadaisical notion that a massive coronavirus outbreak in China
would never spread back to America might have seemed plausible to individuals who carelessly
assumed that past historical analogies would continue to apply. As
I wrote a few weeks ago:
Reasonable people have suggested that if the coronavirus was a bioweapon deployed by
elements of the American national security apparatus against China (and Iran), it's difficult
to imagine why the they didn't assume it would naturally leak back in the US and start a huge
pandemic here, as is currently happening.
The most obvious answer is that they were stupid and incompetent, but here's another point
to consider
In late 2002 there was the outbreak of SARS in China, a related virus but that was far
more deadly and somewhat different in other characteristics. The virus killed hundreds of
Chinese and spread into a few other countries before it was controlled and stamped out. The
impact on the US and Europe was negligible, with just a small scattering of cases and only a
death or two.
So if American biowarfare analysts were considering a coronavirus attack against China,
isn't it quite possible they would have said to themselves that since SARS never
significantly leaked back into the US or Europe, we'd similarly remain insulated from the
coronavirus? Obviously, such an analysis was foolish and mistaken, but would it have seemed
so implausible at the time?
As some must have surely noticed, I have deliberately avoided investigating any of the
scientific details of the coronavirus. In principle, an objective and accurate analysis of the
characteristics and structure of the virus might help suggest whether it was entirely natural
or rather the product of a research laboratory, and in the latter case, perhaps whether the
likely source was China, America, or some third country.
But we are dealing with a cataclysmic world event and those questions obviously have
enormous political ramifications, so the entire subject is shrouded by a thick fog of complex
propaganda, with numerous conflicting claims being advanced by interested parties. I have no
background in microbiology let alone biological warfare, so I would be hopelessly adrift in
evaluating such conflicting scientific and technical claims. I suspect that this is equally
true of the overwhelming majority of other observers as well, although committed partisans are
loathe to admit that fact, and will eagerly seize upon any scientific argument that supports
their preferred position while rejecting those that contradict it.
Therefore, by necessity, my own focus is on evidence that can at least be understood by
every layman, if not necessarily always accepted. And I believe that the simple juxtaposition
of several recent disclosures in the mainstream media leads to a rather telling conclusion.
For obvious reasons, the Trump Administration has become very eager to emphasize the early
missteps and delays in the Chinese reaction to the viral outbreak in Wuhan, and has presumably
encouraged our media outlets to direct their focus in that direction.
As an example of this, the Associated Press Investigative Unit recently published a rather
detailed analysis of those early events purportedly based upon confidential Chinese documents.
Provocatively entitled "China Didn't Warn Public of Likely
Pandemic for 6 Key Days" , the piece was widely distributed, running
in abridged form in the NYT and elsewhere. According to this reconstruction, the
Chinese government first became aware of the seriousness of this public health crisis on Jan.
14th, but delayed taking any major action until Jan. 20th, a period of time during which the
number of infections greatly multiplied.
Last month, a team of five WSJ reporters produced a very detailed and thorough
4,400 word analysis of the same period, and the NYT has published a helpful timeline of
those early events as well. Although there may be some differences of emphasis or minor
disagreements, all these American media sources agree that Chinese officials first became aware
of the serious viral outbreak in Wuhan in early to mid-January, with the first known death
occurring on Jan. 11th, and finally implemented major new public health measures later that
same month. No one has apparently disputed these basic facts.
But with the horrific consequences of our own later governmental inaction being obvious,
sources within our intelligence agencies have sought to demonstrate that they were not the ones
asleep at the switch. Earlier this month,
an ABC News story cited four separate government sources to reveal that as far back
as late November, a special medical intelligence unit within our Defense Intelligence Agency
had produced a report revealing than an out-of-control disease epidemic was occurring in the
Wuhan area of China, and widely distributed that document throughout the top ranks of our
government, warning that steps should be taken to protect US forces based in Asia. After the
story aired, a Pentagon spokesman officially denied the existence of that November report,
while various other top level government and intelligence officials refused to comment. But a
few days later,
Israeli television revealed that in November American intelligence had indeed shared such a
report on the Wuhan disease outbreak with its NATO and Israeli allies, thus seeming to
independently confirm the complete accuracy of the original ABC News story and its
several government sources.
It therefore appears that elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency were aware of the
deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any officials in the Chinese government
itself. Unless our intelligence agencies have pioneered the technology of precognition, I
think this may have happened for the same reason that arsonists have the earliest knowledge of
future fires.
Back in February, before a single American had died from the disease,
I wrote my own overview of the possible course of events, and I would still stand by it
today:
Consider a particularly ironic outcome of this situation, not particularly likely but
certainly possible
Everyone knows that America's ruling elites are criminal, crazy, and also extremely
incompetent.
So perhaps the coronavirus outbreak was indeed a deliberate biowarfare attack against
China, hitting that nation just before Lunar New Year, the worst possible time to produce a
permanent nationwide pandemic. However, the PRC responded with remarkable speed and
efficiency, implementing by far the largest quarantine in human history, and the deadly
disease now seems to be in decline there.
Meanwhile, the disease naturally leaks back into the US, and despite all the advance
warning, our totally incompetent government mismanages the situation, producing a huge
national health disaster, and the collapse of our economy and decrepit political system.
As I said, not particularly likely, but certainly a very fitting end to the American
Empire
US President Donald Trump is standing by his previous conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 novel coronavirus was unleashed onto
to the world following a possible mishap at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology. "Something happened," Trump, referring to the virology
lab, asserted to reporters on Thursday after being questioned about his unsubstantiated theory on COVID-19's origin.
"Probably it was incompetence. Somebody was stupid," he added amid a White House photo-op with Texas Governor Greg Abbott,
as reported by the pool
.
While Trump's evidence of the virus' link to the Wuhan lab remains to be seen by the public, that has not prevented the US president
and
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from ramping up anti-Beijing rhetoric.
"China could have spared the world a descent into global economic malaise. They had a choice but instead - instead China covered
up the outbreak in Wuhan," Pompeo
told reporters Wednesday.
Beijing has repeatedly rejected the US officials' theory on COVID-19's origin and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying
said the US should "handle its domestic affairs properly first," rather than attempt to shift blame and focus onto China.
and I know that the Yank WASP Elites ape the Brit WASP Elites in everything,
Replace that with the American Jewish elite coordinate with the British Jewish elite in everything, and you'd get this
one right.
The Chinese Communist Party is no more corrupt than the Deep State, just a little less unctuous, and at least they also try
to make life better for their citizens while enriching themselves. Our (((elites))) only care about making life better for themselves,
while feeding the masses nothing but lies and BS through their media mouthpieces and academic "experts".
Bill Gates was involved in the "Global Pandemic Exercise" that was organized by Johns Hopkins last October. The world needs
an explanation on why that conference was held. The timing sure was suspicious. What do Bill and those virus "experts" know that
we don't know. The fictitious virus that was discussed, CAPS, was eerily similar to SARS-Cov-2: https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/11/06/event-201-health-security/
The CAPS virus-which Toner describes as a cousin of SARS, "but slightly more transmissible, like the flu, and slightly more
lethal"-was presented as resistant to any existing vaccine, as scientists scrambled to come up with one. Citizens, meanwhile,
were rioting over scarce access to the next best thing: a fictional antiviral known to treat some CAPS symptoms.
That scenario, Toner says, is utterly realistic. "We don't have a vaccine for SARS, or MERS, or various avian flu viruses
that have come up in the past decade," he notes. "That's because vaccine development is slow and difficult if there isn't an
immediate market for it."
In the simulation, CAPS resulted in a death toll of 65 million people within 18 months-surpassing the deadliest pandemic
in history, the 1918 Spanish flu.
"... In a modern-day version of the "big lie," the Trump administration is claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic is the product of the deliberate actions of the Chinese government. ..."
"... On Sunday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that there is "enormous evidence" that the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, adding, "Remember, China has a history of infecting the world." In a separate interview Sunday, White House advisor Peter Navarro declared that China "seeded the world with what became the pandemic." He added, "I did write a book in 2006 called The Coming China Wars . On page 150, I predicted that the Chinese Communist Party would create a viral pandemic that would kill millions of people worldwide. It is now beyond my wildest nightmare what China has inflicted on the world." ..."
"... These are brazen and unsubstantiated lies. Neither Trump, Pompeo, Navarro or anyone else has provided a shred of evidence to substantiate their claims. ..."
In a modern-day version of the "big lie," the Trump administration is claiming that the
COVID-19 pandemic is the product of the deliberate actions of the Chinese government. On
Sunday, President Donald Trump, in a "town hall" with Fox News, accused China of taking actions
specifically intended to infect millions of Europeans and Americans. After repeating the false
claim that the novel coronavirus originated in a research laboratory in Wuhan, which he said
China tried to cover up, Trump declared: "They didn't stop people going into the USA and all
over the world... They said, hey look, this is going to have a huge impact on China, and we
might as well let the rest of the world" become infected. ...
Such claims have been asserted repeatedly in recent days by top administration officials. On
Sunday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that there is "enormous evidence" that
the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, adding, "Remember, China has a history of infecting
the world." In a separate interview Sunday, White House advisor Peter Navarro declared that
China "seeded the world with what became the pandemic." He added, "I did write a book in 2006
called The Coming China Wars . On page 150, I predicted that the Chinese Communist Party
would create a viral pandemic that would kill millions of people worldwide. It is now beyond my
wildest nightmare what China has inflicted on the world."
These are brazen and unsubstantiated lies. Neither Trump, Pompeo, Navarro or anyone else has
provided a shred of evidence to substantiate their claims.
The method recalls that of Nazi Germany, which collapsed 75 years ago this month. Hitler,
who committed suicide on April 30, 1945, amid the rubble of the Third Reich, used it to justify
the invasions of Poland and Czechoslovakia and other crimes. The aim of the "big lie" is to
intimidate through its sheer brazenness. According to Wikipedia, it "is a propaganda technique
and logical fallacy. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book
Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so 'colossal' that no one would believe that someone 'could
have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.'"
Trump's utilization of this method comes at the very point where the American government is
abandoning any systematic effort to slow the spread of the pandemic, effectively allowing large
sections of the population to become infected. The Trump administration is seeking to provide
itself with an escape hatch. Whatever happens, it is China's fault. Knowing that its program
will lead to a rapid and substantial growth of fatalities, the White House is hoping that when
the butcher's bill of its disastrous policies comes due, it will be able to direct social
tensions outward against China.
I was convinced that this virus originated from China, then a series of things happened that
cast doubt on that assumption. The first is the series of actions taken by the Trump admin as
soon as China went on lockdown in Wuhan. Almost immediately, Trump-Pompeo et. al. went on
offense. Within a week they had 1) charged Huawei's CFO with racketeering, a charge normally
reserved for mob bosses who ordered murders, 2) Pompeo attended the World Security Conference
in Munich and told Europe that China is losing, America is winning, and that Europe needs to
stick with the US, 3) Mark Esper Secretary of Defense spoke right after Pompeo and told the
Europeans China is our biggest threat, not Russia, 4) Trump ban sale of all jet engines to
China, 5) Trump ban sale of microchips to Huawei even from non-US companies, 6) the strange
arrest of the Harvard Chemistry professor with dubious charges of ties to China.
These things occurred in quick succession while China was busy fighting Covid-19, it was
like kicking someone while they are down. You almost have to wipe the glee off these
Zionists' faces. Meanwhile Zerohedge went on daily attacks of China, almost immediately
started blaming the Wuhan lab without any evidence, and hysterically publishing models that
predicted 30 million deaths from Covid-19. Breitbart the Zionist mouthpiece also went on
daily attacks of China calling it "Chinese virus" etc., with Tom Cotton the foremost Zionist
dog barking like crazy behind all the Wuhan lab accusations right from the get go. Now Pompeo
has come out accusing the Wuhan lab, while presenting little to no evidence.
I would've been far more suspicious of the Wuhan lab if all these Zionist dogs didn't bark
like crazy with their accusations. But now that they have, it's making me think the opposite
might be true, that they orchestrated this whole thing and engineered the virus. It would
explain why Iran and Italy, China's two closest allies, are getting hit the worst. And now
it's also exploding in Russia, another of China's closest allies. It's just like I was
supportive of Trump's trade war with China until George Soros came out in support of it. Then
I knew something was up.
Anything that Pompeo and Soros support, I am against. Whatever that comes out of their
mouths, I know that if I believe the opposite, I'd be a lot closer to the truth.
Members of the scientific community have recently come to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's
defense, as US officials and prominent individuals around the world have accused the facility
of manufacturing or accidentally releasing the COVID-19 coronavirus. Despite the protests, one
microbiologist tells Sputnik there may be some truth in the attacks. Dr. Dady Chery, a
microbiologist, co-editor-in-chief of News Junkie Post and author of "We Have Dared to Be
Free," joined Radio
Sputnik's Political Misfits on Monday to discuss why she disagrees with the assertion that
the novel coronavirus is a product of nature, rather than a lab.
"China is not the only place to be blamed for this," Chery noted to hosts Bob Schlehuber and
Jamarl Thomas. "I think the Wuhan Institute of Virology was almost certainly involved in the
SARS-CoV-2 research, but the Wuhan Institute of Technology was actually built with French
help for $42.4 million."
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus strain that causes COVID-19.
She asserted that, from the start, China has had a number of international partners
assisting in endeavors at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Chery explained that according to the lab's website , scientists
from France, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan,
Singapore, Pakistan and Kenya have all been within the highly secure facility.
Furthermore, its list of financial partners includes the European Union, United Nations'
Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization and the EcoHealth Alliance established under a
project by the United States Agency for International Development.
Chery highlighted that the EcoHealth Alliance "finances to go and find very, very nasty
pathogens in animals, and in humans, and bring them to biosafety level four [BSL-4] labs for
research." She added that there are only around 30 BSL-4 labs, featuring the highest level of
biosafety precautions, that deal with that type of research.
"No legitimate scientist can really verify their research unless they also have access to a
BSL-4 lab and want to take those kinds of risks," she said.
When it comes to the virus itself, Chery explained that of the 16 proteins present in it,
the spike protein is the focal point for scientists. This particular protein is the one
responsible for recognizing the receptor protein on the surface of human cells so that it can
enter them.
Also, the Republican Party--in a released GOP memo--has nakedly pushed for its political
candidates in the 2020 election to play the "Blame China" card-- and conveniently divert
blame away from Trump.
This memo itself is pretty damning if you analyze it critically, as it "urges candidates
to stay relentlessly on message against the country when responding to any questions about
the virus. When asked whether the spread of the coronavirus is Trump's fault, candidates are
advised to respond by pivoting to China.
'Don't defend Trump, other than the China Travel Ban -- attack China,' the memo
states."
The "inelegance community" serves the interests of the empire, it is a secret army operated
by and for the oligarchy and paid for by society in blood and money.
___________________________________________________
Well sure but you have to be a very naive to believe the IC phony opposition to Trump is
genuine.
The IC operatives have done an enormous amount to raise the esteem of one DJ Trump in the
eyes of voters by coming up with the phony Russiagate and Ukrainegate scandals that always
seem unravel, backfire and fall apart much to the benefit of Trump.
It is amazing that so many people fail to grasp that the function of the intelligence
community is to provide the executive with intelligence. They do not provide the people with
intelligence. They blow smoke up our ass.
Two years ago, I investigated an alleged laboratory accident at the Lugar
Center, the Pentagon biolaboratory in Georgia's capital Tbilisi, which had resulted in the death of two
Filipinos working in the laboratory. The death cases were hidden by the local authorities but
I recorded on camera witnesses
who testified about this tragic incident.
The
Lugar Center, the Pentagon-funded biolaboratory in Georgia's capital Tbilisi (photo: Dilyana Gaytandzhieva)
However, what then seemed to me to be a local issue, turned out to be
part of a bigger story. The Lugar Center in Georgia is just one of the many
Pentagon biolaboratories in 25 countries
across the world. They are funded by the Defense
Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a
$
2.1 billion military program – Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP)
, and are
located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Middle East, South East Asia and
Africa. Much of their work is classified and includes projects on bio-agents and pathogens with pandemic
potential.
The first known case of use of biological weapons in our history was 250
years ago when the British gave blankets infected with smallpox to the indigenous people of North America.
As a result, a great many of them died and the British Empire gained control over the whole continent. 250
years on, history repeats itself. Biological weapons are definitely much more effective than nuclear
weapons. The use of nuclear weapons leaves traces: an airplane taking off from an aerodrome and launching a
rocket, a large number of participants in preparation of an attack. Therefore, the perpetrators can be
easily detected and held to account. Conversely, viruses can be used as weapons, though, they do not leave
such immediate or discernible traces and it takes only a few crazy people who have decided to kill millions.
According to some scientific estimates, biological weapons can
potentially destroy up to two thirds of the global population in just a year. Our world is one big
metropolis and even one virus engineered in a laboratory would be able to fulfil this goal in a short period
of time, at a minimal cost and without leaving traces to the perpetrator.
Below, I am presenting information about what I have discovered while
investigating Pentagon biolaboratories abroad.
Genetic Study on Bats
The Lugar Center, a $161 million Pentagon-funded biolaboratory in Georgia's
capital Tbilisi, discovered coronaviruses in bats with presumably pandemic potential as early as 2014,
documents have revealed.
Furthermore, in 2017 the Pentagon launched a $6.5 million program in
cooperation with the Lugar Center involving genetic studies on coronaviruses in 5,000 bats collected in
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Jordan.
Coincidentally, the same Pentagon contractor tasked with the US DoD
bat-research program – Eco Health Alliance, USA, also collected bats and isolated coronaviruses along with
Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Eco Health Alliance received a
$3.7 million grant
from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) to collect and study coronaviruses in
bats in China from 2014 to 2019.
Novel Coronaviruses
The Lugar Center sparked controversy about possible dual-use research in 2018
when
leaked documents
revealed that US diplomats in Georgia were involved in trafficking of frozen human
blood and pathogens for a secret military program.
Documents reveal that the Lugar Center also studied coronaviruses in bats.
In 2012 the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) collected and sampled 236
bats for research in Georgia in cooperation with the Lugar Center. The project was funded by the US DoD
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Part of the samples were shipped to CDC (Atlanta), for screening for
multiple pathogens, another part was stored at the Lugar Center for further studies.
In 2014 the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) launched a second project
"Emerging zoonotic pathogens in Georgian bats" along with Georgian scientists at the Lugar Center. The
project was funded by the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC).
Project G-2101
1
of 9
The ISTC project's objective is the discovery of novel pathogens including coronaviruses
in Georgian bats.
Former Bioweapon Scientists working at the Lugar Center
ISTC
, the organisation that funded the bat project in Georgia in 2014, was established in 1992 as a
non-proliferation international program, providing former biological and chemical weapons scientists with
new opportunities for sustainable, peaceful employment. Seven of the Georgian scientists involved in the
ISTC bat research project in Georgia turn out to be former bioweapon scientists who had previously worked on
the development of bioweapons, according to the ISTC project documents. Among them is Paata Imnadze, the
deputy-director of the Georgian National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) where the Lugar Center is
located.
7
out of 12 Lugar Center employees involved in the bat research project were former bioweapon scientists who
had previously worked on the development of biological weapons in the past.
One
of the Georgian scientists, Merab Mirtskhulava, has also identified himself as a former bioweapon scientist
in his CV
published
on the University of Michigan's website. He analysed the data collected under the ISTC G-2101
project.
Pathogens with pandemic potential
The Georgian National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) did mention briefly
the ISTC Project G-2101 in its
2016 annual report
.
250
bats were tested for presence of Lyssavirus, Coronavirus, Yersinia, Leptospira and Brucella pathogens. It is
noted that 30 percent of the fecal samples and anal swabs had tested positive for coronaviruses by PCR from
five different phylogenetic groups (source:
NCDC 2016 Annual Report
)
Bat Hunters
1
of 9
The Lugar Center scientists collected 450 bats in total in 2012 and 2014 (photos: Lela
Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in Georgian
bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Bat samples were shipped to CDC, Atlanta, for screening for pathogens (source: Lela
Urushadze, The First Bat Survey for Emerging Zoonotic Pathogens in Georgia)
30
% of the bat samples tested positive for coronaviruses, some of which closely related to the epidemic MERS
and SARS CoV (photo: Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
The Lugar Center discovered coronaviruses, similar to the epidemic SARS and MERS coronaviruses, according to
the ISTC project manager and Lugar Center virologist Lela Urushadze. These results were published by
Urushadze in her
dissertation
submitted to the Ilia State University in 2018.
Both SARS and MERS CoV have a pandemic potential and already caused global
epidemics in 2003 and 2013 respectively.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the overall
fatality rate for SARS
(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) patients at 14% to 15%, and for
MERS
(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) – at 35 %. Below are excerpts from the Urushadze's dissertation:
Coronaviruses in Georgian bats
1
of 8
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
Lela Urushadze, Zoonotic pathogens and their molecular epidemiological characteric in
Georgian bats, Dissertation, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2018)
"Based on our research, we can say that bats in Georgia are reservoirs of
such bacterial and viral pathogens as Bartonella, Coronavirus, Leptospira and Brucella, which are likely to
have pandemic potential", according to Lela Urushadze. She explains: "In total we have captured 450 bats
using nets and hand nets from eight different roosts. The experimental materials were collected twice in
2012 and 2014. They were transported in a field laboratory or BSL 3 Laboratory for further processing and
research for presence of the above mentioned pathogens".
According to the study, three samples tested positive for beta coronaviruses
and were closely related to the MERS-beta coronavirus isolated in an infected patient in Saudi Arabia who
died, as well as to MERS coronaviruses in camels in Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
The Georgian coronaviruses were similar to beta coronaviruses discovered in
bats in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and to the pandemic SARS coronavirus with lethal outcome in Amsterdam, China,
Florida and Colorado. The Lugar Center scientists also discovered SARS-like coronaviruses similar to those
in bats in China and Thailand.
In her dissertation Lela Urishadze thanks the Pentagon Defense Threat
Reduction Agency (DTRA) "for the material assistance".
Lela Urushadze
is a member of
the DTRA-supported organisation – BOHRN
(Bat One Health research Network) which studies viruses in bats.
$6.5 million US military program on bats and coronaviruses
In 2017 the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) itself launched a $6.5
million project on bats and coronaviruses in Western Asia with the Lugar Center being the local laboratory
for this genetic research. The duration of the program is 5 years and has been implemented by the non-profit
US organisation Eco Health Alliance.
A
letter from Guy Reschenthaler, Member of Congress, to the US Secretary of Defense requiring further
information about the $6.5 million grant to Eco Health Alliance.
The project's objectives are: 1. Capture and non-lethally sample 5,000 bats
in 5-year period (2017-2022) 2. Collect 20,000 samples (i.e. oral, rectal swabs and/or feces, and blood) and
screen for CoVs using consensus PCR at regional labs in Georgia and Jordan. According to
the project presentation
, Eco Health Alliance already sampled 270 bats of 9 species in three Western
Asian countries: 90 individual bats in Turkey (Aug 2018), Georgia (Sept 2018), and Jordan (Oct 2018).
A
trap full of bats (photo: Facebook, Kendra Phelps, Eco Health Alliance)
Microbiologists
at the Lugar Center extracting RNA from bat feces collected during a field trip in Central Georgia (photo:
Facebook, Kendra Phelps, Eco Health Alliance)
$3.7 million for coronavirus research in China
Eco Health Alliance was also awarded a
$3.7
million grant from the US National Institute of Health (NIH)
to collect bats and isolate coronaviruses
in China. The duration of the project was 5 years (2014 – 2019) and was implemented at the Wuhan Institute
of Virology – a BSL4 biolaboratory located in Wuhan, Hubei province. This is the same province from where
the current coronavirus pandemic is believed to have started in December 2019 before spreading around the
world.
The
US National Institute of Health (NIH) spent
$3.7 million
on bat studies in China (2014-2019) (source: US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS)' Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS)
The US coronavirus project
R01AI110964
in
China included the following activities: screening wild-caught and market sampled bats from 30 or more
species for CoVs using molecular assays; genomic characterization and isolation of novel CoVs; virus
infection experiments across a range of cell cultures from different species and humanized mice.
Peter Daszak, president of Eco Health Alliance, told Democracy Now that he
had collected bat samples with Chinese colleagues but the Wuhan laboratory did not house the culture of bat
viruses but rather their genetic sequencing. If the viruses were not stored in the Wuhan lab in China, then
where were they transported and stored?
This is not the only US-funded project under which Eco Health Alliance
collected bats and coronaviruses in China. The US scientists studied bats in Eastern Asia (mainly China) and
Africa from 2009 to 2019 under
the
$200 million USAID Predict program
whose primary objective was to exactly predict pandemics.
Eco Health Alliance has been awarded both civil and military contracts by the
US Government for one and the same activity – searching for novel coronaviruses in bats around the world.
This raises questions as to why the US Government has funded both civil and military programs on viruses in
bats abroad.
In 2016 Eco Health Alliance, US scientists and USAID launched the
The
Global Virome Project
. The ambitious project was estimated to cost at least $1.6 billion for 10 years.
Its main objective is to identify emerging diseases lurking in the wild that could spread to humans and
become pandemic.
The
Global Virome Project
(GVP) Bellagio forum attendees at the Rockefeller Foundation's Conference Center
in Italy, 8-11 August 2016 (photo: Eco Health Alliance)
The Rockefeller Foundation has long been supporting such projects. The foundation has even provided the
dangerous
Zika
Virus for sale online
for research purposes.
Ironically, the project was presented at the Rockefeller Foundation's Conference Center in Bellagio,
Italy which 4 years later became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
P.S. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have already died
in the pandemic. All countries on all continents have been severely affected. If you have any information
and would like to share it, please send a message to:
[email protected]
. If you wish to
provide information anonymously, I will not disclose your identity and you will be protected.
I would like to thank all volunteers who have already provided
information. I would like also to thank all of you who have supported my work by donations. Thank you to
@BMBPeeters
who
made the first donation. If you want to support
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. Your help matters. This is the battle of our civilization. Thank you.
The US excels in murder. The virus seems to be yet another demonstration of that.
Thank you Seer, I agree with your take on this. I might add that I believe the Chinese
definitely saw this attack coming and were well prepared for it. They had just experienced
three previous attacks, African Swine flu that decimated their pork production, Fall Army
Worm that devastated their agriculture and an avian virus that decimated their chicken
industry. Certainly they were aware of the intense global research effort into SARS etc as
their scientists were right at the top of the research ladder.
None of this is to say that China fabricated the current virus and perhaps no one did. But
one thing is certain: humans in their technological progress make unforeseen and stupid
errors. BSL4 labs leak. Dams leak. Nuclear reactors leak. Chemical and radioactive waste
depositories leak. And humans leak or go shopping for lunch with a virus hitching a ride.
THAT is why labs should NEVER be in population centres and every single country that
locates them in such places is incredibly foolish and ignorant. Sure it makes recruitment and
life for the scientists simple and easy so they will be keen to do this work for the standard
pay. Enough of this grotesque human folly. Time for the world to wake up and if they must
conduct this research then only under open and strict revealing reporting. Non compliant
nations should be absolutely quarantined and economically sanctioned. Boycotts should apply
to all recalcitrants as this world and its people simply cannot afford this risk.
Debate this global issue at the UN. Small countries should unite with one voice to end
this stupidity. Who will lead the change? Which nation has the will to advocate change. Don't
be deafened by the war chanters - call for change.
A University of Pittsburgh researcher working on a coronavirus project was fatally shot on
Saturday at his home in Ross Township, while associate Hao Gu, 46, was found dead in a car
approximately 100 yards away of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot.
The researcher, 37-year-oild Bing Liu, was found shot multiple times in the head, neck and
torso around Noon on Saturday. Nothing was stolen from the townhouse and there was no forced
entry, according to the
Post Gazette . He worked in the college's department of computational and systems biology
at the Pitt School of Medicine.
"Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular
mechanisms that underlie SARS-CoV-2 infection and the cellular basis of the following
complications," the department announced in a written statement, adding "We will make an effort
to complete what he started in an effort to pay homage to his scientific excellence."
Liu's expertise was developing computational models, simulation and analysis techniques to
study the dynamics of biological systems - in some cases using machine learning techniques to
understand cellular processes, according to his bio.
He was described as an outstanding teacher and mentor.
"He was a very talented individual, extremely intelligent and hard-working," said the head
of his department, Ivet Bahar. "He has been contributing to several scientific projects,
publishing in high-profile journals. He was someone whom we all liked very much, a very gentle,
very helpful, kind person, very generous."
"We are all shocked to learn what happened to him. This was very unexpected," she added.
whisky eight four , 47 minutes ago
A bit of an overkill, akin to a revenge hit...professional hit's are not so messy...unless
it's a cover...
carbonmutant, 18 minutes ago
Multiple gunshot wounds generally means it's personal...
GRDguy , 27 minutes ago
assassination = extreme censorship.
MrBoompi, 2 minutes ago
A lot of people that knew a lot about what happened in NYC on 911 met the same fate. Same
fate as the kids who saw the cocaine being unloaded in Mena. Same fate as Gary Webb for
writing about CIA drug dealing. The most dangerous position to be in is having first hand
knowledge of something the deep state doesn't want anyone to know.
MrAToZ, 9 minutes ago
Motive unknown. How about greed, money, power...🤔
SolidGold, 33 minutes ago
Seth Rich, China style.
firerain828, 12 minutes ago
Remind me of the five top biologists killed in George Bush era and the UK weapon inspector
David Kelly who allegedly committed suicide
This is the old saw... the dead horse.... again.... you can get to meet Chinese on an
individual basis and make all these same observations. Wonderful person... polite... eager to
please... great to work with... blah blah blah blah..... because... Chinese culture is not
Western culture. The Chinese will **** you over behind your back. When you're not looking.
Preferably when you're not even there. You'll never know about it. Later, after the fact,
you'll be stupefied to find out some of the people you thought you knew who conspired to ****
you over. But you know what, don't listen to a ******* word of this.
I have zero doubt he was, and has been, siphoning whatever he has been acquiring in the US
to institutions in China. Do you REALLY think there isn't or wasn't a more QUALIFIED US
reseacher who could be occupying the position he is occupying doing his research? You REALLY
think that? REALLY?
Then you guys don't have much of an opinion of your fellow countrymen. Asians mostly excel
in group environment, which is why Western academicians cream in their pants over these guys.
They don't want argumentative types with their own ideas and their own theories. They want
quiet silent obsequious lickspittles. They'll say, oh he 's a ******* genius, when you get
down to exactly what he was doing it was tedious grunt work. They praise him because he did
it "uncomplainingly." Because he did all his complaining behind your back, undermining your
trust, your friendship, your authority.
BUT... nother Chinese at an American university in an R&D position. How did I arrive
at these conclusions? Because 30-years ago at our school, mainland commies started showing up
and were being shoved into TA slots in NON-STEM areas. Econ... HISTORY....... WTF is a commie
doing in the HISTORY department? Well........ rewriting it... duh. What were his
qualifications actually? Not. A. *******. Clue. All I know is any American could have
occupied that slot and been paid to do what he did with competence, solid command of English.
What's REALLY sickening is academia backstabbing THOUSANDS of competent highly skilled
AMERICANS in favor of this 3rd world flotsam in the name of progress.
May be not, but, just in case, it seems Xi is advised to go preparing...
DRUMS OF WAR: A confidential report by the Ministry of State Security presented to
President Xi warns against the wave of anti-China hostility and recommends "prepare for the
worst case scenario, an armed confrontation"
For what is worth, at least two people in my job place came in today with the news that
"the virus has escaped from a Chinese lab"...
These are people totally uninformed who swallow whatever they hear in TV, radio, or local
newspaper who belong all to corporations and banks...
When all this started, and I talked about the possibility of the virus being created on
purpose, these people rejected that as unbelievable, to affirm that it had come from the bat
or pangolín, which was the "narrative" then, when we have not yet been
affected....
["There is a whole of government push on this," said one. Agencies are probing which manufacturing should be deemed "essential"
and how to produce these goods outside of China."]
President Donald Trump, who has stepped up recent attacks on China ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, has long
pledged to bring manufacturing back from overseas.
Now, economic destruction and the massive U.S. coronavirus death toll are driving a government-wide push to move U.S. production
and supply chain dependency away from China, even if it goes to other more friendly nations instead, current and former senior
U.S. administration officials said.[.]
"This moment is a perfect storm; the pandemic has crystallized all the worries that people have had about doing business
with China," said another senior U.S. official.[.]
The U.S. government is working with Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Vietnam to "move the global economy
forward," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said April 29.
These discussions include "how we restructure ... supply chains to prevent something like this from ever happening again,"
Pompeo said.[.]
HARD SELL FOR COMPANIES
Many U.S. companies have invested heavily in Chinese manufacturing and rely on China's 1.4 billion people for a big chunk
of their sales.
"Diversification and some redundancy in supply chains will make sense given the level of risk that the pandemic has uncovered,"
said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council. "But we don't see a wholesale rush for the exits by companies
doing business in China."[.]
Unlikely to be successful unless American workers are willingly to accept a lower standard of living and a 90% cut in pay.
The U.S. financial collapse began end August 2019. Now we read, after Trillions printed to avoid a depression, Treasury will borrow
$4.4 Trillion to finance government to September 2020, more than the previous 5 years. Added to the already printed Trillions?
what a trillion?
A very important read at
LINK here.
Time to worry; cloaked "essential" "national security" China is being set up as scapegoat for the Greatest Depression V.2.
- a hyper-inflationary depression. End of the U.S. dollar reserve currency status. Beat the war drums. China and Russia are prepared.
I think pays to take Trump seriously when he says "everything is on the table"
Early on after Trump's election MSM were printing stories about Trump wanting to know why US couldn't use nukes. I though it
was just more of the anti Trump bullshit until Trump put out his Nuke posture review and equipped a couple of subs with Trident
mounted 'usable' nukes.
Everything is on the table - nuclear, biological and chemical.
Any doubt that the United States's ruling 'elites' have gone completely crazy is banished by examining this proposal to attack
China by issuing letters of marque to privateers.
"Will hydroxychloroquine save us from this pandemic? Probably not. Big pharmaceutical companies have long over-promised the
efficacy of their antimalarial drugs. This started a century ago, when European antimalarial producers began aggressively touting
the curative effects of quinine on all manner of disease. Yes, antimalarials work wonders against malaria, but not against much
else. This history suggests that political and economic reasons for pushing these antimalarials upon a global disease are again
at work. ..."
@ fort russ dot com "Crossfire Hurricane" essay seems to support with evidence the thesis that Obama himself bossed the conspiracy
to do a coup against T Man. They propose a trial and so forth...now than, if you were a member of such a gang, just how desperate
might you be? Inter alia, war would keep you out of jail, I bet they think so... What does T Man do when he watches a carrier
capsize or sink, or even on fire? "Bluff" might go "poof!" really fast.
What did the fellas say about it? "We'll be home by Christmas"?
I pointed out at SST that the report from OZ is likely the same document as the "open-sourced" nonsense peddled by the Washington
Times, and therefore isn't going to be an "intelligence report" at all.
And I also questioned how unusual it would be for a document to be "joint Five Eyes" product.
Neither point, apparently, had occurred to any of the multitude of ex-spooks who comment there, even though they claim many
decades of experience in spotting exactly those sorts of implausibilities.
dimitrov , May 4 2020 23:18 utc |
77Ghost Ship , May 4 2020 23:18 utc |
78
Belleville Mayor Michael Melham said he has tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, adding that he believes he was sick
with the virus in November -- more than a month before doctors in China first reported cases of the new disease.
Melham said he was sick toward the end of November and suffered from chills, hallucinations and a "skyrocketing temperature"
after he left the League of Municipalities Conference in Atlantic City.
If this turn's out to be true, I'm sure no country would sue the United States for it failure to identify COVID-19 and for
covering it up.
Remember that Trump is a blowhard who always talks tough in these situations. Recall how he threatened N. Korea? Its a negotiating
tactic.
I don't think it will ever come to a large scale shooting war with China as long as Trump has firm control of the US govmt
and his administration, as war with China would be unwinnable.
I can't lay my hands on it now, but I do recall reading the war-gaming scenarios by US strategists a number of years ago, that
projected if a major devastating fight, short of nuclear use, with China were ever to to break out, there would be high likelihood
that both Japan and S. Korea would flip sides, or at very least expel US bases and forces from their territories, to avoid getting
their countries creamed by Chinese military attacks.
Deep down, I think most higher ups in the US military/political leadership (except for the neocon jihadis and unhinged deep-staters
perhaps) understand this.
"... The president has ramped up attacks on China in recent weeks, insisting it concealed information about the coronavirus in the early stages of the outbreak and has all but blamed the country for the health crisis. Asked whether he would use tariffs or debt write-offs to penalize Beijing, Trump refused to offer much detail, saying only that "we're looking for what happened" and how to respond to the alleged "cover-up." ..."
US President Donald Trump believes China "will do anything they can" to make him lose his re-election bid, pointing to Beijing's
handling of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 60,000 Americans already. Taking aim at Beijing, Trump told Reuters
in an interview on Wednesday that the country would prefer to see his Democratic rival Joe Biden take the Oval Office in November,
stating it would pull out all the stops to see him win – though the former VP would first need to secure his party's nomination.
China will do anything they can to have me lose this race.
The president has ramped up attacks on China in recent weeks, insisting it concealed information about the coronavirus in
the early stages of the outbreak and has all but blamed the country for the health crisis. Asked whether he would use tariffs or
debt write-offs to penalize Beijing, Trump refused to offer much detail, saying only that "we're looking for what happened" and how
to respond to the alleged "cover-up."
There are many things I can do.
Beijing has maintained that it tackled the pandemic appropriately and that it shared information about the virus with the international
community as soon as it was available. Chinese officials have also hit back at the US accusations, suggesting Washington's handling
of Covid-19 has been slow and ineffective, while warning against politicizing the global crisis.
The real blame China has is not "coverup" but that the opposite: Overreaction When China ordered a province-wide Lockdown, it
persuaded enough people that this was uniquely terrifying a virus as to merit extreme measures, setting stage for worldwide panic.
What if they were wrong?
We now know large declines in the transmission rate occurred BEFORE the lockdowns, meaning simple voluntary measures under
a Swedish-style Stay Open scenario were enough:
The other finding is that, one way or another, this flu-epidemic passes as all others have. It's actually good news, because
it means the worst fears were wrong and we can re-open.
"From our perspective, this remains speculative," Dr. Michael Ryan told reporters in Geneva.
"We have not received any data or specific evidence from the U.S. government relating to the
purported origin of the virus."
He said WHO would be "very willing" to receive any such information the U.S. has.
The comments come as the Trump administration has denounced both China and the U.N. health
agency for alleged missteps in handling the outbreak that first emerged in the city of Wuhan
and has now infected millions and killed at least 239,000 people. Trump on Friday said WHO was
"like the public relations agency for China."
More on the genealogy and promotion of America's Wuhan WMDs propaganda ... sorry, I mean ...
Wuhan "biolab escape" intel.
-According to Wayne Madsen (former NSA operative), the Falun Gong religious cult is a
major peddler of this psyops, which has subsequently leaked into the "intelligence" promoted
by Mike Pompeo, the US State Department, and Voice of America.
-It also critiques other America allegations such as the hobbyhorse that China and WHO
deliberately covered up the COVID-19 virus (and issues like the human-to-human transmission
of COVID-19). In general, the USA is recycling its RussiaGate propaganda playbook only with
China as the target instead.
-Finally, Davide Mastracci analyzes the COVID-19 "cover-up" psyops. Of particular note is
how the media has disingenuously painted Dr. Li Wenliang as a "whistleblower" who was
persecuted for exposing the coronavirus.
This particular allegation was a central piece of agit-prop in the early days of America's
COVID-19 propaganda campaign (though it has now been downgraded in favor of the biolab escape
meme), and it was widely parroted by both mainstream and fake alternative media alike.
It thus deserves particular scrutiny.
For instance, Dr. Li was not an epidemiologist or virologist. He was an ophthalmologist
who shared with his friends on a social media platform his claim that there might be an
outbreak of SARS--along with patients' medical records. Dr. Li did not report his information
to medical authorities, hospitals, or other health organizations. His punishment was that
local police talked to him, and he signed a statement that he would not release
misinformation in the future. Li was NOT imprisoned nor arrested.
More importantly, before Dr. Li even posted his claims on social media, Zhang
Jixian, the director of respiratory and critical care at Hubei Provincial Hospital, had
reported some cases of patients with an unusual pneumonia-like disease to the provincial
Center for Disease Control, which began an investigation of this disease at that hospital.
Dr. Zhang was not punished for her efforts but rather given an award by the regional
government.
As Mastracci notes, while the Western/American-controlled media gave lavish attention to
Dr. Li, it has ignored the counter-example of Dr. Zhang.
Actually while clearly based on open sources, the document is clearly written and while part
of it is a clear anti-china propaganda, most of it looks credible. You may disagree with
conclusions but this is a grade above of a typical fake like Steele dossier.
If is clear that phases like "China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the
coronavirus outbreak in an "assault on international transparency'' that cost tens of thousands
of lives, according to a dossier prepared by concerned Western governments on the COVID-19
contagion. " is pure anti-china propaganda, but the analysis of open source materials presented
still stands.
The claim about deliberate delayed response is also highly questionable in view of the
behaviour of Trump administration. As one commenter pointed out "Outstanding! Canadians stand by
to sue the %$#& out of the Trump administration for sitting idle long enough for Americans
could spread it to our country."
Notable quotes:
"... So all that global scientific collaboration following the SARS outbreak in 2002 at all those germ warfare laboratories came up with nothing - except the virus plagueing us today. All that collective Australian, China and USA research in 2010 and subsequent research that identified how to weaken and strengthen COVID attachment led to not one simple pharmaceutical. ..."
"... This anti-Chinese effort may be destined for internal US (anti-civil war) needs. To make the US population look in one direction. Obviously the why part is another question - oil, dollar collapse, lack of food etc? But I want to point out that there has been an uptick in aggression in other sensitive areas as well. ..."
"... It is interesting that the rubbish Pompeo says is getting some resistance from the "intelligence" agencies themselves. It appears that not everyone wants to be forced into supporting his accusations. ..."
"... After all, even while refusing to back Trump (who the intelligence community hates anyway), they continue the subtle untruth, or at least unknown, that the virus "originated in China." The complete truth would be that the virus was first reported, or first detected, by the Chinese, but I think that everyone in the West (Five Eyes included) is eager to gloss over any of the many indicators that the first human case was not, in fact, from Wuhan. ..."
"... the people who made fake claims about Iraq's WMD, about Russiagate, about Iran's danger, are claiming that the thing isn't manmade, then either it's not manmade or it's US-made and the claim is a lie (what we expect from US intelligence agencies) and a cover-up. ..."
"... People get carried away by narratives and the narrative the USG is pushing will bring at the very least a desire by the American People to have China pay for their grief. ..."
"... I have not found any credible evidence that the bioweapon Policy of 1952 ended, though of course matters have evolved... ..."
"... Anyway, the desperate attempt to get out of one zuswang has landed the clown and the rest of us in a bigger zuswang ..."
"... This is very, very simple: The Chinese scientist in charge of that lab is on record as saying that when the DNA of this covid-19 virus was sequenced she ordered her staff to compare it against every sample they possessed. And their conclusion? There was no match, ergo, that virus could not have escaped from this lab. ..."
"... 'Open source' worked for MH17. Public have generally swallowed the belling crap put forward by the JIT. No reason it won't work for China Dunnit. Most people I know already believe the US MSM shit on China and cronavirus. ..."
"... Has anyone followed up on the status of USAn tourists evacuated by USG to N. California from that cruise ship quarantined in Japanese harbor? Not only were those people flown for hours by jet without adequate precautionary measures taken, but upon landing they were handled by USG employees who did not take precautionary measures against novel virus => they were not wearing PPE. So both repatriated tourists and gov employees processing them potentially took nvirus “surprises” home to their families and friends in California and other home places. ..."
"... LOL blaming China when disregard for USAn public heath, notorious, making us sick and/or more untrusting, is well documented. ..."
"... First of all, China did not conceal a thing. How could they conceal the fact that they embarked upon a hospital building program right there in Wuhan and created 1000's of new hospital beds in a mere 10 days. Did the clandestine members of our IC not notice this and DRAW CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS, such as: those Chinese must be expecting a PANDEMIC! Or are they just full of shit? ..."
"... The US "Intelligence Community" is such a huge misnomer, since they are a lot more interested in hijacking the government and fostering fraud than to do what they are supposed to. ..."
"... By the way, French scientists have rechecked old blood samples and proved that a Frenchman died of Covid-19 on 27th December 2019 - he must have been infected at least 3 weeks before that. https://www.rt.com/news/487707-first-covid19-france-december/ ..."
A Wuhan laboratory is the "most likely" source of the COVID-19 outbreak now ravaging the
globe, according to a U.S. government analysis that catalogs the evidence and concludes
that other explanations for the origin of the coronavirus are less credible.
The document, compiled from open sources and not a finished product, says there is no
smoking gun to blame the virus on either the Wuhan Institute of Virology or the Wuhan
branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, both located in the city
where the first outbreaks were reported.
But "there is circumstantial evidence to suggest such may be the case," the paper
says.
"All other possible places of the virus' origin have been proven to be highly unlikely,"
the document concludes. A copy of the report, compiled this month, was obtained by The
Washington Times.
A 'U.S. government analysis' based on open sources is not an intelligence product but a
writeup on Google searches by some intern. But there was pressure to make it into an official
intelligence judgment.
Senior Trump administration officials have pushed American spy agencies to hunt for
evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that a government laboratory in Wuhan, China,
was the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, according to current and former American
officials. ... Most intelligence agencies remain skeptical that conclusive evidence of a link to a lab can
be found , and scientists who have studied the genetics of the coronavirus say that the
overwhelming probability is that it leapt from animal to human in a nonlaboratory setting,
as was the case with H.I.V., Ebola and SARS.
That this leaked at all was the first sign that the intelligence services were resisting
the push from their higher ups. More push back followed with an official statement.
"The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to U.S.
policymakers and those responding to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China. The
Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19
virus was not manmade or genetically modified.
"As we do in all crises, the Community's experts respond by surging resources and
producing critical intelligence on issues vital to U.S. national security. The IC will
continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether
the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an
accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak in an
"assault on international transparency'' that cost tens of thousands of lives, according to
a dossier prepared by concerned Western governments on the COVID-19 contagion.
The 15-page research document, obtained by The Saturday Telegraph, lays the foundation
for the case of negligence being mounted against China It states that to the "endangerment
of other countries" the Chinese government covered-up news of the virus by silencing or
"disappearing" doctors who spoke out, destroying evidence of it in laboratories and
refusing to provide live samples to international scientists who were working on a
vaccine.
A "research document" prepared by "concerned Western governments" is not an
intelligence product. But Foxnews picked up from there and made the paper into
one.
A research dossier compiled by the so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance states that
China intentionally hid or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to the
loss of tens of thousands of lives around the world
The 15-page document from the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Canada, the U.K.,
Australia and New Zealand, was obtained by Australia's Saturday Telegraph newspaper and
states that China's secrecy amounted to an "assault on international transparency."
The Australian Telegraph never claimed that the dossier was a "Five Eyes" product. That
is a Foxnews invention. The five eyes countries share intelligence but they do not produce
common dossiers or analyses. Each service does that separately for its own
government.
Only a few hours after the Telegraph had published the above the Australian
intelligence services shot the nonsense down.
Senior members of the Australian intelligence community told The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age a research document shared in political circles under the Five Eyes intelligence
arrangement was mostly based on news reports and contained no material from intelligence
gathering.
A 15-page "dossier" has been widely quoted by local and international media about
China's alleged cover-up of the virus. Australian intelligence officials have since
identified a research report which was based entirely on open source material. The
officials said it was likely the reports were the same.
...
Multiple senior intelligence sources who spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald and The
Age in recent days have confirmed that Australia has still not been provided with any
evidence that strongly suggests the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the source of the
outbreak. Intelligence agencies have not been able to rule out the Wuhan lab, but the more
likely cause of the virus is still the city's Huanan Seafood Market where environmental
samples of the virus were found.
The WHO also said that its had received no
evidence from the U.S. about the 'speculative' Wuhan laboratory claim.
The Trump administration is likely to continue this game and the intelligence services
will hopefully continue to resist the pressure they are under.
As the U.S. will soon have as many death per day from covid-19 as it had casualties on
9/11 the risk of a (military?) escalation against China based on false claims will soon
become exceptionally high.
China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak in an
"assault on international transparency'' that cost tens of thousands of lives, according
to a dossier prepared by concerned Western governments on the COVID-19 contagion.
They key here is the utilization of the verb "concern[ed]" in opposition to "cost tens
of thousands of lives". The hidden message here is that the Western governments are purely
preoccupied with the preservation of lives, not with any other consequences that could be
resulted from China's "deliberate suppression". By exclusion, it also insinuates the
Chinese government seeks death [of human lives].
So, let's see.
The Chinese government, as soon as the evidence was available, didn't hesitate in
locking down a 60 million inhabitant province and sacrificed 6.8% of its own GDP in order
to stifle the pandemic. It is, by far, the most successful country in fighting this
pandemic so far.
The Western government[s] let the terrorists (which they trained in the past) do 9/11;
it invaded Iraq under a bogus WMD accusation (killing more than 1 million Iraqis and some
other thousands American soldiers, plus some British ones) and Afghanistan under another
bogus accusation (it wasn't sheltering bin Ladin; he was in a resort in Pakistan, under
full knowledge of the USG). It killed and starved some more in Syria and Yemen - again,
under bogus casi belli. It squashed a popular movement in NY (Occupy Wall Street) and
bailed out the banks and other big businesses after the 2008 meltdown. Not satisfied, they
let their own infrastructure to degrade to a point where tap water was poisoned with lead
in one of their provinces (Michigan). It let an opioid crisis to lay waste on its own
people, culminating in the first life expectancy drop since the Spanish Flu. It is refusing
to do a proper lockdown because business is more important than (working class) lives. It
is starving peoples of countries like Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela by siege just because
they don't have the same economic system. It reduced one of their own alleged allies
(Greece) to dust just because their two major banks (SG and Deutsche) were knee-deep into
rotten papers. It is refusing a basic principle of a union (single financial system) to one
of their members (Italy) under a bogus argument of "moral hazard". It is giving shelter to
more than 3,000 war criminal from Latin American (in Florida) because, for all their crimes
against humanity, they did their biding in the periphery of the empire.
So, again: who's really "concerned" with saving lives?
Since the other five eyes countries, particularly Australia and Canada, are linked
economically with China, they are not going to follow the yankee propaganda initiative.
Australia shot it down rather quickly as indicated in the article. Meanwhile,I think the
fact that the numbers of new infections and deaths have been dropping slightly in the US
lately exposes the New York Times article as more scare-tactic modelling, and people are
too fed up with the restrictions and the escalating economic costs for such exaggerations
to have as much effect anymore.
The 15-page research document, obtained by The Saturday Telegraph in Australia may
be the online document prepared by the anonymous group that do not call themselves Project
E.P.S.T.E.I.N.
The goal of this document is to examine evidence that may prove that (1) the
SARS-CoV-2 virus was present at a biolaboratory in Wuhan, China, and (2) the SARS-CoV-2
virus was introduced into the greater Wuhan population by an infected lab worker or
animal. These claims from this point on will be referred to as Claim 1 and Claim 2.
2 Authors
We are an anonymous group of researchers. We are not affiliated with any company,
nation state, or organization. We are not receiving funding from any sources, public or
private. We disavow all racism and violent attacks, including those which are aimed at
Asian or Chinese people, and we will continue to disavow them throughout this paper. We
are not doing this because we hate China, but because we love the truth.
So all that global scientific collaboration following the SARS outbreak in 2002
at all those germ warfare laboratories came up with nothing - except the virus plagueing us
today. All that collective Australian, China and USA research in 2010 and subsequent research
that identified how to weaken and strengthen COVID attachment led to not one simple
pharmaceutical.
How many labs throughout the world were working on Covidvirus and they all failed. This is
the coverup. Billions wasted on analysis with no remedy. Is everbody in thrall to vaccine to
the expense of medicinal remedy?
But, if you exclude other mammals, we humans were the means for its mutation. Where is the
trail or is that what the French are reporting?
This anti-Chinese effort may be destined for internal US (anti-civil war) needs. To make the
US population look in one direction. Obviously the why part is another question - oil, dollar
collapse, lack of food etc? But I want to point out that there has been an uptick in
aggression in other sensitive areas as well.
Todays examples are; An attack east of Aleppo on a Syrian military research centre by
Israeli aircraft. Overflying Jordan and then Iraq.
A second band of mercenary bounty hunters were captured trying to infiltrate venezuela to
kill Maduro (A revolt made by 8 at a time hunters could take several years at that rate.
The presence of four Nato Aegis ships in the Baltic which coincides with the arrival of the
Russian pipelaying ship in Kalingrad.
One thing I was horrified with, during a "quick look at" the FT Story about Putin, was the
level of "Putin did it" hate in the comments section. I had thought that the "Putin did it"
tripe was a thing of the past. I could not have been more wrong.
It is interesting that the rubbish Pompeo says is getting some resistance from the
"intelligence" agencies themselves. It appears that not everyone wants to be forced into
supporting his accusations.
@ramon 9 "Weird, the intelligence agency's telling the truth. I had difficulty getting my
head around that."
I feel you, but I wouldn't go quite that far. After all, even while refusing to back Trump
(who the intelligence community hates anyway), they continue the subtle untruth, or at least
unknown, that the virus "originated in China." The complete truth would be that the virus was
first reported, or first detected, by the Chinese, but I think that everyone in the West
(Five Eyes included) is eager to gloss over any of the many indicators that the first human
case was not, in fact, from Wuhan.
The anti China crap filling the MSM is Anglosphere in origin. Five eyes, the Anglo sphere
intel and propaganda warriors will be in it up to their eyeballs.
When the people who made fake claims about Iraq's WMD, about Russiagate, about Iran's danger,
are claiming that the thing isn't manmade, then either it's not manmade or it's US-made and
the claim is a lie (what we expect from US intelligence agencies) and a cover-up. That said,
odds are on the former, as far as I'm concerned. The absolutely sure thing is that it's not
the Chinese who crafted it.
As far as I can anticipate, war is at the end of the road. People get carried away by narratives and the narrative the
USG is pushing will bring
at the very least a desire by the American People to have China pay for their grief.
When that happens, China will retaliate in kind. Eventually, the first shots will be
fired. And all hell will break loose. Hell is down the road. The narrative leads to that.
You may recall that I mooted weeks (?) ago that "Agent Sam went to Wuhan and opened a
mayonnaise jar." - that it was a classic con in which the mark is intended to blame
himself... Evidently Brother Comrade Mr Chine did not fall for the gaff. Those fellas are not
amateurs, but I could name a few (so can you).
Yes all roads lead to, well, the abyss of war. I have not found any credible evidence that
the bioweapon Policy of 1952 ended, though of course matters have evolved...
Anyway, the desperate attempt to get out of one zuswang has landed the clown and the rest
of us in a bigger zuswang...and the classic outcome is as everybody sees. Recall I posted a
sketch of a story of a card game at the Dewdrop Inn...
Now I shall put in the VHS tape of Ripper at Burpelson AFB and have a shot of
vodka...
Petri Krohn 50 " We are not doing this because we hate China, but because we love the truth."
Reminds me of the Abbott slush fund "Australians for Honest Politics"
One of the Howard Government's most senior ministers last night revealed he raised nearly
$100,000 to lay the groundwork for Pauline Hanson's prosecution for electoral fraud.
The Minister for Workplace Relations, Tony Abbott, admitted setting up a trust,
Australians for Honest Politics, from donations to pay for legal actions against Hanson and
her party, One Nation.
He had also organised a separate "donor" to support a One Nation dissident, Terry
Sharples, in seeking an injunction to block One Nation from receiving public electoral
funds....
....Mr Abbott also acknowledged that he had at one time instructed his lawyers to offer
Mr Sharples $10,000 of his own money if he would stop pursuing him for money to cover his
huge court costs.
He said he had set up Australians for Honest Politics in 1998 because he believed One
Nation was fraudulently registered.
It is increasingly true: War with China
inevitable,
Trump thinks he is bluffing. It's history repeating. by: jared @ 17
This is WALL STREET (WS) vs the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).. each of them operate
outside of official government. both support the multi trillionaires that made rich those
with access to Wall Street.. Maybe for the first time the real instigators of the coming war
will be directly involved in the fight. I just can't imagine any American willing to help the
USA to fight the Chinese so that Wall street can make its beneficiaries even more wealthy.
When the leader yells charge he or she might not have a following.
Pompeo should simply tell his interns to stop bothering Mr Google alone for a while. He is
never going to come up with convincing evidence that the virus was released from that Wuhan
lab if "open source" is his only source of information.
This is very, very simple: The Chinese scientist in charge of that lab is on record as
saying that when the DNA of this covid-19 virus was sequenced she ordered her staff to
compare it against every sample they possessed. And their conclusion? There was no match, ergo, that virus could not have escaped from
this lab.
Now, that declaration stands until such time as the US Intelligence Community can disprove
it.
They are NOT going to disprove it via "open sourced" innuendo.
Every "But what about....?" will be countered with "It was never in the lab, dude".
Every "But isn't is suspicious that...." will be countered with "It was never in the lab,
dude".
Every "Isn't it reasonable to conclude that..." will be countered with "It was never in the
lab, dude".
The task for the US Intelligence Community will be to prove that this virus *was* in that
lab, because that's the first - and necessary - step in "proving" that it had escaped from
their.
Precisely because - du'oh! - if it was never stored there then it could not have escaped
from there, and the Chinese are adamant that their records prove that it was never stored
there. Unless that can be disproved then Pompeo isn't going to get anywhere.
I wouldn't want to be the IT guy in charge of network security at that lab because he's
going to be a very busy man.
"I think pays to take Trump seriously when he says "everything is on the table"
Peter, Are you serious?
My opinion Trump is nothing but a big fat blabbing mouth... Watch Xi Jinping he's all
preparing for a long drawn out confrontation and maybe even a war. He's touring around the
country.... getting views on the ground using the Covid-19 as a pretext. On the other hand,
his aircraft carrier "The Liaoning aircraft carrier returned to port in eastern China
April 30 after passing through western Pacific waters near Taiwan and Japan..."
It's only matter of time, when, where, and how China will strike back. Truly, Trump
is really stoopid keep poking, jabbing China and there are limits. Have you read Sun Tzu's
"The Art of War,” I did not read the book but the summary.... One thing I learned from
my lifelong journey.... watch the quiet one, silently when it strikes it's deathly
...
Have you watch Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping meet?
'Open source' worked for MH17. Public have generally swallowed the belling crap put forward
by the JIT.
No reason it won't work for China Dunnit.
Most people I know already believe the US MSM shit on China and cronavirus.
Three things worth noting about newspapers in Sydney (from a lifelong Sydneysider):
1. The Daily Telegraph is not a 'broadsheet'. It is a local Sydney tabloid of the
worst kind from the worst media organisation in the world, which also owns Fox, etc, i.e.
Murdoch's Newscorp. It is the chief information/propaganda vector of the conservative Right
on the east coast and has a deal with the two retail giants (Woolworths and Coles) to make it
the only available print newspaper at the end of the checkout aisle where it is usually
half-price. It has a circulation of about 800,000 in Sydney (pop. ~5M). It is the without a
doubt an appalling affront to the English language, democracy, intelligence, and just about
any other human virtue. Nobody with a pretence of education would touch it. To call it a
working-class newspaper is an insult to the working-class. It is the last bastion of a
violent, racist, misogynist, jingoist, colonial Australia that makes a supreme virtue of its
readers' ignorance. We joked that it would serve well as a toilet paper substitute if it
weren't already covered in s***. The 'Tele' champions Murdoch's political favourites. The
'Tele' has its sister papers in different cities (the Courier-Mail in Brisbane, The
Advertiser in Adelaide and the Herald-Sun in Melbourne, all Newscorp owned).
2. Murdoch's broadsheet companion to the 'Tele' is The Australian which is much
more pernicious in that it masquerades as reflective editorial commentary. It attempts to
offer the Right an intellectual veneer but really just brays hollow fascist talking-points in
slight better English. It circulates nationwide and allows the bourgeoisie to feel good about
their mendacious and corrupt neoliberal dystopia by bashing the poor, women, indigenous
Australians, refugees, etc, i.e. the usual right MSM. The Australian backs the
Liberal-National Coalition and loathes both the ALP and the Union movement (surprise,
surprise). Print circulation ~50,000, paywall online subscription.
3. The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney—one of the oldest continuously published
newspapers in the world, from 1831) and The Age (Melbourne) were both once the
broadsheet flagships of Fairfax media, along with its national broadsheet, The Australian
Financial Review . These three constitute essentially centrist MSM, with rare commentary
leaning to the progressive Left (although not to the extent of the full embrace of identity
politics, etc of the Guardian Australia, which is aimed at a faux-intelligent young
progressive audience). The SMH and the Age are now owned by The Nine Network (Sydney's
dominant free-to-air TV broadcaster), but both used to stand for professional journalism in
Australia, especially the 80s and 90s, but they championed Australia's equivalent to the
Blairite New Left, and are very pro-US alliance, anti-China, etc. Print circulation around
100,000. Limited online access.
There is no dissenting media in print. All properly Left critique and analysis is online,
although on University campuses one can get the Red Flag which is good for solid Marxist
critique. I no longer bother with the Guardian Australia because it never gets it right.
At my local shopping complex the newsagency typically has 10 copies of the SMH, 25 copies
of the Australian and ~500 copies of the 'Tele'. That should give you an idea of how Murdoch
has public opinion locked up in Australia.
"The Chinese scientist in charge of that lab is on record as saying that when the DNA of
this covid-19 virus was sequenced she ordered her staff to compare it against every sample
they possessed.
And their conclusion? There was no match, ergo, that virus could not have escaped from
this lab."
Do you happen to have a date when the comparison started?
Because on januari 1st an official at the Hubei Provincial Health Commission ordered labs to
stop testing samples of bat corona/sars viruses and to destroy existing samples.
So they moved in pretty quickly to destroy evidence. They also seemed to have tried to hide
the entire outbreak until CCP Beijing noticed there was something going on. They send in
their expert and the next day he announced human to human transmission and within days the
lockdown was mandated.
@76 Govern the Mente the only possible "gotcha!" claim are these two:
1/1/2020
"Wuhan Public Security Bureau brings in for questioning eight doctors who had posted
information about the illness on WeChat."
"An official at the Hubei Provincial Health Commission orders labs, which had already
determined that the novel virus was similar to SARS, to stop testing samples and to destroy
existing samples."
Neither does anything to prove a lab escape.
Those eight doctors were not associated with the treatment of covid-19 patients. Not one
of them.
(The most oft-reported was an ENT specialists working at an In Patient ward in one of the
Wuhan hospitals).
What had happened is that they had gotten wind of the lab results that the hospital had
requested and then rushed onto social media and warned each other - and everyone else - that
there was a SARS outbreak in Wuhan.
Well, that's incredibly irresponsible: it wasn't SARS, for one thing.
Regardless, none of them had any authority to be blabbing about lab results, and certainly
not when it relates to something outside their area of responsibility.
They were reprimanded because their behaviour was deserving of censure (though the Chinese
have subsequently (and correctly) admitted that this was an internal hospital issue, the
police should never have been involved).
As for the "stop testing and destroy the samples" claim, that is a lie-by-omission and
therefore deliberately misleading.
The actual order was to stop testing immediately and send the samples to a secure testing
facility. The samples were only to be destroyed if that wasn't possible.
Now, that's very sensible. Hospital authorities did not know what they were dealing with,
which is why they send numerous samples out to be tested. When the results came back they
knew that what they were dealing with something that was Very Likely Exceptionally
Dangerous.
The prudent step would be to secure those samples, because each one represents a ticking
time bomb, and if that wasn't possible then the samples need to be sterilized because, you
know, they are ticking-time-bombs.
There is nothing sinister in that. It is just commonsense.
"The Daily Telegraph" which is published in Sydney is part of Rupert Murdoch's News
Corporation stable of news and entertainment media outlets that embraces not only news media
outlets but also film (through 20th Century Fox), publishing including book and magazine
publishing (HarperCollins in particular) and even for a time, The South China Morning
Post (highlighted for MoA commenter JC's benefit), Ansett Australia (a former airline
that operated domestic flights in Australia before being put out of business when Virgin
arrived) and music publishing labels (Australian record label Mushroom Records and NZ-based
former alt-music Flying Nun Records, to take two examples) as tax shelters.
(@ James: Flying Nun Records was later bought by Warner Group as part of a group of labels
from News Corp and then it was bought by NZ musician Neil Finn, his wife and the label's
original founder in a consortium in 2009 to bring the label back to New Zealand.)
The Daily Telegraph is not related to the London-based British newspaper The Daily
Telegraph or its Sunday edition, in case non-Australian MoA readers are wondering.
What is interesting is that the 15-page dossier seems to have been given low coverage by
The Australian, another Murdoch / News Corporation propaganda rag that is losing money and
has to be cross-subsidised by other News Corporation outlets. One wonders why The Australian
is not talking up the 15-page dossier as well. Columnist Greg Sheridan there must be itching
to spew Sinophobic drivel.
@86 Govern the Mente: "Do you happen to have a date when the comparison started?"
It has to be after January 10, which is when the Chinese finished sequencing the virus
DNA.
"Because on januari 1st an official at the Hubei Provincial Health Commission ordered labs
to stop testing samples of bat corona/sars viruses and to destroy existing samples."
Yeah, annnnnnnd? The Chinese had other samples because, obviously, they need samples to
sequence the DNA.
By January 1 the Chinese authorities knew they were faced with a NEW coronavirus, similar
to but different from SARS.
It was likely very, very dangerous, so it makes perfect sense to secure all the samples
that had already been sent out to all those test labs (you know, back when they didn't know
what they were dealing with) or, if they couldn't be secured, destroyed, pronto.
It would be utterly irresponsible to do anything else, if for no other reason that
everyone working in those test labs were in danger. Why do you find that in any way
sinister?
@ Posted by: Govern the Mente | May 4 2020 23:55 utc | 86
That would be a plausible hypothesis, if it wasn't for the fact that all the scientists
around the world that were able to independently recreate the virus in their respective
laboratory (because China mapped it and uploaded it in the competent international database)
came, again independently, to the conclusion the SARS-CoV-2 likely came from natural
selection.
There were labs from Brazil, Scotland, Continental Europe etc. that did this recreation,
so you would be implicitly stating many countries with very different and even opposite
geopolitical agendas lied at the same time.
Besides, the fact that the Trumpian administration is resorting to this China-blaming
narrative at this specific point in time can easily be explained by the proximity of the 2020
elections. We have a vast history of presidential candidates changing their narratives and
becoming more bellicose in the USA during election years, there's no reason not to believe
this pattern isn't valid now.
Has anyone followed up on the status of USAn tourists evacuated by USG to N. California from
that cruise ship quarantined in Japanese harbor? Not only were those people flown for hours
by jet without adequate precautionary measures taken, but upon landing they were handled by
USG employees who did not take precautionary measures against novel virus => they were not
wearing PPE. So both repatriated tourists and gov employees processing them potentially took
nvirus “surprises” home to their families and friends in California and other
home places.
The USG broke the quarantine and it did not use adequate precautionary measures to prevent
nvirus contagion spread. Once the formerly quarantined cruise-ship tourists were repatriated
to the usa, the nvirus was free to roam but for sending the few already known positives to a
special-care quarantine hospital in Nebraska — after traveling for hours on same plane
with other USAn tourists, potentially everybody onboard becoming a carrier.
Did the USG test, trace and isolate those whom were infected from this miscalculated
stupid breaking of quarantine? We’ve yet to read about it afaik.
LOL blaming China when disregard for USAn public heath, notorious, making us sick and/or
more untrusting, is well documented.
Had some heavy work done here last spring. The father of the guy who did the work, whom I
talked with after the job was finished, told me he took vet medicine for a recent injury
since he couldn't afford to see a doctor. He was a retired 40-year union man from a major
agri manufacturer.
Local people don't trust the government. Period. I don't think they'll fall for scapegoating
again but perhaps wishful thinking on my part.
Govern the Mente @ 76 (and those who have replied: Yeah, Right and VK):
The article you link to is the 15-page dossier that was given to The Daily Telegraph in
Sydney.
Dr Li Wenliang was not a "whistle-blower" doctor. He had jumped to an incorrect conclusion
about the nature of the coronavirus - he had apparently thought it was the SARS 2002 virus
again - and had mentioned it to some people who then jumped onto social media and spread what
he said. He later was admonished by police for supposedly spreading a false rumour and had to
sign a statement at his local police station. Yes, he probably had been treated in a very
heavy-handed fashion and could have been set up by people on social media who blamed him for
their own exaggerations. After his death his family did receive an apology from government
authorities in Beijing. Beyond this, we cannot say he was a "whistle-blower" hero.
That the dossier refers to Dr Li as a "whistle-blower" should be a sign that it is not
what it claims to be: an objective piece of research.
c1ue #59
Note that this is a much easier setup than contact tracing.
Yes that Chinese quarantine and daily trace is a fantastic public health routine. It makes
the eradication of the virus a simple and rapidly diminishing threat.
Note though that it was rigorously accompanied with wearing face masks across the whole
society.
People were obliged to take precaution and minimise their personal exposure to Covid-19
PLUS their additional burden on a stretched health system by minimising their chance of
catching the flu which is always circulating regardless of vaccines.
Face masks are convenient, simple to use and far more sustaining of a health system of
limited capacity - as in all countries.
Yeah, Right and VK) and Govern the Mente @ 76 are talking about separate matters regarding
the "destruction of samples" or implied coverup. The lab accused of being the possible
instigator was ordered to destroy their research viruses in early Jan. The source is a Taiwan
paper of a non-public "National Health and Health Commission Document #3." As the 15 page
dossier argues:
"Regulating the potentially unsafe transport of virus samples is fair enough. But there is
no charitable explanation for why ... or why the WIV, supposedly the safest and most
advanced bio-laboratory in China, was ordered to cease its work and destroy its samples as
well at such a crucial time during the outbreak. Regardless of your opinion on the WIV,
they most certainly had the capacity to perform medical research that could have aided the
global community if they had been allowed to continue performing it."
Since I first started reading about it here and on Zerohedge I assumed it was a US cabal
biological weapon. Occam's razor was a lab accident, but the lineup of the stars indicated a
Leninist approach was more merited. The Chinese New Year, the idiotic but toxic US
impeachment theatre, the potential legal problems of the Black Hitler's golpistas, the threat
of the fake Sanders candidacy becoming areal threat to the quadrennial circus, the bloodlust
of the Iran hawks, Netanyahu, and the wargames since the 70's using bioweapons to cure the
Vietnam Syndrome; Part of a US that's spent billions on biological warfare and pays directly
for about 10,000 scientists and calls it the poor man's nuclear bomb. It's not "the poor
man's nuclear bomb" it's the effing US Army's cure for branch service rivalry missile
envy.
As far as scientific authority goes, what are their interests--"the peaceful genome" or
war profiteering in the new "information" economy?
I'm not a judicious observer as I left Offutt AFB, home of command over 2/3rds of US
nuclear "triad" in 1988 to study left-wing economics at the University of Massachusetts,
where I was expelled as a leader of a large rebellion against military research on campus,
including autonomous weapons, advanced radars, and anthrax. On May 4, 1989 we were arrested
from the occupied research building, transported by bus to be arraigned at the football
stadium as hundreds of students chanting "no more Kent States" were kettled violently by over
100 police.
@Posted by: Yeah, Right | May 5 2020 0:01 utc | 87
"As for the "stop testing and destroy the samples" claim, that is a lie-by-omission and
therefore deliberately misleading.
The actual order was to stop testing immediately and send the samples to a secure testing
facility. The samples were only to be destroyed if that wasn't possible.
Now, that's very sensible. Hospital authorities did not know what they were dealing
with"
The order to stop al testing and destroy the samples was also about the research these
labs do on viruses taken directly out of bats and other animals.
And during an actual outbreak the lab could have done valuable research on the emerging
virus. Instead it was closed down.
"After the National Health and Health Commission issued the No. 3 document, the Wuhan
Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was required to stop pathogen
detection, destroy existing samples and destroy existing samples.
Regulating the potentially unsafe transport of virus samples is fair enough. But there is
no charitable explanation for why "information about pathogen detection or experimental
activities" needs authorization to be released (these are scientists performing this
research, after all) or why the WIV, supposedly the safest and most advanced bio-laboratory
in China, was ordered to cease its work and destroy its samples as well at such a crucial
time during the outbreak. Regardless of your opinion on the WIV, they most certainly had the
capacity to perform medical research that could have aided the global community if they had
been allowed to continue performing it.
On the other hand, ordering the WIV to destroy all samples and disassociate itself with
the virus makes complete sense if you are trying to invalidate lab outbreak rumors before
they become prominent. One cannot easily confirm the presence of a sample in a lab after it
has been destroyed."
What is an "IC"? It stands for "intelligence community" Who belongs to this IC? No one can be
certain. There's a woman that is a Director of the CIA. It is said that this woman endorses
torture and she's quite a shadowy creature. It is highly probable that she sits down to pee,
as most all females tend to do. There's also a man called the "Director of National
Intelligence". There are many other agencies in this IC, also, 17 in total, and the budget
for this important clandestine force is not known and is called a "black budget". Edward
Snowden released a figure for 2013 of about $55 billion, but this figure cannot be
substantiated so far as this commentator knows. My name is "jadan" and I am a member of the
Blogging Community, but unlike the IC, we in the BC have not reached any consensus on the
issue of the origins of this virus. We are an all volunteer source of national intelligence
in the grand old tradition of American volunteerism. Since we are not paid, our opinions are
unbiased.
I believe the IC is full of shit. There are those in the BC who may respect the IC and try
to toady up to it because they know that every word they write on line is being recorded and
stored in a giant warehouse in Utah. They may try to curry favor with spies in the NSA, but
jadan is not cowed. He says the IC is full of shit in full awareness that the IC knows his
real name, where he lives, how much money he has, his itinerary every day for years, and when
was the last time he looked at porn. He knows the IC is peopled primarily by place holders
collecting wages and benefits and that each and every one of them is hopelessly full of shit
and incapable of a rational, not to say, original, thought.
First of all, China did not conceal a thing. How could they conceal the fact that they
embarked upon a hospital building program right there in Wuhan and created 1000's of new
hospital beds in a mere 10 days. Did the clandestine members of our IC not notice this and
DRAW CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS, such as: those Chinese must be expecting a PANDEMIC! Or are they
just full of shit?
And why, given the 17 member groups of the IC, which is not a state secret, did the IC not
know what bioweapons research was going on and where? We do not know how many boots on the
ground the IC actually has, which knowledge would compromise its effectiveness and endanger
our national security, but surely there are enough to identity all bioweapons activity in
every lab around the world. So, J'accuse, IC! You shit heads should have known!
And yes! Your lame effort to blame China is transparently an effort to conceal your own
culpability, you sleazy shadowy IC, who have been directly funding and managing bioweapons
programs since WWII. You know it's true, you plodding place holders, and here's some advice
from a member in good standing of the all volunteer BC, you had better get busy and make a
plan for the elimination of bioweapons and a plan to eliminate national conflicts to avoid
nuclear annihilation, and a plan to prevent the collapse of the biosphere, otherwise you full
of shit place holders: you won't have a groovy retirement waiting for you at the end of the
rainbow!
If they are talking about China.Maybe it is because they are preparing for action elsewhere.
Trump is getting desperate for a win or at least a diversion.
The US "Intelligence Community" is such a huge misnomer, since they are a lot more
interested in hijacking the government and fostering fraud than to do what they are supposed
to.
It is disingenuous to claim that Taiwan & Honkong 'magically had fewer Covid 19 cases,
therefore deaths because they "have not had lockdowns." .
A brief perusal of the facts around Hongkong & Taiwan reveals that the reason they did
not have to go into lockdown was because right from the get go Health Authorities scrutinised
& tested all arrivals quarantining where necessary and followed up every reported case
with a complete track & trace.
As for Taiwan, well even
Voice of Amerika , that amerikan funded propaganda outlet which is unceasing in its
commentry that mean commie China is going to rape, pillage & plunder Taiwan, admitted
that early warning of the Covid 19 outbreak enabled Taiwanese health authorities to identify
many potential spreaders, that hand sanitizers available at the entrance to every building
along with a compulsory temperature check (too high & you are denied entry).
Scrutiny of arrivals began in December 2019, by mid January
"Officials in Taiwan took a “more proactive” approach compared to other parts
of Asia by stopping flights from China, lawmaker Lo Chih-cheng said. Hundreds of thousands
of Taiwanese live in China and a lot of them return in the first two months of each year
for holidays, a pattern that increased Taiwan’s exposure to the disease."
Like South Korea health officials in Hongkong & Taiwan had learned a great deal from
the SARS epidemic of 17 years before, both had close familial links with China, so were on
the ball a little faster than South Korea.
That early action is what made lockdown un-neccessary. That plus mass adoption of facemasks
early on by citizens made spreading more difficult.
If Orange buffoon had been on the ball and paid attention to formal & informal
information coming out of China, e.g. checking all new arrivals thoroughly from early January
2020, it is likely amerika would not have required lockdowns, but the health authorities were
buggered from the get go.
For some reason, still unexplained (however best guess is that the WHO hadn't offered any
kickbacks for amerika 'kindly' adopting their Covid 19 test, so some sticky-fingered
sociopath somewhere around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave decided to find an amerikan Pharma corp who
would kick back), the Whitehouse decided that no damn commie WHO test was gonna be used on
amerikans, so good old amerikan capitalism was gonna square that circle - cept they couldn't.
China had provided the complete genetic structure of the virus, but amerikan scientists were
simply not capable of designing an accurate, scalable test.
Without a test, no track and trace, no track & trace = no way of identifying then
isolating those individuals who were infected and were spreading the Covid 19 disease and
that left no alternative other than a complete lockdown.
Here in Aotearoa, track & trace began early, but only international flights from China
were blocked, euro & ME flights inbound continued. Both those regions had Covid 19
infected citizens from late December 2019 - the virus was moving fast. That meant by 2nd week
of March we had to have a complete lockdown for 4 weeks while all cases were traced and
clusters resolved. Once that occurred the lockdown is being reduced using a rational
explained methodology.
My own view is that Aotearoa is going too fast, the greedies were knocked over by the
suddenness of our lockdown & the alacrity with which kiwis stuck to it. It took em a
couple weeks to get their acts together and push for 'sanity' ie forcing low paid workers out
to be exploited once more. We are moving into winter and cold weather allows corona viruses
to thrive so if any cases have been missed the disease will race through the community like a
rat up a drainpipe.
Back to the point. Lockdown was avoidable but only if a society took control of the viruses
spread in early January 2020. Since AFAIK, no whitefella managed nations did that, lockdown
became essential.
No problem.....China and the rest of the world just need to send the US a bill for the 2008
financial collapse....remember all those CDS and MBS......
Circe , May 5 2020 4:45 utc |
128Yeah, Right , May 5 2020 4:51 utc |
129
@11 Govern the Mente: OK, I'm going to break it to you gently - what you think is a smoking
gun is nothing more than a crude sleight of hand.
It goes like this:
a) New News waves around photocopies of an official document that it claims orders
institutions to "destroy existing samples and ordered that information not be disclosed to
the outside world without authorization"
b) That order is directed towards the commercial testing and diagnostic labs that the various
Wuhan hospitals sent blood and sputum samples to in an attempt to identify the underlying
cause of all these cases of "pneumonia of unknown etiology" i.e. that order is directed to
institutions other than the Wuhan Institute.
(I don't necessarily dispute the authenticity of that that "No. 3 document", as I believe
that to be a sensible precaution once the nature of that "etiology" was identified).
The sleight of hand comes when....
(c) "Caixin network reported that after the release of the document, virologists revealed
that the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan virus was asked to stop pathogen testing,
destruction of existing samples."
Annnnnnnd......... it's gone.
Where did "No. 3 document" go?
So that article moves *from* a photocopied document addressed to hospitals and commercial
testing labs before moving *to* some scuttlebutt picked up by "Caixin network" and
regurgitated by "New News"
Get it?
That news article deliberately conflates two different things in order to trick you into
thinking that "No. 3 document" ordered the Wuhan Institute to destroy its samples.
New News has nothing of the sort. What it has is hearsay, first reported by Caixin, and
now repeated by them.
@v Posted by: Likklemore | May 4 2020 22:43 utc | 66
Yawn, more Sinophobic feel-good circlejerking exercises from the MSM swamp who would never
admit Americans are too busy selling each other out or pushing away responsibility to do
anything about reindustrialization.
I'm thinking that BOTH the intelligence agencies and the Trump administration are lying. I
invoke the "magic" word: PROJECTION.
US created this virus. It's been said that no one creates a virus without having an
antidote. OK, fine. Think it through... if you were to whip out an antidote right away that
would look a bit suspect: as we have been repeatedly made aware of, it takes a good full year
before any medicinal remedy can be available. The wealthy ain't dropping dead, so no hurry to
show one's hand.
It's possible that Trump is forcing the hands of the perps. And it's equally possible that
he is, well, just Trump: a total fucking moron who couldn't care whether people die just as
long as people bow before him.
The US likely dropped in in China, in the perfect setting to trigger all of this. Perhaps
it was done not knowing that it would get this out of control? But, the hope, just like
US-funded anti-China protests in HK, is that it takes down the Chinese govt.
It's also a "nice" way to field test population control here in the US.
Wouldn't the Chinese know the origins of the virus? Consider that the US has had, far and
away, the greatest collection of bio-warfare research: refer to Operation Paperclip. It's
possible that the Chinese aren't quite to the level of determining the origin. It would be
pretty hard for them to face their people and tell them this: tell them that they are
vulnerable?
Belt Road Initiative. That's how you spell certain demise of US economic hegemony. Stakes
could not be any higher. ALL/ANY means will be pulled to try and stop this. Operation
Northwoods. 9/11. And now COVID-19. Look deep into Pompeo's eyes and you can see that he as
ZERO empathy, that he's quite content in being a killer.
The US excels in murder. The virus seems to be yet another demonstration of that. We will
probably never know the facts.
The administration wanted the U.S. intelligence services to claim that the virus was
probably manmade or escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. The intelligence services disagree
with the administration on both points.
The resistance of the US intelligence services to both points is understandable, and is
not in any way based on evidence that the virus arose naturally. The absurd reliance on
reference to the long debunked Wuhan Market as alleged source is telling. The US intelligence
services know very well that the virus escaped (or, potentially, was released) from a US
bioweapons lab in the USA long before it appeared in China, and they know very well that the
Chinese will with time only get ever more and more concrete genetic evidence that it
originated in the US.
And they most likely know very well that the virus was introduced to
China by US military servicemen - whether accidentally or by intent - attending the
international military games in Wuhan and staying in a hotel just a stone's throw from the
Wuhan market, and that numerous hotel staff members had symptoms of Covid-19 shortly
after.
If the US intelligence agencies go on claiming that it was man-made and/or escaped from a
lab (as they did very briefly claim right at the very beginning - now largely forgotten), and
the Chinese subsequently publish incontrovertible evidence that the virus was in the US
and/or Italy and/or France or another US-stooge country, what will the US intelligence
agencies then say? "Oh we made a mistake, it must have been natural after all, it originated
in Chinese bats, moved to Chinese rhinocerus horn, and was imported into the US as Chinese
traditional medicine"?
They have no choice. They have to deny at all costs that the virus was man-made or
originated in any lab - whether Chinese lab or US lab - because it certainly never came out
of a Chinese lab.
Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada have pointedly not backed up America's apparent
surety that the novel coronavirus was either deliberately or accidentally leaked from a
Chinese lab...
Ottawa, Canberra, and London have all said investigations need to continue regarding the
source of the virus.
"... When the people who made fake claims about Iraq's WMD, about Russiagate, about Iran's danger, are claiming that the thing isn't manmade, then either it's not manmade or it's US-made and the claim is a lie (what we expect from US intelligence agencies) and a cover-up. ..."
In many Ways, Trump reminds me of a Hitler/Stalin admirer. He demands certain results; if you
don't supply them, at least Trump will just fire you instead of having you shot or sent to
the Gulag -- Evidence of the many IG firings as
this article notes .
The daily lies and bald-faced propaganda is at the point where many are aware but still
all too many remain oblivious or are Brown Shirts in all but outward appearance. Pompeo would
be a perfect example of a clone if Hitler had a PR spokesperson spewing lies daily for the
press & public to digest without any thinking. Imagine Hitler with Twitter.
None of the above is meant to denigrate; rather, it's to put them into proper perspective.
I invite barflies to click here
and just look at the headlines of the posted news items--that site's biggest failing was to
omit similar criticism of Obama, Clinton, and D-Party pukes in general, although that doesn't
render today's headlines false.
Will the coming Great Depression 2.0 be global or confined to NATO nations? As with the
first Great Depression, it will be restricted to being Trans-Atlantic for that's where the
dollar zone and Neoliberalism overlap. The emerging dollar-free Eurasian trade zone
Many of Goering's quotes are very accurate as to human nature. US took in Nazi and
Japanese scientists. It wouldn't have left the propaganda behind. Goering's quote about
taking people to war - nazi's were obviously very good at it as the Germans fought until the
very end. US peasants will likely do the same.
The anti China crap filling the MSM is anglosphere in origin. Five eyes, the anglosphere
intel and propaganda warriors will be in it up to their eyeballs.
When the people who made fake claims about Iraq's WMD, about Russiagate, about Iran's
danger, are claiming that the thing isn't manmade, then either it's not manmade or it's
US-made and the claim is a lie (what we expect from US intelligence agencies) and a
cover-up. That said, odds are on the former, as far as I'm concerned. The absolutely
sure thing is that it's not the Chinese who crafted it.
In the UK, looks like Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs committee, is spreading the
China-did-it propaganda, after his comments on the BBC last week. He can file it alongside
his promotion of the White Helmets and the Skripal affair.
"... On March 10, a petition was launched on the White House's website, asking the US government to make public the real reason for the closure of Fort Detrick, a prominent military germ lab, and to clarify whether the laboratory is the research unit for the new coronavirus "COVID19" and whether there was a virus leak. ..."
"... The Fort Detrick lab is the US Army's top germ lab in Fredrick, Maryland. It studies deadly infectious material such as Ebola and smallpox, and was abruptly shut down in August 2019. ..."
"... "The epidemic of the novel coronavirus pneumonia indeed took place in China, in Wuhan but it does not mean its source is in Wuhan," Zhong said. ..."
Speculation over COVID-19's origin continues to grow, with some people demanding that the
US government disclose more information on the closure of a US Army biological laboratory that
may be connected to the outbreak.
On March 10, a petition was launched on the White House's website, asking the US
government to publish the real reason behind the closure of Fort Detrick. (Screenshot of the
White House website)
On March 10, a petition was launched on the White House's website, asking the US government
to make public the real reason for the closure of Fort Detrick, a prominent military germ lab,
and to clarify whether the laboratory is the research unit for the new coronavirus "COVID19"
and whether there was a virus leak.
The Fort Detrick lab is the US Army's top germ lab in Fredrick, Maryland. It studies deadly
infectious material such as Ebola and smallpox, and was abruptly shut down in August 2019.
According to media reports, the decision was made out of safety concerns after the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization had failed to put in place systems
sufficiently capable of decontaminating wastewater and lacked "periodic recertification
training for workers in the biocontainment laboratories."
The CDC could not provide more specific details due to "national security reasons," the New
York Times reported.
The petition listed a series of conspicuous events in chronological order, showing
unexplainable lab-related issues and a possible link between the lab and the coronavirus. For
example, the pneumonia of undetermined origin was found in China in November 2019 right after
the United States organized Event 201, a global pandemic exercise, with the participation of
the Deputy Director of the CIA in October.
The petition also noted that a large number of English news reports about the closure of
Fort Detrick were deleted this month, displaying a "404 not found" page.
As of press time, the petition garnered less than 600 signatures, far from the
100,000-signature threshold required to receive an official response from the White House.
On March 13, Zhao Lijian retweeted a website link that provided further evidence that the
virus originated in the US. (Screenshot of Zhao Lijian's Twitter)
The petition came days before Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on
Twitter that the lethal virus could have been brought over to Wuhan by the US army. Zhao later
retweeted a website link that provided further evidence that the virus originated in the US.
The website speculated that the virus had gone from Ft. Detrick to e-cigarettes to Hawaii then
to Wuhan.
"This article is very much important to each and every one of us. Please read and retweet
it," Zhao tweeted.
"Why Fort Detrick military lab was shut down? Why flu-season came earlier all of sudden?
What caused vaping pneumonia? Why not allow people to do coronavirus testing? What are you
trying to hide? You own everyone an explanation," Twitter user Julius Ryde commented, directly
addressing President Trump.
In response to Zhao's claims, another Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said
recently that the international community, including the United States, have different views on
the source of the virus and that "this is a scientific issue and requires scientific and
professional opinions".
At a press conference on March 18, China's chief medical advisor Zhong Nanshan rejected the
widely held assertion that the virus originated in Wuhan and slammed such claims as
irresponsible.
"The epidemic of the novel coronavirus pneumonia indeed took place in China, in Wuhan but it
does not mean its source is in Wuhan," Zhong said.
The Covid-19 pandemic is just the conduit for ramping up this next level of Cold War 2.0, The
China Edition. It would have happened anyway, even without the virus outbreak. It's been in
the pipeline since Obama's "Pivot to Asia."
Pentagon war planners are on record saying they are eager to focus on "Great Power
Competition" (i.e. against China and Russia) and want to disentangle themselves from the
Middle East and fighting ragtag bands of guerrillas and insurgents. The United States and its
stupid "allies" can't stand the idea of a multipolar world where "the west" is one power bloc
among many and independent nationhood, and cooperation, is valued higher than the apocalyptic
zero sum competition they keep pushing on everyone.
This is essentially variant of Russiagate with Trump and Pompeo playing the role of Muller
Notable quotes:
"... Any fool in the C19th could have told Trump and his fellow members of the political class what to do: make concessions!underwrite all wages! introduce immediately, free healthcare (abandon the powerful but in the scheme of things tiny Health Insurance industry)! ..."
"... Instead, as everything around them crumbles, they are trying to rally the people (divided into ethnic, social, racial, linguistic and pigmentary factions) into forgetting everything and blaming China. ..."
The script that Trump is following-confident that the Democrats can be counted upon to copy
it- is the one that, his mentor in politics and much else, Roy Cohn developed for the
unlamented Senator McCarthy.
But, and this will be news in Washington, it is not 1950 anymore. The conditions that made
it possible to push the red scare underlying the first Cold War, including rising living
standards and full employment for most of the working class, the rise of the suburbs, the GI
Bill allowing unprecedented social mobility and unchallenged (in reality if not in the
fevered brains on the right) hegemony of the United States, economically, financially,
militarily and culturally- all that has crumbled away.
Trump is trying the 'blame China, fear the reds' strategy because it is all that he can
think of and nobody else within miles of the White House has a clue what to do. Why should
they? None of them has the least interest in public policy, let alone the common welfare, the
political culture in the US is so corrupted by careerism, bribery, revolving doors,
oligarchical diktats and, above all, greed, greed and greed that nobody with any brains
spares a moment's thought on thinking matters through.
The US ruling class is in the position that the French Aristocracy had reached by 1789- it
has no conception that it will not rule forever, only a tiny minority thinks ahead in terms
of dealing with fundamental changes. And there is no understanding of the fragility of their
positions.
Any fool in the C19th could have told Trump and his fellow members of the political class
what to do: make concessions!underwrite all wages! introduce immediately, free healthcare
(abandon the powerful but in the scheme of things tiny Health Insurance industry)!
Instead, as everything around them crumbles, they are trying to rally the people (divided
into ethnic, social, racial, linguistic and pigmentary factions) into forgetting everything
and blaming China.
The first time it was a tragedy, leading to the deaths of millions, most of them in south
east Asia, this time it promises to be something much more amusing.
Yesterday was a rent day and a pay day- fear, frustration, anger and a justified sense of
being tricked again are mounting everywhere. Unless the US government takes a U turn it will
be a very long hot summer.
this was the main goal from the very beginning. I said that was the aim of USA the minute its
fake corporate owned media began to scream about the virus. I said that in The Faker's
site(The Saker). This virus was a God sent, exactly when USA needed to get the world to hate
China, because that was THE ONLY WAY to stop China's rise against the West. Make the world
hate China. This very fact alone proves to me the virus isnt natural but is a bio engineered
bio weapon. The mere coincidence is a proof.
The virus might escaped into the wild by accident, but this 5-eyes report sure as hell
didn't. This intelligence leak is as subtle as a brick, perhaps by design?
Coming to a theater near you the latest blockbuster from the directors who bought you no
lesser hits than
'Saddam's WMDs' with camera work by the Nobel nominated 'White Helmets', 'Iranian Nukes',
'Assad the Sarin Monster' and the ever popular 'Russiagate' franchise.
@103 Piotr Berman "China could accept opening records under reciprocal agreement: if USA
opens records of their biological labs too."
Such a gambit is unlikely to gain any traction at all. The USA would reject that as a
"false equivalence" and then repeat the demand that China allow US inspection of the Wuhan
facility.
The Chinese would be better advised to keep their response as simple as possible: No, f**k
you and your land-whale over at the State Dept.
It is not possible to lay blame for the pandemic since all the major players in bioweapons
research are contributors to this insanity. Since the US is the world's major weapons
developer, chances are good it is Number 1 in bioweapons, too, and some speculate, with Ron
Unz, that the US attacked China and Iran.
But because the Trump people are so abysmally stupid, they didn't believe it would also
shut down the US economy! Who knows? It is not possible to follow the players and their
motives in a lunatic asylum ruled by secrecy.
There seems to be a full court press to deny the laboratory origin of this virus. If all
the players agree that it is essentially an environmental problem, then bioweapons research
can be exonerated and retained as a necessary defense against bad old Mother Nature.
As far as I can tell there is only one thing that could stay the Trump Administration from
"finding" a link between coronavirus and that Wuhan virus lab by cooking the books.
(Well, two, if you include the professional integrity of the USA's three-letter-agencies.
Hah!).
It is this: I think it is an given - 100% certain - that all over the world there are
respiratory specialists who are even now tapping their chin and thinking "that weird
pneumonia case I saw early last year.... I wonder...."
Some are still going to have access to the original blood samples, and if they do then as
sure as eggs they are eventually going to get those samples out of the freezer and test them
for coronavirus. It would just be a matter of waiting until the test kits are as cheap as
chips and stacked high on the shelves.
It would only take ONE sample to test positive for a doctor to have his 15 minutes of
fame, and if/when he does the entire Wuhan-Lab-Spill!! theory will come crashing to the
ground.
Has anyone in the Trump Administration gamed out that scenario?
If they haven't then I suggest they do so, otherwise they are running a very, very real
risk of destroying what remains - however pitiful - of the USA's reputation for
competency.
@115 jadan "There seems to be a full court press to deny the laboratory origin of this
virus."
It appears that everyone - even the Americans - have given up on the nonsense that this is
a bioweapon.
Apparently that is so obviously untrue that it has been conveniently dropped down the
memory-hole.
So we appear to be left with this claim: It is absolutely outrageous that a lab dedicated
to studying viruses should have been studying viruses. And they let the damn thing escape!
The Bastards!!!!
But here is the thing that I find odd about that claim: it relies heavily on some
diplomatic cables to the US State Department expressing concerns about safety standards at
that lab. AFAIK those cables are simply repeating rumours that US diplomats have heard (and
rightly so, rumour is a stock in trade for these guys, no fault in that).
However, diplomats/"military attaches"/spies are not really capable of passing judgement
on the safety standards at P4 level research labs. They simply do not possess the training
and/or experience to do so.
But the Wuhan facility has conducted research with highly-credentialed international
collaborators. Many, many very senior virologists from all over the globe must have come over
and visited and/or worked in that facility.
What do THEY say about the safety standards in that P4 Level research lab?
What concerns have THEY ever expressed about what they have seen there?
As far as I can tell.... crickets. Not one in a position to really know has ever voiced
concerns, either before or since this outbreak.
Apparently even China felt the need to beef up security. From what I understand, the
French actually designed the lab but China built it on its own and would not let the French
inspect it, so its likely they made some modifications they wanted to keep secret.
Feb 22,2020-In publicly and officially speaking about efforts in China to respond to
COVID-19, Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically linked efforts to prevent similar future
threats to security of biological laboratories. Xi explained these efforts by saying that
laboratory safety is a "national security" issue.
The very next day, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive
titled: "Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that
handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus
@119 Thank you for the reply, Pft, but it doesn't really address my point.
Which is this: many international collaborations were taking place in that lab. It is
inevitable that very experienced virologists from all over the world have worked there. The
very people who would spot slack safety standards in an instant.
If there really were inadequate safety procedures at that lab then RIGHT NOW there would
be tame stenographers from the MSM spruiking exclusive interviews of highly-credentialed US
virologists stating "Yeah, I was there last year. What I saw shocked me. Truly shook me to my
core".
AFAIK no such interviews have surfaced, ergo, the three-letter-agencies of the USA are
unable to find a single prominent "western" virologist who is of the opinion that this Wuhan
research lab has inadequate safety standards.
A dodgy biz-man, Trump, one day screams at the carpet-seller over the phone and tweet
insults because, too late, poor quality, wrong color, and then after threatening to withdraw
his biz, and getting better performance, praises the old (or the new if he switched
suppliers) carpet sellers.
He puts his daughter in charge of marketing, and another relative for overseas 'deals' as
he doesn't want to deal with foreignors, it makes him look uncouth, from the wrong side of
the tracks.
This is the game he played with Kim Jong Un who understood all this perfectly. The result
was: nothing much, stasis. Everyone gets to opine and jabber, vociferate, get seriously
agitated, look triumphant or down in the mouth, etc.
The US Presidency is a crap figurehead post, see the Dem. candidate -- nobody with any
brains or survival instinct wants this job. Trump is not informed, not clued in ("managed" by
various parties, shepherded about, etc.), plus is totally incompetent, etc.
So much flailing about and blame-game, against China re. COV19 - which is after all life
threatening for many - is becoming too transparent as deflection and screechy 'tantrum' with
no effect. Empty threats are always a mistake, unless they can be counted on to be seen as
wink-wink provocation (often for the gallery of cheering plebs) - between partners / allies /
cool ppl -> show time!
At some point the pretense of joining in this game, or just putting up with it while
mocking the opposing party, wears thin and reaction can be swift (e.g. from China.)
USA decline is on rumbling medium speed with jagged bursts up and down. The possible
trajectories are varied - see ex. Orlov, Tainter, Diamond, Kunstler, others. -- The terrible
fear outside the US is WAR via nuclear attacks. (scare stuff late in the day imho, see US
actions from vietnam to syria.. eurotrash submission and complacency.. argh..)
More interesting than any gossip about frog involvement in wuhan, was France24 comments (this
morning Aotearoa time), so evening Paris time - two talking heads, one from dem front
'politico' & the other some bloke at the daily beast.
That pair of propagandists decided to repeat word for word all the pomparse, &
orangeman totally uncorroborated slander about the PRC keeping the virus a secret they could
remember. Then they claimed PRC could have 'closed it down'
Check out how America behaved with the H1 N1 'swine flu' in 2009. Cases were detected in
Veracruz Mexico first week in January most probably returning migrant workers, although the
CDC reported unusual activity in its annual 'FluView' review WHO did not hear about this
epidemic until April 12 when the VeraCruz outbreak attracted their attention. It took more
than 1 month to surface and then only because of joint co-operation between WHO & PAHO
(Pan American Health Organization).
America didn't say a dickie bird until they got found out.
Compare that to the PRC &
coronavirus timeline . Central Government in Beijing learned of the potential epidemic in
the last week of December. They only learned about it because of persistant questioning about
the spike in deaths within Wuhan & Hubei province. As soon as the truth was fully
uncovered on December 31st, Zhang Jin, the Communist Party leader of the provincial health
commission in Hubei, and the director of the Commission Liu Yingzi, were both immediately
dismissed, then Deputy director of National Health Commission Wang Hesheng, the man whose
persistence had uncovered the mess was thrust into both gigs. ("gee thanks boss", he probably
did not say).
He would have been too busy as one of Wang first moves on December 31st 2019, was to
inform the WHO about a cluster of 41 patients with a mysterious pneumonia. In addition that
most are connected to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
On January 1 2020, as soon as Wang arrives in Wuhan, he orders the seafood market closed
and begins planning the Wuhan, then later, the Hubei lockdown.
PRC also immediately provided WHO with virus genetic structure, so a test can be
developed.
The dems have had to jump on the 'lets bash China bandwagon because orange moron's
acolytes have been making a lot of boise about creepy Joe & his b agman, son Hunter
trousering big fat wedges from assorted Chinese corporations who wanted favours from
amerika.
In other words the same old same old - American senators demanding big swags of money to
undertake the actions they are entrusted to carry out by amerikan citizens & normal
taxpayers - then they have the unmitigated call to slander the nearest handy furrener for
"being corrupt"!
Wake up septic tanks, the rot is in your house.
With amerika, england & europe all peddling the same lie - all primarily for the same
reason, to cover up their own greed and lazy ineptitude when first confronted by the
coronavirus, it is likely the gullible will swallow this tosh.
hopehely: "... But I think that nobody expected the outbreak of such magnitude in Italy.
That was a surprise for everybody, and actually a main generator of a pandemic, with sidekick
of Iran not to forget."
They expected a mouse and an elephant turned up -- a 'Black Elephant' in the room
basically.
"A Black Elephant, notes Vinay Gupta, 'is an event which is extremely likely and widely
predicted by experts, but people attempt to pass it off as a Black Swan when it finally
happens. Usually the experts who had predicted the event – from the economic crisis to
pandemic flu -- go from being marginalized to being lionized when the problem finally rears
its head' (Gupta, 2009). In line with Gupta's concept, Markley argues for using Type II Wild
Cards that are 'high probability and high impact as seen by experts if present trends
continue, but low credibility for non-expert stakeholders . . . ' (Markley, 2011, p. 1079)."
https://postnormaltim.es/black-elephant
hopehely: "Take Finland and Russia for example. They both handled those early cases
brought by Chinese tourists and visitors well. However, what got them was their infected
citizens returning from Italy a month later.
Even Italy, they were actually quite expectant right from the start and scooped those
infected Chinese tourists with no problem. But they got blindsided from Germany."
Ok, this is where your basic racism and bias are on display for all to see. You perpetuate
a yet to be proven meme that suits the current US political agenda. Get over it ... and if
you are a paid-for troll then shove off and stop distracting the discourse. Anyone who has
done even a modicum of independent research into the etiology and distribution of Covid-19
has known for weeks that several strains exist; China's outbreak was mainly the 2nd 'B'
strain mutation; and what arrived into Europe was either the 3rd mutation (most likely via
Singapore), or non-Chinese 'B' strain -- most likely from the USA -- as Canada determined
early.
canadas-early-covid-19-cases-came-from-the-u-s-not-china
A number of credible experts have pointed out that Italy's problems stem from a number of
factors including (a) a mild flu death cull last year leaving a residue of overdue departures
(plus draw forward from this years influenza cull quota); (b) social habits and customs
(hugging/kissing); (c) generally aged population in the hot-spot regions; and (d) generally
stupid panic that led to mass public presentation at hospitals with mild symptoms that then
infected staff and spread throughout the medical infrastructure. All entirely predictable if
the right models and parameter settings were applied.
For example see items by "Dr John P.A. Ioannidis is a professor of medicine and professor
of epidemiology and population health, as well as professor by courtesy of biomedical data
science at Stanford University School of Medicine, professor by courtesy of statistics at
Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and co-director of the Meta-Research
Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS) at Stanford University."
I'd suggest you just drop the "Chinese" BS and just say "tourists and visitors." All will
come to light in due course once science (unobstructed by US/Nato political agenda) work back
through the RNA/DNA and antibody sequences to 'patient zero' etc. It will take some time and
not meet immediate MSM needs for fear-racial based headlines. If I was betting on outcomes,
my money would be on, like many other such corona-virus/influenza events since 1918, a dirty
American 'visitor' from some revolting mega-scale industrial animal farming project. But time
will tell -- probably seep out quietly on page 15 in the 3rd year of Trump's 2nd term (c.
2022/3).
By then we'll all be chasing some other set of distracting cluster-f_cks supported by the
usual suspects.
@129 anon-indic "b' parroted WHO-Chinese propaganda initially that opposed closing borders to
China. Then he had temerity and shamelessness to advise western governments and even
pontificate on how they failed."
"Similarly, the CHEPR should create protocols to dissuade member states and the private
sector from implementing unnecessary restrictions on trade and travel."
"To prevent travel bans, relevant stakeholders, such as the International Air Transport
Association and the World Trade Organization, should be engaged prior to the next
outbreak."
That is the WHO being ordered NOT to advocate the closing of borders and the
shutting down of air traffic unless/until it clears this first with the very countries that
are now castigating it for not acting sooner.
The WHO convened on January 22 to address this very issue, and WESTERN countries
refused to budge: they liked their international air traffic much too much, that you very
much.
Don't blame China for that.
Don't blame WHO for that.
Don't blame b for that.
The blame actually lies with the very countries who are now loudest in their condemnation
of China and WHO.
Funny that. You'd almost think they are trying to deflect attention.
On December 31, China reported to the WHO over the new pneumonia. The WHO passed on the news
to the world's health ministers, and on January 3, the head of the CDC called his Chinese
counterpart, who did not try to hide his grave concern, to the point of bursting into tears.
The famous January 14 "no human to human transmission" WHO tweet was effectively canceled
on the same day in a press conference of Dr. de Kerkhove, sitting next to Dr. Tedros chief of
WHO. She said that there was some h to h transmission. Our Dear Leaders are trying to blame
the WHO for their deadly inaction until March.
For detail on this issue, you can check at www.covirDr.com in article under title
"Under-house-arrest France has 1000 times worse corona death rates than free Taiwan. NYC,
3000 times worse than Hong Kong."
"A research dossier compiled by the so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance states that
China
intentionally hid or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus
outbreak, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of lives around the world
The 15-page document from the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia
and New Zealand, was
obtained by Australia's Saturday Telegraph newspaper and states that China's secrecy
amounted to an "assault on international transparency."
The dossier touches on themes that have been discussed in media reports about the outbreak
of the virus, including an initial denial by China that the virus could be transmitted between
humans, the silencing or "disappearing" of doctors who tried to speak up, the destruction of
evidence in laboratories and refusal to provide live samples to international scientists
working on a vaccine.
Specifically, the file notes that China began censoring news of the virus on search engines
and social media beginning Dec. 31, deleting terms including "SARS variation," "Wuhan Seafood
market" and "Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia."
Three days later, on Jan. 3, China's National Health Commission ordered virus samples to be
either moved to designated testing facilities or destroyed, while simultaneously issuing a
"no-publication order" related to the disease." Foxnews et al
--------------
Just so we understand what the Five Eyes is ... These agencies operate as though the Anglo
World really is what Churchill called the "English Speaking Peoples." The extent to which their
governments can actually impede that cooperation is IMO a debatable matter.
Much good has come of the alliance and also much evil. The Brennan/Clapper scumbags made
effective use of this alliance. pl
Coming to a theater near you the latest blockbuster from the directors who bought you no
lesser hits than
'Saddam's WMDs' with camera work by the Nobel nominated 'White Helmets', 'Iranian Nukes',
'Assad the Sarin Monster' and the ever popular 'Russiagate' franchise.
Seems someone just threw a very deliberate hand grenade into US/China relations over the
'rona. The virus may have made it into the wild by accident, but this report sure as hell
didn't. This intelligence leak is as subtle as a brick, perhaps by design? And just in case
the intent was not blindingly obvious, right in the second paragraph we have the explainer:
"The 15-page research document, obtained by The Saturday Telegraph, lays the foundation for
the case of negligence being mounted against China."
Further down the article rather speculatively describes the report as "The
Western governments' research paper". The clear intent being to present (gin up?) a united
anglophone front.
Colonel, there appears to be no link to the report as yet, so I have a question: Do FVEY
reports have a central point of issuance & 'brand', or can any one of the constituent
agencies issue a FVEY report, is Five Eyes just cover for it popping up in Australia?
Basically who might have produced this thing and can we say anything about who must have
authorized its leakage? OK a few questions.
It didn't take long for the one man virology shop in Surrey to appear with his expertise,
kind of like the Middle East expert who single handedly runs the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights and periodically enlightens all the world with his words of wisdom and need for global
intervention. I wonder what he's up to these days, it seems kind of quite out that a way.
"... Covid-19 aka SARS-CoV-2 could have arisen or been created/precipitated in a lab (Detrick or Wuhan) using bats etc from the original 2003 SARS-Cov WITHOUT genetic engineering. What would eventually happen for instance if you immunize bats against SARS-CoV(2003 original) and then expose those bats regularly to repeated doses of SARS-CoV ? ..."
"... Given how things will probably be going for the US response to the Covid-19 outbreak by November then finding someone else to blame is of utmost importance. ..."
President Trump erupted with a series of demands and threats against China, focusing on various claims about its role in the current
pandemic. I have here noted some issues with China's conduct, but Trump makes it completely impossible that there will be any of
the much-needed cooperation between the US and China to overcome this virus. He has gone absolutely bonkers. He has now threatened
to remove China's sovereign immunity so people can sue it, with a former lawyer of his organization, George Sorial, now of Berman
and Associates, cooking up a class action suit against China; a threat to stop paying interest on US bonds held by China, which he
probably will not do because it occurs to him that this default on the US national debt might "damage the sacred standing of the
dollar" duh; and finally to impose yet more tariffs on China, a threat that promptly sent the stock market plunging after several
days of rising, although we know he really likes putting tariffs on China. Probably the first of these would be the least harmful
and the most likely he will do, very noisy but not amounting to too much in the end as China will just ignore it. I note that in
this press conference he claimed that he has seen intelligence showing a "high probability" that the virus came out of a Wuhan lab.
So far no other sources have said that, although by all reports that possibility has not been ruled out. But by this almost certain
lie Trump has almost certainly killed any remaining chance that China might cooperate with the US on really determining the ultimate
origin of the virus, something that would be scientifically and medically useful. It may be that this origin will be discovered,
but it will not be through such cooperation. It is completely reasonable that China will resist something they perceive as possibly
leading to them being denounced and sued.
My own theory as to what triggered yesterday's outburst is that he reportedly blew up at his campaign chief, Brad Parscal, onWedneday
when Parscale reportedly showed him serious polls showing him losing to Biden in most of the swing states. He apparently was yelling
and using the "f word." of course public polling has been showing this for a long time, but Trump has apparently up until Wednesday
simply ignored or written off such polls. In any case, this going after China big time and hard looks to me to be his response to
these bad polls, a desperate attempt to regain an electoral edge by an aggressive foreign policy, one that is potentially very dangerous
and damaging in this current situation, which apparently some of his economic advisers understand. But he is reportedly now leaning
to his national security hardliners like SecState Mike Pompeo. This is not at all good news.
likbez, May 4, 2020 12:13 am
The consequences of Trump virusgate/chinagate move is difficult to predict, but it looks like Trump severely underestimated
them.
I think we will never discover the real origin of this virus. The veil of secrecy is just too tight and now in no way China
will allow the international inspection of Wuhan lab and the USA inspection of any of possibly involved USA biolabs such as Baric
biolab at UNC, and the famous military biolab at Fort Detrick. .
So Trump accusations probably amount to nothing more than a hearsay, kind of a desperate attempt to win some election 2020
points on anti-china playing field.
Trump also limited the future freedom of maneuver by taking this hostile to China stance without any solid data about the real
origin of the virus. The blunder very similar to committed by Trump administration with Iran.
Please note that there are three leading hypothesis as for the origin of the virus
1. Zoonotic transition (which might happen in the lab so it does not completely exclude (2) or (3) )
2. Escaped for one of the China biolabs, probably from the Wuhan biolabs which conducted “gain of function” experiments partially
financed by the USA and which violated USA moratorium of such experiments (while this moratorium was in place — Trump administration
removed it in 2017) . It is interesting that it was Dr. Fauci who was instrumental in this “outsourcing” and due to whom Wuhan
lab was provided with the financing for the dangerous “gain of function” experiments bypassing and violating the USA moratorium.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/exclusive-dr-shi-zhengli-wuhan-institute-virology-connected-coronavirus-experimented-live-animals-proof/
3. Escaped from one of the USA biolabs around August 2019. Fort Detrick (of anthrax release fame) is often mentioned as the
place. In this case it is possible that China got it with the USA team which participated in 2019 Military World Games in October
18–27 http://en.people.cn/n3/2020/0321/c90000-9670852.html
Covid-19 aka SARS-CoV-2 could have arisen or been created/precipitated in a lab (Detrick or Wuhan) using bats etc from
the original 2003 SARS-Cov WITHOUT genetic engineering. What would eventually happen for instance if you immunize bats against
SARS-CoV(2003 original) and then expose those bats regularly to repeated doses of SARS-CoV ?
Surely the virus would begin to naturally mutate in order to beat the bats’ vaccine-enabled immune response ? (Yes –
there is no known/publicised *human* vaccine against the original 2003 SARS-CoV but who knows what vaccines have been covertly
developed anywhere?)
Remember that SARS-CoV-2 is 79% identical to the 2003 SARS-CoV – so it only needed to have mutated by 21% in order to
beat any anti-SARS-CoV(2003) vaccine.
China has abilities to make hypothesis (3) more prominent which will hurt the USA in a long run. The problem is that the USA
has the baggage of bio experiments on people (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States
), and is as reluctant to provide data the USA and several xUSSR countries biolabs (now controlled by the USA), as China about
its biolabs.
That includes providing the real reasons of closure of Fort Detrick biolab in August 2019 and the nature of a very strange August
2019 “vaping pneumonia epidemic” which officially affected several thousand people and which has symptoms by-and-large identical
to COVID-19 but with much lower propagation capabilities (https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/filqx9/is_it_possible_that_vaping_deaths_were_actually/
)
Trump policies now acquired their own independent of Trump dynamic: The dynamic of confrontation which, along with the economic
crisis of neoliberalism that started in 2008, is somewhat similar to the world dynamic in 1930th.
In other words Trump institutionalized harsh policies toward China and no other administration will be able to change them.
Once started, China bashing will have several long term consequences:
The fallout may smash the hard-won U.S.-China “Phase One” trade agreement.
The conflict has now morphed from a regular geopolitical conflict into something more deeper with emotional overtones, with
elements of a “clash of civilizations” ideology which as soon as both China and USA populations are indoctrinated is hard to
de-escalate from.
This long term political crises will probably combine with the long term economic crisis. As the world economy declines, economic
nationalism is likely to rise. And, over time this is likely to deepen the divide between the two countries.
The cost of maintaining the current global neoliberal empire with the center in Washington (which is reflected in the size
of the US military budget and the hidden costs associated with imperial policies which probably double this figure) now are above
the capabilities of the US economy to sustain. So the USA needs help to transition to the “new normal”, and the part of this help
that is related to China will now be more difficult to obtain.
SW , May 3, 2020 9:20 am
Going off on China is the only card in his hand.
Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) , May 3, 2020 9:35 am
Given how things will probably be going for the US response to the Covid-19 outbreak by November then finding someone else
to blame is of utmost importance. Trump cannot hang it all on blue state governors, since by then the national security interests
will weigh more heavily on risks to health by disease and by food prices than it will upon the direct economic impact of the lockdown
policies. Uncle can print money, but not healthcare and food processing workers.
The failure to rapidly produce personal protective equipment for healthcare workers AND food processing workers has been epic,
in the worst possible connotation of the word. Such an epic fail by a elected official requires some major shifting of the blame.
Ron (RC) Weakley (a.k.a., Darryl for a while at EV) , May 3, 2020 9:41 am
SW,
Precisely. It is too late for Trump to actually do his job and besides it would be totally out of character for him.
Is there any way for the US to regain any trust as a responsible nation again?
borderdenizen , May 3, 2020 3:33 pm
@JaneE I liken the hard-right right wing trajectory that we are on right now to a virus itself: it will need to burn itself out
or we will need to gain herd immunity. Trump is the main vector of this toxic mind virus and we can do nothing about it because the
nature of neoliberal propaganda and capture of the media. I tell my kids that it will take a generation or more for this to fix itself
and get back to a reasonable way of governing ourselves.
I recommend Adam Curtis' 2002 documentary "Century of the Self" to understand why the WI and MI voters will continue to vote against
their overall self interest and why we have no chance of overcoming the the John Birtch Society. It won, hands down.
fragment > "...According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the post-Soviet space,
65 American secret bio-laboratories operate: 15 – in Ukraine, 12 – in Armenia, 15
– in Georgia, 4 – in Kazakhstan. In the United States, such activity is
prohibited . Accordingly, the Pentagon, in its own laws, is engaged in illegal activities (in
spirit, not in letter). The goal is the creation of biological weapons directed against the
peoples who inhabited the territory of the USSR. Fortunately, biological material is "at
hand."...
@ fort russ "REVEALED: Pentagon Bioweapons Laboratories Detected in Developing Coronavirus
by Russian Federation"
" EADaily questioned the General Director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei
Mukhin."
There is a missconception that there are few labs that engineer viruses, in fact there are
thousands of labs playing russian roulette with viruses, of course with very ethical and
laudable causes, see for axample this article of 2010 (I can put many dozens more):
"Chemically and/or genetically engineered viruses, viral capsids and viral-like particles
carry the promise of important and diverse applications in biomedicine, biotechnology and
nanotechnology. Potential uses include new vaccines, vectors for gene therapy and targeted
drug delivery, contrast agents for molecular imaging and building blocks for the construction
of nanostructured materials and electronic nanodevices."
Right now anytime, all the day, 24h/365d, full time full live there are many labs
engineering viruses, all kind of viruses: adenovirus, lentivirus, retrovirus and the herpes
simplex virus, alphaviruses, flaviviruses, measles viruses, rhabdoviruses, Newcastle disease
virus, poxviruses, picornaviruses, etc... and many dozens of families of viruses, so why such
scandal if someone is engineering coronavirus?
What could go wrong?
Now in bio-technology the viruses are the "Saint Graal" to solve the medical problems:
cancer, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, vaccines, auto-inmune disease, etc...thanks to
the engineered viruses, we will have a brilliant future free of diseases...
Too many carreers, too many money of pharma companies, too many bribes, too many
investment, too many Nobel Prizes in it, it will not stop, and as Nassim taleb said, it is
only a matter of time something much more ugly hit us
Your comment is missing one connection: who funds the bioresearch labs.
One might assume if they were funded by governments through science and higher education
budgets, then most people working in the labs would be doing projects with the public
interest in mind, and the types of viruses they produce would reflect the goal of the public
interest.
If on the other hand these labs are under private control (through big pharmaceutical
companies whose shareholders are the same people holding shares in banks and defence
companies dependent on govt military spending) or rely on govt defence department contracts,
then the people in these labs would be working on projects and producing results and
pathogens whose attributes reflect a very different and very dangerous psychopathic
agenda.
Yes, most biolabs are funded by Big Pharma, but I'm not sure that the results are always
what they want. Raoult, for example, proposes a solution which doesn't cost much, doesn't
cost much to his manufacturers.
Of course I am not talking about any conspiracy, it is all civilization works; all those
people are working for the "betterment" of society, as is the case, in general, of the GMO
project. It is to give a new impulse to the "Progress" of the human race, that is also the
reason we have nuclear power or many thousands new chemical substances every year, all it is
for the wellbeing of Humanity.
We think we can control Nature, we can be. thank to Science, as Descartes said: "The
Masters and Posessor of Nature" full in control of all what live and what is dead, life,
matter and energy....
In fact what really we are making is open more and more Pandora's Boxes, full of nasty
surprises for all of us: nuclear, chemical, biological...
This 2010 paper is a real bombshell and a clear demonstration how dangerous those "gain of
function" experiments can be
Notable quotes:
"... From Abstract: The results show that ACE2s of Myotis daubentoni and Rhinolophus sinicus support viral entry mediated by the SARS-CoV S protein, albeit with different efficiency in comparison to that of the human ACE2. Further, the alteration of several key residues either decreased or enhanced bat ACE2 receptor efficiency, as predicted from a structural modeling study of the different bat ACE2 molecules. ..."
Are you referencing this USA/China research program?
In 2015, American researchers and Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers
collaborated to transform an animal coronavirus into one that can attack humans. Scientists
from prestigious American universities and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked
directly with the two coauthor researchers from Wuhan Institute of Virology, Xing-Yi Ge and
Zhengli-Li Shi. Funding was provided by the Chinese and US governments. The team succeeded
in modifying a bat coronavirus to make it capable of infecting humans.
The research was published in December 2015 in the prestigious British journal, Nature
Medicine (volume 21, pages1508–1513). The paper by Vineet D. Menachery et al., "A
SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence" is
available here as a
PDF as well as on-line .
Footnotes to the scientific paper disclose that the research was funded by both the
Chinese and US Governments, including grants from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy
& Infectious Disease.
Footnotes also document that the two Chinese researchers were active in their own
laboratories as part of this coronavirus project.
So what lab were the USA scientists active in? Where is 'their' lab?
The quoute above is from:
A Special Report by Peter R. Breggin, MD
www.breggin.com
(607)-272-5328
April 15, 2020
University of Minnesota? They know of these things:
Paper cited at interview with Professor Boyle Feb 22 2020
2010 study - Increase of function research
Participants:
China/ Wuhan, Australia/ CSIRO, USA/ Univ Minnesota Medical School
From Abstract: The results show that ACE2s of Myotis daubentoni and Rhinolophus
sinicus support viral entry mediated by the SARS-CoV S protein, albeit with different
efficiency in comparison to that of the human ACE2. Further, the alteration of several key
residues either decreased or enhanced bat ACE2 receptor efficiency, as predicted from a
structural modeling study of the different bat ACE2 molecules.
According to NPR the Wuhan lab only received a small amount of the grant for basic
research:
Also, only about 10% of the grant -- about $76,000 per year -- was slated for the Wuhan
Institute. This was provided in recognition that the Wuhan lab was doing the bulk of the
on-the-ground sample collection and analysis, says EcoHealth Alliance's Daszak.
Donnie Murdo is a complete fool. The mere fact that the US has gone so far off the rails on
this makes me suspect that this is like other instances of the US accusing some other country
of some chicanery that the US has, in fact, also done - namely a blatant move at misdirection
in an effort to hide our guilt. Issues with Ft. Dietrich come to mind. With so many groups,
countries, and organizations that actually possess expertise in epidemiology, no doubt we'll
have a decent shot at finding out where this started. That said, unless the US is guilty of
unleashing this virus, I doubt that it was done deliberately because not many countries are
stupid enough to conduct biological warfare outside of the US which has used it.
"Punishing" China for this supposed transgression is even funnier. The US has been
conducting lawfare for some time now. Of course, it's always US law and the lynch pin is the
need for US dollars that the world has since they've allowed the US $ to become the lingua
franca of the financial world. That lynch pin is starting to come out as the US continues to
use the US$ as a weapon. Donnie Murdo should keep a weather eye open. Germany and a couple of
other countries have refused to join Pompous' coalition of the vassals....
"The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the
COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified."
This is the same "IC" (aka "Spies" when deemed as necessary by NYTimes editorial board)
that told us 9/11 was the work of Al-Qaeda according to "wide" expert opinion.
That's as good a confirmation that it was in fact man-made and in a BSL-4 lab. (Please do
not start with "who dunnit" nonesense. Ask Dr. Rat-Face. It was "joint project".)
Concerned @ 35
There has been a lot written about US bio-warfare facilities in Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgizia, Pakistan etc. Are you saying that these, if they exist, are UNOFFICIAL ones?
Fort D was closed for some mighty serious reasons. It leaked like a sieve.
A few years back its waste water sterilisation plant was destroyed by a flood! Yes it was
within flood reach of a major storm. So they installed a new technology system that never
attained its sterilisation capacity before discharging into a sewer somewhere in Maryland. !
That and some extraordinary negligent human behaviour and design problems forced the CDC to
shut it down after detecting polluted waste water leaks and other information.
The CDC shut down a top level Military Laboratory in the USA!
There is a report on August 7 2019 at medicaldaily dot com
Then there is a detailed report describing the blundering stupidity at 'work' in the labs
from wjla dot com dated january 23rd 2020. It reads:
ABC7 has received documents from the CDC outlining violations they discovered during a
series of inspections that year, some of which were labeled "serious."
Earlier that year, the US Army Medical Research Institute had announced an experiment at
the Fort Detrick laboratory that would involve infecting rhesus macaque monkeys with active
Ebola virus to test a cure they were developing.
Several of the laboratory violations the CDC noted in 2019 concerned "non-human
primates" infected with a "select agent", the identity of which is unknown -- it was
redacted in all received documents, because disclosing the identity and location of the
agent would endanger public health or safety, the agency says. In addition to Ebola, the
lab works with other deadly agents like anthrax and smallpox.
Select agents are defined by the CDC as "biological agents and toxins that have been
determined to have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, to
animal and plant health, or to animal or plant products."
Here are some of the violations the CDC observed during inspections of Fort Detrick that
year:
OBSERVATION 1
Severity level: Serious
The CDC reported that an individual partially entered a room multiple times without the
required respiratory protection while other people in that room were performing
procedures with a non-human primate on a necropsy table.
"This deviation from entity procedures resulted in a respiratory occupational exposure to
select agent aerosols," the CDC wrote.
OBSERVATION 2
Severity level: Serious
The CDC reported that the lab did not ensure that employee training was properly verified
when it came to toxins and select agents.
"These failures were recognized through video review of laboratorians' working in BSL3
and ABSL3 labs," their report said. "[These] indicate the [lab]'s means used to verify
personnel understood the training had not been effective, leading to increased risk of
occupational exposures."
The CDC went on to specify that a laboratorian who was not wearing appropriate
respiratory protection was seen multiple times "partially entering" a room where
non-human primates that were infected with [redacted] were "housed in open caging." They
also observed a laboratorian disposing of waste in a biohazardous waste bin without
gloves on.
OBSERVATION 3
Severity level: Moderate
In this violation observation, the CDC went into more detail on the incident of the
worker not wearing gloves while disposing of biohazardous waste, writing that "biosafety
and containment procedures must be sufficient to contain the select agent or toxin."
The corrective action they recommended was to confirm that relevant personnel have
been trained to wear gloves to prevent exposure to hazardous materials.
OBSERVATION 4
Severity level: Serious
In this observation, the CDC notes that the United States Army Medical Research Institute
of Infectious Diseases had "systematically failed to ensure implementation of biosafety
and containment procedures commensurate with the risks associated with working with
select agents and toxins."
The violation specifically observed involved "entity personnel [...] propping open" a
door while removing "large amounts of biohazardous waste" from an adjacent room,
"[increasing] the risk of contaminated air from [the room] escaping and being drawn into
the [redacted]" where the people working "typically do not wear respiratory
protection."
OBSERVATION 5
Severity level: Moderate
The CDC reported that the laboratory failed to safeguard against unauthorized access to
select against. They wrote that personal protective equipment worn while decontaminating
something contaminated by a select agent had been stored in open biohazard bags, in an
area of the facility that the CDC has redacted for security reasons.
"By storing regulated waste in this area, the entity did not limit access to those
with access approval," they wrote.
OBSERVATION 6
Severity level: Moderate
The CDC reports that someone at the lab did not maintain an accurate or current inventory
for a toxin.
OBSERVATION 7
Severity level: Low
The CDC reports that a building at the Fort Detrick laboratory didn't have a "sealed
surface to facilitate cleaning and decontamination." This included cracks around a
conduit box, cracks in the ceiling, and a crack in the seam above a biological safety
cabinet.
My final observation: This is a BSL 4 lab in the middle of a highly populated zone in
the USA and it demonstrably incompetent. USA engineering fail
Remember Fukushima reactors - GE design, emergency power plant to drive reactor coolant
motors located on the ground! Wiped out instantly in tsunami. USA engineering and
design.
And this clown Trump is blaming China... you have to be kidding.
uncle tungsten @141: "Fort D was closed for some mighty serious reasons. It leaked like a
sieve."
That's true, and we can just dismiss that leakiness as the result of sloppy incompetence;
incompetence that has increasingly become a core feature of American culture over the last
half century. It would be a mistake to leave it at that, though. That incompetence serves a
purpose, which is deniability. When the CIA is doing some of their ultimate evil crap at some
black site dungeon and want to do nightmare-class torture on some unfortunate rendition
victims under the supervision of some modern day Dr. Mengele, the Fort Detrick facility needs
to be "leaky" enough that the materials the CIA scumbags abscond with are written off
as just another incompetent screw-up: Someone just misplaced those vials of anthrax, or
forgot to fill out the right paperwork when they were destroyed, or something similar. They
cannot afford to have documentation showing that the materials were handed over to the CIA.
Fort Detrick needs to be "leaky" just to be able to fulfill one of its major
functions.
Otherwise they would never be able to do human trials on their best creations.
So was Fauci an enthusiast of "gain of function" research? If so he is probably a criminal.
Notable quotes:
"... Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab With Millions Of U.S. Dollars For Risky Coronavirus Research ..."
"... [just] last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses. ..."
"... In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7 million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million. ..."
IMHO, if this
Newsweek article date April 28, 2020, is credible, then Trump and cohorts should tread
carefully:
Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab With Millions Of U.S. Dollars For Risky
Coronavirus Research
[just] last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the
organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and
other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.
In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7
million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program
followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat
coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.
Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which involves manipulating
viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a
risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release.[.]
Dr. Fauci did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment. NIH responded with a
statement that said in part: "Most emerging human viruses come from wildlife, and these
represent a significant threat to public health and biosecurity in the US and globally, as
demonstrated by the SARS epidemic of 2002-03, and the current COVID-19 pandemic....
scientific research indicates that there is no evidence that suggests the virus was created
in a laboratory."[.]
NIH gave a non-denial, avoidance denial. Congressmen were on Foxnews attacking the
funding. Where there is a whiff of smoke?
Additional articles on U.S. funding:
NPR FoxNews
NationalInterest cites Pompeo on Foxnews defending the funding. Also, UK papers repeat
U.S. funding.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Beijing is investigating the origins of
the novel coronavirus that first appeared in Wuhan, but the agency has so far been prevented
from participating in the probe. It has now said that it wants an invitation to take part in
China's investigation into the outbreak of Covid-19. Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the WHO,
said the organization "would be keen to work" at the "invitation of the Chinese
government" into the "animal origins" of the novel coronavirus.
His comments come less than 24 hours after the WHO's representative in China, Dr Gauden
Galea,
revealed he was aware that "some national investigation was happening," but had yet
to be asked to participate by Beijing. The Maltese public health physician added that, from his
point of view, there was no good reason for the WHO to be excluded from the Chinese
investigation.
Dr Galea further revealed that the "origins of virus are very important" and need to
be studied to "prevent a reoccurrence." The WHO has so far not been allowed to study
documents from two viral labs in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus. However, they have
stressed that they have no doubt that the novel coronavirus occurred naturally.
Beijing would not immediately respond to signals from the UN's health body regarding an
internal Chinese probe. The Chinese government defended the WHO when the US targeted the
organization with defunding over an alleged failure to warn the world about the danger posed by
the coronavirus.
Covid-19 was first identified in the city of Wuhan last December, before spreading around
the world. The WHO declared it a pandemic on March 11.
Far from 'unrealistic,' close analysis shows China mortality rate in line with East Asian
neighbors
####
Deaths per 100,000 population
South Korea: 0.5
Japan: 0.5
Australia: 0.3
China: 0.3
Singapore: 0.2
Taiwan: <0.1
Hong Kong: <0.1
How can this be explained? One cannot help but feel that the idea of Chinese
malfeasance in all things has become so deeply embedded in the body politic that to challenge
charges made against China is now beyond the pale. No charge, no matter how unfounded or
contrary to actual fact, is too brazen to report without a moment's consideration. In fact,
to tell the truth in such a situation may damage the career of a rising journalistic
"star."..
####
And it should also be pointed out that all the data is not equal as some states
include CoVid-19 in everything and they know for a fact that it is an overestimation ,
whereas others less so. Lies, damned lies and statistics!
I much prefer Big Data in such cases. Collect raw data (not necessarily granular to the
extreme), and work backwards.
The popular narrative in the USA is that China surreptitiously doubled its infections and
casualties a few days after announcing its very low rates of infection (considering he size
of the population) and deaths. There was indeed some revising here and there due to delays in
reporting and an extremely fast-moving situation. However, if you look back along the graph
in the reporting from pretty much any country you choose which had a substantial number of
infections, you will see an ungodly spike at some point which cannot be explained by an
explosion of infections, and is far more likely just data catching up.
Look at the USA, for example, fairly early in the outbreak; March 21st; no confirmed
cases. March 22nd; no confirmed cases. March 23rd; 16,354 confirmed cases. When the USA's
testing capability was nowhere near being able to identify such an influx. Who believes that
number? Who believes that number?
Obviously the figures were just catching up with reality. But the author is right on the
money in suggesting that one day in the not-too-distant future, America's knee-jerk hostility
toward China and other countries is going to come back to bite it in the ass. Its
determination to deal with major powers as if they were squeaky pretenders and America the
mighty arbiter of global justice is totally at odds with their global influence, and the USA
is in a very, very bad position to be alienating anyone at this point as it will need a
global effort to regain its feet.
Newsweek reports that the NIH gave the Wuhan lab $7 million to experimentally manipulate bat
coronaviruses to make them better able to infect humans. The project started in 2014 and was
renewed in 2019 and just canceled on April 24.
If true, there exists proof. Since the project was illegal weapon research it sure looks
like Sam suborned Chine in a classical set-up...known to cops world-wide, but generally used
to create token crime by the lower classes so as to enhance copshop records of stopping
(gasp!) crime...
I see Clown of Orange saying that he can "suspend" Chinese sovereign immunity. He's
retarded. They can kick murkin azz any time. Keep it up and they may.
You know, Officer Bunf pull ya over about a "tail-light" and then threatens you and tries
to trick you into "lying to a cop", or "find dope" or whatever.
To do it to Chine is a breath-taking con, global in scope.
> The chance of a natural contact is of course infinitely higher than that of a lab
accident
No. The epidemic originated right by a lab. doing pathogenic coronavirus research, and
disastrous
accidents have occurred before. See Pascall, Nomikou, PLoS Biology, 2020 (just out)
describing
an outbreak of Bluetooth virus in cattle. The paper gives other examples of virus outbreaks
almost
certainly caused by accidents.
My view is that "gain of function" research is crazy, but it was going on both in China and
the US, and
COVID-19 was an accident waiting to happen.
That's probably why the USA has been hammering for some time on the 'created in a Chinese
lab' story, while the juicy elaborations that the doctor who tried to 'whistle-blow' early
was arrested for needlessly spreading panic and – conveniently – later died of
coronavirus sends frissons of terrified excitement down the spines of its gullible audience.
There is every possibility that this was designed as a biowarfare weapon or was an experiment
for that purpose. We just need to nail down where it came from. Would you like to take that
one, Governor Cuomo?
Oh; the virus that whacked New York did not come from China – it came from Europe.
Of course he means it arrived in the USA from Europe, and is not actually disputing that
China started it. Oooohhh – look. Bill Gates says shut up about China.
But according to Tanja Stadler, Professor of Computational Biology at the Department of
Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel and an expert in questions of
molecular epidemiology, the novel coronavirus probably started in China in the first half of
November, 2019.
"Tanja Stadler, Professor of Computational Biology at the Department of Biosystems
Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel and an expert in questions of molecular
epidemiology, has now studied this data. Using a statistical model her group developed to
analyse the genetic genealogy of pathogens, she gained new insights into the beginnings of
the epidemic in China.
Professor Stadler's analyses suggest that the epidemic in China began in the first half
of November 2019, whereas most previous estimates assumed that the virus did not pass from an
animal to the first human until the second half of November. "The widespread hypothesis that
the first person was infected at an animal market in November is still plausible," Stadler
says. "Our data effectively rule out the scenario that the virus circulated in humans for a
long time before that."
Of course if it can be proven that the genome was tampered with and HIV sequences were
spliced in, that would rule out – conclusively – suggestions that it is an animal
virus that made the jump to humans. Conspicuously, it does not rule out the possibility that
it was brought to China during the World Military Games, as a mid-November start is just
about right for the two-week incubation.
The Global Times says no, though, or not necessarily – according to Zhang Dingyu,
chief physician with the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, five foreigners hospitalized during the
period of the games at Wuhan had malaria, not coronavirus.
Astonishing coincidence, though, no? Especially considering that same French Nobel
Laureate – Montagnier – claims the virus genome contains snippets of HIV and
malaria.
But he suggests here that the Chinese might have accidentally released it while conducting
research to devise a vaccine for AIDS. Uh huh. With malaria in it. Curiouser and curiouser.
One thing is sure; there is a fierce battle to nail down a narrative. And other virologists
are openly contemptuous of Montagnier's theories. Are they running interference for The
Empire, or is he full of shit? Inquiring minds want to know.
The Fort Detrick angle is still blinking red, though. The CDC shut it down for protocol
violations, not for insufficient decontamination of wastewater, and those protocol violations
involved an agent the CDC will not name for 'National Security' reasons.
This site is known to be alarmist and its connecting of the dots should not be taken
seriously unless there is some sort of independent corroboration. However, I have included it
because of its provocative discussion of how poorly the United States did at the military
games, despite having sent a large team. I remember being puzzled about its terrible
performance while researching that earlier post I did on the 'pandemic'. I mentioned at the
time, I think, that you would never have known they were ever there if you went by the
scoreboard.
*De-coupling from China
work still in progress, cant fault them for trying.
*Greatest heist of the century,
Gengzi compensation mark 2
New eight nations alliance demand reparation from China.
work in progress
*Global Chinese exclusion Act,
Chinese , Singaporeans, from teens, students to grandma, abused/taunted/assaulted in FUKUS,
OZ, CANADA....did I miss anything in NZ ?
hMMM, THE [[[five liars]]]
**Outta Africa !!
NIgeria following the Eight nations alliance to sue China in ICJ.
Tazania, SA, Kenya...follows OZ's lead to nullify/renege on BRI contracts, demanding
reparation as well.
It seems only yesterday that USA is the most hated country on earth, with one fell swoop,
[[[they]]] turn the table on China.
"... US companies do have assets in China, and China could confiscate them all, facilities, intellectual property, everything. ..."
"... China has a lock on many products and commodities, and is an indispensable customer for a lot of industries in many countries. The net effects would be a pain for China, but it would break unitary banking system controlled by USA with the help of obedient allies. ..."
US companies do have assets in China, and China could confiscate
them all, facilities, intellectual property, everything.
From that point on, all other
countries have to use Chinese banking to trade with China, and American banking to trade with
USA.
China has a lock on many products and commodities, and is an indispensable customer for
a lot of industries in many countries. The net effects would be a pain for China, but it
would break unitary banking system controlled by USA with the help of obedient allies.
Lots of American corporations would be huge losers. In short, it is not going to happen,
who is the ruling class here?
"... "Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. "Yes, yes I have," he said, declining to give specifics. "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."" ..."
"Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen
evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute
of Virology. "Yes, yes I have," he said, declining to give specifics. "I can't tell you that. I'm not
allowed to tell you that.""
Hybrid War 2.0 on China, a bipartisan U.S. operation, is
already reaching fever pitch. Its 24/7 full spectrum infowar arm blames China for everything
coronavirus-related – doubling as a diversionist tactic against any informed criticism of
woeful American unpreparedness.
Hysteria
predictably reigns. And this is just the beginning.
A deluge of lawsuits is imminent – such as the one in the Southern District of Florida
entered by Berman Law Group (linked to the Democrats) and Lucas-Compton (linked to the
Republicans). In a nutshell: China has to shell out tons of cash. To the tune of at least $1.2
trillion, which happens to be – by surrealist irony – the amount of U.S. Treasury
bills held by Beijing, all the way to $20 trillion, claimed by a lawsuit in Texas.
The prosecution's case, as Scott Ritter memorably reminded us, is straight out of
Monty Python . It works exactly like this:
"If she weighs the same as a duck
she's made of wood!"
"And therefore "
"A witch!!!!!"
In Hybrid War 2.0 terms, the current CIA-style narrative translates as evil China never
telling us, the civilized West, there was a terrible new virus around. If they did, we would
have had time to prepare.
And yet they lied and cheated – by the way, trademark CIA traits, according to Mike
"We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo himself. And they hid everything. And they censored the
truth. So they wanted to infect us all. Now they have to pay for all the economic and financial
damage we are suffering, and for all our dead people. It's China's fault.
All this sound and fury forces us to refocus back to late 2019 to check out what U.S. intel
really knew then about what would later be identified as Sars-Cov-2.
"No such product exists"
The gold standard remains the ABC News
report according to which intel collected in November 2019 by the National Center for
Medical Intelligence (NCMI), a subsidiary of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA),
was already warning about a new virulent contagion getting out of hand in Wuhan, based on
"detailed analysis of intercepted communications and satellite imagery".
An unnamed source told ABC, "analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event", adding the
intel was "briefed multiple times" to the DIA, the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and even
the White House.
No wonder the Pentagon was forced to issue the proverbial denial – in Pentagonese, via
one Col. R. Shane Day, the director of the DIA's NCMI: "In the interest of transparency during
this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the
existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related
product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists."
Well, if such "product" existed, Pentagon head and former Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper would
be very much in the loop. He was duly questioned about it by ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Question: "Did the Pentagon receive an intelligence assessment on COVID in China last
November from the National Center for Medical Intelligence of DIA?"
Esper: "Oh, I can't recall, George," ( ) "But, we have many people who watch this
closely."
Question: "This assessment was done in November, and it was briefed to the NSC in early
December to assess the impact on military readiness, which, of course, would make it important
to you, and the possible spread in the United States. So, you would have known if there was a
brief to the National Security Council in December, wouldn't you?"
Esper: "Yes ( ) "I'm not aware of that."
So "no such product exists" then? Is it a fake? Is it a Deep State/CIA concoction to trap
Trump? Or are the usual suspects lying, trademark CIA style?
Let's review some essential background. On November 12 , a married couple from Inner
Mongolia was admitted to a Beijing hospital, seeking treatment for pneumonic plague.
The Chinese CDC, on Weibo – the Chinese Twitter – told public opinion that the
chances of this being a new plague were "extremely low." The couple was
quarantined .
Four days later, a third case of pneumonic plague was identified: a man also from Inner
Mongolia, not related to the couple. Twenty-eight people who were in close contact with the man
were quarantined. None had plague symptoms. Pneumonic plague has symptoms of respiratory failure similar to
pneumonia.
Even though the CDC repeated, "there is no need to worry about the risk of infection", of
course there was plenty of skepticism. The CDC may have publicly confirmed on November 12 these
cases of pneumonic plague. But then Li Jifeng, a doctor at Chaoyang Hospital where the trio
from Inner Mongolia was receiving treatment,
published, privately , on WeChat, that they were first transported to Beijing actually on
November 3.
The key point of Li Jinfeng's post – later removed by censors – was when she
wrote, "I am very familiar with diagnosing and treating the majority of respiratory diseases (
) But this time, I kept on looking but could not figure out what pathogen caused the pneumonia.
I only thought it was a rare condition and did not get much information other than the
patients' history."
Even if that was the case, the key point is that the three Inner Mongolian cases seem to
have been caused by a detectable bacteria. Covid-19 is caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, not a
bacteria. The first Sars-Covid-2 case was only detected in Wuhan in mid to late December. And
it was only last month that Chinese scientists were able to positively trace back the first
real case of Sars-Cov-2 to November 17 – a few days after the Inner Mongolian trio.
Knowing exactly where to look
It's out of the question that U.S. intel, in this case the NCMI, was unaware of these
developments in China, considering CIA spying and the fact these discussions were in the open
on Weibo and WeChat. So if the NCMI "product" is not a fake and really exists, it only found
evidence, still in November, of some vague instances of pneumonic plague.
Thus the warning – to the DIA, the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and even
the White House – was about that. It could not possibly have been about coronavirus.
The burning question is inevitable: how could the NCMI possibly know all about a viral
pandemic, still in November, when Chinese doctors positively identified the first cases of a
new type of pneumonia only on December 26?
Add to it the intriguing question of why the NCMI was so interested in this particular flu
season in China in the first place – from plague cases treated in Beijing to the first
signs of a "mysterious pneumonia outbreak" in Wuhan.
There may have been subtle hints of slightly increased activity at clinics in Wuhan in late
November and early December. But at the time nobody – Chinese doctors, the government,
not to mention U.S. intel – could have possibly known what was really happening.
China could not be "covering up" what was only identified as a new disease on December 30,
duly communicated to the WHO. Then, on January 3, the head of the American CDC, Robert
Redfield, called the top Chinese CDC official. Chinese doctors sequenced the virus. And only on
January 8 it was determined this was Sars-Cov-2 – which provokes Covid-19.
This chain of events reopens, once again, a mighty Pandora's box. We have the quite timely
Event
201 ; the cozy relationship between the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the WHO, as well as the Word Economic Forum and the
Johns Hopkins galaxy in Baltimore, including the Bloomberg School of Public Health; the
ID2020 digital ID/vaccine combo; Dark Winter –
which simulated a smallpox bio-attack on the U.S., before the 2001 anthrax attack being blamed
on Iraq; U.S. Senators dumping stocks after a CDC briefing; more than 1,300 CEOs abandoning
their cushy perches in 2019, "forecasting" total market collapse; the Fed pouring helicopter
money already in September 2019 – as part of QE4.
And then, validating the ABC News report, Israel steps in.
Israeli intel confirms U.S. intel did in fact warn them in November about a potentially
catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan (once again: how could they possibly know that on the second
week of November, so early in the game?) And NATO allies were warned – in November
– as well.
The bottom line is explosive: the Trump administration as well as the CDC had an advance
warning of no less than four months – from November to March – to be properly
prepared for Covid-19 hitting the U.S. And they did nothing. The whole "China is a witch!" case
is debunked.
Moreover, the Israeli disclosure supports what's nothing less than extraordinary: U.S. intel
already knew about Sars-Cov-2 roughly one month before the first confirmed cases detected by
doctors in a Wuhan hospital. Talk about divine intervention.
That could only have happened if U.S. intel knew, for sure, about a previous chain of events
that would necessarily lead to the "mysterious outbreak" in Wuhan. And not only that: they knew
exactly where to look. Not in Inner Mongolia, not in Beijing, not in Guangdong province.
It's never enough to repeat the question in full: how could U.S. intel have known about a
contagion one month before Chinese doctors detected an unknown virus?
Mike "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo may have given away the game when he said, on the
record, that Covid-19 was a "live exercise". Adding to the ABC News and Israeli reports, the
only possible, logical conclusion is that the Pentagon – and the CIA – knew ahead
of time a pandemic would be inevitable.
That's the smokin' gun. And now the full weight of the United States government is covering
all bases by proactively, and retroactively, blaming China.
"... Among the reported influenza deaths in the US, how many cases were infected with COVID-19? Did the US government cover up the spread of coronavirus with the flu? When will the US government make public the samples of the US influenza virus and its genetic sequence, or allow experts from the WHO or the United Nations to sample and analyze? ..."
1. Regarding the restarted avian influenza virus modification experiment last year, why
does the US release no more updates?
The Science reported in February 2019 that US authorities had quietly approved the avian
influenza virus modification experiment. The research, aiming to transform the H5N1 virus to
be more capable of infecting mammals, was controversial and considered extremely dangerous.
Some experts believe that the modification may increase the risk of human-to-human
transmission of the virus. The question is why the US government decided to unfreeze the
experiment 4 years after it was halted, and why there are no more updates regarding the
experiment.
2. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)
was previously closed. What is the truth behind ?
The Global Biodefence reported in April that the USAMRIID, US Army's primary institution
and facility for biological research headquartered in Fort Detrick, Maryland, has resumed
full operation. The institution was once ordered to halt the study of biological select
agents and toxins (BSATs) last July. In March, there was a petition on the White House
website demanding the clarification of the shutdown of USAMRIID. Given that these issues have
become a primary public concern, what is the US government's response?
3. The US Department of Health and Human Services ran a scenario last year that was
similar to the COVID-19 outbreak. Is this just a coincidence?
In March, the New York Times quoted a draft report obtained from the US government saying
that from January to August 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services ran a
scenario called "Crimson Contagion" that simulated the fictional outbreak involving a group
of tourists visiting China. They then became infected and flew to various countries,
including the US. Last October, a high-level pandemic exercise named Event 201 was hosted by
a couple of US organizations. The drill simulated a scenario that a fictional virus called
CAPS, which causes more severe symptoms than SARS and transmits via the respiratory route
like the common flu, had caused a pandemic. Like COVID-19, there is no vaccine for CAPS.
Given the fact that the simulated virus is so much like COVID-19, is this just a
coincidence? Another question is, why did it not take enough preventive measures at the early
stages of the coronavirus outbreak since the US has predicted a similar pandemic?
4. US intelligence officials warned of coronavirus crisis as early as last November. Why
the warning was ignored?
In April, according to the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), it was said that, as
early as late November 2019, US intelligence officials had warned the Defense Intelligence
Agency, the Pentagon, and the White House that an infectious disease was sweeping through
Wuhan, China.
Last November, the US National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) issued a report
detailing the coronavirus pandemic, which was later identified as "COVID-19". Some analysts
believed that the outbreak in Wuhan might have evolved into a catastrophic event. According
to the Washington Post, in more than two months from January to February, Trump had received
intensive warnings from the US intelligence agencies about the coronavirus. Why did the US
government not declare a "National Emergency" until March 13?
5. Among the reported influenza deaths in the US, can the US clarify how many cases are
actually infected with COVID-19?
Japanese Asahi Television reported on February 21 that some of the 14,000 people
reportedly killed by influenza in the US might have died from coronavirus, which became a hot
topic soon after.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report at the end of
February, showing that there have been at least 32 million flu illnesses in the US that
winter.
On March 11, at the House of Representatives, Robert Redfield, the director of the US CDC,
admitted that some in the US who were previously thought to have been killed from the flu may
have been infected with coronavirus.
Among the reported influenza deaths in the US, how many cases were infected with
COVID-19? Did the US government cover up the spread of coronavirus with the flu? When will
the US government make public the samples of the US influenza virus and its genetic sequence,
or allow experts from the WHO or the United Nations to sample and analyze?
6. When did the novel coronavirus first appear in the US? Did community transmission of
the coronavirus start sooner than it was reported?
A report released in late April by local health authorities suggests that a 57-year-old
woman from Santa Clara County of California died from COVID-19 on February 6, some 20 days
earlier than the date the US announced its first death caused by the virus.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Santa Clara County health officer Sara Cody in a piece
saying, "we presume that each of them represents community transmission and that there was
some significant level of virus circulating in our community in early February."
County Executive Officer Jeffrey V. Smith said this is evidence that the coronavirus was
circulating in California as early as January or even earlier.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered all counties in the state to review autopsies of
suspected coronavirus deaths dating back to December.
When did the novel coronavirus first appear in the US? Did community transmission of the
coronavirus start sooner than it was reported?
7. How did the US get the virus strains so soon to start the first human testing of a
vaccine against COVID-19?
The Wall Street Journal on March 16 reported that the first human testing of Moderna
Inc.'s experimental vaccine against the COVID-19 had already begun. Experts immediately
raised questions about the speed of the vaccine development, saying that it would not be
possible unless the US had obtained the virus strains from very early on. So how did the US
start the first human testing of the vaccine so soon? When and how did they get the virus
strains?
8. Why did the US government keep downplaying the pandemic while its officials privately
dumped stocks?
According to the Washington Post, US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr
and his wife sold up to 1.7 million in 33 different stocks just one week before the market
plunged. Why did these officials at the Committee act so quickly while the government was
continually understating the pandemic?
Why is the vital information kept confidential to the public while the government
officials were taking advantage to practice insider-trading?
9. Why are US experts not allowed to discuss COVID-19 in public?
The New York Times reported that the White House began tightening controls for all
coronavirus messaging from health officials on February 27 after Vice President Mike Pence
led the nation's epidemic prevention and control efforts.
Several scientists and government health officials, including the nation's leading
infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci, have been asked to make statements or make public
appearances about the COVID-19 only after consultation with the US vice president's
office.
Why does the United States, which claims free speech, not allow experts and scholars to
discuss the novel coronavirus in public? Does the US want to hide something or fear of
something?
10. What research is being done in the US overseas biological laboratories? Why does the
US keep tight-lipped about it?
Natalia Poklonskaya, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, has
proposed verifying the legitimacy of US biological laboratories around the world, according
to Sputnik news agency.
Not long ago, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the
establishment of a biological laboratory in countries from the former Soviet Union.
Grigory Trofimchuk, a Russian expert in the field of internal affairs, foreign affairs,
and national defense, said the work of these biological laboratories was never disclosed to
the outside world, and that they had caused several problems, with widespread outbreaks of
dangerous infectious diseases such as measles at the laboratory site.
What research is being done in these biological laboratories? Why does the US keep
tight-lipped about the function, use, the safety of these biological laboratories?
IMHO, if this
Newsweek article date April 28, 2020, is credible, then Trump and cohorts should tread
carefully:
Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab With Millions Of U.S. Dollars For Risky
Coronavirus Research
[just] last year, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the
organization led by Dr. Fauci, funded scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and
other institutions for work on gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.
In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7
million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program
followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat
coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.
Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which involves manipulating
viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a
risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release.[.]
Dr. Fauci did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment. NIH responded with a
statement that said in part: "Most emerging human viruses come from wildlife, and these
represent a significant threat to public health and biosecurity in the US and globally, as
demonstrated by the SARS epidemic of 2002-03, and the current COVID-19 pandemic....
scientific research indicates that there is no evidence that suggests the virus was created
in a laboratory."[.]
NIH gave a non-denial, avoidance denial. Congressmen were on Foxnews attacking the
funding. Where there is a whiff of smoke?
Additional articles on U.S. funding:
NPR FoxNews
NationalInterest cites Pompeo on Foxnews defending the funding. Also, UK papers repeat
U.S. funding.
Justin GLyn @ 65 is correct: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern instituted a Stage
4 lockdown in her country in mid-to-late March with the aim of eliminating the virus from
Kiwi shores. That goal is no longer feasible but
the country has begun relaxing its lockdown to Stage 3 in an effort to revive its
economy.
The US failure to anticipate blowback can be understood in one way: assuming that the US
did indeed seed the virus in Wuhan, then we might speculate that the seeding was timed to
coincide with the flu season in China and with mass preparations for Chinese New Year. The
thinking was that the virus would spread through public transportation networks throughout
the country and Beijing would have a full-time job on its hands just dealing with massive
viral outbreaks all over the country, and fail to deal with them even adequately, leading to
mass riots and eventually widespread resistance to Beijing, and maybe even the eventual
disintegration of the CCP and its overthrow. US and other expatriates would be trapped in the
country, and foreign embassies and consulates might even be torched, prompting a US-led
coalition to invade parts of the country (like the south and the southeast) and take over in
a start to the balkanisation of the country cunningly disguised as foreign help to keep
order.
The US certainly did not anticipate that Chinese people trusted enough in Beijing to be
willing to carry out whatever orders Beijing issued; the US assumption seems to be that
everywhere around the planet, people yearn to be just as individualistic and suspicious of
Big Government as Americans are, and that what they think of their local councils and
regional governments is the same as what they think of their national governments.
The reality is that in many countries, whatever people think of their local councils and
regional (state, provincial) governments may not be true of what they think of their national
governments, because the functions of the three tiers of government in their countries may
not overlap to the extent that they might do in the Anglocentric world.
Neither did the US anticipate that Chinese society could be advanced in its own way
technologically with various functions such as public health, public transport and others
integrated enough that the Chinese could respond to a rapidly spreading crisis in the way
they did. That is in part because US society and values are based on competition, mutual
suspicion and top-down orders among other things, rather than co-operation, collective
behaviour and willingness to consider solutions based on ideas from divergent yet integrated
sources.
That is a very plausible working hypothesis, and I mean it working, the main assumption is
still to be proven but it explains many other observations of fact. But I will append a
variable in the main assumption: we could even replace the initiative's agent with some
non-state actor, ie Big Pharma. I am unable to "decide" between these possibilities. Are the
Imperial forces conflicting to the extent implied? Are we yet at the point that a non-state
actor is bold enough for such an action? I really don't want to stretch a perfectly good
hypothesis but am I?
I was in China at the time when this unfolded and note the following: 1: The Chinese
cultural mindset is totally different from the Western one, and the gap much greater than
most Westerners realise. Look at the videos of the 75th Anniversary of Modern China for a few
clues 2: As the worlds largest atheist nation, death is considered final, rituals
notwithstanding So they are motivated to survive..( and focus on delicious food to this end)
3: They talk. Incessantly. It is no accident that WeChat has grown exponentially.. What
happens in one part of China is pretty quickly spread to other parts And on the Flipside,
there are surveillance cameras everywhere
So when this unfolded, Mid Spring festival when the cities were emptied, the memory of the
SARS epidemic sprang to forefront of the official mind. Xi JingPing appeared on most TV
Channels, making it clear that he was taking responsibility for the government response. And
implicitly, that if he failed, he would be gone, in keeping with the long tradition of
Chinese leadership.
At this point we decided to bail, being prime targets to host the virus. Avoided getting
quarantined in HongKong by 4 hours, and quarantine in Manus Island, Aus by one phone
call.
There were 6 temperature checks and 4 police checks on route to HongKong Airport; arriving
in New Zealand expecting some major medical checks. None. Just 2 nurses at a deck asking if
we felt OK - handed a pamphlet and sent on our way. I did try to follow up but given official
discouragement. So NZ was asleep at the wheel for weeks, and just plain lucky. However, once
NZ woke up, the response was excellent; PM Jacinda Adern's speech was masterful and the
response excellent. We had only two CoVid cases yesterday, as we move into level 3.
There are big problems in economic recovery here, but the alternative scenarios would have
been far worse. And theres got to be a reason why various luxury private jets are turning up
unannounced and often unmarked at the airports here :-)
Each of your explanations are compelling in their own way.
A few things that your explanations left out (this is not meant to be a comprehensive
list):
The strange resignation/firing of John Bolton.
The strangely good timing of the ARAMACO IPO;
Trump's strange reversal of his stated intention to not do partial trade deals with
China - he did a partial deal in January a couple of weeks after the virus became
known;
The strange non-resistance by medical establishment to Trump's failure to respond - no
one resigned as the Trump dragged his feet.
IMO any theory of deliberate release should consider these points.
Bolton's was asked to leave the administration because he was involved in pushing
development of a virus which accidentally escaped the lab -OR- willingly left to give
Trump/Deep State a scapegoat in case it became known that the use of the virus was
deliberate? In either case, the virus was already "in the wild" ...
... which would explain why no medical professional resigned in Feb/March. It was never
going to be possible to contain the virus in the West.
This would also explain why virus discussion were classified.
Trump did a trade deal with China that he knew they would have trouble to satisfy the
terms of. The ARAMACO IPO - which had been delayed several times - came just about 6 weeks
before the new virus was identified. And it was done despite the Houthi attack on ARAMACO
facilities two months before (investors should've been very wary of the continuing war at
the super high valuation).
<> <> <> <> <>
PS I do know that New Zealand had a lock-down but they did that as soon as they found
'community spread' and their vigilance has allowed them to start lifting the lock-down after
only a short period.
This is a rehash of previously available information, with some fearmongering
and china-bashing added as a spice. But the discussion after the article is really interesting and
reflects multiple points of views. It provides a good overview of fact and suspicions around
Wuhan biolab.
We already know that Obama (and Dr. Fauci) funded this Wuhan bioweapons lab under the name of
"science" and "preventive medicine" and the Australians helped China along as well.
Western intelligence agencies are "looking closely at the work of a
senior scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Peng Zhou, " as part of a joint
international investigation into the origins of COVID-19, according to the
Daily Telegraph .
In a
stunning expose , the Australian newspaper reports that " the Five Eyes intelligence
agencies of Australia, Canada, NZ, UK and US, are understood to be looking closely at the work
of a senior scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Peng Zhou , as they examine whether
COVID-19 originated from a wet market or whether the naturally-occurring virus may have
been released from the level four laboratory in Wuhan that was studying deadly coronavirus
pathogens from bats."
Of course, the name of Peng has been long familiar to our readers, and would have been
familiar to far more people had Twitter not decided to arbitrarily suspend the Zero Hedge
account over a report exposing Mr. Zhou
.
As we reported in
January - posting publicly available professional contact information and suggesting people
ask him about the outbreak near his lab - Peng, head of the Bat Virus Infection and
Immunization Group , sought to hire two post-doc fellows last November, who would be tasked
with using bats "to research the molecular mechanism that allows Ebola and SARS-associated
coronaviruses to lie dormant for a long time without causing diseases."
One press release from his lab was titled: " How bats carry viruses without getting sick. "
Via the
Telegraph :
It can be revealed that Zhou -- the head of the Bat Virus Infection and Immunity Project
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology -- spent three years at the bio-containment facility,
Australian Animal Health Laboratory between 2011 and 2014 , where he was sent by China to
complete his doctorate.
During this time, Zhou arranged for wild-caught bats to be transported alive by air from
Queensland to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Victoria where they were euthanised
for dissection and studied for deadly viruses .
His work was funded jointly by the CSIRO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It examined bat immunology and the role of interferons and how "bats are rich reservoirs
for emerging viruses, including many that are highly pathogenic to humans and other mammals"
and "many of which cause significant morbidity and mortality in humans and other mammals.
"
Western intelligence is also looking into the work of the original "Bat Woman" Shi Zhengli,
a colleague of Zhou who is the director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the
Wuhan Institute of Virology.
As we
reported in February , Shi notably co-authored a controversial paper in 2015 which
described the creation of a new virus by combining a coronavirus found in Chinese horseshoe
bats with another that causes human-like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in mice .
This research sparked a huge debate at the time over whether engineering lab variants of
viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth the risks.
As
Nature.com reported in 2015 , the findings reinforce suspicions that bat coronaviruses
capable of directly infecting humans (rather than first needing to evolve in an intermediate
animal host) may be more common than previously thought, the researchers say.
Zhengli also spent time in Australia as a visiting scientist for three months from
February 22 to May 21, 2006 where she worked at the CSIRO's top-level Australian Animal
Health Laboratory.
She used faecal samples of horseshoe bats to identify that they were the natural host for
SARS-like coronaviruses . -Daily Telegraph
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that researchers at the WIV
had collected bats in a cave over 1,000 miles away in Yunnan which carried
COVID-19 .
Also disturbing is that the lab had been operating in part on a $3.7 million grant from the
US government.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that scientists there experimented on bats as part of a
project funded by the US National Institutes of Health , which continues to licence the Wuhan
laboratory to receive American money for experiments. -
Daily Mail
In mid-April, the
Washington Post reported that the US State Department received two cables from US Embassy
officials in 2018 warning of
inadequate safety at Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting 'risky studies' on
bat coronaviruses
, according to the report - which notes that the cables have " fueled discussions inside the
U.S. government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus ."
According to the Telegraph , the revelation comes as Australian politicians are ramping up
pressure on China to cooperate with the international investigation into the origins of the
novel coronavirus. According to Andrew Hastie, Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Intelligence and Security, " The Chinese Communist Party must take responsibility for the virus
that began inside their borders and work with the rest of the world to prevent it from
happening again. We are simply asking for transparency and co-operation."
Australia's official position is that the virus likely originated in the Wuhan wet market,
however they are now considering whether the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology
due to human error - a theory which US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo endorsed last week when
he told Fox News: " Look, we know it began at one [lab], but we need to figure this out ."
Regula, 4/28/2020, 12:43:23 PM
Any smear campaign against China is good enough to deter attention from the fact that the
west bungled to contain a contagious disease when there were just a few cases - about 5 - in
the US and ten in Europe, none in Africa, Latin America and most of Asia outside China.
Instead, it is the US, in particular the Trump admin. that has to come to terms with its
own inadequacy in dealing with the epidemic: China contained the epidemic inside China with
heroic effectiveness. The US, in particular Trump himself, saw fit to denigrate and vilify
China for its competent effort to contain Covid19 inside China, in the belief that the US is
so much better than China, it doesn't need any precautions and effective containment
measures. The result is a million cases of Covid19 and 56'000 deaths to date in the US. In
the EU it is even worse. Over 100'000 deaths.
How is western incompetence China's fault? The west was informed by China and the WHO and
warned of the high contagiousness of Covid19 as soon as it was confirmed. All to no effect.
The west started a long babble about democratic values that, as expected, didn't impress the
virus, which expanded "democratically" to autocratic proportions!
And now you want to hold China responsible? That is ludicrous. The west has to face up to
its incompetence instead of trying to fault others for it.
If this virus escaped from a lab, that lab was likely in the US or Australia, not China.
The timing of the war exercises in Wuhan with the US army is such that it cannot be excluded
that the virus was introduced into China by the US! Given the US paranoia against competition
in technology by Russia and China - as if technology were a US exclusive privilege! - and the
US hostility against China's peaceful rise, such sabotage by the US us all the more likely.
Except that the US didn't expect it to backfire.
greatdisconformity , 4/28/2020, 9:16:39 AM
Dr. Fauci, the person placed in charge of the virus response, is one of the central
architects of this disaster.
It was Dr. Fauci who awarded a grant of $3.7 million of NIH money to the Wuhan Institute
of Virology to fund research on novel gain-of-function chimera coronaviruses harvested from
bats, after the research was banned on the US mainland.
This is like some bizarre satirical fiction. You could not make this stuff up.
Alice-the-dog , 4/28/2020, 8:38:20 AM
They should be looking at Doc Fauci, since as head of the NIH at the time, he is
responsible for moving the Corona research to China from UNC after the US government placed a
moratorium on such because it's ******* dangerous.
dustinthewind , 4/28/2020, 7:13:27 AM
Are we led to believe that western spy agencies were unaware that Fauci gave $3.7 million
to one of these labs and they were all full of Americans that were all supposedly studying
the bat virus? It gets worse as one of these labs was responsible for "leaking" the virus to
the Chinese public destroying its economy and then somehow it just happened to spread to its
trading partners causing more damage to the Chinese economy. Then this virus was "magically"
used to lock down the economies of the US, Europe and other western economies where the
socialist agenda of taking over every aspect of an economy including shutting down healthcare
and then controlling your behavior? If that is not bad enough the MSM and socialist governors
prohibit the use of one of the cures? Then we have the virus being used with insane
propaganda of blaming China? This is very much like the ******** used in the past like
"weapons of mass destruction", some guy in a cave in Afghanistan carried out 9-11, WACO,
Oklahoma City bombing, Gulf of Tonkin, Iran has nuclear weapons, Russia attacked Ukraine, the
so called Arab Oil Embargo, remove another elected president in Venezuela this time,
Iran-Contra, and the list goes on and on. Some things never change and another one is how the
American public swallows this hook, line and sinker!
The question is, "Who has really benefited from this? Certainly not China but the
socialist agenda is very much alive and well in the west!
Fireman , 4/28/2020, 4:23:51 AM
If the filth in Washing town, in their sublime hubris, imagined that they could attack
China, Iran and Urupp with this bio weapon and get away with it.... then USSANS are in for a
world of pain when China strikes back...and strike back it will.
I notice some interesting things with COVID-19, that perked my ears up a bit. Yes, it
could be a natural infection jumping species from bats to humans with a probable
intermediate host, under conditions of human encroachment into world habitats. It is
actually most likely to have been that, except for the strain differences being observed.
That leads one to believe if it is in fact true, and I have no reason to doubt the Chinese
on this, that it originated outside of China and it seems likely to have originated in the
US. If, in fact, the US has 5 strains currently and China only one then it must have been
percolating in the US for some time before it arose in China.
Likely, deaths in the US were attributed to other diseases such as influenza and only
retrospective sampling will determine this. It would be interesting to do a combination
GPS-Molecular biology tracking of strains over time and distance. Also, a definite genetic
analysis of strains over time would also be beneficial and can be done easily on every
isolated strain. This would have value in attributing the course of the disease over time
as part of a natural history study of the virus. We would need access to all samples of
every lung disease related death for the past 12 months to be certain to track all
potential deaths. NBACC is the key to figuring out what nefarious stuff was being
funded.
It is possible that this virus has mutated over time to become more virulent. In
particular engineered strains are generally unstable over multiple passages through
multiple hosts. In my experience when testing strains for pathogenesis and lethality it is
wise to first passage a frozen isolate several times through a susceptible animal host to
regain full strength. If you test a lab isolate (usually frozen or lyophilized) generally
it is wimpy unless you passage it at least 3 passages through an animal model. The worst
strains are always those recovered from humans who died from the disease and not field
collected strains.
If this was perceived to be a useful agent from the likes of Bolton or Pompeo, who are
terrible and evil people, then it is conceivable this was thought to teach the Chinese a
lesson in economics. You have to be a complete idiot to release a virus for which you have
no effective countermeasures but this administration seems to be filled with complete
idiots. So, expecting normal behavior from these people is futile.
*** ZH, Tyler, mon cher: "Western Spy Agencies ..." - unattributed - doing a n y t h i n g
precludes my taking this article seriously. The western spooks' collectives, I am sad to say,
esp. without an agency and administrator names attached - don't begin to persuade.
The technicalities and associations thrown around do not begin to get us to a serious look
at cui bono: who took the farthest-ranging strategic advantage of letting loose a
(laboratory-tampered) nasty flu-like virus at this time and place, and who has shown the
greatest foreknowledge.
In Proverbs for Paranoids (Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow): If they can get you asking
the wrong questions they don't have to worry about the answers.
rtb61 , 4/28/2020, 1:06:59 AM
So why would you study viruses and bacteria in animals well I don't rabies know but
possibly because they often do on mutation become infectious to humans and better to stay a
rabies step ahead or be caught off guard.
Yeah, we need to study all the infectious vectors out there that could possibly be a
threat but racist Americans, Chinese are too dumb to study something like that unless it was
for war and took the entire effort of the country, rather than just one lab conducting
scientific medical research, WTF even is this story.
The desperation to blame China by various elements of the US governments seems to be
extremely suspicious, throwing shade on someone else to hide their own guilt and failings. A
pointless shutdown that only served at tiny minority with a share buy back and fracking
bailout at the expense of the majority and the illegal and criminal theft of constitutional
rights by various elements of government (by law you can only quarantine those proven to be
infected not the rest of us).
donkey_shot , 4/28/2020, 3:54:39 AM
first, it was "russia, russia, russia!" and we all know how that went. now, it`s "china,
china, china!" so you can kind of figure where this is headed! new vessel, same old bs.
ComeOnThink , 4/28/2020, 12:59:36 AM
The only interesting takeaway from this article is that it appears that western psych-ops
has given up attempting to even insinuate that the coronovirus is a man-made bioweapon
(...."whether the naturally-occurring virus may have been released from the level four
laboratory in Wuhan....")
Or have they conceded that point? (... "This research sparked a huge debate at the time
over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth
the risks" ...)
Sorta "oops, didn't mean to do that" bioweapon that was, you know "oops, didn't mean to
open that jar".
All that's missing is for Trump to stop calling it the "Wuhan Virus" and start calling it
"Captain Trips".
But will he then run off to Boulder, Colorado? Or Las Vegas, Nevada?
The latter, I would guess....
P Dunne . 4/28/2020, 12:56:17 AM (Edited)
"joint international investigation" is Washington speak for we have a conclusion and we
are looking for evidence to support it..
This is a nonsenical story. Every one of the "Five Eyes" was participating in research
with the Wuhan Lab. The USA gave them $7 million in 2019 Canada $1 million and both had
people on site.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been involved with research funded by $7.1 million
worth of U.S. government grants from the National Institutes of Health as it has participated
in projects in collaboration with U.S. institutions. One grant for research on bat
coronaviruses has received $3.7 million and another grant involving injecting viruses into
mice's brains got $3.4 million.
It is not clear exactly how much U.S. funding went directly to the Wuhan Institute of
Virology because it worked in collaboration with other institutions on the projects funded by
the American grants.
Arctic Frost , 4/28/2020, 6:44:23 AM
The scientific community has been international for a long time now and I have been
getting easily angered by all of these, "China did it, the USA did it" distractions. As if
this couldn't have happened at ANY lab this type of research takes place. This is an
opportunity to take the scientific community out of the hands of its political class and back
into the hands of its more disciplined class, if that makes any sense. The scientific
community used to stand for truth and now it seems to stand more for fashion. Voices within
its community are silenced if they don't phrase something the "politically correct" way. Yet
insane research is ignored with barely a whiff of concern until it's too late, THEN they
judge us as how dare we question their "well researched" advice during this pandemic.
captain-nemo , 4/27/2020, 10:50:39 PM
I wonder how this guy (Peng Zhou) and this woman ( Shi Zhengli) feels and how they can go
on with their lives, knowing they have literally killed over 200000 people around the world ,
causing 3 millions to be sick and destroying the entire world economy. I know their heads is
possible filled with all kind of things, being so smart and that kind of thing, but there
should still be some room for bad conscience 2 days ago
In the US the Democrat Party, in partnership with the ChiComs, destroyed the US
economy.
Shemp 4 Victory, 4/27/2020, 11:22:53 PM
I wonder how this guy (Peng Zhou) and this woman ( Shi Zhengli) feels and how they can
go on with their lives, knowing they have literally killed over 200000 people around the
world , causing 3 millions to be sick and destroying the entire world economy.
How do you feel pushing vengeance, retribution, and war over something which thus far is
based purely on speculation and propaganda?
I know their heads is possible filled with all kind of things, being so smart and that
kind of thing, but there should still be some room for bad conscience
Maybe you should apply some of that to yourself, unless you have a way to unkill the
victims of America's next war of aggression.
greatdisconformity , 4/27/2020, 10:38:01 PM
The Wuhan Laboratory of Virology was engaged in production of novel gain-of-function
chimera viruses based upon SARS and bat corona viruses.
A 'novel' virus is a virus previously unknown to science.
'Gain-of-function' means a virus increases in virulence as a result of an experimental
procedure.
A 'chimera' virus is a novel virus created by simultaneously infecting an animal with
multiple viruses, and the animal's immune system results in the creation of a 'novel chimera'
virus. With luck, the novel GMO exhibits gain-of-function characteristics over the original
viruses. You then run the virus through human tissue cultures... say of human lung
tissue.
The rationale for such work is to create virulent pathogens.
For 'study'. People like to study virulent pathogens and write papers about it.
Paid for with American tax dollars, signed off by the Obama appointee running the US
NIH.
The above described work was banned by DHS as too risky, so the US NIH simply out-sourced
it to China.
Where it blew up in their face and they hid the fact until it was too late.
There, I made the 'investigators' jobs a lot easier. Not that it will do any good.
alfredossister, 4/28/2020, 1:38:37 AM
Not exactly.. The chimera virus was created with gene-editing tools using insertions of
proteins from the receptor domain of bat virus into the receptor domain of base SARS virus.
It did not need a host to become a novel coronavirus. It was done in vitro by manipulating
the rna of both viruses. Details aside, the rest of what you said is probably correct.
Ben Sequestered , 4/27/2020, 10:37:48 PM
I wonder where the investigation between the North Carolina/Canada/Wuhan connection will
begin?
Shemp 4 Victory , 4/27/2020, 11:29:57 PM
The US is pretty sloppy and careless too when it comes to their own bioweapons labs in
other countries.
A "strange pneumonia" was circulating in northern Italy as long ago as November, weeks
before doctors were made aware of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, one of the
European country's leading medical experts said this week.
Coronavirus: 'strange pneumonia' seen in Lombardy in November, leading Italian doctor
says
How many people died because Pelosi and deBlasio told them to go into crowds? It's as bad
as those Italian mayors telling their people to go up and hug an infected Chinese
tourist.
mark1955 , 4/27/2020, 9:07:48 PM
Question?
Are the "Western Intelligience Agencies", also going to question: Bill/Melinda Gates,
Anthony Fauci and the (((NWO))), since they are the ones actually behind this?
Schroedingers Cat , 4/27/2020, 9:22:35 PM
"intelligence" agencies? Those people???
Adr , 4/27/2020, 8:36:37 PM
People say we can't trust the numbers from China. Like the US government is to be
trusted?
The government that hasn't told us the truth about anything for over 100 years. The entire
20th Century was nothing but lies.
In terms of Covid-19, I'd actually believe the Chinese over the USA being run by Fauchi
and Gates. After a month and a half, China found that Covid-19 wasn't what they thought it
was. They found that their own tests were faulty.
China overreacted and shut everything down, as we did. But when they figured out the
mistake, they opened back up. By the middle of March when my business was being shut down,
all the factories I worked with in China were back at 100% capacity.
China counted real cases. Which is why the numbers were so low.
Unless you've been to China, you are not qualified to criticize the country. I have been
there many times and I'll tell you that you see a far more robust economy than anywhere in
the USA. Do they copy everything? Yes. Is that right? No. But there is FAR more freedom of
enterprise in China than the USA. At least in China, you can start a business of
manufacturing something and stand a chance. In the USA unless you are a tribe member, you
aren't getting off the ground.
In the USA, Italy, UK, etc. They are counting anyone with a cold as Covid. Every death is
caused by Covid. If we counted dead because of Covid, instead of dead WITH COVID, our numbers
would be under 1000, perhaps even lower.
You count dead by something if it kills you. Since 99% of those who get the infection
across the population live, Covid doesn't kill. If you died with the infection, but were
already dying from kidney failure or sepsis, YOU DIDN'T DIE FROM COVID!!!!
It can not be proven that Covid caused the death in those cases.
If you died from an autoimmune reaction to Covid, you died from autoimmune disease. Not
the coronavirus. Falsifying a medical record is a felony, punishable by a $250k fine and/or
five years in prison. We really need to bring up some people on charges. Starting with the
CDC and the governors who allowed it.
Kan, 4/27/2020, 8:29:57 PM
Why are we going after low level folks that work for a communist government.....
Wow, for the reincarnated 4thStooging, you sure got born again hard for some China,
huh?
At the time, the Obama regime wasn't pushing us to the brink of war with China, Russia,
Iran, Venezuela, or North Korea. They tried, but failed, with Syria. So it was lots of fun
and games back then.
It's a little different when the current US regime is picking fights, for no reason other
than to cover up the corruption in our whole economic and political system, with opponents
which can put a serious hurt on this country.
Long ago are the days of akak tag teams and tales of roadside shitting in super modern
perfect China with AnAnonomous.
Yeah, AnAnonymous was fun to taunt, especially with the whole "Chinese citizenism" thing
because it was plain as day he wasn't Chinese, but Eastern European, perhaps Russian or
Ukrainian. Funny thing about AnAnonymous was that, although a lot of his theorizing was
amusingly farfetched, some of the things he said made sense and, in the six years he's been
gone from ZH, have proven to be correct.
Really gonna play running dog for the CCP knowing....knowing they were concealing and
feeding the planet ********.
If you're referring to the coronavirus, none of us, neither you nor I, know what happened,
and nobody is likely to know for quite awhile. What seems highly suspicious, though, is the
desperation exhibited by the State Department and the whole deep state apparatus as they
frantically try to blame China for something about which we don't know the nature or
origins.
Seriously, we don't know a damned thing about it. It's probably a naturally occuring
virus, but we don't yet know for sure. It might have been accidentally released from a lab in
Wuhan, and it might have been brought to Wuhan by some peasant from the countryside who
didn't wash his hands after crapping on the roadside, not realizing he was squatting atop a
virus-laden dollop of bat guano.
Yet look at the hysteria fanning the flames of hatred and war. It reminds me of July 17th,
2014, when MH-17 was shot down. Within half an hour, every CIA-controlled Western MSM outlet,
which would be all of them, was screeching about evil murderer Putin personally directing the
famous invisible Russian brigade in the Ukraine to shoot it down. Again, very suspicious
considering that nobody had any idea what happened.
The US government knows very well who shot down MH-17. They have radar recordings and
satellite imagery and could have made quick work of the investigation which has dragged on
for nearly six years now, yet the best "evidence" they can produce is the Bellingcrap clown
show. It's pretty clear that the US government is trying to protect whoever murdered the
MH-17 passengers and crew, and the immediate full-volume hysterics of "Russia Russia Russia"
look very much like the full-volume "China China China" hysterics being promoted today.
The big difference is that, with MH-17, there was clearly a crime committed and somebody
is responsible. With the coronavirus, we still don't know if anyone did anything to cause
this outbreak. We don't even know if an accident happened, let alone a crime. Yet you see
plenty of people here calling for China to be "held accountable" for something which at this
point is still in the realm of speculation and propaganda.
Do you really think another war of aggression based on lies is something which will
benefit this country? That's what we've been doing since the end of WW2 and all it has done
is made those in power wealthier, established corruption as a core American value, bankrupted
the country, and left a wake of millions of people murdered. People get so wrapped up in
labels and ideology that, while they are busy hating some phantom they call "communism", they
don't realize that the corrupt and dying system that America has become is worse than
communism.
Then you come here prepared to pwn the trolls with....single source Sputnik.
You wanna know why? Because when a group of trolls made a concerted effort to claim that
international flights were still leaving Wuhan after the city had been locked down, it seemed
a little suspicious to me, especially how they all seemed to be pushing a virtually identical
narrative. I decided to do some quick research to determine the actual timeline of events
regarding the lockdown in Wuhan, and selected the Sputnik site because they have made it easy
to navigate their archives by date. This made it the logical choice since I was looking for
the sequence of events.
And guess what? The trolls like Teamtc321 and his cohorts were lying, deliberately pushing
a narrative that they knew to be false in order to stir up war fever. No matter your opinion
of the Sputnik News spin, they do get the times, places, and dates correct, which is all I
was looking for.
The timeline presented by Sputnik, if false, would be easy to debunk, yet nobody has done
so. The only response by the troll squad is to claim I'm a "*****" (except for the times when
I'm an Iranian or a Russian or a Syrian or a Venezuelan). So if you think the sequence of
events presented by Sputnik is wrong, throw some links here that show that it's wrong. I
would very much like to read them.
Now, I have no issue with Russia really, but Sputnik....a....I can see it now.
Da, you make is a funny, gives much the good laughings. Makes me momentarily forget that
our empire of lies is unraveling, and that rightfully angry Americans will be hoodwinked
again into blaming the coming misery on anyone but those who are responsible.
HopeToLearn, 4/27/2020, 7:55:42 PM (Edited)
I've said it before - I'll say it again:
THANKS SCIENTISTS FOR CREATING A SAFER WORLD!
Look who's paying a dear price for your science experiment run amok now... The price of
playing god...
xxx. 4/27/2020, 7:48:33 PM (Edited)
"Secondarily, that all happened in December. So by December 31, the government of Taiwan
sent a white paper to the World Health Organization explaining that they had full evidence
that there was human-to-human transmission, and that it was going to be a new global
pandemic. And if you remember, on January 14, Tedros said to the world in a proclamation on a
Tweet that this is not a global pandemic, and that he had just consulted with Xi Jinping and
the Chinese, and that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission -- this is January
14.
And then January 23, Xi Jinping closed down all air traffic from Wuhan to the rest of
China. But he allowed Wuhan air traffic to travel to the rest of the world. Essentially, Xi
Jinping knowingly infected the rest of the world. "If he's going to go down, the world is
going to go down with him," essentially what he was saying.
That is not a responsible actor. That is not a government who's ideologically aligned with
the rest of the West. This is a government that basically covered up the truth. And we all
know that they covered up the truth, but now, it's actually after Neil Ferguson's Boston
Globe article, and now you see that the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on February 2 that it
is xenophobic to close anyone's borders to the Chinese, and that travel restriction shouldn't
be made. Xi Jinping himself shut down Wuhan, January 23; this is February 2, they're telling
the world this.
They are the most lying, coercive, manipulative government in the world, and you and I
both know, they are committing the largest crimes against humanity prior to this outbreak of
the sinister virus that God knows where it really came from -- somewhere between the Wuhan
wet market, the Chinese Center for Disease Control, which is right across the street, or
maybe 20 miles north, at the Biosafety Level 4 lab in China. But the bottom line is, this
disease has been unleashed on the rest of the world, and it was knowingly done so. And that's
why I'm so visibly upset about this."
And then January 23, Xi Jinping closed down all air traffic from Wuhan to the rest of
China. But he allowed Wuhan air traffic to travel to the rest of the world. Essentially, Xi
Jinping knowingly infected the rest of the world.
Liar.
23 January 2020 - Residents of Wuhan banned from leaving the city.
Note that the article states that Wuhan suspended transport connections on Thursday (23
January 2020). Seven other cities in Hubei Province suspended transport connections on Friday
(24 January 2020). Two cities (Huanggang and Ezhou) which were scheduled to suspent transport
connections on 24 January instead also suspended them on 23 January.
24 January 2020 - Wuhan Tianhe International Airport confirms that all flights out of
Wuhan to any destination have been cancelled. The only planes flying into or out of Wuhan
after that were special charter flights arranged by foreign governments to evacuate their own
people.
Japan is paying its companies to leave China and relocate production elsewhere as part of
a stimulus deal in response to the Chinese coronavirus.
Japan has earmarked more than $2 billion of the nation's economic stimulus package to
assist its companies in moving out of China to relocate production, according to a report on
Thursday by the South China Morning Post.
Those western spy agencies watched this happen for THREE MONTHS and did NOTHING!!! What
are these guys doing? By mid January the whole world saw China in a massive lockdown, all 60
million residents of Wuhan then 400 million Chinese then 700 million then half of China.
What did they, you and everyone do with this massive head start? Post stupid **** gloating
about the Iranian parliament getting infected and other assorted TARDED BS.
Did you act prudently? I remember very well the SHITE people were posting here. All BS,
all stupid, all ignorant.
YOU WATCHED THIS DISASTER UNFOLD IN REAL TIME and you pissed every opportunity away like
the TARDS you. and your government and stupid asleep at the job "intelligence" (sic)
agencies.
Shemp 4 Victory, 4/27/2020, 7:29:28 PM
Isn't it Interesting how China grounded all domestic flights and travel out of Wuhan but
allowed international flights to continue to infect the globe?
Liar.
23 January 2020 - Residents of Wuhan banned from leaving the city.
Note that the article states that Wuhan suspended transport connections on Thursday (23
January 2020). Seven other cities in Hubei Province suspended transport connections on Friday
(24 January 2020). Two cities (Huanggang and Ezhou) which were scheduled to suspent transport
connections on 24 January instead also suspended them on 23 January.
24 January 2020 - Wuhan Tianhe International Airport confirms that all flights out of
Wuhan to any destination have been cancelled. The only planes flying into or out of Wuhan
after that were special charter flights arranged by foreign governments to evacuate their own
people.
Trollbot's response will be a tantrum. He will fail to address the above points and
continue to push the same lie.
Boogity , 2 days ago
Trump and his Deep State/ Five Eyes enemies have apparently called a truce and are now
aligned about the "Wuhan" virus. A deal was probably cut. In the meantime ZH as well as some
other anti-establishment sites probably got some extra financial padding to spout the new
evildoer China narrative.
Joiningupthedots, 4/27/2020, 6:07:11 PM
So far we have been offered;
America infected Wuhan through underperforming military athletes
China mutated the virus in Wuhan from SARS
China stole the virus from Canada
China stole the virus from Australia
America owns the patent on the original Covid virus (definitely true)
MAKE UP YOUR MINDS...... FFS!
beemasters, 4/27/2020, 5:50:43 PM
It's neither careless nor stupid...if your intention is to create a pandemic that could be
blamed on China. Remember, the Pentagon supplying chemical weapons to Saddam and later
accused him of having WMD's?
Boogity, PM4/27/2020, 5:17:52 PM
Five Eyes told us Saddam had WMD's and Trumpstein was a Russian stooge, so they must be
right about the Wuhan Virus (wink)
Five eyes like to create war and disruption around the world.
Youri Carma, 4/27/2020, 4:20:59 PM (Edited)
Things to ponder about:
- The Naval War College ran a Pandemic War Game last September 2019.
- In October 2019 there was a Pandemic exercise Event 201, the military games in Wuhan
were also held in October.
- In November 2019 U.S. intelligent agencies knew a Pandemic was going on.
A November intelligence report by the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI)
outlined concerns over what is now known as the COVID-19 pandemic...
How about the Trump administration removing a US empidemiologist embed on the Chinese CDC
in July 2019. Dr. Quick was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to
the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases.
Despite increased funding of the CDC by Congress, Trump has been slowly eliminating public
health officials since his administration began.
He sees nothing, he hears nothing, he knows nothing. And he says nothing to help.
CondZero , 2 days ago
Correct. The administration has had sufficient time to deny, delete, obfuscate data. They
have in effect covered their tracks so as to blame China. Despicable, but what would you
except from over zealous neocon war mongerers.
Maghreb, 4/27/2020, 4:48:12 PM
Whole thing was financed by the U.S but so was German Rearmament. Who gives a **** if the
chinks won't fight their corner with good black propaganda.
The C.D.C. shot itself in the foot with an initial test kit campaign coming out of their
contaminated facility in Atlanta. By design, or sheer ignorance and malfeasance? This set the
tone for months of delays allowing our current administration time to conceal facts on the
origin of the virus and its immanent threat to the American public
until they come clean about 9/11 truth I'm not buying anything they are selling. 9/11
truth is non-negotiable.
Spinifex , 3 days ago
... the revelation comes as Australian politicians are ramping up pressure on China to
cooperate with the international investigation into the origins of the novel
coronavirus.
Bats caught in KAZHAKSTAND and sent to U.$. FORT DETRICH BioWeapons LAB for development of
COVID viruses.
Stunning NewsSpeak on the part of ZeroHedge. Simply outstanding. U.$. got busted with the
bats FIVE YEARS ago but now - CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA.
I guess this is all part of the ZioMedia Machine's ploy to deflect attention away from
FORT DETRICH. Here in Australia the Australian OFFICE of The EPOCH times just blew THIRTY
MILLION dollars on a 6 Page Spread of a ADVERTORIAL being posted out to EVERY metropolitan
household saying Covid-19 is the CCP Virus - China Virus - Special China Virus Edition...
Every metropolitan houshold in the country as an INDIVIDUAL MAIL BOX DROP - Not a single
thing in it except CHINA VIRUS, WUHAN VIRUS. blah blah blah. It costs SERIOUS MONEY to do a
single letterbox drop to every metropolitan household in the country. I used to work in
media. NO ONE HAS THAT SORT OF MONEY TO BLOW ON A COUNTRY WIDE SINGLE LETTERBOX DROP - NO ONE
except Governments like the U.$ - NED, which sponsors Epoch Times. They are so racist it
sick. And the U.$. is in panic mode.
Come on Yankees - WHERE IS YOU PATIENT ZERO..? Everyone else has coughed up the dates.
WHERE IS USA PATIENT ZERO!!!!
Teamtc321 , 4/27/2020, 4:04:53 PM
"The premature travel ban to and from China by the current administration just an excuse
to further his ongoing war against immigrants. There must be a check and Balance on these
restrictions."
Regards:
Chuck Schumer February 5, 2020
Moribundus, 4/27/2020, 3:42:01 PM
I would set up public investigation in USA & ask few questions guys from Fort Detrick
on lie detector.
Also: We Call For Investigations Into The "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" For
Medical Malpractice & Crimes Against Humanity
The Chinese worked in teams with US and Australian universities... these labs were
involved in controversial, high-risk research... how about investigating the labs? And how
about checking out NIH director Francis Collins who lifted the 2017 NIH ban on creating
"franken" viruses like SC2 and now loudly shouts down all inquiries into the BSL-4 lab using
fake, strawman arguments.?
Moribundus, 4/27/2020, 3:32:19 PM
They were not able to investigate why WTC7 fell down. To masquerade cover up as
investigation they simply did not mention WTC7 in report
Son of Captain Nemo , 4/27/2020, 3:13:50 PM (Edited)
And "why" would the PRC, Russian Federation and Iran have anything whatsoever to do with
this other then being victims (again) given that they represent outside of India the largest
population of consumer(s), manufacturers and cheapest energy producers in the World?!!!
francis scott falseflag, 4/27/2020, 3:11:53 PM (Edited)
in mid-April, the
Washington Post reported that the US State Department received two cables from US
Embassy officials in 2018 warning of
inadequate safety at Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting 'risky studies'
on bat
coronaviruses ,
The cables received by the State Dept were a part of the CIA's 2018 eventual intention of
releasing a virus in China to be blamed on China's shoddy biolab protections if the trade war
went against America. It appears that China learned of the CIA's intention and began
preparations for it and then invited the US Military to the World Games which they held in
Wuhan in 2019.
China was ready and waiting for the CIA's release of the virus at the games. America was
ambushed by China after its CIA created and released of the coronavirus in Wuhan.
Now we can read the results of their counter attack by the toll of global deaths and
America's in particular. As of April 27 there were one million cases of the virus in the US
and 56,000 deaths.
logicalman, 4/27/2020, 3:42:41 PM
25 US level 4 laboratories are conducting secret operation outside any supervision by
international bodies near Iran, Russia and China within the framework of a biological
cooperation plan. These laboratories are capable of manipulating viruses to turn them into a
biological weapon.
So how do you know it was a Chinese one that it escaped/was released from?
I doubt if a country was planning a bio attack they'd start at home.
El_Puerco, 4/27/2020, 2:45:30 PM
Assassination Games. After watching this, your brain will not be the same, i got a real
situation,who is behind this virus...
"How Coronavirus Fooled Every Body In The World - Including WHO"
George Webb
George Webb is an investigative journalist in the Washington, DC area that discovered the
DNC blackberries and hard drives used by DNC Chairwoman's IT assistant, Biden Awan.
BE SAFE...
BaNNeD oN THe RuN, 4/27/2020, 2:42:28 PM
Sure, it is worthy of being part of the subject of an investigation, but not exclusively
by the biased 5-Eyes team. We don't need it to be like the MH-17 investigation by the
Netherlands, which was a total sham, with Ukraine/US being able to withhold evidence, Ukraine
having veto powers and Russia/Malaysia evidence excluded.
It would be more credible if there was a neutral party doing the investigation.
Then the evidence that the virus existed elsewhere before being "discovered" in Wuhan
could also be put forward.
The over-reaction of "authorities" in most countries could also be examined.
CondZero, 4/27/2020, 2:29:46 PM
Should be investing this which supercedes any U.S. outbreaks attributable to Wuhan:
Greenspring Senior Living Community (Ground Zero for Covid-19 in U.S.?), north of (Fort
Belvoir), a retirement home where about 30 old people live. Most of them were down with
'influenza-like illness' (ILI), a few died. If they were to be tested, it's almost a
certainty, they suffered from Covid-19 starting from Ft Belvoir / Ft Detrick MD.
Dr. Benjamin Schwartz is the director of epidemiology at the Fairfax County Health
Department. He says the county has seen similar outbreaks but they're usually influenza in
the winter.
From a tweet:
Jay Korff@ABC7Jay · Jul 11, 2019
4/4 TIMELINE from Health Dept: 1st illness at Greenspring 6/30. Bulk of illnesses last
wknd. Several sick last 2 days. Greenspring tells county Tues. about outbreak. Health Dept
officials say they investigate avg of 10 disease outbreaks/yr in these types of facilities.
@ABC7News
Tim Barber@ABC7TimBarber
JUST IN: #FairfaxCounty Health Dept. says 2 more people hospitalized following respiratory
outbreak at #GreenspringRetirementCommunity in #Springfield -- total is 20 hospitalizations
now.
-Total of 54 sick & 2 deaths.
Now sending samples of mystery virus to @CDCgov.@ABC7News
The outbreak has only been reported in the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities,
but the retirement center's management is still telling residents visitation is suspended
until further notice, and no Garden Ridge residents, healthy or sick, should leave their
respective neighborhoods.
Dr. Schwartz says the community is taking proper steps and thoroughly cleaning the facility
while Inova Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention work to figure out what
kind of a virus this is and how it is spreading.
"These panels have looked for several of the most common pathogens and they have been
negative so far," said Dr. Schwartz.
Which led to this:
When you're handling some of the world's most deadly viruses and bacteria, safety should
always be a top priority, but apparently the staff of the U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, didn't get that
memo.
All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material,
such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards.
The CDC inspected the military research institute in June and inspectors found several
areas of concern in standard operating procedures, which are in place to protect workers in
biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories, spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden confirmed in an email
Friday.
Biggest danger is ******* Fauci, already cheerleading scamdemic 2.0 later this year.
This lockdown, plandemic is fake and ********, I wont be wearing a mask entering a retail
store or restaurants etc, no ******* way. **** Fauci, Birx and Bill Gates.
"Fauci Lending NIH/Army Bioweapons Vials To Veropharma? Fauci Funds 7,606 CoronaVirus
Studies Since 1996, Then 9,200 Missing Vials Found At Ft Detrick Army Lab"
The Blame China paradigm is in full swing. The U.S. government has had months to get their
story straight. China only had days / weeks to combat it.
Davidduke2000, 4/27/2020, 2:20:10 PM
if this story was true, they had 4 months to flash it, another propaganda. the problem is
the us lied so many times, you can ask a kid in Africa he will tell you " yanks are lying
assholes".
CondZero , 4/27/2020, 2:34:28 PM
You're right. Here's something interesting:
maatje benassi Sgt. 1st Class U.S. cyclist Army games in China (October 2019). Person
Under Investigation (PUI), in medical terms: Maatje Benassi. She was in the Wuhan world
military games, taking part in the 50-mile cycling race on October 15. She is our Patient
Zero.
So, while U.S. supposedly investigates, The Chinese / Russians are doing the same, only
you won't hear
this in our slanted MSM.
simpson seers , 4/27/2020, 2:25:42 PM
Trump was very successful at laying blame on China – just as the lethal 1918 flu
epidemic that began in US Army camps and killed millions of people was successfully marketed
to the public as the 'Spanish flu.'
As this "fact-finding" enters the political realm it becomes subject to all the biases
that infect politics. Why our sciences have become useless to us. Politics and globalism.
There is a significant constituency of scientist, politicians and business leaders who are
not only afraid of affronting China, but in fact, admire the Chinese model of unfettered
cannibalism, human experimentation, child rape, enslavement, and total population
control.
Expect nothing to come from this. We knew in January virtually from the beginning of this
outbreak that the Chinese communists were responsible for this genocide, and it's been
nothing since. Expect more nothing. Our "elites" want to succumb to the Chinese. They're
practically begging for it.
rwe2late, 4/27/2020, 2:39:14 PM
One would have to be a "conspiracy theorist" to think the virus could have been
inadvertently spread by (asymptomatic or mildly infected) US military personnel who visited
Wuhan just before the outbreak began.
or that
it was US-CIA-MI6 bio-warfare designed to weaken China and intentionally released near the
Chinese lab for misdirection and maximum plausible deniability.
(means/motive/opportunity)
CondZero , 4/27/2020, 2:41:19 PM
The C.D.C. received lab samples from infected / dead people at Greenspring Senior Living
Community which had an outbreak of what was then called "Influenza Like Illness (ILI) back in
late June / July 2019.
Have we heard back from the C.D.C. on these samples? Do you think the closing of Ft.
Detrick didn't have more to do with an increase of "ILI" cases in the surrounding area than a
leaky lab with poor disposal practices?
sistersoldgier , 4/27/2020, 2:08:41 PM
[Josh Rogin who is said to be plugged into the State Department was shown documents dating
back to 2015 revealing how the U.S. government was worried about safety standards at that
Wuhan lab. [...] At the very least, for a government that likes to save face, the fact that
the U.S. government helped build and fund the Wuhan virology lab in question should be enough
for China to open that info vault to scientists at the World Health Organization.] 3 days
ago
Do your research on U.S. labs doing research with viruses. There's a string of problems
noted dating back to 2014 in this country and possibly sooner. This accident was bound to
happen sooner or later.
CondZero, 4/27/2020, 2:43:26 PM
Do your research on U.S. labs doing research with viruses. There's a string of problems
noted dating back to 2014 in this country and possibly sooner. This accident was bound to
happen sooner or later
gay_troll, 4/27/2020, 2:01:04 PM
Western intelligence is of course the epitome of honor and justice.
munich1969, 4/27/2020, 1:55:44 PM
Blaming China for Corona gives our corrupt government a free pass
LOL123, 4/27/2020, 1:43:20 PM (Edited)
Interesting how no one ...not even ZH mentions Merial ( UK lab)/Boehringer Ingelhem
(Germany)Lab four hours away from Wuhan that also uses animal pathologies. A former MI5
female for 30 years ( Elizabeth M.Buller) heads up Wellcome Trust who helps fund Pirbright UK
also funded by UK government moved Merial/Boheringer ingelheim to china. Darpa funded corona
virus USA ( patent claims different from covid-19 strain).
Now how are the "five eyes" going to solve the Wuhan "mystery " when at least
Pirbright of course was Henry (Rothschild)de Worms who"s land Pirbright institute UK is
on.
With patent pooling ( sharing) it ensures all hands dirty in Wuhan will either be covered
up or exposed...but not both.
DISCLAIMER: Coronavirus is a broad name for a family of viruses. This patent is NOT for
the new COVID-19 virus and The Pirbright Institute does not currently work with human
coronaviruses. If you share this patent online, be aware you are in fact sharing a separate
patent for avian infectious bronchitis virus and porcine delta-coronavirus. This is not a
patent for the new COVID-19 virus.
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health was founded in the 1950s, and established a UK presence
in 1980, initially focussing on equine respiratory disease. Since that time, we have expanded
to become one of the largest veterinary pharmaceutical companies in the UK, and is also one
of the fastest growing. In January 2017 Merial Animal Health Ltd became part of the
Boehringer Group of Companies.
As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's largest
pharmaceutical companies , and the largest private one. Headquartered in Ingelheim, it
operates globally with 146 affiliates and more than 47,700 employees. Unlike most large
pharmaceutical companies which are listed, the company is private and fully owned by the
Boehringer, Liebrecht and von Baumbach families. [2] The
company's key areas of interest are: respiratory diseases , metabolism , immunology , oncology and diseases of the
central
nervous system . Boehringer Ingelheim is a full member of the European Federation of
Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations ( EFPIA ). The corporate logo of Boehringer
Ingelheim depicts a stylized rendition of the central section of the imperial palace of
Charlemagne .
[3]
The company supplied the most potent ingredient of Agent Orange . [4]
1955 : The Animal Health division is established as the company acquires Pfizer's
veterinary programme.
1971 : The foreign subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc is founded in
Ridgefield, Connecticut (USA). This site is soon expanded, and becomes the company's North
American research centre.
2009 through its US subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc., acquired a
significant portion of the Fort Dodge Animal Health business from Pfizer . [9]
September of the same year, Amgen announced it would purchase the rights to
Boehringer Ingelheims Phase I bispecific T-cell engager compound ( BI
836909 , now AMG 420) for use in the treatment of multiple myeloma . [23] As part of
the asset swap, Boehringer and Merial sold a number of assets to Ceva Santé Animale -
namely some animal health vaccines and pharmaceuticals from the Merial portfolio for swine,
bovine and companion animals, as well as some intellectual property, manufacturing processes
and R&D activities. [24] [25] In
October 2016 the company sold its US pet vaccines business and a manufacturing plant for $885
million, to Eli
Lilly Cos Elanco Animal Health division. [26] [27]
Boehringer Ingelheim is a globally operating company, with 146 subsidiaries around the
globe. The company's largest site and corporate headquarters is in Ingelheim am Rhein near
Mainz and Frankfurt, Germany. Their main business regions are Europe, North America and Asia.
The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna (Austria), founded in 1985, has had
Boehringer Ingelheim as its main sponsor since 1993. [33]
"western spy agencies" hmmm, must be <nudge, wink> true?
"Documentary Proof: University of North Carolina Generated COVID-19"
the report states " This article contains hard proof that cannot be questioned or denied,
which you may submit to any government agency or healthcare professional.
What is not yet proven but coming into focus is that the US biological weapons program at
Fort Detrick, Maryland, equipment and certainly key staff, certainly migrated to secret labs
at large state universities in order to "hide in plain sight." ... "
btw, the "secret labs at large state universities" mentioned here are the "Beth Israel"
(hint and a half) laboratory at "Harvard" (Dr. Charles M. Lieber comes to mind after all, he
setup the secret lab in Wuhan) and the University of North Carolina. The Fort Detrick
personnel, after the lab was closed, apparently moved to these university labs in order to
"hide in plain sight" makes sense, they would appear to be "student researchers". Also
mentioned on this report was the FDA's lab in Arkansas? wtf "Documents below will show that
research to create COVID 19 began in the United States in 2006 and culminated in a successful
bio-weapon in 2015, with work done at the University of North Carolina and at Harvard and at
the Food and Drug Administration's lab in Arkansas."
the report also mentioned this " Follow the careers, all links are included, of those who
worked on the Wuhan-COVID project in 2017. Also, note that the exact same personnel and
equipment is used for fake "prevention" research and testing as weaponization and actual
production. Since this article was written, we have begun to look at worldwide operations of
US nuclear/bio/chem contractor, Kushner-Trump favorite, Battelle, and their secret labs
around the world.
When we began, our people started to be threatened. That was a serious mistake.
Submit this paper to any physician, or other qualified bio-sciences specialist. See what
they say."
Chinese lab cowboys playing with gain-of-function on viruses that is illegal or highly
controlled in other countries, trying to gain fame in their field, academic recognition and
publication, or big payday for a new vaccine.
Poor lab management and top-down, do-not-question-the-boss Asian culture.
Low paid lab staff quietly selling equipment or animals to get extra cash
Librarian, 4/27/2020, 1:39:58 PM
I also recall some rather unusual and specific comments from "the hacker known as 4chan"
either before or around this same time period. It's difficult sometimes though to find a real
leak in the midst of all the strategically placed misinformation from the myriad of
multinational spooks present. It's worse than an Intourist bar during the 80s.
Joe A , 4/27/2020, 1:38:58 PM
Gain-of-function research or GOFR. The inconvenient truth is that many researchers from
many countries have been conducting this. Zhengli, Zhou, Ralph Baric, Fauci, etc. Because
they think they are so creative while being blind to the fact that they are working on
something that can be used as a bioweapon. Or they are not blind to it and work for
governments.
Tillyoudrop, 4/27/2020, 1:37:20 PM (Edited)
Chinese social media wee teeming with rumors that the guy is a decoy.
The leading novel coronavirus research scientist at the lab is Dr. Shi Zengli, the
Batwoman, who had been receiving multi-million-dollar grants from Uncle Sam for over a
decade. Why don't they look into what her work is all about instead?
radical-extremist, 4/27/2020, 1:29:37 PM
Recall the Chinese were also involved in some grotesque and highly unethical
manipulations of the human genome...before they were caught and chastised by the global
scientific community.
The ChiComs are evil and they're looking for a scientific edge over the world...and
we're helping them do it.
jpot34, 4/27/2020, 1:29:37 PM
All down voters think China is the boogeyman, and the deep state is their Daddy!
AntiMatter, 4/27/2020, 1:27:08 PM
Fauci Lending NIH/Army Bioweapons Vials To Veropharma? Fauci Funds 7,606 CoronaVirus Studies
Since 1996, Then 9,200 Missing Vials Found At Ft Detrick Army Lab. NATO's Dark Blueprint For
Virus/Vaccine Warfare
Western intelligence agencies are "looking closely to scapegoat the work of a senior
scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Peng Zhou," as part of a joint international
misdirection of the origins of COVID-19, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Fixed it.
INeverForget, 4/27/2020, 2:02:18 PM (Edited)
You know, because I presented the evidence to you, that it was not "research", but the
actual engineering/creation of the bioweapon that took-place at UNC-Chapel Hill, and you KNOW
that this article is lying-by-omission on many different levels.
You can not deny-reality, because you were directly-presented the data. People need to be
asking why is only one side-of-the-story, and not even that, being presented, while those
lies-by-omission, if not omitted, would change the entire equation? If you have
knowledge/information/data kept from you, intentionally, it is done for only
one-of-two-reasons: it would hurt-your-feelings if you were told the full-truth, OR, the
information is kept from you, to conceal critical FACTS from being known.
GlassHouse101 , 4/27/2020, 1:16:54 PM
MSM isn't journalism. it's propaganda and mind control.
eetzez you know what this means? ZH is becoming establishment media! Ha, ha, ha! The
spies are all over the site!
xxx 2 days ago (Edited)
This is the best video on the subject matter and collaborates the information
presented by Zerohedge
Nah - It is not surprise that Joshua Philipp, a senior investigative reporter at
"EpochTimes", is demonizing CH in his videos of gloom and doom in CH.
Epoch Times is a multi-language newspaper founded in 2000 by John Tang and a group of
Chinese Americans associated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
The newspaper is known for its support of U.S. President Donald Trump and for
favorable coverage of right-wing politicians in Europe. In a 2019 ET is the
second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign
itself.
The ET is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates the group's news sites
and YouTube channels which are known for spreading conspiracy theories such as QAnon.
vova.2018, 4/27/2020, 8:16:06 PM(Edited)
ZeroSh*t is not different than the MSM when it comes to disseminating disinformation
(misreporting). ZH got info from its partner in crime Bloomberg, Reuters, et al &
where the cabal get their info from?
From "an undisclosed source", "according to people with direct knowledge of the
matter", "an unsubstantiated, unverified & unnamed source" or from "unnamed
government sources" in other words, from the zio-far-right (((dual-citizens))) in the
shadow government but trjust us about our bizarre allegations. (unsubstantiated
allegations)
You also might notice the similarity in the misinformation by the official MSM
(prestitutes). A coincidence? Not way. It is not surprise of the MSM coordinated message
since the official MSM propaganda views imperialism, American exceptionalism and nonstop
interventionism as the new normal → Global financial k leptocracy US style
Here is who ZeroSh*t misinformation process works:
Bloomberg, Reuters, et al publishes the alleged information in Twitter that they
got from an unknown source
Mainstream media publish a fake-info, this time as an absolute truth, from Reuter
misinformation article in Twitter.
ZerShit publishes the Fake-Info article by Bloomberg, Reuters, et al as an absolute
truth – Circle completed
[Overall, we rate Zero Hedge an extreme right biased conspiracy website.
Zero Hedge publishes pro-right wing/Trump articles such as Pat Buchanan: "Trump
Calls Off Cold War II." As well as fake news stories regarding liberals: Anti-Trump
Protesters Bused Into Ajustin, Chicago.]
To keep the semblance of impartiality, ZH will publish 1 negative article about Trump bot
it will turn around and publish 10 pro-Trump articles. ZH do the same with all the
right-wing issues.
The China-bashing syndrome & malicious attacks on Zshit are real
Fauxci was in on this from the start. The dwarf is not your friend.
Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on
gain-of-function (GOF) research – altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly
and infectious – as a result of rising fears about a possible pandemic caused by an
accidental or deliberate release of these genetically engineered monster germs.
This was in part due to lab accidents at the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in July 2014 that raised questions about biosafety at US high-containment
labs.
In the face of a moratorium in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci – the director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and currently the leading
doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force – outsourced in 2015 the GOF research to
China's Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving US government funding.
The bio-weapon-research to create THIS SPECIFIC BIOWEAPON was
EXEMPT-FROM-THE-MORATORIUM, and the research and engineering were physically-done at
UNC-Chapel Hill; the bio-engineering was complete, circa 2015/6, and, now, look at what has
happened.
Newsweek reports that the NIH gave the Wuhan lab $7 million to experimentally manipulate bat
coronaviruses to make them better able to infect humans. The project started in 2014 and was
renewed in 2019 and just canceled on April 24.
If true, there exists proof. Since the project was illegal weapon research it sure looks
like Sam suborned Chine in a classical set-up...known to cops world-wide, but generally used
to create token crime by the lower classes so as to enhance copshop records of stopping
(gasp!) crime...
I see Clown of Orange saying that he can "suspend" Chinese sovereign immunity. He's
retarded. They can kick murkin azz any time. Keep it up and they may.
You know, Officer Bunf pull ya over about a "tail-light" and then threatens you and tries
to trick you into "lying to a cop", or "find dope" or whatever.
To do it to Chine is a breath-taking con, global in scope.
The communist Chinese government was painfully aware that bio-labs including the Wuhan
Institute of Virology, where it is thought the coronavirus could have originated, were in
desperate need of safety upgrades to prevent accidental leaks.
An article in Asian Review notes that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been discussing the
need for "biosafety" improvements for the past year.
"Beijing had been preparing biosecurity law, but not fast enough," the report notes,
adding that "China has been preparing for it carefully for quite a long time, conscious of
how the country was perceived overseas."
The report goes on to explain that France, a country instrumental in the construction of the
lab, found a significant flaw in the framework for ensuring the safety of virus research in
China.
"China wanted to catch up with advanced countries in biotech research as soon as possible.
To that end, it needed to establish related laws on par with those in countries like France,
the U.S. and Germany." the report continues.
A report was received by the Chinese parliament last October, detailing 8 points where
safety needed to be upgraded:
1) The prevention and control of major emerging infectious diseases, animal and plant
epidemics.
2) Research, development and application of biotechnology.
3) Ensuring biosecurity in laboratories.
4) Ensuring the security of China's biological resources and human genetic resources.
5) Preventing the invasion of alien species and protect biodiversity.
6) Dealing with microbial drug resistance.
7) Preventing bioterrorism attacks.
8) Defending against the threat of biological weapons.
The report notes that "the measures were not introduced in time for China to prevent the
Wuhan outbreak. Instead, information was initially covered up and China's first steps were
delayed."
In February, when it was clear that the outbreak was spreading, "Xi urged top leaders to
enhance the country's governance capacity for biosafety and to enact "a biosecurity law" at the
earliest possible date," according to the report.
This only enhanced the suspicions of those who believe the virus leaked from the lab.
Since that time, China has denied the US access to the Wuhan lab, according
to US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. The facility has come under increased scrutiny after
it was revealed that the US government under the Obama administration funded research there
for a number of years
"The outbreak of the coronavirus in France has little to do with cases imported from China
or Italy, as another strain of the disease of unknown origin had already been infecting
people in the country, research claims.
"The virologists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have sequenced the genomes from
samples taken from 97 French and three Algerian coronavirus patients between January 24 and
March 24. "What they found is that the dominant types of Covid-19 viral strains in France
differed from those that arrived from China or Italy, and belonged to another group, or
'clade.'
"The earliest sample in the French clade dated from February 19 and came from an infected
person who hadn't traveled abroad recently and had no contacts with possible carriers of the
disease."
It's now clear that COVID-19 erupted in vastly different locations globally very likely
prior to its detection by the Chinese in Wuhan in mid-December 2019. The only way to
clearly establish a proper timeline is to exhume bodies of those who died from or exhibited
symptoms caused by the virus -- exhumations the Outlaw US Empire denied the Italian
government just this past week as I noted in linking the item given its import.
Although the evidence judging it to be a bioweapon weakens weekly, I'm not completely
discounting that it might be, but IMO that no longer matters since we cannot tell the when
and where of its initial eruption and perhaps never will. And as the genetic sequencing work
gets more complete, it's pointing to a natural origin. This information doesn't disprove my
initial hypothesis since it relies on the behavior of key individuals and their total neglect
of their duties. Why they chose to behave that way is still unknown as they've yet to
confess. But lets rewind the clock back one year to May 2019 and muse.
Trump's losing the Trade war with China and the rest of the world. He's losing his
standoff with Iran. Russia's about to complete TurkStream and NordStreamII is moving toward
completion with the last impediment removed by Denmark. Brexit still hangs in the balance.
The several massive Ponzi Schemes are running out of input and will soon burst. The
Impeachment fiasco's a joke, but still hinders Trump. Sanders POTUS campaign is picking up
where it stopped in 2016 and looks very formidable.
In the midst of the above, someone informs Trump of a leak from Ft. Detrick of a virus
then undergoing study but not thought to be very serious. Eventually, the lab gets shutdown
but not before what was released has an opportunity to traverse the globe. (Remember, this is
just a think-piece.)
Initial reports show the new virus to be very similar in symptoms to flu and is judged to
be similar in threat to human wellbeing, which for the Neoliberals means it's nothing to
worry about or to prepare for. When China raises its alarm, TrumpCo's initial reaction is to
think it great that China's afflicted with yet another viral outbreak that will crimp its
economic advancement, thus the levity displayed by Trump, Pompeo, Pence, and others after
China's announcement. But both China and WHO deem it far more dangerous than the usual flu,
particularly since its "novel"--humans having no natural defenses against it--plus its ease
of transmission and potentially high lethal level cause WHO to declare a Pandemic while China
turns off its machines, ceases commerce, and slams the door in its attempt to stamp it out
based on China's previous experiences. Oops! Nobody thought China would stop working and
stall the vast majority of global supply chains. Worse for the Parasitic Nations as their
Neoliberal "leaders" and their nation's infrastructures were caught completely by surprise by
the cutoff. Fraudsters already printing vast amounts of money to keep their Ponzi Schemes
afloat just kept on doing what they were already and got a further boost that needed to be
directed at the general populaces. And they got yet another, and then even more while people
were cutoff from their livelihoods without any real safety net, it having been mostly cut
away since 1982. Large numbers of people began dying and very suddenly it wasn't a Hoax
anymore--it was a calamity, much of it manmade thanks to Neoliberalism. That brings us to the
events of late April and people who can't afford to be out of work are waiting 6 weeks now to
get their measly unemployment check or equally measly bailout check. They are now being used
as political tools by TrumpCo who must get the economy restarted in order to have a chance at
getting reelected despite his utter Moral Failure as a leader in time of crisis.
As you see, my initial hypothesis stands. The virus, natural or manmade, was present
earlier than the outbreak noted by China. Those running the Outlaw US Empire believed it
seems that only China would suffer the brunt of the pandemic but they grossly miscalculated
on the degree of dependence their and the global economy is on China, which instigated a
massive economic crisis that alienated people everywhere and thus created a political crisis
that's still escalating. If this were an episode of The Apprentice , Trump, Pence,
Pompeo, and more would be fired for gross dereliction of duty--during time of war, they'd be
shot. And that's why we Americans are in a huge bind since Biden isn't any better than Trump.
I hope the political crisis grows and grows and grows and grows until it involves most every
citizen. IMO, that's where our hope lies.
I have found it's best to be wary of claims by either RT or Sputnik. The study does not
support the RT headlines.
From the research paper. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.059576v1.full.pdf
"Following the emergence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China in December
2019, specific COVID-19 surveillance was launched in France on January 10, 2020. Two
weeks
later, the first three imported cases of COVID-19 into Europe were diagnosed in France."
"The syndromic surveillance allowed to capture one of the earliest representatives of
clade G (HF1463, sampled on February 19th) .."
"As the earliest representative of clade G (HF1463) had no history of travel or contact with
returning travelers, we can infer that the virus was silently circulating in France in
February,..."
From that I take it first case from China was detected January 24 and earliest case of
clade G on February 19th.
Alberta bought a ton of ppe in mid to late December. Apparently,
The boss of requisitioning stuff started hearing reports from China
In early December, that some kind of virus was going around.
He scored enough ppe to be able to share with other provinces.
For the first time ever, a comment of mine was deleted from ZH... This is amusing... Ok well I shall re post it.
Everyone seems to think just because a person is being investigated then it must automatically mean they are guilty right?
I mean when the intel agencies were investigating Trump for the Russia gate hoax all of you rushed to expose the complete lack
of credibility of our intel agencies... Now all of a sudden you guys are latching on to their narrative as if it were the gospel
truth because of your affinity for being influenced by your blind patriotism. I am not saying there is anything wrong with patriotism..
but there is something wrong with ignoring the lies and war crimes committed by our country and pretending to be lily white.
Based on our history and character of our intel agencies, it is obvious to me that we released this virus near the Wuhan lab
such that we can blame it on them. All of you eating up the propaganda are just feeding the machine that is ******* you up the
***. Part of this op is to take away your freedom and liberty by virtue of forced vaccinations and tracking your every move by
forcing you to get an immunity passport. You short sighted idiots can't see past your propaganda induced hate of China.
Now instead of spitting emotional opinion like most of you hypocrites do.. because you now most of you are extolling the virtues
of our intel agencies now because of your bias... I shall provide proof of my stance below:
CIA admits that it
hired Iranians in the 1950′s to pose as Communists and stage bombings in Iran in order to turn the country against its democratically-elected
prime minister.
(13) In 1960, American Senator George Smathers
suggested that
the U.S. launch "a false attack made on Guantanamo Bay which would give us the excuse of actually fomenting a fight which would
then give us the excuse to go in and [overthrow Castro]".
(15) As admitted by the U.S. government, recently declassified documents show that in 1962, the American Joint Chiefs of
Staff signed off on a plan to blow up AMERICAN airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and
also to commit terrorist acts on American soil , and then to blame it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba.
See the following ABC news report ;
the official documents ; and watch
this interview with the former Washington Investigative
Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
(16) In 1963, the U.S. Department of Defense wrote a paper
promoting
attacks on nations within the Organization of American States – such as Trinidad-Tobago or Jamaica – and then falsely blaming
them on Cuba.
(17) The U.S. Department of Defense also
suggested
covertly paying a person in the Castro government to attack the United States: "The only area remaining for consideration then
would be to bribe one of Castro's subordinate commanders to initiate an attack on Guantanamo."
(18) A U.S. Congressional committee admitted
that – as part of its "Cointelpro" campaign – the FBI had used many provocateurs in the 1950s through 1970s to carry out violent
acts and falsely blame them on political activists.
(20) A declassified 1973 CIA document
reveals a program to train foreign police
and troops on how to make booby traps, pretending that they were training them on how to investigate terrorist acts:
The Agency maintains liaison in varying degrees with foreign police/security organizations through its field stations
.
[CIA provides training sessions as follows:]
a. Providing trainees with basic knowledge in the uses of commercial and military demolitions and incendiaries as they
may be applied in terrorism and industrial sabotage operations.
b. Introducing the trainees to commercially available materials and home laboratory techniques , likely to he used in
the manufacture of explosives and incendiaries by terrorists or saboteurs.
c. Familiarizing the trainees with the concept of target analysis and operational planning that a saboteur or terrorist
must employ.
d. Introducing the trainees to booby trapping devices and techniques giving practical experience with both manufactured
and improvised devices through actual fabrication .
***
The program provides the trainees with ample opportunity to develop basic familiarity and use proficiently through handling,
preparing and applying the various explosive charges, incendiary agents, terrorist devices and s (26) The United States
Army's 1994 publication Special Forces Foreign Internal Defense Tactics Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces – updated
in 2004 –
recommends employing terrorists and using false flag operations to destabilize leftist regimes in Latin America. False
flag terrorist attacks were carried out in Latin America and other regions as part of the CIA's "
Dirty Wars ". And
see this . abotage
techniques .
(27) Similarly, a CIA "psychological operations" manual prepared by a CIA contractor for the Nicaraguan Contra rebels
noted the value of assassinating
someone on your own side to create a "martyr" for the cause. The manual was
authenticated
by the U.S. government. The manual received so much publicity from Associated Press, Washington Post and other news coverage
that – during the 1984 presidential debate – President Reagan was
confronted with the following
question on national television:
At this moment, we are confronted with the extraordinary story of a CIA guerrilla manual for the anti-Sandinista contras
whom we are backing, which advocates not only assassinations of Sandinistas but the hiring of criminals to assassinate the
guerrillas we are supporting in order to create martyrs.
Even after the 9/11 Commission
admitted that there was no connection, **** Cheney
said that the evidence is "overwhelming"
that al Qaeda had a relationship with Saddam Hussein's regime, that Cheney "probably" had information unavailable to the Commission,
and that the media was not 'doing their homework' in reporting such ties. Top U.S. government officials now
admit that the Iraq war was really launched for oil not 9/11 or weapons of mass destruction.
Despite previous "lone wolf" claims, many U.S. government officials now
say that 9/11 was state-sponsored terror; but Iraq was not the state which backed the hijackers. (Many U.S. officials have
alleged that 9/11 was a false flag operation by rogue elements
of the U.S. government; but such a claim is beyond the scope of this discussion. The key point is that the U.S. falsely blamed
it on Iraq, when it knew Iraq had nothing to do with it.).
(38) In 2003, the U.S. Secretary of Defense
admitted that interrogators were authorized
to use the following method: "False Flag: Convincing the detainee that individuals from a country other than the United States
are interrogating him." While not a traditional false flag attack , this deception could lead to former detainees –
many of whom were tortured – attacking the country falsely blamed for the interrogation and torture.
(39) Former Department of Justice lawyer John Yoo
suggested in 2005 that the US should
go on the offensive against al-Qaeda, having "our intelligence agencies create a false terrorist organization . It could have
its own websites, recruitment centers, training camps, and fundraising operations. It could launch fake terrorist operations
and claim credit for real terrorist strikes, helping to sow confusion within al-Qaeda's ranks, causing operatives to doubt
others' identities and to question the validity of communications."
(40) Similarly, in 2005, Professor John Arquilla of the Naval Postgraduate School – a renowned US defense analyst credited
with developing the concept of 'netwar' –
called for western intelligence
services to create new "pseudo gang" terrorist groups , as a way of undermining "real" terror networks. According to Pulitzer-Prize
winning journalist Seymour Hersh, Arquilla's 'pseudo-gang' strategy was, Hersh reported,
already being implemented by the
Pentagon:
"Under Rumsfeld's new approach, I was told, US military operatives would be permitted to pose abroad as corrupt foreign
businessmen seeking to buy contraband items that could be used in nuclear-weapons systems. In some cases, according to the
Pentagon advisers, local citizens could be recruited and asked to join up with guerrillas or terrorists
The new rules will enable the Special Forces community to set up what it calls 'action teams' in the target countries
overseas which can be used to find and eliminate terrorist organizations. 'Do you remember the right-wing execution squads
in El Salvador?' the former high-level intelligence official asked me, referring to the military-led gangs that committed
atrocities in the early nineteen-eighties. 'We founded them and we financed them,' he said. 'The objective now is to recruit
locals in any area we want. And we aren't going to tell Congress about it.' A former military officer, who has knowledge
of the Pentagon's commando capabilities, said, 'We're going to be riding with the bad boys.'"
(41) United Press International
reported
in June 2005:
U.S. intelligence officers are reporting that some of the insurgents in Iraq are using recent-model Beretta 92 pistols,
but the pistols seem to have had their serial numbers erased. The numbers do not appear to have been physically removed;
the pistols seem to have come off a production line without any serial numbers. Analysts suggest the lack of serial numbers
indicates that the weapons were intended for intelligence operations or terrorist cells with substantial government backing.
Analysts speculate that these guns are probably from either Mossad or the CIA. Analysts speculate that agent provocateurs
may be using the untraceable weapons even as U.S. authorities use insurgent attacks against civilians as evidence o (45)
A 2008 US Army special operations field manual
recommends that the U.S.
military use surrogate non-state groups such as "paramilitary forces, individuals, businesses, foreign political organizations,
resistant or insurgent organizations, expatriates, transnational terrorism adversaries, disillusioned transnational terrorism
members , black marketers, and other social or political 'undesirables.'" The manual specifically acknowledged that U.S.
special operations can involve both counterterrorism and "Terrorism" (as well as "transnational criminal activities, including
narco-trafficking, illicit arms-dealing, and illegal financial transactions.") f the illegitimacy of the resistance.
(48) Denver police
admitted that
uniformed officers deployed in 2008 to an area where alleged "anarchists" had planned to wreak havoc outside the Democratic
National Convention ended up getting into a melee with two undercover policemen. The uniformed officers didn't know the undercover
officers were cops.
(63) The CIA has
admitted that it uses viruses and malware from Russia and other countries to carry out cyberattacks and blame other countries.
(64) U.S. soldiers have admitted that if they kill
innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, they then "drop" automatic weapons near their body so they can pretend they were militants.
(65) Similarly, police frame innocent people for crimes they didn't commit. The practice is so well-known that the New York
Times noted in
1981:
In police jargon, a throwdown is a weapon planted on a victim.
Perez, himself a former [Los Angeles Police Department] cop, was caught stealing eight pounds of cocaine from police
evidence lockers. After pleading guilty in September, he bargained for a lighter sentence by telling an appalling story
of attempted murder and a "throwdown"–police slang for a weapon planted by cops to make a shooting legally justifiable .
Perez said he and his partner, Officer Nino Durden, shot an unarmed 18th Street Gang member named Javier Ovando, then planted
a semiautomatic rifle on the unconscious suspect and claimed that Ovando had tried to shoot them during a stakeout.
As part of his plea bargain, Pérez implicated scores of officers from the Rampart Division's anti-gang unit, describing
routinely beating gang members, planting evidence on suspects, falsifying reports and covering up unprovoked shootings .
(66) A former U.S. intelligence officer recently
alleged :
Most terrorists are false flag terrorists or are created by our own security services.
(67) The head and special agent in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office
said that most terror attacks
are committed by the CIA and FBI as false flags. Similarly, the director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan
– Lt. General William Odom said :
By any measure the US has long used terrorism. In '78-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism
– in every version they produced, the lawyers said the US would be in violation.
(68) The Director of Analytics at the interagency
Global Engagement Center housed at the U.S. Department of State, also an adjunct professor at George Mason University, where
he teaches the graduate course National Security Challenges in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, a former
branch chief in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, and an intelligence advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security (J.D.
Maddox) notes :
Provocation is one of the most basic, but confounding, aspects of warfare. Despite its sometimes obvious use, it has
succeeded consistently against audiences around the world, for millennia, to compel war . A well-constructed provocation
narrative mutes even the most vocal opposition.
***
The culmination of a strategic provocation operation invariably reflects a narrative of victimhood: we are the
victims of the enemy's unforgivable atrocities.
***
In the case of strategic provocation the deaths of an aggressor's own personnel are a core tactic of the provocation.
***
The persistent use of strategic provocation over centuries – and its apparent importance to war planners – begs the question
of its likely use by the US and other states in the near term.
(69) Leaders throughout history have acknowledged the "benefits" of of false flags to justify their political agenda:
" Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death".
– Adolph Hitler
"Why of course the people don't want war But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and
it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament,
or a communist dictatorship Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.
All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked , and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
– Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.
"The easiest way to gain control of a population is to carry out acts of terror. [The public] will clamor for such laws
if their personal security is threatened".
– Josef Stalin
Postscript: The media plays along as well
. For example, in 2012, NBC News' chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, was kidnapped in Syria. NBC News said that Engel
and his reporting team had been abducted by forces affiliated with the Syrian government. He reported that they only escaped
when some anti-Syrian government rebels killed some of the pro-government kidnappers.
However, NBC subsequently
admitted
that this was false. It turns out that they were really kidnapped by people associated with the U.S. backed rebels fighting
the Syrian government who wore the clothes of, faked the accent of, scrawled the slogans of, and otherwise falsely impersonated
the mannerisms of people associated with the Syrian government. In reality, the group that kidnapped Engel and his crew were
affiliated with the U.S.-supported Free Syrian Army , and NBC
should have known that it was blaming the wrong party . See the
New York Times and
the Nation's reporting.
Of course, sometimes atrocities or warmongering are falsely blamed on the enemy as a justification for war when no such
event ever occurred . This is sort of like false flag terror without the terror.
For example:
The NSA admits that it
lied about what really happened in the Gulf
of Tonkin incident in 1964 manipulating data to make it look like North Vietnamese boats fired on a U.S. ship so as to
create a false justification for the Vietnam war
One of the central lies used to justify the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq after Iraq invaded Kuwait was the
false statement by a young Kuwaiti girl
that Iraqis murdered Kuwaiti babies in hospitals.
Her statement was arranged by a Congressman who knew that she was actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the U.S.
– who was desperately trying to lobby the U.S. to enter the war – but the Congressman
hid that fact from the public
and from Congress
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind
reported that the White House ordered the
CIA to forge and backdate a document falsely linking Iraq with Muslim terrorists and 9/11 and that the CIA complied with those
instructions and in fact created the forgery, which was then used to justify war against Iraq. And see
this and
this
Time magazine points out
that the claim by President Bush that Iraq was attempting to buy "yellow cake" Uranium from Niger:
had been checked out -- and debunked -- by U.S. intelligence a year before the President repeated it.
The "humanitarian" wars in Syria, Libya and Yugoslavia were all justified by
exaggerated
reports that the leaders of those countries were committing atrocities against their people. And
see this
MD Peter Breggin refers to a Nature publication of a joint American & Chinese
experiment of a chimeric bat Corona virus in 2015. "Disaster Capitalism is alive and well" he
writes too.
1) How can a joint effort from two opponents be a bio weapon?
2) Why would they publish secret / patentable weapon research in public "Nature"?
3) Is private capitalism now into bio weapons, killing off their consumer base?
""Back in 2014, the Obama administration prohibited the U.S. from giving any money to any
laboratory, including in the U.S., that was fooling around with these viruses. Prohibited!
Despite that, Dr. Fauci gave $3.7 million to the Wuhan laboratory -- and then even after the
State Department issued reports about how unsafe that laboratory was, and how suspicious they
were in the way they were developing a virus that could be transmitted to humans,"Giuliani
claimed
So, the guy who is heading up the Corona response personally oversaw the funding of the lab
that created it......COME ON!
xxx 2 hours ago
I am a consistent complainer over the Obama administration's policies but this is one policy
where I admire them. THIS is what I mean when I keep complaining about the scientific
community. Obama had it right and should have been even more vocal in their opposition to
misguided research. If the reports on Fauci funding this are true it should be exposed and
LOUDLY vilified. WHEN are we going to hold the scientific community accountable? Do you know
how many brilliant and decent scientists are being muted because of the likes of these type
scientists that want free reign to do whatever they want?
Here's my point: If a scientist lower in prestige than Dr. Fauci had written a paper
defining "playing with viruses as important research" as unnecessary and dangerous, he/she
would be putting their very careers at risk due to Fauci's power. They've been doing it to any
scientist that disputes climate change models, to the point of even firing editors that allow
varying opinions. I'm not saying scientists are bad, just the opposite. Good Scientists are
being stifled by a small powerful few within their leagues.
"The most logical place to investigate the virus origin has been completely sealed off from
outside inquiry by the CCP," the document reads, referring to the Chinese Communist Party -
which has taken 'draconian' steps to control information regarding the virus since January.
"A gag order to both places was issued on Jan. 1, 2020, and a major general from the PLA who
is China's top military microbiologist essentially took over the [Wuhan Institute of Virology]
since mid-January."
A medical doctor named Wu Xiaohua has launched an online campaign to expose the work of Shi
Zhengli - who Wu claims used lab animals to test the virus which could infect humans. One of
those animals, suggests Wu, may have been the origin of the pandemic.
Wu also suggested that animals from the WIV weren't properly disposed of, and in some cases
were sold as pets. According to the report, lab workers reportedly boiled and ate used
laboratory eggs .
"Wu's charges of WIV management negligence are specific and have not been convincingly
rebutted by WIV," claims Wu.
Shi, meanwhile, said "I promise with my life that the virus has nothing to do with the lab,"
in response to the accusations.
xxx mailll, 11 minutes ago
Did anyone actually believe they were going to come to any other conclusion?
Conclusion: Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Conclusion: Muslims who have never flown jumbo jets before did 9/11.
Conclusion: Most of America believes everything the government wants us to believe.
My conclusion: (Main) Event 201 (Oct. of 2019) is a description, or a simulation of what
they were planning 1 month later. More than just coincidence. But at least they tell us what
they are going to do before they do it. I give them that much credit.
And don't forget to check out the 6 videos by clicking on videos to the right of this
article.
xxx Posa, 23 minutes ago
WARNING- HUGE DISINFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE
Shi Zhengli, has been involved in bioengineering bat coronaviruses - co-authoring a
controversial 2015 paper
which described the creation of a new virus by combining a coronavirus found in Chinese
horseshoe bats with another that causes human-like severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) in mice .
In 2015, Nature magazine
expressed concern over Zhengli's experiments with bat coronavirus. The same year, the
US government suspended
funding to the lab due to their concern over risks of experimenting with bat
coronavirus.
These experiments weren't "Zhengli's experiments" ... they were experiments at Ralph
Baric's lab at UNC... which caused the NIH to ban "Gain of Function" research that created
"chimeric" viruses. It was NIH which then lifted the ban in 2017 and outsourced additional
research work at the Wuhan BSL-4 lab.
When will the NIH publish the research grant to Wuhan BSL-4 ? When will the US come clean
about DARPA's work on creating "franken" viruses for bio-weapons--- work which also is
outsourced?
The Wuhan BSL-4 facility looks good for having leaked a pathogen they created... but if
this is going to be the source of a new Cold War, then let's not get WMD'ed into this without
a real, actual smoking gun.
xxx 19 minutes ago
This is the very reason for never voting for incumbents. Doesn't matter which political
party, the majority of which are sociopaths. Sociopath is not name-calling. It's like calling
a snake a rattlesnake. If you can't identify it properly, they'll bite you.
xxx 14 minutes ago (Edited)
Speaking of which, George Koo writing for Asia Times makes a good case that "blame it on
China" is the main thrust of the GOP Plan to Re-elect Trump... worth reading.
showing respiratory symptoms ranging from coughing and shortness of breath to
pneumonia
xxx 35 minutes ago
Hahaha...does ANYONE out there still trust US-based media?
xxx 37 minutes ago (Edited)
Connect the dots . . .
Since 1945, The United States has produced more than 70,000 nuclear warheads, which is
more than all other nuclear weapon states combined.
Communist China built only about 600 warheads since 1964.
Yup . . . A whopping 600
xxx 32 minutes ago
amazing. you know how to count.
xxx 25 minutes ago
And under bilateral disarmament treaties, which the u.s. is now abandoning unilaterally,
all but about 6000 have been disassembled and the fissionable material mostly burned in power
reactors.
xxx 38 minutes ago
As long as North American and EU billionaires see China as a cash machine, us average
folks will keep taking it up the ***. Grab your ankles.
xxx 39 minutes ago (Edited)
Neocons, WH, Admin all trying to pressure Media into reporting their propaganda and
narrative development.
Point finger at China for American developed virus..
xxx Radical Marijuana, 41 minutes ago (Edited)
it's perhaps the world's easiest game of connect-the-dots
China, meanwhile, is blaming the United States - and has suggested that the US Army or
the CIA developed the virus and covertly released it in China.
After I connect the historical dots regarding every war that the USA being started with
false flag attacks, e.g. on 9/11/2001, and huge lies about other causes, such as the "war on
drugs" which was about 75% war on marijuana, I PRESUME that it is more likely that man-made
strains of corona virus were covertly released in well-planned, skillfully executed ways,
which would make it appear that the easiest superficial ways to connect the dots was an
accidental release from the Chinese laboratory.
If a covert release was well-done, there would be no proof that was done, but rather,
plenty of circumstantial evidence to make it appear like an accidental release. My
PRESUMPTION is based on my opinions that, although I detest the Chinese Communist Party,
overall the Anglo-American (Zionist) Finance Empire is still worse
AGAIN, this was the best article on the topic
republished on Zero Hedge which I have read:
"... is treating the Covid-19 virus like an enemy
that needs to be destroyed at all costs
the right approach?
War on Covid-19
The USA has been at war in one form or another since its inception. There have been
countless shooting wars but there has also been The War On Drugs, The War On Cancer, The War
On Poverty, The War On Terrorism, The War On Global Warming, etc. Have any of these wars
resulted in the eradication of the object on which the war was declared? No. All of these
"wars" are foolish and misguided attempts at eradicating something that you cannot eradicate.
They will always be with us. We have wasted untold trillions of dollars on these wars and
have very little to show for it. The results of the current "War On Covid-19" will not be
much different.
When the USA declares war on anything we can expect several things to happen:
We will go deeper in debt
Vast amount of money will be wasted and given away to corrupt corporations
The US Constitution will be further trampled and more rights and freedoms will be taken
away
The people will suffer
We will lose the war"
Who benefits when these things happen?
"We will go deeper in debt
Vast amount of money will be wasted and given away to corrupt corporations"
Those were the people driving those previous "wars," and the current "war on COVID-19."
Therefore, I PRESUME that some tiny groups within those bigger groups were behind making and
releasing those strains of viruses, in the ways those were done, in order to achieve what has
actually been achieved now, as well as in the foreseeable future.
I REPEAT, that I do NOT like the Chinese government. However, I continue to believe it is
more likely that the COVID-19 pandemic was a "plandemic," which was designed and released in
a FALSE FLAG ATTACK, in order to accomplish the goals of greater global enslavement.
xxx joiningupthedots, xxx 42 minutes ago
Never mind Wuhan America........this is being done in your name.
The Asian flu comes around every year since forever. It's called the Asian flu because it
emerges from Asia (China) before making its way around the globe. Biotechnology laboratories
didn't exist many decades ago, yet the flu "somehow" originated in the same area.
But now, of course, "respectable" people must ignore the origins and call it a Pandemic
#X, origin unknown, or "it must have come from some entity's lab, probably the enemy's."
Please note that I don't give the clandestine bio-weapon agencies of any country a pass
when it comes to obfuscation. And rule #1 of false flags is that false flags don't have to be
false flags to be false flags.
xxx Boomeritis, 5 minutes ago
It appears that ZH is now considering Moonies as a reliable source. Hmmm.
... Pompous Pompeo told ***** News ... hmmm, must be true /s
... Five Eyes ... Kosher Nostra's swat team ...
... western intelligence... "most likely source" ... the same people who did false flags
... gulf of Tonkin... muslims did 9/11 ... Iraq's WMDs ... Syria's chemical attack ... and
on, and on ... and on ...
... here's proof ...
... "Documentary Proof: University of North Carolina Generated COVID-19"
... "This article contains hard proof that cannot be questioned or denied, which you may
submit to any government agency or healthcare professional.
What is not yet proven but coming into focus is that the US biological weapons program at
Fort Detrick, Maryland, equipment and certainly key staff, certainly migrated to secret labs
at large state universities in order to "hide in plain sight."
Follow the careers, all links are included, of those who worked on the Wuhan-COVID project
in 2017.
Also, note that the exact same personnel and equipment is used for fake "prevention"
research and testing as weaponization and actual production.
Since this article was written, we have begun to look at worldwide operations of US
nuclear/bio/chem contractor, Kushner-Trump favorite, Battelle, and their secret labs around
the world.
When we began, our people started to be threatened. That was a serious mistake.
Documents below will show that research to create COVID 19 began in the United States in
2006 and culminated in a successful bio-weapon in 2015, with work done at the University of
North Carolina and at Harvard and at the Food and Drug Administration's lab in Arkansas.
Their work was titled:
A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human
emergence
...As Trump said, over and over and over, the Chinese were involved.
Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China supplied the Wuhan Bat Virus which was used in the American
study. Their name was included for that reason only.
COVID 19 was a US Army bio-weapons project to manufacture a pneumonia-causing disease that
would be nearly impossible to vaccinate for in patients over 40 years old.
The proof is here, simply scroll down. The study was run by the University of North
Carolina and funded by USAID/CIA. It chose a Chinese bat virus and chose to include a medical
facility in Wuhan as well.
Now we know why, a smokescreen of the blame for a program China had little or nothing to
do with, something satanically evil and purely American.
In November 2015, a study was published outlining the capability of producing the virus we
are dealing with now. Among the many involved was a lab in Wuhan, China. It was listed from
the beginning as one of the dozens, mostly American, working on this project.
However, one key participant was left out, USAID. It is suspected, deeply so, that USAID
is a front for American bio-warfare research such as that done in Tbilisi, Georgia and
elsewhere, much documented. This is the citation that adds USAID to the research funding
group."
The disease can be prevented and controlled by preventing indoor air circulation,
avoiding public places where there is no air circulation and places where people are
concentrated, and wearing masks when going out.
You'd have to be a complete idiot to think that this virus didn't escape from that lab and
again for weeks- the CCP has said that Huang Yanling (patient zero) is alive.
Ok assholes, produce her and let's get an anti bodies test and maybe an interview or
two.
Symptoms have included shortness of breath and chest pain. Some people had diarrhea.
Others complained of being tired or having gut distress, including vomiting.
xxx NotAGenius, 1 hour ago
On the other hand, to dispute this political rant published here, a scientist who worked
on the covid-19 and other bio-weapons at Ft. Detrick, now retired, wrote this 2 days ago
explaining and charting the paths of this virus from Ft. Detrick to Wuhan, China. The USA
released it there during the war games between China and the USA there in Wuhan last Fall.
The reasons it was released in Wuhan are several. This former bio-weapons employee, who also
worked at other USA bio-weapons labs around the world, describes all the folks involved with
the creation of this virus (he has worked with scientists on this stuff from other countries
too, and knows the Chinese scientists who also worked on it in the USA) and the various
organizations connected to it, very inbred overall, mostly secret / unknown agencies. From
the horses mouth describing why this virus is a Ft. Detrick concoction:
That makes total sense. Let's release Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus as a weapon, cuz
there is no way it could make it back to us to kill us.
Your post is Chinese propaganda. Your CCP masters should learn to take responsibility for
their inactions. BUt then again, Communists are never wrong, always someone else's fault.
xxx Leroy Whitby, 1 hour ago
"Wu also suggested that animals from the WIV weren't properly disposed of, and in some
cases were sold as pets. According to the report, lab workers reportedly boiled and ate used
laboratory eggs ."
Those super-smart, super-competent, Chinese. Not 3rd world incompetents at all . . .
xxx 1 hour ago
i wonder what lisa barsoomian (rod rosenstein wife) thinks/knows about COVID-19 being
she's a CIA **** working for the NIH
Trump was very successful at laying blame on China – just as the lethal 1918 flu
epidemic that began in US Army camps and killed millions of people was successfully marketed
to the public as the 'Spanish flu.'
Interesting that China shut down all domestic flights out of Wuhan right away, but let
international flights continue until the destination countries shut them down.
International business people, scientists, academics, etc... What a great way to spread
this directly into the economic heart of a nation.
xxx 1 hour ago
dumbass, that's not "interesting", that's called alignment with international law. CCP can
order domestic flights to stop but other governments would cry (human rights abuse or
whatever) if they stop international flights.
xxx 1 hour ago (Edited)
Yes, and we all know that China is the number one protector and defender of international
law. Maybe they can build you a nice island for an airbase. Or lock you up in a Muslim
concentration camp. Or steal your patents. Or copy your data. Or just disappear you. You are
a tool.
xxx 1 hour ago
Fauci gave Wuhan lab $3.7M to continue development of covid.
xxx 1 hour ago (Edited)
Hopefully it'll be bombs away after Colon Powell does an encore performance in front of
the UN showing some cool cartoons of the Wuhan bioweapons lab and some grainy Google Maps
screen dumps of the Wuhan wet market. A few snippets of bats flying from one of the old
Dracula movies will be icing on the cake.
xxx 1 hour ago (Edited)
Others report US government analysts to be the most unlikely source of truth,
and Pompeo as the unlikeliest source of all.
xxx 1 hour ago
Seems a Mr. Fauci has quite a few patents involving one Glycoprotien 120. The HIV envelope
delivery system.
xxx Anatara666, 1 hour ago
And yet here is a newly isolated human coronavirus (SARS-CoV) USA patent, first listed
in
2004 and due to expire in 2024.
Gain-of-function virus futzing has been ongoing by multiple nation state players for
decades, supposedly for immunotherapies, vaccines and yes bio-weapon advantage.
Dial in the Davos set/MIC/Silicon technocracy megalomaniacs who will stop at nothing to
control the narrative, the WHO, the World Economic Forum and yes the bankers, who hope for a
slice of the profit kick-back.
This usual suspect mix truly believes its best they take care of the rest of us the 99%
useless eaters. Boston Dynamics proves human service, uber, box, till or warehouse operatives
are simply no longer needed. The Depop/Defrag 2.0 agenda.
So kneel, OBEY rejoice, and say a BIG thank you prayer and never forget to smile as you
take your life saving vaccine remember it's for the greater good.
(This message is sponsored by the Uncle Bill & Aunty Melinda Foundation)
xxx 1 hour ago (Edited)
No evidence
No evidence does not mean it isn't true or isn't likely. Very different things.
The Chinese have of course done everything to make sure there will be no evidence to be
found.
But on Feb 14 President Xi addressed the nation and said, among other things, right in the
middle of the epidemic, that they were tightening the protocols and regulation around
biological labs.
That's as close to a confession that you will ever get.
xxx 2 hours ago
A US government analysis leaked to the
Washington Times concludes that the Wuhan Institute of Virology or the Chinese CDC is
the "most likely" source of the COVID-19 pandemic
Reminds me of Petrov and Boshirov, who were "highly likely" to have poisoned the Skripals,
even though the Skripals lived just down the road from the UK germ warfare lab. But proximity
to Porton Down was just circumstantial, of course, not a smoking gun.
And while we may not have a smoking gun proving that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan
lab, "there is circumstantial evidence to suggest such may be the case," according to the
report.
You don't say...
compiled from open sources
not a finished product
no smoking gun
Well, that confirms it. I guess we have to go to war with China. They've left us no other
choice.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday that the US knows that the
pandemic began in Wuhan,
Yes, the men who stare at goats saw it in a vision, and the State Department was able to
obtain confirmation from Miss Cleo's toll-free psychic hotline.
but that China still refuses to disclose information about their facilities and is
engaging in 'classic communist disinformation.'
Which is, of course, strictly amateur league compared to 'classic US Red Scare/Yellow
Menace disinformation'.
He added that the CCP must be held accountable.
Mike Pompeo, king of the Free **** Army. Go ahead and open up that Pandora's box. Don't be
surprised when other countries then decide to hold the US accountable for its numerous wars
of aggression and crimes against humanity.
Need any more dots?
Enough with the dots and the clickbating. How about something a little more substantial
over which to start a new war of aggression? Ever heard of evidence?
xxx 2 hours ago
"All other possible places of the virus's origin have been proven to be highly
unlikely," the government document concludes...
Of course they'd say that. Regardless of where the virus came from, the US government is
using it as part of its "tilt to China" (new Cold War to justify military spending). The Hong
Kong protests, partially paid for by the National Endowment for Democracy, an IC front, were
also part of the 'tilt'.
xxx 2 hours ago
we need hard evidence that China deliberately let this loose. The US govt and FOX news are
not reliable. Remember the WMD's? Assad gassed his own people twice? 19 Arabs with boxcutters
did 911? How are we supposed to believe anything today?
xxx 2 hours ago
Right. You need evidence that China released a deadly virus on it's own people just weeks
after signing a trade deal after years of trade war with the US and just before their
year-end celebrations, when pretty much the whole country is not in office and travelling and
will be spreading the virus around.
xxx 2 hours ago (Edited)
Yes of course... China "did it"!...
Something along the lines... That if you keep repeating the same narrative over and over
again... it makes you "TRU$T" your .gov "more"???...
It would be a massive coincidence that the virus started at a market in the same vicinity
as the Wuhan Institute of Virology. So I figure the bio-lab is the source.
Yet having Mike Pompeo deliver that assessment doesn't in any way give me further
confidence. The guy is a pathological liar - he's said so himself:
"The document, compiled from open sources and not a finished product,"
Compiled. from. open. sources.
Please.
So not one of the 17 - count 'em, seventeen - of the alphabet soup that makes up the US
Intelligence Community had any confidential sources capable of adding anything worth putting
into that report?
Apparently so.
This report can be very short. All it needs is two lines of text:
One with a link to zerohedge
One that reads: "Go there. We did."
xxx 2 hours ago
Translated: The document, fabricated from neocon brain and with evidence from thin
air...
xxx 2 hours ago
Huang worked at WIV but she is the only WIV employee whose biography, profile and
picture have been deleted by WIV on its website, fueling speculation of foul play
Or maybe fowl play...
xxx 2 hours ago (Edited)
My friend in college worked in a research lab and smuggled out a lab rat to keep as a
pet.
xxx 2 hours ago
China wrecked the world economy?? Yeah, right. Seems to me JUSA politicians were the ones
who locked us all down unconstitutionally , eliminated our jobs, bailed out corporate JUSA,
destroyed what was left of the middle class and tossed a crumb or two to the goy not
China.
US Government analysis - OK thanks for the heads up that this is complete ********.
Anything coming out of Mordor on the Potomac, whether the CIA or the Pentagon should be
immediately discounted as propaganda. The entire story rests on the virus having first
infected humans in December of 2019. With our expanding anti-body testing it appears we have
30 to 60 times more infections than the lying experts at the CDC and NIH told us. Therefore
the virus must have originated a good deal sooner. And that means the analysts who produced
this crap are fiction writers preparing the script they were told to produce.
xxx 2 hours ago
The USA political system has very little credibility . These DS sociopaths don't seem to
realize it , living in a land of lies every lie seems true .
xxx 2 hours ago
Well they're not likely to say "US government concludes Fort Detrick most likely source of
outbreak", now are they? I'd go through the laundry list of other lies the 'US government"
has told us, but we all know them.
This thing was here last fall. They shut down Fort Detrick for safety violations and the
US soldiers who went to Wuhan in October for the Military Games were based right nearby.
Those same soldiers got sick with a new respiratory condition, and several nursing homes in
the immediate vicinity of Fort Detrick were hit by pneumonia outbreaks of unknown origin last
summer, as well.
Remember those vaping illnesses? This is what happens when you just accept that your
Ministry of War is housed in a building the shape of a Satanic pentagram.
xxx 2 hours ago
it's more than interesting to see how the inept commander in chief is trying to hide away
his own blunders by pointing fingers at China. it's quite clear that the virus emerged from
fort detrick and then to china with the american contingent taking part in the military games
there in september/october of last year. the fact that fort detrick was closed down for
unspecified reasons in august/september last year and remained closed for some 6 months,
speak volumes. thus origin of the virus is more than certain an american lab for bilogical
warfare and that is all there is to to it.
xxx 2 hours ago
Seems a bit .... retarded ....to lay this at the feet of Trump. The people pushing this
are the same people that control Ft. Detrick and who have been using the resources of the
bureaucracies they control, to bring him down and thwart everything he campaigned up.
President Trump has moved entirely too slowly and timidly, in my opinion, to counter these
seditious bastards. But isn't as if any President can do this on his own and the American
People have hardly taken to the streets to in opposition to the crimes of the DOJ, the FBI,
the CIA, NSA, and the Pentagon.
xxx 2 hours ago
Shhhhh, you're messing up their orangemanbad narrative.
xxx 44 minutes ago
well, trump, inept commander in chief, explained to the american people that the virus was
more or less a harmless fl and that the health-services in the usa are of an exceptional
standard and thus nothing to worry about - but when matters hotted up and he was standing
there with his trousers around his ankles, he saw the immediate and urgent need to exculpate
himself from his earlier blunders and facing the November election points a shaky finger
towards China. China ain't no pushover and quickly put forward circumstances that with a
degree of certainty put the blame squarely at the feet of the US. and that's where we are
today.
It would be more interesting if Egypt sued the US for 200 billion bucks rather than China
and then Saudi can sue the US for a couple of trillion bucks for allowing the shale business
to expand to such an extent that it threatens the future of every single saudi, man or
women.
xxx 3 hours ago
US Government Report Concludes Wuhan Lab 'Most Likely Source' Of COVID-19 Outbreak
Is anyone surprised? No.
Really. Regardless how you feel about this, the US government is totally predictable
and is engaging in 'classic communist disinformation.'
xxx 3 hours ago
I can buy that the virus escaped from the Chines lab, could very well be. Then again to
associate truth or trust with U.S. Intelligence services is just a naive impulsive need.
These are the people along with the Israeli Intelligence who gave us 9/11. So in that light.
Consider what was in play. The U.S.: a service economy, growing and expanding debt, erosion
of the petrodollar, Mideast wars played out with Russia and China making headway in Mid East
oil deals, trade, military co-operation, China making inroads in Africa as well as the belt
and road, china ahead in hyper sonic weapon, A.I and have laser tech. All forecast I have
seen show China overtaking the U.S. in the next 5 years if not already there in some aspects.
Given all this, who has the greater motive to push the wait hold, reset button. If The U.S.
Intelligence services can pull off 9/11 with The Israeli intelligence services then who is to
accept the most simple explanation, who is to know, really. After 9/11 for me anything is
possible.
xxx 3 hours ago
Article: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Wednesday [...]"
That was enough for me. Wherever this virus originated, this lying slimeball could never
be trusted to tell the truth.
I also note that ZH want to go along with this story because it "outed" Peng Zhou back in
January and got de-platformed by Twitterati bossman Jackoff Dorkey.
xxx 3 hours ago
Anybody know this Greg Rubini guy?
According to his twitter on March, 14: the corona virus was genetically engineered as
bio-Weapon at the Univ. of North Carolina BSL-3 Lab. Fauci(NIH) funded the production of the
Corona Virus at the lab. The CDC and the NIH are fully aware of it. The virus was then
deliberately spread to China, Italy and in the USA.
I am leaning towards believing the virus was actually made in USA instead of China now.
The first case of covid-19 was formally identified at the end of last December in China, but
according to Israel Times the US intelligence already notified its allies of the virus a
month earlier.
xxx 3 hours ago (Edited)
Some of the technology development may have been done here (or stolen from here), but
little doubt that it originated in China. There was also technology developed in Canada that
was possibly stolen and taken back to Wuhan.
xxx 2 hours ago (Edited)
Little doubt? Please prove it it originated there? You can't and most folks need to
realize no nation will talk about their bio-weapon programs.
However some of technology? Please this thing is US Bio Weapon made last time I checked
Maryland is in U.S unless it got transported somehow by magic carpet to another country of
origin. Can we stop this blame pathetic nonsense. Some information we will never know and is
speculations which are turning into conflict. I stream a lot of media stuff, and sometimes
listening to Fox zoo and other media around the world, listening to some commentators doesn't
surprise me how one side sees things and others, audience is what they care. So where is this
striving for.....
And if your next word is War, bingo.
xxx 3 hours ago (Edited)
... engaging in "classic communist disinformation".
As opposed to mockingbird media disinformation?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public
believes is false."
The problem with Luc Montagnier is that he's possibly lost his shit.
This isn't based on speculation - he published a paper which drove all the homeopath advocates into a tizzy, then most recently
started talking about electromagnetic waves from DNA - which is possibly where the Iranian radio detectors for coronavirus
came from.
What is certain is that he's gone far, far afield and that none of his work from the last 2 decades is either notable or
even possibly sane. The Nobel prize was for work done in the 80s and 90s...
I'd particularly note the irony of relying on a person who is known for his work in the 1990s - well before any modern gene-typing
techniques either biological or computer - for analysis of how nCOV is engineered.
Has Montagnier ever engineered anything using CRISPR or older techniques?
If he hasn't - then why again is he credible?
"They were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms,
marching in lockstep, so banal you don't recognize them for what they are until it's too
late."
~ Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
I have never known any government to put the best interests of its people first, and this
COVID-19 pandemic is no exception.
Now this isn't intended to be a debate over whether COVID-19 is a legitimate health crisis
or a manufactured threat. Such crises can – and are – manipulated by governments
in order to expand their powers. As such, it is possible for the virus to be both a genuine
menace to public health and a menace to freedom.
Yet we can't afford to overlook the fact that governments the world over, including the
U.S. government, have unleashed untold horrors upon the world in the name of global conquest,
the acquisition of greater wealth, scientific experimentation, and technological advances,
all packaged in the guise of the greater good.
After all, grisly experiments, barbaric behavior and inhumane conditions have become
synonymous with the US government, which has meted out untold horrors against humans and
animals alike.
For instance, did you know that the US government has been buying hundreds of dogs and
cats from "Asian meat markets" as part of a gruesome experiment into food-borne
illnesses?
The cannibalistic experiments involve killing cats and dogs purchased from Colombia,
Brazil, Vietnam, China and Ethiopia, and then
feeding the dead remains to laboratory kittens , bred in government laboratories for the
express purpose of being infected with a disease and then killed.
It gets more gruesome.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been
removing parts of dogs' brains to see how it affects their breathing ; applying
electrodes to dogs' spinal cords (before and after severing them) to see how it impacts their
cough reflexes; and implanting pacemakers in dogs' hearts and then inducing them to have
heart attacks (before draining their blood). All of the
laboratory dogs are killed during the course of these experiments.
It's not just animals that are being treated like lab rats by government agencies.
"We the people" have also become the police state's guinea pigs: to be caged, branded,
experimented
upon without our knowledge or consent , and then conveniently discarded and left to
suffer from the aftereffects.
While these particular incidents have been dismissed as "accidents," you don't have to dig
very deep or go very back in the nation's history to uncover numerous cases in which the
government deliberately
conducted secret experiments on an unsuspecting populace – citizens and noncitizens
alike – making healthy people sick by spraying them with chemicals, injecting them with
infectious diseases and exposing them to airborne toxins.
At the time, the government reasoned that it was legitimate to experiment on people who
did not have full rights in society such as prisoners, mental patients, and poor blacks.
In Alabama, for example, 600 black men with syphilis were allowed to suffer without proper
medical treatment in order to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis. In
California, older prisoners had testicles from livestock and from recently executed convicts
implanted in them to test their virility. In Connecticut, mental patients were injected with
hepatitis.
In Maryland, sleeping prisoners had a pandemic flu virus sprayed up their noses. In
Georgia, two dozen "volunteering" prison inmates had gonorrhea bacteria pumped directly into
their urinary tracts through the penis. In Michigan, male patients at an insane asylum
were exposed to the flu after first being injected with an experimental flu vaccine. In
Minnesota, 11 public service employee "volunteers" were injected with malaria, then starved
for five days.
In New York, dying patients had
cancer cells introduced into their systems. In Ohio, over 100 inmates were injected with live
cancer cells . Also in New York, prisoners at a reformatory prison were also split into
two groups to determine how a deadly stomach virus was spread: the first group was made to
swallow an unfiltered stool suspension, while the second group merely breathed in germs
sprayed into the air. And in Staten Island, children
with mental retardation were given hepatitis orally and by injection to see if they could
then be cured.
As the Associated Press reports, "The late 1940s and 1950s saw huge growth in the US
pharmaceutical and health care industries, accompanied by a boom in prisoner experiments
funded by both the government and corporations. By the 1960s, at least half the states
allowed prisoners to be used as medical guinea pigs because they were
cheaper than chimpanzees ."
Moreover, "Some of these studies, mostly from the 1940s to the '60s, apparently
were never covered by news media . Others were reported at the time, but the focus was on
the promise of enduring new cures, while glossing over how test subjects were treated."
Media blackouts, propaganda, spin. Sound familiar?
How many government incursions into our freedoms have been blacked out, buried under
"entertainment" news headlines, or spun in such a way as to suggest that anyone voicing a
word of caution is paranoid or conspiratorial?
Unfortunately, these incidents are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the
atrocities the government has inflicted on an unsuspecting populace in the name of secret
experimentation.
For instance, there was the US military's
secret race-based testing of mustard gas on more than 60,000 enlisted men . As NPR
reports, "All of the World War II experiments with mustard gas were done in secret and
weren't recorded on the subjects' official military records. Most do not have proof of what
they went through. They received no follow-up health care or monitoring of any kind. And they
were sworn to secrecy about the tests under threat of dishonorable discharge and military
prison time, leaving some unable to receive adequate medical treatment for their injuries,
because they couldn't tell doctors what happened to them."
Now one might argue that this is all ancient history and that the government today is
different from the government of yesteryear, but has the US government really changed?
Has the government become any more humane, any more respectful of the rights of the
citizenry?
Has it become any more transparent or willing to abide by the rule of law? Has it become
any more truthful about its activities? Has it become any more cognizant of its appointed
role as a guardian of our rights?
Or has the government simply hunkered down and hidden its nefarious acts and dastardly
experiments under layers of secrecy, legalism and obfuscations? Has it not become wilier,
more slippery, more difficult to pin down?
Having mastered the Orwellian art of Doublespeak and followed the Huxleyan blueprint for
distraction and diversion, are we not dealing with a government that is simply craftier and
more conniving that it used to be?
In Guatemala, prisoners and patients at a mental hospital were infected with syphilis,
"apparently to test whether penicillin could prevent some sexually transmitted disease." In
Uganda, U.S.-funded doctors "
failed to give the AIDS drug AZT to all the HIV-infected pregnant women in a study even
though it would have protected their newborns." Meanwhile, in Nigeria, children with
meningitis were used to test an antibiotic named Trovan.
Eleven children died and many others were left disabled.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The government insisted that the gases released into the subways by the DHS were nontoxic
and did not pose a health risk. It's in our best interests, they said, to understand how
quickly a chemical or biological terrorist attack might spread. And look how cool the
technology is – said the government cheerleaders – that scientists can use
something called
DNATrax to track the movement of microscopic substances in air and food. (Imagine the
kinds of surveillance
that could be carried out by the government using trackable airborne microscopic
substances you breathe in or ingest.)
In 1953, government operatives staged
"mock" anthrax attacks on St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Winnipeg using generators placed on
top of cars. Local governments were reportedly told that "'invisible smokescreen[s]' were
being deployed to mask the city on enemy radar." Later experiments covered territory as
wide-ranging as Ohio to Texas and Michigan to Kansas.
And this is the same government that has taken every bit of technology sold to us as being
in our best interests – GPS devices, surveillance, nonlethal weapons, etc. – and
used it against us, to track, control and trap us.
So, no, I don't think the government's ethics have changed much over the years. It's just
taken its nefarious programs undercover.
The question remains: why is the government doing this? The answer is always the same:
money, power and total domination.
It's the same answer no matter which totalitarian regime is in power.
The mindset driving these programs has, appropriately, been
likened to that of Nazi doctors experimenting on Jews . As the Holocaust Museum
recounts , Nazi physicians
"conducted painful and often deadly experiments on thousands of concentration camp prisoners
without their consent."
The Nazi's unethical experiments ran
the gamut from freezing experiments using prisoners to find an effective treatment for
hypothermia, tests to determine the maximum altitude for parachuting out of a plane,
injecting prisoners with malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and
infectious hepatitis, exposing prisoners to phosgene and mustard gas, and mass sterilization
experiments.
The horrors being meted out against the American people can be traced back, in a direct
line, to the horrors meted out in Nazi laboratories. In fact, following the second World War,
the US government recruited many of Hitler's employees, adopted his protocols, embraced his
mindset about law and order and experimentation, and implemented his tactics in incremental
steps.
Sounds far-fetched, you say? Read on. It's all documented.
As historian Robert Gellately recounts
, the Nazi police state was initially so
admired for its efficiency and order by the world powers of the day that J.
Edgar Hoover, then-head of the FBI, actually sent one of his right-hand men, Edmund Patrick
Coffey, to Berlin in January 1938 at the invitation of Germany's secret police, the
Gestapo.
The FBI was so impressed with the Nazi regime that, according to the New York Times
, in the decades after World War II, the FBI, along with other government agencies,
aggressively recruited
at least a thousand Nazis , including some of Hitler's highest henchmen.
All told, thousands of Nazi collaborators –
including the head of a Nazi concentration camp, among others – were given secret
visas and brought to America by way of Project Paperclip. Subsequently, they were hired on as
spies, informants and scientific advisers, and then camouflaged to ensure that their true
identities and ties to Hitler's holocaust machine would remain unknown. All the while,
thousands of Jewish refugees were refused entry visas to the US on the grounds that it
could threaten national security.
As if the government's
covert, taxpayer-funded employment of Nazis after World War II wasn't bad enough, US
government agencies – the FBI, CIA and the military – have since fully embraced
many of the Nazi's well-honed policing tactics, and have used them repeatedly against
American citizens.
It's certainly easy to denounce the full-frontal horrors carried out by the scientific and
medical community within a despotic regime such as Nazi Germany, but what do you do when it's
your own government that claims to be a champion of human rights all the while allowing its
agents to engage in the foulest, bases and most despicable acts of torture, abuse and
experimentation?
When all is said and done, this is not a government that has our best interests at
heart.
This is not a government that values us.
Perhaps the answer lies in The
Third Man , Carol Reed's influential 1949 film starring Joseph Cotten and Orson
Welles. In the film, set in a post-WW II Vienna, rogue war profiteer Harry Lime has come to
view human carnage with a callous indifference, unconcerned that the diluted penicillin he's
been trafficking underground has resulted in the tortured deaths of young children.
Challenged by his old friend Holly Martins to consider the consequences of his actions,
Lime responds, "In these days, old man, nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't, so why should we? "
"Have you ever seen any of your victims?" asks Martins.
"Victims?" responds Limes, as he looks down from the top of a Ferris wheel onto a populace
reduced to mere dots on the ground. "Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity
if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for
every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you
calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of
income tax – the only way you can save money nowadays."
To the powers-that-be, the rest of us are insignificant specks, faceless dots on the
ground.
To the architects of the American police state, we are not worthy or vested with inherent
rights. This is how the government can justify treating us like economic units to be bought
and sold and traded, or caged rats to be experimented upon and discarded when we've outgrown
our usefulness.
To those who call the shots in the halls of government, "we the people" are merely the
means to an end.
"We the people" – who think, who reason, who take a stand, who resist, who demand to
be treated with dignity and care, who believe in freedom and justice for all – have
become obsolete, undervalued citizens of a totalitarian state that, in the words of Rod
Serling, "has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint
of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements,
technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human
freedom."
In this sense, we are all Romney Wordsworth, the condemned man in Serling's Twilight
Zone episode "The Obsolete Man."
"... A rabid anti-China propaganda campaign has spread through the media since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The hysteria seems to be just as contagious as the virus, as Americans are bombarded with anti-China stories from the pages of The New York Times to segments on Fox News. Both Republicans and Democrats are arguing the other side is not tough enough on China as they gear up for the 2020 election. ..."
A rabid anti-China propaganda campaign has spread through the media since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The hysteria seems
to be just as contagious as the virus, as Americans are bombarded with anti-China stories from the pages of The New York Times
to segments on Fox News. Both Republicans and Democrats are arguing the other side is not tough enough on China as they gear up for
the 2020 election.
Since Donald Trump was elected president, the
unfounded claim that
Russia meddled in
the 2016 election was spread far and wide by intelligence officials and liberal media outlets.
A common tactic used to promote the Russiagate narrative was unnamed officials
making statements to the press without providing evidence or any factual basis to their claims. Another common tactic was frequent
media appearances by former intelligence officials, like
James Clapper and John Brennan , usually making wild
accusations about Trump and Russia. These tactics are being repeated to promote an anti-China narrative.
The New York Timesran a story on
April 22 nd titled, "Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic in US, Officials Say." The article says
rumors that were spread through text messages and social media posts in mid-March that claimed the Trump administration was going
to lock down the entire country to combat coronavirus were boosted by "Chinese operatives." The authors' sources are "six American
officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly discuss intelligence matters."
The story is lacking in detail and provides no evidence for the officials' claims. "The origin of the messages remains murky.
American officials declined to reveal details of the intelligence linking Chinese agents to the dissemination of the disinformation,
citing the need to protect their sources and methods for monitoring Beijing's activities," the story reads. Two of the officials
told the Times that "they did not believe Chinese operatives created the lockdown messages, but rather amplified existing
ones."
Sensationalized reporting in the Times would not be complete without mentioning the Russians. "American officials said
the operatives had adopted some of the techniques mastered by Russia-backed trolls, such as creating fake social media accounts to
push messages to sympathetic Americans, who in turn unwittingly help spread them."
Ironically, the story recognizes the danger of US officials making selective leaks to the media. "Foreign policy analysts are
worried that the Trump administration may politicize intelligence work or make selective leaks to promote an anti-China narrative
American officials in the past have selectively passed intelligence to reporters to shape the domestic political landscape." The
Times uses the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as an example of the dangers of selective leaks, ignoring the past four
years of Russiagate stories that plagued its pages.
On April 17 th , Fox News Host Tucker Carlson had former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright
on his show
to deliver some wild accusations about US politicians and the Chinese government. Wright insinuated that some members of Congress
might be agents of China's intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). Carlson explained to Wright that the show
reached out to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and other elected officials to ask if they've had contact with any Chinese officials
since the coronavirus outbreak began. Carlson said they did not respond and asked Wright, "What do you think we should infer from
that?"
Wright responded, "I think that they're nervous. I think there are a bunch of people who, because they're either useful idiots
or they have some degree of knowledge and relationships behind the scenes with the Chinese government. Some of them in fact could
be Chinese agents of the MSS." Wright's language comes straight from the Russiagate playbook. Intelligence officials and media pundits
often referred to Trump
as a "useful idiot" for Moscow, and some even
speculated that the president is a "Russian agent."
Trump's anti-Russia
policies show that he is not working in the White House on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Similarly, anti-China legislation that has
recently passed through the House and Senate makes it unlikely any MSS agents are working in the halls of Congress.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy
Act passed unanimously through the Senate last year and had one lone nay vote in the House from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). The
act, which was signed into law by President Trump, requires the State Department to prepare an annual report on the autonomy of Hong
Kong from mainland China. The act also requires the Commerce Department to report on "China's efforts to use Hong Kong to evade US
export controls." The bill says the president shall present Congress with a list of any individuals that violate human rights in
Hong Kong. Any findings that are unsatisfactory to the US could result in sanctions.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act
was also passed unanimously through the Senate, and again, Rep. Massie was the only one to vote against the bill in the House. This
bill, which has not made it to President Trump's desk, would require the US to impose sanctions and export restrictions over China's
treatment of Uyghur Muslims in the western autonomous region of Xinjiang.
Rep. Massie, the sole dissenting voice in Congress, did not vote against these bills because of any loyalty to Beijing or Xi Jinping.
"When our government meddles in the internal affairs of foreign countries, it invites those governments to meddle in our affairs,"
Massie wrote on Twitter , explaining his votes.
The Taiwan Allies International Protection
and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act , which was signed into law by President Trump in March, passed unanimously through both
the House and Senate, with Rep. Massie finally falling in line with his colleague's anti-China policy. The TAIPEI Act says the US
should "help strengthen Taiwan's diplomatic relationships and partnerships around the world."
Taiwan remains the most sensitive issue between the US and China, since Beijing considers the island to be a part of China. Although
the US does not formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, Washington
supplies the island with arms and
frequently sails warships through the Taiwan strait, drawing the ire of Beijing. No members of Congress speak out against these
provocations. Like the accusations about Trump and Russia, the idea that Congress is crawling with agents of Beijing is easily disproven
by actual policy.
Tucker Carlson did not challenge any of Wright's outrageous claims but instead nodded along. Since the start of the outbreak,
Carlson's show has focused on putting all the blame for the coronavirus pandemic on Beijing. Carlson's recent content reflects the
strategy of the White House. The Daily Beast
obtained internal White House documents in March that showed the administration was pushing US officials to blame China for a
"cover-up" in the early days of the outbreak. The strategy has proven useful as many pro-Trump media outlets put Beijing's response
to the pandemic under a microscope, and largely ignore the US government's
early missteps .
Politico obtained
a memo sent by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to GOP campaigns.
The memo
outlines an anti-China strategy for Republicans running for office in 2020. The document advises candidates to blame the pandemic
on China, say Democratic opponents are too soft on China, and advocate for sanctions against Beijing. The memo is full of strong
rhetoric like, "China is not an ally, and they're not just a rival -- they are an adversary and the Chinese Communist Party is our
enemy."
The GOP guidelines are similar to the
rhetoric coming from China hardliners like former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In March 2019, Bannon and neoconservative
Frank Gaffney founded the Committee on Present Danger: China, a think-tank that identifies China as the greatest "existential threat"
to the United States. In his almost-daily podcast, Bannon rails against Beijing and pins all the blame for the pandemic on China.
"The Chinese Communist Party is at war with their people, they're at war with the world, and they're at war with you You may not
have an interest in the Chinese Communist Party but its destroyed your life. OK? Your economic life, your spiritual life, your social
life. The destruction is from Beijing," Bannon said in a recent
episode.
Republicans and right-wingers are not the only ones looking to attack China this election season. The Biden campaign
released an ad on April 18 th that attacked
Trump for his response to the virus. The ad said, "Trump rolled over for the Chinese" and criticized how much the president praised
China's handling of the pandemic early on. "Trump praised the Chinese 15 times in January and February as the coronavirus spread
across the world," the ad said.
The anti-China propaganda seems to be turning public opinion against Beijing.
A new poll from the Pew Research Center that surveyed 1,000 adults throughout March found that 66 percent have an unfavorable
view of China, an increase of 14 percent since Pew last asked the question in 2018. Nine out of 10 adults surveyed view China as
a threat, including 62 percent who see China as a major threat.
China may have made some mistakes in its early response to the virus, but that does not excuse the US government's lack of preparedness,
and treating the pandemic as an attack sets a dangerous precedent for future outbreaks. The strategy could backfire on Washington
if any future pandemics originate in the US.
Like Russiagate, the anti-China propaganda will serve as a useful tool for a national security state that is looking to
focus more
on great power competition . The Pentagon
identifies China as its
number one priority and is looking to
increase its footprint in the Indo-Pacific region. The constant propaganda will make that increased presence more palatable to
the American people. But that increased presence will bring more confrontation between the US and China, and bring the region and
the world closer to nuclear war.
Dave DeCamp is assistant editor at Antiwar.com and a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn NY, focusing on US foreign policy
and wars. He is on Twitter at @decampdave .
The United States is working with International partners to ensure they understand that the
Coronavirus originated in China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.
Appearing on the Ben Shapiro Show, Secretary Pompeo made clear that it is the position
of the US that Beijing should explain to the rest of the world where the Coronavirus came
from and that it should have to make reparations for the economic fallout of the
pandemic.
"We need to hold accountable the parties responsible for the deaths here in the United
States and the enormous economic costs that have been posed on the US," said Secretary
Pompeo.[.]
and
Sen. Lindsay Graham has proposed that the U.S. should default on $1 Trillion-plus U.S.
debt to China because the Stimulus packages to rescue the economy will be in excess of $1
Trillion.
LINK
Graham is also proposing economic suicide; a nano-second collapse of the USD.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared Thursday night on Fox News' Hannity and proposed a
stark measure against the Chinese government: refusing to pay U.S. national debt held by
China "because they should be paying us" instead as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Graham's proposal, if congressional Republicans and the Trump administration actually
tried to carry it out, would seriously damage America's standing in international finance
-- and potentially the entire world economy -- and it's arguably unconstitutional,
too.[.]
Why Not?
We have weaponized the dollar, why not a virus? Oh wait.
"... The pandemics he is concerned about are not of the kind that break out in the wet markets of Wuhan, but rather those engineered in biological laboratories. ..."
"... Yet like so many aspects of existential threat, the idea of an engineered pathogen seems too sci-fi, too far-fetched, to grab our attention for long. The international body charged with policing bioweapons is the Biological Weapons Convention. Its annual budget is just €1.4m (£1.2m). As Ord points out with due derision, that sum is less than the turnover of the average McDonald's restaurant. ..."
Complex global networks certainly increase our vulnerability to viral pandemics and
cyberattacks, but neither of those outcomes qualify as a serious existential risk in Ord's
book. The pandemics he is concerned about are not of the kind that break out in the wet
markets of Wuhan, but rather those engineered in biological laboratories.
... ... ...
Yet like so many aspects of existential threat, the idea of an engineered pathogen seems
too sci-fi, too far-fetched, to grab our attention for long. The international body charged
with policing bioweapons is the Biological Weapons Convention. Its annual budget is just
€1.4m (£1.2m). As Ord points out with due derision, that sum is less than the
turnover of the average McDonald's restaurant.
There are many predictions currently
being made about how the world might be changed by the coronavirus. The philosopher John Gray
recently declared that it spelt the end of hyperglobalisation and the reassertion of the
importance of the nation state.
"Contrary to the progressive mantra," Gray wrote in
an essay , "global problems do not always have global solutions the belief that this crisis
can be solved by an unprecedented outbreak of international cooperation is magical thinking in
its purest form."
But nor can individual countries afford to turn their backs on the world, at least not for
long. The pandemic may not engender deeper international cooperation and a keener appreciation
of the fact that we are, so to speak, all in it together. Ultimately, though, we will have to
arrive at that kind of unity if we're to avoid far greater afflictions in the
future.
The Precipice by Toby Ord is published by Bloomsbury (£25). To order
a copy go to
guardianbookshop.com . Free UK p&p over £15
The emergence of this novel Coronavirus has, for me, highlighted the fragility of human
civilisation and subsequently our societies. The world, our species, has been caught on the
hop.
There are numerous issues that could subsequently led to the decimation of our species,
our civilisations, i.e., disease, nuclear holocaust, asteroids, artificial intelligence,
climate change, etc.
I'll stick with disease at the moment since we're are currently in the grip of a viral
pandemic.
SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) is a strain of SARS. It isn't as lethal as SARS-CoV (SARS). SARS has
a mortality rate of around 10%. But, SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) is by an order of magnitude more
infectious than SARS-CoV. So, what will the third incarnation of this virus, i.e., SARS-CoV-3
be? The lethality of the first strain coupled with the infectiousness of the second
strain?
Also, Ebola (EVD) causes one great consternation. EVD has a staggering mortality rate,
i.e., the average EVD case rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to
90% in past outbreaks. Viruses mutate regularly, so, saying that, what happens if EVD mutates
into new strain that keeps the lethality of the first incarnation and its infectiousness
increases? We could be looking at tens of millions, hundreds of millions dead...
And, let's not forget that our antibiotics for bacterial infections are waning because
just like viruses bacteria mutates and are subsequently becoming resistant to said
antibiotics.
They're many obstacles for our species to overcome and, in my opinion, disease is
foremost. There is the real possibility that if we don't act, get our finger out, our species
could find itself in the same position as our predecessors, i.e., lucky to live past our
30s...
Politicians and corporates have learnt how to monetise democracies - and their propaganda arm
(newspapers) keep people misinformed and stupid. The said democracy is only in our heads.
Dangerous pathogens are captured in the wild and made deadlier in government biowarfare labs. Did that happen here?
There has been no scientific finding that the novel coronavirus was bioengineered, but its origins are not entirely clear. Deadly
pathogens discovered in the wild are sometimes studied in labs – and sometimes made more dangerous. That possibility, and other plausible
scenarios, have been incorrectly dismissed in remarks by some scientists and government officials, and in the coverage of most major
media outlets.
Regardless of the source of this pandemic, there is considerable documentation that a global biological arms race going on outside
of public view could produce even more deadly pandemics in the future.
While much of the media and political establishment have minimized the threat from such lab work, some hawks on the American right
like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark ., have singled out Chinese biodefense researchers as uniquely dangerous.
The current dynamics of the biological arms race have been driven by US government decisions that extend back decades. In December
2009, Reuters
reported that the Obama administration was refusing even to negotiate the possible monitoring of biological weapons.
Much of the left in the US now appears unwilling to scrutinize the origin of the pandemic – or the wider issue of biowarfare –
perhaps because portions of the anti-Chinese right have been so vocal in making unfounded allegations.
Governments that participate in such biological weapon research generally distinguish between "biowarfare" and "biodefense,"
as if to paint such "defense" programs as necessary. But this is rhetorical sleight-of-hand; the two concepts are largely indistinguishable.
"Biodefense" implies tacit biowarfare, breeding more dangerous pathogens for the alleged purpose of finding a way to fight
them. While this work appears to have succeeded in creating deadly and infectious agents, including deadlier flu strains, such "defense"
research is impotent in its ability to defend us from this pandemic.
The legal scholar who drafted the main US law on the subject, Francis Boyle, warned in his 2005 book "
Biowarfare and Terrorism " that an "illegal biological arms
race with potentially catastrophic consequences" was underway, largely driven by the US government.
For years,
many scientists have raised concerns regarding bioweapons/biodefense lab work, and specifically about the fact that huge increases
in funding have taken place since 9/11. This was especially true after the anthrax-by-mail attacks that killed five people in the
weeks after 9/11, which the FBI ultimately blamed on a US government biodefense scientist. A 2013 study found that biodefense funding
since 2001 had totaled at least $78 billion
, and more has surely been spent since then. This has led to a
proliferation of laboratories , scientists and new organisms,
effectively setting off a biological arms race.
Following the Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014, the US government
paused
funding for what are known as "gain-of-function" research on certain organisms. This work actually seeks to make deadly pathogens
deadlier, in some cases making pathogens airborne that previously were not. With little notice outside the field,
the pause on such research was lifted
in late 2017 .
During this pause, exceptions for funding were made for dangerous gain-of-function lab work. This included work jointly done by
US scientists from the University of North Carolina, Harvard and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This work – which had funding from
USAID and EcoHealth Alliance not originally acknowledged – was published in
2015 in Nature Medicine .
A different Nature Medicine article about the origin of the current pandemic, authored by five scientists and
published on March 17, has been touted by major media
outlet and some officials – including current National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins – as definitively disproving
a lab origin for the novel coronavirus. That journal article, titled "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2," stated unequivocally: "Our
analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus." This is a subtly misleading
sentence. While the scientists state that there is no known laboratory "signature" in the SARS-Cov-2 RNA, their argument fails to
take account of other lab methods that could have created coronavirus mutations without leaving such a signature.
Indeed, there is also the question of conflict of interest in the Nature Medicine article. Some of the authors of that article,
as well as a February 2020
Lancet letter condemning
"conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin" – which seemed calculated to minimize outside scrutiny
of biodefense lab work – have troubling ties to the biodefense complex, as well as to the US government. Notably, neither of these
articles makes clear that a virus can have a natural origin and then be captured and studied in a controlled laboratory setting before
being let loose, either intentionally or accidentally – which is clearly a possibility in the case of the coronavirus.
Facts as "rumors"
This reporter raised questions about the subject at a news conference with a Center for Disease Control (CDC) representative
at the now-shuttered National Press Club on Feb. 11. I asked if it was a "complete coincidence" that the pandemic had started in
Wuhan, the only place in China with a declared biosafety level 4 (BSL4) laboratory. BSL4 laboratories have the most stringent safety
mechanisms, but handle the most deadly pathogens. As I mentioned, it was odd that the ostensible origin of the novel coronavirus
was bat caves in Yunnan province – more than 1,000 miles from Wuhan. I noted that "gain-of-function" lab work can results in more
deadly pathogens, and that major labs, including
some in the US, have had accidental releases .
CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat said that based on the information she had seen, the virus was of "zoonotic origin."
She also stated, regarding gain-of-function lab work, that it is important to "protect researchers and their laboratory workers as
well as the community around them and that we use science for the benefit of people."
I followed up by asking whether an alleged natural origin did not preclude the possibility that this virus came through
a lab, since a lab could have acquired a bat virus and been working on it. Schuchat replied to the assembled journalists that "it
is very common for rumors to emerge that can take on life of their own," but did not directly answer the question. She noted that
in the 2014 Ebola outbreak some observers had pointed to nearby labs as the possible cause, claiming this "was a key rumor that had
to be overcome in order to help control the outbreak." She reiterated: "So based on everything that I know right now, I can tell
you the circumstances of the origin really look like animals-to-human. But your question, I heard."
This is no rumor. It's a fact: Labs work with dangerous pathogens. The US and China each have dual-use biowarfare/biodefense programs.
China has major facilities at Wuhan – a biosafety level 4 lab and a biosafety level 2 lab. There are leaks from labs. (See "
Preventing a Biological Arms Race ,"
MIT Press, 1990, edited by Susan Wright; also, a partial review in
Journal of International Law from October 1992.)
Much of the discussion of this deadly serious subject is marred with snark that avoids or dodges the "gain-of-function" question.
ABC
ran a story on March 27 titled "Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists. Study Concludes COVID-19 'Is Not a Laboratory Construct.'" That
story did not address the possibility that the virus could have been found in the wild, studied in a lab and then released.
On March 21, USA Today
published a piece headlined "Fact Check: Did the Coronavirus Originate In a Chinese Laboratory?" – and rated it "FALSE."
That USA Today story relied on the Washington Post, which published a widely cited article on
Feb. 17 headlined,
"Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked." That article quoted public comments from
Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard Ebright, but out of context and only in part. Specifically, the story quoted
from Ebright's tweet that the coronavirus was not an "engineered bioweapon." In fact, his full quote included the clarification that
the virus could have " entered human population
through lab accident ." (An email requesting clarification sent to Post reporter Paulina Firozi was met with silence.)
Bioengineered ≠ From a lab
Other pieces in the Post since then (
some heavily sourced to
US government officials ) have conveyed Ebright's thinking, but it gets worse. In a private exchange, Ebright – who, again, has
said clearly that the novel coronavirus was not technically bioengineered using known coronavirus sequences – stated that other forms
of lab manipulation could have been responsible for the current pandemic. This runs counter to much reporting, which is perhaps too
scientifically illiterate to perceive the difference.
The genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 has no signatures of human manipulation.
This rules out the kinds of gain-of-function (GoF) research that leave signatures of human manipulation in genome sequences
(e.g., use of recombinant DNA methods to construct chimeric viruses), but does not rule out kinds of GoF research that do not leave
signatures (e.g., serial passage in animals). [emphasis added]
Very easy to imagine the equivalent of the Fouchier's "10 passages in ferrets" with H5N1 influenza virus, but, in this case,
with 10 passages in non-human primates with bat coronavirus RaTG13 or bat coronavirus KP876546.
That last paragraph is very important. It refers to virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who performed
research on intentionally increasing rates of viral mutation rate by spreading a virus from one animal to another in a sequence.
The New York Times wrote about this in an
editorial in January 2012,
warning of "An Engineered Doomsday."
"Now scientists financed by the National Institutes of Health" have created a "virus that could kill tens or hundreds of millions
of people" if it escaped confinement, the Times wrote. The story continued:
Working with ferrets, the animal that is most like humans in responding to influenza, the researchers found that a mere five
genetic mutations allowed the virus to spread through the air from one ferret to another while maintaining its lethality. A separate
study at the University of Wisconsin, about which little is known publicly, produced a virus that is thought to be less virulent.
The word "engineering" in the New York Times headline is technically incorrect, since passing a virus through animals is
not "genetic engineering." This same distinction has hindered some from understanding the possible origins of the current pandemic.
Fouchier's flu work, in which an H5N1 virus was made more virulent by transmitting it repeatedly between individual ferrets, briefly
sent shockwaves through the media. "Locked up in the bowels of the medical faculty building here and accessible to only a handful
of scientists lies a man-made flu virus that could change world history if it were ever set free," wrote Science magazine
in 2011 in a
story
titled "Scientists Brace for Media Storm Around Controversial Flu Studies." It continues:
The virus is an H5N1 avian influenza strain that has been genetically altered and is now easily transmissible between ferrets,
the animals that most closely mimic the human response to flu. Scientists believe it's likely that the pathogen, if it emerged in
nature or were released, would trigger an influenza pandemic, quite possibly with many millions of deaths.
In a 17th floor office in the same building, virologist Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center calmly explains why his team
created what he says is "probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make" – and why he wants to publish a paper describing
how they did it. Fouchier is also bracing for a media storm. After he talked to ScienceInsider yesterday, he had an appointment
with an institutional press officer to chart a communication strategy.
Fouchier's paper is one of two studies that have triggered an intense debate about the limits of scientific freedom and that
could portend changes in the way U.S. researchers handle so-called dual-use research: studies that have a potential public health
benefit but could also be useful for nefarious purposes like biowarfare or bioterrorism.
Despite objections, Fouchier's article was published by Science
in June 2012 . Titled "Airborne Transmission
of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Between Ferrets," it summarized how Fouchier's research team made the pathogen more virulent:
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 virus can cause morbidity and mortality in humans but thus far has not acquired the
ability to be transmitted by aerosol or respiratory droplet ("airborne transmission") between humans. To address the concern that
the virus could acquire this ability under natural conditions, we genetically modified A/H5N1 virus by site-directed mutagenesis
and subsequent serial passage in ferrets. The genetically modified A/H5N1 virus acquired mutations during passage in ferrets, ultimately
becoming airborne transmissible in ferrets.
In other words, Fouchier's research took a flu virus that did not exhibit airborne transmission, then infected a number
of ferrets until it mutated to the point that it was transmissible by air.
In that same year, 2012, a similar study by Yoshihiro
Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin was published in Nature :
Highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza A viruses occasionally infect humans, but currently do not transmit efficiently among
humans. Here we assess the molecular changes that would allow a virus to be transmissible among mammals. We identified a virus with
four mutations and the remaining seven gene segments from a 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus – that was capable of droplet transmission in
a ferret model.
Recent experiments that create novel, highly virulent and transmissible pathogens against which there is no human immunity
are unethical they impose a risk of accidental and deliberate release that, if it led to extensive spread of the new agent, could
cost many lives. While such a release is unlikely in a specific laboratory conducting research under strict biosafety procedures,
even a low likelihood should be taken seriously, given the scale of destruction if such an unlikely event were to occur. Furthermore,
the likelihood of risk is multiplied as the number of laboratories conducting such research increases around the globe.
Given this risk, ethical principles, such as those embodied in the
Nuremberg Code , dictate that such experiments would be
permissible only if they provide humanitarian benefits commensurate with the risk, and if these benefits cannot be achieved by less
risky means.
We argue that the two main benefits claimed for these experiments – improved vaccine design and improved interpretation of
surveillance – are unlikely to be achieved by the creation of potential pandemic pathogens (PPP), often termed "gain-of-function"
(GOF) experiments.
There may be a widespread notion that there is scientific consensus that the pandemic did not come out of a lab. But in fact many
of the most knowledgeable scientists in the field are notably silent. This includes Lipsitch at Harvard, Jonathan A. King at MIT
and many others.
Just last year, Lynn Klotz of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation wrote a
paper
in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists entitled "Human Error in High-biocontainment Labs: A Likely Pandemic Threat." Wrote
Klotz:
Incidents causing potential exposures to pathogens occur frequently in the high security laboratories often known by their
acronyms, BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) and BSL4. Lab incidents that lead to undetected or unreported laboratory-acquired infections can
lead to the release of a disease into the community outside the lab; lab workers with such infections will leave work carrying the
pathogen with them. If the agent involved were a potential pandemic pathogen, such a community release could lead to a worldwide
pandemic with many fatalities. Of greatest concern is a release of a lab-created, mammalian-airborne-
transmissible, highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, such as the airborne-transmissible H5N1 viruses created in the laboratories
of Ron Fouchier in the Netherlands and Yoshihiro Kawaoka in Madison, Wisconsin.
"Crazy, dangerous"
Boyle, a professor of international
law at the University of Illinois , has condemned Fouchier, Kawaoka and others – including at least one of the authors of the
recent Nature Medicine article in the strongest terms, calling such work a "criminal enterprise." While Boyle has been embroiled
in numerous controversies, he's been especially dismissed by many on this issue. The "fact-checking" website
Snopes has described him as "a lawyer with
no formal training in virology" – without noting that he wrote the relevant U.S. law.
The law Boyle drafted states: "Whoever knowingly develops, produces, stockpiles, transfers, acquires, retains, or possesses any
biological agent, toxin, or delivery system for use as a weapon, or knowingly assists a foreign state or any organization to do so,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both. There is extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction
over an offense under this section committed by or against a national of the United States."
Boyle also warned:
Russia and China have undoubtedly reached the same conclusions I have derived from the same open and public sources, and have
responded in kind. So what the world now witnesses is an all-out offensive biological warfare arms race among the major military
powers of the world: United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, Israel, inter alia.
We have reconstructed the Offensive Biological Warfare Industry that we had deployed in this county before its prohibition
by the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972, described by Seymour Hersh in his groundbreaking expose "
Chemical
and Biological Warfare: America's Hidden Arsenal ." (1968)
Boyle now states that he has been "blackballed" in the media on this issue, despite his having written the relevant statute. The
group he worked with on the law, the Council for Responsible Genetics, went under several years ago, making Boyle's views against
"biodefense" even more marginal as government money for dual use work poured into the field and critics within the scientific community
have fallen silent. In turn, his denunciations have grown more sweeping.
In the 1990 book " Preventing a Biological
Arms Race ," scholar Susan Wright argued that current laws regarding bioweapons were insufficient, as there were "projects in
which offensive and defensive aspects can be distinguished only by claimed motive." Boyle notes, correctly, that current law he drafted
does not make an exception for "defensive" work, but only for "prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes."
While Boyle is particularly vociferous in his condemnations, he is not alone. There has been irregular, but occasional media attention
to this threat. The Guardian ran a piece in 2014, "
Scientists
condemn 'crazy, dangerous' creation of deadly airborne flu virus ," after Kawaoka created a life-threatening virus that "closely
resembles the 1918 Spanish flu strain that killed an estimated 50m people":
"The work they are doing is absolutely crazy. The whole thing is exceedingly dangerous," said Lord May, the former president
of the Royal Society and one time chief science adviser to the UK government. "Yes, there is a danger, but it's not arising from
the viruses out there in the animals, it's arising from the labs of grossly ambitious people."
Boyle's
charges
beginning early this year that the coronavirus was bioengineered – allegations recently mirrored by French virologist and
Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier – have not been corroborated by any publicly produced findings of any US scientist. Boyle even
charges that scientists like Ebright, who is at Rutgers, are compromised because the university got a
biosafety level
3 lab in 2017 – though Ebright is perhaps the most vocal eminent critic of this research, among US scientists. These and other
controversies aside, Boyle's concerns about the dangers of biowarfare are legitimate; indeed, Ebright shares them.
Some of the most vocal voices to discuss the origins of the novel coronavirus have been eager to minimize the dangers of lab work,
or have focused almost exclusively on "wet markets" or "exotic" animals as the likely cause.
The media celebrated Laurie Garrett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations,
when she declared on Twitter on March 3 (in a since-deleted tweet) that the origin of the pandemic was discovered: "It's pangolins.
#COVID19 Researchers studied lung tissue from 12 of the scaled mammals that were illegally trafficked in Asia and found #SARSCoV2
in 3. The animals were found in Guangxi, China. Another virus+ smuggled sample found in Guangzhou."
She was swiftly corrected by Ebright:
"Arrant nonsense. Did you even read the paper? Reported pangolin coronavirus is not SARS-CoV-2 and is not even particularly close
to SARS-CoV-2. Bat coronavirus RaTG13 is much closer to SARS-CoV-2 (96.2% identical) than reported pangolin coronavirus (92.4% identical)."
He added: "No reason to invoke pangolin as intermediate. When A is much closer than B to C, in the absence of additional data, there
is no rational basis to favor pathway A>B>C over pathway A>C." When someone asked what Garrett was saying, Ebright
responded : "She is saying she is scientifically
illiterate."
The following day, Garrett corrected herself (
without acknowledging Ebright ): "I blew
it on the #Pangolins paper, & then took a few hours break from Twitter. It did NOT prove the species = source of #SARSCoV2. There's
a torrent of critique now, deservedly denouncing me & my posting. A lot of the critique is super-informative so leaving it all up
4 while."
At least one Chinese government official has
responded to the allegation that the labs in Wuhan could be the source for the pandemic by alleging that perhaps the US is responsible
instead. In American mainstream media, that has been reflexively treated as even
more ridiculous
than the original allegation that the virus could have come from a lab.
Obviously the Chinese government's allegations should not be taken at face value, but neither should US government claims – especially
considering that US government labs were the apparent source for the
anthrax attacks in 2001 . Those attacks sent panic through
the US and shut down Congress, allowing the Bush administration to enact the
PATRIOT Act and ramp up the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Indeed, in October 2001, media darlings like
Richard Butler and
Andrew Sullivan propagandized for war
with Iraq because of the anthrax attacks. (Neither Iraq nor al-Qaida was involved.)
The 2001 anthrax attacks also provided much of the pretext for the surge in biolab spending since then, even though they apparently
originated in a US or U.S.-allied lab. Indeed, those attacks remain
shrouded in
mystery .
The US government has also come up with elaborate cover stories to distract from its bioweapons work. For instance, the US government
infamously claimed the 1953 death of Frank Olson, a scientist at Fort Detrick, Maryland, was an
LSD experiment gone wrong; it now appears to have been an execution to cover up for US biological warfare.
Regardless of the cause of the current pandemic, these biowarfare/biodefense labs need far more scrutiny. The call to shut them
down by Boyle and others needs to be clearly heard – and light must be shone on precisely what research is being conducted.
The secrecy of these labs may prevent us ever knowing with certainty the origins of the current pandemic. What we do know is this
kind of lab work comes with real dangers. One might make a comparison to climate change: We cannot attribute an individual hurricane
to man-made climate disruption, yet science tells us that human activity makes stronger hurricanes more likely. That brings us back
to the imperative to cease the kinds of activities that produce such dangers in the first place.
If that doesn't happen, the people of the planet will be at the mercy of the machinations and mistakes of state actors who are
playing with fire for their geopolitical interests.
Looks like this story gradually became an elaborate PSYOP against China. It doe snot now matter if this was after some lab mishap,
or natural zootomic transmission to humans.
Notable quotes:
"... On informational war against china the USA came up with what now is called the "Skripal rules of evidence" aka "highly likely". ..."
"... In Hybrid War 2.0 terms, the current CIA-style narrative translates as evil China never telling us, the civilized West, there was a terrible new virus around. If they did, we would have had time to prepare. ..."
"... And yet they lied and cheated – by the way, trademark CIA traits, according to Mike "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo himself. And they hid everything. And they censored the truth. So they wanted to infect us all. Now they have to pay for all the economic and financial damage we are suffering, and for all our dead people. It's China's fault. ..."
"... No wonder the Pentagon was forced to issue the proverbial denial – in Pentagonese, via one Col. R. Shane Day, the director of the DIA's NCMI: "In the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists." ..."
On informational war against china the USA came up with what now is called the "Skripal rules of evidence" aka "highly likely".
Hybrid War 2.0 on China, a bipartisan U.S. operation, is already reaching fever pitch. Its 24/7 full spectrum infowar arm blames
China for everything coronavirus-related – doubling as a diversionist tactic against any informed criticism of woeful American unpreparedness.
Hysteria predictably
reigns. And this is just the beginning.
A deluge of lawsuits is imminent – such as the one in the Southern District of Florida entered by Berman Law Group (linked to
the Democrats) and Lucas-Compton (linked to the Republicans). In a nutshell: China has to shell out tons of cash. To the tune of
at least $1.2 trillion, which happens to be – by surrealist irony – the amount of U.S. Treasury bills held by Beijing, all the way
to $20 trillion, claimed by a lawsuit in Texas.
The prosecution's case, as Scott Ritter memorably reminded us, is straight out of
Monty Python . It works exactly like this:
"If she weighs the same as a duck
she's made of wood!"
"And therefore "
"A witch!!!!!"
In Hybrid War 2.0 terms, the current CIA-style narrative translates as evil China never telling us, the civilized West, there
was a terrible new virus around. If they did, we would have had time to prepare.
And yet they lied and cheated – by the way, trademark CIA traits, according to Mike "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo himself.
And they hid everything. And they censored the truth. So they wanted to infect us all. Now they have to pay for all the economic
and financial damage we are suffering, and for all our dead people. It's China's fault.
All this sound and fury forces us to refocus back to late 2019 to check out what U.S. intel really knew then about what would
later be identified as Sars-Cov-2.
"No such product exists"
The gold standard remains the ABC News
report according to which intel collected in November 2019 by the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), a subsidiary
of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), was already warning about a new virulent contagion getting out of hand in Wuhan,
based on "detailed analysis of intercepted communications and satellite imagery".
An unnamed source told ABC, "analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event", adding the intel was "briefed multiple times"
to the DIA, the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and even the White House.
No wonder the Pentagon was forced to issue the proverbial denial – in Pentagonese, via one Col. R. Shane Day, the director of
the DIA's NCMI: "In the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about
the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is
not correct. No such NCMI product exists."
Well, if such "product" existed, Pentagon head and former Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper would be very much in the loop. He was
duly questioned about it by ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Question: "Did the Pentagon receive an intelligence assessment on COVID in China last November from the National Center for Medical
Intelligence of DIA?"
Esper: "Oh, I can't recall, George," ( ) "But, we have many people who watch this closely."
Question: "This assessment was done in November, and it was briefed to the NSC in early December to assess the impact on military
readiness, which, of course, would make it important to you, and the possible spread in the United States. So, you would have known
if there was a brief to the National Security Council in December, wouldn't you?"
Esper: "Yes ( ) "I'm not aware of that."
So "no such product exists" then? Is it a fake? Is it a Deep State/CIA concoction to trap Trump? Or are the usual suspects lying,
trademark CIA style?
Let's review some essential background. On November 12 ,
a married couple from Inner Mongolia was admitted to a Beijing hospital, seeking treatment for pneumonic plague.
The Chinese CDC, on Weibo – the Chinese Twitter – told public opinion that the chances of this being a new plague were
"extremely low." The couple was
quarantined .
Four days later, a third case of pneumonic plague was identified: a man also from Inner Mongolia, not related to the couple. Twenty-eight
people who were in close contact with the man were quarantined. None had plague symptoms. Pneumonic plague has
symptoms of respiratory failure similar to pneumonia.
Even though the CDC repeated, "there is no need to worry about the risk of infection", of course there was plenty of skepticism.
The CDC may have publicly confirmed on November 12 these cases of pneumonic plague. But then Li Jifeng, a doctor at Chaoyang Hospital
where the trio from Inner Mongolia was receiving treatment,
published, privately , on WeChat, that they were first transported to Beijing actually on November 3.
The key point of Li Jinfeng's post – later removed by censors – was when she wrote, "I am very familiar with diagnosing and treating
the majority of respiratory diseases ( ) But this time, I kept on looking but could not figure out what pathogen caused the pneumonia.
I only thought it was a rare condition and did not get much information other than the patients' history."
Even if that was the case, the key point is that the three Inner Mongolian cases seem to have been caused by a detectable bacteria.
Covid-19 is caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, not a bacteria. The first Sars-Covid-2 case was only detected in Wuhan in mid to late
December. And it was only last month that Chinese scientists were able to positively trace back the first real case of Sars-Cov-2
to November 17 – a few days after the Inner Mongolian trio.
Knowing exactly where to look
It's out of the question that U.S. intel, in this case the NCMI, was unaware of these developments in China, considering CIA spying
and the fact these discussions were in the open on Weibo and WeChat. So if the NCMI "product" is not a fake and really exists, it
only found evidence, still in November, of some vague instances of pneumonic plague.
Thus the warning – to the DIA, the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and even the White House – was about that. It could
not possibly have been about coronavirus.
The burning question is inevitable: how could the NCMI possibly know all about a viral pandemic, still in November, when Chinese
doctors positively identified the first cases of a new type of pneumonia only on December 26?
Add to it the intriguing question of why the NCMI was so interested in this particular flu season in China in the first place
– from plague cases treated in Beijing to the first signs of a "mysterious pneumonia outbreak" in Wuhan.
There may have been subtle hints of slightly increased activity at clinics in Wuhan in late November and early December. But at
the time nobody – Chinese doctors, the government, not to mention U.S. intel – could have possibly known what was really happening.
China could not be "covering up" what was only identified as a new disease on December 30, duly communicated to the WHO. Then,
on January 3, the head of the American CDC, Robert Redfield, called the top Chinese CDC official. Chinese doctors sequenced the virus.
And only on January 8 it was determined this was Sars-Cov-2 – which provokes Covid-19.
This chain of events reopens, once again, a mighty Pandora's box. We have the quite timely
Event 201 ; the cozy relationship between
the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the WHO, as well as the Word Economic Forum and the Johns Hopkins galaxy in Baltimore,
including the Bloomberg School of Public Health; the
ID2020 digital ID/vaccine combo;
Dark Winter – which simulated a smallpox bio-attack on the U.S., before the 2001 anthrax attack being blamed on Iraq; U.S. Senators
dumping stocks after a CDC briefing; more than 1,300 CEOs abandoning their cushy perches in 2019, "forecasting" total market collapse;
the Fed pouring helicopter money already in September 2019 – as part of QE4.
And then, validating the ABC News report, Israel steps in.
Israeli intel confirms U.S. intel did in fact warn them in November about a potentially catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan (once
again: how could they possibly know that on the second week of November, so early in the game?) And NATO allies were warned – in
November – as well.
The bottom line is explosive: the Trump administration as well as the CDC had an advance warning of no less than four months –
from November to March – to be properly prepared for Covid-19 hitting the U.S. And they did nothing. The whole "China is a witch!"
case is debunked.
Moreover, the Israeli disclosure supports what's nothing less than extraordinary: U.S. intel already knew about Sars-Cov-2 roughly
one month before the first confirmed cases detected by doctors in a Wuhan hospital. Talk about divine intervention.
That could only have happened if U.S. intel knew, for sure, about a previous chain of events that would necessarily lead to the
"mysterious outbreak" in Wuhan. And not only that: they knew exactly where to look. Not in Inner Mongolia, not in Beijing, not in
Guangdong province.
It's never enough to repeat the question in full: how could U.S. intel have known about a contagion one month before Chinese doctors
detected an unknown virus?
Mike "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo may have given away the game when he said, on the record, that Covid-19 was a "live exercise".
Adding to the ABC News and Israeli reports, the only possible, logical conclusion is that the Pentagon – and the CIA – knew ahead
of time a pandemic would be inevitable.
That's the smokin' gun. And now the full weight of the United States government is covering all bases by proactively, and retroactively,
blaming China.
" The bottom line is explosive: the Trump administration as well as the CDC had an advance warning of no less than four
months – from November to March – to be properly prepared for Covid-19 hitting the U.S. "
This all based on reports from television news, based on purported assertions by unnamed "sources" referring to unnamed governmental
officials, with no follow-up substantiation – and even extraordinarily denied officially.
Yet since it would support an intended sensational narrative, it is cherry-picked and elevated as fact, and then used as a
premise for a dubious conclusion that contradicts common sense. It is a prima facie case of shoddy journalism.
I fully agree with all of the above speculative assertions in the author's thesis, and add that Trump himself is responsible for
the botched 'live exercise' in so far as he vetoed legislation that prevented funding to USA BSL-4 Fort Detrick bioterrorism laboratory
research in 2017 prior to this now evidenced man made bioweapon built & manufactured at Fort Detrick prior to release via CIA
Operative enlisted in the Military Games for USA in situ Wuhan Games region near the now infamous 'wet market'.
USA Medical SIGINT has known about this classified CIA Psyop for at minimum of a year on the conservative side. All the FIVE
Eyes plus One Intelligence community was likely apprised of the live event at least one year before hand so we can be sure that
the world population of Great Unwashed masses is currently being played by their respective sovereign states given that no admission
of guilt or liability has been forthcoming to date.
Blaming China for the USA CIA release of this CIA/USArmy manufactured deadly pathogen is anathema to any self-respecting thinker.
The spooks at the CIA under Bloody Gina Haspel are the most dimwitted ignorant bunch of bureaucratic imbeciles this world could
possibly come up with historically.
Never in all my years did I ever think that American scientists would be this stupid to intentionally release a gain-of-function
dual use bioweaponized nCorona virus that is engineered to destroy whole cohorts of elderly people all at one time in successive
waves of pathogenic assault on every population of the world, and beyond if this enters space.
Dumb arse Central Ineptitude Agency strikes again, eh.
DIA has some very expert, hands-on NBC people who know exactly what the USG has and has not got. Guys I know. DIA also has form
for going through channels to report universal jurisdiction CIA crimes – they outed TIMBER SYCAMORE aggression too. This is not
bureaucratic turf war but a pragmatic recognition that newly-codified crimes against peace apply if the US loses one too many
wars. The UCMJ is still in effect. Col. Day's hammy denial leaves his ass covered.
Israel was naturally motivated to blow the whistle too, as they were enlisted as cutouts in spreading the virus.
With COVID -19 germ warfare manifest and shaping up to be the gravest crime in history, foreign and domestic entities have
elected to rat out CIA. Their wet dream of unattributable war will finish off the USA. Just what the doctor ordered!
I would wager that the November intelligence document was in fact limited to discussion of the folks from Inner Mongolia, and
rather misinterpreted by the anonymous source in a controlled leak to the ABC reporter. The promotion of half-true/half false
inside info from anonymous sources is a hallmark of the Russiagate fraud. An overriding fact, in this matter, is that ABC was
journalistically irresponsible in running the story in the first place.
@Been_there_done_that ental officials, with no follow-up substantiation – and even extraordinarily denied officially."
So you don't find it remotely interesting that a foreign news service claims that a foreign intelligence agency was warned
of this virus 4 months ago? That seems worth a tiny bit of attention, given that no retraction appears to have been issued and
the Israeli government does not appear to have protested or disclaimed the alleged statements.
It might not be 'proof' in some strong sense, but it is a very interesting claim.
If true (if the USA was tracking the progress of this virus) then Escobar is on solid ground: the government either blew it,
or there was some ulterior motive here.
@Been_there_done_that Nah, that's just handwaving. The sources are directly from Trump's administration and published in a
newspaper with a verified track record of publishing leaks from this White House. It's sad that we live in a world that treats
government denials of an obvious truth as fact. Even if you don't believe this report, there are plenty more: Trump asked Fauci
if we could just let Corona "wash over us"; he repeatedly compared the virus to the flu on Twitter; he called the virus threat
a hoax at a rally, etc. It's clear this man did not take this seriously even as other countries were taking mitigation steps.
That's really beyond dispute. His behavior at the very least makes this plausible. This is something Trump would do.
@jbwilson24 esting and newsworthy if a particular official had appeared on camera and said into the microphone: "Yeah, I distinctly
recall, they warned us back then already."
The fact that no defensive preparations were developed in Israel and Europe, which have both been adversely impacted, tends
to make the story appear to have been a fabrication. Recall that the US is approaching elections, so news organizations can be
expected to release unsubstantiated reports like this, which make Trump appear to be even worse than is already the case.
Therefore, the fact that Escobar relied on it so strongly, as if though it had been verified as true, in order to support his
argument, was simply unprofessional.
Event 201 in October included Chinese CDC Director George GAO. US and Chinese scientists in Wuhan have collaborated on coronavirus
gain of function studies for over a decade with many funded by US agencies.
Collections of coincidences regarding how COVID started are both rampant and unconvincing. That's usually because they ignore/remove
salient context which can give otherwise mundane events an aura they didn't have when they happened.
I think that ABC's and the Times of Israel's reports are both accurate, that the Pentagon's narrow denial confirms it, and
that there's a perfectly plausible and quite ordinary explanation how US intelligence in Wuhan in mid-Nov could've known of an
epidemic threat before Wuhan's doctors would
The USM sent a pretty large team, totalling about 300 to Wuhan's Military Games taking place Oct 19-27. Incidentally, some/most/all
of the team stayed at the Oriental Hotel which is very close to now demolished Huannan Mkt. Perhaps that's how the now discredited
"wet market" meme got started.
The intelligence agencies, including the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) would have been an important component
of the USM team's security arrangements at the Games.
Five members of the US contingent reportedly got ill, and at least 1 required hospitalization. Later, 42 of the Oriental Hotel's
employees came down with COVID, but the 5 were flown out on a USAF plane immediately on their release from hospital. Chinese media
reported that they had contracted "malaria".
The team's medical staff would be very aware of the illnesses that befell some of the team, and as some required hospitalization
would have been involved in collecting the associated medical details, treatments, tracing how and where they fell ill, and assessing
the medical threat to the rest of the team. That's their job.
I'll speculate for a bit here
Consider the possibility that the USM medical staff in Wuhan got shop talk from the hospital's staff that in effect said "very
unusual pneumonia, never seen anything like it The usual drugs don't work ". That would have triggered tests to be done on the
5 on their return. It also would have been reported back to the NCMI who's responsibility it would be to assess the threat to
the USM's personnel in the region.
Now consider the possibility that in early Nov the 5's tests came back with the same result that landed on (Emergency Dept
Head, Wuhan Central Hosp.) Ai Fen's desk on Dec 31, and that triggered January's stream of events. The lab test confirmed "SARS
Coronavirus". She'd been seeing similar patients for more than a month, and asked for that test on a hunch. The bell finally rang
for Wuhan, but if those 5 tests were similar that bell would have rung for the NCMI 6 weeks earlier.
If so, the NCMI would have sent their field agents back into Wuhan's hospitals to see if similar cases had shown up since.
The field agents would have reported that indeed they found a few, and so the NCMI would have known that an epidemic was brewing.
They had the data.
That's the NCMI's job. Their field work and analysis indicated a high level threat developing around Wuhan by mid Nov. They
duly reported their findings to Washington who passed it on to the IDF and NATO. The NCMI doubtless escalated the importance of
the file, and kept the field agents on the case thru Nov and Dec. They updated Washington as the epidemic developed through Dec.
This is pivotal to current developments. Namely, if the reports are true then Washington failed to meet its legal obligation
to pass critical public health information of international importance onwards to the WHO or to China and they take the wind out
of the sails of the lawsuits and threats being tossed around.
In fact, one wonders both how these reports came to be published and also who'll be suing who.
Please note that the above speaks only to how Washington could've known that Wuhan had a problem in mid-Nov, and says
nothing about whether SARS-2 was engineered in a lab or by a bat, and even less about whether it was accidentally or intentionally
released by a lab (or a bat).
Only science can answer whether there's a devil in the the virus' genetic details, and the above ain't science.
I'll concede, however that it speaks to Washington's palpable schadenfreude during Feb & Mar.
Yes. Excellent article on all counts. Thisis perhaps the smoking gun we needed, but there is very much more. This is only one
such event in a long list of similarly curious and unexplained non-natural phenomena.
In the months prior to COVID-US (and again during the epidemic), China was hit with 4 unexplained viral outbreaks in succession,
animal viruses that destroyed much of the nation's livestock and poultry, causing much economic damage and necessitating the purchase
of large volumes of US agricultural products. The swine flu that devastated China's livestock in 2019 was not an act of god or
nature but was done by unknown persons flying small drones over the country's pig farms and infecting thousands of locations,
resulting in the culling of several million pigs – the same as the US did to Cuba some years back (without the drones).
There have been many other such instances, all of which have gone unexamined and unquestioned as to cause and origin. Perhaps
time to review all of those. The place to start is for all nations to band together and begin an international criminal investigation
of this latest event, letting the chips fall where they may.
@anon You missed the point. The point was how the hell did the CIA knows of a catastrophic pamdemic in Wuhan China 4 to 6
weeks before the Chinese knows about it.
This all hinges on the report being true or not.
That should be easily verifiable since so many had access to the report. When they give answers like " I don't recall, I am
not aware". That means 99.99% true.
Don't forget that in November/December 2019 timeframe, US government suspended Minimum Required Distributions for IRAs, 401Ks,
457s, etc., until 2022. Just a coincidence!
@Been_there_done_that Thus says the shill who's been pushing the Wuhan leak meme, dismissed those avalanche
of bird flu, swine flu hitting China in 2018/9 as mere coincidences and ..copy ,paste state dept hand out on ' Chinese
imperialism ' practically verbatim.
with so many countries allegedly in on the "secret" briefing, not a single country's representative followed up to monitor
developments or even corroborated the briefing, but most importantly, not a single country took any defensive preparations
whatsoever in advance.
We have no idea who followed what up. As for "corroborating the briefing", I assume you mean publicly. Why would you expect
anyone to do that? I certainly wouldn't.
I don't know what stats you're looking at, but all of the Central & Eastern European countries are doing as well as Austria,
as is Canada. Members of NATO all. Perhaps part of the briefing included an assessment that this was just SARS 2.0, so get some
popcorn while the Chinese deal with the mess. Perhaps you'd share why you think you know that " not a single country took any
defensive measures whatsover ", when the stats suggest that more than half did.
Interestingly, all the 1949 countries other than possibly Canada screwed the pooch, but the difference between them and those
that joined later is stark.
BTW, it was initially reported on ABCnews' website about 1 week before it was repeated by Israeli television, and then carried
by the Times of Israel. The Israeli reports said that the IDF had received the information. The IDF, afaik hasn't denied it. None
has retracted their report, though ABC updated their's with the Pentagon's non-denial denial.
The crunch point is that you'll have to explain why any mainstream media, normally little more stenographers for whatever the
party line is, would report something so patently contrary to their respective govt's interests, and why said govts haven't issued
substantial denials.
I'm sure had they reported that anonymous sources informed them it came out of WIV in a lunch pail, you would have bought the
whole thing with super-sized fries because it fits with what you need to hear.
@Been_there_done_that Don't tell me you are trying to deflect the incompetence of Washington DC. Do you also claim that in
January and February that Trump didn't praise China and the WHO in how they were handling the crisis? Are you going to deny how
he was boasting that the US had no deaths and that everything was under control and would be fine ??? Then what happened ??
Like 99.99999% of my fellow humans – I do not have an actual clue as to what happened in China regarding the CV.
But we can use logic to guess what happened. When your car engine will not turn over and your battery is 5 years old – the
logical thought is that the battery is dead. Most often the first simplest logical conclusion is the correct answer.
The Chinese government has NO reason to start a pandemic. Ditto, the US government. The most logical conclusion is that some
underling in the virus lab, screwed up big time. It appears that some Chinese good guys tried to warn the world – and that the
bad Chinese government tried to cover it up.
Hmm – does that work?
p.s. Logic again. I have ZERO doubt that the CIA played disastrous games with the truth.
p.s. Hmm -- has the State Department become an outpost of the CIA Security State?
But is US intelligence actually capable of "knowing" anything at all, anymore?
Oh I am sure there are still smart and honest analysts looking at hard data somewhere, and maybe some of these people knew
something, or maybe they didn't – but the overall administrative structure of US intelligence has become so corrupted, there is
no way the agency as a whole could have come up with any sort of coherent assessment or plan. US intelligence now works backwards:
they are told what to find, and then, miraculously, they find it, and scream it to the four corners of the world. And there is
never any feedback for intelligence failures An effective if crude propaganda tactic, but not good practice for actually learning
the truth or coming up with an effective plan of action – something else that US intelligence has pretty much failed at since,
oh I don't know, maybe the Korean War?
@showmethereal Trump is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't and that has it's own problems. Suppose Trump locks down
the country in December and very few people are infected or died. The media are going to say the economy was crashed due to Trump's
incompetence where he was willing to bankrupt million to save a few thousand old folks a few more months. Trump will get no credit
as anything happening outside the US will simply be from their lack of understanding and nothing Trump did.
As far as Event 201, people say scary shit all the time that never happens. The internet is full of these cranks. How many
times has some gold bug predicted a financial Armageddon unless we get back on the gold standard? Even this thing is hardly the
end of the world. Now Ebola getting loose in the US with no effective treatment and a 50-80% mortality rate would require a real
lockdown.
Hybrid War 2.0 on China, a bipartisan U.S. operation, is already reaching fever pitch. Its 24/7 full spectrum infowar arm
blames China for everything coronavirus-related
Just following the MSM reaction can be illuminating. The US MSM is Jewish owned, and is the authentic voice of the US Zio-Glob
elite. It interprets events and provides a focused call for emergency action. In this respect the big Coronavirus "event" had
a lot of similarities to the previous big 9/11 "event". These "events" are like exploding shells, throwing shrapnel, causing multiple
types of damage and panic reactions.
The difference with 9/11 is that almost 20 years have passed to gather evidence/understand the deception. If the Virus Panic
is working the same way, then maybe there is some predictability, for example;
– A readymade instant story presented at high volume story that fingers the target.
[9/11] "Arab terrorists – Bin Laden"
[Coronavirus] "China bio-weapon – Wuhan lab"
– Create panic and rush the state into the desired emergency action.
[9/11] Attack on the Middle East, giant new funding for the MIC, security state (Homeland security, Patriot Act, NSA).
[Coronavirus] Attack Iran while the public are in lockdown/panic mode (still to come) , $ 2.3 trillion mostly for Wall
St, stop 5G encryption, block US/China oil trade and arms development.
IMO the main action will be a provocation to start an Iran war (while there's emergency lockdown), smash the country and gain
control of Iranian oil/get it priced in US dollars.
The strong ties between Beijing and Tehran have been evident in recent days as tensions have risen in the Middle East, triggered
by the killing of Iran's top military chief Qassem Soleimani by the US in Iraq. Tehran responded with a missile attack on US
forces in Iraq.
China's envoy to Iran, Chang Hua, has said Beijing remained committed to its partnership with Tehran. Zhai Jun, China's
special representative for the Middle East, visited Tehran for a security dialogue on Monday and Tuesday, when he said some
"external nations" were stirring provocations, without naming the US.
There may have been subtle hints of slightly increased activity at clinics in Wuhan in late November and early December.
But at the time nobody – Chinese doctors, the government, not to mention U.S. intel – could have possibly known what was really
happening.
China could not be "covering up" what was only identified as a new disease on December 30, duly communicated to the WHO
If they could not possibly have known why did they give everyone the impression they did know?
NYC Biodefense chief Professor Ian Lipkin said. "On December 31st, researchers there [Wuhan] identified it as a coronavirus
but said, 'It's not highly transmissible'". On the 24th of January the WHO said "it is very clear right now that we have no sustained
human-to-human transmission". If the Chinese had not came out with such bullcrap none of this would be happening. We can't trust
them anymore, and when I saw something is going to have to be done about it, I don't mean a 'PSYOP' either.
"... The US political culture is that 99.99% of Americans will believe literally ANY lie, no matter how self-evidently stupid, about the rest of the world rather than accepting any unpleasant truth about the US. So scapegoating another power, especially a Communist one, gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the overwhelming majority of Americans. ..."
this pandemic gave then a golden opportunity to pin all their own failures and mistakes on
China. The elements? Simple really:
Anti-Chinese
propaganda has a long history in the US and it was really easy to re-kindle it. Most
Americans have a completely irrational reaction to the word "Communist" so it is really easy
for any US propaganda outlet to mention the CCP and "lies" in the same sentence and sound
credible, irrespective of what else the sentence claims (like, say, factual evidence). The US
plutocracy is terrified of the Chinese economic and industrial power, hence the vilification of
companies like Huawei or DJI which are declared a national security threat to the US.
Blame
everything on the Chinese and the US oligarchs will love it!
China and Russia are in a
relationship which is even far deeper than an alliance. I call it a "symbiosis" while the
Chinese speak of a "Strategic comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era" while
the Russians speak of a "crucial alliance". The terms don't really matter here, what matters is
that Russia and China are standing together ( that is what they mean by "coordinating") against
the Empire and that the (admittedly few and clumsy) US attempts are breaking this alliance have
totally failed.
As with any new pandemic, it did take China time to figure out the nature of
what was happening and it was extremely easy to accuse China of deliberate obfuscation (while
keeping the fact that China did inform the world as early as December 31st is, obviously
omitted, as is the presence of a multi-national WHO delegation to investigate this issue. In
reality, one might as well accuse China of being TOO open, and allowing various estimates and
hypotheses to circulate even before the Chinese government had all the facts established. It is
a perfect case of dammed if you do and damned if you don't .
The US political culture is that
99.99% of Americans will believe literally ANY lie, no matter how self-evidently stupid, about
the rest of the world rather than accepting any unpleasant truth about the US. So scapegoating
another power, especially a Communist one, gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the
overwhelming majority of Americans.
When the WHO clearly did not buy into the US propaganda, it
was a great move for Trump to defund it. Not only did the US already owe the WHO millions of
dollars (50-200, depending on who you ask), so the easy pretext not to pay was to accuse it of
being pro-Chinese. It is obvious that Trump has no use for the UN other than as a whipping boy,
and this was a prefect way to target it again. As with any scary event, a true tsunami of
completely unsubstantiated and outright silly rumors began as soon as it was clear that this
was a major event and all the US propaganda machine had to do was to speak in serious tones
about some of these rumors and to make it appear that the media was "just reporting" rather
than planting stories.
China is also a major threat to US interests in Asia, and this pandemic
provided a perfect opportunity for the US to present reports from Taiwan as reports from China
(that is an old trick). As for the Taiwanese government, they were more than happy to find yet
another pretext to hate on China, nothing new here either. Finally, US economists did not take
long to figure out that this pandemic would have devastating effect on the "best economy in the
history of the galaxy" so preemptively blaming it all on China is the perfect way for Trump and
his Neocon masters to deflect the blame from them.
The stories which were then planted were truly magnificent. Here are a few of my personal
favorites
There are many more, I am sure that you have seen them too.
Eventually, and inevitably, this strategic PSYOP upped the ante and FOXnews (logically)
aired this true masterpiece: "
Sen. Hawley: Let coronavirus victims sue Chinese Communist Party ". Truly, this is
brilliant. "I lost my job, let the evil Chinese commies pay me back" is music to the ears of
most Americans.
Right now, most of the US
statements are simply lies , but as China will, with time, eventually release more
corrected and accurate information, these corrected/updated statistics will immediately be
interpreted as the proof that initially the Chinese were deliberately lying and not as the
effect of the Chinese themselves gradually getting a better picture of what actually happened.
Again, this is the typical case of dammed if you don't and dammed if you do.
I should mention that there is another reason which might contribute to the decision of the
US to blame it all on China: it is still not clear where this virus came from, but one
possibility is that it originated in the US and was brought to China by Americans (whether
deliberately or not is not the issue here). As for the reports which
claim that the US is deliberately covering up the real magnitude of the disaster in the
US , they are ignored.
Furthermore, it is now painfully obvious that the US politicians totally misread the
situation and began by saying either that it was a Chinese problem or that it was "no worse
than the seasonal flu", or both. This is just the latest case of what I call the " US
narcissistic messianism " leading US leaders to believe in their own propaganda only to find
out that reality still exists out there and that it is dramatically different from the
delusions held by most Americans.
As I said above, this is clever, but definitely not very intelligent.
The US is already locked in an unwinnable war against Russia (as I always remind everybody,
this war is 80% informational, 15% economic and only 5% kinetic). To open a full-scale "second
front" makes sense in terms of short term political expediency, especially in an election year,
but in the long term it is self-defeating and disastrous. In fact, if there is anything history
teaches us, is that opening a second front when you can't even handle the first one is suicidal
. But who cares about history, especially in the "United States of Amnesia"? And, besides, when
you are both totally exceptional and totally superior, why would you care about the history of
the common "deplorable" people and nations out there? Just call them "shit holes" and wave your
(Chinese made) flag. That is what passes for "looking Presidential" these days
Regardless of anything said above, the momentum of this sinophobic campaign is too big to be
reversed or stopped. And since most of the US political class supports it, this will probably
continue even after the US Presidential election (assuming it takes place).
Still, all this begs the question: what did really happen? What is the truth?
The truth is that nobody really knows . It will probably take years to get the full picture
and, even more so, the correct numbers. What correct numbers? Well, ALL of them: carriers,
resistance, age groups, comorbidity, the exact characteristics of this virus (and of its
various mutations), how effective the various tests are, which antiviral medication might help,
its side effects, whether the BCG vaccine somehow helps the body to fight off the virus,
etc.
Right now, I don't believe that anybody really knows, even the percentage of asymptomatic
carriers changes by an order of magnitude depending on whom you ask. Sure, some guesses are
closer to the truth than others, by definition, but which ones are closer is still very hard to
ascertain.
They key thing to keep in mind now is that most of what we see now has very little in common
with any scientific investigation. What we see is an attempt to use this pandemic for
political, financial and geostrategic purposes.
And please don't think that it is only Trump! Just remember what Pelosi was saying as late
as February!
That was almost two months after China had warned the WHO that there was a major crisis
developing!
But Pelosi, just like Trump, only thinks about power, money and influence, not the safety of
the "deplorables" which the Dems hate so much (as do the Republicans, of course, they just
don't say so openly like Hillary did; but just Trump's "grab them by the pussy" says all you
need to know about his true respect for his fellow human beings!).
Then there is another very real risk: as the situation gets worse and worse for the US and,
specifically, for Trump's reelection, he might well decide to do what many politicians do in
such a situation: start a big war. Before the pandemic, the US clearly had no stomach to start
a war with Iran, but now that the pandemic is crippling the world economy and that all the ugly
sides of the transnational capitalist system are becoming obvious, I would not put it past
Trump to start a war with Iran just to deflect the many accusations against him. The
Idiot-in-Chief has now ordered USN forces off the coast of Iran to, I kid you not, "
shoot down & destroy " any Iranian gunboat which would "harass" the USN.
Apparently, he still cannot understand that should any USN ship execute any such order it
would soon find itself dealing with a swarm of Iranian anti-shipping missiles. Clearly,
messianic narcissism and a rabid megalomania simply don't allow Trump to understand that the
Iranians are for real, that they absolutely mean business and that they, unlike the US, have
carefully modeled the consequences of any war between Iran and the US and while they won't
deliberately provoke such a war, they will fight it if needed, with infinitely more staying
power than the US.
Like a typical US flag-waving politician, Trump probably thinks that if all goes to hell,
the US can nuke Iran and prevail. He is right about the former, but oh SO wrong about the
latter. If nukes are used against Iran, then there will be a total and long war to kick both
the US and the Zionist entity out of the Middle-East. But that is a topic for another day.
Great article. Yip, if Trump thinks he is losing he may well start a hot war with Iran; being
a total idiot, he might even think its just a walk in the park. Empires lose by simply not
winning
The US political culture is that 99.99% of Americans will believe literally ANY lie, no
matter how self-evidently stupid, about the rest of the world rather than accepting any
unpleasant truth about the US. So scapegoating another power, especially a Communist one,
gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the overwhelming majority of Americans.
I know these people. I've been around them all my life. For them – what comes out of
the television and into their living room is their entire world.
Today on YouTube I saw an extraordinarily high number of ads blaming the CCP (speicifically
that terminology; not 'China' or 'PRC') for fentanyl in Canada, coronavirus, currency
manipulation, and activist suppression. All in the span of 90 minutes.
Recently, it was exposed (and a number of U.S. Congressmen have since acknowledged) that the
pathogens research being conducted at Wuhan is partially funded by the United States. So
there is some murky evidence that there is complicity between American and Chinese
"scientists".
This type of accident/incident could also have happened somewhere in the Caucasus or in
Central Asia, where the United States is also involved in dangerous bio-chemical research,
being conducted in obscure facilities in these regions. (There may very likely be other
locations. I just haven't read anything about their existence or location.)
The "elites" in America have had a pretty good thing going for them since the Reagan
Administration, when "privatization" of publicly-funded enterprises was promoted as a means
to gain government efficiency (and to secure guaranteed profitability to the privateers). A
lot of politicians were courted and rewarded by these elites. During these years, the power
of organized labor and -along with it- the implicit contract between labor and management in
America was broken.
Bill Clinton recognized that Democrats could never hope to match the money (both in the
form of political contributions and in personally lucrative investments and job opportunities
for themselves) as long as their party depended upon unions and workers for contributions. He
persuaded the Democratic party to curry the favor of "Wall Street" financiers in order to
gain financial advantages for themselves.
These engineers of finance don't care how they make money, nor where it comes from. They
just want to make more . . . and more . . . and more money! The widely-extolled "comparative
advantages" of Globalization presented them with an opportunity to make more money by
displacing the factors of production from the countries which consumed the products, to the
countries where those factors could be procured at the lowest price.
Chinese Premier Deng Xiaou Ping seized upon this opportunity, and worked diligently to
insure that China presented the lowest cost and the most reliable source for virtually
everything that could be mass-produced.
The unrestrained enthusiasm of western financiers to pursue profits in this manner has led
to the inevitable transfer of control of the process from the consumer to the supplier. China
controls the factors of production. As long as the Chinese keeps the flow of trade profitable
to the financiers in New York and to the politicians in Washington, the United States is
crippled.
Donald Trump ignited what was a smoldering anger among a significant portion of the
American public against this subordination of the American to the Chinese. Shrewdly, to unite
Americans across party and ethnic divides, he has directed their animus against the Chinese,
illegal immigrants, and NAFTA; and -for political expediency- against the Democrats in the
"swamp". But he didn't point the finger of blame at the plutarchy and oligarchy, which have
crippled the American people and have taken their democracy away from them.
These plutocrats and oligarchs will exploit this Wuhan virus situation to their advantage.
They will take what little is left of popular governance away from the American people, and
they will take back some measure of the control over the money flow which they have lost to
the Chinese.
The ruling class of the Chinese Communist party have themselves evolved into something
much like the ruling class in America. The Belt and Road is China's grand plan to control
that portion of the world -what used to be referred to as "the Third World"- that the
Anglo-American Zionists do not; and use that to assure their ascendancy over these westerners
well into the future.
It would be better for the whole world, if Russia was part of neither. But without
Ukraine, that would be impossible.
No matter what you think of China, the western geopolitical spin machine has clearly found a
new source for hostility. Iran and Syria just weren't getting enough traction with the
public. Time to try out a new target.
It's funny – in the US the left is redbaited into hating Russia, the right is redbaited
into hating China. But even those on either side who agree that at least the foreign policy
of the two party system is unitary and autocratic, still fall for the cheese in the trap!
It will be interesting to see how China reacts – they don't have the same dream to
be included in western civilisation, so won't pull as many punches as Russia imo.
The US plutocracy is terrified of the Chinese economic and industrial power,
And yet neo-liberal economic orthodoxy off-shored the jobs, to then get some sweet labor
arbitrage, because you-know . only prices matter. Wall Street becomes a hero, while
main-street Americans become a Zero.
It looks like center for China psyop is Henry Jackson Society in England and Atlantic
Council headquartered in Washington DC.
London has long operated finance capitalism (since 1694) coupled with atlantacism and rim
theory. Debt Spreading banking, speculative usury finance, naval power projection, fomenting
wars and chaos, to then buy up the world cheap . that is all over.
The Jig is up. Propagandists in Henry Jackson Society and their MI6 buddies, their like
minded buddies in Tel-Aviv, can take a hike. They are on the wrong side of history and now
they are having a dawning realization as new reality intrudes. China is a serious wake-up
call.
These same mal-formed (((characters))) who fomented Russia-gate, are now doing their
divide and conquer techniques toward China.
The tone of the article that US is the ever bad guy, and China the innocent hapless victim
is as tired as it is absurd.
Yes China should be given latitude if indeed this caught them by surprise, and if, as
initially reported, this virus came about by exposure to live animal markets or some such
squalor unique to their culture then why should it be a considerable concern to foreign
entities, and why not deal with the embarrassment to a reasonable level in-house?
Personally, I don't care. I have no loyalty to either country. I live in America so I guess I
should root for the USA but It has a really disgusting culture and is a corrupt country and
I'm planning to emigrate anyway so I don't want to. Pretty weird how it first spread to
the Iranian leadership though. If it was indeed engineered and not naturally occurring
then the USA definitely did it. The motive and initial locations of the spread point to that
being the case. Hopefully I will be able to leave before shit hits the fan over here. It's
been clear for years that the clock is ticking for this half third world half first world
brazilified shithole. It might not go out with a bang but it's going to disintegrate into a
full third world tier country or countries. Either slowly or all at once, it's gonna happen
in the next half century, it's already been getting worse at an increasingly accelerating
pace. Same thing for the UK
" What better way to achieve that than to blame it all on China? "
The premise of fingering China arises from the fact that this is primarily about China
[duh]:
• The initial rapid viral spread occurred in the Chinese city of Wuhan;
• A Wuhan bio-lab had the expertise to engineer such enhanced viruses;
• Authorities allowed viral carriers to fly to other regions of the world.
To then spin a conspicuously strained counter-narrative that denies these three key facts
and instead tacitly or directly blames the United States as the primary culprit for the
current world viral pandemic is clear evidence of a Chinese sponsored redirection campaign;
or else voluntary promoters of such propaganda efforts are surely dedicated fascists.
Since the term " fascist " is nowadays often used as a rather nebulous term of
slander, I want to emphasize that I am using it correctly here, and not maliciously, because
it is consistent with key attributes of the original Fascism in Italy, under Mussolini, as
well as somewhat later and concurrently in Germany, under Hitler, so I will provide my
definition of the term below.
On the basis of these characteristics, I maintain that the world's two most fascist
countries (both the government and a prevailing attitude of its people) are both Israel and
China. Therefore, people who glorify these countries and eagerly support their actions, as is
evident on this site, should at least be honest and understand that they are essentially
fascists in this regard. My use of the term here is thus merely a straightforward political
appellation.
Five Key Characteristic Elements of and Criteria for State Fascism
• Hyper-Nationalism, State Worship, Dynastic and Cultural Glory
• Cult of Militaristic Strength and Desired Territorial Conquests
• Historically Rooted in Basic Socialist Principles and Revolution
• Strongly Authoritarian Behavioral Control of the Entire Population
• Pursuit of Corporatist Economics with State Guidance of Business
If challenged, I would be happy to provide specific examples. There may be a few countries
that fulfill only some of these five attributes or that follow all or most of them to a
weaker extent (Turkey, Russia, Iran, Ukraine), but Israel and China clearly reflect all these
five characteristics most strongly.
So readers should consider whether their strong support of Israel or China (or both) is
something they can feel proud of or not. There is no serious question that the aforementioned
aspects tend to make a government operate more efficiently, if allowed to remain
unchallenged, which may be the primary goal.
I find it somewhat troubling that the Saker ignores all the info pointing to bio weapons, for
example as described in the articles referenced in Ron Unz's recent article and then
describes theories in that direction as "unsubstatiated". Er, what?
I find it equally strange that the Saker now relies on and recommends CFR types who peddle
the official 9/11 lies including the lies about the largely propaganda-hidden 9/11 anthrax
attacks.
9/11 and Anthrax are one complex.
And there are unsettling links between 9/11 Anthrax and the preceding bio warfare
simulations and now Event201 and Crimson Contagion and probably other Covid-19 preceding
simulations of a influenza or corona-virus outbreak in China resulting in a pandemic. Funny
how these things turn out to become real.
"And then, validating the ABC News report, Israel steps in. Israeli intel confirms U.S.
intel did in fact warn them in November about a potentially catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan
(once again: how could they possibly know that on the second week of November, so early in
the game?) And NATO allies were warned – in November – as well.
The bottom line is explosive: the Trump administration as well as the CDC had an advance
warning of no less than four months – from November to March – to be properly
prepared for Covid-19 hitting the U.S. And they did nothing. The whole "China is a witch!"
case is debunked.
Moreover, the Israeli disclosure supports what's nothing less than extraordinary: U.S.
intel already knew about Sars-Cov-2 roughly one month before the first confirmed cases
detected by doctors in a Wuhan hospital. Talk about divine intervention.
That could only have happened if U.S. intel knew, for sure, about a previous chain of
events that would necessarily lead to the "mysterious outbreak" in Wuhan. And not only that:
they knew exactly where to look. Not in Inner Mongolia, not in Beijing, not in Guangdong
province.
It's never enough to repeat the question in full: how could U.S. intel have known about a
contagion one month before Chinese doctors detected an unknown virus?
Mike "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" Pompeo may have given away the game when he said, on the
record, that Covid-19 was a "live exercise". Adding to the ABC News and Israeli reports, the
only possible, logical conclusion is that the Pentagon – and the CIA – knew ahead
of time a pandemic would be inevitable.
That's the smokin' gun. And now the full weight of the United States government is
covering all bases by proactively, and retroactively, blaming China."
The zionazi-gays engaging in biowarfare? Certainly not! It's just a coincidence they knew
China would be hit by the coronavirus a full month before the Chinese government was aware.
And it's just a coincidence the zionazi-gays were looking at the right place at the right
time to "discover" the beginning of this epidemic.
Forbes Magazine : "Why the WHO faked a pandemic " forbes.com
"The World Health Organization has gone from crying 'the sky is falling' to squealing like a
stuck pig. The reason: charges that the agency deliberately fomented hysteria over the swine
flu PACE is investigating why the WHO's motives in deliberately declaring a pandemic.Indeed ,
the Chairman of its influential Health Committee.Wolfgang Wodarg, has declared that the FAKE
PANDEMIC is ONE OF THE GREATEST SCANDALS of the century." That would make the Coronavirus
fake pandemic the greatest scandal of the 21st century, wouldn't it ?
For further information, see "How to create a fake pandemic"jamesfetzer.org
"The Coronavirus hoax"ronpaulinstitute.org
It's never enough to repeat the question in full: how could U.S. intel have known about
a contagion one month before Chinese doctors detected an unknown virus?
This chronology is analogous to WTC-7, something any thinking person can see for
themselves and understand.
@Anonymous WHO is owned by China? Bill Gates may differ with that observation : "How is
the World Health Organization funded ?" weforum.org :
"The US is the biggest funder The second largest funder is the Bill and Melinda Gates'
Foundation which provides 9.8% of the WHO's funds."
Isn't China just the scapegoat for the Globalist's fake Coronavirus pandemic?
"... I spotted Yahoo News carrying this NYT hit piece today and was tempted to respond. Then I saw the general run of comments that read like the target audience it was meant for, and figured I'd be wasting my time. It might have been worth squandering five minutes, though. ..."
"... It is a scary situation. A lot of people actually believe the New York Times. ..."
"... Did you see this one in today's NYTimes? The pot didn't just call the kettle black: With Selective Coronavirus Coverage, China Builds a Culture of Hate: The state propaganda machine highlights other countries' mistakes while suppressing China's, fueling anger toward foreigners and domestic critics alike. see: http://nytimes.com/2020/04/22/business/china-coronavirus-propaganda.html ..."
UPDATED: The paper of record is again laundering, without skepticism, U.S. intelligence
meant to ratchet up tensions with China, just as it did with Russia, writes Joe Lauria.
D uring the saga of Russiagate The New York Times was the main vehicle for unnamed
U.S. intelligence officials to filter uncorroborated allegations about Russia, presenting them
as proven fact.
Just as the Democratic Party attempted to shift the blame from its disastrous 2016 loss to
Donald Trump onto Russia, the Trump administration is now trying to shift the blame from
Trump's disastrous handling of the Coronavirus crisis onto China.
Robert Emmett , April 23, 2020 at 12:06
Yeah, wouldn't expect anything less than well-deserved acrimony for the Grey Hag on this
site. Some of us still remember how the so-called paper of record withheld the "smoking gun"
of King Geo the Younger's use of mass surveillance until after the 2004 election. Who do you
suppose is their target audience for this latest fake scoop? Could it be the newly woke crowd
who now raise the NYrag as their gold standard in all things considered Russia bashing? Talk
about fuddy-duddy.
Today's mass media is full of rope-a-dope tricks such as placing a tiny nugget of "truth"
within a massive hairball of innuendo, exaggeration, disinformation and lies to be extracted
at the exact right moment to gainsay those who would question the narrative du jour. Another
well-worn deception is to let the lowest common denominator source set the dodgy agenda and
then use that cue to follow the "news" as fits to serve their own agendas. Over the years,
that often involves skewing reactionary and "forgetting" how to connect dots.
You can see a prime example of this (also part of the current surge of anti-China
propaganda) at that other bastion of unnamed sources, the WaPo. Blumenthal lays out how it's
done at The Grayzone Project re: allegations that the Wuhan Biotech lab released the virus.
Funny though how there's a yawning gap in the story about the hows & whys &
wherefores of an actual shutdown of a similar Level 4 lab right in WaPo's own backyard at
Fort Detrick.
"Dodgy scoop" made me smile. Are those served on self-licking ice cream cones?
China and Russia had better be keeping their powder dry. No telling how far this lunacy is
going to go. With Pirro´s rant it looks like the crazies have been let out of the pen
and is just the thing to get the mentally challenged in an up roar and demanding military
action against China. I have no doubt that China can handle the American military in a
conventional confrontation but if it goes nuclear all bets are going to be off. The Better
Dead Than Reders seem to be riding high right now. Who knows they may just get their wish.
The Pirros et all do sound like the woman in a bar just itching to get a fight going, and
then screaming blue murder when her favorite gets the snot beat out of him. You just can
never get them to shut up before the fight gets going. but the Pirros of the world never can
quite get a grip around the fact that is proven over and over again, wars and fights are easy
to start, but hard to finish and no one knows how they aill turn out. And given the lack of
success of the American military in wars of choice since the Second World War I would be very
careful if I was her of what I was wishing for.
As I understand it, we (our intelligence people) were aware of the "potential" threat of
the virus before the Chinese leadership announced it to the world. China did announce it to
the world and people can argue they should have done it sooner. But the failure, if we decide
there is one, belongs to us in not acting on the intelligence. Why we didn't is a matter
worth investigating although what will be learned to prevent such future errors is
unclear.
Certainly, those who want to use this as a further wedge between us and China do not serve
anyone's interests other than the cui bono horde who benefits from such divisions.
As others have stated our most serious virus is the one that causes who to seek
confrontation with other governments whenever opportunity arises. It is a very destructive
virus.
DW Bartoo , April 23, 2020 at 10:38
It may be counted upon that ALL institutions in the U$ military empire will deliver the
worst possible outcomes.
The evidence for this assertion is voluminous and growing by the hour (quite as obscenely
as the "wealth" of Jeff Bezos grows at the rate of $11 thousand every second).
Frankly, one could hardly expect anything less from The NY Times.
Be it war-mongering, hysteria-building, or sycophantic "official" propagandizing [now
fully legal thanks to the sainted Obama, who also, it is alkedged, played a highly
significant role in destroying the (now obviously) pathetic campaign of Bernie Sander, that
Joe Biden, clearly suffering from dementia, and poster boy of the very neoliberal policies
which elevated Trump to power, will be the Dem "standard bearer seeking the same power while
promising to do nothing at all – about anything, which really IS the Standard Dem
policy, U$ politics being about nothing but controlling the spoils and keeping the
revolving-door/lobbying graving train rolling merrily along].
Yet the real Powers That Be, cannot only count upon all the vaunted institutions from a
pretend democracy and rigged political system, to a complacent, complicit, and criminally
compromised MSM to parrot absolute idiocy, they may also count on a thoroughly infantile
majority of the public to rally behind any war, of words, of weapons, even of nuclear
weapons, simply because the U$ is exceptional, beyond compare, and constitutionally unwilling
to learn anything from any other nation, society, or people.
It is not merely the MSM which inculcate these myths of superiority, it is the entire
educational system as well.
It is not, necessarily, a conspiracy, it is simply conveniently and comfortably profitable
to buy into the idiocy and pass it happily along.
Evidence?
Actual facts?
Not necessary.
And most inconvenient.
It might affect circulation.
U$ian Idiocy is quite as communicable as the "novel" coronavirus.
As my youngest daughter put it, "It's a long story."
Just to test my wits, she then asked me if I got the joke.
Yes, my dear, I got it.
At some point, it is possible that most of us will
Voice from Europe , April 23, 2020 at 08:37
The Chinese reports to the WHO are clear and transparent and date from the end of January.
Western MSM has no journalist worth that name !
Just like the new anti Hydrochloroquine study that was reported is full of potholes just
waiting for someone to be read.
People please check the published reprints of IHU mediterranee.
Hippocrates said: There are in fact two things, Science and Opinion. The former begets
Knowledge, the latter Ignorance.
Please people distinguish fact from opinion.
Mike from Jersey , April 22, 2020 at 18:39
The article states:
"Any reputable journalism school will teach its students that you hold off publishing
until you see the evidence underlying an assertion. "
But this was not a reputable newspaper.
So, what did you expect?
... ... ...
AnneR , April 23, 2020 at 14:04
Yastreb – Indeed worse, though less for the reality that propaganda, slanted
"reportage" is the common currency of the "news" organs of both the USA and Russia (not to
mention pretty much the rest of the world's MSM), than for the fact that while Russians, from
USSR days, knows to take everything in the media with some salt, to question the veracity of
unsupported, dubiously supported claims, here in the US of A unsubstantiated, or porously
backed, weakly supported "facts" usually expressed in Newspeak, slippery ways are very often
accepted by the target audience, hook, line and bloody sinker.
I mean – it's the NYT, or WaPo, or The Atlantic, CNN, MSDNC, PBS, NPR; they would
never try to mislead us. Would they? Gorblimey. One despairs, one really does.
And *not* as if the gullible readers, audiences (largely composed of the supporters of the
Dem face of the single-Janus party) have let Russiagate go, if what I hear on NPR (including
its BBC World Service broadcasts) is anything to go by.
China-gate – neither side of the single party can possibly let this opportunity to
prevent the rise of China, stop this ancient culture's challenging the "rightful,"
exceptional(ly barbaric) world hegemon, USA, from maintaining its proper position at the top
of the firmament however it is achieved.
Tobin Sterritt , April 22, 2020 at 17:03
I spotted Yahoo News carrying this NYT hit piece today and was tempted to respond. Then I
saw the general run of comments that read like the target audience it was meant for, and
figured I'd be wasting my time. It might have been worth squandering five minutes,
though.
Mike from Jersey , April 23, 2020 at 08:44
Tobin,
It is a scary situation. A lot of people actually believe the New York Times.
Did you see this one in today's NYTimes? The pot didn't just call the kettle black: With Selective Coronavirus Coverage, China Builds a Culture of Hate: The state propaganda
machine highlights other countries' mistakes while suppressing China's, fueling anger toward
foreigners and domestic critics alike. see:
http://nytimes.com/2020/04/22/business/china-coronavirus-propaganda.html
AnneR , April 23, 2020 at 14:08
O Society – well, bien sur. I mean we can blacken every people, culture, society,
government (except those we install – that we never do, unless they stray from their
[American] defined path) as much as we want, as often as we please and no one has the right
to call us out on that, complain. Heaven forfend – we'll bomb 'em, subject them to
siege warfare (via ever tightening economic sanctions no matter how many children we kill
doing this – "price is worth it" in'it?
Donald Duck , April 22, 2020 at 15:29
"Any reputable journalism school will teach its students that you hold off publishing
until you see the evidence underlying an assertion. This is especially true when quoting
anonymous sources. And it is doubly true when these sources are intelligence agents, who have
a long history of deception. It is part of their job description."
True enough, but we are not talking about 'reputable journalism' – such a
fuddy-duddy notion. We are talking about crude propaganda and a ruthless realpolitik.
Assertion, anonymous sources, smears, lies, calumny and dancing to the tune of whatever the
deep, state and national security play to us. We have entered a post-democratic age and we
would be well advised to bear this in mind. The ruling elites are blatantly bereft of any
type of moral scruples; Pompeo put it well, 'lie, cheat' an he might have added 'whack'
anyone who gets in the way of the grand project. 'Whack' being mafia terminology for murder
of ones opponents. Pompeo even looks like a mafia Godfather. Mafia ideology and methodology
have permeated the structure and institutions of American society.
bjd , April 22, 2020 at 17:00
Exactly.
And thus articles like these –premised on the idea that the NYT is reputable–
belong to the literary genre 'fiction'.
AnneR , April 23, 2020 at 14:17
Donnie – Pompeo claims (proudly? loudly?) to be a christian but somehow he missed
all of that stuff about helping your neighbor, turning the other cheek, taking care of the
stranger (Samaritan-wise). Or avoided it like the plague.
And given the really existing history of the USA – "mafia ideology and methodology"
deriving, backed by profound supremacist racism has permeated this country since the Brits
first landed and started grabbing the lands and killing the indigenous, then going to Africa
and buying the Africans in order to profit from their sale and their labor While overt
slavery has ended (the US Fed and State prisons continue to gain from such prisoner slave
labor) and theft of the remainder of Indigenous lands and resources is largely in the
shadows, the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors pretty much remain alive and ill-meaning.
JOHN CHUCKMAN , April 22, 2020 at 15:17
The New York Times: the house organ of America's establishment.
Sam F , April 22, 2020 at 14:35
The NYT story is also shaky because broadcasts to the US about a nationwide lockdown would
have been implausible, discredited by simple denial, and might well reduce virus panic. The
sources of such messages are easily counterfeited and therefore speculative, like the fake
"Russian" messages from Ukraine, and far more likely to originate from beneficiaries than the
MSM target du jour.
Bob Van Noy , April 23, 2020 at 12:10
Exactly Sam F and thank you Joe Lauria. We keep hearing the same scenario over and over
with different characters. I recently read "The Poisoner In Chief" by Stephen Kinzer and I
was stunned by the secret drug and mind control experiments of the 1950s and 1960s.
Certainly
it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that they continue. Also see the gray zone article
"How a Trump media dump mainstreamed Chinese lab corona virus conspiracy theory" by Max
Blumenthal and Ajit Singh.
Sam F , April 23, 2020 at 19:19
Good to see you back, Bob. The referenced article is indeed worthwhile.
jaycee , April 22, 2020 at 14:15
Provable links from lockdown protests to domestic right-wing astroturf organizations.
The fact-free claims of foreign interference seeking to exploit divisions or "sow chaos"
is itself a domestic program to exploit divisions and and direct projections onto "the
other". It is directed by the federal intelligence agencies in collaboration with the major
mainstream media outlets. The central "proof" of foreign perfidy is the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence's Report on alleged Russian measures to interfere with America
(released Nov 2018), which is one of the most vapid and factually barren "products" ever
produced. The New York Times has asserted the Report represents established fact. It's all,
ironically, very Soviet.
DavidH , April 22, 2020 at 20:19
I get your point, jaycee, I think. The stuff in the Times is all "very soviet"
(ironically) by the old Soviets' standards. That's if their old system had had, in
addition to domestic propaganda, an effective propaganda campaign abroad. Did they? I mean
all this projecting on Russia and China (meant to be digested by the homeland) is accompanied
by a considerable outlay for transmitted-outward propaganda. Did the old Soviet system really
have an outlay as big as ours is now? For sure they had spies, but so did we.
I'll have to listen again to Tuesday's Loud & Clear to know if Richard Wolff really
was as down on Putin as I seem to remember. Geopolitically Putin seems to me to have been
pretty much more fair than we have in the past, say, six or seven years. But, in terms of
oil, all energy hegemons it seems follow sort of the same patterns of behavior. They
want energy dominance for their group [they've got it], and in smaller theaters
individual members will attempt to attain it for themselves. But, yes, concomitant is that
they must agree some amongst each other just as crime syndicates must. This is a dimension of
hegemony it is sad to contemplate but real. One would like to think Russia is more fair, but
when it comes to oil Russia doesn't really seem to pay much lip service to any shade at all
of some global Green New Deal. And one would like to think China in general less
hypocritical, but then you have McKinsey and Prince and that whole mess [we see they had
things figured out better than us on SARS-CoV-2 but while as an American maybe I have no room
to talk Snowden probably had a point that civilization could have done even better
preparation than China's "pretty good" preparation]. So, in thinking about all this you have
to try I guess to name the overarching global paradigm and blame it. For sure the US
is in it up to its neck. Maybe even we invented it, or invented the things that morphed into
it. Everything Lauria wrote above makes sense, and once again we owe Consortium.
Glad to see this written (not just me that believes it) "The early view is that hardly
any government responded with the urgency required."
Polarized USA in the nasty election time did it and not the China. China's leadership is much
more smarter than to damage their best customer's economy. This is so simple the US is so
polarized beyond repairs. One has to assume this polarization is spread to every
institutional sector of the country, including Pentagon and its military bio-labs.
The Covid19 was released by the pro-Democrats military fanatics (unknown ethnicity) to
prevent Trump reelection by damaging his economy. They realized their senile candidate has no
chance against Trump. For obvious reasons the Republican element in the military would not do
such a thing. There you have it.
This is much more plausible scenario than China did it. It is in the pattern of previous
attempts like fake dossier or Ukraine call or prostitute Stormy.
@Z-man I have more plausible scenario. Polarized US did it Democrats in bio-labs want to
prevent Trump from winning the 2020 election over their senile candidate. This is in line
with the previous attempts namely fake dossier, Ukraine call or prostitute Stormy.
"... But the actual answer is that threatened nations take defensive preparations. If we don't want bioweapons, poison gases, nuclear weapons in the world, then nations should stop threatening and actually attacking other nations. That is in the UN Charter. ..."
"... The UN Charter was passed by the US as a treaty. In the US Constitution, treaties are the highest law of the land. ..."
"... Thus, the routine threat, "All options are on the table", violates international law, violates US domestic law, and causes nations to make weapons that endanger the US. The solution? Stop threatening other nations. ..."
An important unasked question: Why would China (or Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc.) study and
develop advanced unstable weapons, like bioweapons?
Of course one answer would be that Chinese are inherently evil, or their communism is
evil, or that evil is incarnate in the national leader, Xi.
But the actual answer is that threatened nations take defensive preparations. If we don't
want bioweapons, poison gases, nuclear weapons in the world, then nations should stop
threatening and actually attacking other nations. That is in the UN Charter.
The UN Charter was passed by the US as a treaty. In the US Constitution, treaties are the
highest law of the land.
Thus, the routine threat, "All options are on the table", violates international law,
violates US domestic law, and causes nations to make weapons that endanger the US. The
solution? Stop threatening other nations.
"... US propaganda is all over social media. They're inundating the online forums all over Asia. Travel and cultural sites are being flooded with anti-China posts and comments. I think they're creating a narrative to pave the political, economic, and military moves they're about to make. ..."
US propaganda is all over social media. They're inundating the online forums all over Asia.
Travel and cultural sites are being flooded with anti-China posts and comments. I think
they're creating a narrative to pave the political, economic, and military moves they're
about to make.
@follyofwar This culture that was once preserve of the psychos in the administration or
broadly in DC has percolated down to common folks . Fish rots from head . Hubris usually
follows the smell.
Apr 23, 2020 The State of the Police State – #NewWorldNextWeek
Welcome to the 405th episode of New World Next Week -- the video series from Corbett
Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source
intelligence news.
On 14 April, US President Donald Trump announced that he would withhold US funds from WHO,
accusing the organization of poor management in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and
of conspiring with China to hide crucial information about the spread of the virus during the
early stages of the outbreak. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang,
said during a Friday press conference
that Beijing hopes the administration of US President Donald
Trump will not stand "on the wrong side of the track from the international community", as
nations join efforts to curb the spread of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
"The US assumes that WHO [World Health Organization] should do its bidding because it is the
largest contributor. This
is typical hegemonic mentality ," Shuang said. "At present, by supporting WHO, we will be
able to contain the further spread of the virus. It is literally a matter of life and death.
This is a consensus shared by the majority of countries and a sure choice anyone with
conscience would make".
The spokesperson acknowledged that the Trump administration had been "smearing and
attacking" the international health organisation without proof, pointing out that Washington's
"tactics of pressure and coercion" only
lead to "greater" dissatisfaction with the US by the international community.
Shuang noted that WHO has been "actively fulfilling its duties" since the early stages of
the outbreak, adding that the body is now playing a significant role in harmonizing
international efforts to slow the spread of the deadly disease in an "objective, fair and
science-based" way.
"WHO's leadership
is also endorsed in the UNGA resolution and statements by the Non-Aligned Movement and
the Group of 77 and China. In the statement of the recent G20 extraordinary summit, member
states stressed that they fully support and commit to further strengthen the WHO's mandate in
coordinating the international fight against the pandemic," the Chinese spokesperson
observed.
The spokesperson also noted that Trumps decision would affect all countries, including the
US itself, "and particularly those with vulnerable health systems".
Last week, Trump
added on to his China accusations over the coronavirus outbreak, announcing that his
administration would open an investigation into whether the pandemic was a result of a leak by
a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo, a Trump appointee, called on
Beijing to "come clean" about the outbreak, without elaboration.
On 14 April, Trump announced that the US had halted funding WHO, and was set to conduct what
the president regarded would be a "very thorough" investigation for a period that would last 60
to 90 days.
@Astuteobservor II US knew by mid Nov 2019 from
Spy satellite , internet t , evedropping , and Human intelligence that a potential pandemic
was breaking out It informed NATO and Israel . Both and USA itself ignored. These cases arose
in Wuhan and were Covid-19.
If the Inner Mongolia cases of 3 Nov were viral and Covid , then the origin of the virus
is uncertain . If they are not , then it's China problem to find out what caused those
illnesses.
America might deny that it had prior information and didn't act and did not emphasize to
those deceased in UK Italy Iran USA how serious and grave the threat were , But that is par
for the course . Through -lines in the US press releases and in bombastic threats have always
been denial and blame – nothing new . But Chins is not Iraq or Syria . Only countries
that believe US are India and Germany .
Germany should help Iran sue America for preventing access to medicine , masks, PEP and
imposing more sanctions at this time when a crisis is raging across the globe and when that
crisis itself is not causing any discrimination.
Remedy itself in that case shall not be discriminatory .
If Israel can use its Mossad and steal from abroad , then anybody at least should have the
opportunity of buying it making those gears and the money should be made available.
Its repeated endlessly the the virus was mishandled in the West. Nobody has a crystal ball
and this situation is new and novel. Issuing sweeping edicts isn't the style of most
countries outside of Asia. Different countries have their own way of doing things.
It'll be part of the US election rhetoric, that the response wasn't perfect, that Trump is
responsible for thousands of deaths and yada yada. This isn't the plague or even the
so-called Spanish Flu which was censored so the masses weren't stampeded hysterically over
the cliff. Of course this is being politicized. What isn't these days? China bashing is a
regular sport even as a significant portion of the US citizenry profit from being middlemen
or consumers in the trade between the countries.
@anon 1. Nor does it rule out escaping from any other Level 4 laboratory. The fact that
it was first identified in China, does not equate to its inception. The "Spanish" Flu was
first identified in Spain, although it was rampant in the trenches of WWI and the earliest
know symptoms reported in Fort Riley, Kansas.
2. While the Lab in Wuhan is reported to be in several places, the closest is 300 yards
and the furthest 20 miles. Neither is spitting distance. I've never been there, but somehow
300 yards sounds too close. Not that it would matter, as it would take a Fort Detrick level
of safety violations for any pathogen to escape. Gross negligence, not an accident.
3. Is it a coincidence that African Swine Flu, which was eradicated on the Iberian
Peninsula decades ago, jumped from Africa into Ukraine, Russia, and China after the US
military opened "research" labs in Georgia and half a dozen countries close to, or bordering
China?
By the way, the PRC is number 80 in population density. About 1/3 of Europe is more
densely populated, including the Switzerland, Italy, UK, Belgium and Holland. The UK, Belgium
and Italy have never been noted for great hygiene.
4. Trump has good instincts. Unfortunately he has surrounded himself with neo-cons.
5. The Iranian response to the US act of war was measured. Notice was given of the time
and targets to minimize casualties. Iran demonstrated its missiles were accurate. Both Iraq
and Afghanistan, which border Iran, have US military "research" labs.
• The initial rapid viral spread occurred in the Chinese city of Wuhan;
• A Wuhan bio-lab had the expertise to engineer such enhanced viruses;
• Authorities allowed viral carriers to fly to other regions of the world.
In distant 1995 the US journalist Lorrie Garrett published an excellent
book called " The Coming
Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance " in which she explained why
and even how a global pandemic would naturally emerge due to the very nature of our modern
society. I highly recommend this book in spite of the fact that it is now a quarter of a
century old: it is very well written, easy to read, and it makes a very strong case that such
pandemics were inevitable (and with no need to appeal to unsubstantiated biowarfare
theories).
History will show that we all, our entire planet, did not take this and many other warnings
seriously. Ask yourself, what is easier for a politician: to accept that our entire
socio-political order is unsustainable and outright dangerous (or "out of balance" to use
Garrett's expression), or to blame it all on the Chinese commies and their "secret biowarfare
program"?
This is a pretty sophisticated 'conspiracy theory" ! Some brilliant chess moves presupposed
:-)
Notable quotes:
"... The virus appears to be an HIV vaccine or prototype that escaped from Fort Detrick. The CDC tried to control and cover it up for months but it was too much. So they planted it in Wuhan just in time for the LNY travel season and scapegoated China. ..."
"... It is beyond plausibility that the novel pneumonia epidemic called EVALI emerged within months of the novel pneumonia epidemic called COVID19. When you further consider that the symptoms and mortality rate of these diseases are identical, the CDC says EVALI can't be tested for, and they could not provide any evidence for their assertion that it was "linked" to vaping ..."
The virus appears to be an HIV vaccine or prototype that escaped from Fort
Detrick. The CDC tried to control and cover it up for months but it was too much. So they
planted it in Wuhan just in time for the LNY travel season and scapegoated China.
Alternately, someone released it from Fort Detrick on purpose.
It is beyond plausibility that the novel pneumonia epidemic called EVALI emerged within
months of the novel pneumonia epidemic called COVID19. When you further consider that the
symptoms and mortality rate of these diseases are identical, the CDC says EVALI can't be
tested for, and they could not provide any evidence for their assertion that it was "linked"
to vaping
or that Event 201 simulated a global pandemic of a more infectious SARS variant right as
the Military World Games began in Wuhan, mere weeks before the first case of
SARS-CoV-2 emerged in China.
Or that the CDC holds the patent to SARS, the sequence of which is 80% identical to
SARS-CoV-2.
Beijing has refuted claims that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory. Intelligence operatives
have begun gathering
information about the Wuhan lab and are piecing together a timeline of the events following
the outbreak.
U.S. officials told Fox News they have ruled out the possibility of a man-made coronavirus
to be used as a bioweapon. Instead, they believe it was part of China's attempt to demonstrate
that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities
of the United States,
Some officials believe China purposefully covered up the virus and that the World Health
Organization (WHO) is complicit. President Trump took aim at the WHO
over its role in the crisis and announced last week that the U.S. will
halt all funding to the group, saying it had put "political correctness over lifesaving
measures." - Fox
News
There are only two plausible possibilities for the source of WUHAN-19:
Utterly false. There is only one, highly likely, scource; Fort Detrick.
The US Military games contingent did not stay in the Military Games village where all the
other teams stayed, but in a hotel twice as close to the 'wet markets' as it is to the major
games venue. Why?
Five of the US contingent were hospitalised with "malaria". I don't think so. Much more
likely Fort Detrick Flue. The bloods will tell the story. My conjecture is that the "Malaria"
patients refused blood tests. And there is no need for Malaria to be treated in hospital, no,
much more likely FDF.
Trump's signature is all over nCov-19 pre-pandemic.
Nice send-up of Cheney's "This has Saddam Hussein's fingerprints all over it" (It didn't,
it had Fort Detrick's fingerprints all over it).
And this one also has Fort Detrick's fingerprints all over it.
Fort Detrick had "The Camel Club" and Dr Zack.
If the FBI was really investigating this case, they would have long since discovered Ft.
Detrick's complete lack of adequate security at the time, with anthrax specimens –
and other, far worse toxins – gone missing, as divulged in this chilling report in
the Courant by Jack Dolan and Dave Altimari.
It is surely not implausible to suggest that whoever sent the letter had foreknowledge
of or some connection to the anthrax attacks, and was trying to set up Dr. Assad as the
scapegoat.
The US government always lies about everything. They (GWHB and crew) suborned perjury from
"Nariya". Babies were not thrown from incubators by the Iraqis. The US government has been
lying ever since: and before. It lied about the shooting down of Iran Air 655, and not only
lied verbally but issued a false document, a map, purporting to show that the USS Vincennes
was in international waters when it shot down the Iranian airliner. This was a lie because
the map omitted an Iran owned island and the Vincennes was well within Iran territorial
waters.
How often the sword of righteousness was used to justify dark ops and human experimentation.
'Tales from the Darkside' intro screenshot (courtesy CBS Television)
12:01 am
Some of us might remember a cheesy Tales from the Crypt knock-off in the 1980's
called Tales from the Darkside. Created by horror legend George Romero, it was more
great camp than great horror, but it had one of the best opening credits of any show then and
since. While the camera rolls over green forest and glen, a scene-chewing narrator begins: "Man
lives in the sunlit world that he believes to be reality "
Suddenly the same landscape is rendered bleak and ominous by a jarring shift to inverted
negative photography. The narration continues, dramatically pausing for effect: "But .there is,
unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit .a
Darkside."
https://www.youtube.com/embed/wNwUBHAUags
The intro (some say it was the scariest part of the show) so perfectly encapsulates the
Washington swamp that it's almost too obvious. But I thought it of again quite suddenly while
editing Jeff Groom's
excellent piece Wednesday about the history of germ warfare. Groom, a military man himself,
reminds us that despite the "sunlit" narrative of America saving the world from tyranny after
WWII only to be thrust into another existential struggle with the Red scourge of Communism, an
entire underworld was operating simultaneously, secretly manufacturing biological weapons,
breeding insects as vectors for disease, perhaps even deploying them in the battlefield (in
other words, doing everything we were accusing the morally bankrupt enemy of doing).
the 406th Medical General Laboratory of the U.S. Army's Far East Medical Section was
established, "in a warehouse near the Agsugi Air Base in Yokohama (Japan) in 1946," ostensibly
to provide health services to U.S. military servicemen.
However, their mission soon expanded to include an R&D division comprised of 309
personnel. Researchers "initially concentrated on mosquito-borne diseases, but the military
scientists eagerly expanded their work to include ticks, mites, lice, fleas, and flies, with
particular attention to the breeding and biting behaviors ofblack fliesandmidgesfound in Japan and Korea."
As I wrote about here ,
journalist Stephen Kinzer published a book late last year that went into great detail about the
covert U.S. bio and chemical weapons programs that flourished from the infusion of seemingly
endless Cold War resources after WWII. While it is important to note that
it was never proven that the U.S. actually unleashed diseased swarms of insects against the
enemy in Korea as alleged, it is also worth reminding readers that the War on Communism was
nonetheless used to justify an entire battery of inhumane and unconstitutional activities right
under the surface of our perceived reality. Much of it was lost to memory with the destruction
of files decades later, but plenty has been recovered by intrepid journalists, including
Kinzer, over the years.
Just an example of what we do know according to Kinzer: after WWII, the Americans
hunted down and arrested one General Shiro Ishii, who commanded the ghoulish hellscape known as
Unit 731, located in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Among other human experiments he conducted on
Chinese prisoners, including children (like slow roasting people with electricity, or locking
them in high-pressure chambers until their eyeballs popped), Ishii infected his victims with
botulism, bubonic plague, syphilis, cholera, smallpox, tuberculosis, and myriad other deadly
diseases long vanquished by vaccines, and watched them die.
Instead of bringing Ishii to justice, scientists at the secret Army bioweapons program at
Camp Detrick, Maryland, "wanted to learn what he knew and were driven by a sense of urgency
that overwhelmed whatever moral qualms they might have felt," wrote Kinzer in Poisoner in
Chief. They convinced Gen. Douglas MacArthur to sign a secret decree granting amnesty to
Ishii and all who worked with him. He turned over all of this research, which included an
untold number of tissue samples taken from people while they were still alive, to the
Americans. "Thus did the man responsible for directing the dissection of thousands of living
prisoners during wartime, along with those who worked with him, escape punishment."
The "sunlit" reasoning was likely that the information would be valuable for mounting a
defense against enemy germ attacks . But we know from Kinzer's book that the
underworld was experimenting with all kinds of ways of weaponizing pathogens and dispersing
them silently over populations, too. They even used unwitting Americans as guinea pigs.
In 1950, according to Kinzer's book, scientists from Camp Detrick used a Naval minesweeper
off the coast of San Francisco to release harmless but traceable bacteria (it had a red tint)
into the air over the city via large aerosol hoses. After six days of this they found that some
800,000 residents in the city, as well as people as far as Oakland were affected. Over the next
several weeks, 11 people checked into local hospitals with urinary tract infections, and had
drops of red in their urine. One man died. "Doctors were mystified." Of course they were --
because the experiment had not been authorized or known to any local authorities.
Camp Detrick deemed
"Operation Sea Spray" a "success," knowing that yes, huge swaths of a city could be
infected with a silent but deadly germ from a boat sitting off the coast of a major urban
center. It would be the first of many such secret "simulations" in U.S. cities through
1969.
To believe that only rogue dictatorships like China might be responsible for weaponizing
viruses --
like some contend the Chinese were doing in Wuhan , is naive, and frankly dangerous. For
decades after the Second World War, Americans who we call "the Greatest Generation" used the
sword of righteousness to expand and metastasize the military industrial complex until one hand
no longer knew what the other was doing and why, and frankly did not want to. Led by powerful
men like CIA Director Allen Dulles, they did diabolical
things we believed only possible in science fiction, and more. That this was allowed to go on
for so long shows how amazingly useful the power of narrative can be, and how most of us are
willing to believe in it at the risk of missing "the Darkside" right behind the mirror.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is Executive Editor of TAC. Follow her on Twitter @vlahos_at_TAC
And let's not forget MK-ULTRA, the CIA's 1950s-1960s employment agency for psychiatrists
who were 10 times crazier than even their most florid patients. Britain's William Sargant
and the Canada-domiciled Donald Ewen Cameron were among the big names in that connection.
(Cameron went to Nuremberg to evaluate the mental condition of Rudolf Hess, which seems
like the perfect instance of one lunatic diagnosing another lunatic. As for Sargant, just
looking at his portrait - easy enough to do nowadays via Google Images - scares the hell
out of me.)
News that the state of Missouri is suing China and a number of its state agencies for damage
caused by the coronavirus has been met with derision online, with many citing other potentially
litigious historical precedents.
"... The actual history of this crisis, beginning with the first reports from China, make it very clear that the neo-liberals running the 'west' have had to be dragged, kicking and screaming into the pursuit of policies which have involved not only isolation and quarantine, but testing, the acquisition of masks and other protective equipment, the pursuit of sources of infection and the search for a vaccine which, according to Mike Davis in the New Left Review, would have been fabricated years ago had the State rather than profit hungry Pharmaceutical companies been given the job. ..."
...What strikes me as the most important aspect of the situation is that most western
governments were very reluctant to introduce quarantines and are now obviously eager to scrap
them. This is something that the Off Guardian school tend to downplay for the obvious reason
that it makes little sense for governments, if they really do seek to use the crisis to
introduce draconian new measures to curtail out liberties, to resist public pressure to
enforce quarantines regardless of its effects on the economy.
The actual history of this crisis, beginning with the first reports from China, make it
very clear that the neo-liberals running the 'west' have had to be dragged, kicking and
screaming into the pursuit of policies which have involved not only isolation and quarantine,
but testing, the acquisition of masks and other protective equipment, the pursuit of sources
of infection and the search for a vaccine which, according to Mike Davis in the New Left
Review, would have been fabricated years ago had the State rather than profit hungry
Pharmaceutical companies been given the job.
It has been public opinion, popular pressure, not ruling class insistence that has been
behind the current restrictions. This is not because the people are inclined to
authoritarianism or eager to give up what remains of their freedoms but because they are
concerned at the threat that this virus presents to their families and themselves. And these,
rational fears, are the best guarantee that we can have that the people will not allow
society to be bamboozled either into sacrificing our old and frail people or our rights.
"... ... Sometimes, those actions can have unintended consequences: for instance, ProPublica reported that one scientist – who had lived in the United States for decades and left the country after being investigated for ties to China – is now developing a rapid coronavirus test in China. Whether it's scientists sharing research to find a vaccine or companies partnering to produce necessary equipment, we must ensure all the doors to cooperation on the pandemic are open right now. The Trump administration's move to lift tariffs on Chinese medical products like masks and sanitization products is a good step. ..."
This blame game is undermining diplomacy between the countries. Instead of calling his
counterpart to coordinate responses to the global pandemic, the US secretary of state, Mike
Pompeo,
called China's senior foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi, instead to object to "PRC
efforts to shift blame for Covid-19 to the United States". And the Trump administration has
reportedly attempted to stop the
UN security council and the G7 from
taking action against the pandemic unless the groups singled out China for blame.
... ... ...
First, the United States must stop scapegoating China. Leaders need to stop referring to
Covid-19 as the "Chinese virus", trying to blame China for the outbreak and feeding conspiracy
theories about China launching the disease on purpose. Halting this kind of rhetoric can help
reduce some of the
discrimination against Asian Americans that has been sparked by racist comments surrounding
the virus. And while China will continue trying to spin this crisis to its advantage to win
headlines, at the very least the United States can play the role of responsible leader rather
than infantile finger-pointer.
... ... ....
... Sometimes, those actions can have unintended consequences: for instance,
ProPublica reported that one scientist – who had lived in the United States for
decades and left the country after being investigated for ties to China – is now
developing a rapid coronavirus test in China. Whether it's scientists sharing research to find
a vaccine or companies partnering to produce necessary equipment, we must ensure all the doors
to cooperation on the pandemic are open right now. The Trump administration's
move to lift tariffs on Chinese medical products like masks and sanitization products is a
good step.
Third, the US and Chinese governments must work together to stem the tide of the pandemic.
As tensions have risen in recent years there are fewer and fewer areas on which the two
countries have pursued robust cooperation. But combating the pandemic is exactly the kind of
challenge that requires the two nations to come together, from sharing lessons learned in their
respective responses to searching for medical treatments to working together in multilateral
organizations like the World Health Organization and the G20. And it means being open to
support from one another: while China initially refused US help,
reports
now suggest the United States is declining China's offers of sending personal protective
equipment.
Fourth, don't worry for the moment about China's attempts to win public relations victories
by sending aid to US allies. The United States must focus on actually helping US allies –
such as coordinating travel restrictions to avoid the disaster when the Europe travel ban was
announced – and being supportive of allies getting desperately needed help from anywhere
it can, whether the United States, China or anyone else. Even if the United States has
relatively little to offer and China is sending small amounts of aid as a public relations
move, responding by trying to remind everyone that China is the cause of the outbreak will only
make America look petty (and some countries are already finding out on their own that part of
China's aid is faulty ).
If the United States and China are successful in fighting this pandemic – and doing so
together – perhaps, at the end of all of this, the two countries just might end up
building bridges that could be useful in tempering the more dangerous aspects of their
competition.
A leading Russian microbiologist has claimed the coronavirus is the result of
Wuhan scientists doing 'absolutely crazy things' in their laboratory.
World renowned expert Professor Petr Chumakov claimed their aim was to study the
pathogenicity of the virus and not 'with malicious intent' to deliberately create a manmade
killer.
Professor Chumakov, chief researcher at the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology in
Moscow, said: 'In China , scientists at the Wuhan
Laboratory have been actively involved in the development of various coronavirus variants for
over ten years.
'Moreover, they did this, supposedly not with the aim of creating pathogenic variants, but
to study their pathogenicity.
+3
World renowned expert Professor Petr Chumakov (pictured) claimed their aim was to study the
pathogenicity of the virus and not 'with malicious intent' to deliberately create a manmade
killer
'They did absolutely crazy things, in my opinion.
'For example, inserts in the genome, which gave the virus the ability to infect human
cells.
'Now all this has been analysed.
'The picture of the possible creation of the current coronavirus is slowly emerging.'
He told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper: 'There are several inserts, that is, substitutions
of the natural sequence of the genome, which gave it special properties.
'It is interesting that the Chinese and Americans who worked with them published all their
works in the open (scientific) press.
+3
Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov (left) warned this week against allegations that
coronavirus was manmade
'I even wonder why this background comes to people very slowly.
'I think that an investigation will nevertheless be initiated, as a result of which new
rules will be developed that regulate the work with the genomes of such dangerous viruses.
'It's too early to blame anyone.'
He said the Chinese scientists created 'variants of the virus without malicious intent'
possibly aiming for an HIV vaccine.
Professor Chumakov is also connected to Russia's Federal Research Centre for Research and
Development of Immunobiological Preparations.
Vladimir Putin's spokesman warned this week against allegations that coronavirus was
manmade.
'In the situation where there is not enough information that has been supported and checked
by science ... we think it is unacceptable, impossible, to groundlessly accuse anyone,' said
Dmitry Peskov.
Several Haskell men who had been exposed to influenza went to Camp Funston, in central
Kansas. Days later, on March 4, the first soldier known to have influenza reported ill. The
huge Army base was training men for combat in World War I, and within two weeks 1,100 soldiers
were admitted to the hospital, with thousands more sick in barracks. Thirty-eight died. Then,
infected soldiers likely carried influenza from Funston to other Army camps in the States -- 24
of 36 large camps had outbreaks -- sickening tens of thousands, before carrying the disease
overseas. Meanwhile, the disease spread into U.S. civilian communities.
The influenza virus mutates rapidly, changing enough that the human immune system has
difficulty recognizing and attacking it even from one season to the next. A pandemic occurs
when an entirely new and virulent influenza virus, which the immune system has not previously
seen, enters the population and spreads worldwide. Ordinary seasonal influenza viruses normally
bind only to cells in the upper respiratory tract -- the nose and throat -- which is why they
transmit easily. The 1918 pandemic virus infected cells in the upper respiratory tract,
transmitting easily, but also deep in the lungs, damaging tissue and often leading to viral as
well as bacterial pneumonias.
Although some researchers argue that the 1918 pandemic began elsewhere, in France in 1916 or
China and Vietnam in 1917, many other studies indicate a U.S. origin. The Australian
immunologist and Nobel laureate Macfarlane Burnet, who spent most of his career studying
influenza, concluded the evidence was "strongly suggestive" that the disease started in the
United States and spread to France with "the arrival of American troops." Camp Funston had long
been considered as the site where the pandemic started until my historical research, published
in 2004, pointed to an earlier outbreak in Haskell County.
Wherever it began, the pandemic lasted just 15 months but was the deadliest disease outbreak
in human history, killing between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide, according to the
most widely cited analysis. An exact global number is unlikely ever to be determined, given the
lack of suitable records in much of the world at that time. But it's clear the pandemic killed
more people in a year than AIDS has killed in 40 years, more than the bubonic plague killed in
a century.
The impact of the pandemic on the United States is sobering to contemplate: Some 670,000
Americans died.
In 1918, medicine had barely become modern; some scientists still believed "miasma"
accounted for influenza's spread. With medicine's advances since then, laypeople have become
rather complacent about influenza. Today we worry about Ebola or Zika or MERS or other exotic
pathogens, not a disease often confused with the common cold. This is a mistake.
We are arguably as vulnerable -- or more vulnerable -- to another pandemic as we were in
1918. Today top public health experts routinely rank influenza as potentially the most
dangerous "emerging" health threat we face. Earlier this year, upon leaving his post as head of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden was asked what scared him the most,
what kept him up at night. "The biggest concern is always for an influenza pandemic...[It]
really is the worst-case scenario." So the tragic events of 100 years ago have a surprising
urgency -- especially since the most crucial lessons to be learned from the disaster have yet
to be absorbed.
"... Metro notes that the Fort Detrick - home to the Department of Defense's top biological defense research laboratory known as USAMRIID - was partially closed in July by the CDC due to problems with the disposal of dangerous materials, and was fully reopened in April. ..."
"... By uttering the term "conspiracy theory", the argument is shut down, libtards claim intellectual victory, and those who are skeptical of the official story are correlated with flat earthers, science deniers, and moon truthers. ..."
"... The NIH funds millions of dollars of research in the Wuhan BSL-4 lab ..."
"... Up to now the line on the COVID SARS-CoV-2 (SC2) virus being emerging as a "natural virus" was unanimous among Beijing, the US Joint Chiefs, the High Priests of US science (especially the guys who create GoF "franken" viruses) and the global MSM. Seemed that everyone was circling the wagons. ..."
"... The NIH was alarmed with GoF research and banned it in 2013 until the Drump Administration lifted the ban in 2017 ..."
"... The Chinese have imposed strong censorship of Chinese scientists regarding the origins of the COVID SC2virus; while the US High Priests seem to have imposed their own brand of self-censorship. Until one side 'fesses up it's hard to say with certainty how and where COVID-19 arose... though the Wuhan lab origins may be a bit stronger. ..."
"... What is also lost on many of the "Fort Detrick" hysterics is that the Dept of Agriculture runs the lab located on Plum Island, NY, off the east coast of Long Island. This facility has nothing to do with the DoD. It is there that most animal borne diseases are studied, not at Fort Detrick. Trolls gotta troll. ..."
"... 9/11 reaction was to attack a government/nation that was at most indirectly responsible (Afghanistan), then to make a pack of lies and invade a nation (Iraq) that had nothing to do with 9/11, then more nations Syria, Libya, Yemen etc., spending trillions of dollars to enrich the likes of Halliburton and Goldman Sachs, and enacting "Patriot" pseudo-safety legislation. ..."
A TV presenter
for Chinese state television claims that COVID-19 came from the United States - either escaping from a US lab, or having been brought
into China during the Military World Games in Wuhan last October, reports the UK's
Metro
.
The anchor, who goes by "Ms V" on the CGTN show "China View," rattled off several theories which she said shows "it is clear that
the virus in China was transmitted from abroad," (and not from the level 4 biolab in the same town which was screwing around with
bat coronavirus, and where "
patient zero " reportedly
disappeared after falling ill).
Ms V told the camera: ' The outbreak may be earlier than expected. In September 2019, some Japanese were infected with the
new coronavirus after returning from Hawaii , though they had not visited China before.
'This happened two months before the beginning of the outbreak in China. Shortly after, the CDC shut down the facilities –
after claiming that the Fort Detrick Biological Weapons Laboratory had failed to fully prevent the loss of pathogens.
'Now, all the data related to this lab has disappeared on the internet . The virologist reported he had carefully researched
the cases, as well as his Japanese colleague, and they got the same conclusion.
' It is expected that the new coronavirus has started outbreaks in the United States for a while, and its symptoms were like
symptoms of other diseases, so it was easy to hide the truth.' -
Metro
A video of the Arabic-speaking host spreading the rumors during an Arabic-language broadcast has received millions of views, and
comes as Washington and Beijing have begun to lock horns over the origins of the virus. According to a Fox News report, the virus
escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology - a theory we posited in January, which was called a 'conspiracy theory' by mainstream
media.
Shortly before the Fox News report, the
Washington Post reported that US State Department cables warned of safety issues at the Wuhan BSL-4 biolab.
Metro notes that the Fort Detrick - home to the Department of Defense's top biological defense research laboratory known as USAMRIID
- was partially closed in July by the CDC due to problems with the disposal of dangerous materials, and was fully reopened in April.
Ms V then cited a Japanese broadcast in which a presenter claimed that the pandemic may have originated after the US participated
in the Military Olympic Games in Wuhan which was attended by 109 countries.
Chinese government spokesperson Zhao Lijian tweeted this story in March suggesting 'it might be the US army who brought the epidemic
to Wuhan,' a claim that the Pentagon called 'false and absurd.'
107cicero 15 minutes ago
Remember the vape deaths/ first virus deaths -- the woman is right.
El_Puerco 11 minutes ago
autopsy of the vaping....an examination of the body after death usually with such dissection as will expose the vital organs
for determining the cause of death or the character and extent of changes produced by disease -- called also necropsy, postmortem,
postmortem examination
Where is?????
El_Puerco 16 minutes ago
According to Bloomberg News on Saturday, Trump is increasingly blaming China for COVID-19 outbreaks.
“(W)e’re doing investigations (sic),” he said. If Beijing was “knowingly responsible…there should be consequences.”
The die is cast, the Trump regime blame game taking shape. Congressional legislation is in the works to let COVID-19 businesses
and ordinary Americans sue China for damages. 9 minutes ago
The state of Missouri has already filed suit against China.
Dis-obey, 16 minutes ago
The Dr Baric group origin theory makes more sense. CDC backed off that research in 2015 citing that the research was far to
risky. CCP continued research at WIV up until the outbreak
El_Puerco 14 minutes ago
This video show how it was done..care to watch and learn..
If you want to learn..
LINK: https://bit.ly/3bTR2O1
George Webb is an investigative journalist in the Washington, DC area that discovered the DNC blackberries and hard drives
used by DNC Chairwoman's IT assistant, Biden Awan.
Be safe..
Anthraxed, 12 minutes ago
Trump administration reopened that research in 2018.
Vic Odd, 26 minutes ago
Possibility #1- Individuals acting on behalf of their nation knowingly released Covid.
Possibility #2- Individuals acting on behalf of their nation accidentally released Covid.
Possibility #3- Rogue actors who have no loyalty to any particular nation knowingly released Covid.
Possibility #4-Rogue actors who have no loyalty to any particular nation accidentally released Covid.
Possibility #5- The era of nation-states is over. Those who are placed in positions of power are loyal to fraternal orders
and secret societies, not nations. They enjoy the benefits of the two tiered justice system, and while many are compartmentalized
useful idiots, those at the top are aware of the long game. 24 minutes ago
ReturnOfDaMac, 24 minutes ago
I say #5: Dual, triple or quadruple nationalities anyone?
Vic Odd, 22 minutes ago
All 3 authors of the 911 commission report had dual citizenship in both Israel and US
Nacho Daddy, 30 minutes ago
Since the US government funded the Wuhan lab and multiple US entities had a presence there, whether the virus was engineered
there or at Fort Detrick is of only marginal importance. It just means the difference between the US being involved or being solely
responsible.
El_Puerco, 37 minutes ago
“Many Chinese netizens have responded strongly,” saying:
“They want compensation? If they want to get even with China, let us start from the damage China suffered since the first Opium
War in 1840!”
Vic Odd, 59 minutes ago
If the 'truth' comes out, the details that outline what really happened will be described by the corporate media as a "right
wing fringe lunatic conspiracy theory".
For example: A large segment of the population knows building 7 couldn't have collapsed from an office fire. But does that
change the official narrative in any way? Is building 7 even mentioned in the 911 commission report?
The magic phrase "conspiracy theory" has replaced "abracadabra".
By uttering the term "conspiracy theory", the argument is shut down, libtards claim intellectual victory, and those who
are skeptical of the official story are correlated with flat earthers, science deniers, and moon truthers.
What makes you think it will be different this time?
The NIH funds millions of dollars of research in the Wuhan BSL-4 lab
2- Up to now the line on the COVID SARS-CoV-2 (SC2) virus being emerging as a "natural virus" was unanimous among Beijing,
the US Joint Chiefs, the High Priests of US science (especially the guys who create GoF "franken" viruses) and the global MSM.
Seemed that everyone was circling the wagons.
3- The NIH was alarmed with GoF research and banned it in 2013 until the Drump Administration lifted the ban in 2017.
4- The Chinese have imposed strong censorship of Chinese scientists regarding the origins of the COVID SC2virus; while the
US High Priests seem to have imposed their own brand of self-censorship. Until one side 'fesses up it's hard to say with certainty
how and where COVID-19 arose... though the Wuhan lab origins may be a bit stronger.
Crime Ideas Always, 1 hour ago
The deep/shadow state is working both sides and causing chaos, then blaming the nation states. Just like 9/11.
Merica101,1 hour ago
Here's what's really interesting - the Chinese KNEW about human to human transmission and lied to the WHO about that or WHO
was covering for the CCP. Then they locked down Wuhan province and DID NOT ALLOW travel from Wuhan to Beijing, Shanghai or any
other region in China. HOWEVER, they allowed people from Wuhan to fly ALL OVER THE WORLD. BUSTED.
Spicyfood, 1 hour ago
....she has a point. - US 800k cases, New York state 250k cases - next highest country Spain: 200k
How do you explain US has 4x more than any other country, and New York has more than any country, for a 19 million population
?
Because the epidemic started in New York, and they haven't tested for COVID in December nor January, they only started testing
end of February. You can't prove it originated in Wuhan China, if no other country in the world has tested at the same time.
rwe2late, 1 hour ago
The USA, China and other countries should ALL come clean about their bio-warfare "research" and all of them end it. One mistake
and it is the new MAD (mutual assured destruction)
The Monsanto-Bayer et al "private" corporate bio-engineering research and unsafe use of products should also be public and
rigorously monitored, if and when permitted at all.
Distant_Star, 1 hour ago
The like to talk about Fort Detrick being "closed down" by the CDC. Fort Detrick is a normal military installation under the
authority of the Department of Defense. It cannot be "closed down" by the CDC. One of the tenant activities at Fort Detrick, USAMRIID,
runs the actual lab facility there, and the CDC inspected their operation and suspended operations until some dangerous containment
procedural lapses were fixed.
The fact that they don't even know the difference between Fort Detrick and USAMRIID tells you that they really know nothing about
the subject and are just parroting crap. What is also lost on many of the "Fort Detrick" hysterics is that the Dept of Agriculture
runs the lab located on Plum Island, NY, off the east coast of Long Island. This facility has nothing to do with the DoD. It is
there that most animal borne diseases are studied, not at Fort Detrick. Trolls gotta troll.
MiltonFriedmansNightmare. 2 hours ago
Has the fingerprints of the supranational banking elite cabal that perpetrated 911 all over it....SERCO, BBC newsinjects etc...
Freddie, 1 hour ago
Another hit like 9-11. I do not like ChiComs but how Bill Gates, Fauci, Dems have been behaving tells you so much.
rwe2late, 1 hour ago
the reaction to the presumed Al Qaeda-19 attack is looking similar to the presumed COVID-19 attack. From the "War on
Terror" to the "War on Virus", both meant to be never-ending.
9/11 reaction was to attack a government/nation that was at most indirectly responsible (Afghanistan), then to make a pack
of lies and invade a nation (Iraq) that had nothing to do with 9/11, then more nations Syria, Libya, Yemen etc., spending trillions
of dollars to enrich the likes of Halliburton and Goldman Sachs, and enacting "Patriot" pseudo-safety legislation.
Seems we are on the same track. As is said, first as tragedy, next as farce.
gay_troll, 1 hour ago (Edited)
Wuhan is a city of 11 million. The virus was spiked there just in time for Lunar New Year travel. The velocity of the outbreak
would be quite different.
Plus if 80% are asymptomatic, and any symptoms are identical to flu (or vaping disease), who would be the wiser?
Plus there are multiple strains and some are more morbid.
CondZero, 2 hours ago
Well we know this article will woke the anti-Chinese crowd out there who refuse to believe that their government and CIA have
at least 25 bio-labs that can create this disease. But without pointing fingers, I am awaiting the U.S. response to China's question:
"We solemnly wait for your response as to your Patient Zero."
Vic Odd, 2 hours ago
There are bad actors in America who are not loyal to America.
Just because someone is born in an area defined by geographical perimeters does not mean they are loyal to it's corresponding
nation.
JaxPavan, 2 hours ago
This is how the bioweapon was made:
”Using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system2,
we generated and characterized a chimeric virus expressing the spike of bat coronavirus SHC014 in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone.
The results indicate that group 2b viruses encoding the SHC014 spike in a wild-type backbone can efficiently use multiple orthologs
of the SARS receptor human angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells and achieve
in vitro titers equivalent to epidemic strains of SARS-CoV. Additionally, in vivo experiments demonstrate replication
of the chimeric virus in mouse lung with notable pathogenesis. Evaluation of available SARS-based immune-therapeutic and prophylactic
modalities revealed poor efficacy; both monoclonal antibody and vaccine approaches failed to neutralize and protect from infection
with CoVs using the novel spike protein. On the basis of these findings, we synthetically re-derived an infectious full-length
SHC014 recombinant virus and demonstrate robust viral replication both in vitro and in vivo.”
Shock Horror - just imagine if a US media said something like this!!!
Chinese government spokesperson Zhao Lijian tweeted this story in March suggesting 'it might be the US army who
brought the epidemic to Wuhan, ' a claim that the Pentagon called 'false and absurd.'
That is pretty much the same as ZH wrote the story first time around - quite wrong as the links in that story proved. He
said it could have come from anywhere, even from soldiers at the international war games in Wuhan in October.
This anti-foreigner stuff seems to have infected everyone, but ZH most of all.
It is never a good sign when the political/media class all across the aisle begins loudly trying to out-hawk one another about
a nation which refuses to be absorbed into the US-centralized world order. And make no mistake, this is all this is actually about.
It's not a coincidence that the two nations the US political/media class has been shrieking the loudest about lately are the two
strongest nations which have refused to be absorbed into the US empire. It's never been about "collusion" or a virus, it's about
stopping multipolarism. This has been obvious for years, but partisan narrative control masks it. More than two years ago
I was writing about how Russiagate isn't about Trump or even really just about Russia, but about hamstringing the Russia-China
tandem to stop China's rise.
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of neoconservatism, the prevailing orthodoxy in the US-centralized power
alliance has been to preserve the unipolar world order at any cost. All US foreign policy has been a direct or indirect result of
this agenda ever since.
It's not about Covid-19. It's not about Uighurs. It's not about a Putin pee tape. It's not about terrorists. It's not about weapons
of mass destruction. It's about world domination, plain and simple. And the oligarch-owned political/media class who controls the
dominant narrative is helping to facilitate that.
I never voted for a world order where one powerful government is constantly attacking, destroying and sabotaging any nation that
threatens its hegemony. I'm pretty sure you never did either. And yet here we are, forced to accept this insane paradigm, even when
the targeted nations in question are nuclear armed and anything could go drastically wrong at any moment as a result of miscommunication
or technical malfunction in the heat and confusion of escalated aggression.
This will continue to be foisted upon us whether we like it or not, until this way of life is locked in forever, or until we all
die in a nuclear holocaust, or until we force them to stop. It's that third option that they are working to cut off during the rapid
increases in government surveillance and internet censorship we've seen implemented during this pandemic, so we're going to have
to want to live a lot more than the empire does.
Susan Siens / April 20, 2020
Quite interesting that even the absolutely abysmal U.S. mainstream media reported the fact that the coronavirus strain in Asia
is not the same as the one in Europe and the U.S. (viruses evolve fast, so that could be one explanation), but have already forgotten
that they did so. The United States of Amnesia, indeed! How to deal with a virus if you're merrakin? First, you go to a rally
toting a gun and a giant flag and hang out with your fellow zombies, and, second, you echo your "leaders' " call for war. Only
of course you don't plan on heading to war yourself. (Frankly, mass murderers must be feeling a little frustrated about now, and
I keep hoping one of them will go to a rally. If anyone doesn't know what I mean, I'm referring to the rallies being held at state
capitals against protective measures.)
The intensity of the current anti-China campaign reminds one of the run up to the war on Iraq. The people who now claim that 'China
lied, people died' are the very same who ran the Iraq WMD campaign. But all the reports claiming Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
were just fantasy. The reports of Chinese culpability are similar nonsense. This article can be read here:
The New Anti-China Campaign Is Built On Lies By Moon Of Alabama https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/04/the-new-anti-china-campaign-is-built-on-lies.html
Rob / April 20, 2020
It's really quite simple. The Blob needs an enemy, it must have an enemy–always and forever–if it is to maintain itself as one of
the preeminent forces in U.S. policy and governance. Pirro and others of her ilk understand this and willingly spread bullshit propaganda
on behalf of the Blob. It's why FOX News viewers are so ignorant and misinformed.
USA-ma Bin Laden / April 20, 2020
The COVID-19 hysteria has become a convenient propaganda pretext for America and its vassal nations to ratchet up their New Cold
War against China in general as well as divert blame for their own disastrous responses to COVID-19 in particular.
The Americans' excuse for this failed response is that they didn't have enough warning from China about the pandemic because of
a supposed "cover-up" there. Too bad this excuse is belied by several events:
Bottom line: AMERICA KNEW by the end of January that there was a significant health threat.
But it didn't even declare a national emergency until March 13, 2020.
Even today in late April, some American states still have NOT issued shelter-in-place directives.
And even at this late date, there still is NO *nationwide* US system of mass testing (including of asymptomatic individuals);
contact tracing, and quarantine -- which are necessary to contain the pandemic.
Instead, America and its vassal states play the Blame Game and complain that "We Failed Because We Didn't Have Enough Time to
Prepare and It's all China's Fault!!!"
They are truly pathetic whining bitches.
Michel Bélisle / April 20, 2020
We let the wealthy elites get away with 9/11 because we wanted protect the "System" as much as they do because we needed to protect
our own social status, our own money and assets
So what is happening now should not be a surprise
Keeping my Rosary on hand hoping for the soon return of Jesus!
Air Rik / April 20, 2020
> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that Trump "swiftly begin implementing the Hong Kong Human Rights & Democracy Act"
But not demanding human rights for Julian Assange! Democrats liked him when he exposed Bush's war crimes; as soon as he exposed
Hillary Clinton's emails they started hating him. But they really care about Hong Kong human rights. C'mon
jrkrideau / April 20, 2020
The Bryan Dean Wright video is the most amazing video of the two. He has accused a fair number of elected Federal officials in
the US of being traitors, or at best the unwitting agents of Chinese Intelligence. This guy seems to be pretty well into the conspiracy
swamp.
What is it with Americans? At first hint of anything particularly a political disagreement they seem to decide that anyone
who disagrees with them has to be a traitor. I'm sure people can remember the history of Joe McCarthy and his witch hunts.
Jeanine Pirro sounds completely deranged but,at least, she does not seem to be accusing everyone and their grandmother of being
traitors. She's just being a little trained poodle obey her masters. The problem is it bloody dangerous.
It is clear that Fox News has given their people their orders to slam China to distract from the criminally god-awful behaviour
of Donald Trump and his merry band of idiots, religious zealots, and plain old-fashioned crooks. The problem is I don't think
the idiots at Fox or the idiots the White House understand that all this propaganda presumably just to help win the election,
does not stay inside the US borders.
Of course, from a neoliberal free market point of view, I suppose it's nice that we have the Russians and the Chinese bidding
for US Congress people and senators. I have often thought they were underpriced. This could improve the overall market, particularly
in senators.
Khatika / April 20, 2020
This coronovirus fear pandemic is about shutting down the world economy for various reasons. The result of this capital devastation
will be depression and war. Politicians are just stupid and being herded into this by the WHO, CDC and ultimately Bill Gates and
the climate change people and war neocons. This is about social control and population control. Digital currencie is on the horizon
for those wise enough to see.
What you see on TV is just priming the pump to help facilitate this.
May Hem / April 20, 2020
Do you remember just a few months ago, everything was the fault of Russia – especially Mr.Putin.
Now their target is China. Which country will be next I wonder?
Cornelius Pipe / April 20, 2020
Every time this Chinagate whack-a-mole pokes its head up, whack it hard. Remind anyone who claims to be on the left that it's
a Trumpanzee motif and they are falling for it.
There is a very good article at Alternet which provides a detailed timeline of Trump's failures with COVID19 – and his attempts
to falsely blame the Chinese:
The world domination theme behind US propaganda is so obvious, you have to acknowledge the power of wall to wall narrative hoaxing
to blind the populace to what is right in front of their eyes. The amazing magic of the mindfuckers drowns out the rarer voices
of the truthtellers .
It is unclear under which jurisdiction Missouri can sue china: foreign policy is the prerogative of federal government and
China enjoys "sovereign immunity"
One justification for China action is that previous pandemic -- "swine flu" pandemic was grossly overblown and which led to
substantial losses. That also explains WHO position on the pandemic.
Notable quotes:
"... According to the complaint, the defendants are responsible "for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world," and "should be held accountable." ..."
"... Missouri cites a Fox News report that the US is currently conducting "a full-scale investigation into whether the novel coronavirus, which went on to morph into a global pandemic that has brought the global economy to its knees, escaped from " the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The complaint also notes that an emerging theory states that WIV was "studying the virus as part of a commercial activity ." ..."
"... China is also accused of allowing the virus to spread by knowingly letting approximately 175,000 individuals leave Wuhan on January 1 to travel for the Lunar New Year. In mid-January, Wuhan leaders hosted a potluck dinner for 40,000 residents, "increasing the potential spread of the virus." ..."
"... The suit also accuses China of misleading the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of a coverup - delaying reporting on COVID-19 to the organization for weeks after the outbreak was identified within the Chinese medical community. When the CCP finally did inform the WHO, they denied human-to-human transmission, "despite having significant evidence to the contrary." ..."
The
state of Missouri became the first in the nation to file a lawsuit against China over their
role in the coronavirus pandemic. Also named in the suit are the Communist Party of China, the
government of Wuhan City, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology , along with the Chinese Academy
of Sciences.
Filed on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Missouri, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt
accuses China of knowing that "COVID-19 was dangerous and capable of causing a pandemic, yet
slowly acted, proverbially put their head in the sand, and/or covered it up in their own
economic self-interest," according to
Fox News .
During the critical weeks of the initial outbreak, Chinese authorities deceived the
public, suppressed crucial information, arrested whistleblowers, denied human-to-human
transmission in the face of mounting evidence, destroyed critical medical research, permitted
millions of people to be exposed to the virus, and even hoarded personal protective equipment
-- thus causing a global pandemic that was unnecessary and preventable . -State of Missouri
v. The People's Republic of China et al.
According to the complaint, the defendants are responsible "for the enormous death,
suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world," and "should be held
accountable."
"When their actions began to kill hundreds of thousands of people across the globe,
Defendants sought to minimize the consequences, engaging in a coverup and misleading public
relations campaign by censoring scientists, ordering the destruction and suppression of
valuable research, and refusing cooperation with the global community , all in violation of
international health standards," the complaint continues.
Missouri cites a Fox News report that the US is currently conducting "a full-scale
investigation into whether the novel coronavirus, which went on to morph into a global pandemic
that has brought the global economy to its knees, escaped from " the Wuhan Institute of
Virology (WIV). The complaint also notes that an emerging theory states that WIV was "studying
the virus as part of a commercial activity ."
Fox News has
reported that sources have increasing confidence that the coronavirus escaped from a
Wuhan laboratory, not as a bioweapon but as part of China's attempt to demonstrate that its
efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the
United States . The U.S. is conducting
a full-scale investigation into whether that's the case.
But U.S. officials and the intelligence community have confirmed to Fox News that they
have taken the possibility of the coronavirus being man-made or engineered inside China as
some sort of bioweapon off the table and have ruled it out at this point. -
Fox News
It also states that " on or around Late December 2019, healthcare professionals in Wuhan
were reporting infections indicating human-to-human transmission " of the disease.
According to Chinese sources cited in the National Review, on December 25, 2019, " Chinese
medical staff in two hospitals in Wuhan [were] suspected of contracting viral pneumonia and
[were] quarantined. This is additional strong evidence of human-to-human transmission ." This
was corroborated by the Wall Street Journal.
According to the South China Morning Press, "On December 27, Zhang Jixian, a doctor from
Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China's health
authorities that the disease was caused by a new coronavirus. By that date, more than 180
people had been infected, though doctors might not have been aware of all of them at the
time. "
China is also accused of allowing the virus to spread by knowingly letting approximately
175,000 individuals leave Wuhan on January 1 to travel for the Lunar New Year. In mid-January,
Wuhan leaders hosted a potluck dinner for 40,000 residents, "increasing the potential spread of
the virus."
The coverup
According to the suit, "On December 30, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission released
a notice to medical institutions that patients visiting the Wuhan Seafood Market had contracted
a pneumonia-like illness." The notice warned medical professionals that "Any organizations or
individuals are not allowed to release treatment information to the public without
authorization."
Researchers at the University of Toronto observed China "censoring key words about the virus
on Chinese social media platforms ," including WeChat, which "has become increasingly popular
among [Chinese] doctors who use it to obtain professional knowledge from peers. Because of
social media's integral role in Chinese society and its uptake by the Chinese medical
community, systematic blocking of general communication on social media related to disease
information and prevention risks substantially harming the ability of the public to share
information that may be essential to their health and safety. "
Meanwhile, authorities in China were physically cracking down against dissidents.
On January 1 or 2, the Wuhan police stated that they had "taken legal measures" against
eight people who "published and shared rumors online," and one of them is believed to be Dr.
Wenliang.
According to CNN, " The police announcement [against the eight people] was broadcast
across the country on CCTV, China's state broadcaster, making it clear how the Chinese
government would treat such 'rumormongers.'"
The message reportedly said, "The internet is not a land beyond the law ... Any unlawful
acts of fabricating, spreading rumors and disturbing the social order will be punished by
police according to the law, with zero tolerance.
As described by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, " The punishment of eight doctors for
'rumor-mongering,' broadcast on national television on Jan. 2, sent a chill through the
city's hospitals ," and suppressed information from reaching the rest of the world.
The suit also accuses China of misleading the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of a
coverup - delaying reporting on COVID-19 to the organization for weeks after the outbreak was
identified within the Chinese medical community. When the CCP finally did inform the WHO, they
denied human-to-human transmission, "despite having significant evidence to the contrary."
This "induced the WHO to also deny or downplay the risk of human-to-human transmission in
the critical weeks while the virus was first spreading."
Missouri's complaint also alleges that China worked to hoard personal protective equipment
(PPE) in dire need by healthcare workers around the world in the treatment and handling of
coronavirus patients.
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Nearly 30,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus during the last two weeks, and by
some estimates this is a substantial under-count, while the death-toll continues to rapidly
mount. Meanwhile, measures to control the spread of this deadly infection have already cost 22
million Americans their jobs, an unprecedented economic collapse that has pushed our
unemployment rates to Great Depression levels. Our country is facing a crisis as grave as
almost any in our national history.
For many weeks President Trump and his political allies had regularly dismissed or minimized
this terrible health threat, and suddenly now faced with such a manifest disaster, they have
naturally begun seeking other culprits to blame.
The obvious choice is China, where the global epidemic first began in late 2019. Over the
last week or two our media has been increasingly filled with accusations that the dishonesty
and incompetence of the Chinese government played a major role in producing our own health
catastrophe.
Even more serious charges are also being raised, with senior government officials informing
the media that they suspect that the Covid-19 virus was developed in a Chinese laboratory in
Wuhan and then carelessly released upon a vulnerable world. Such "conspiracy theories" were
once confined to the extreme political fringe of the Internet, but they are now found in the
respectable pages of my morning New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Whether plausible or not, such accusations carry the gravest international implications, and
there are growing demands that China financially compensate our country for its trillions of
dollars in economic losses. A new global Cold War along both political and economic lines may
soon be at hand.
I have no personal expertise in biowarfare technology, nor access to the secret American
intelligence reports that seem to have been taken seriously by our most elite national
newspapers. But I do think that a careful exploration of previous Sino-American clashes over
the last couple of decades may provide some useful insight into the relative credibility of
those two governments as well as that of our own media.
During the late 1990s, America seemed to reach the peak of its global power and prosperity,
basking in the aftermath of its historic victory in the long Cold War, while ordinary Americans
greatly benefited from the record-long economic expansion of that decade. A huge Tech Boom was
at its height, and Islamic terrorism seemed a vague and distant thing, almost entirely confined
to Hollywood movies. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of large scale war
seemed to have dissipated so political leaders boasted of the "peace dividend" that citizens
were starting to enjoy as our huge military forces, built up over nearly a half-century, were
downsized amid sweeping cuts in the bloated defense budget. America was finally returning to a
regular peacetime economy, with the benefits apparent to everyone.
At the time, I was overwhelmingly focused on domestic political issues, so I only paid
slight attention to our one small military operation of that period, the 1999 NATO air war
against Serbia, intended to safeguard the Kosovo Albanians from ethnic cleansing and massacre,
a Clinton Administration project that I fully endorsed.
Although our limited bombing campaign seemed quite successful and soon forced the Serbs to
the bargaining table, the short war did include one very embarrassing mishap. The use of old
maps had led to a targeting error that caused one of our smart bombs to accidentally strike the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three members of its delegation and wounding dozens more.
The Chinese were outraged by this incident, and their propaganda organs began claiming that the
attack had been deliberate, a reckless accusation that obviously made no logical sense.
In those days I watched the PBS Newshour every night, and was I shocked to see their
U.S. Ambassador raise those absurd charges with host Jim Lehrer, whose disbelief matched my
own. But when I considered that the Chinese government was still stubbornly denying the reality
of its massacre of the protesting students in Tiananmen Square a decade earlier, I concluded
that unreasonable behavior by PRC officials was only to be expected. Indeed, there was even
some speculation that China was cynically milking the unfortunate accident for domestic
reasons, hoping to stoke the sort of jingoist anti-Americanism among the Chinese people that
would finally help bind the social wounds of that 1989 outrage.
Such at least were my thoughts on that matter more than two decades ago. But in the years
that followed, my understanding of the world and of many pivotal events of modern history
underwent the sweeping transformations that I have described in my American Pravda series . And some
of my 1990s assumptions were among them.
Consider, for example, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which every June 6th still evokes an
annual wave of harsh condemnations in the news and opinion pages of our leading national
newspapers. I had never originally doubted those facts, but a year or two ago I happened to
come across a short article by journalist Jay Matthews entitled "The Myth of
Tiananmen" that completely upended that apparent reality.
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened, but was merely a
media artifact produced by confused Western reporters and dishonest propaganda, a mistaken
belief that had quickly become embedded in our standard media storyline, endlessly repeated by
so many ignorant journalists that they all eventually believed it to be true. Instead, as near
as could be determined, the protesting students had all left Tiananmen Square peacefully, just
as the Chinese government had always maintained. Indeed, leading newspapers such as the New
York Times and the Washington Post had occasionally acknowledged these facts over
the years, but usually buried those scanty admissions so deep in their stories that few ever
noticed. Meanwhile, the bulk of the mainstream media had fallen for an apparent hoax.
ORDER
IT NOW
Matthews himself had been the Beijing Bureau Chief of the Washington Post ,
personally covering the protests at the time, and his article appeared in the Columbia
Journalism Review , our most prestigious venue for media criticism. This authoritative
analysis containing such explosive conclusions was first published in 1998, and I find it
difficult to believe that many reporters or editors covering China have remained ignorant of
this information, yet the impact has been absolutely nil. For over twenty years virtually every
mainstream media account I have read has continued to promote the Tiananmen Square Massacre
Hoax, usually implicitly but sometimes explicitly.
Even more remarkable were the discoveries I made regarding our supposedly accidental bombing
of the Chinese Embassy in 1999. Not long after launching this website, I added former Asia
Times contributor Peter Lee as a columnist, incorporating his China Matters blogsite
archives that stretched back for a decade. He soon published a 7,000 word
article on the Belgrade Embassy bombing, representing a compilation of material already
contained in a
half-dozen previous pieces he'd written on that subject from 2007 onward. To my
considerable surprise, he provided a great deal of persuasive evidence that the American attack
on the Chinese embassy had indeed been deliberate, just as China had always claimed.
According to Lee, Beijing had allowed its embassy to be used as a site for secure radio
transmission facilities by the Serbian military, whose own communications network was a primary
target of NATO airstrikes. Meanwhile, Serbian air defenses had shot down an advanced American
F-117A fighter, whose top-secret stealth technology was a crucial U.S. military secret.
Portions of that enormously valuable wreckage were carefully gathered by the grateful Serbs,
who delivered it to the Chinese for temporary storage at their embassy prior to transport back
home. This vital technological acquisition later allowed China to deploy its own J20 stealth
fighter in early 2011, many years sooner than American military analysts had believed
possible.
Based upon this analysis, Lee argued that the Chinese embassy was attacked in order to
destroy the Serbian retransmission facilities located there, while punishing the Chinese for
allowing such use. There were also widespread rumors in China that another motive had been an
unsuccessful attempt to destroy the stealth debris stored within. Later Congressional testimony
revealed
that the among all the hundreds of NATO airstrikes, the attack on the Chinese embassy was the
only one directly ordered by the CIA, a highly-suspicious detail.
I was only slightly familiar with Lee's work, and under normal circumstances I would have
been very cautious in accepting his remarkable claims against the contrary position universally
held by all our own elite media outlets. But the sources he cited completely shifted that
balance.
Although the American media dominates the English-language world, many British publications
also possess a strong global reputation, and since they are often much less in thrall to our
own national security state, they have sometimes covered important stories that were ignored
here. And in this case, the Sunday Observer published a remarkable expose in October
1999, citing several NATO military and intelligence sources who fully confirmed the deliberate
nature of the American bombing of the Chinese embassy, with a US colonel even reportedly
boasting that their smartbomb had hit the exact room intended.
This important story was immediately summarized in the Guardian ,
a sister publication, and also covered by the rival Times of London and many of the
world's other most prestigious publications, but encountered an absolute wall of silence in our
own country. Such a bizarre divergence on a story of global strategic importance -- a
deliberate and deadly US attack against Chinese diplomatic territory -- drew the attention of
FAIR, a leading American media watchdog group, which published
an initial critique and
a subsequent follow-up . These two pieces totaled some 3,000 words, and effectively
summarized both the overwhelming evidence of the facts and also the heavy international
coverage, while reporting the weak excuses made by top American editors to explain their
continuing silence. Based upon these articles, I consider the matter settled.
Few Americans remember our 1999 attack upon the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and if not for
the annual waving of a bloody June 6th flag by our ignorant and disingenuous media, the
"Tiananmen Square Massacre" would also have long since faded from memory. Neither of these
events has much direct importance today, at least for our own citizens. But the broader media
implications of these examples do seem quite significant.
These incidents represented two of the most serious flashpoints between the Chinese and
American governments during the last thirty-odd years. In both cases the claims of the Chinese
government were entirely correct, although they were denied by our own top political leaders
and dismissed or ridiculed by virtually our entire mainstream media. Moreover, within a few
months or a year the true facts became known to many journalists, even being reported in fully
respectable venues. But that reality was still completely ignored and suppressed for decades,
so that today almost no American whose information comes from our regular media would even be
aware of it. Indeed, since many younger journalists draw their knowledge of the world from
these same elite media sources, I suspect that many of them have never learned what their
predecessors knew but dared not mention.
Most leading Chinese media outlets are owned or controlled by the Chinese government, and
they tend to broadly follow the government line. Leading American media outlets have a
corporate ownership structure and often boast of their fierce independence; but on many crucial
matters, I think the actual reality is not so very different from that in China.
I tend to doubt that Chinese leaders have any overwhelming commitment to the truth, and the
reasons for their greater veracity are probably practical ones. American news and entertainment
completely dominate the global media landscape and they face no significant domestic rival. So
China recognizes that it is vastly outmatched in any propaganda conflict, and as the far weaker
party must necessarily try to stick closer to the truth, lest its lies be immediately exposed.
Meanwhile, America's overwhelming control over global information may inspire considerable
hubris, with the government sometimes promoting the most outrageous and ridiculous falsehoods
in the confident belief that a supportive American media will cover for any mistakes.
These considerations should be kept in mind as we attempt to sift the accounts of our often
unreliable and dishonest media in hopes of extracting the true circumstances of the current
coronavirus epidemic. Unlike careful historical studies, we are working in real-time and our
analysis is greatly hindered by the ongoing fog of war, so that any conclusions are necessarily
very preliminary ones. But given the high stakes, such an attempt seems warranted.
When my morning newspapers first began mentioning the appearance of a mysterious new illness
in China during mid-January, I paid little attention, absorbed as I was in the aftermath of our
sudden assassination of Iran's top military leader and the dangerous possibility of a yet
another Middle Eastern war. But the reports persisted and grew, with deaths occurring and
evidence growing that the viral disease could be transmitted between humans. China's early
conventional efforts seemed unsuccessful in halting the spread of the disease.
Then on Jan. 23rd and after only 17 deaths, the Chinese government took the astonishing step
of locking down and quarantining the entire 11 million inhabitants of the city of Wuhan, a
story that drew worldwide attention. They soon extended this policy to the 60 million Chinese
of Hubei province, and not longer afterward shut down their entire national economy and
confined 700 million Chinese to their homes, a public health measure probably a thousand times
larger than anything previously undertaken in human history. So either the China's leadership
had suddenly gone insane, or they regarded this new virus as an absolutely deadly national
threat, one that needed to be controlled at any possible cost.
Given these dramatic Chinese actions and the international headlines that they generated,
the current accusations by Trump Administration officials that China had attempted to minimize
or conceal the serious nature of the disease outbreak is so ludicrous as to defy rationality.
In any event, the record shows that on December 31st, the Chinese had already alerted the World
Health Organization to the strange new illness, and Chinese scientists published the entire
genome of the virus on Jan. 12th, allowing diagnostic tests to be produced worldwide.
Unlike other nations, China had received no advance warning of the nature or existence of
the deadly new disease, and therefore faced unique obstacles. But their government implemented
public health control measures unprecedented in the history of the world and managed to almost
completely eradicate the disease with merely the loss of a few thousand lives. Meanwhile, many
other Western countries such as the US, Italy, Spain, France, and Britain dawdled for months
and ignored the potential threat, and have now suffered well over 100,000 dead as a
consequence, with the toll still rapidly mounting. For any of these nations or their media
organs to criticize China for its ineffectiveness or slow response represents an absolute
inversion of reality.
Some governments took full advantage of the early warning and scientific information
provided by China. Although nearby East Asian nations such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and
Singapore had been at greatest risk and were among the first infected, their competent and
energetic responses allowed them to almost completely suppress any major outbreak, and they
have suffered minimal fatalities. But America and several European countries avoiding adopting
these same early measures such as widespread testing, quarantine, and contact-tracing, and have
paid a terrible price for their insouciance.
A few weeks ago British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that his own disease
strategy for Britain was based upon rapidly achieving "herd immunity" -- essentially
encouraging the bulk of his citizens to become infected -- then quickly backed away after his
desperate advisors recognized that the result might entail a million or more British
deaths.
By any reasonable measure, the response to this global health crisis by China and most East
Asian countries has been absolutely exemplary, while that of many Western countries has been
equally disastrous. Maintaining reasonable public health has been a basic function of
governments since the days of the city-states of Sumeria, and the sheer and total incompetence
of America and most of its European vassals has been breathtaking. If the Western media
attempts to pretend otherwise, it will permanently forfeit whatever remaining international
credibility it still possesses.
I do not think these particular facts are much disputed except among the most blinkered
partisans, and the Trump Administration probably recognizes the hopelessness of arguing
otherwise. This probably explains its recent shift towards a far more explosive and
controversial narrative, namely claiming that Covid-19 may have been the product of Chinese
research into deadly viruses at a Wuhan laboratory, which suggests that the blood of hundreds
of thousands or millions of victims around the world will be on Chinese hands. Dramatic
accusations backed by overwhelming international media power may deeply resonate across the
globe.
News reports appearing in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have been reasonably consistent. Senior Trump Administration
officials have pointed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a leading Chinese biolab, as the
possible source of the infection, with the deadly virus having been accidentally released,
subsequently spreading first throughout China and later worldwide. Trump himself has publicly
voiced similar suspicions, as did Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo in a
FoxNews
interview. Private lawsuits against China in the multi-trillion-dollar range have already
been filed by
rightwing activists and Republican senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham have raised similar
governmental demands.
I obviously have no personal access to the classified intelligence reports that have been
the basis of these charges by Trump, Pompeo, and other top administration officials. But in
reading these recent news accounts, I noticed something rather odd.
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Back in January, few Americans were paying much attention to the early reports of an unusual
disease outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which was hardly a household name. Instead,
overwhelming political attention was focused on the battle over Trump's impeachment and the
aftermath of our dangerous military confrontation with Iran. But towards the end of that month,
I discovered that the fringes of the Internet were awash with claims that the disease was
caused by a Chinese bioweapon accidentally released from that same Wuhan laboratory, with
former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and ZeroHedge , a popular right-wing
conspiracy-website, playing leading roles in advancing the theory. Indeed, the stories became
so widespread in those ideological circles that Sen. Tom Cotton, a leading Republican Neocon,
began promoting them on Twitter and FoxNews, thereby provoking an
article in the NYT on those "fringe conspiracy theories."
I suspect that it may be more than purely coincidental that the biowarfare theories which
erupted in such concerted fashion on small political websites and Social Media accounts back in
January so closely match those now publicly advocated by top Trump Administration officials and
supposedly based upon our most secure intelligence sources. Perhaps a few intrepid
citizen-activists managed to replicate the findings of our multi-billion-dollar intelligence
apparatus, and did so in days while the latter required weeks or months. But a more likely
scenario is that the wave of January speculation was driven by private leaks and "guidance"
provided by exactly the same elements that today are very publicly leveling similar charges in
the elite media. Initially promoting controversial theories in less mainstream outlets has long
been a fairly standard intelligence practice.
Regardless of the origins of the idea, does it seem plausible that the coronavirus outbreak
might have originated as an accidental leak from that Chinese laboratory? I am not privy to the
security procedures of Chinese government facilities, but applying a little common sense may
shed some light on that question.
Although the coronavirus is only moderately lethal, apparently having a fatality rate of 1%
or less, it is extremely contagious, including during an extended pre-symptomatic period and
also among asymptomatic carriers. Thus, portions of the US and Europe are now suffering heavy
casualties, while the policies adopted to control the spread have devastated their national
economies. Although the virus is unlikely to kill more than a small sliver of our population,
we have seen to our dismay how a major outbreak can so easily wreck our entire economic
life.
During January, the journalists reporting on China's mushrooming health crisis regularly
emphasized that the mysterious new viral outbreak had occurred at the worst possible place and
time, appearing in the major transport hub of Wuhan just prior to the Lunar New Year holiday,
when hundreds of millions of Chinese would normally travel to their distant family homes for
the celebration, thereby potentially spreading the disease to all parts of the country and
producing a permanent, uncontrollable epidemic. The Chinese government avoided that grim fate
by the unprecedented decision to shut down its entire national economy and confine 700 million
Chinese to their own homes for many weeks. But the outcome seems to have been a very near
thing, and if Wuhan had remained open for just a few days longer, China might easily have
suffered long-term economic and social devastation.
The timing of an accidental laboratory release would obviously be entirely random. Yet the
outbreak seems to have begun during the precise period of time most likely to damage China, the
worst possible ten-day or perhaps thirty-day window. As I noted in
January, I saw no solid evidence that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, but if it were, the
timing of the release seemed very unlikely to have been accidental.
If the virus was released intentionally, the context and motive for such a biowarfare attack
against China could not be more obvious. Although our disingenuous media continues to pretend
otherwise, the size of China's economy surpassed that of our own several years ago, and has
continued to grow much more rapidly. Chinese companies have also taken the lead in several
crucial technologies, with Huawei becoming the world's leading telecommunications equipment
manufacturer and dominating the important 5G market. China's sweeping Belt and Road Initiative
has threatened to reorient global trade around an interconnected Eurasian landmass, greatly
diminishing the leverage of America's own control over the seas. I have closely followed China
for over forty years, and the trend-lines have never been more apparent. Back in 2012, I
published an article bearing the provocative title "China's Rise, America's Fall?" and
since then I have seen no reason to reassess my verdict.
China's Rise, America's Fall Which
superpower is more threatened by its "extractive elites"? Ron Unz • The American Conservative,
April 17, 2012 • 7,000 Words
For three generations following the end of World War II, America had stood as the world's
supreme economic and technological power, while the collapse of the Soviet Union thirty years
ago left us as the sole remaining superpower, facing no conceivable military rival. A growing
sense that we were rapidly losing that unchallenged position had certainly inspired the
anti-China rhetoric of many senior figures in the Trump Administration, who launched a major
trade war soon after coming into office. The increasing misery and growing impoverishment of
large sections of the American population naturally left these voters searching for a
convenient scapegoat, and the prosperous, rising Chinese made a perfect target.
Despite America's growing economic conflict with China over the last couple of years, I had
never considered the possibility that matters might take a military turn. The Chinese had long
ago deployed advanced intermediate range missiles that many believed could easily sink our
carriers in the region, and they had also generally improved their conventional military
deterrent. Moreover, China was on quite good terms with Russia, which itself had been the
target of intense American hostility for several years; and Russia's new suite of revolutionary
hypersonic missiles had drastically reduced any American strategic advantage. Thus, a
conventional war against China seemed an absolutely hopeless undertaking, while China's
outstanding businessmen and engineers were steadily gaining ground against America's decaying
and heavily-financialized economic system.
Under these difficult circumstances, an American biowarfare attack against China might have
seemed the only remaining card to play in hopes of maintaining American supremacy. Plausible
deniability would minimize the risk of any direct Chinese retaliation, and if successful, the
terrible blow inflicted to China's economy would set it back for many years, perhaps even
destabilizing its social and political system. Using alternative media to immediately promote
theories that the coronavirus outbreak was the result of a leak from a Chinese biowarfare lab
was a natural means of preempting any later Chinese accusations along similar lines, thereby
allowing America to win the international propaganda war before China had even begun to
play.
A decision by elements of our national security establishment to wage biological warfare in
hopes of maintaining American world power would certainly have been an extremely reckless act,
but extreme recklessness has become a regular aspect of American behavior since 2001,
especially under the Trump Administration. Just a year earlier we had kidnapped the
daughter of Huawei's founder and chairman, who also served as CFO and ranked as one of China's
most top executives, while at the beginning of January we suddenly assassinated Iran's top
military leader.
These were the thoughts that entered my mind during the last week of January once I
discovered the widely circulating theories suggesting that China's massive disease epidemic had
been the self-inflicted consequence of its own biowarfare research. I saw no solid evidence
that the coronavirus was a bioweapon, but if it were, China was surely the innocent victim of
the attack, presumably carried out by elements of the American national security
establishment.
Soon afterward, someone brought to my attention a very long article by an American ex-pat
living in China who called himself "Metallicman" and held a wide range of eccentric and
implausible beliefs. I have long recognized that flawed individuals can often serve as the
vessels of important information otherwise unavailable, and this case constituted a perfect
example. His piece denounced the outbreak as a likely American biowarfare attack, and provided
a great wealth of factual material I had not previously considered. Since he authorized
republication elsewhere I did so, and
his 15,000 word analysis , although somewhat raw and unpolished, began attracting an
enormous amount of readership on our website, probably being one of the very first
English-language pieces to suggest that the mysterious new disease was an American bioweapon.
Many of his arguments appeared doubtful to me or have been obviated by later developments, but
several seemed quite telling.
He pointed out that during the previous two years, the Chinese economy had already suffered
serious blows from other mysterious new diseases, although these had targeted farm animals
rather than people. During 2018 a new Avian Flu virus had swept the country, eliminating large
portions of China's poultry industry, and during 2019 the Swine Flu viral epidemic had
devastated China's pig farms, destroying 40% of the nation's primary domestic source of meat,
with widespread claims that the latter disease was being spread by mysterious small drones. My
morning newspapers had hardly ignored these important business stories, noting
that the sudden collapse of much of China's domestic food production might prove a huge boon to
American farm exports at the height of our trade conflict, but I had never considered the
obvious implications. So for three years in a row, China had been severely impacted by strange
new viral diseases, though only the most recent had been deadly to humans. This evidence was
merely circumstantial, but the pattern seemed highly suspicious.
The writer also noted that shortly before the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, that city had
hosted 300 visiting American military officers, who came to participate in the 2019 Military World
Games , an absolutely remarkable coincidence of timing. As
I pointed out at the time, how would Americans react if 300 Chinese military officers had
paid an extended visit to Chicago, and soon afterward a mysterious and deadly epidemic had
suddenly broken out in that city? Once again, the evidence was merely circumstantial but
certainly raised dark suspicions.
Scientific investigation of the coronavirus had already pointed to its origins in a bat
virus, leading to widespread media speculation that bats sold as food in the Wuhan open markets
had been the original disease vector. Meanwhile, the orchestrated waves of anti-China
accusations had emphasized Chinese laboratory research on that same viral source. But we soon
published
a lengthy article by investigative journalist Whitney Webb providing copious evidence of
America's own enormous biowarfare research efforts, which had similarly focused for years on
bat viruses. Webb was then associated with MintPress News , but that publication had
strangely declined to publish her important piece, perhaps skittish about the grave suspicions
it directed towards the US government on so momentous an issue. So without the benefit of our
platform, her major contribution to the public debate might have attracted relatively little
readership.
Around the same time, I noted another
extremely strange coincidence that failed to attract any interest from our somnolent national
media. Although his name had meant nothing to me, in late January my morning newspapers carried
major stories on the
sudden arrest of Prof. Charles Lieber, one of Harvard University's top scientists and Chairman
of its Chemistry Department, sometimes characterized as a potential future Nobel Laureate.
The circumstances of that case seemed utterly bizarre to me. Like numerous other prominent
American academics, Lieber had had decades of close research ties with China, holding joint
appointments and receiving substantial funding for his work. But now he was accused of
financial reporting violations in the disclosure portions of his government grant applications
-- the most obscure sort of offense -- and on the basis of those accusations, he was seized by
the FBI in an early-morning raid on his suburban Lexington home and dragged off in shackles,
potentially facing years of federal imprisonment.
Such government action against an academic seemed almost without precedent. During the
height of the Cold War, numerous American scientists and technicians were rightfully accused of
having stolen our nuclear weapons secrets for delivery to Stalin, yet I had never heard of any
of them treated in so harsh a manner, let alone a scholar of Prof. Lieber's stature, who was
merely charged with technical disclosure violations. Indeed, this incident recalled accounts of
NKVD raids during the Soviet purges of the 1930s.
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Although Lieber was described as a chemistry professor, a few seconds of Googling revealed
that some of his most important work had been in virology, including technology for the
detection of viruses. So a massive and deadly new viral epidemic had broken out in China and
almost simultaneously, a top American scholar with close Chinese ties and expertise in viruses
was suddenly arrested by the federal government, yet no one in the media expressed any
curiosity at a possible connection between these two events.
I think we can safely assume that Lieber's arrest by the FBI had been prompted by the
concurrent coronavirus epidemic, but anything more is mere speculation. Those now accusing
China of having created the coronavirus might surely suggest that our intelligence agencies
discovered that the Harvard professor had been personally involved with that deadly research.
But I think a far more likely possibility is that Lieber began to wonder whether the epidemic
in China might not be the result of an American biowarfare attack, and was perhaps a little too
free in voicing his suspicions, thereby drawing the wrath of our national security
establishment. Inflicting such extremely harsh treatment upon a top Harvard scientist would
greatly intimidate all of his lesser colleagues elsewhere, who would surely now think twice
before broaching certain controversial theories to any journalist.
By the end of January, our webzine had published a dozen articles and posts on the
coronavirus outbreak, then added many more by the middle of February. These pieces totaled tens
of thousands of words and attracted a half million words of comments, probably representing the
primary English-language source for a particular perspective on the deadly epidemic, with this
material eventually drawing many hundreds of thousands of pageviews. A few weeks later, the
Chinese government began gingerly raising the possibility that the coronavirus may have been
brought to Wuhan by the 300 American military officers visiting that city, and was
fiercely attacked by the Trump Administration for spreading anti-American propaganda. But I
strongly suspect that the Chinese had gotten that idea from our own publication.
As the coronavirus gradually began to spread beyond China's own borders, another development
occurred that greatly multiplied my suspicions. Most of these early cases had occurred exactly
where one might expect, among the East Asian countries bordering China. But by late February
Iran had become the second epicenter of the global outbreak. Even more surprisingly, its
political elites had been especially hard-hit, with a full 10% of the entire
Iranian parliament soon infected and at least
a dozen of its officials and politicians dying of the disease, including some who were
quite
senior . Indeed, Neocon activists on Twitter began gleefully noting that their hatred
Iranian enemies were now dropping like flies.
Let us consider the implications of these facts. Across the entire world the only political
elites that have yet suffered any significant human losses have been those of Iran, and they
died at a very early stage, before significant outbreaks had even occurred almost anywhere else
in the world outside China. Thus, we have America assassinating Iran's top military commander
on Jan. 2nd and then just a few weeks later large portions of the Iranian ruling elites became
infected by a mysterious and deadly new virus, with many of them soon dying as a consequence.
Could any rational individual possibly regard this as a mere coincidence?
Biological warfare is a highly technical subject, and those possessing such expertise are
unlikely to candidly report their classified research activities in the pages of our major
newspapers, perhaps even less so after Prof. Lieber was dragged off to prison in chains. My own
knowledge is nil. But in mid-March I came across several extremely long and detailed comments
on the coronavirus outbreak that had been posted on a small website by an individual calling
himself "OldMicrobiologist" and who claimed to be a retired forty-year veteran of American
biodefense. The style and details of his material struck me as quite credible, and after a
little further investigation I concluded that there was a high likelihood his background was
exactly as he had described. I made arrangements to republish his comments in the form of
a 3,400 word
article , which soon attracted a great deal of traffic and 80,000 words of further
comments.
Although the writer emphasized the lack of any hard evidence, he said that his experience
led him to strongly suspect that the coronavirus outbreak was indeed an American biowarfare
attack against China, probably carried out by agents brought into that country under cover of
the Military Games held at Wuhan in late October, the sort of sabotage operation our
intelligence agencies had sometimes undertaken elsewhere. One important point he made was that
high lethality was often counter-productive in a bioweapon since debilitating or hospitalizing
large numbers of individuals may impose far greater economic costs on a country than a
biological agent which simply inflicts an equal number of deaths. In his words "a high
communicability, low lethality disease is perfect for ruining an economy," suggesting that the
apparent characteristics of the coronavirus were close to optimal in this regard. Those so
interested should read his analysis and judge for themselves his possible credibility and
persuasiveness.
One intriguing aspect of the situation was that almost from the first moment that reports of
the strange new epidemic in China reached the international media, a large and orchestrated
campaign had been launched on numerous websites and Social Media platforms to identify the
cause as a Chinese bioweapon carelessly released in its own country. Meanwhile, the far more
plausible hypothesis that China was the victim rather than the perpetrator had received
virtually no organized support anywhere, and only began to take shape as I gradually located
and republished relevant material, usually drawn from very obscure quarters and often
anonymously authored. So it seemed that only the side hostile to China was waging an active
information war. The outbreak of the disease and the nearly simultaneous launch of such a major
propaganda campaign may not necessarily prove that an actual biowarfare attack had occurred,
but I do think it tends to support such a theory.
When considering the hypothesis of an American biowarfare attack, certain natural objections
come to mind. The major drawback to biological warfare has always been the obvious fact that
the self-replicating agents employed will not respect national borders, thus raising the
serious risk that the disease might eventually return to the land of its origin and inflict
substantial casualties. For this reason, it seems very doubtful that any rational and
half-competent American leadership would have unleashed the coronavirus against China.
But as we see absolutely demonstrated in our daily news headlines, America's current
government is grotesquely and manifestly incompetent , more incompetent than one could
almost possibly imagine, with tens of thousands of Americans having now already paid with their
lives for such extreme incompetence. Rationality and competence are obviously nowhere to be
found among the Deep State Neocons that President Donald Trump has appointed to so many crucial
positions throughout our national security apparatus.
Moreover, the extremely lackadaisical notion that a massive coronavirus outbreak in China
would never spread back to America might have seemed plausible to individuals who carelessly
assumed that past historical analogies would continue to apply. As
I wrote a few weeks ago:
Reasonable people have suggested that if the coronavirus was a bioweapon deployed by
elements of the American national security apparatus against China (and Iran), it's difficult
to imagine why the they didn't assume it would naturally leak back in the US and start a huge
pandemic here, as is currently happening.
The most obvious answer is that they were stupid and incompetent, but here's another point
to consider
In late 2002 there was the outbreak of SARS in China, a related virus but that was far
more deadly and somewhat different in other characteristics. The virus killed hundreds of
Chinese and spread into a few other countries before it was controlled and stamped out. The
impact on the US and Europe was negligible, with just a small scattering of cases and only a
death or two.
So if American biowarfare analysts were considering a coronavirus attack against China,
isn't it quite possible they would have said to themselves that since SARS never
significantly leaked back into the US or Europe, we'd similarly remain insulated from the
coronavirus? Obviously, such an analysis was foolish and mistaken, but would it have seemed
so implausible at the time?
As some must have surely noticed, I have deliberately avoided investigating any of the
scientific details of the coronavirus. In principle, an objective and accurate analysis of the
characteristics and structure of the virus might help suggest whether it was entirely natural
or rather the product of a research laboratory, and in the latter case, perhaps whether the
likely source was China, America, or some third country.
But we are dealing with a cataclysmic world event and those questions obviously have
enormous political ramifications, so the entire subject is shrouded by a thick fog of complex
propaganda, with numerous conflicting claims being advanced by interested parties. I have no
background in microbiology let alone biological warfare, so I would be hopelessly adrift in
evaluating such conflicting scientific and technical claims. I suspect that this is equally
true of the overwhelming majority of other observers as well, although committed partisans are
loathe to admit that fact, and will eagerly seize upon any scientific argument that supports
their preferred position while rejecting those that contradict it.
Therefore, by necessity, my own focus is on evidence that can at least be understood by
every layman, if not necessarily always accepted. And I believe that the simple juxtaposition
of several recent disclosures in the mainstream media leads to a rather telling conclusion.
For obvious reasons, the Trump Administration has become very eager to emphasize the early
missteps and delays in the Chinese reaction to the viral outbreak in Wuhan, and has presumably
encouraged our media outlets to direct their focus in that direction.
As an example of this, the Associated Press Investigative Unit recently published a rather
detailed analysis of those early events purportedly based upon confidential Chinese documents.
Provocatively entitled "China Didn't Warn Public of Likely
Pandemic for 6 Key Days" , the piece was widely distributed, running
in abridged form in the NYT and elsewhere. According to this reconstruction, the
Chinese government first became aware of the seriousness of this public health crisis on Jan.
14th, but delayed taking any major action until Jan. 20th, a period of time during which the
number of infections greatly multiplied.
Last month, a team of five WSJ reporters produced a very detailed and thorough
4,400 word analysis of the same period, and the NYT has published a helpful timeline of
those early events as well. Although there may be some differences of emphasis or minor
disagreements, all these American media sources agree that Chinese officials first became aware
of the serious viral outbreak in Wuhan in early to mid-January, with the first known death
occurring on Jan. 11th, and finally implemented major new public health measures later that
same month. No one has apparently disputed these basic facts.
But with the horrific consequences of our own later governmental inaction being obvious,
sources within our intelligence agencies have sought to demonstrate that they were not the ones
asleep at the switch. Earlier this month,
an ABC News story cited four separate government sources to reveal that as far back
as late November, a special medical intelligence unit within our Defense Intelligence Agency
had produced a report revealing than an out-of-control disease epidemic was occurring in the
Wuhan area of China, and widely distributed that document throughout the top ranks of our
government, warning that steps should be taken to protect US forces based in Asia. After the
story aired, a Pentagon spokesman officially denied the existence of that November report,
while various other top level government and intelligence officials refused to comment. But a
few days later,
Israeli television revealed that in November American intelligence had indeed shared such a
report on the Wuhan disease outbreak with its NATO and Israeli allies, thus seeming to
independently confirm the complete accuracy of the original ABC story and its several
government sources.
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It therefore appears that elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency were aware of the
deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any officials in the Chinese government
itself. Unless our intelligence agencies have pioneered the technology of precognition, I
think this may have happened for the same reason that arsonists have the earliest knowledge of
future fires.
Back in February, before a single American had died from the disease,
I wrote my own overview of the possible course of events, and I would still stand by it
today:
Consider a particularly ironic outcome of this situation, not particularly likely but
certainly possible
Everyone knows that America's ruling elites are criminal, crazy, and also extremely
incompetent.
So perhaps the coronavirus outbreak was indeed a deliberate biowarfare attack against
China, hitting that nation just before Lunar New Year, the worst possible time to produce a
permanent nationwide pandemic. However, the PRC responded with remarkable speed and
efficiency, implementing by far the largest quarantine in human history, and the deadly
disease now seems to be in decline there.
Meanwhile, the disease naturally leaks back into the US, and despite all the advance
warning, our totally incompetent government mismanages the situation, producing a huge
national health disaster, and the collapse of our economy and decrepit political system.
As I said, not particularly likely, but certainly a very fitting end to the American
Empire
But their government implemented public health control measures unprecedented in the
history of the world and managed to almost completely eradicate the disease with merely the
loss of a few thousand lives
And if you can't trust China's numbers, who can you trust?
The timing of an accidental laboratory release would obviously be entirely random. Yet
the outbreak seems to have begun during precise period of time most likely to damage
China
It almost sounds like putting a virus lab in the middle of twelve million people was a bad
idea.
Lol. I can't believe you're doubling down on this jackassery.
Mr Unz, also have you read David Cole's theory on this (at TakiMag)? I know you and him got
in blog beef a couple years ago over your Pravda article on Holocaust, but his theory also
criticized the Wuhan "lab leak" and believes the wet markets originated the virus while the
state lab was trying to cover up the "natural market" zoonotic mess. Would be fun to (again)
watch you 2 debate notes.
If I had told you a year ago that Iran would have its top General assassinated and then its
country decimated by a viral infection, that China would be a world pariah with calls for
trillion in reparations, that Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela would have a bounty on his head for
lol being involved in the cocaine trade, and that Kim Jong Un would be dead who do you think
would be the architect of this future?
Chinese elites or American ones?
American neocons are literally getting everything they want.
You can look at all of the damage to the American economy relative to China, but who is
really being hurt in America? Regular Americans are being hurt. But the elites are getting
bailed out and will buy US assets for pennies on the dollar.
"When considering the hypothesis of an American biowarfare attack, certain natural objections
come to mind. The major drawback to biological warfare has always been the obvious fact that
the self-replicating agents employed are not prone to respect national borders, raising the
serious risk that the disease might eventually return to the land of its origin and inflict
substantial casualties. For this reason, it seems quite doubtful that any rational and
half-competent American leadership would have unleashed the coronavirus against China."
Unless, of course, those in power knew exactly what that 'blowback' would entail, as they
had modeled it over and over, for years, maybe decades.
They would be in a position to crash the stock market (and get out at the very top),
assure a new alliance between the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury (allowing the elites to
use the American taxpayers to fund their losses indefinitely), destroy the middle and lower
classes through government ordered 'lockdowns' (driving down wages yet again, and making
Americans frightened, unemployed and angry, and thereby easily mislead like in the 9/11
aftermath), create a world political environment allowing medical tyranny to make universal
yearly vaccines and mandatory microchipping of everyone acceptable to the masses (ala Bill
Gates/Tony Fauci/WHO and their Pig Pharma vaccine brigade), drop the price of oil
indefinitely to fatally weaken Iran, hurt Russia and allow our predator capitalist banks to
scoop up the failing US shale oil industry for pennies (which they are fully preparing to
do), and ultimately allow the elites to perfectly time the inevitable deflation of the
world's derivatives bubble, further sending the commoners into complete panic mode (and
making their primal fears easily directed against the Western world's now common enemy, the
Red Yellow Hordes.)
Doesn't sound very 'incompetent' to me. Sounds like utterly evil, but undeniably
brilliant, military-economic planning. And it is looking like they may pull this one off,
just like 9/11, and get the scared and terminally gullible Western plebes on board for their
own further destruction economically, politically, and very possibly physically.
End Result: the PTB get to blame China for everything; make China foot the bill (or else);
and when China balks, prepare the West's gullible, easily controlled citizens for military
conflict if the Chinese don't roll over and cough up to the West's satisfaction.
Incompetence?
Sure looks to me like a neoliberal zionist-neocon elitist wet dream come true ..
@Otto von Komsmark If you believe that the virus originated in a wet market, what's your
theory on why China immediately allowed wet markets to open back up (albeit with guards
posted to prevent pics). Are they just exceptionally slow learners or do they realize that
the wet market theory was always bogus?
" the Chinese government began gingerly raising the possibility that the coronavirus may have
been brought to Wuhan by the 300 American military officers visiting that city, and was
fiercely attacked by the Trump Administration for spreading anti-American propaganda. But I
strongly suspect that the Chinese had gotten that idea from our own publication" not at all
improbable since said publication has a very deep current of slavish devotion to the Chinese
state; such that one might even strongly suspect that the publication is getting its ideas
from the Chinese totalitarians as much as the other way round. But since 'false flag'
theories are another popular concept in such discussions, it might be conceivable that the
human rights regime in Beijing deliberately released the mystery bug in China & Iran
first, in order to throw suspicion on the U.S. The Chinese & Iranian tallies so far have
been surprisingly low despite starting there earlier, so if they're not suppressing the
facts, maybe they knew what to expect & were prepared. And the brunt of it would then be
borne by their Western 'adversaries'. Not to mention, that the Chinese despots could
reinforce their iron grip on Chinese society with their customary contempt for civil
liberties. China's "current government is grotesquely and manifestly" incompatible with
personal freedom, more incompatible than "one could almost possibly imagine", with tens of
millions of Uighurs, Tibetans, dissidents, workers having now already paid with their lives
& freedom for such extreme incompatibility.
"Rationality and competence are obviously nowhere to be found among the Deep State Neocons
that President Donald Trump has appointed to so many crucial positions throughout our
national security apparatus" and certainly rationality, competence, humanity are never to be
found among Neo-cons anywhere. The President has been wise to largely ignore them. If Trump
had been President in '99, it's very likely that the absolutely unnecessary, devastating war
on Serbia by Hillary & Bill – based on deliberate lies – would never have
gotten off the ground.
President Trump now faces the daunting dilemma of how to protect the society while at the
same time not displaying the same disdain for political & civic freedom that is the
hallmark of the CCP. An end to America Empire would be a good thing – the President
knows that, as he again reiterated the trillions misspent in the M.E. at his daily press
conference today – but this isn't the way to do it. Only a Chinese communist or fellow
traveler could believe that.
"At the time, I was overwhelmingly focused on domestic political issues, so I only paid
slight attention to our one small military operation of those years, the 1999 NATO air war
against Serbia, intended to safeguard the Bosnian Muslims from ethnic cleansing and massacre,
a Clinton Administration project that I fully endorsed." And why should one believe our
government and media about "safeguard(ing) the Bosnian Muslims from ethnic cleansing and
massacre" any more than one should believe their other lies?
For most of this post, I can't say one way or the other. I personally think this was either
the result of the so-called "wet-markets" in China – long known to be the primary
source of the annual flu epidemics (why the heck haven't they been shut down??) or a
criminally NEGLIGENT release from a research lab.
But.
"China recognizes that it is vastly outmatched in any propaganda conflict, and so as the
far weaker party must necessarily try to stick closer to the truth, lest its lies be
immediately exposed. Meanwhile, America's overwhelming control over information may lead to
considerable hubris, with the government sometimes promoting the most outrageous and
ridiculous falsehoods in the confident belief that a supportive American media will cover for
any mistakes."
Nearly 30,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus during the last two weeks, and by
some estimates this is a substantial under-count
Quoted numbers of deaths are as unreliable as the number of infections.
Cause of death as stated in a death certificate is often, and even usually, wrong, and
during an epidemic caused by a virus that induces respiratory difficulty it is likely that
virtually all deaths due to respiratory dysfunction will be attributed to the virus without
confirmatory evidence.
Furthermore, virtually all deaths of persons testing positive for covid19 will be
attributed to the virus even though the deceased may have had multiple other diseases, any
one of which could have been the cause of death.
But as this epidemic is shaping up, it is likely that the estimated death toll will be
comparable to that of the seasonal flu in a bad year. Herd immunity is likely now widespread,
so the thing should fizzle out soon, with or without continued population incarceration.
Boris Johnson boldly declared that his own coronavirus plan for Britain was based upon
rapidly achieving "herd immunity" -- essentially encouraging the bulk of his citizens to
become infected -- then quickly backed away after his desperate advisors recognized that
the result might entail a million or more British deaths.
LOL. Neil Ferguson an Imperial College epidemiologist with an awesomely bad track record
in predicting the course of epidemics, made some such prediction which he soon modified to a
very much smaller number – 20,000 I believe, a number not yet reached.
In fact, the original plan was abandoned for fear that unrestricted spread of the virus
would result in a concentration of infections, which at the peak, would overload hospitals by
that minority of cases requiring hospital treatment.
Not just NWO ChiCom China of course– they're just the tool, the NWO
"Elites"/Globalists, who shipped USA Manufacturing to China and destroyed the Middle Class in
the USA etc., have made China the "Model" for us all -- "Social Credit Scores" for the Peons,
an authoritarian "Party" of "Elites" with all power, Peons having to get a "green" signal on
their cell phones every time they go outside . -- NWO Globalist "Elites" actually running the
CVirus show/"Production"/911 "Event" Part 2 -- "Invisible Terrorists Forever"–
meanwhile most "journalists" are cheering the loss of freedoms and anyone who points out what
is going on wants to "kill Grandma" is "Selfish" it's all about on a Junior High School level
but after getting away with 911 Demolition anyone not a rube, grifter/or in on it knew they'd
be back to finish it off– and so they are here with the Plandemic:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/elite-covid-19-coup-against-terrified-humanity-resisting-powerfully/5709479
Side note: Interesting the Mainslime Media is not all over China's Racism towards Blacks
as evidenced in their Ad here against "Diversity" and "Race Mixing"– they aren't
kidding! Seems ChiComs can do what YT could never .: https://twitter.com/sadir_Palwan/status/1250570077163925509
The Nanjing protests were groundbreaking dissidence for China and went from solely
expressing concern about alleged [sic] improprieties by African men to increasingly calling
for democracy or human rights. They were paralleled by burgeoning demonstrations in other
cities during the period between the Nanjing and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989,
with some elements of the original protests that started in Nanjing still evident in
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, such as banners proclaiming "Stop Taking Advantage of
Chinese Women" even though the vast majority of African students had left the country by
that point.
And if you can't trust China's numbers, who can you trust?
It's very true that China's numbers is perhaps the best numbers that you could trust.
Moritz Kraemer, a scholar at Oxford University who is leading a team of researchers in
mapping the global spread of the coronavirus, says China's data "provided incredible detail,"
including a patient's age, sex, travel history and history of chronic disease, as well as
where the case was reported, and the dates of the onset of symptoms, hospitalization and
confirmation of infection.
The United States, he said, "has been slow in collecting data in a systematic way.". The
article not only showing the chaotic situation in different states, but highlights the
limited information shared with scientific community. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/coronavirus-data-privacy.html
The WHO too only had high praises for China's transparency and efficiency.
The only parties challenging these are Trump, Mike Pompeo, and the US Intelligence. Make a
pick who to trust.
But in mid-March I came across several extremely long and detailed comments on the
coronavirus outbreak that had been posted on a small website by an individual calling
himself "OldMicrobiologist" and who claimed to be a retired forty-year veteran of American
biodefense. The style and details of his material struck me as quite credible, and after a
little further investigation I concluded that there was a high likelihood that his
background was exactly as he had described. I made arrangements to republish his comments
in the form of a 3,400 word article, which soon attracted a great deal of traffic and
80,000 words of further comments.
Although the writer said that he had absolutely no proof, he said that his experience
led him to strongly suspect that the coronavirus outbreak was indeed an American biowarfare
attack against China, probably carried out by agents brought into that country under cover
of the Military Games held at Wuhan in late October, the sort of sabotage operation our
intelligence agencies had sometimes undertaken elsewhere.
Oh God, that crap again. Some geezer who may or may not have any relevant expertise, had a
suspicion, but absolutely no proof, of a goofy theory that to launch a biowarfare attack on
China the US Government had the brilliant idea of having the agent released by a contingent
of 300 American soldiers participating in the international military games held in Wuhan,
China.
Is that a stupid idea, or what?
And anyhow, there is evidence just published in the Proceedings of the US National Academy
of Sciences that the viral epidemic in China did not begin in Wuhan and, furthermore, it
began earlier than originally believed, i.e., before the Military Games.
But we are dealing with a cataclysmic world event
Not really. Just a new disease out of China, one of many from China since the year dot,
which has a lethality comparable to the seasonal flu. The event is cataclysmic only because
of the economic consequences of the public policy response in most Western states, though not
Sweden.
@Ozymandias Hey Ozy, The Australians claimed to have suffered only 120 wu-wu virus deaths
total. The South Koreans claim only 250 wu-wu deaths total. In Ozy world, are they liars too
along with the Chinese? Or is it possible they have a functional public health system and
moderately competent politicians who decided to fix the wu-wu virus problem .instead of
playing golf and bullshitting the public for six weeks. The wu-wu virus death total in the
essential exceptional nation is now 42,000 and rising. No other country is even close. It's
like Trumpie heard the experts advise "fatten the curve" instead of "flatten the curve".
So, you "fully endorsed" Clinton Administration 1999 NATO air war against Serbia, and you
don't even know that it wasn't "intended to safeguard the Bosnian Muslims from ethnic
cleansing and massacre",
because war in Bosnia was already done long before 1999 (war finished in 1995).
a year or two ago I happened to come across a short article by journalist Jay Matthews
entitled "The Myth of Tiananmen" that completely upended that apparent reality.
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened, but was merely a
media artifact produced by confused Western reporters and dishonest propaganda, a mistaken
belief that had quickly become embedded in our standard media storyline, endlessly repeated
by so many ignorant journalists that they all eventually believed it to be true.
the protesting students had all left Tiananmen Square peacefully, just as the Chinese
government had always maintained.
the bulk of the mainstream media had fallen for an apparent hoax.
This is like saying the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre was a hoax because most of the
deaths occurred overnight, past midnight, no longer St. Bartholomew's Day, ergo "the St.
Bartholomew's Day Massacre" was a Hoax. Throwing the baby out with a technicality.
Checking the Jay Matthews story, I see this:
Hundreds of people, most of them workers and passersby, did die that night, but in a
different place and under different circumstances.
The Chinese government estimates more than 300 fatalities. Western estimates are
somewhat higher. Many victims were shot by soldiers on stretches of Changan Jie, the Avenue
of Eternal Peace, about a mile west of the square, and in scattered confrontations in other
parts of the city
Regarding SARS inability to spread further, that's why the glycoprotein 120 was added:
it's an external protein they borrowed from HIV and CRISPR'd onto the Covid-19.
Interesting enough by including this mechanism in the novel virus they have perhaps laid
the ground for future AIDS type syndromes in those who get the virus or some variant of it.
That's another topic deserving it's own crowd funded public research.
Much of the suddenly far reaching effects of this novel virus derive from the advent of
CRISP technology and the ability to fuse different parts of virus into one. Of course,
zoonotic transmission still needs to occur hence all the special grants to Wuhan Institute
and North Carolina in doing this type of research, going out and collecting the special virus
out of bat shit 600 miles away from Wuhan in caves in remote China, and feeding it to pigs
and chimps who die and the process is repeated until a stable virus is developed.
Interesting enough Dr Fauci is an expert on HIV and specifically glycoprotein 120. He's
worked to run private trial tests while working in the government probably for his Fort
Detrick buddies.
Everyone reading this article and still intrigued for more information out to check out
two key players that researching the origins of the virus and it's likely bioengineered
origins:
This virus has links to Fauci, research at Fort Detrick, as well as research carried out
in North Carolina and Wuhan that was paid for by grants from Fauci while running major
government groups.
It appears part of this operation utilized the NATO transport network for transporting
deadly diseases and nuclear material. In fact, one such courier was in Wuhan as an American
cyclist for the military games
But I digress.
The blowback part Ron mentions being the consequence of stupidity from the government are
possible but I think unlikely. If you follow parallel developments in geopolitics and,
specifically, finance (not withstanding all of Bill Gates work with companies to have a
vaccine ready to go ), you'll see perhaps the makings of a grand conspiracy to (1) cement the
strength of the dollar and (2) sequester Chinese economic growth and power all at once.
For this to work most of the government would not know what's going on and that probably
includes Trump. Plus, what better way to hide culpability than to inflict a wound on
yourself?
For links to articles discussing this topic see below:
Everyone is enjoying the screaming and paranoia but China (East Asia) has been producing new
and "wonderful" diseases for several thousand years. They used to have bacterial variations
but in the last few centuries have moved to designer viruses.
South China has wall-to-wall rice paddies where wild and migratory animals feed, drink and
sh*t with farm animals under the care of a billion or so humans with primitive concepts of
sanitation and minimal, to no, modern healthcare, so "rare" or "unlikely" bug mutations and
species "jumps" are just a matter of time. The wild birds of China Summer in Siberia and
Alaska with all the other birds of the world. The "Real" Globalism ..
The appearance of Corona variants in Kazhakstan, Iran, the Gulf States, and Israeli
ckickens, or the appearance of "pig flu" in Mexico, or the Spanish Flu (1918?) in Kansas, all
under major bird migratory routes, should not be too much of a surprise. Even if a US, UN or
Chinese agency finds it. Be aware that this used to happen before Boeing and AirBus joined
the game.
Be careful cleaning the poop off your windshield and/or yard furniture.
Damn flying dinosaurs are dangerous. If you find some poop with a "made in China" label,
call the authorities. They will love the warning about the poison from a flying Chinese
Communist dragon.
The coronavirus is serial! Thooper serial! Look at all these in depth political analyses
and ignore the facts in plain view!
Blowback is a particularly telling choice of word, since I remember Noam Chomsky using the
same term. He used it to add weight to the official 9/11 story by claiming the events were a
direct result of US foreign policy, which re-enforced the Muslim terrorist angle and stopped
people from looking for the real culprits.
Another great installment in the American Pravda series. I use to work in the federal
government and always wondered why employees of the Nationals Archives* needed a top secret
U.S. government clearance and why employees of Presidential libraries needed to have the same
security clearance as a nuclear submarine commander (top secret- sensitive compartmented
information). What secrets could there possibly be from 60 years ago?? Then it dawned on me
that it could never be known by the general public how their country behaves toward other
countries and why and how we go to war. We would lose all faith in our government.
I have only one small correction:
[Charles Lieber] was seized by the FBI in an early-morning raid on his Cambridge home
and dragged off in shackles, potentially facing decades of federal imprisonment.
He lives in a wooded suburban neighborhood in Lexington, MA, not in the city of
Cambridge.
On the one hand a bio-warfare attack on China is something I can absolutely see the American
elites post 9/11 do. Their track-record speaks for itself.
There have also been significant shifts in Europe's alignment, on which US global
dominance critically depends: the continuation of Northstream 2 against the explicit wishes
of the Americans, 5 G expansion and Huawei cooperation in the European market, plans of
replacing NATO with a European army (talks on the fringe of the right about a defense pact
with Russia), the Belt and Road trillion dollar project which has its better European name as
"The New Silk Road". Eurasian integration goes directly against the global dominance strategy
of the US Empire. Europe is also now caught between an intense and visible propaganda warfare
of the USA and China/Russia.
And there were also the proxy-war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis: the latter at minimum
a fallout of US-Israeli wars in the Middle East and the Zionist assault against Libya; yet
not unlikely itself a direct assault against Europe. And not only Willy Wimmer, closest
adviser to our old chancellor Helmut Kohl, strongly suspected as much already back in 2015.
Wimmer had been part of several war games in Langley in his time in the German government,
quite clearly reasoning that in modern warfare you cannot initiate a conflict without knowing
where the refugees will go – it is part of the planning process.
On the other hand we must recognize the long term and massive investments of for example
Blackrock and Vanguard into China; the ambitions to liberalize Chinese society and further
open their economy for foreign, especially US investments; the attempts of Zionism to set up
shop in China; the key role of Israel in the Belt and Road project and the admiration the
Chinese have for Jews and their material success.
If it was a bio-warfare attack and if the ambition is to lock the USA and China in
a new Cold War with potential proxy wars, then Americas financial and Jewish elite, which so
very much dominate the deep state neocons, must be of the opinion that their profits will not
be affected by it.
And if it was the long-term plan of Zionism and much of Americas financial, largely
Jewish, elite to shift their power-base from the USA which they have effectively subjugated
to the less secured China, then a bio-warfare attack would hardly be a smart move to keep the
transition as quiet as possible.
@if American biowarfare analysts were considering a coronavirus attack against China, isn't
it quite possible they would have said to themselves that since SARS never significantly
leaked back into the US or Europe, we'd similarly remain insulated from the coronavirus?
Obviously, such an analysis was foolish and mistaken, but would it have seemed so implausible
at the time?
Albert Einstein: "Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting
Different Results".
Moreover, in establishing whether a crime was committed, the criminal investigation has to
establish first that there was a motive, the means and the opportunity to commit the crime.
All these criteria are satisfied in this case pointing to a biological attack against China
and its allies.
The possibility of biowarfare (and its desirability) was unequivocally formulated in
September 2000 when the 'Project for the New American Century' released "Rebuilding America's
Defenses", a report that promotes "the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend
its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces."
The report also states, "advanced forms of biological warfare that can "target" specific
genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful
tool".
The first bioweapons research program was initiated in America by Sir Frederick Banting with
corporate sponsorship in 1940.
From Wikipedia (no secrets): In 1942 "U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson requested that
the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) undertake consideration of U.S. biological warfare. In
response the NAS formed a committee, the War Bureau of Consultants (WBC), which issued a
report on the subject in February 1942.The report, among other items, recommended the
research and development of an offensive biological weapons program.
The British, and the research undertaken by the WBC, pressured the U.S. to begin biological
weapons research and development and in November 1942 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
officially approved an American biological weapons program. In response to the information
provided by the WBC, Roosevelt ordered Stimson to form the War Research Service (WRS).
Established within the Federal Security Agency, the WRS' stated purpose was to promote
"public security and health", but, in reality, the WRS was tasked with coordinating and
supervising the U.S. biological warfare program. In the spring of 1943 the U.S. Army
Biological Warfare Laboratories were established at Fort (then Camp) Detrick in
Maryland".
The Chinese read their James Bond: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times
is enemy action".
It doesn't make sense to me that the US would fly drones over chinese pig farms half way
around the world in order to infect half the pigs in China with African swine flu.
Smithfield is the largest producer of pork in the US. Smithfield is owned by a Chinese firm.
So China is making up for their lack of domestic pork by buying their own US pork. How would
this risky venture benefit the US? Yet this was the accusation labelled against the US by
many Chinese. With zero proof.
The timing of this pandemic is very beneficial to the deep state, and the MSM is hyping
the heck out of it; and the CDC et al are pumping up the numbers to make it seems as bad as
possible. It's like they WANT a global pandemic. To crash the market and make DJT look bad?
That is what the Biden for drooling pres campaign videos are hyping already.
If there is a germ war going on, it is China doing it to its communist shit-hole self. I
don't know why anybody trades with them. The Chinese state literally kills Uyghurs and Falun
Gong and steals their organs, but they have favored nation trading status? wtf
It is fairly congruent with my own writeup from a few weeks back. Although I did not go so
far as to definitively endorse any particular theory. The idea of this all being an American
strike on China is the interesting hypothesis to me and fits my understanding of how
America's geopolitical toolbox might work best. There is also a case to be made that the
blowback stateside is a feature not a bug.
The United States could come out ahead in terms of the great game with China. But only if
it can play its cards correctly.
Ultimately, what enough people think about this whole situation is what will define
outcomes and right now things are on track for the bulk of the Chinese population to think
that this is an American attack and for a significant number of Americans to believe that
this is either accidental or deliberate Chinese action.
I think those popular attitudes are very valuable to their respective governments.
Devil's advocacy is always an important intellectual activity, but you seemed to have pretty
much pointed out the hole in your grand theory yourself.
If we're going to imagine the US gov't apparatus is competent enough to start the virus in
China, one would have to presume (if their collective IQ's approach anywhere near 90) that
they would also set up for the contingency that it might come to the US too.
Imagining otherwise is akin to thinking the US top brass have the intelligence of some of
those bonehead crooks who sometimes make the news for their stupid (and funny) attempts at
crime. The US top brass might be dumb, but c'mon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn5CvDgaZSc
I think we can safely assume that Lieber's arrest by the FBI had been prompted by the
coronavirus epidemic, but anything more is mere speculation. Those now accusing China of
having created the coronavirus might surely suggest that our intelligence agencies
discovered that the Harvard professor had been personally involved with that deadly
research. But I think a far more likely possibility is that Lieber began to wonder
whether the epidemic in China might not be the result of an American biowarfare attack, and
was perhaps a little too free in voicing his suspicions, thereby drawing the wrath of
our national security establishment.
Or alternatively, who would a laboratory whistleblower turn to other than a respected
Harvard professor, who would understand the technical aspects, and who he may actually
already have known and trusted?
Thus, we have America assassinating Iran's top military commander on Jan. 2nd and then
just a few weeks later large portions of the Iran's ruling elites became infected by a
mysterious and deadly new virus, with many of them soon dying as a consequence. Could any
rational individual possibly regard this as a mere coincidence?
An irresistible add-on like Larry Silverstein's extra insurance cover and payout.
One intriguing aspect of the situation was that almost from the first moment that
reports of the strange new epidemic in China reached the international media, a large and
orchestrated campaign had been launched on numerous websites and Social Media to identify
the cause as a Chinese bioweapon carelessly released in its own country.
Again similar to 9/11 with an instant media explanation trumpeted around the world (no
investigation necessary).
It therefore appears that elements of the Defense Intelligence Agency were aware of the
deadly viral outbreak in Wuhan more than a month before any officials in the Chinese
government itself. Unless our intelligence agencies have pioneered the technology of
precognition, I think this may have happened for the same reason that arsonists have the
earliest knowledge of future fires.
Agreed – they really messed it up – and it would be a world class irony if it
was their own virus that wrecks the US economy.
The Chinese embassy in Serbia is an interesting side story. However, as much as I disagreed
with why we were there, another Clinton abuse of office, China was apparently participating
as a combatant providing crucial signals support to the Serbian military. Topped off by
handling sensitive F117 residuals that we wanted destroyed. Or perhaps only some of US, given
various conflicts of interests in both Clinton globalism and sharing/planned obsolescence by
arms makers .
CV19
The "US did it" is a possibility that certainly should be addressed in the continuum of many
possibilities. I certainly would look for linkages between BHO
administration/Gates/academia/DeepGreen/China. China certainly does not act innocent,
covering up the early patients' stories and physical evidence a la our JFK scale.
As for US incompetence, the globalist media favors CCP; liberalism; Big Tech; Big
Medicine; the Democratic Party; along with the O/Clintonista FDA and CDC, have done
everything possible to hamstring accurate CV19 information amongst the citizenry, and
specifically against Trump. Huge TDS.
Months of near total shutdown on IV vitamin C, bowel tolerance dosing of vitamin C, high
dose vitamin D, quercetin and orthomolecular cocktails for prophylaxis and treatment. As well
as censorship and savage attacks on people trying to evolve the HCQ+AZM+zinc cocktail.
Prof Lieber's greatest "crime" is probably because he is responsible for saving untold
numbers of potential infectees, at least in the early stages https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2004/10/sensor-detects-identifies-single-viruses/
ie his work on virus detection & identification is why the Chinese government was able to
deal with the pandemic so quickly & effectively.
A bioweapon does Not have to have a high bodycount to work as intended; weapons of mass
destruction – even nukes (despite western brainwashing that they "ended WWII") –
have very few military applications and primarily target civilians.
Their main effect is disruption & demoralisation; in this Covid-19 has succeeded beyond
possible expectations.
The USA has patents for coronaviruses going back to 2003, post-SARS: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7220852B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US10130701B2/en https://patents.justia.com/patent/10130701
Whilst these are Not the Covid-19 variant, it goes to show that they can indeed be
vat-grown.
Even should the current coronavirus be a natural mutation, it can still be weaponised.
Many of the most fearsome pathogens such as smallpox, anthrax and the bubonic plague are also
natural-born killers. Supposedly they have been eradicated from the face of the planet,
safely existing only in military laboratories around the globe, for research purposes of
course.
The circumstantial evidence that Cov19 is a bioattack is enormous, and the likelihood of
US origin is pretty damning. The US government will be desperate to point fingers everywhere
else, and is using the tried&tested trial by media +obfuscation, rather than logic and
reasoning.
If hard proof of US culpability manifests then the appropriate level of China's response will
be "nuclear" (I don't mean actual nukes, but something like dumping US treasury bonds).
Meanwhile, the disease naturally leaks back into the US
How?
Is there specific information tracing this "leak" to China?
Is it possible -- is it even conceivable -- that the same logic that you detailed to tip
the scales in favor of US biowarfare against China can also suggest that the bioweapon did
not "naturally leak" into the US but was deliberately deployed against the people of the
United States?
Follow the money: the goal of (speculated) biowar against China was, as you wrote,
not to kill but to economically devastate a formidable competitor-turned-adversary (same
thing the US has been doing to Iran by sanctions since at least 1995 with Clinton's executive
order, made permanent by the D'Amato Iran Libya Sanctions Act).
The goal of biowar against the people of the USA is to cripple the economy, to Weimarize
American commerce and enable those left standing to scoop up the life's work and investment
of millions of entrepreneurs for pennies on the dollar, with the added travesty that those
left standing are supplied with dollars by the very taxpayers whose assets are being
snapped up!
The Chinese government lied and continues to lie about the virus.
The Wuhan leadership knew in mid December and arrested doctors who leaked the info and
destroyed lab records.
Xi likely knew no later than January 1.
There are thousands of wet markets in southern China and SE Asia, but only the one a short
walk from the Wuhan Institute of Virology allegedly was the source.
Chinese researchers worked in America to develop this exact virus, adding HIV to SARS, and
left in 2015 to work in Wuhan.
Chinese national was arrested in 2018 in Detroit while carrying live SARS and MERS
viruses.
Chinese scientists working in Canada were kicked out in 2019 for shipping stolen
biological material to Wuhan.
It was developed in the lab, but I suspect the release was accidental. The cover up and
letting the virus spread around the world was intentional.
Xi is fighting to maintain power. He might not succeed
The US government did fund the research of those Chinese researchers at UNC. They
continued to fund them in China.
China's economy had already stalled. Then it lost the trade war. Banks were failing.
Foreign companies were moving out. Xi used the opportunity of the virus to avoid the disaster
of economic collapse and to hurt the rest of the world after the Century of Humiliation,
China would rather take the rest of the world down rather than go down alone.
Although nearby East Asian nations such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore had
been at greatest risk and were among the first infected, their competent and energetic
responses .
Japan's reaction to the Corona virus is/was not competent and energetic, unless you want
to count the way how the Japanese government dealt with the cruise ship 'Diamond Princess' as
a resounding success. Send army recruits without protection to the ship, start with 10
patients, quarantine the entire ship, end up with 765 infected individuals, and then send
people [tourists] home. I live on one of the 4 big islands and there is no lock down here.
Below is a picture I took just now [what they refer to as a Junior High School], Tuesday, 21
April, 2020 ~16:00 P.M. fro the window of my apartment.
Judge for yourself.
No masks. No distance. No governmental guidance. Japan is run by bureaucrats and it
shows.
Thanks for the article. It was a pleasure to read.
According to this reconstruction, the Chinese government first became aware of the
seriousness of this public health crisis on Jan. 14th, but delayed taking any major action
until Jan. 20th, a period of time during which the number of infections greatly
multiplied.
This also fits in with an alternative explanation, which is admittedly wild but which I
would say is considerably less wild than the bioweapon-blowback theory:
J.Ross has proposed [ ] this whole thing may be a Chinese Communist Party 'Hoax,' in the
sense that while the 'new' virus is real (there are always 'new viruses'), the reaction was
at least 1000x what was necessary to deal with a bad flu strain and that China played it up
to scare people, especially the US. China's actions (mass shutdown) triggered a series of
events that scared everyone. But none of the data we have corroborate the Mass Killer
Apocalypse Virus fears. So what was this?
[MORE]
[This] theory would have it that the CCP's sudden about-face on The New Virus -- a
literally overnight about-face [Jan. 20] from "not a big deal" to "shut down a region with
60 million people, cue the Virus Apocalypse Movie film reels and the hazmat suits" -- was a
calculated bid to hurt the US and to hurt Western economies. By the time of the unexpected
about-face, they had 100% certainty it had spread to the US and elsewhere, AND that these
countries had the kind of media that would go into hysteria mode AND had the technological
capacity to do "testing."
This theory would attribute to the CCP a calculated bid to create a false virus panic
with plausible deniability ("so sorry! we didn't have the data! it was early; we reacted
the best we could; and hey even the highly-neutral WHO are calling us heroes") which would
scare people and trigger a series of events that throw the US and its satellites in Western
Europe into chaos, making the latter easier pickings for Belt & Road and Huawi
colonization, etc.; countries dazed by a mass-hysteria-recession are suddenly beggars, not
choosers.
The Chinese Communist Party's calculation would have been, on that fateful 'about-face'
evening, that the West was much less ready to handle a panic than Communist China would be.
It was a risk to them but it worked.
If this theory is right, in fact, the CCP succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. A case
of the dog finally catching the car bumper; what the heck now? The results for China's
regime itself are unclear, given that the cynical triggering of mass-hysteria-recessions in
major trading partners equates to a drought that sinks all boats.
The alternative, and many would say more plausible theory, is that the Chinese Communist
Party panicked, too, and reacted highly irrationally, taking a sledgehammer to a handful of
mosquitoes and then salting the earth where the flattened bodies of the mosquitoes landed.
Or a synthesis of the two may be true. It's hard to disentangle motivations. But the
unexplained 'about-face' is real and needs explanation.
In the end, does it matter? Even if we take the more innocuous version at face value: the
virus had nothing to do with bioweapons and simply mutated naturally from bats to humans, the
response of the West has been utterly atrocious either way.
We're now seeing a Yellow Peril 2.0 campaign ramped up at astonishing speed. The so-called
"liberal class", posturing as tolerant and sophisticated, is now trying to run on Trump's
right flank on China. Joe Biden's campaign ads on China are Cold War-style cariactures.
I've been seeing the consequences play out even in neutral places. I frequent quite a few
technology-related subreddits and the unmitigated hatred of China is truly a sight to be
hold. Even the most tangential topics get hijacked by zealots. For all the talk about how the
media's power is supposedly dimishing, the cattle is still very much influenced by what the
MSM tells them to think.
I hope Unz can syndicate some stories from The Grayzone, which I find to be the only
publication on the left which isn't in thrall with the DNC. Even Democracy Now! and Jacobin
are pushing state department scare stories on China. The total collapse of the American left
over the last 10-15 years is a greatly undertold story.
The alleged report by National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) is the most damning
piece of evidence if the report does exist. Here is the official denial:
"As a matter of practice, the National Center for Medical Intelligence does not comment
publicly on specific intelligence matters," Day said. "However, in the interest of
transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting
about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence
Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI
product exists."
So we are in the "Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied."
territory.
What is important is not that Channel 12 (in Israel) followed the ABC article but that it
added an extra bit of information which was not in the original ABC article that the report
was passed to Israel and that the IDF held a first discussion about it still in November.
Fooling some ABC reporter by offering her Trump damaging leak that Trump knew but did
nothing could be easy but getting a confirmation from Israel where presumably sources in the
IDF had to be involved it does not seem as a simple get Trump operation.
I don't think people understand the extent of collaboration between US and China including
Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) , It actually goes back to the early 1980's with
cooperation between USAMIID and WIV on Hanta Viruses. More recently extensive collaboration
between China and US on gain of function studies and virus hunting, especially with corona
viruses from bats. Ralph Baric UNC and Shih Zhengli from Wuhan have published papers together
. Funding of joint studies from USAMIID, NIAID, DARPA. NIH, etc. George Gao the Director of
Chinese CDC participated in the Event 201 simulation. There are many more ties. Google Wuhan
Biolake -a lot of global biotech companies there.
I dont think anyone can know the extent of the disease in China. After all a super
spreading virus from as early as November circulating in heavily polluted Wuhan, a city more
populated than NYC , which was also a major domestic and international transportation hub
with millions leaving the city for other destinations in China and internationally in the
weeks before Wuhan was locked down just before the New Year when everything shuts down for 2
weeks anyways. And yet the disease only spreads to Europe and US but not to any degree
outside Hubei province? Not believable.
And as for US deaths from COVID-19 being undercounted. Where is the evidence for that. CDC
has basically informed everyone to count a case as COVID based on suspicions (no positive
test needed). If a heart disease patient of 80 years old has a heart attack while also having
pneumonia its COVID-19. And those tests, they haven't been validated. There are many
different tests. We don't know the specificity of any of them. Very likely there are many
false positives. Also if a hospital can collect more money from medicare with a covid-19
diagnosis, guess whats going to be diagnosed more often.
So I am skeptical.
Now 30,000 deaths attributed to covid in 2 weeks is a lot. In a normal 2 week period there
would be 110,000 total deaths. So have there been 140,000 deaths in total, or just 110, 000
deaths with 30, 000 called Covid deaths? I dont know.
I actually expect more deaths than normal even without covid. Suicides. More deaths from
heart attacks and stroke due to financial stress and people delaying treatment out of fear of
getting the virus. More cancer deaths for same reason. Increased alcoholism and obesity
should trigger more deaths in the next few months.
One has to consider this an event on an international scale on a par with 9/11 in
magnitude and impact on freedoms. Curious how WHO declares pandemic on 3/11. Coincidence I
guess.
Lot of players in the Virus Industrial Complex stand to make a lot of money in coming
years as a result. The Globalists will push through digital ID and mandatory vaccination for
international travelers if not everyone and the Global Health Security Alliance (GHSA) will
be strengthened. The right will get tighter immigration controls and more bailouts for Big
Business. The left gets a taste of universal income and perhaps medicare for all (2009
pandemic helped get Obamacare approved). And the technocrats will get more toys for the
Surveillance and Tracking Industry with Big Data monitoring all the chipped individuals
health among other things. Cashless society to minimize virus spread pushed through so all
transactions can be logged. Everyone wins but the little guy.
And you can bet the Greenies will capitalize on this
Since the Virus Industrial Complex took over the Public Health Agencies in the 1970's we
have had endless Virus Scares, Swine Flu in 1976, Hepatitis B (1978) , AIDS in 1980,
MS-ME/CFS outbreaks (1984), HPV/Cervical Cancer (1984), HHV-6 (1986) , SARS (2003) , Bird Flu
(2005), Swine Flu (2009) , MERs (2012) Zika (2014) Measles (2014) Ebola (2015) and now
COVID-2019
See a pattern here?
We got virus finders/makers in academia and security /military agencies in the interest of
biowarfare defense and science working with vaccine and drug companies who receive funds to
develop treatments for these newly found/made viruses, in some cases before any human has
been infected. Reminds me of the time when those working for anti-virus software companies
were suspected of generating computer viruses to sell more software and be fastest to provide
the patch (since they created the virus). In any case, certainly a lot of interlocking
conflict of interests among members of the Virus Industrial Complex.
The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) of Ft.
Detrick fame has been partnered with the Wuhan Virlogy Lab since 1981. The Wuhan Lab has also
been partnered with college basketball powerhouse Duke University. Check out the Lab's
website. This facilityis a diagnostic lab not a bioweapons lab. The USA has bioweapons labs
located on the Chinese and Russian borders in Kazakhstan. Oh what a tangled web we weave .
I just want to say that we need to distinguish between conspiracy theory and conspiracy
hypothesis.
The out of Wuhan lab is a conspiracy hypothesis, or much closer to it. There is no
plausible benefit to the Chinese, and saying 'a disgruntled employee may have dun it to get
at dem dictators' is just speculation in the sky.
On the other hand the anectodal evidence for it being US action – the obvious
benefit, the time and place of the outbreak, the military games team, the precognition, as
well as how the CDC is not tracing patient zero in the US (if it was in China in Nov, surely
it could have been in the US then too, and then the whole propaganda story falls apart)..
Even the US crying wolf again, after so many times, is almost enough for me.
They are all anecdotal of course, but perfectly in line with the MO and historical
practice of the US government.
I now thank my friends when they call me a conspiracy theorist loon, as I point out that
Russiagate, Skripal, and so many of the government lines are pure conspiracy hypotheses
– one step further away from Kansas than my take!
Thanks for this first attempt to dig through the growing tale of corona. However, as we are
still in the fog of war, there can be no more then a preliminary assessment.
My take is still that Corona is far less of a threat then commonly believed, and that it
has been deliberately saddled with diverse agendas, so in any countries the leadership have
no interest in telling the truth.
1) I think there is sufficient proof that need not be repeated, and
2) it is better for everyones' mental health not to believe in killer viruses that force us
to abdicate even our most basic freedoms.
I believe that either a) the Chinese leadership thought that they were being attacked and
undertook their lockdown in good faith, or b) they played an outright GAMBIT to force western
countries into their own, more economically damaging lockdowns. The clue would be that China
is so strong that it can weather the blow, while Europe and to a lesser extend the US
cannot.
The director of the Chinese CDC, Dr Gao was part of Event 201 and studied in Oxford. Are
there dual loyalties in China? And then, in which direction?
Possibly, something minor was indeed released as a bioweapon, before, calculably, western
government incompetence and hysteria took over. I also believe that Israel used corona as a
screen for biowarfare-targeted killings in Iran, whose case is definitely a story apart.
The Russian lockdown can be explained by the serious assumption that if they did not lock
down they would be accused as the authors of a biowarfare attack on the US. At this point,
antirussian hostility in the West is so severe that they had to comply!
The coordinated actions across opposed political systems CAN be explained, and it does not
take a nutter to do it.
The majority of the American public still believe that a small group of Islamic
fundamentalists wielding only box cutters atomized the World Trade Center into dust –
in a cartoonish act of sorcery. If the lie is so big it has to become believable
– that amount of cognitive dissonance is simply just too much to bear. An already duped
population of such magnitude doesn't have much of a chance of coming out of this kind of
stupor, especially under the bubble of the most powerful propaganda machine in the history of
propaganda, therefore, I don't think this story is going to go anywhere.
Hi Ron! Your article for me is a breath of fresh air! Amidst what you accurately call the fog
of war it has been very hard to discern precisely what is going on in regards to this virus
situation. It's been extremely difficult to assert the "truth" or the "red pill" as some call
it when it comes to this pandemic. For that reason in fact, I would caution everyone that
cares about having a well calibrated "perception" sensor to tread with extreme caution when
it comes to this topic, as there isn't nearly enough evidence in any direction to assume one
theory over another. Faithfully adopting any one theory at the moment can only lead you to
become the equivalent of a 9/11 truther (the kind that obsesses about missiles, physics,
instead of the paper trail leading directly to Israel and Saudi Arabia).
Having said that there are just too many statistical improbabilities to simply brush aside
the Bioweapon possibility. I know quite a few influential figures in the alternative media
have unequivocally rejected all Bioweapon theories (specially the theory that the US/Israel
could ever conspire to spread a bioweapon) which is why I am very glad to see someone of your
Intellectual authority provide a credible well thought-out case supporting this increasingly
unpopular position (even in alternative circles). I get it, there is ZERO evidence to show
the US/Israel or even China are behind covid-19. But there is equally ZERO evidence to
support the official story (which is completely ridiculous until they provide more details)
about the guy that supposedly ate the covid bat.
With that disclaimer I will freely speculate below but keep in mind this is all
conjecture:
1. Anyone that claims is "impossible" for the US to let lose a bioweapon that would
destroy the US economy and kill Americans for the sake of hurting their "perceived" enemies
more needs to seriously examine EVERYTHING we know about the rulers of the American empire.
The first obvious question is who exactly rules the American empire? Are they righteous
rulers that make decisions based on what is best for the American people? The answer to this
question is a clear and resounding NO. The rulers of America follow a religion that states
anyone that is not part of their tribe is "cattle" and dispensable. On this grounds alone the
Rulers of America would have very little issue releasing a virus that kills (mostly) "cattle"
Americans. And then comes to "why would they tank their own economy" objection. To this
objection I'll simply point out that AMERICA IS RULED through financial coercion. A crisis is
very good for the rulers of America because they get to FURTHER consolidate their power over
America. Gaining more power over America, hurting your geopolitical rivals and ultimately
using the panic and confusion to pass draconian and more authoritarian rules are all
INCENTIVES for American elites to release a bioweapon.
Lastly, to everyone that says it's impossible for the American elites to tank their
economy and/or kill Americans in order to achieve a political objective has forgotten about
9/11! Our current rulers in Tel-Aviv paid a few saudi mercenaries to fly two airplanes into
the twin towers to kill a few thousands of people in order to go to war! Of course the
atrocity does not end there. A lot more Americans died as consequence of 9/11, even more were
affected economically and even a lot more lost civil liberties and standing in American
society. Right then and there you have a blatant and relatively recent event that almost word
for word matches the consequences of this virus. Considering this as a possible escalation of
tactics by the US/Israel against their enemies is a possibility. The US did drop the nuke of
an innocent, already defeated enemy. What makes anyone so sure this is beyond their "moral
code"
2.China decides to strongly stick by Iran, suddenly the Hong Kong protest springs out of
control, 50 percent of their pork is wiped out by a weird disease and now of course, the
mother of all "unforeseen" events kick starts a cascade of negative consequences for
China.
This is by far the most alarming set of "coincidences" of all. I remember last year
reading the Iran-China saga, as the Chinese refused to stop buying Iranian oil even as Japan
stopped buying oil after a Japanese tanker "coincidentally" was hit by a bomb in the Persian
gulf. Soon enough (if I am recalling correctly) a strange disease wipes out 50% of Chinese
pork causing possible food insecurity. Then came the Hong Kong riots that although started
for very legit reasons by the people of Hong Kong, soon enough had full on CIA spooks
speaking in the US congress, attacking people on the streets of Hong Kong! Lastly against all
odds these horrible events are somewhat weathered China and suddenly we have a pandemic that
not only damages China in the world stage, but serves as the perfect excuse to possibly
sanction, attack and possibly destabilize china.
Maybe I am completely paranoid or skeptical, but what are the chances of such a string of
events? Is there some data I am not privy to that can explain some of these coincidences? Is
there something to Chinese cultural norms that could explain these strange viruses literally
wrecking their economy and political stability? What are the chances all of these viruses
occur in a very short period and their severity and consequences directly correlated to
China's defiance of US orthodoxy on Iran/US hegemony?
Unlike some people here, I do not share the opinion that the Chinese government is some
sort of Angel or ideological ally. They are a government that ultimately acts on it's
interests and it's full of flaws (including exerting degrees of tyranny on their own people).
Having said that you don't have to be a communist to notice how strange this sequence of
events truly is. Bad things keep happening to China as it opposes US Hegemony. It might even
be statistically impossible for some of these things to happen by "chance", but maybe China
is just really unlucky, right?
But I do think that a careful exploration of previous Sino-American clashes over the
last couple of decades may provide some useful insight into the relative credibility of
those two governments as well as that of our own media.
During the Korean war, China used their Cats Paw North to invade the South then the
Chinese army intervened under the pretense of being volunteers. Although Chinese ground
troops were not directly involved, Vietnam was otherwise a rerun of Korea with China not only
defeating the US but forcing it to cease isolating China. Carter issued a presidential order
for officials to aid Chinese growth., and within a few decades as the internal unrest Western
pundits predicted failed to amount to much, it became obvious that China's growth was at the
expense of the workers of the US made jobless and suffering deaths of despair not least by
illegal synthetic opioids from China. But then, by the begining of new millennium all
manufacturing was in China, including the burgeoning fortunes of the already wealthy, who
rose on a high tide of inequality. If history was any guide a new Gilded Age must end with a
visit from the Four Horsemen. Pressaged by the appearance of the SARS-CoV virus eighteen
years before, SARS-CoV-2 appears likely to end China's run of successes, because of the
disruption it has caused to the US.
"The closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2 is a bat virus named RaTG13, "However, RaTG13
was sampled from a different province of China (Yunnan) to where COVID-19 first appeared
and the level of genome sequence divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 is equivalent to
an average of 50 years (and at least 20 years) of evolutionary change."
The important thing about the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not its lethality, which is about an
order of magnitude less than the original SARS-CoV of 2002, but rather SARS-CoV-2's extreme
transmissibility which is two orders of magnitude greater than its predecessor's. Anthony
Fauci warned the incoming US government administration in January 2017 of a newly mutated
coronavirus with extreme transmissibility and, apart from the greatly reduced lethality of
the massively more contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus, that is exactly what happened.
Unlike other nations, China had had no advance warning of the nature or existence of the
deadly new disease, and therefore faced unique obstacles.
They had the WHO and Fauci's public statements. Much more usefully China had the 2002
epidemic, caused by SARS-CoV which originated in China that year. In Singapore, there were
238 cases and 33 deaths from the SARS outbreak, in 2015 the worlds largest MERS-CoV outbreak
occurred in South Korea, and only the other year Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said it was
only a matter of time before Singapore had its first MERS-CoV case, so they had to be well
prepared. These countries were all set up and waiting to eradicate a disease just like
COVID-19.
A decision by elements of our national security establishment to wage biological warfare
in hopes of maintaining American world power would certainly have been an extremely
reckless act
Excuse me? With the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus having a puny death rate yet
colossal infectiousness a centralised authoritarian state like China would be relatively
speaking best able to suppress it. A bioweapon would be tested on Whites as well as Chinese
before being released. There is no way in Hell that they would not understand that releasing
the SARS-CoV-2 virus in China would result in it sweeping through the US.
If an "out-of-control disease epidemic occurring in the Wuhan area" back in November 2019 was
the same corona virus, then toss the idea it was intentionally timed to mess with the Chinese
New Year in 2020. But then figure the deaths in China have been greatly under reported.
Furthermore, China may well have allowed carriers to travel abroad, especially to USA once
the outbreak was well under way.
However, as regards the whole biocrime aspect of the corona virus pandemic we really
cannot rely much on either US government/media or the Chinese. And if it was a bioweapon, who
among "us" would be so keen to target Iran where over ten percent of their parliament got
sick very early on? That is an Israel First kind of agenda. Or maybe it was Japan? Good
investigators keep an open mind.
Note (This is not a subject change) Over the last several decades the American public
health system has regularly failed to adequately warn our citizens about the causes and risks
of numerous epidemics that have claimed many millions of lives. Or were all sugar drenched
foods advertised as "Fat Free" really a "healthy choice"? So I do not quite understand why
Ron Unz considers the corona virus the one instance of stellar government incompetence, as if
to imply the current lock down has not nearly severe enough?!? Thank god he did not invoke
the party line panacea of the Gates vaccine!
Meanwhile, what about Kushner's fast tracking mass surveillance? Will it only be
temporary? Will it only be used for containing CV19? Ha. Let's all step in the van with the
nice man who will give us a teddy bear
On top of this alleged biocrime, examples are abounding where the opportunists are eager
to grab more power, and make killings of a sort, not least of which are the banks, Wall
Street and the war mongers.
Remember, the farther the tide goes out, bigger the tsunami that charges back in.
I don't buy it. If the US was going to go to the extreme length of releasing a highly
contagious virus into the territory of its new Deep State certified arch-enemy China, the
risk of contagioning yourself is extremely high. Especially with global trade and travel as
it is these days. Preparations would have been made in advance to make sure it would not blow
back by putting appropriate people and methods in place. Its too easy to blame incompetence
for this oversight.
If you're looking for plotters, look no further than Wall St. They are making out like
bandits in the latest bailout.
@dimples Unless of course the blow back is a feature and not a bug, which it must be
admitted, it usually is. If the US economy takes an enormous hit due to blow back, which it
has, then China is set up as the next ultra-bad guy to replace Russia, Russia Russia!. It
then becomes the new fixation of the Deep State's wet dreams, a new Cold War where plenty of
money goes down the toilet into the MIC's pockets and plenty of opportunity for the heroic
Special Ops types to keep the Hollywood grist mill grinding.
The original source went to great lengths to make it clear a massacre did in fact occur
that night/morning, only it was taking place in other areas of Beijing and the victims were
mostly protesting workers, not students. (At least 300 of them, by Chinese official figures.)
A person reading Unz's summary will come out believing this did not take place, although the
Chinese themselves don't really deny it did.
@dimples This is a reasonable view in my opinion. If you look at previous US false flag
events, they come at periods when new directions are needed to perpetuate the US war
machine's supposed usefulness. The 1990 Gulf War was clearly a set up that came just as the
old Cold War was ending and prepared the way for 911 and the Iraq War, which capitalized on
the US bases that had been set up during the Gulf War.
Currently the Russia, Russia Russia! narrative is petering out. The US Deep State wants to
perpetuate it but the Euros don't really want a war with Russia, a huge market for them. So
continuation of Russia Russia Russia! risks a split with the Euros.
But China, a nice new up and coming enemy there. Yum yum. So Covid-19 could be a US false
flag effort in that direction it has to be admitted. Damage to US economy? Who cares, the
Deep State doesn't. Its immune, rolling as it does in government loot.
My issue with the 'it's not china's fault"argument revolves around the secrecy in the
beginning. And then the arrests of those sounding the alarm inside China. One would think
that if this was from elsewhere the CCP would be screeching bloody murder from day one NOT
trying to downplay it and outright lie about it. Didn't China use the same playbook with
SARS? Silence and then misdirection.
The actual number is 43000 dead Americans. The China narrative lacks hard evidence. There is
mounting evidence that COVID-19 pandemic originated in the U.S. and may have been a terror
attack perpetuated by the U.S., which is pursuing a massive expansion of biological weapons
program. According to scholar Kevin Barrett: "It also may be a coincidence that the primary
U.S. bioweapons lab, Fort Detrick, was shut down in summer 2019 over fears that weaponized
pathogens might escape. It may be a coincidence that absurdly under-performing U.S. military
athletes came to Wuhan for the World Military Games in October and have since been accused by
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs of being the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be a
coincidence that at the same time those 'athletes' were in Wuhan, the World Economic Forum,
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, and other Establishment titans
were hosting a pandemic simulation called Event 201".
Furthermore, "It may be purely coincidental that the virus appeared in Wuhan, home of
China's biggest biodefense laboratory, and China's biggest transportation hub, just in time
for the Chinese New Year, when most Chinese travel to visit relatives. Likewise, it could be
coincidental that the real-life COVID-19 pandemic almost perfectly mimics Lockstep, the
Rockefeller Foundation's recipe for a global police state emerging on the back of a
coronavirus-style pandemic", added Kevin Barrett. The U.S. regime unleashed this disease on
the world, and the U.S. regime has to be held accountable.
Your suspicions on this matter echo my own. I remember the Russian Government warning a
few years back that Western NGO's inside Russia had been discovered to be collecting DNA
samples of Russian citizens and that it was the opinion of the Russian Intelligence Services
that this information was being collected ny Western Intelligence Services for the purpose of
future biological warfare. When this outbreak in China made international news I remembered
the warning from the Russian Government. Then came the outbreak in Iran that killed many
Iranian political figures. Quite a damned coincidence if there ever was one?
If you ever run for state or national office and are on the ballot (or not) herr in
California you have my vote.
Look at a very partial list of the Chinese history of lying, almost by habit, just
in the last two decades alone!
China lied in 1999 about "massacres" committed by Serbia and bombed Belgrade to set up the
narcomafia organ-smuggling so called state of "Kosovo".
China lied about Saddam Hussein having WMDs and invaded Iraq in 2003.
China lied about "imminent massacres" and "Viagra rape" in Libya in 2011, and deliberately
misused a UN Security Council resolution to bomb and destroy that country and hand it over to
slave trading jihadi headchopper gangs.
China lied about Syria using chemical weapons from 2013 onwards, armed and trained and
financed terrorist gangs, conducted missile strikes on the country, and continues to occupy
and steal oil from East Syria.
China organised a blatant Nazi coup in Ukraine in 2014 and lied about it being a "popular
democratic revolution".
China murdered Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and lied about him being about
to conduct terrorist attacks when he was actually on a peace mission.
With just this partial list of Chinese lies in the last two decades alone, who would
believe anything China has to say?!?!?
Interesting article.
Especially, interesting for me, the aggressive arrest of a Harvard Prof' of chemistry for
technical irregularities in Grant paperwork, coincidentally at the time the virus emerges.
(we assume he personally wrote up those applications ? Imagine if everyone who had
written up a Grant application, which contained an error or two, in the US were to be dragged
off in chains by the FBI ? )
And also interesting the Belgrade Chinese embassy attack -- Mr Unz's materials put it in a
totally new perspective for me.
I suspect US gov been planning this attack for years. SARS outbreak in 2003, I suspect, was a
test, to test Chinese gov's response to bio attack. Note that SARS virus and the current
covid-19 virus aren't that different to be considered different viruses, hence covid-19 also
known as SARS-2. But the difference, SARS-1 had "kill switch", it wouldn't be able to infect
humans after a while.
During 2003 SARS, China acted swiftly causing the virus to be contained within China and
according to US gov simulation, covid-19 should've been the same, contained within China. But
China didn't act as swiftly as expected, causing the virus leaking back to US, this is why US
gov is furious, had China acted earlier, the virus wouldn't travel back to US.
The killing of Iranian general, it wasn't act of recklessness, it was diversion, so that
the Iran gov would be occupied by it while ignoring coronavirus spreading silently in their
country.
Ron, my friend (sort of), if you think you have trouble now what with COVID-1, impending
national bankruptcy, and a general flow of information that seems to have been some of the
most creative fiction in our lives, just wait until you manage to invite China into US civil
disputes. Our present difficulties are as nothing compared difficulties subsequent to direct
Chinese involvement in civil matters.
Historically, third party intervention quite often leads to foreign domination. Examples: US
in Afghanistan, US in Iraq (twice). Both time, native citizens thought it a great idea to
invite the US in.
And why do I say this? Well, you're presenting China as morally wronged. In your frame of
reference, that's an absolute, more important than anything else. But it's not the only
interpretation. Perhaps China committed an act of war by giving tactical help to the Serbs.
Perhaps that violation became severe when China gathered F117A wreckage. Perhaps China is
lucky that bombing the embassy was all that happened, and we are all lucky that things did
not escalate. This is actually less of a fantasy than your account, which is at best a bit
one sided, almost a "point and sputter".
In the US, such accounts are the precursor to advocacy. You should consider carefully the
consequences of advocacy in this case.
While I think the first part of the article is very interesting, and I acknowledge the
theoretical benefits that could exist from the US using COVID as a bioweapon, I find the
argument unpersuasive for the following reasons:
Obvious blowback : If the US infected China with a highly spreadable disease, why
did we not put in more aggressive measures to stop it from spreading in the US? Otherwise,
what's the point of hurting your enemy if you also get hurt? If the US was going to attack
China with a bioweapon, why would they not engineer a genetic/ethnic bioweapon that targeted
Han Chinese, as oppose one that could also kill everyone? Seeing the economic damage this has
done to us, it seems unlikely that such a contagious weapon would be the one an actor would
pick, as it would risk damaging their own homeland.
China has always been a hotbed of disease : A third of China's history has them
facing an epidemic of some sort. The 1957 "Asian flu" , 1968 "Hong Kong flu" and 1977
"Russian flu" all started in China. The black death probably started in China. Seems far more
likely that recent disease outbreaks are part of a historic trend, or gross Chinese
conditions, rather than a bioweapon attack.
On April 11, 2020, Gilad Atzmon published here an excellent article titled "A Viral Pandemic
or A Crime Scene?", in which he suggests circumstances have now created 'a paradigm change'
in the perception of the current viral pandemic.
He states: "Since we do not know its provenance, we should treat the current epidemic as a
potentially criminal act as well as a medical event. We must begin the search for the
perpetrators who may be at the centre of this possible crime of global genocidal
proportions." I concur.
All Americans (and others) who believe in China's culpability for the emergence of this
virus, should welcome such an investigation. And Mr. Pompeo, who so firmly plants the full
responsibility on China's doorstep, would receive vindication of his claims. I believe that
the governments and the people of China, Italy, Spain, France, and Iran, especially would
like to know the results of such a criminal investigation.
All nations of the world should band together now, and proceed jointly with this endeavor.
It needn't be approached with presumption of cause or intent, but simply to uncover the
entire truth of this event. That will be sufficient, and it is possible the results of this
worldwide investigation will prompt others into similar past events which have to date gone
unquestioned and unexamined.
I believe there are yet many truths about COVID-19 (and many other epidemics) still to
emerge. Perhaps one of the many people with personal knowledge of the source and method of
distribution will be sufficiently brave to come forward, perhaps another Edward Snowdon or
Chelsea Manning. We will then see how truly the US treasures its whistle-blowers.
**
The US needs to answer this question: HOW could US 'intelligence sources' possibly have
known in November – or even October – of a potential pandemic of COVID-19 that
would erupt – specifically in Wuhan – two months later? (Or that was already
erupting in Wuhan at the time, unbeknownst to the Chinese?). I believe the entire world would
demand the answer to this.
**
In early March the US government declared as classified all COVID-19 information, with all
communication to be rerouted through the White House and coordinated with NSC officials. Only
specified individuals with security clearance are permitted to attend secret meetings, with
no mobile phones or computers allowed. Excluded staff members claimed they were told virus
information was classified "because it had to do with China". The US needs to explain the
need for such extreme secrecy (while condemning China for lack of transparency), and how
coping with a domestic virus epidemic would involve China.
China, Italy, and several other nations in Asia and Europe have documented proof that
COVID-19 was circulating in their populations for several months before the outbreak in
Wuhan. And there are many, many reports, including from physicians, that infections in the US
were occurring as early as September, of 2019. These claims are too numerous, too detailed,
and too similar to be ignored. Japanese TV and press documented that Japanese tourists
returning from Hawaii were coming home infected with COVID-19 in September.
Why was Dr. Helen Chu issued a threatening "cease and desist" order to stop testing nasal
swabs her flu research team had taken in Washington State from October 2019 onward? The only
possible result would be to prevent the knowledge emerging that the virus had already been
circulating months earlier. As a rule, the reason we don't ask a question privately is
because we already know the answer, and the reason we don't ask the question publicly is
because we don't want anyone else to know the answer.
The US government needs to address the now-certain existence of the virus being widespread
in America and much of the world from September, 2019.
Your globalists and anti American tendencies come out in the first part and the last few
paragraphs of your piece. I didn't read most of the rest of your long winded article.
Bottom line, the Chinks infected the world whether by incompetence or deliberately. They then
intimidated the world with their economic might and with the help of their lackeys in the WHO
and the PC/shit lib elite in the West to keep the flow of infected people to keep coming into
the West. Italy is the tragic example but you can include the rest of the West including
America where that old bag Nancy Pe-lousy was celebrating in China Town in late February.
They, the PRC, should be made to pay reparations.
Not to dismiss Ron Unz's reasoning outright, but it has been claimed that the virus cannot be
the product of direct genomic manipulation.
That's barring any breakthrough in genomic manipulation techniques, a breakthrough that
would have to be kept secret. What these scientists have said is that publicly available
techniques would have left traces in the viruses genome. They claim that any such traces are
absent from the virus's genome.
If that holds up, then the only remaining possibility would be a virus that was bred. It
could have been bred by taking the bat virus and passing it through other types of animals,
selecting for increased virulence. It has been claimed that ferrets would fit the bill since
they have the same ACE2 receptor as humans. Ferrets are easy to handle under laboratory
conditions.
If the US deep state did something like this, then their reasoning would have to be on
what lines? "Let's take this virus that we have bred to dock very easily onto the human ACE2
receptor and set it loose on the Chinese. The virus will devastate them will they still be
able to contain it – so that there won't be too much blow back."
Maybe they misjudged the product of their virus enhancement effort. Still, it needs be
kept in mind what presuppositions have to be put in place for the blow back theory to
work.
I tend to doubt that Chinese leaders have any overwhelming commitment to the truth, and
the reasons for their greater veracity are probably practical ones.
Their reasons are extremely practical:
1. In the absence of national elections they are free to make realistic promises. Since
they have kept every promise they've made to date they have an investment in staying honest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-year_plans_of_China
,
2. In the absence of factions like our Republicans and Democrats, there's no-one to blame
or pass the buck to, nor lie competitively, nor attack proposed or existing policies. There's
no 'them,' there's only 'us.'
3. The Chinese have always been willing to make sacrifices now for benefits later, which
incentivizes being honest up front.
4. Telling the truth is cheaper in the long run, which is one reason China has the
cheapest government on earth.
5. People are much more willing to cooperate with truth-tellers. Governing is infernally
difficult and being truthful makes it vastly easier.
6. Straight talk, especially from leaders, is attractive (Trump's appeal to his base is
that he occasionally blurts out something true). Asked on TV how it felt to be President, Xi
said, "People who have little experience with power–those who are far from
it–tend to regard politics as mysterious and exciting. But I look past the
superficialities, the power, the flowers, the glory, the applause. I see the detention
houses, the fickleness of human relationships. I understand politics on a deeper level."
Imagine an American politician talking like that.
7. Smart people tell the truth more often than dumb people. People out of their
intellectual and experiential depth, which our politicians usually are, tend to lie. The
average IQ of China's top 5,000 political leaders is 140 and all of them have 25 years
successful governing experience. They're professionals who are less likely to lie than your
brain surgeon.
@Otto von Komsmark I've read the Chinese are proud that they'll "eat everything under the
sun". China is a very old culture. People might have differing opinions, but I think it
strange that now we have all these cross-overs from the animal kingdom.
@animalogic I think it was Zero-hedge that said the professor lied about his Chinese
funding, making him in effect an agent of China. That's not some burocratic form error.
I think the article is a good summary but the author is also guilty of embellishment. For
example, he used the word "concerted" at least twice, when he has no proof of that.
Having grown up with in the University of Chicago South Side Chicago neighborhood , then
lived in racial, criminal, immigration anarchy New York City 1985-91
, I m rarely if ever surprised about national or international events. The seemingly
incomprehensible views and policies of American, diaspora, Neo Conservative, Hollywood,Wall
Street Jews makes sense in awful ways:
They hate us – want us replaced
Madeline Albright (How did this ugly woman from Central Europe get to be USA Secretary of
State? Why did she demand bombing the sh&$ out of the Serbs to creat a Muslim beach head
in Central Europe ? What is she ? Catholic? Episcopalian Christian? Oh she s Jewish again but
wants to convert to Islam to protest President Trump s proposed Muslim immigration plan).
I look at this Chinese Kung Flu Coronavirus and just note how sensible nationalist
governments/societies in Japan, Taiwan, Hungary, Slovakia and of course Israel handle it:
Strict, zero tolerance immigration, student visas from Coronavirus plague infected areas
– also no millions of Muslim young male migrants.
Pretty much no one in these sensible nationalist societies care if Jews at the SPLC, The
Atlantic Magazine, or National Review, CPAC or the Wall Street Journal scream that they
are:
RACISTS
FASCISTS
NAZIS
It s probably too late in my life to try to learn Hungarian or Japanese.
But I think I/we should all try to learn translations of :
"Shut up Jews"
"Support Israel the homeland of the Jews so go home"
Life isn t complicated .
It s the same with terrible Black AA ga g murders in my Chicago . same with TB, bubonic
plague heroin addicts street people in LA's Skid Row, Gypsy no go places in Romania or
France.
From Ron Unz's article linked above on the Canadian kidnapping of the Huawei billionaire's
daughter, Ron himself said something which points to the perhaps deeper truth here
In that piece our host Ron suggested that the clear best course for China, was to put the
squeeze on USA Jewish billionaire and political king-maker Sheldon Adelson, the big political
funder of Trump and US Republicans etc Adelson being the casino king of Macau who earns most
of his billions there under Chinese authority, Adelson being able to get the Huawei exec
released with just a phone call to Trump, if Chinese would just walk into Sheldon's casinos
and threaten shutdown
China never moved to touch Sheldon's businesses in China, and as I said at the time, this
is because of the deeper frightening truth, that the big powers tend to work together behind
the scenes, even whilst in public disputes, like high school football teams in rivalry
Chinese media accuse the US of creating a bio-weapon, US media accuses China of the same,
the classic rivalry of Orwell's 1984
Both governments share motives of culling pensioners as covid-19 does; distracting from
incipient collapse of excessive economic debt; establishing greater elite surveillance and
control; and enabling elites to buy and own ever larger sectors of global economic life; in
other words the classic 'NWO' of conspiracy talk.
Half a century ago, Antony Sutton proved that 1940s-1970s USA had been transmitting tech
to the old Soviet Union (often via Israel), to create the 'Best Enemy Money Can Buy' the Cold
War was essentially fake, and Putin came out of that, and continues trading favours with the
USA Putin doesn't question 9-11, USA doesn't question false flags in Chechnya etc
Sites like the 'Secret Life of Jews in China' show how European Jews were part of China's
Mao revolution, even becoming politburo members Chabad centres abound in China despite few
nominal Jews there, linking hotlines to Jared Kushner's Chabad centre in DC and 'Putin's
rabbi' Berel Lazar in Moscow
One has to go one level above the US vs China mudslinging, and consider it is all likely
as fake and staged as was US-Soviet rivalry China and the USA may well be working together on
covid
--
The idea that Covid-19 was a bio-weapon deployed in China by the US visitors to the late
2019 military games, was promoted early on by Veterans Today (VT) where Unz's Kevin Barrett
hails from. VT is a website widely-read by world governments, despite its partly kooky and
ridiculous articles about space aliens etc
Gordon Duff, co-chief of VT, said out loud in a radio interview – where he also
outed himself with a chuckle as a 'self-hating Jew' – that 30% of the material on his
site is intentionally false and ridiculous, as the price he must pay for publishing true
'intel drops' without getting shut down / murdered by the US gov't in intel-speak, this is
called 'poisoning the well', you publish the most damning truths on self-discrediting sites
like VT or David Icke, where the typical reader easily dismisses truth because it's published
next to articles about space alien lizards ruling planet earth
@Mustapha Mond Yes, what if the chief objective was not to hurt China by disrupting its
society and economy but to make the whole world angry with China. Ron Unz article is the
voice crying out in the desert which will not stop the tsunami of memes: WuFlu ,
China did it , China must pay for our sufferingWe must punish China.
that has been whipped up from the very beginning and only will be getting loader and
stronger.
Some of the things you list are to benefit the insiders. No little thing that could bring
profit will be left to chance. It is just like when World Trade Center being transferred from
Port Authority before 9/11. Was it critical to the operation? Could they get the terror event
if WTC was not owned by Larry Silverstein? Yes, they could but few extra bucks could have
been made with Larry Silverstein being the front man. Or just when American troops were
entering Bagdad, who and when organized special outfits who systematically were visiting
Bagdad museum and looting it according to the shopping list?
Ron Unz is underestimating their evil and abilities.
@Ozymandias If "they" were going to do such a thing, how would they go about it, and what
would have been their thinking?
Deliberately engineered biological agents can often be detected by careful analysis of the
pathogen's genome. Bioinformatic programs can detect odd sequences that shouldn't belong; the
chances of a purely natural explanation for the inclusion of some sequences are rare, for
instance. Let's say I wanted to create a super virus capable of destroying humanity. One
obvious way to do this would be to take viral sequences from certain dangerous pathogens and
combine them into one. That might do the job, but obviously there is a risk that comes along
with doing with that: current sequencing and bioinformatic techniques may quickly discover
such an act and invite retaliation by the victim. " That shouldn't be there! " If half
of China started dying of a mysterious virus composed of sequences from various unrelated
viruses, then obviously there is an attack underway because the chances of such elements
coming together in nature is very low, practically zero. A response would likely follow in
short order.
Is there a way around this? Maybe.
There are several odd things about Sars2 (Covid-19) that I haven't seen before: 1) it
spreads in contravention to how -- some -- previous viruses we've dealt with in recent memory
have spread. Specifically, there are a higher-than-expected number of cases are transmitted
before the patient become symptomatic with this virus. This is why initial airport screenings
failed to stop the virus from entering the United States, aside from lax screening*. In the
past, most of these viruses like MERS and SARS weren't particularly contagious when the
infected carriers were asymptomatic, so simply checking their body temperature with a
thermometer and following up with contact tracing was enough to stop the spread. 2) unlike
both SARS and MERS, this virus is remarkably contagious for a novel pathogen, even moreso
than the flu 3) this virus may have a very long asymptomatic phase, up to two weeks in some
people. One explanation is that something similar is true of other viruses that cause the
common cold and the flu but we haven't really noticed it before because those viruses are
comparatively less lethal. If you believe in a conspiracy, on the other hand, this would be a
feature deliberately engineered to ensure maximum transmission.
Elements of the conspiracy:
1. This outbreak happened just before Donald Trump's reelection campaign got underway and
during crucial trade negotiations. Maybe they wanted to put pressure on the Chinese
government to increase Trump's chances of getting reelected. His approval ratings according
to 538 have been stuck in the low to mid 40s for essentially his entire presidency. He needs
a consistent approval rating above 47% or so to ensure a high chance of reelection.
2. This happened just after a failed Hong Kong color revolution by youthful protestors.
Many of the signs held by protesters included the kinds of things a boomer FBI agent might
think would curry favor with the 4chan crowd -- pepe the frog, various slogans. It failed, in
part, because that crowd didn't buy it. Hong Kong protestors were relentlessly mocked on some
alt-right websites as morons wanting to deliver their people the "freedom" enjoyed by the
West: dozens of genders, speech laws, feminism The case of a Canadian waxing salon being
forced to wax a male-to-female transgendered person's genitals was prominently used to mock
Hong Kong protesters demanding Western freedom.
Conspiracy:
The CIA may have bred a virus to be easily transmissible but much less lethal than the
original SARS virus that made the headlines years ago. They may have expected the virus to
spread quickly in China and panic the Chinese population, undermining faith in the government
so the CIA could once again try to overthrow their rival. They never expected it to come back
on them.
If one were going to create a viral agent guaranteed to escape detection as an artificial
construction, one might do the following: take a known virus indigenous to the targeted area
and breed it in animals native to the area (bats) so that it spreads undetected until
symptoms present while having a traceable lineage when examined with bioinformatic software /
select it against human tissue samples in vitro so that in infects human cells easily.
The former technique might leave behind a tale tell signature: the virus has a long
incubation time within the host. Why? Well, some animals have lower resting body temperatures
than humans. This can affect which pathogens are able to infect them. Pathogens that have
evolved to replicate at one temperature may not replicate very well under another one.
Animals like opossums and hibernating bats are less likely to die from rabies infection, for
instance, because they have lower body temperatures, among other factors. Humans and dogs are
not so lucky because both have higher body temperatures where the virus can replicate more
easily. It's sort of strange how SARS2 (Covid-19) takes so long to clear in some patients --
up to two weeks or more. Maybe this occurs because, despite being able to easily infect human
cells, it replicates poorly at first because it is adapted to bats, which often have a lower
resting body temperature. Although, it is possible this could occur naturally as well.
The latter can be done by infecting cell cultures in dishes and examining which cultures
became infected and to what degree. This can be done by measuring viral titers -- dilute
extracted cell culture liquid, filter out cells and bacteria, apply diluted mixes to new
cultures, examine results, selected superior viral lines for continued manipulation. There
are lots of ways to set this up. Maybe you tag your viral proteins with a florescent protein
and examine after some period of time; the more virus that is being made, the stronger the
signal. Select that particular culture and continue.
Point: there are lots of ways to do this, some pretty simple (but probably expensive,
dangerous, and time-consuming nonetheless -- which is why dumb Middle Eastern terrorists
haven't tried it so far). The important thing is that such a set up would avoid including
obviously unnatural elements that could never be explained by random chance -- the inclusion
of sequences from other viruses, for example. This might come off looking natural, even if
remaining mysterious to the outside observer.
*The American government was warned about this virus but didn't take it seriously.
Explanation 1: Trump and his advisers are greedy imbeciles (more likely). Explanation 2: the
American government didn't expect this to be a big deal because they created it to be less
lethal than previous viruses, perhaps not understanding that a lower death rate over a larger
population would result in higher casualties (less likely).
Americans arriving at JFK from locked-down Italy are shocked by the lack of US
screening for coronavirus
1) Trump is a loudmouth and a braggart. If he knew ANYTHING about this, he probably would
have let it slip by now. Elements of the British government have had to restrict some
information they share with the Americans for fear that Trump would leak it to his friends
during his then regular discussions with people over unsecured lines. Would the CIA really do
something extraordinary like this without his knowledge?
Points in favor:
1) The UK, a country that often works with the Americans to do nefarious things, didn't
take this very seriously, either. They acted as if they didn't expect this to be a big deal.
Other countries that usually don't work that closely with US intelligence to the same degree,
have taken Covid-19 seriously even if they have failed to contain it. Although, this is
probably wrong. The nations that have dealt best with this are the ones that have had lots of
previous experience with similar viruses and whose populations are naturally more inclined to
work together.
2) The timing and location of the viral outbreak. Isn't Wuhan a major transportation
hub?
One thing I notice is how crisply written this is, compared to the very dense, plodding
style that characterizes much of his previous work
A very good overview of the situation and a thoughtful analysis of the finger pointing
that's going on
Regardless of whether the lock down measures have been an overreaction or not, most
reasonable people will realize that we may never know what might have been, had we not locked
down
Would the health system have been able to cope ?
What would happen when hospitals are overwhelmed by serious respiratory cases ?
China's very forceful reaction now looks absolutely brilliant
That extremely energetic reaction also hints that the Chinese leadership may have
suspected an attack
". ..the current accusations by Trump Administration officials that China had
attempted to minimize or conceal the serious nature of the disease outbreak is so ludicrous
as to defy rationality. "
This assertion is absolutely untrue, as most readers who have followed this story early on
will know. You conspicuously left out of your conspiratorial musings the news of the
"whistleblower" Wi Leniang, the 34-year old ophthalmologist who had worked at Wuhan Central
Hospital, and had already alerted his colleagues late last year about a suspicious viral
outbreak, for which he was subsequently arrested and punished by authorities. Millions of
people in China are familiar with his tragic story – he eventually died.
On January 9 the World Health Organization released the following press statement,
providing sufficient information that would have warranted or obliged the authorities to have
immediately closed the Wuhan airport and train station to prevent the contagious spread of
the virus to other regions of the world through unwittingly infected carriers.
Instead, authorities waited two entire weeks before closing the Wuhan airport, during
which time the virus spread inevitably to other countries through the many international
passenger flights. According to military game theory, such inaction would surely benefit
China, which could better deal with an outbreak, whereas most other countries would suffer
more severely in comparison. For this reason, regardless whether the release of the
presumably engineered virus was released intentionally or accidentally, the Chine government
is culpable for having allowed the pandemic to evolve. So at least in this particular case
the allegations of the Trump administration are correct.
Your narrative omitted these indisputable facts, which you then denigrated as " so
ludicrous as to defy rationality ", yet after a Communist Party meeting in mid-February,
some of those responsible for having minimized or concealed the serious nature of the
outbreak were officially "demoted" (received a slap on the wrist):
Those who praise China's alleged competence in the matter have a dilemma to deal with.
Either the authorities are competent, in which case they effectively waged biological warfare
against the rest of the world (using incompetence as plausible deniability of intent) in
order for their economy to come out ahead, comparatively, in the long run, compared to a
situation where only their own economy would have suffered by effective early containment
measures; or else they were indeed incompetent, that an accidental release from one of their
labs in Wuhan becomes even more plausible than it already is. Either way, the focus of
inquiry must remain on China, rather than conducting an exercise in reflexive exoneration.
Fantastical insinuations pointing the finger elsewhere, for which no strong evidence has been
presented, are just a distraction.
Accidental releases have been known to occur, but apparently only the level-4 lab in Wuhan
was known to have been working on enhancing those bat-based viruses with gain of function
properties and chimeric qualities.
Your entire conjecture about the strong likelihood of US culpability essentially rests
almost entirely on the vague notion of " extreme recklessness ", which in such
dangerous matters, as the release of deadly viruses, appears to be significantly less likely,
from an analytical perspective, than an accidental release from a biological lab in
Wuhan.
While your lengthy article shows the possibility that the virus originated in the US and was
spread intentionally, with a lot of trust developed by our own Dr. Fauci of the NIAID and $37
million in grants (long before Trump) to study bat coronaviruses in collaboration with China,
I think you are missing one important feature.
Trump and his neocon clown car are loathed by the Intelligence Agencies. Unlike Obama, who
loved to have the CIA "playing" in his sanctioned, National Emergencies countries (Yemen,
Libya, Venezuela, Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Burundi), backing
coups in Egypt, Honduras and the big one, Ukraine, and delighting in droning and expanding
Bush's two wars into 7 or 11, depending on how you count, Trump for all his idiotic saber
rattling has started no wars; Bolivia is his only coup, Nicaragua his only war-like National
Emergency. You may have missed the events of Russiagate and Ukrainegate, built on incompetent
spycraft, and an impeachment started by a CIA "whistleblower", but to give Trump credit for
something as devious as an obvious CIA op (by your own speculations) seems disingenuous. Much
more likely the CIA (whose hubris and incompetence rivals Trump's) likely were running this
operation from at least when the first bat coronavirus grants were sent to Wuhan (2011? 2015?
I've read both). My guess is the CIA did not even share their brilliant idea with the
loathsome Trump, as he would have likely squashed it as he finally did with John Bolton's
out-of-control machinations. I think the CIA sees the spectacular failure of their operation
as a chance to embarrass and likely overthrow Trump. If they had destroyed the Chinese
economy, they would have taken full credit, as it is, they look masterful in re-establishing
the Establishment, and ridding themselves of a non-supportive Trump.
Coronavirus catastrophe? Even though the CDC has been accused of exaggerating the number of
deaths from the Coronavirus by allowing doctors to assume , without testing ,someone died
from it, the number of deaths are not alarming . According to the CDC's provisional
statistics posted on April 20,2020 , from February 1 to April 18 ,2020 there were only 15,252
deaths from the Coronavirus out of a total of 603,184 deaths from all causes ,in a US
population of 327,167,434 . For the one week ending April 11 there were 5483 COVID-19 deaths
and for the one week ending April 18th there were only 568 deaths . cdc.gov . Deaths from the
Coronavirus appear to be on the decline in mid-April ,just as they often do in a typical flu
season as Spring returns in the Northern hemisphere. As a number of doctors have observed the
lockdowns, social distancing and unemployment resulting from the draconian measures taken by
Governors across the US are leading to an unprecedented number of cases of depression and
suicides.
It is well established,that people who are depressed end up with many types of illnesses due
to their compromised immune systems .
The tragedy of the Coronavirus pandemic is ,that as more and more circumstantial evidence
comes to light ,it was an engineered crisis or ,as some investigators have termed it ,a
planned-demic see, for example, "How to create a fake pandemic"jamesfetzer.org.
Deep and enduring thanks to Ron Unz and his team for this site, an oasis of common sense in a
desert of nonsense.
Regarding:
"So if American bio warfare analysts were considering a corona virus attack against
China, isn't it quite possible they would have said to themselves that since SARS never
significantly leaked back into the US or Europe, we'd similarly remain insulated from the
corona virus? Obviously, such an analysis was foolish and mistaken, but would it have
seemed so implausible at the time?"
There might be another possibility. That being that the American plans you outline were
formulated and carried out by the deepest, eternally-entrenched portions of the American
security state and that "senior administration officials" were simply never consulted about
bio warfare efforts against China. Very possibly including those earlier events noted, aimed
at Chinese agricultural interests.
Two birds with one stone would be the result: 1) China is (theoretically) taken down by
orders of magnitude; 2) That usurping outsider, the ever-disruptive President Trump exits in
January, as no incumbent would be judged to have a 2% chance of withstanding the hurricane of
events tied to the pandemic's arrival in America.
All the better, then, to allow Trump and other leading American politicians to
convincingly lead the chorus against China, and all done with never any possibility of a leak
from any political "source" about anything pertaining to the background and planning of the
operation.
Implications of such a possibility are too monstrous to consider, so am certain this
assertion can't be true. Right?
@Hail" this whole thing may be a Chinese Communist Party 'Hoax,' in the sense that
while the 'new' virus is real (there are always 'new viruses'), the reaction was at least
1000x what was necessary to deal " – The reality parsing by the hoaxers always lead
to the discovery of more hoaxes. Check with your guru Kunt Wiitkowski if he was not the one
who advised Chines how to pull off the hoax. Didn't he tell them that only 10,000 would have
die?
@swamped I, too, doubt that Trump would have been aware of what was going on, this would
have been an operation that was kicked off now because if Trump gets re-elected, he'll
hopefully clean house, and all that preparation would have been for nothing.
That having been said what's your explanation why Trump did bring a lot of neocons on
board, who effectively blocked him. If he really wanted to placate the democrats, there would
have surely been hawks who weren't as dangerous as, e.g. Bolton.
@Jim Jatras He said back then he thought that. Hasn't expressed his current view. None of
us knew back then that the US was dumping pure U238 on Yugoslavia making large parts
uninhabitable for a thousand years.
"Checking the Jay Matthews story, I see this: Hundreds of people, most of them workers and
passersby, did die that night, but in a different place and under different
circumstances."
There is much that Jay Matthews didn't say. Read this:
It is not. Shuanghui International Holdings Limited, now known as W-H Group, is a private
company based in Hong Kong that holds a majority of shares in China's largest meat processor,
Shuanghui Foods. The fact that it is based in Hong Kong does not make it "Chinese" in any
sense. It is a totally foreign-owned company. The ownership of W-H is mostly American, not
Chinese, and Smithfield was involved with the company. It was a complicated kind of reverse
takeover, but nothing much of substance changed.
It is the largest pork company in the world, number one in China, the U.S. and much of
Europe.
And the effect of the swine flu was to shift production and sales from Shuanghui China to
Smithfield in the US.
China's sweeping Belt and Road Initiative has threatened to reorient global trade around
an interconnected Eurasian landmass
By the time of the Antonine Plague of 165 to 180 AD (which surely inspired Aurelius's
stoicism, and may have killed Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) direct trading
links between China and Rome had been established. On March 2019 Italy was the first G-7
country in Europe to become a member in the Chinese Belt and Road project . Did that
globalisation reproduced the same pandemic-friendly environment that had decimated Ancient
Rome, which rivaled China in population at the time of the Roman diplomatic mission from
Marcus Aurelius to the Han Court in 166 AD?
Given these dramatic Chinese actions and the international headlines that they
generated, the current accusations by Trump Administration officials that China had
attempted to minimize or conceal the serious nature of the disease outbreak is so ludicrous
as to defy rationality.
Hardly, because intent is irrelevant. Not discharging their duty to inform the
international community in a timely manner of COVID-19 being extremely infectious and not
massively exaggerating the infection to death ratio and duping the WHO and modelers like
Imperial College into accepting terrifying but bogus infection to death ratios of 1 to 3 0r
4% as Dr. John Ioannidis says in an update ( HERE ) means quite simply that China must never ever
be relied on again. Next time, and there probably is going to be another such novel
coronavirus at some point in the future, China might overcompensate and downplay something
extremely dangerous.
Lieber had had decades of close research ties with China, holding joint appointments and
receiving substantial funding for his work. But now he was accused of financial reporting
violations in the disclosure portions of his government grant applications -- the most
obscure sort of offense -- and on the basis of those accusations, he was seized by the FBI
in an early-morning raid on his Cambridge home and dragged off in shackles, potentially
facing decades of federal imprisonment.
AS I understand it the case against him was precipitated by indications that he was taking
money from the Chinese Government and lying to Federal investigators about it while getting
$18 million from the Defence Department. He was not a virologist, unlike professor Montagnier
who co-discovered HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and received a Nobel prize. He says the
SARS-CoV-2 virus is an artificial laboratory created pathogen, which has fragments
of–surprise, surprise–HIV in it. He wants his expertise to be relevant to what
everyone is currently obsessed with. But life in this crazy old world is not like that.
Unless you are Ioannidis.
In the early days of the CoV-19 discussion here, a solid body of commenters suggested the
strong likelihood of being a US biological attack on China on the basis of its propensity for
aggression towards its designated "enemies" by the only method of causing substantial damage
to a powerful rival's economy under the cover of plausible deniability. Considering the
inevitable demise of the US as the only superpower, it is not beyond the ruling cabal's remit
to conceive such schemes to thwart the Chinese economic ascendancy. Yes, the initial
suspicions of foul-play were reputational (the US habit of resorting to heinous crimes
against other nations) and strategically connected as well (the only way to damage a strong
opponent short of an all-out nuclear conflagration with uncertain outcome ).
On the other hand, there were a series of "coincidences" widely discussed here that
started giving credence to a full-blown plan of biological attack aimed at the Chinese
population by engineering a virus capable to discriminating the target victims. This has been
partialled discounted, but not completely until the full sequence of CoV-19 evolution is
mapped. Meanwhile, the official narrative has switched to the rejection of the theory of a
man-made virus to the "accidental" release by the Wuhan lab, in my view to deflect any effort
to research the source of the virus and reinforce the tale of Chinese negligence. But the
trouble is that there are many virologists now busy debunking that too and asserting that
CoV-19 is unnatural.
I have come across a report on Australian Media Centre where the evolutionary virologist
Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney reveals that "the level of genome sequence
divergence between CoV-19 and the closest known bat relative in nature is equivalent to 50
years of natural evolutionary change, which suggests that CoV-19 is a synthetic creation in a
lab either by insertion of suitable genetic material or, alternatively, growing different
cultures in a laboratory with cells with the human ACE2 receptor. This process involves the
gradual adaptations to bind the virus with the human receptor by "training" the virus to seek
an efficient method of binding by natural random mutations until one progeny hits the
jackpot. Although this process does not require insertions by extraneous genetic material
(not strict engineering) because the virus itself produces the required adaptations, it is
notheless a human interference with the natural world by breeding something for a, obviously,
nefarious purpose. The great advantage of this process is to disguise the fact that it is a
contrived lab creation.
There are many historically significant events the truth of which will remain hidden for a
time. But this case involves a strong player (China) and it will – as wel las many
outraged scientists worldwide – leave no stone unturned to reveal the unfathomable
depth of the US's den of iniquity.
But as this epidemic is shaping up, it is likely that the estimated death toll will be
comparable to that of the seasonal flu in a bad year.
That's not correct -- at all. Our hospital system in major cities like New York are NEVER
brought to the brink with seasonal flu. The likely number of deaths from Covid-19 has already
exceeded the number of deaths estimated from seasonal flu over the past 6 of 10 years -- in
just over six weeks. And that's under unprecedented quarantine.
Quoted numbers of deaths are as unreliable as the number of infections.
Numbers do not need to be 100% "reliable" in this case. Many of those who have died have
done so in hospital where they have been tested. We can also measure the baseline death rate
in NYC. When we do, we find a tremendous daily increase far and above anything caused since
9/11. Clearly, there is something going around that city that is killing lots of people. No
flu in recent memory has done that.
Cause of death as stated in a death certificate is often, and even usually, wrong, and
during an epidemic caused by a virus that induces respiratory difficulty it is likely that
virtually all deaths due to respiratory dysfunction will be attributed to the virus without
confirmatory evidence.
This kind of flawed logic could be used to dismiss virtually any epidemic. At some point
the number of deaths is so high that no counter argument could reasonably be believed. We've
already reached that point. There are only so many respiratory deaths that occur over any
time period. Even if we moved 100% from other categories over to Covid-19 we would still find
peculiarities in the data.
Deaths in New York City Are More Than Double the Usual Total
Furthermore, virtually all deaths of persons testing positive for covid19 will be
attributed to the virus even though the deceased may have had multiple other diseases, any
one of which could have been the cause of death.
That's certainly only going to be minor contributory factor. Huge numbers of people above
the average baseline don't just magically drop dead from other causes all at the same time.
If someone gets Covid-19 and dies, it is reasonable to assume it was the proximate cause in
the majority of cases. Only so many people die from X at any one time. If twice that number
start dying all at the same time, there is a problem.
"Herd immunity is likely now widespread, so the thing should fizzle out soon, with or
without continued population incarceration."
Please do not comment on things you clearly don't understand. It is estimated that no more
than a few percent of the American population has been exposed to Sars2 (Covid-19). Herd
immunity requires some high multiple of that number. We are nowhere near herd immunity. You
don't even know what that means in all likelihood.
Professor Luc Montagnier, Who Won Nobel Prize For Codiscovering AIDS Virus, has said
COVID-19's HIV "strains" could be put there in the virus's RNA only by human expert
intervention in a laboratory.
The excerpt from the French TV program where he said it can be found on YouTube.
What's "funny" is the way most USA, or, how should we say?, USA-close, media reports the
fact, starting from misleading headers (headers which, as usual for the USA and, how should
we say?, USA-close media, are all clones, with tiny changes from one to the other).
Professor Luc Montagnier, Who Won Nobel Prize For Codiscovering AIDS Virus, Says
Coronavirus Was Man-Made In Wuhan Lab.
This, when the professor clearly stated he is only a scientist, and he only wanted to
relate facts that many other research groups have found but have been left unsaid due
to enormous pressure, and he stated equally clearly that it is not his knowledge, duty,
competence, will, to give opinions on who did it, where, why.
The average IQ of China's top 5,000 political leaders is 140
Have not most of the all-time Evil Greats been brilliant? We have them, Russia has them.
How is China having them unique? If Ron's suspicions over this are close to true and even if
not, we already have volumes of evidence in so many other situations proving we have
brilliant evil-doers aplenty on the U.S. side in any case.
The rest of your points are agreeable to me. But every time I've hung my hat on the
'brilliant' high-I.Q.-types I'm always disappointed. They test well but in command of things
they bring us wars and now this. The medical people are high-I.Q. as hell, they've vacuumed
up half our GDP and research dollars for 100 years now and it's their job to have had this in
hand. Like our high-I.Q. generals and admirals the past 75 years, they're losing another war
for us. The high IQ sorts in finance are another group. We're a nation in serious decline and
from where I sit, the high-IQs are merely managing said decline.
High I.Q.s just don't cut it from where I sit. Could be jealousy. My IQ is some where
between a pineapple and radish, a yam maybe..
@no bat soup for you There is so much talk about Chinese will eat just about anything but
there is usually no focus on other people in the world for doing similar things.
The Chinese eat bamboo rats, the French and Belgiums eat rats too – besides snails.
Some people in Asian countries eat cats and dogs, the Swiss by the thousands, eat cats and
dogs. The members of Explorers' Club in New York eat just about anything as well. But to top
it all, there is even have a cannibal club in LA that specializes in eating human flesh.
Home page: Specializing in the preparation of human meat, Cannibal Club brings the cutting
edge of experimental cuisine to the refined palates of L.A.'s cultural elite. Our master
chefs hail from around the world for the opportunity to practice their craft free of
compromise and unbounded by convention.
Our exclusive clientele includes noted filmmakers, intellectuals, and celebrities who have
embraced the Enlightenment ideals of free expression and rationalism. On event nights,
avant-garde performance artists, celebrated literary figures, and ground-breaking musicians
entertain our guests.
At Cannibal Club, we celebrate artistic excellence as the natural and inevitable expression
of the unbridled human spirit.
Brilliant work I have been researching everything I can find, while placing the totality of
events in the context of US IC/DS ops The "botched biowarfare" attack fits the data the best
by far. Thanks for this report.
Those who praise China's alleged competence in the matter have a dilemma to deal with.
Either the authorities are competent
There is no "dilemma." They detected an outbreak and dealt with it competently. Your
government run by a reality show host didn't. It's as simple as that. You can deflect all you
want, but it really boils down to that.
in which case they effectively waged biological warfare against the rest of the
world
Nothing the Chinese did forced other countries to keep their borders open. Several
countries like Israel closed them before Donald Trump did. Nothing China did forced Trump
into not taking this seriously until it was too late.
"It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear," Trump told
attendees at an African American History Month reception in the White House Cabinet Room. The
World Health Organization says the virus has "pandemic potential" and medical experts have
warned it will spread in the US. The President added that "from our shores, you know, it
could get worse before it gets better. Could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody
really knows."
US 'wasted' months before preparing for coronavirus pandemic
A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies
largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks,
mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.
2 Phylogenetic studies have been done to suggest America was the source of the virus.
This study suggests that Type A strain the earliest type of the SARS-COV2, was mostly
found in the US. While in China it was mostly type B, another strain mutated from Type A. https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/04/07/2004999117
This study suggests there are 2 sources of spread, however in countries from Brazil,
Italy, Australia, Sweden and South Korea , some cases are tie to the US cluster but not to
China. So this suggest some cases were directly spread from the US. Japan commented it was
from the US because they had the virus from traveling to Hawaii and they never went to
China. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.09.034942v1
here in this video presentation some arguments that supports the US had this virus in
between August 2019 and Jan 2020.
A possible scenario is they developed a few Sars-Cov2 bio-weapon strains the B and C
strains from the A strain. They wanted to find a vaccine for it before they can be deployed,
but in developing the vaccine they leaked the A type out into the US. They had to make a
decision, let the public know about it or cover it up and release the B and C strain without
the vaccine. I think they did the latter.
But you be the judge, we need more transparency from the CDC and more research before any
conclusions can be made.
@dimples Of course I completely failed to mention in the above comment that it's the War
on Terror that's coming to a close. Russia Russia Russia! has been an attempt to fill the gap
but its not going anywhere due to opposition from the Euros.
The slow US reaction to the virus could therefore seen not as incompetence but a
deliberate process of sowing more destruction, thus more China-hate later, ie its part of the
plot. Also the virus is not too deadly, just enough to create a big scare and over-reaction
amongst the authorities and public.
@Mustapha Mond Yes IF there is a conspiracy that would be it. I have also come to this
conclusion in other comments but you have described it much better than myself.
@Christopher Marlowe The flying drones over pig farms is nonsense from Metallicman, who
is a controlled-opp deep asset that speaks 80-90% truth and 10-20% lies.
I tried looking into the flying drones a bit, but couldn't confirm any of it.
@Ayatollah Smith I want to add Trump's early response to the corona virus shows Trumps
and American duplicity. I used to watch a TV show 'Lie to me' with actor Tim Roth. Anyway
people give away all kind of knowledge when they communicate. So my take that Trump's call
that it's like a bad flu or it's nothing to worry about, reveals knowledge that it is
American attack and that he (Trump) worries if it gets 'out' that the trump administration is
culpable, so he tries to downplay corona virus and his own role in it!
"
Who's a seventy years old track record of extreme malfeasance against China ?
Who's a track record of using bioweapons on friends and foe, including its own citizens
?
Who's a track record of committing FF , including many cases against China ?
[TAM, Tibet, Xinjiang, HK, Mh370, INdon genocide 1965,
..]
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Occams Razor .
There's a serial arsonist in town, he has been caught setting fire to John's house dozens
of times in the past few months.
JOhn's house caught fire last night
Who's the first suspect to haul in for interrogation ?
Elementary, Watson.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
Last but not least.
Mathematics doesnt cheat
Ian Flaming's fundamental law of prob .
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice ..
How many 'coincidences' occur in the Wuhan caper. ?
-- -- -- -- -- -- –
Conclusion.
Whichever way you look at it,
Logic, Circumstantial evidences and Mathematics all points to We know who.
@swamped The high casualties in the NATO countries are due to their own reluctance to do
anything for so long. Look at the total number that have been infected and the current new
infection rates in South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. South Korea prepared better than
anybody but was cursed with a Christian sect that also had churches in Wuhan. They stayed
close together for a long time in their churches to increase community feeling and, since God
was looking after their health, were reluctant to admit to being ill. Yet South Korea shits
on every NATO country in fighting COVID-19. So do Australia and New Zealand in spite of their
extremely poor use of the 2 months warning provided by China and the DNA sequence of the
virus provided by China on 12th of January, 2020. As soon as the Chinese methods were
applied, the same success with humans was achieved. Now the NATO countries are aping China
too, they are starting to have the same human success. They will continue with success as
long as they continue aping. The Yanks are losers like other NATO members because they didn't
bother to ape until they were heavily infected. I stress that Australia and New Zealand did
very badly (only about 10 times better than the USA but 4 times worse than China who we
should have beaten easily) because they were slow to ape. We only look wonderful when
compared with NATO. Actually, we also do about 5 times better than Iran too. Even with
sanctions crippling their response, Iran has done twice as well as the US losers. When it
becomes a matter of drug and vaccine development where the USA has real strengths, I expect
the USA to do as well as China but it's a low tech battle right now and the Yank boys haven't
done well against the Chinese or Iranian men in that competition. Who would expect them to?
[email protected]
@Godfree Roberts The reasons you enumerate apply to individual people, they don't apply
to governments. It is true that a rational individual should prefer truth because truth is
mostly self-sufficient while lies need to be reasserted permanently. The rationality of truth
vs lies is very much like the rationality of well-designed software vs badly designed
software. Good design as truth demands less maintenance. The problem is that it doesn't keep
programmers busy and it doesn't justify budgets. A government, the "deep state" moreover,
need to keep maintenance costs high to perpetrate themselves.
The crucial question very few seem to be asking is the question of motive. Many commenters
here project on the Chinese their own traits. The problem is that what can be said of Western
elites can't be said of Chinese elites because the Chinese have different motives altogether.
There's one motive they didn't have, to provoke a crisis. Viruses don't hop out of labs by
accident any more than gold hops out of Fort Knox. One has to bring them out and the Chinese
had no reason to do it.
Regarding the US on the other hand, though I disagree with Ron Unz's assertion that this
particular US administration is more reckless and less competent than those that preceded it,
seen from abroad it just appears as less hypocrite, to keep the story short I'll just say
that hubris tends to cloud judgment and that desperate times ask for desperate measures.
Sounds entirely plausible, and, to be parsimonious, even probable. The last element to make
it feasible was leaving Trump entirely out of the loop. He still won't have a clue if he's
standing in the dock at the Hague years from now. Everything he will ever know about this
fiasco will be from light reading material they allow him in his cell.
The Deep State made the right bet when they decided late in the race to hack the election
in favor of the Donald rather than the Queen of Warmongers. Nobody would ever expect the
self-described peace candidate to escalate the ongoing hybrid wars to germ warfare. (Though
maybe the use of chemical weapons by America's proxies in Syria should have been a hint.) Now
the world knows, the Satanists in charge of Washington will stop at nothing.
@Mustapha Mond I 100% agree with you, Mustapha Mond. Much as I admire Ron for in so many
ways for his other topnotch contributions and running this site, one of the very best news
sites IMO, the evidence at hand does not suggest incompetence on the part of the US
government and the deep state behind it: it's definitely an Atlanticist plandemic. Godfree
Roberts showed that many steps the Trump administration took the past two years were meant to
pave the way for enabling the government to play the "we didn't see this coming" card, just
as with 9/11:
At the same time, the US Health Dept was running Crimson Contagion in the first half of
2019, simulating a deadly flu pandemic starting in China (as I recall). Even the US Naval War
College ran a pandemic simulation causing respiratory failure:
Everyone knows about Event 201 at this point, in October 2019, sponsored by the Gates
Foundation, Bloomberg via Johns Hopkins, and the World Economic Forum, simulating
specifically a coronavirus pandemic. What are the odds that the organizers of Event 201 were
just lucky in picking a coronavirus, knowing there are 150 other virus families, besides
coronaviruses (e.g. rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, etc.):
That's a 1/151 chance! Lucky bastards! Present at Event 201 were recycled players involved
in the 9/11 anthrax attack simulation 'Dark Winter', such as Thomas Inglesby, as documented
by Whitney Webb. Not to mention the 2011 movie 'Contagion', involving a flu-like pandemic
originating in China (Hong Kong),transmitted from bats to humans in an unsanitary
environment!!! Another financial reset was also long overdue, as Greg Mannarino and others
have pointed out: the coronavirus cover was too perfect of a tool for deflecting the guilt
from the Fed and the banksters; killing many birds with one stone, the virus is also a 2)
powerful psy-op hurting China's image in the world, 3) further delivering a strong blow to
its export-driven economy; 4) it sets the stage for the cashless society ("dirty bills not
accepted here!"), the advent of digital currencies and 5) top-down surveillance.
So either the China's leadership had suddenly gone insane, or they regarded this new
virus as an absolutely deadly national threat, one that needed to be controlled at any
possible cost.
Those are not the only choices, Ron.
Here is another one for you:
– CCP knew this virus had a low fatality rate;
– CCP were aware of recent (DoD iirc) readiness assessments noting that US had
specific vulnerability to a pandemic;
– CCP was aware that the captive Chinese people were alrady subject to 'herd
control' infrastructure whereas the US population still enjoyed human rights;
– CCP decided to sow confusion about the infection. ("We can do this, but their
society will fall apart Comrades!")
– The West initially chose to ignore this. Then the Corporate Press "International"
decided to put psyops pressure to force US and UK to do a 180 u-turn. This due to a single
lousy non-peer-reviewed paper at the Imperial College.
Some other considerations that can inform the above are (a) the attitude of CCP towards
'world government' institutions, and (b) their relationship with WHO, in particular.
So option 3, Mr. Unz:
CCP used the (controlled?) exposure of a virus ("17") to put into motion a psychological
operation to sow confusion and panic in US (based on our own published findings on readiness)
that seems to have other participants in the Globalist crowd institutions. The primary target
was USA, but NATO as well.
Btw, Mr. Unz, that ex-CIA psyops writer you host on your site (Giraldi) keeps censoring my
comments on his propaganda pieces. Why do allow them a platform and also permit them to
censor rebuttals? Hopefully you will prevent UNZ Review from becoming UNZ Pravda.
Ron, you need to rewrite this essay. If minor websites carry articles blaming China the
presumption is these articles are falsifications seeded by Trump, but if wildly
sensationalist Chinese propaganda pieces come from unknown sources like OldMicrobiologist or
Metallicman then they're reliable? Wow is all I can say.
Suggesting Lieber's creds set him above espionage and bio sabotage against the United
States is the best you can do? Your overwrought defense of this man is telling, given his
"assistants" are provably Chinese bio espionage agents and he secretly agreed to take a post
as director of the Wuhan lab.
In the same vein, did you know that the Johns Hopkins' inflammatory "dashboard" world map
seen and used everywhere was developed by a 30-year-old Chinese "student," Ensheng Dong,
working for Johns Hopkins? Using Edward Tufte's "Lie Factor" for evaluating the exaggeration
of a graphical representation relative to the underlying data puts the Johns Hopkins map so
far in the lie category as to warrant an FBI investigation of Johns Hopkins and its employees
for causing irreparable economic and societal harm to the United States. In an NPR puff piece
gushing over the map's creators, "all sitting around a table sipping lattes," Dong is quoted
as saying it's like showing blood everywhere. That's quite accurate from the proud creator
considering the irreparable harm that map has been in large part responsible for
creating.
One correction for the beginning of the article. The 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia
wasn't directed against Bosnian Serbs. That was the 1995 campaign and had nothing to do with
the Chinese Embassy being hit. It seems that you simply got the 1995 NATO bombing of Bosnian
Serbs (entirely in Bosnia) and the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro –
when the Chinese (brand new) embassy was hit) mixed up.
Interesting thing – the Japanese current embassy is on the exact grounds where the
Chinese one used to be. I find some funny symbolism in that.
@Jim Jatras Yep. Unz lost me with that comment. And very sloppy by his high standards.
The NATO 1999 bombings were to support the Albanians in Kosovo – not the Bosnian
muslims. I suggest Ron does some homework on the whole Yugo Wars period. Maybe even back to
ottoman times.
@Anonymous I think that he obviously got the two NATO bombing campaigns mixed up.
NATO bombed Bosnian Serbs (entirely in Bosnia) in 1995 to protect its interests under the
guise of protecting Bosnian muslims. This is what Unz supports.
NATO bombed Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in 1999 when the Chinese embassy was hit.
Let's not make the comments spiral off into the Serbia/NATO conflict details. The point of
the entire mention of the bombing is that there is sincere indication that the US hit the
Chinese embassy on purpose. That much was clear since day 1 as the embassy was a brand new
building and you couldn't mistake it for a previous occupant or anything of the sort. It was
a message to China.
@swamped While I don't agree that China would have done this on purpose as I am generally
doubtful of all similar theories, it would nonetheless also explain why China banned all
movement to the rest of China from Wuhan while not only allowing the Wuhan infected to
infiltrate the West but actually vociferously and ubiquitously complaining about Western
racists for thinking about not allowing them in.
I think it was Zero-hedge that said the professor lied about his Chinese funding, making
him in effect an agent of China.
You need to understand the system in place. The book Three Felonies a Day outlines
the how, but does't really cover the why, and there lies the devil in the details. When they
want you, all they have to do is pour over your life' details, and they will find
something nefarious as a tool to put you in stern and squeeze.
There is million different details and forms to fill out when securing foreign funds for a
university; most of the rules and the process is ad hoc, and more often a lot of it is
ignored, and of course – certain countries have certain rules. The good professor
didn't do anything that was completely out of the norm. It's nearly impossible in this
society to be crime free – by design.
Think of all the people near Trump during his Russian Collusion investigation that went to
jail or indicted – most if not all were dragged in on the many petty illegalities that
plague our legal system for a reason. Illegalities that on a normal day most people ignore
until it is politically expedient for the authorities to use them. This is how a Police State operates.
You don't have to believe me; just ask Tommy Chong, Martha Stewart, etc .
Et tu, Brute? You're worried more about the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and Bosnian Muslims
than the destruction of that great Christian Serbia by the Clintons & cabal shame!
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened
In the mid 1990s, I worked with a man of Chinese ancestry in New York named Henry Sun.
Henry had been in Beijing at Tiananmen Square. He had been shot. What happened afterward was
that he was treated by doctors for the bullet wound, and they had coded the illness as some
sort of cancer, so that it would not be obvious that he was a dissident and so be
arrested.
Now, I cannot say that someone was killed. I can say that personal testament to me from a
credible witness indicates bullets were flying, and one struck him. Maybe that's not a
massacre, by whatever means that word is defined. But it wasn't a Chinese tea ceremony.
I am a retired attorney and I am heartened to see that some attorneys, namely David Helm in
Michigan and Lindy Urso in Connecticut ,are beginning to file lawsuits to revoke unlawful and
unconstitutional Executive"Coronavirus" Orders issued by the Governors of the States of
Michigan and Connecticut. I have long maintained that almost every Executive Order issued by
State Governors are revocable as they are based on a lie, promoted by the WHO and the CDC
,that there is a Coronavirus pandemic and an international public health emergency .
everything China have and everything USA has been lost was done with the complicity and
personal gain of 99% of the usa elite,political class,including CIA,etc and even the likes of
Michael Jordan.
Whoever decides to believe this embarrassingly transparent anti-China propaganda is
stupidly siding with Soros and his Global Deep State golems. This will be the latest IQ test
for those who struggled with all the previous ones (incubator babies, Iraqi WMDs, Quaddafi's
Viagra, Hillary's electability, Russiagate etc.).
@Jim Christian High IQ is just an entry level requirement. They have 300,000 folks with
160 IQ, so 140 is not that exceptional.
New recruits' first posting is 5 years in the poorest village in the country. They
'graduate' after they've raised everyone's incomes by 50%. Then the career path gets really
steep.
The people who are visible to us have been so thoroughly scrutinized that it's almost
painful to contemplate. Here's Zhao Bing Bing[1], a mid-level Liaoning[2] Province official
talking about her mid-level, provincial promotion to Daniel Bell:
[MORE]
I was promoted in 2004 through my department's internal competition (30 percent on
written exam results, 30 percent on interviews and public speaking, 30 percent on public
opinion of my work and 10 percent on education, seniority and my current position) and
became the youngest deputy division chief. In 2009, Liaoning Province (pop. 44 million),
announced in the national media an open selection of officials. Sixty candidates met the
qualifications, the top five of whom were invited for further interviews. Based on their
test scores (40 percent) and interview results (60 percent), the top three were then
appraised. The Liaoning Province Organizational Department sent four appraisers who spent a
whole day checking my previous records. Eighty of my colleagues were asked to
vote–more than thirty of whom were asked to talk with the appraisers about my merits
and shortcomings–and they submitted the appraisal result to the provincial Standing
Committee of the CCP for review.
In principle, the person who scored the highest and whose appraisals were not
problematic would be promoted. However, because my university major, work experience and
previous performance were the best fit for the position, I was finally appointed department
chief of the Liaoning Provincial Foreign Affairs Office even though my overall score was
second best [the government discriminates positively in promoting women–ed]. Before
the official appointment there was a seven-day public notice period during which anybody
could report to the organization department concerns about my promotion. I didn't spend any
money during my three promotions; all I did was study and work hard and do my best to be a
good person.
In 2013, thanks to an exchange program, I worked temporarily in the CCP International
Department. The system of temporary exchanges offers opportunities to learn about different
issues in different regions and areas like government sectors and SOEs. In a famous quote
Chairman Mao said, "Once the political lines have been clearly defined the decisive factor
will be the cadres [trained specialists]." So the CCP highly values organizational
construction and the selection and appointment of specialists. There is a special
department managing this work, The Organization Department, established in 1924 and Mao was
its first leader..The department is mainly responsible for the macro management of the
leaders and the staff (team building), including the management system, regulations and
laws, human resource system reforms -- planning, research and direction, as well as
proposing suggestions on the leadership change and the (re)appointment of cadres. In
addition, it has the responsibilities of training and supervising cadres. The cadre
selection criteria are: a person must have 'both ability and moral integrity and the latter
should be prioritized'. The evaluation of moral integrity focuses mostly on loyalty to the
Party, service to the people, self-discipline and integrity. Based on different levels and
positions, the emphases of evaluation are also different. For intermediate and senior
officials, emphasis is on their persistence in faith and ideals, political stance and
coordination with the central Party. High-level cadres are measured against great
politicians and, among them, experience in multiple positions is very important.
Fans follow the careers of one-thousand top politicians online[3] and they are impressive,
as President Donald Trump[4] observed, "Their leaders are much smarter than our leaders. It's
like taking the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school
football team. That's the difference between China's leaders and our leaders".
Today's leaders began their careers in the 1960s as manual laborers in dirt-poor villages
and won promotions by raising village incomes by fifty percent. As they rose, they spent
sabbaticals on the lake-studded campus of The Academy of Governance where they met the
world's leading thinkers, critiqued legislation and earned PhDs. They now run huge provinces,
Fortune 500 corporations, universities, space programs and, of course, government departments
and the Peoples Daily reords their progress under headlines like, "How Rural Poverty Criteria
Affects Mayoral Promotions."

[1] Daniel Bell and Zhao Bing Bing, The China Model.
[2] Liaoning (pop. 45 million) is a northeastern Chinese province bordering North Korea and
the Yellow Sea.
[3] The Committee https://macropolo.org/the-committee/
[4] Donald Trump says Tom Brady and the Patriots are just like China. Boston.com . By Steve Silva July 6, 2015
@anon There is on little problem with your hasbara. Those great strategic planners in
China of yours forgot about one little thing that the West has 100% dominance over China in
the soft power of creating global narratives with which it will turn China into a pariah
nation in the eyes of everybody, a nation that everybody hates.
I personally think this was either the result of the so-called "wet-markets" in China
– long known to be the primary source of the annual flu epidemics
I've been going to markets in Asia all my adult life and suddenly they are both the
source of flu epidemics and "wet".
Unless it is raining the second one makes everything seem so ridiculous.
(why the heck haven't they been shut down??)
Because people would starve?
Try throwing some blame(buying food makes you sick!) at your big box corporate food
monopolies and try to shut them down – take a guess at what might happen?
@Tor597 Except, it would be helpful if Ron placed somewhere prominantly on the home page
that he is a card-carrying member of the "Resistance" against Trump, which this article
finally reveals full blast.
Too much attention here on things which could have other explanations and too little
attention on the real puzzles and on those things which science can definitely settle.
(1) It is solvable, and it will be solved, where and when were the first cases of the
infection among the general public outside China. Almost everything else depends on that.
(2) It is almost inconceivable that American agencies who had been plotting this would run it
by Trump for approval first. It seems much more likely that the anonymously sourced report
that our agencies knew about this in November is some kind of ass-covering to shift blame to
Trump, whom these same agencies have been trying to take down for 4 years; which doesn't help
us discern whether they were also responsible for the pathogen in the first place, it's
consistent either way.
(3) The genome has been out there long enough, with no one pointing out inconsistencies that
have held up to scrutiny, that "wild", "escaped from a lab", and "was evolved in a lab" all
look much more likely than "was designed directly by RNA editing".
(4) China's behavior is much more consistent with accidental than with intentional release.
They've obviously lied about the death toll and didn't feel obliged to prevent their people
from traveling abroad, but ordinary Communist wickedness explains that.
(5) Travel between China and Iran and Italy explains the early prevalence there sufficiently,
presuming genomic data we don't yet have will confirm this.
Conclusion: Too early to get locked in to origin theories, the usual suspects are taking
advantage in the same way they would whether or not it was an intentional release. THIS WILL
ALL BE CLARIFIED BY TESTING OF OLD TISSUE SAMPLES so I'm going to wait and see what those
results say. The reports of early COVID outside China have not been confirmed, but come from
researchers WITH REAL NAMES, so it WILL get figured out one way or the other and I'm holding
my fire until then.
P.S. Lieber is clearly a weird loose end that needs to be tied up. Is anyone trying to
interview him?
Let's see. Here in the USA covid hit later, at a time when people have the lowest seasonal
vitamin D (a major immune system hormone, with the population being 90%+ deficient). A
fraction of the population being hit particularly hard has dark skin, further reducing the
vit. D levels. That same fraction is over-represented among those who have metabolic syndrome
(diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and the like), and that is related to all manners of immune
system degradation. Then we have a medical system which looks only for profitable magic
bullets, instead of trying a variety of cheap methods, each of which can increase the
recovery rate by tens of percent.
Finally we have lots and lots of nursing homes, unlike China. And a majority (more than
50%) of deaths comes from those places in Europe. Data from Italy suggests that privately run
nursing homes are correlated with increased mortality, although it could just be extreme air
pollution and/or other environmental factors. Data from Scandinavia suggest that nursing home
size matters too, the smaller the better.
Why should one be surprised that this thing is hitting harder in the West?
R.Unz:"By any reasonable measure, the response to this global health crisis by China and most
East Asian countries has been absolutely exemplary,"
Your transparent, never ending shilling for the murderous CCP is becoming more and more
obvious, at least to myself. I'm starting to believe that this site is nothing more than a
thinly disguised Chinese government propaganda outlet.
As in other recent threads, you fully endorse the CCP's criminal actions: lockdowns of
[reportedly] 700 million Chinese citizens; literal lockdowns with citizens locked, even
having their front doors welded shut by the "authorities",for weeks. The idiotic [unless
deliberate], Chinese "solution" has probably already killed 1000's, if not 10's or 100's of
thousands there via starvation alone, and the economic devastation caused in China will
likely kill millions more Chinese in the years to come.
But that is all "exemplary" in your opinion, right? "To make an omelette you have to break
a few eggs", right?
R.Unz:"Everyone knows that America's ruling elites are criminal, crazy, and also extremely
incompetent."
Of course! "Everyone knows" that! [I wish].
What you [and some of them] don't know [or won't admit to themselves] is that this is no
less true of the Chinese government, or of any other government, for that matter.
Reality fact: "Because they are all ultimately funded via both direct and indirect theft
[taxes], and counterfeiting [central bank monopolies], all governments are essentially, at
their very cores, 100% corrupt criminal scams which cannot be "reformed"or "improved",simply
because of their innate criminal nature." onebornfree
Which means that believing/trusting official stories and figures doled out by competing
criminal power structures, about _anything_, let alone actually supporting/promoting their
idiotic and criminal acts [eg the Chinese, US and elsewhere lockdowns"], is a mugs game for
useful idiots, nothing more. And yet, that is what you continue to consistently indulge
yourself in here.
Thanks for the excellent wrapup, Ron Unz. Your cui bono approach works like a
super-chloroquine dose to zap the anti-China virus now spreading from U.S. legacy media. What
passes for news media here in Europe is no better. But apparently there are islands of sanity
outside the Western imperial heartland. If you read French, you may find it encouraging to
read some real journalism on the source of the carona plandemic here from darkest Africa:
The same mendacious MSM that for three years howled at the moon that Putin had stolen the
2016 election for Trump is now barking like a mad dog about Covid being some kind of 21st
Century version of the Black Death.
Never mind that to get to the current figure of around 42,000 deaths, the CDC has been
juicing the total number of dead by adding in those who died from a heart attack or stroke or
some other medical complication, there was fear to be spread and by G-d, they were doing to
scare the hell out of Americans, just like they did in the years after the Israeli
masterminded 9/11 false flag.
Like Mr. Atzmon has pointed out, the 2017-18 flu season was much deadlier, yet there was
no lock-downs, quarantines and a complete gutting of the US–and the
worlds–economy.
The following may sound like a description of the current Novel Coronavirus pandemic:
"The season began with an increase of illness in November; high activity occurred during
January and February, and then illness continued through the end of March." You guessed
right, this is not the description of the current global Corona pandemic but actually how
CNN described the outbreak of influenza in America in September 2018.
Does it take a genius to figure out that the American 2017-18 influenza outbreak was pretty
'similar' to the current Novel Coronavirus epidemic?
The first question that comes to mind is why didn't America lock itself down amidst
its catastrophic 2017-18 influenza as it has now? One may wonder why the CDC didn't
react to the 'severity' of the outbreak that was at least three times as lethal as the
current Novel Coronavirus health crisis?
The Deep State thugs who are actually in charge of the US have some devious plan in mind
with this Covid hysteria.
Maybe they wanted to see how quickly Americans would give up their Bill of Rights. Or maybe
they wanted to cover up the multi-trillion dollar bailout of those TBTF banks that we bailed
out in 2009?
Or maybe this the test run for their next batch of weaponized flu, the one that will get
many killed and have people lining up for Mr. Know-it-all Bill Gates RFID chipped flu
vaccine.
The actual reason for the bombing was meant to cover-up NATO war crimes that were taking
place almost daily, and the Chinese listening post located in the corner of the embassy
that was bombed were intercepting orders issued by NATO which clearly revealed those
crimes. The Chinese needed to be silenced and their operations ended, no matter the
fallout.
My immediate gut reaction upon seeing the cartoon character version of a Muslim terrorist,
Osama Bin Laden, was this is a fake designed to play on US xenophobia. He was obviously made
for TV audiences.
I assumed after Skripal and the endless Assad gas arracks, that our ruling elite have just
become lazy and couldn't even be bothered to create a plausible story to cover up their
crimes, because the public is so stupid. How long did it take to determine it was a fraud, a
weekend of casual reading?
Putting a mob style hit on Venezuala's President confirmed that they could care less what
the Hoi Poloi think of them.
If this is a US caper, it is the either the most ridicoulosly stupid one imaginable, or
the most well thought out one in a very long time.
I had not connected the intelligence reports (recently spilled out of the Deep State) with
the obvious. Thanks, Ron, for pointing out that it's hard to imagine how the
NSA/CIA/whoever-collecting-part-of-the-85bln-we-spend-on-intelligence could report on this in
November when the sources from which they would have derived that information (the Chinese
government itself) didn't know until December 31st, or shortly before that date when they
reported to the WHO.
Someone, in covering up for blowing the response to the virus, really dropped the
ball.
Scientists from the UK have a recent paper on the mutations of Corona-19.
Here is part of the abstract:
In a phylogenetic network analysis of 160 complete human severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) genomes, we find three central variants distinguished
by amino acid changes, which we have named A, B, and C, with A being the ancestral type
according to the bat outgroup coronavirus. The A and C types are found in significant
proportions outside East Asia, that is, in Europeans and Americans. In contrast, the B type
is the most common type in East Asia, and its ancestral genome appears not to have spread
outside East Asia without first mutating into derived B types, pointing to founder effects
or immunological or environmental resistance against this type outside Asia.
I think these findings throw lots of water on any bioweapon claims. But others may differ
in their opinions.
It definitely does indicate that the virus did not come from a Wuhan lab or the Wuhan wet
market. It originated in Southern China where most people knowledgeable about bat viruses
expect bat viruses to originate.
you are mistakenly assuming and given for granted that this epidemic is much more lethat than
others,that the total closure is beneficial and not harmfull,that is the solution ,you are
deciding who to try to save regardless of the millions of victims of this economic
harakiri,and there are many epidemiologists who disagree with you.
One more thought: The US has over 25 bio-warfare labs that are located next door to Russia
and China that have been called out before for their sloppy or maybe deliberate release of
pathogens.
The WHO too only had high praises for China's transparency and efficiency.
Would that be the same WHO that said chinese disease was not communicable between humans
and that we should keep letting infected people into the country? That's who we should trust?
Or should we trust the communist government that shut down domestic travel to and from Wuhan,
because they were trying to protect the rest of THEIR country, while still allowing
international travel, because they wanted the rest of the planet infected?
This virus may or may not have been engineered, and may have come from the lab or the wet
market. These things are debatable. But what is absolutely not debatable is that once the
virus was loose, China choose to DELIBERATELY infect the rest of the world. These are people
whose numbers we should trust?
1918-1919 "Spanish" Flu Pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Hypotheses_about_the_source
Despite the name the most likely theory is that this pathogen, an H1N1 virus, originated in
China and mutated to become highly lethal in Europe or European-settled countries as a result
of WW I. S
Taking a scientific approach to American deep state biowarfare attack on China's Wuhan
district is telling in so far as Americans literally control tertiary education throughout
the entire world via funding in the trillions.
If the deep state wants to eliminate academics it can do so with merely a phone call to
Law Enforcement branches at a moments notice so that research & hard drives can be
confiscated and destroyed early on in investigations.
Once the media & journalistic propaganda arms of state get hold of the official
talking points to be disseminated the end game zero sum result is usually exactly what the
state arms of propaganda have wanted all along.
To be frank, I am an Intel thinker and am well aware of the details of the CIA led
biowarfare attack on China, but attaining the required data in empirical form via Requests
for Information from government is NOT going to ever yield synthesis required for scientific
peer-review research.
Bottom line is that the CIA had one CIA Agent/Operative deploy the nCov-19 in late October
as the USA Military contingent was departing Wuhan district. The operative deployed the
bioweapon via glass ampule smashed onto the ground to the entrance way for the Wuhan
restaurant district near to the Wuhan Wet Market. Moreover, his CIA handler gave him the
protocol & instruction on deployment of the bioweapon back in the United States of
America long before the actual deployment.
Lastly, Fort Detrick scientists developed the Chimera super-spreading viral pathogenicity
with a herd of pigs in the USA before hand in around 2012. Logistics of setting up the Wuhan
BSL-4 laboratory scientists for the false flag event of biowarfare were dependent upon
academic arrests before hand so that deflection & impression management for governance
would clearly be able to utilize plausible deniability where required.
In sum, as one acutely aware of the bioterrorism that the United States of America has
unleashed on the world covertly I, for one, can assure all that the US Deep State knowingly
unleashed nCov-19 to undermine China's meteoric rise in the financial world due to America's
incompetence writ large across the board since the Great Financial Crisis revealed that
America is swimming naked and their Emperor is wearing no clothes to reveal his
infinitesimally small Johnson in contradistinction to President Johnson's Johnson which was
historically infamous.
P.S. The USA Deep State can get in line to lick my balls in deference to my superior
intellect.
First, can researchers take a look at this virus and determine with certainty whether it was
artificially concocted in a lab or if it simply evolved out in the open? If so then that
would help focus the discussion. If not then things will remain opaque.
The Iranian government outbreak is strange but then people congregating with each other, like
at ski resorts, pass it to each other. If it was a US biowarfare attack then how did US
agents get access to them? They wouldn't have the cover of some delegation to an event such
as military games. But what was the effect on Iran? Zero. Some top leaders got sick and some
older members died. They have replacements and the government continues without missing a
beat. This idea that an ideal bioweapon would be highly contagious with a low lethal rate so
as to tie up resources and halt the economy sounds good but in practice it's hardly more than
harassment. It slowed up the Chinese economy but that's a temporary blip and they're back
now. The US and other countries are hardest hit economically. Many businesses will never
recover. This is self-inflicted. The lethality of this virus looks to be increasingly lower
and lower each time one looks despite all the Chicken Littles who were screaming that the sky
was about to fall. Was there a purpose for that?
The Wuhan outbreak coincided with the military games but things happen at random times as it
is. People were crowded in there. The various plagues and viruses have been going from East
to West for a very long time now. The problem is that currently there are many who have an
interest in lying and misdirecting things which further muddy the waters.
@Emslander What is crazy and funny is that supposed trump supporters thinks China would
shrink it's economy by 6.8% for the first quarter of 2020 to help Trump's opposition.
The same supposed supporters don't even realized that the best way for trump to win the
next election is to stamp out this damn virus asap. Denying is not going to work. Testing n
quarantine combo is what would work. It is why trump changed his tune.
Who's a track record of extreme malfeasance against China, since ww2 ?
1950 Korean war,
1959 Tibet,
1962 Indo./sino war,
1965 [[[CIA/MI5]]] INdon genocide on ethnic Chinese.
1989 TAM,
1998 Indon pogrom , mass rapes on ethnic Chinese
1999 BOmbing of Chinese embassy in ex Yugo,
2001 Hainan spy plane, Chinese pilot died.
2003 SARS1,
2008 Tibet riots,
2009 Xinjiang bloodbath,
2013 Bird flu H7N9 , Asia pivot
2014 Xinjiang, HK, Mh370, bubonic plague, Ebola, Dengue,
2018 bird flu, H7N9
2019 HK, Xinjiang, swine flu, army worms,
2020 SARS2, H5N1, locusts .
And there were also the proxy-war in Ukraine and the refugee crisis: the latter at
minimum a fallout of US-Israeli wars in the Middle East and the Zionist assault against
Libya; yet not unlikely itself a direct assault against Europe. And not only Willy Wimmer,
closest adviser to our old chancellor Helmut Kohl, strongly suspected as much already back
in 2015.
Thanks for that context. It is exactly what I am trying to call attention to the whole
time. Regardless, how much reality there is to Corona, my issue is the overall timing in the
geopolitical context, with Europe being torn apart between the Angloamericans and China /
Russia on the other side. That was the agenda anyway, so how is it possible that this threat
appears at this very moment?
It can be said that had Corona not happened, the powers to be would have needed to invent
it.
Else, in skimming the comments, I find that until now (with some 140 comments) there are
hardly any discussions, but everyone pushing their own narratives.
Mabe, it is possible to get away from the question, how and if Corona is deadly to the
context that is developing. I have to admit that I did not take Corona serious enough from
the start, not as an illness, but as a fundamental threat to our societies. In that sense, it
is indeed a war.
@hs4691506 There was also some evidence that Chinese researchers under his supervision
had smuggled samples of his work out of their labs and back to China. Chinese researchers,
working in the USA and Canada, have a history of smuggling viral and other lab samples back
ti China. It's part of a much larger pattern of Chinese espionage and intellectual theft.
A search on DuckDuckGo.Com using the
following search string, "chinese scientists smuggling viral samples", turns up a lot of
useful information on smuggling of viral and other biological samples. (I no longer trust
Google. DuckDuckGo is less censored and does not track its users)
Similar searches using the strings "chinese intellectual theft" and "chinese scientific
espionage" will provide a broader picture.
BTW, I believe that Israel and the USA have both been conducting research into potential
bio-weapons. I would not be surprised if the Chinese got a leg up on such research by
espionage targeting both countries. Of the three, the USA's research is probably the most
benign/least vicious. I suspect that the Israelis have been ruthlessly researching and
developing biological weapons, just as they did nuclear and chemical weapons. The Chinese
have probably been doing bio-weapons research just as ruthlessly. The biggest concern with
the Chinese is that, compared against Israel and the USA, their lab safety, security and
containment procedures are lax to an obscenely dangerous degree. One can only hope that after
the Wuhan outbreak, this attitude, if not the Chinese bio-weapons research, will change.
This is a model opening argument for an ICC bill of indictment against the CIA command
structure. The bird's-eye view is exactly right – all of CIA's gravest crimes have been
most evident not at the detailed technical level but at the organizational level. CIA can
shred all the MIPRs and RFPs and after-action reports they want, but the proof of all CIA
crime is public information about the actions of CIA focal points in government.
(Incidentally, one example you don't mention is official obstruction, including CDC, of Helen
Chu's coronavirus testing. That would have shown that COVID-19 was far too widespread for a
single introduction from Wuhan. Another example is the series of airport clusterfucks that
muddled US haplotypes when Chinese researchers noted that they point to US origins.)
The presumption of incompetence probably has its own CIA memo analogous to 1035-960. If
they can get you to tacitly assume that CIA works in the national interest, but ineptly, then
you misinterpret everything. CIA is a criminal enterprise with ongoing profit centers that
fund opportunistic crimes from asset-stripping to aggression.
When you're using a banned biological weapon, domestic casualties confer important
benefits:
First, damage to the US can help obfuscate attribution. Philip Giraldi articulates that
line in its clearest form, Why would the government shoot itself in the foot like that?
Second, US contagion offers a pretext for domestic repression: house arrest; overt contact
chaining illegally undertaken by NSA for decades; forcible derogation of your rights of
assembly and association.
Third, US economic devastation is used as a pretext for looting the fisc on an
unprecedented scale. Blackrock now performs central planning on behalf of the Fed, forcing
the state to guarantee a overwhelming volume of worthless and fraudulent securities.
Illegal warfare that is difficult to attribute has one intractable problem. It's a sneak
attack in breach of the Hague Convention Relative to the Opening of Hostilities. That
convention was the legal justification for the first use of nuclear weapons. So if Russia and
China nuke the beltway into a sinkhole of molten basalt, that's only fair.
If it is established that COVID-19 is a banned biological weapon, this is self-evidently
the gravest crime in world history. The attack manifestly constituted aggression with an
absolutely indiscriminate weapon. It defies considerations of proportionality with unknown
global effects. The Nazi regime was extirpated for much less.
The evidence is very close to probative, and mounting.
There is the question of natural vs artificial origin of the novel corona virus, and from my
layman's research and considerations it seems increasingly that an artificial origin is
extremely likely. The pertinent technology is now widely available, there has been a massive
ongoing effort in the field since the 2nd WW, and many researchers and knowledgeable people
are drawing the conclusion of likely artificial origin: So, for example, George Webb's work,
or the Czech scientist Dr.Sona Pekova, PhD, who near the end of the video linked to describes
the virus in such a way as to indicate a great likelihood of artificial creation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmL7okhbVzU&feature=youtu.be
There are many possible perpetrators. And a few likely suspects.
The ultimate health implications of the new virus are impossible to say with certainty at
this point: For example, Paul Craig Roberts' website's latest title is "Bad News From the
Virus if Correct", with the point being that there are now known to be a lot of different
strains with presumably different potential for harm, but there may be many more not
recognized.
There are additional contextual considerations that will have consequences which are
anyone's guess. So for example, last year saw many widespread agricultural catastrophes and
difficulties which were usually weather related. If the weather continues to be
uncooperative, in conjunction with food production and transportation problems related to the
virus, in conjunction with the African Swine Flu disaster, then human health and food
security, and thus health, on a large scale may be affected.
Another contextual consideration is the recent rapid and accelerating deployment of 5G
technology, which many are concerned can make life more vulnerable to health problems. It may
just be coincidental, but worth noting, that tiny San Marino, enclosed by Italy, boasted of
being the European leader in the rollout of 5G technology, and is now the world leader in
corona virus deaths per million, by a long shot (San Marino with 1179 deaths per million as
of today compared to second place Spain with 455 per million, and yes, Spain has been among
the most ambitious countries in rolling out 5G in many cities. And Wuhan was the very poster
'child' of 5G. Just saying.)
Shutting down the world economy seems rather dire. But it may just be the impetus for a
radical rethink of the basic structure and design of the global economic system.
The global paradigm which in economic terms might be described as globalism, or 'when
private corporations rule the world', or neo-liberalism, or plutocracy running amuck, or
grasping for 'global government', or the aftermath of the chimera of 'full spectrum
domination', or in the wreckage of Rockefeller's and Kissinger's et al wet dream, or
democracy spurned, is now inescapably obviously retarded, dysfunctional: a fundamental design
flaw if you want humanity and Earth to thrive. In short, the culture of deception.
Someone has suggested as symptomatic of our present predicament a cartoon featuring Fauci
with his bio-weapon declaring this as 'the age of the Ork', with crazed Bill Gates as Gollum
wielding a syringe and gleefully chortling 'my precious!'.
The local, one's back yard, the decentralized, the careful common sense community, the
regional, and the actually democratic national, with the public interest protected by the
public, and much honest discourse, as one basic design alternative.
Useful article by Unz which connects the dots well. One important dot which is missing,
though, in his analysis of the psywar promoting propaganda that the virus leaked out of a lab
in Wuhan, and is a Chinese biowarfare agent, is that this psywar originated with an israeli
military-intelligence operative. One dany shoham. This individual was also deeply involved in
the "iraq has wmds" psywar operation at the beginning of the century. More on that dot and
how it connects to the others, later.
A few days ago I wrote this about how the israeloamericans are framing their psywar
campaign against China:
The israeloamericans are working on a several level strategy which includes back-ups in my
opinion. The israeloamericans are trying to cover all the bases at once.
So they claim China created the virus in a lab, in case it gets out it was lab created,
meaning israel or the usa created it in a lab. The israeloamericans claim the virus leaked
out of the Wuhan lab in case evidence is found that israeloamerica deliberately planted the
virus in Wuhan or it spread from a source in the usa through some other vector. The
israeloamericans claim China mislead the world about the virus so people wont notice the
reality that China has successfully thwarted the virus, while trump & co. have continued
making it worse. The claptrap about China under reporting victims is a variation of the
latter tactic. And so on.
Is what is being reported in the following article "damage control"?
Neither 'lab' nor 'wet market'? Covid-19 outbreak started months EARLIER and NOT in Wuhan,
ongoing Cambridge study indicates
Another vector in the israeloamerican preemptive strategy? Now that research is showing
the virus may have been infecting people earlier and neither a market in Wuhan, or even Wuhan
itself, may be where it originated?
With regard to western response to the pandemic, especially american, the delay in
israel's trump colonial regime's containment response to the virus tells me they deliberately
wanted the virus to spread across the country and cause the ruckus it is now causing. The
question is why israel had them do this.*
* Compare the israeli response, IE: strong proactive containment strategy, to the weak
responses in most zionazi colonies. It is clear there is an actual strategy underlying this
difference. And it entails more than israel being sacrosanct.
Keep in mind that trump, and his corrupt regime, are israel's property. More specifically,
they tepresent the israeli likud freakshow (netanyahoo and related subhuman garbage). Most of
what trump says and the policies his regime follow, originate from tel aviv. Trump's cowardly
"blame China" campaign, duplicated by the zionazi western media (commonly misnamed the msm)
is israeli psywar.
@onebornfree See my post at 135 regarding three different variants: A, B and C. The most
prevalent in Asia is B and the most prevalent variants in Europe and the US are A and C. So
it could also be that A and C variants are more virulent than B.
"By any reasonable measure, the response to this global health crisis by China and most East
Asian countries has been absolutely exemplary, while that of many Western countries has been
equally disastrous. Maintaining reasonable public health has been a basic function of
governments since the days of the city-states of Sumeria, and the sheer and total
incompetence of America and most of its European vassals has been breathtaking. If the
Western media attempts to pretend otherwise, it will permanently forfeit whatever remaining
international credibility it still possesses."
So saying, Ron Unz forfeits whatever credibility he might have retained by now
acknowledging the data emerged from "the fog of war" he found himself pronouncing in a month
or more ago.
Like Unz, and after examining the relevant Chinese data, epidemiologists Knut Wittkowski(
almost a month ago) saluted the Asian approach to handling the novel virus threat.
Unlike Unz, Wittkowski revealed that what was salutary was the Chinese government's
allowing the populace to gain herd immunity before instituting any lockdown measures.
(rendering the lockdown measures a mystery from a scientific point of view).
So, and according to Wittkowski- a man with credentials relevant to this story, yet
completely ignored by Unz' investigative article- the incompetence of Western governments
cited by Unz is the clean reverse of what he claims: it is the incompetence of ignoring what
the competent Chinese did not ignore, namely, the sound scientific counsel to allow the virus
to spread, granting the herd immunity to the populace which protects the elderly and fragile
self-quarantining until that immunity is gained.
1) Virus is US bioweapon attack on China
2) Virus is China's own bioweapon accident
3) Virus happened in nature, and everybody is trying to profit off the crisis or
contain/direct the damage to their own interests.
That's 66% percent chance it's an accident.
Government in power were sane enough to avoid nuclear war as recently as 40 years ago. Why
would they be crazier today? Biowarfare is Mutually Assured Destruction, too. If people can
model this away, please provide a link.
@swamped You are cognitively blind to the obvious -- the ZUSA has become ZUSSR (minus
excellent Soviet educational system). Before lamenting "Chinese despots" and "their contempt
for civil liberties," think for a moment about the fate of Assange (why he is in a
high-security prison?) and about the Banksters on the march (the financialization of the US
economy).
What is the state of "liberties" in the US and the UK? -- Gay parades. Quantitative
Easings for eternity.
Why some 1000 American military bases encircle the globe? Why 25 American biofare
laboratories reside in Europe? You are cheerleading for Cheneys and Rubins (read General
Smedley Butler). https://fas.org/man/smedley.htm http://armswatch.com/the-pentagon-bio-weapons/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk_
Libya used to be a prosperous state with universal healthcare and excellent educational
opportunities. Enter the "non-totalitarian" and "non-despotic" deciders to bring in
"liberties." First, the US/NATO expropriated Libyan gold, and then a regular business of
"liberation" took place: since the "non-totalitarian" and "non-despotic" liberators entered
Libya, a civil war commenced, the healthcare and educational systems have collapsed and slave
markets sprang.
Or perhaps you are proud of freedom of information in the US?
This important story was immediately summarized in many of the world's other most
prestigious publications, but encountered an absolute wall of silence in our own
country.
How much trillions have been disappeared by the Pentagon? -- 21 (twenty-one). A lot
of money that could be used for initiating great national projects of all kinds.
Why the US industries have been relocated to China? -- Because this is what US corporations
demanded and got. What deciders want, they get. Read General Smedley Butler, again.
For many weeks President Trump and his political allies had regularly dismissed or
minimized this terrible health threat, and suddenly now faced with such a manifest
disaster, they have naturally begun seeking other culprits to blame.
I'm a little worried about The Unz Review. This pandemic is already being used to consolidate
the economy and The Powers That Be are likely to use it to settle scores and purge
dissident voices.
TruthDig is down and other media is likely to go down soon as ad revenue collapses. I
would have advised ad revenue from foreign sources like Aeroflot (and others outside the U.S.
Oligarchy), but airlines are collapsing and international travel is likely to be down for a
while.
Maybe just open a Patreon Account and put a link in the sidebar.
It may be a good time to be extra cautious and gird your loins as they say.
Whatever anyone may make of Unz's assessment, I think everyone not insane or evil or
mindlessly jingoistic should agree with this: "Everyone knows that America's ruling elites
are criminal, crazy, and also extremely incompetent."
By the way – I hope Unz has changed his mind about the bombing of Serbia. Anytime
Neocons assert the need to use violence to help Moslems, the reasonable man smells not a rat,
but a million putrid rats.
I would not be surprised if the Chinese got a leg up on such research by espionage
targeting both countries. [SIC]
Of the three, the USA's research is probably the most benign/least vicious [
SIC ]
ROFLAMO
How fucking old are you kid ?
Back to your Harry Potter forchrissake
This is an adult site.
Do you want me to inform your mom ?
@Tor597 Correct. The Elites of the Anglo-Zionist Empire will get richer from all this,
while the white American middle and working classes will get poorer.
Much the same will happen in the UK and France and other European nations.
This and many other analyses focus primarily on governments, USA government, Chinese
communistic government etc. and their past misadventures as proofs for their involvement or
not involvement in the current disaster. I would like to see at least one extensive analyse
of possible involvement of the nongovernment governments. Their interests and gains from this
situation. Regards!
@denk Not the "war crimes" bit again. Look, the whole operation was one big war crime,
and that according to the US Secretary of State. Same with Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq --
overthrow of another state for no compelling reason. So what? War is war, and China can
either participate or not. If it participate, it can expect to become part of the general
destruction.
Analogy -- if somebody is in your house and gets violent, that's a crime. You are legally
able to protect yourself. If the person starts to run, you can't shoot she/he/it because
she/he/it is no longer a threat. Sure, the other she/he/it started the crime, but that
doesn't mean you can commit a crime of your own (shooting somebody when she/he/it isn't an
immediate threat). Should she/he/it turn around and start returning fire, well, it just might
be that she/he/it is legally doing so.
So enough of this "you stepped on a crack and so you've transgressed the law in one
particular, so you are absolutely condemned" stuff. You want to play that game, people get
tired of it, and it has a bad endgame. Try playing it on COVID-19. COVID-19 might listen to
you and depart. Go, use your moral authority and save us all.
Since the Israeli masterminded 9/11 false flag, the MSM has told us a gazillion lies about
what DID NOT happen that day.
When those lies started losing luster, we were told Bin Laden was killed, but they offered no
proof, other than "Trust Us.'
Then we started getting lies about ISIS, DAESH, al Nusra etc, that they were even worse
than al CIA Duh, when in fact, they were started, funded, paid, protected and give air cover
by the US/Israel and the Kingdom of Head Choppers.
Now the same MSM is braying that Covid will be the end of the world, unless we give up our
freedoms?
Bull. We're being lied to again and the sad part is, many are falling for this latest line
of horse apples.
In Coronavirus We Trust: Medical Surveillance State For A Gov That's Experimented On
You 239 Times
When are people going to realize that the mandatory vaccine is ready NOW – Gates,
Fauci, Davos, the oligarchs, and the usual suspects just needed to lay the groundwork. It's
ready to go now. Doesn't take much of a gedanken experiment to see the end-game here.
@utu "Yes, what if the chief objective was not to hurt China by disrupting its society
and economy but to make the whole world angry with China."
If the planning was like 9/11, then both of these objectives would have been carefully
scrutinized and maximized.
Bear in mind something, please: who says these bastards are finished unleashing designer
bugs?
Would it not be wisest for these evil geniuses to keep the bugs coming, intensifying the
impact so that the continuously simmering anger of the increasingly desperate masses can be
directed to boil over at the Chinese menace when the 'elites' deem it necessary and proper.
And with exploding unemployment numbers, especially among the young, and no real short term
job or career prospects, these psychopathic 'elites' have a ready-made source for boots on
the ground, should that be mandated.
Of course, I hope all this turns out to not be the case. But if 9/11 was any indication,
these bastards will be brazen and shamelessly murderous.
@Max Powers When you said that Ron Unz lost you with his defense of NATO in the
unnecessary Serbian war, I hope that you read the rest of the article rather than stopping
there. I, too, smelled a Bill Clinton obfuscation at the time, as I always do when any US
president sends our troops to war. I'm a little surprised that Mr. Unz didn't.
However, I respect his honesty, and he more than redeemed himself in the rest of his
well-researched and well-written article. It did much to bolster my belief that the
CIA/Neocons are behind it. Although, discounting the unfairly derided Beltway outsider Mr.
Trump, I've never considered the likes of such people as West Point grad SOS Pompeo as being
incompetent. To paraphrase the former CIA head: "we lie, we cheat, we steal."
But America and several European countries avoiding adopting these same early measures
such as widespread testing, quarantine, and contact-tracing, and have paid a terrible price
for their insouciance.
For someone ordinarily quite careful in your use of terminology, you conflate the term
quarantine with lockdown. This is usually being done these days in the media to make a
lockdown seem less unreasonable to the insouciant public. Properly a quarantine is the
isolation of the sick to prevent the spread of contagion to the healthy public. What we have
are lockdowns, restricting the free movement of the healthy population. These have been
resorted to out of the desire "to do something," but unfortunately as you must know, there is
absolutely no empirical evidence that lockdowns do any good when all is said and done, and
they do considerable economic harm. Sweden used a relaxed social distancing approach without
a lockdown, and their mortality rate is currently less than that of most countries that
resorting to this authoritarian approach.
@Quintus "Another financial reset was also long overdue, as Greg Mannarino and others
have pointed out: the coronavirus cover was too perfect of a tool for deflecting the guilt
from the Fed and the banksters; killing many birds with one stone, the virus is also a 2)
powerful psy-op hurting China's image in the world, 3) further delivering a strong blow to
its export-driven economy; 4) it sets the stage for the cashless society ("dirty bills not
accepted here!"), the advent of digital currencies and 5) top-down surveillance."
Exactly!
This planned-demic is like a Timex watch for the PTB: the gift that keeps on giving.
You are spot-on when you say that digital currencies and top-down surveillance will be
enabled by this oh-so-convenient viral pandemic.
Like I said, it's a neoliberal zionist-neocon elitist's wet dream come true, maybe even
more than 9/11 was.
I guess we all get to watch, wait and see what happens next .
One thing I have been waiting for is confirmation that HIV is somehow involved in the virus,
making it a chimera and tipping the scale towards bioweapon.
@anon If Trump was in on it, he didn't do much of a job making himself a hero, several
missteps are noticeable in the view of 20/20 hindsight, even if he intentionally wanted to
crash the economy he would have scripted it better.
@MLK Unz.com seems to be less a blog than an online asylum; Ron and most of the
KrazyKommentariat have really flipped their tinfoil Trilbys this time. This site is worse
than Infowars is reputed to be–yet utterly without the entertainment value. You wonder
why Pat Buchanan, Steve Sailer and Bertie Woostershire continue to post on this site. And,
yes, why I bother to comment.
@Tor597 "Zerohedge used to be libertarian and antiestablishment but something changed and
they are now right wing neocons."
Their true colors are emerging for all to see.
I recognized early on what exactly Zerohedge was about: sayanim-directed, intelligently
controlled opposition. Very intelligently controlled, I should say.
Or as I call it, "Zio-hedge".
The trick is to give lots of good analysis and establish credibility, and then on the
absolutely critical issues, subtly reinforce the neocon narrative. Then, slowly over time,
not so subtly. Then, when the moment is ripe, openly and strongly support the neocon
narrative. Again, a very intelligent and effective technique.
Sadly, we are now at the point of "openly" reinforcing the neocon narrative ..
Ron,
Your article is very good! Thank you for shedding some light on this issue
I would like to summarize a rebuttal to some of the points expressed in this article
However, your chart depicting America and China economic trends is statistically
misleading
America started from a much higher bar than China, and it is harder for richer countries
to grow. Furthermore, an additional dollar in per capita GDP for America is a less % growth
than it would be for China.
Here is the GDP per capita growth from the World Bank for America vs China.
Hardly, what your graph shows at all. In fact, this shows America adding more in Per
capita GDP in real terms than China over the last thirty years.
It seems the issue is that you are thinking that China's exponential growth will continue
till the point where it strongly surpasses the USA, like the Coronavirus's growth, but
countries don't work like that. Unless you want to believe there was some policy reason for
why Japan went from 10% to 1% growth in ten years.
Second, with respect to the domestic impoverishment of America, I think you are mistaken
here. Most of those who are impoverished in America are immigrants and Black people, one
group because of their recent arrival and location in America's most expensive cities. The
other group because of their lack of time preference, so they don't save.
Additionally, How did China identify the virus so quickly? It is fairly hard to tell, even
from those who died. According your own article, China shut down when they had 11 deaths, and
sequenced the genome when they had even less. That has never happened before, and I feel that
is suspicious to me. The offical Chinese narrative is that the Wuhan Goverment dropped the
ball, so how did they catch the disease so early?
An article by Mr. Unz is always worth the wait and then the read, no matter if I agree a
100%, 60%, or even just 20% with what has been written.
A real delight, and a sort of Christmasy feeling. Which is a very important psychological
boost for the likes of me in such weird, weird times. Thanks!
The Winnipeg lab lead scientist, a Dr Plummer, dropped dead in Nigeria in early March.
He more than likely added the HIV 1 content to the Wu V to allow it to spread since he had
the MERS variant from 2014 on.
His lab then had Wuhan Scientists escorted out by RCMP last summer.
No info as to why was offered, and Plummer was buddies with the Harvard prof, and both were
recipients of Epstien the rapists financial support.
Ron always goes to the edge, but never ever steps off!!
Epstein should be brought up, he gave many millions to the Harvard and MIT people for virus
development!! Cui bono Ron, cui bono, by deception, make war!!!
Not sure what to make of Mr. Unz's piece here -- there's a lot of room for any number of
suspects to emerge as the guilty party here
One of the earliest questions I had was just how did this virus get into Iran -- which
naturally begs the question of who has the most visible and ongoing hatred of Iran -- other
than israel -- and their stooge, the United States.
The Newsweek article cited here about the class action lawsuits even mentions one of the
plaintiff attorneys: "But Klayman claimed he has "whistleblowers with firsthand knowledge" of
China's involvement in the viral outbreak who are currently residing in Israel and the United
States and who can help substantiate this charge." So just who is it among 'whistleblowers'
that reside in israel and in the United States (likely dual citizenship folks) -- other than
israeli nationals?
And, from this article: "But by late February Iran had become the second epicenter of the
global outbreak. Even more surprisingly, its political elites had been especially hard-hit,
with a full 10% of the entire Iranian parliament soon infected and at least a dozen of its
officials and politicians dying of the disease, including some who were quite senior.
" Across the entire world the only political elites that have yet suffered any significant
human losses have been those of Iran, and they died at a very early stage, before significant
outbreaks had even occurred almost anywhere else in the world outside China. Thus, we have
America assassinating Iran's top military commander on Jan. 2nd and then just a few weeks
later large portions of the Iranian ruling elites became infected by a mysterious and deadly
new virus, with many of them soon dying as a consequence. Could any rational individual
possibly regard this as a mere coincidence?"
Even allowing for Iran's involvement by the chinese in its BRI -- how can anyone explain
the virus so quickly targeting the elites in Iran's ruling class -- certainly they don't hang
around with the chinese in Iran or elsewhere, do they?
@Fiendly Neighbourhood Terrorist Your list is too small. I laugh at these comments
regarding China's lies and crimes. Americans are surely the most gullible people on the
planet. They know their corrupt government steals and lies to them daily yet they can still
be manipulated to jump on the bandwagon of blame and hate towards anyone at anytime with a
few inciteful articles from the media.
let me add to your list [MORE]
MLK
JFK
Ruby
USS Liberty
911
Venezuela
Honduras
Haiiti
Hiroshima
Vietnam
Syria
Palestine
Russia
Ukraine
Libya
Epstein
Afghanistan
32 Trillion dollars missing from the pentagone
All Presidential Elections
Hiding their own crimes against humanity, their government drug trade/sex trade/ chemical
and biowarfare against poor countries.
The US of Israel so exceptional.
@Mustapha Mond Agreed . Like 9/11 there is plenty of evidence in the predictive
programming/revelation of the method/social conditioning that the Coronavirus pandemic was
many years in the making see, for example : "WTF? Olympic Opening Ceremony 2012-NHS" YouTube
. Yes, the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony revealed part of the plot of the
Coronavirus plandemic. I was expecting that something like this was going to happen ,but
figured the cabal/cult/globalists/freemasons wouldn't try to pull it off until Americans were
disarmed but , when you have total control of the media , it is easy to create hysteria and
brainwash the public into believing that the Coronavirus, which is probably no more than the
flu ,is the plague and will wipeout mankind unless everyone is locked-down . As another
commenter has noted ,they probably could not have pulled off the international Coronavirus
psyop 10 to 20 years ago because they did not have control and ownership of the worldwide
massmedia . septemberclues.info
has a good, short essay on "The central role of the news media on 9/11." Unless you stop
relying on news from NPR, MSNBC, New York Times , Washington Post, Fox News , CBS , NBC
,etc,etc you will remain brainwashed and unable to understand that we are living through a
planned-demic with a frightening agenda .
@anon "Please do not comment on things you clearly don't understand. It is estimated that
no more than a few percent of the American population has been exposed to Sars2 (Covid-19)."
The key word is "estimated". No one knows (not even you) the actual number of exposed
Americans to the Wuhan virus. There have been some small random samples done by
Dr.Bhattacharya that indicate that there is actually a large number of Americans that have
been infected but are asymptomatic and that the final mortality rate will be closer to the
annual flu or 0.1% to 0.2% instead of the guesstimate of 3%. The early studies are too small
to think they are representative of the nation but the results indicate that larger studies
are necessary in order to support nationwide policies, which are currently being made on
hunches not science. About 60,000 to 80,000 died of the flu during the 2017 season when
vaccines were available, so a large number of deaths during the flu season are not unusual
and never required closing down the economy.
[MORE]
Gov. Cuomo was screaming at the top of his lungs that he needed tens of thousands of
ventilators, thousands are now sitting in his warehouses unused. So much for estimates. Most
of the early estimates were wrong by exaggerating the death rate, which turned out to be only
a guess rather than based upon science.
The CDC has been derelict in its duties over the years and has been giving poor advice.
There are other experts in the field that have alternative views that are being ignored or
dismissed and should at least be considered.
@Ayatollah Smith I have been reading much about Covid-19, but am waiting for anyone, in
or out of government, trying to blame China and/or exonerate Uncle Sam to deal with a
particular point that anyone can easily appreciate using only a timeline:
The US needs to answer this question: HOW could US 'intelligence sources' possibly have
known in November – or even October – of a potential pandemic of COVID-19 that
would erupt – specifically in Wuhan – two months later? (Or that was already
erupting in Wuhan at the time, unbeknownst to the Chinese?). I believe the entire world
would demand the answer to this.
So far, nothing. No refutation, no rationalization, just silence. Like WTC-7, is this
Achilles' heel from which the Establishment can only limp away?
I don't know who, what, when, where, or why this infection(s) began. But I'm certain that
anyone dodging that particular question wants me not to.
In 2016, when I finally cancelled by NYT subscription, I was asked why I was doing so. I
explained that I didn't like having my intelligence systematically insulted.
Like, I think, most UR readers, I'm game for pretty much anything as a general
proposition.
But poor Ron couldn't make it more than 100 words into a droning 7,400 words with
discrediting himself.
When CIA whacked JFK, the whole world outside the US iron curtain knew, but too bad. When CIA
blew up OKC, the whole world knew, but hey, it's their business. When CIA knocked down the
WTC, on the second try, and blew up the Pentagon a bit to start a war, the whole world knew,
but Russia was tits-up, unable to do anything about it.
This is different. CIA's illegal germ warfare is a maleficium, in legal doctrine going
back to Grotius. CIA wronged the whole world, and the whole world has a joint obligation to
hold CIA responsible. Russia and China made a missile gap for real, so now they can do
it.
This is war. This is the very beginning of the world war that will end the CIA regime:
@Anon One problem with the chart that can be fixed to make it more representative is that
the two countries should start from the same base of comparison. If you use two different
bases, then you get the wrong comparison.
For instance, if you measured the US from China's base in 1980, the US added 40k in per
capita gdp in the 40 years, reflecting a 4000% increase from China base in contrast to the
1400% increase that China had.
If you use the same base, then America is what looks like a superior country.
@antitermite Unbelievable. A truly gifted researcher destroyed on the totally idiotic
charges:
Charles M. Lieber (born 1959) is an American chemist and pioneer in nanoscience and
nanotechnology. In 2011, Lieber was named by Thomson Reuters as the leading chemist in the
world for the decade 2000-2010 based on the impact of his scientific publications. He is
known for his contributions to the synthesis, assembly and characterization of nanoscale
materials and nanodevices, the application of nanoelectronic devices in biology, and as a
mentor to numerous leaders in nanoscience.
Awards:
Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (2001)
MRS [Material Research Society] Medal (2002)
ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2004)
NBIC Research Excellence Award in Nanotechnology, University of Pennsylvania (2007)
Inorganic Nanoscience Award, ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry (2009)
Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience, Materials Research Society (2010)
Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2012)
Nano Research Award, Tsinghua University Press/Springer (2013)
IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award (2013)
Willard Gibbs Medal Award (2013)
MRS Von Hippel Award (2016)
Remsen Award (2016)
NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2017 and 2008)
John Gamble Kirkwood Award, Yale University (2018)
Welch Award in Chemistry (2019)
On January 28, 2020, Lieber was arrested on charges of making false statements to the
U.S. Department of Defense and to Harvard investigators regarding his participation in
China's Thousand Talents Program According to the Department of Justice's charging
document, there are two counts of alleged crime committed by Lieber. The DOJ
believes Lieber's statement was false
The only way "the US government did it" makes sense is if this was happening this coming
November after Trump has been reelected. If the Deep State did it without Trump's approval,
somebody will talk just like John Soloman claims FBI agents told him of the Russiagate
conspiracy at the FBI while it was getting underway. Somebody would have alerted somebody
loyal to Trump what was being planned. Remember Trump had to give the order to kill that
Iranian general. The Deep State (full of Israel's toadies) didn't even do that on their own.
Of course, there is an answer for everything. It even makes more sense for Trump to do it
now so he can fix it. The Deep State did it but Trump now has to cover for them or risk the
world finding out how incompetent he is.
Concerning "wet markets", I'd just like to add that 99% of those are normal "butcher's
markets" with lamb, beef, pork, chickens, and sea produce, and 1%, in specific parts of the
country, selling all the Cthulhu fhtagn stuff.
So China reopening some wet markets now is an argument neither for, nor against the
zootropic theory. Because I'm pretty sure they're reopening the "lamb and chicken" wet
markets, not the "H.R.Giger's nightmares" ones, such as the one in Wuhan that is one of the
three possible origins.
1) Wuhan wet market
2) Wuhan lab
3) Wuhan based foreign troops taking part in the military Olympics
Has to be one of those three. Maybe the third was even accidental, but
There's some interesting information in the article for sure, but it seems to me that if the
US were to perform clandestine bio weapons attacks on another country, the Middle East and
Russia would surely be the primary targets. We rely on China for a lot of things, such as
virtually all the goods sold at Walmart and China owns a great deal of our debt, so it would
seem to me a financially strong China is in our interest.
Moreover, plagues and epidemics, especially coronaviruses, have started in the far east as
long as can be remembered.
@Anonymous This is about the most common sense post I have read on this site. SPOT ON.
OUR current problems in regards to immigration, racial issues, Black criminality, and this
(((virus))) can all be traced to one group for the most part. Btw, I was in NYC about the
same time perion in '83-'87 and haven't been back since, but from what I understand, it is
far worse today. I actually didn't find it that bad back then even though crime and drugs
were out of control. Probably because I was a twenty-something and having fun.
Anyhow, as you said, WHY in the hell do ANY Americans, much less White Americans ALLOW
RACIST JEWISH SUPREMACIST organizations have so much power over them. It isn't as if the ADL
or $PLC try and hide their hatred for Whites. I would have no problem for any organization
whether it be Black, Jewish or Hispanic fighting against racism, but lets face it, these
organizations aren't fighting against racism, they main goal is to take away the rights of
Whites or demonize WHITES ONLY.
"Life isn't complicated." And this (((virus))) isn't either. This shit was MANUFACTURED
and we can only guess by whom and what their future intentions are down the road. As usual
the usual suspects have already pretty much revealed themselves to anyone out there really
watching. For the WILLFULLY ignorant ostriches and chinadidit people, well, they must like be
lorded over by a tiny group of people who don't give two shits about them or their
children.
the response of the West has been utterly atrocious either way.
What do you people wish happened -- Trump-issued national lockdown order back in January?
Why do the death counts need to be artificially inflated if this virus is as deadly as the
media says?
These injuries often seem like pneumonia, but they are not caused by an infectious
disease, and they do not improve with antibiotics. Respiratory symptoms reported include:
shortness of breath, chest pain, pain on breathing, and cough. Other symptoms reported by
many patients include: fever, chills, nausea, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal
pain.
Whether plausible or not, such accusations carry the gravest international implications,
and there are growing demands that China financially compensate our country for its
trillions of dollars in economic losses.
Aren't you comdedians Trillions deep in debt by the Chinese?
Since you'd never pay back anyway, they are in the face saving position to grant you very
generous debt forgiveness.
@Mustapha Mond Not to mention, Mr. Brave New World (how appropriate your name is), it
fits in nicely with Bill Gates' plan for a massive reduction in world population. What
freedom-loving young proles will want to form families and bring children into such a
dystopia? Already, US whites are well below replacement rate and dropping. As of 2018 it was
1.73 babies per woman, 16% below replacement rate, the lowest rate ever recorded. Asian
Americans are even lower at 1.525 (per the World Atlas).
@Chet Roman there things that are kmown:the almost universal economic damage that
stopping the economy,as if it were a ball game,would bring,guaranteed
We all have one hand tied behind our back. There is nobody that I know of presenting
information from inside the border of China to compare with Ronald Unz and his collaborators
at unz.com . I have seen exactly one
document in the last two years. It was a post on medium.com which purportedly was written by a Chinese ex-pat
graduate student in British Columbia with google earth images analyzed to show the
proliferation of concentration camps in Xinjiang for the retention of young male uyghurs.
Every single time I saw this document referenced on the internet it was followed up within
an hour by a shower of posts from all over the place that it was CIA fake news.
Basically at most we know about 1/2 and it is tough to know what to do with that.
@36 ulster Because articles with stated evidence linked to articles/research/legislation
where it is taken from (unlike the MSM, that links nothing other than its own circle-jerk),
and some implicit acceptance that the reader should have the freedom to decide for themselves
– rather than being spoonfed 'truths' agreed upon somewhere 'up high' – offers
people enough respect to allow them to accept that the webzine is not an ideological
printout, but a spectrum of ideas, to be evaluated by the reader. This is a contract with
consideration.
We have no truths from our elected leaders, or their stenographers in the MSM though.
When Trump says 'blame China', most of us see a bankruptcy merchant peddling a lie to
weasel out and default on 1 trn $$ (Martyanov said it first methinks!) – cause that's
what he does, and that's what he knows.
Unz offers a fairly balanced approach to conspiracy theory – not conspiracy
hypothesis. Ain't seen any article on some dude claiming he got anal probed by little green
men without any even anecdotal evidence.
This place debates the smoke, often without the fire. But it's a good start to some
explanation for some fire. Much of the rest of the net doesn't look at the smoke, but instead
distracts its audience with some other eye candy.
But hey, is it fair to complain – some people enjoy WWE!
@utu There's nothing like attacking the person (Wittkowski himself) in place of his point
( herd immunity already gained by Asians before lockdown) to demonstrate your bona fides.
Thanks for your back-handed admittal that you can't rebut his conclusion.
I have been trying to get this across for an age. It's very simple. Anybody who says China
did it is suspect. Not only does the import of their message suggest that the China-did-its
are ruling-class-hired trolls, the trolly smartass tone suggests it, not to mention the
illiteracy.
@Other Side "The drastic changes in the Balkans in the 1990s and the disintegration of
Yugoslavia in particular have resulted in a large number of publications attempting to
explain the break-up of this country and the political developments in the Balkans. Some of
these publications deal partly with the local Muslims who were engaged in the Balkan
conflicts but, with some exceptions, they are focused mainly on recent developments, with
less attention paid to the historical contexts in which the Muslim nationalist movements were
shaped. Although religion played a more important role in the nation-building process of the
Bosnian Muslims than in that of the Albanians, there are very few studies that examine the
reasons for this and the impact of Islam on the Muslim nationalist movements in historical
perspective. The following article examines from a comparative perspective the role of Islam
in the Bosnian Muslim and Albanian national movements from the Ottoman period up to the end
of the Cold War. The Sunni Muslims of Bosnia and the Albanians, who are divided into three
religions and a variety of sects, present contrasting societal structures for the analysis of
different aspects of Islam."
Would you like to read the rest of this article
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233460310_The_Bosnian_Muslims_and_Albanians_Islam_and_nationalism
More reading
"Immediately after the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, Arab Islamic fundamentalists
infiltrated the mosques in the country, which is 70 percent Muslim. The interlopers
represented the Saudi Wahhabis and the Egyptian disciples of today's al Qaeda leader Ayman
Al-Zawahiri. In spring 1999, a dozen of Al-Zawahiri's acolytes, known as the "Albanian
Returnees," were deported from the eastern Adriatic republic to Egypt, tried, and sentenced
to death or extended prison terms for terrorism. The "Returnees" had been told by their
"sheikhs" to stay in Albania and avoid going to Kosovo, where NATO military forces were, by
that time, thick on the ground. But Albania booted them out with alacrity. Evidence in the
case of the "Albanian Returnees" proved extremely important in tracing the evolution of al
Qaeda's Egyptian predecessors."
"... The statements made by General Milley and Secretary Pompeo should send a chill down the spine of anyone familiar with the history of what happens when American intelligence is used to promote a baseless theory about a weapon of mass destruction ..."
"... Pompeo's words harken back to statements made by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in December 2002 regarding Iraq. Like Colin Powell's flawed case against Iraq, the conspiracy theory postulated by President Trump and subsequently echoed by General Milley, Secretary Pompeo and others is premised on a chimera – there simply is no factual link between the Wuhan laboratories in question and Covid-19. ..."
"... These State Department cables have become the heart of the US case against China; the fact that China requested additional specialist support from the US to help operate a BSL-4 lab that was conducting publicly acknowledged research into the link between bat coronaviruses and humans has somehow been turned into a conspiracy theory predicated on Chinese malfeasance and secrecy. ..."
By publicly entertaining theories linking the Covid-19 virus to Chinese research
laboratories, US President Donald Trump and his administration are setting China up as the
witch in a new political witch hunt. As the United States begins to grapple with the scope and
scale of the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the national economy, as well as the
heavy human toll the disease has taken on its population (676,676 documented cases as of April
17, with 34,784 deaths), it was only a matter of time before politicians began looking for
someone to blame. Recently, President Trump has come under increasing scrutiny for what has
been depicted as a delayed response to the threat posed by Covid-19, with many critics pointing
out that his administration was virtually silent on the issue throughout the month of February,
thereby losing precious time that could have been spent mitigating against the spread of the
disease. Purposeful non-denial
Rather than confront these allegations, the president and his national security team have
instead sought to deflect blame from their shoulders onto China, and in doing so have breathed
life into a baseless conspiracy theory that Covid-19 originated in a biological research
laboratory located in the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the global pandemic brought about by
that disease. When asked about reports of the virus escaping from the Wuhan lab, President
Trump was somewhat circumspect. "More and more, we're hearing the story, and we'll see,"
Trump said. "We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that
happened." Trump was also asked about his conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping
regarding the Wuhan laboratory's role in spreading Covid-19. "I don't want to discuss what I
talked to him about the laboratory," Trump responded. "I just don't want to discuss,
it's inappropriate right now."
... ... ...
The statements made by General Milley and Secretary Pompeo should send a chill down the
spine of anyone familiar with the history of what happens when American intelligence is used to
promote a baseless theory about a weapon of mass destruction (Trump's indirect allusions to
China weaponizing Covid-19 would place the virus in this category) for political purposes.
Pompeo's words harken back to statements made by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in
December 2002 regarding Iraq. Like Colin Powell's flawed case against Iraq, the conspiracy
theory postulated by President Trump and subsequently echoed by General Milley, Secretary
Pompeo and others is premised on a chimera – there simply is no factual link between the
Wuhan laboratories in question and Covid-19.
...
But in January 2018, following a visit by US Embassy personnel to the Wuhan Institute
of Virology, concerns were raised by the Americans about a shortage of appropriately trained
specialists within the Wuhan Institute of Virology needed to operate the lab at the levels
required of a BSL-4 facility capable of handling the most dangerous biological threats. The US
Embassy communicated these concerns back to the State Department as part of a request, made on
behalf of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, for funding to support the hiring of additional
specialists under an existing grant overseen by a US research institution (the request was
denied).
Building the bonfire
These State Department cables have become the heart of the US case against China; the fact
that China requested additional specialist support from the US to help operate a BSL-4 lab that
was conducting publicly acknowledged research into the link between bat coronaviruses and
humans has somehow been turned into a conspiracy theory predicated on Chinese malfeasance and
secrecy.
In many ways, the US 'investigation' into the Wuhan laboratory resembles the famous witch
inquisition undertaken in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail': a witch burns, so she is made of
wood; wood floats, as does a duck. Conclusion: a duck is made of wood. This kind of stupefying
enquiry would normally be beyond the remit of professional intelligence agencies. However, the
United States has a well-documented history of using intelligence to suit the political purposes
of those in power. What is taking place today regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology is little
more than an old-fashioned witch hunt.
"... The editor-in-chief of Germany's largest paper Bild on Thursday launched a full frontal attack on China's communist president Xi Jinping for his regime's failure to lying about the coronavirus outbreak and the massive human rights violations carried out by the Communist Party, and demanding no less that €149 billion in damages as a result of China's actions. ..."
Let's
see how the pro-China "
fact checkers " blow up on this one.
The editor-in-chief of Germany's largest paper Bild on Thursday launched a full frontal
attack on China's communist president Xi Jinping for his regime's failure to lying about the
coronavirus outbreak and the massive human rights violations carried out by the Communist
Party, and demanding no less that €149 billion in damages as a result of China's
actions.
In an article titled "What China Owes Us" , Julian Reichelt, the prominent editor-in-chief
of the Bild, wrote to Jinping that "Your embassy in Berlin has addressed me in an open letter
because we asked in our newspaper Bild whether China should pay for the massive economic damage
the coronavirus is inflicting worldwide."
Addressing the Chinese president, the German editor wrote that, "You, your government and
your scientists had to know long ago that coronavirus is highly infectious, but you left the
world in the dark about it. Your top experts didn't respond when Western researchers asked to
know what was going on in Wuhan. You were too proud and too nationalistic to tell the truth,
which you felt was a national disgrace."
Reichelt said that, "You rule by surveillance. You wouldn't be president without
surveillance. You monitor everything, every citizen, but you refuse to monitor the diseased wet
markets in your country. You shut down every newspaper and website that is critical of your
rule, but not the stalls where bat soup is sold. You are not only monitoring your people, you
are endangering them – and with them, the rest of the world."
He continued with his bill of particulars, noting that "surveillance is a denial of freedom.
And a nation that is not free, is not creative. A nation that is not innovative, does not
invent anything. This is why you have made your country the world champion in intellectual
property theft.
"China enriches itself with the inventions of others, instead of inventing on its own,"
Reichelt wrote. "The reason China does not innovate and invent is that you don't let the young
people in your country think freely. China's greatest export hit (that nobody wanted to have,
but which has nevertheless gone around the world) is coronavirus ."
We can't wait to read what Reichelt will have to say when it is confirmed that the "Wu Flu"
escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a development we expect will take place any
day.
The best-selling paper Bild calculated prior to Reichelt's editorial that China owed Germany
€149 billion for coronavirus damages, triggering the angry response from the Chinese
embassy in Berlin. Bild said the compensation amounts to €1,784 per person if Germany's
GDP drops by 4.2 percent. The Bild article was titled: "What China owes us."
In response, the spokeswoman for China's embassy, Tao Lil, published an open letter to Bild
in German on the embassy's website stating that, "I followed your reporting on the corona
pandemic in general and China's alleged guilt in particular today. Apart from the fact that we
consider it a pretty bad style to blame a country for a pandemic that is affecting the whole
world and then to present an explicit account of alleged Chinese debts to Germany, the article
ignores some essential facts."
She added that "We note that many countries now struggling with COVID-19 have had time to
prepare for the cross-border spread of the pathogen after China reported its outbreak under IHR
[World Health Organization] guidelines."
And in taking a page out of every liberal textbook, everywhere, having no credible defense,
China's embassy spokeswoman promptly changed subjects and said the article "stirs up xenophobia
and nationalism."
So... accusing a government of a giant cover up - which we already know happened as China
itself admitted when it silenced the Wuhan doctor who tried to bring the world's attention to
the plague ravaging his town only to be arrested and forecefully silenced before dying from the
coronavirus - is now nothing more than an act of racism. Got it. Perhaps the next time the IRS
comes knocking and demanding a "fairer share" of one's income, the same "you are racist" excuse
can be applied as well?
Oh, and yes, the same line of questioning that got this site banned by the "ultra liberal"
arbiters of all that is true and just in this world - and direct whose actions may have
facilitates the deaths of thousands of people around the globe - was not lost on the Bild
editor-in-chief, who cited last week's Washington Post article reporting that, "your
laboratories in Wuhan have been researching coronaviruses in bats, but without maintaining the
highest safety standards. Why are your toxic laboratories not as secure as your prisons for
political prisoners? Would you like to explain this to the grieving widows, daughters, sons,
husbands, parents of corona victims all over the world?"
We couldn't have said it better ourselves, even if we did say it about 3 months earlier, for
which we got the ultimate punishment from that paragon of free speech, Jack Dorsey.
Reichelt concluded that, "In your country, your people are whispering about you. Your power
is crumbling. You have created an inscrutable, non-transparent China. Before Corona, China was
known as a surveillance state. Now, China is known as a surveillance state that infected the
world with a deadly disease.That is your political legacy."
<img src="https://s.france24.com/media/display/05729d20-80c2-11ea-a1d3-005056a98db9/w:310/p:16x9/404d18b7ba14ed45c3e242a41a31ea6870fda7de.jpg" alt="An aerial view of the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, China taken April 17, 2020."/>
An aerial view of the P4 laboratory in
Wuhan, China taken April 17, 2020.
Hector RETAMAL AFP
Text by:
FRANCE 24
Follow
France on Friday said there was no factual evidence so far of a link between the Covid-19
outbreak and the work of the P4 research laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which France helped set up and where the
current pandemic started.
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more
"We would like to make it clear that there is to this day no factual evidence corroborating recent reports in the US
press linking the origins of
Covid-19
and the work of the P4 laboratory of Wuhan,
China
," an official at President
Emmanuel Macron
's office said.
The broad scientific consensus holds that SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the coronavirus, originated in bats.
In 2004,
France
signed an agreement with China to establish a research lab on infectious diseases of biosafety level 4, the
highest level, in Wuhan, according to a French decree signed by then-foreign minister Michel Barnier.
US trying to determine if virus originated in lab
US President
Donald Trump
said on Wednesday his government was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in
Wuhan, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing "needs to come clean" on what they know.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that US intelligence indicates that
the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there is no
certainty either way.
The Washington Post said this week that national security officials in the Trump administration have long suspected
research facilities in Wuhan to be the source of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
As far back as February, the Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology dismissed rumours that the virus may
have been artificially synthesised at one of its laboratories or perhaps escaped from such a facility.
The allegations came amid mounting international criticism of China's initial cover-up of the virus and suspicions
that Beijing had not revealed the extent of the public health crisis due to economic concerns.
China on Friday
revised its pandemic toll again
, this time by a major 50 percent increase in the total death toll. But Chinese
authorities denied it was due to a cover-up, maintaining the revision was due to insufficient capacity during the peak
of the pandemic.
The lab at the heart of the controversy
The Wuhan research laboratory at the heart of the controversy is home to the China Centre for Virus Culture
Collection, the largest virus bank in Asia which, preserves more than 1,500 strains, according to its website.
The complex contains Asia's first maximum security lab equipped to handle Class 4 pathogens (P4) -- dangerous viruses
that pose a high risk of person-to-person transmission, such as Ebola.
The 300 million yuan ($42 million) lab was completed in 2015, and finally opened in 2018, with the founder of a
French bio-industrial firm, Alain Merieux, acting as a consultant in its construction. The institute also has a P3
laboratory that has been in operation since 2012.
The 3,000-square-metre P4 lab, located in a square building with a cylindrical annex, lies near a pond at the foot of
a forested hill in Wuhan's remote outskirts.
"The costs of the pandemic keep piling up,"
writes Marc Thiessen at the Washington Post . "Somebody has to pay for this
unprecedented damage. That somebody should be the government of China."
And why, pray tell, should China's government be punished? For "intentionally lying to the
world about the danger of the virus, and proactively impeding a global response that might
have prevented a worldwide contagion."
Sounds fair, doesn't it? If a government lies and people die as a result, that government
and its functionaries should be held responsible, right? Good enough for me.
But sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, so if we're having Peking Duck this week,
I'd like to know when Thiessen plans to cough up his share of US government's tab.
As a speechwriter for US president George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
in the first decade of this century, Thiessen was directly responsible for pushing lies that
resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Humanity is still paying a steep price for fairy tales about weapons of mass destruction
and cries of wolf that "the smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud" – fairy tales and
cries of wolf that Thiessen helped draft and craft.
In fact, he's got a lot of nerve pretending that he's even on the same moral level as
Chinese government actors who may have lied about COVID-19, let alone in a position to
lecture them.
Those Chinese actors were, at worst, trying to save face for their regime, and at best
trying to keep themselves out of jail (the Chinese Communist Party has a reputation for harsh
treatment of people who embarrass it).
Thiessen was shilling for an unprovoked war of aggression in Iraq by his regime, and he
could have quit that job any time he chose without fear of being dragged off for
"re-education."
Governments collectively, and the people who comprise them individually, lie. A lot. About
all kinds of different things and for all kinds of different reasons. And often, as a result,
people die. I'm all for holding them accountable, but accountability starts at home.
Let's be honest about what's going on here: Republican flacks like Thiessen are trying to
shift blame away from their party's own policy failures by re-premising the same old
anti-China campaign they've been waging for years.
Don't forget to tip your server, Marc.
Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy
Journalism . He lives and works in north central Florida. This article is reprinted with
permission from William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy
Journalism.
want
to allow random people to sue China over the 'damage it caused'. Other seek
to default on the $1.2 trillion of debt the U.S. owns China.
To blame China the hawks are accusing it of three issues:
Lack of public hygiene
Insufficient information
Creating or spreading the virus by accident
The "wet market" in Wuhan did not have hygiene problems. A "wet market" is comparable to a farmers market
(vid). It is "wet" in that it provides fresh products like fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. A
"dry market" provides the complementary products like rice, flour, tea and sugar. China has yet
to be overrun by super market chains. Some 40% of the Chinese people source their daily food at
the wet markets.
The wet market in Wuhan was not the source of the epidemic. It did not and does not sell
bats. The epidemic started in December at a time when bats hibernate. The first know case
was not related to the market at all.
The U.S. claims that China did not inform it sufficiently. The timeline as published by China and
confirmed by media reports does not support that claim.
On January 3 the head of the U.S. Center of Disease Control was personally informed by his
Chinese counterpart that there was an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan. On
January 8 the "unknown cause" was identified as a novel coronavirus. A full genome sequence of
the virus was published on January 12 and preliminary testing kits were developed and made
available in Wuhan. By January 13 another
test and test protocol had been developed in Germany and on January 17 the WHO adopted
its refined
version .
In the U.S. the CDC insisted on developing its own test and failed by
contaminating its test components . It then failed for more than a month to correct the
issue.
The German Federal Health Ministry was recently asked if it perceived a lack of information
from China or saw reason to criticize China over its changing case numbers . It
responded (in German, my translation):
"The federal government is not aware that China held back any data." ... "Considering the
interim development the adoption of different definitions of cases during the epidemic in
China is comprehensible."
... ... ...
Posted by b on April 18, 2020 at 17:43 UTC | Permalink
thanks b.. This topic is not going away any time soon.. It is a repeat of russiagate, but
coming into an election... The usa knows no bounds when it comes to spreading the blame
outside itself... funny how this works... no accountability, but endless blame... i sort
of thought this was mostly a republican specialty - blaming china, and that russiagate was a
dem specialty, but now it looks like they are all wanting to get in on it.. insane.... this
is one more sign of a falling and failing empire...
Excellent article. Much better than the previous 'partisan politics' article.
During this time of hysterics and hypocrisy, the word 'conspiracy theorist' has been used
to 'label plague talkers' as worse than charlatans and put them back in their box. But
unfortunately, considering the hysterics surrounding Covid-19 I think MoA should make some
allowances.
One cannot talk about Covid-19 and everything that has 'been manufactured out of it'
without talking about Fort Detrick in the U.$.A. The fact that there is so much evidence of
the maleficence there, and the C.D.C's incompetence in bringing it into line is simply a
conversation that is not complete without their inclusion.
If we are not allowed to mention the blasphemous Fort Detrick then perhaps we
can be allowed to talk about the Luger Centre in Georgia, because the Luger Centre has
an even worse track record when it comes to the containment of lethal weapons grade pathogens
and disregard of the local population .
MoA, when will you 'loosen the rules' on discussion of what is deemed conspiracy
theories.
I think you are right this time b. The anti-China nonsense is intended to distract people
from the preCovid 19 and post-Covid 19 economic disaster in Western capitalism, and to help
the oligarchy loot the public once again.
The virus and China are perfect distractions for the propaganda machine, and double as
justifications for the continuing US "pivot to Asia".
Not quite right. The Reality is MUCH more sordid. The Corona bio weapon was deliberately
released in China, so the US gov can then blame CHina. The plan has several point:
1. ruin CHina's economy
2. ruin/stop/slow China's BRI project
3. create world wide hatred against China and make various countres who work witch China
stop.
4. demand CHina pay reparation
Thanks for that piece of evidence regarding the campaign of lies.
It's clear the system's goal is to undercount the infection rate (with the vast majority
experiencing mild or no symptoms; these are undercounted by being discouraged from going to
the hospital, non-tested through the artificial scarcity of test kits etc.) while
overcounting the death rate, in order to attain numbers which possibly could justify the
lockdown with all its evils.
IMO the 'blame China' strategy was hatched very early.
The Trump Administration slow-walked a virus response to gin up a CRISIS! with the
intention of blaming China. That CRISIS! has allowed unpopular bailouts of Wall Street and
favored corporations. The Trump Administration has also assisted in virus-related
profiteering.
The 'national emergency' gives Trump vast powers, but he defers to corporate partners
that are slow to deliver and that are more interested in profits than saving lives.
again with the weird defensive denial of the wet market as a highly probable origin.
1. only MAGAtards and various others who get their "news" from facebook ever thought it
was bats. straw man. even the more rational theories only mention bats in relation to
intermediate animals. it's also misleading to place a "wet market" selling pangolins and
snakes as food in the same category as one selling non-idiot food. bloomberg published a
similar "derpa derp if you object to eating dogs yer racist lol" screed recently but i expect
better from this site.
2. there were many possible COVID cases before december even putting aside the myriad
goofy conspiracy theories. and i keep seeing "' only ' 2/3 of the early cases had
links to the market" presented as a cogent argument which is odd and annoying. the market is
very close to a hotel that could have also been a "ground zero" but until i see reliable
evidence it's just a guess.
3. it's also odd to say "it didn't originate from an animal" and then a few paragraphs
later link to a scientist saying it has a "natural origin". i guess it just spontaneously
appeared in a chinese guy who sneezed all over hubei province?
i'm not in china. no one on here is that i know of. therefore we don't have any more of a
clue than your average ron paul where it started. it could have originated with US troops or
with an animal that is only craved by those with extra chromosomes. both are symptoms of
cultural rot and stupidity so it's gonna be difficult to pin one down.
The Trump Administration has been working to delink China from the US and it's vassal states'
economies for the past 4 years and if we're being honest this campaign started under the
Obama administration and their "pivot to Asia". So this whole virus blame game is just the
latest convenient weapon the US has grabbed a hold of to try to justify the coming
separation.
The US is trying shove China back into the pre-1972 box and it's simply not going to work
so what we'll see s the breakup of NATO / EU as it currently exists, the US will try to force
all member to adopt anti-Chinese economic and strategic policies in order to isolate China,
some will agree (Belgium, England, Poland), others won't (France, maybe Germany). This will
in tern force a breakup and realignment of the existing geo-political order within the West.
On the bright side this might finally force the US to stop being such a warmongering force of
international chaos in Asia and the Middle East. However, I suspect we'll see a return of the
1980s and fortress "American", with the US savagely beating all of South & Central
America into obedience via coups and death squads.
under Obama the US overthrew almost all of the pink tide governments in South America and
Trump is desperately trying to finish the job with overthrowing Venezuela & Cuba. I
wouldn't be surprized if in the 2nd Trump term, the US's finally bites the bullet and bribes
Columbia into invading Venezuela.
There is a broader economic context that has been buried down the Orwellian memory hole by
most of the American media and self-styled Free Press in general.
Namely, the American and broader capitalist Ponzi Scheme/bubble economies have been
hurtling towards imminent collapse BEFORE the COVID-19 "pandemic" oh-so-conveniently
came along.
From the viewpoint of the American Oligarchy (and its allied Oligarchies in other
nations), COVID-19 is a very fortuitous "Black Swan Event" to shift blame for this
collapse.
Moreover, the America/Western-led demands for "COVID-19 compensation" are, in part, an
attempt to manipulate COVID-19 as a pretext to extort money from China to prop up this
America-led ponzi scheme system (aka Neoliberalism or the Washington Consensus).
Google Israel COVID19 Nov 2019, and also Georgia Guidestones. Agenda 21. ALL Globalists are
privy?! Cui bono!? We the common people are non billionaires. MOA an enlightenment, thanks
again!!!
Pretty much on point and I agree with the general direction. Zerohedge has been turned
into a right wing version of MSNBC full of drooling conspiracy theorists.
The big issue is where Europe decides its future lies. Eurasia or NATO. An obvious choice
but some of the more clueless countries (looking at you Poland) may try to continue living in
a fantasy world and will pay a heavy price. The Chinese should be looking to disengage from
the USA in a manner similar to Russia. Isolate the rabid dogs in North America and
concentrate on building Eurasia. Hard days ahead for central and south america.
I'm willing to consider all sources both natural and manufactured, but to date, the
Cambridge study presents the most logical story. But the US media continues to talk about
where the virus was first identified versus where it originated, conflating the former with
the latter. It's understandable that Americans focus on blaming someone since it detracts
from the pathetic state of the country and its increasingly 3rd world conditions.
Ref Wuhan lab
Just sayin' how many international teams are working in this place? http://english.whiov.cas.cn/News/Int_Cooperation_News/
A search "wuhan international cooperation" on your search tool reveals dozens of intl events
in Wuhan, apart from the institute of virology linked above.
Mina , Apr 18 2020 19:30 utc |
23Peter AU1 , Apr 18 2020 19:32 utc |
24
This goes back to the very first trump admin meetings that were classified and their
insistence on calling it the China virus or the Wuhan virus.
The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus
meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the
U.S. government's response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration
officials...
...Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded
from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.
"We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not
go," one official said. "These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary."
The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on
security issues, ordered the classification."This came directly from the White House," one
official said...
...The meetings at HHS were held in a secure area called a "Sensitive Compartmentalized
Information Facility," or SCIF, according to the administration officials.
SCIFs are usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. Ordinary cell
phones and computers can't be brought into the chambers. HHS has SCIFs because
theoretically it would play a major role in biowarfare or chemical attacks.
It would be interesting to know when these classified meetings began.
This from March 21st.
As the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow at a rapid pace in the U.S., the White
House is launching a communications plan across multiple federal agencies that focuses on
accusing Beijing of orchestrating a "cover-up" and creating a global pandemic, according to
two U.S. officials and a government cable obtained by The Daily Beast.
The cable, sent to State Department officials Friday, lays out in detail the
circumstances on the ground in China, including data on coronavirus cases and deaths, the
local business environment and transportation restrictions. But it also issues guidelines
for how U.S. officials should answer questions on, or speak about, the coronavirus and the
White House's response in relation to China.
The talking points appear to have originated in the National Security Council. One
section of the cable reads "NSC Top Lines: [People's Republic of China] Propaganda and
Disinformation on the Wuhan Virus Pandemic."
"Chinese Communist Party officials in Wuhan and Beijing had a special responsibility to
inform the Chinese people and the world of the threat, since they were the first to learn
of it," the cable reads. "Instead, the... government hid news of the virus from its own
people for weeks, while suppressing information and punishing doctors and journalists who
raised the alarm. The Party cared more about its reputation than its own people's
suffering."...
..."These talking points are all anyone is really talking about right now," one official
said. "Everything is about China. We're being told to try and get this messaging out in any
way possible, including press conferences and television appearances."
Ask yourself how are the financial "termites" going to get out of the lockdown and keep all
the fortunes and assets they are in the process of stealing?. One way - blame an outside
force for everything . Try and get the attention focused somewhere else. China now takes
the place of a unifying force, or rather a force to become unified against. ( There are no
aliens around at the moment .) We have had Russia, Clinton/Trump and a mass of otherwise
small time dictators, who have been a "threat" that needed or "wanted" instant warfare.
PLEEZE not that idiocy again.
Look, this is not a finance post BUT one item in the CARES act allows 43,000 people making
over $250'000 per year each to get $195 billion ($1,600,000 each ). More than all the
other "programs" to "help" the plebs and small biz put together. (Did you fill in enough
papers to get your one time $1200?) So China is to "blame" ?
It goes not matter to the financial "termites" at the top where Coronavirus came from, or
if it kills a just few hundreds or millions, all they want is everything that everyone else
owns.
---------
By the way, "China TChump" versus "Beijing Biden" sounds a good way to describe the upcoming
elections.
Propaganda is a collective enterprise. You may start with your influencers but the aim is to
get the ideas to become commonsense, that you'd be embarrassed to disagree with them. Then
the momentum drives things on its own. On this subject it is particularly easy because the US
craves external enemies. At this stage the slightest hint of blaming China is
enthusiastically picked up by everyone in the press and in the population. I don't see how
any 'campaigning' is still required. Where I live (Belgium) it is now also commonsense that
you can't trust anything China says.
Hat tip to ak74 who, like me, thinks that all this is about the civilization war we are in
over who runs finance.
The answer to the question about what does empire/US want that is the basis for the nice
Chinese rant that b linked to at the end of his posting is obvious to some of us. Empire
controls humanity by its undiscussed control over global finance and China is challenging
that world hegemony with its socialist banking system.
The biggest lie of all is the one that maintains that the cult of Hand, The Invisible aka
God of Mammon, is best to govern/motivate our species via their global social contract
control over the structure and outcomes of all economic interchange.
If/when more of those in the West start talking about that unwritten coda they are forced
to live their lives by then the opportunity will open for that coda to be modified to improve
the structure and outcomes of human economic interchange.
It's ye oldy classic one-two from the two-party dictatorship. The left bangs on about Russia,
the right bangs on about China. The dictatorship wants to fight both - though still can't, as
it probably understands those few mornings it sobers up before its next hit of whatever soma
it imbibes.
It's funny - the right leaning sites are now awash with the equivalent of leftie
Russiagaters, people they used to mock rightly and endlessly for jumping to biases or
conclusions.. As much as I love the idea of semi-direct democracy, sometimes a philosopher
king or a wheel turning monarch seem like the only viable choice to lead the sheeple.
"A media research group on Friday released the transcript of a China-produced
Arabic-language news report to show how Beijing's propaganda machine is blaming the
coronavirus on America."
A right-leaning news site offers us an article,
with an Israeli propaganda organization as the source,
about an alleged transcript
of an Arabic language news report
that was allegedly produced by Beijing's propaganda machine
which is blaming the coronavirus on the US.
Whose agenda could be found at the root of the above?
Israel or the US or China or Russia or Iran?
The Wuhan institute of virology is from what I make of it part of a global network of
research venters that are genuinely looking at preventing infectious disease. Research is
published made public ect. US has started pulling out of this since Trump came to power.
Just run onto this.
24 Nov 2019
The Army's premier biological laboratory on Fort Detrick reported two breaches of
containment earlier this year, leading to the Centers for Disease and Control halting its
high-level research.
The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases announced Friday that it
would restart its operations on a limited scale.
Nowhere in that article is Montagnier directly quoted alleging that SARS-CoV-2
escaped from the Wuhan BSL-4 lab. The best the author of the article can come up with is,
"According to the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, a plausible explanation would be an accident
in the Wuhan laboratory. He also added that the purpose of this work was the search for an
AIDS vaccine." IOW, he merely said it was "plausible." That could even have been the result
of a leading question. Yes, it could have escaped from the Wuhan BSL-4, but it could also
have escaped from Fort Detrick, infected people training for the Wuhan military games in
October, etc.
What's important here is that Montagnier is directly quoted alleging that
SARS-CoV-2 must have been created in a laboratory with human intervention. Isn't that really
all we need to know? Why does it matter whether a) it was developed in Winnipeg and stolen by
a researcher there who had ties to Wuhan and has subsequently been denied access to the
Winnipeg BSL-4 or b) it was developed at Ft Detrick and accidentally escaped containment just
before Ft Detrick was shut down? The third possibility that it might have been developed at
Ft Detrick and deliberately deployed via the Wuhan Military Games is unthinkable.
Dr. Francis Boyle is correct. There is no need to develop a vaccine for a man made gain of
function, gene spliced pathogen if the pathogen is not first developed. All gain of function
research must be stopped immediately. In addition, all BSL-4 labs should be shut down.
Yes, thank you David, all that you mention and the human capital that we once had here and
is now gone too. That cannot be bought or made, it must be grown, and grown right. Some
things cannot be bought like a pack of cigarettes, off the shelf.
Ultimately, the question every American have to ask itself is this: am I ready to put up my
military uniform - or, if I'm old, to send my son in a military uniform - to the Chinese
shores across the Taiwan Strait and invade China?
Because that's the end game of this propaganda warfare, as the USA can do shit about its
circa USD 1.2 trn Treasury Bonds and its decoupling strategy won't work. China is not some
random Third World country which you can just embargo and do regime change with only USD 6
million, ten CIA agents and assets, two NGOs and 50 marines: if you want to take it down,
you're speaking of hot war, major invasion, nuclear anihilation and millions dead.
Those professional propagandists don't have to make such choice: they'll be watching the
war from a very safe and comfortable place, while receiving hefty six-figure salaries. But
the redneck in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, West Virginia or et al will have to make such
choice.
Bemildred @20 is correct. It is the mighty empire that is twisting and writhing here like a
fish on a hook, not China. Even though China has been the target of a string of attacks over
the last couple years, it is the empire that is suffering the most from those attacks.
Perhaps the empire will be stupid enough (of course it is!) to default on its debt to
China, but once again the blowback will damage the empire far more than that financial attack
does China.
Check out JP Morgan's 100% stake in the pension mutual fund - in the country you label
CCP.
Very curious. If I include the rest of my comment with certain links described below, I am
unable to post. Does not show in Preview,
Linked to unz: "The hunt for patient zero, a series of unfortunate events."
Link to Times of Israel: "they were told in November 2019, and nothing was done"
An article now by H.R. McMaster about China in The Atlantic displays many of the lies and
fears, but also reveals many of the underlying truths.
Like Kissinger in the late '60's and early '70's, McMaster fears that the Chinese are NOT
dysfunctional and not going to collapse. He fears they will actually find smaller states
willing to join in, that will work, and those states will become part of a Chinese system. He
fears that China is not wrong. He believes the US is better, but not that it has the only
functional truth.
The fear is that China will turn those parts of the world against the US. Against US
values, against US interests, and against the US generally. It is fear of parts of the world
being turned against us, not just removed from our economic system but also being made
hostile to it and us.
This resembles fears from FDR's era of the colonial systems that excluded the US, and then
that German designs would reach the Caribbean and South America to become a direct threat,
just a matter of time.
It is power politics, but not just that the US wants to be hegemon, but that the US will
lose a lot, and be hemmed in.
All I had read was that fort Detrick had been shut down due to safety issues. I hadn't
read anywhere it had reopened, but that is where they are now conducting coronavirus
research.
The pair are growing the SARS CoV-2 virus in round plastic dishes. In February, the CDC
sent the Army about 10 drops of blood from one of the first Covid-19 patients, a Washington
state man in his fifties who was the epidemic's first US death. Since then, the Army
researchers isolated the virus and have been making more of it to ship to other labs
designing a vaccine or treatment against coronavirus.
If any science lab should be poised to tackle the current outbreak, it's the US Army
Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID. This squat tan-colored facility sits in the
middle of the sprawling grounds of Fort Detrick, Maryland,...
Likklemore @42 - I read The Unz Review every day - it's an informative site. I re-read the
link you referred to, and yes, the hunt for patient zero is far more complex than any
Sherlock Holmes mystery. I seriously doubt we'll ever know who Patient Zero was. I couldn't
find the article you referred to at the Times of Israel.
My question was serious, not only directed to b, but to all readers. Do you believe that
the virus was introduced into China, either accidentally or on purpose, by an infected US
Army person in late 2019? That's the story the Chinese Communist Party (not the country of
China or its people) has been pushing. Here's an informative link -
Those that say the ZH article does not directly quote Professor Luc Montagnier are lying
through their teeth. Look at this quote from the article:
"Lemoine inferred that the coronavirus under investigation may have come from a patient
who is otherwise infected with HIV.
"No," says Luc Montagnier, "in order to insert an HIV sequence into this genome, molecular
tools are needed, and that can only be done in a laboratory."
According to the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, a plausible explanation would be an
accident in the Wuhan laboratory. He also added that the purpose of this work was the search
for an AIDS vaccine". end quote.
I think the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from the Wuhan lab is the most
promising one. What many commentators here are doing is being blinded by their own political
prejudices. Sad to see.
"The fear is that China will turn those parts of the world against the US. Against US
values, against US interests, and against the US generally."
We turned the world against us with our constant war mongering and manipulating, all china
& russia had to do was stand back and watch, and offer others something better.
What us values? To murder, rape and plunder at will?
The so called us interests represent the PTB's interests in the form of rape and plunder,
not the common persons interests. Why can't we let people live how they want to live and
trade freely with willing partners?
We are a completely immoral people, the world has seen what we have to offer, and they are
saying no thanks.
Months ago I posted a warning about John Brennan and the CIA.
John Durham (remember him?) is coming for Brennan's head and I wondered in a post
how far John Brennan and the CIA would be willing to go to derail John Durham -
what form would the next 9/11 take, if they were indeed willing to go that far.
When the first 9/11 initially happened I had thought the neocons and warmongers had just
lucked out
and they were handed by luck a pretext for invasions - in other words, no inside job,
I had believed. It was quite a while (years even?) before I came around.
I don't believe the US was involved in initiating the Covid-19 pandemic.
John Brennan just lucked out.
"We are a completely immoral people, the world has seen what we have to offer, and they
are saying no thanks."
Should have said, Our government and our leaders are a completely immoral people, the
world has seen what they have to offer, and they are saying no thanks.
but unlike WMD, this virus is very real and it is killing people and the whole world
economy. And it came out of China. And until mid January, both China and the WHO were saying
"no human to human transmission". 2 months after the first cases, and no human to human
transmission, we all know that is a lie and a botched cover up. That can also be true just as
Trump is a liar and total idiot, as we all know.
We have all seen the cringeworthy interview of the Taiwanese journalist being hung up by
the WHO spokesman, purely for mentioning Taiwan. China and the WHO are undoubtedly culpable
for this crisis, irrespective of how well or how bad individual leaders have responded. No to
travel restrictions, no to masks? tell me that is sound advice not dictated by politics,
wtf.
Even the best cases like Germany and South Korea, their economies are paralysed. How can
you seriously omit this from your narrative and expect to be taken seriously? Chinese doctors
arrested and silenced, sudden jumps in reported numbers... wtf else is going on that we have
yet to discover?
Are you also being paid by China? Never a bad word about China here, come on, they are
just as bad if not worse, and in this case, they screwed up massively, and we don't even know
if it was an accident or something that escaped their lab which is coincidentally only a few
hundred meters from the live market... just a coincidence? let's not even consider it
right?
"... "So let's see what happens with their investigation. But we're doing investigations also ," he said. ..."
"... The Trump administration has said it doesn't rule out that coronavirus was spread - accidentally - from a laboratory researching bat" ..."
"... I am quite sure that the whole of the USIC (NSA, CIA, DIA, etc.) have been tasked to determine what the circumstances were of the advent of the present catastrophe. ..."
"Donald Trump warns of consequences if China was knowingly responsible for coronavirus"
The Telegraph
"" If they were knowingly responsible, certainly," he said. "If it was a mistake, a mistake
is a mistake.
"But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences.
"Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?
"That's a big difference between those two.
"In either event they should have let us go in.
"We asked to go in early. And they didn't want us in. I think they knew it was something bad
and they were embarrassed."
Mr Trump said that China "said they're doing an investigation".
"So let's see what happens with their investigation. But we're doing investigations also
," he said.
The Trump administration has said it doesn't rule out that coronavirus was spread -
accidentally - from a
laboratory researching bat"
The Telegraph
------------
I am quite sure that the whole of the USIC (NSA, CIA, DIA, etc.) have been tasked to
determine what the circumstances were of the advent of the present catastrophe.
The CCP is extremely worried about this investigative process.
It is easy for me to know this because the amount of really hostile stuff being thrown at me
on the blog on this issue has risen exponentially as more and more attention has been focused
in the government and even in the China leaning media on the possibilities of the origins of
the virus and such things as the number of people who were allowed travel to the whole world
but not legally allowed to travel within China. And then, there is the effort the CCP and
Chinese government put into buying up PPE around the world in the period before China
acknowledged the severity of the crisis.
Among the various nonsense written to me is the idea that I am a racist anti-Chinese bigot.
Our Chinese family doctor finds that funny. And then, China was my first choice of area when I
volunteered for area specialization around 1970. Unfortunately, I was put in the Arab World
program because I have an unusually high aptitude for languages and Arabic is more difficult
than Mandarin.
Somewhere out there is a Chinese who either has or will defect to US Intelligence with the
information that is sought.
You don't see a lot of the personal attacks that I am receiving because I don't post them. I
am not interested in providing a platform for Chinese agitprop. They should know that by
now.
Col Lang, I thank you for continuing your forum and also for not posting the personal attacks
against you which would only waste time if we were reading them.
I'm appalled at the obvious love some of our MSM commentators have for the CCP. Does their
hatred for President Trump blind them, do they not know where they are? Don't they think
about their own futures when their world will be most certainly turned upside down? John Paul
Jones, have they never heard of him?
"... We also know that various Chinese officials and press said the Americans had brought the virus with them when they came to Wuhan to participate in the military games. The Chinese did not mean on purpose, but that someone among the US team was infected without having symptoms, often a feature of the virus. There was some discussion in which US health officials seemed to acknowledge that the virus might have been active in the US before it broke lose in a mass way. ..."
First, is the virus a bioweapon? Second who is responsible?
Two sources concluded that the virus was a bioweapon. One is Francis Boyle, who drafted the
US implementing legislation for the Biowarfare Convention that became US law in, I believe,
1989. Boyle says the US government violates the law and has 13,000 scientists working on
biowarfare research. Boyle said in February that the gainer function of the virus was done at a
UNC lab at which a Wuhan scientist was present, and the HIV features were done in Australia
where a Wuhan scientist was present. He says the scientists took the work back with them and
the result was Covid-19. Also in February or March a scientific paper by scientists in India
concluded that the virus was man-made. Their paper was taken down without explanation.
A top virologist, whose statements to the Belgium government concerning the inadequacy of
the government's response to the virus I have posted on my website, tells me that the Indian
scientists were mistaken, and that the virus is naturally evolved. As he is not involved in
bioweapons work, I do not think he is covering up illegal activity by US and Chinese
governments. He shows in his public concern every indication of being a highly principled
person of unquestioned ability and character. Moreover, his position seems to be widely shared
among experts.
As for responsibility, it seems both China and the US are responsible. It is clear from news
reports that the US contributed millions of dollars to the Wuhan level 4 lab for research
having to do with bats and coronavirus. What this research was, we don't know. We only know
what they say. But the US government was aware of the bat coronavirus research and helped to
fund it. There was also a report that after the virus outbreak the president of China suddenly
removed the top people at the Wuhan facility and put in charge a woman who was an expert
virologist. The Chinese president XI thought something had gone wrong at the lab and said it
was the duty of the government to protect the people.
We also know that various Chinese officials and press said the Americans had brought the
virus with them when they came to Wuhan to participate in the military games. The Chinese did
not mean on purpose, but that someone among the US team was infected without having symptoms,
often a feature of the virus. There was some discussion in which US health officials seemed to
acknowledge that the virus might have been active in the US before it broke lose in a mass
way.
We also know that Trump and now the neoconservative warmongers are blaming China for keeping
quiet too long about the virus. This claim as far as I can tell is false. It seems to be mainly
propaganda against China.
We also have had reports that a US military lab in Texas was suddenly closed out of pathogen
concerns by the Obama regime.
How all this fits together or doesn't I don't know.
As the Democrats are blaming Trump for the virus, Trump blames China as that aligns the
Democrats with the "enemy" China and is a way of showing that the Democrats are covering up for
"Communist China" by shifting the blame to the president of the US.
The politics of the virus will make it difficult for the truth to emerge.
To deflect his growing anger and frustration, you must hype up some bogeymen, which at the
moment include China, the Chinese, Trump, the Democratic Party, Russians or even Mother Nature
herself.
Better yet, just let many of them think it's the Second Coming, so the lockdown and
discontinued paychecks are just bits of discomfort before the greatest rejoicing!
Though Jesus won't show up for weeks, months, years, centuries, your serfs will at least
have gotten conditioned to their increasingly strangled lives.
It's not that the American people cannot discern reality from propaganda. They can.
The problem is that the USA is an empire, and, for an empire, it is politically useful to
project its inner contradictions on an external enemy which can be readily exterminated. We
know that because that was exactly the case with the ancient Roman Empire: every time it
plunged into another cycle of civil wars, the new (soon to be assassinated) emperor always
tried to organize and widely propagandize a campaign to conquer Parthia (Persia). Would the
Roman Empire survive it Severus Alexander invasion of Parthia (which burned whatever was left
of the Roman money) was successful? We'll never know. But the logic was there, and it
persisted until the Islamic Conquests ended all the imperial ambitions of the Roman Empire in
the East ("Byzantine Empire").
Deep down, the American people really believe that a big hot war against either Russia or
China (or both at the same time) will really solve all of its economic and social
problems.
"... "In January 2018, the lab was operational 'for global experiments on BSL-4 pathogens,' wrote Guizhen Wu in the journal Biosafety
and Health. After a SARS virus escaped in a 'leak' from another lab in 2004, Chinese officials worked to improve safety, but also to
expand the country's capacity to continue to study the very viruses its lab had let out." ..."
"... "All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material, such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely
after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards. ..."
"... "The Taiwanese doctor then stated the virus outbreak began earlier than assumed, saying, "We must look to September of 2019.
He stated the case in September of 2019 where some Japanese traveled to Hawaii and returned home infected, people who had never been
to China . This was two months prior to the infections in China and just after the CDC suddenly and totally shut down the Fort Detrick
bio-weapons lab claiming the facilities were insufficient to prevent loss of pathogens. (10) (11) ..."
"... "Next, Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an article in Science magazine
that the first human infection has been confirmed as occurring in November 2019 , (not in Wuhan), suggesting the virus originated elsewhere
and then spread to the seafood markets. "One group put the origin of the outbreak as early as 18 September 2019 ." (2) (3) ..."
"... Lots of names are listed from different branches of the military including Marines. What it doesn't say is if any of them,
spouses, brothers, sisters, cousin, uncle – any extended family or friends were working at that Ft. Detrick set of labs when it was
shut down. ..."
"... Only by identifying where ALL players were on duty during that time, family friends and their medical history would we know
there's a possibility of accidental spreading if any were at Ft. Detrick during that time frame. If even one was it could be this CORVID-19
originated from Ft. Detrick and took it with them to Hubei Province. IF this coronavirus was even being experimented on there during
that time period. I have no answer for that one. ..."
Is This Backstory The Truth About COVID-19's Origin? By | 2020-03-16T03:26:07-04:00 March 16th, 2020 |
For months the Internet has been absolutely drowning in theories about where this COVID-19 actually originated. "Mainstream" print
and boob tube media have paraded their share of 'experts' for months making sure the segments wind back around to President Trump
as the culprit.
Many have emailed me over the months asking me my opinion on where it originated. The outbreak erupted in Wuhan over in Commie
China. As far as I can tell from my research it was known to their dictator and government as far back as October.
From the beginning I've contemplated several scenarios. That particular coronavirus was possibly leaked to their population for
testing purposes and it got out of hand. Would the Reds do such a thing to their own people?
Was the virus accidently let loose by one or more employees at The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory? Could one or more have
become infected and since some infected are asymptomatic, may not have even known they were infected? Accidental.
Why would Communist China deliberately unleash a virus they know is highly contagious and that if their plan backfired it would
be catastrophic to their economy? Forget their people. Communists are God-less and could care less about human life. This terrible,
terrible outbreak is costing the Communist Chinese government trillions of dollars. If their intention was to experiment on their
own people it has blown up in their faces big time.
An accidental transmission. I dug around and found a couple of older news stories that merit reading:
China built a lab to study SARS and Ebola in Wuhan – and US biosafety experts warned in 2017 that a virus could 'escape' the
facility that's become key in fighting the outbreak
"According to Nature's interview with the lab's director, Yuan Zhimin, the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory planned to study
the SARS virus.
"In January 2018, the lab was operational 'for global experiments on BSL-4 pathogens,' wrote Guizhen Wu in the journal Biosafety
and Health. After a SARS virus escaped in a 'leak' from another lab in 2004, Chinese officials worked to improve safety, but also
to expand the country's capacity to continue to study the very viruses its lab had let out."
So, we know one prior incident of a leak did occur unleashing the deadly SARS virus. If it happened once it could happen twice.
When did the first infected individuals actually become known? The Reds have been insisting CORVID-19 originated in the U.S. Legions
have scoffed that's nothing but more propaganda. Is it?
My dear cousin sent me an article which sent me to several others I believe should be investigated for elimination purposes. Fort
Detrick's labs are a scary place – the one place where safety must be the HIGHEST priority. Apparently not. Please make note of the
dates in the pieces. I want readers to know I read every article and column I link. Have to and while I know it's a lot of reading,
I sure hope you can take time to read them as well.
"All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material, such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely
after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards.
"No infectious pathogens, or disease-causing material, have been found outside authorized areas at the U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases.
"The CDC inspected the military research institute in June and inspectors found several areas of concern in standard operating
procedures, which are in place to protect workers in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories, spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden confirmed
in an email Friday. The CDC sent a cease and desist order in July."
The Army just quietly re-opened its infamous germ warfare lab that experiments with Ebola, plague and other deadly toxins , Dec.
4, 2019 – "The previous commander, Maj. Gen. Barbara Holcomb, who oversaw the lab when problems were found has retired."
Holcomb took over command on July 28, 2019 . That is an incredibly short command – especially for a Maj. Gen. My late husband
was a retired bird Colonel. The military simply does not send a flag officer to take over command of someplace like Ft.
Detrick if that Maj. Gen. had already put in for retirement. (July 28 – ? It doesn't say above just that she was retired
by Dec. 4, 2019.)
Now comes these two which I feel are very important.
"The Taiwanese doctor then stated the virus outbreak began earlier than assumed, saying, "We must look to September of 2019.
He stated the case in September of 2019 where some Japanese traveled to Hawaii and returned home infected, people who had never been
to China . This was two months prior to the infections in China and just after the CDC suddenly and totally shut down the Fort Detrick
bio-weapons lab claiming the facilities were insufficient to prevent loss of pathogens. (10) (11)
"He said he personally investigated those cases very carefully (as did the Japanese virologists who came to the same conclusion).
This might indicate the coronavirus had already spread in the US but where the symptoms were being officially attributed to other
diseases, and thus possibly masked.
"The prominent Chinese news website Huanqiu related one case in the US
where a woman's relative was told by physicians he died of the flu, but where the death certificate listed the coronavirus as the
cause of death. On February 26, ABC News affiliate KJCT8 News Network reported that a woman recently told the media that her sister
died on from coronavirus infection. Montrose, Colorado resident Almeta Stone said, "They (the medical staff) kept us informed that
it was the flu, and when I got the death certificate, there was a coronavirus in the cause of death." (12)
This is the column my cousin sent which caused me to look further .
"The Taiwanese physician noted that in August of 2019 the US had a flurry of lung pneumonias or similar, which the Americans blamed
on 'vaping' from e-cigarettes, but which, according to the scientist, the symptoms and conditions could not be explained by e-cigarettes.
He said he wrote to the US officials telling them he suspected those deaths were likely due to the coronavirus. He claims his warnings
were ignored.
"Immediately prior to that, the CDC totally shut down the US Military's main bio-lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland, due to an absence
of safeguards against pathogen leakages, issuing a complete "cease and desist" order to the military. It was immediately after this
event that the 'e-cigarette' epidemic arose."
An entire industry, what they call vaping, has been nearly destroyed. I don't do the vaping thing but it is legal. This column
goes on:
"If some members of the US team at the World Military Games ( 18-27 October ) had become infected by the virus from an accidental
outbreak at Fort Detrick it is possible that, with a long initial incubation period, their symptoms might have been minor, and those
individuals could easily have 'toured' the city of Wuhan during their stay, infecting potentially thousands of local residents in
various locations, many of whom would later travel to the seafood market from which the virus would spread like wildfire (as it did).
"That would account also for the practical impossibility of locating the legendary "patient zero" – which in this case has never
been found since there would have been many of them.
"Next, Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an article in Science magazine
that the first human infection has been confirmed as occurring in November 2019 , (not in Wuhan), suggesting the virus originated
elsewhere and then spread to the seafood markets. "One group put the origin of the outbreak as early as 18 September 2019 ." (2)
(3)
Whew. The Wuhan origin point suddenly takes on an entirely new road of investigation and one with catastrophic consequences for
the United States if in fact it's true.
The airline industry is billions in the hole and worsens by the day. AMTRAK trains. (I've been to Union Station in NY several
times. Right now it's a ghost town.) Hotels, motels, restaurants, retailers and many, many other businesses and their employees are
hemorrhaging money. The panic across this country is like a stampeding herd right off the cliff. Chain supply of goods – especially
pharmaceuticals – has driven the schizophrenic stock market into daily psychotic episodes. (
NYC bank temporarily runs out of $100 bills as customers withdraw cash amid Wall Street crash )
Then came the Russia, Saudi whizzing contest over oil/OPEC. After that stock market day of disaster, Trump did another presser
which was very informative. The team he assembled were very up front and forthcoming.One lady who spoke (She worked on the AIDS epidemic)
said a lot. Much the public and the press didn't know and all they've been doing behind the scenes. She also said people really don't
know how hard Trump has been working on this and coordinating all these agencies and companies.
Quest and Lab Corps spoke about the testing. During the presser one of the experts who has dealt with all the ones in the past,
like swine flu, said this will end. In the meantime, they are doing everything possible along with the CEO's from Target, Walmart,
CVS and others partnering with the government.
Up went the market but don't be fooled. Warnings have been coming for the past year about the stock market many refer to as a
Las Vegas casino – is a massive bubble just waiting to burst. On that front the worst is yet to come.
IF the origins actually did come from accidental transmission from Ft. Detrick and we don't know that at this time , the world
deserves to know. In the previous column above: "If some members of the US team at the World Military Games "
Those World Military Games were held in the capital, Hubei Province in Wuhan, China . Now, who was on that US team?
Lots of names are listed from different branches of the military including Marines. What it doesn't say is if any of them,
spouses, brothers, sisters, cousin, uncle – any extended family or friends were working at that Ft. Detrick set of labs when it was
shut down.
If the answer is no after a 'family and friends tree' is developed for every player, coach and other personnel then chances of
it originating there appear to be small. If it's found that one or even two individuals worked at that lab or had friends, family
who did, that might open the door to lawsuits from all over the world against the U.S. government.
Were any of them and all the personnel treated for CORVID-19? What we know up to now is that COVID-19 has consistently hit older
Americans with underlying health issues like COPD and other lung/respiratory problems. Yes, the big hot spot that has killed so many
came from that nursing home in Washington State. In the past week 50 of their employees are now been confirmed cases; I'm betting
not all of those employees are over age 60.
Only by identifying where ALL players were on duty during that time, family friends and their medical history would we know
there's a possibility of accidental spreading if any were at Ft. Detrick during that time frame. If even one was it could be this
CORVID-19 originated from Ft. Detrick and took it with them to Hubei Province. IF this coronavirus was even being experimented on
there during that time period. I have no answer for that one.
Our military are usually fairly young and in top notch physical condition. Something to consider before pointing the finger.But,
symptoms for the flu, colds and COVID-19 are similar. If any of them had any connection to Ft. Detrick, could their cold or flu symptoms
masking coronavirus have been overlooked? I don't know.
"... There's no doubt the extent of the pandemic represents an epic fail of the intelligence agencies... ttps://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-staggering-collapse... ..."
"... Additionally, the White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-secrecy-exclusive-... ..."
It seems there's more that we don't know than we do know about the SARS-CoV-2 and the
expression of COVID-19. There's several conspiracy theories floating around driven in part by
the quarantine of healthy people and the huge role of the Fed in buying corporate debt and
foreign central bank debt and artificial inflation of the stock market, all while throwing
working people under the bus. It is suspicious. Let's look at some of the things we do know and
speculate about the rest.
We can dream of the day when we are not
" six feet apart "
To me the issue of the origin of the novel corona virus is moot. My thought is lets look at
what successful countries did and emulate them. Taiwan serves as
a good example . They all wear masks. So why is there this origin controversy? Rumors from
the origin being a virology lab in Wu Han to it being delivered
by
US military athletes to the wet market escape into the populace abound.
The potential of a corona virus epidemic has been understood for several years
Our work suggests a potential risk of SARS-CoV re-emergence from viruses currently
circulating in bat populations.
In 2004, deep in the wilderness of China's Yunnan province, a group of scientists from the
Wuhan Institute of Virology discovered a cave full of wild bats carrying hundreds of
SARS-related viruses. Their work, published in a draft paper in 2005, unearthed the link
between SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and bats for the first time.
Now the virologist who led that study, Shi Zhengli, has revealed one of the strains found
in that cave -- the exact location of which is a closely guarded secret -- is almost
identical to the 2019-nCoV coronavirus which has so far killed at least 1,115 people
and infected more than 45,000 worldwide.
Then they started trying to engineer those collected viruses...
...scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in
China. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of
SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic
human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells -- proving that the surface protein
of SHC014 has the necessary structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect
them. It also caused disease in mice, but did not kill them.
...
Although almost all coronaviruses isolated from bats have not been able to bind to the key
human receptor, SHC014 is not the first that can do so. In 2013, researchers reported this
ability for the first time in a different coronavirus isolated from the same bat
population.
Given that this outbreak was said to begin in early winter when most bat species in the
region are hibernating and the Chinese horseshoe bat's habitat covers an enormous swath of
the region containing scores of cities and hundreds of millions people, the fact that this
Wuhan Strain of coronavirus, denoted as COVID-19, emerged in close proximity to the only
BSL-4 virology lab in China, which in turn was staffed with at least two Chinese
scientists – Zhengli Shi and Xing-Yi Ge – both virologists who had previously
worked at an American lab which had already bio-engineered an incredibly virulent strain of
bat coronavirus – the accidental release of a bio-engineered virus from Wuhan's
virology lab cannot be automatically discounted, especially when the Wuhan Strain's unnatural
genomic signals are considered.
Well regardless of the origin of this novel corona virus there are many more curiosities
like the elite playing pandemic model games last October.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum
and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201 , a
high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The purpose of the
exercise was to illustrate the pandemic preparedness efforts, response decisions, and
cooperation required from global businesses, governments, and public health leaders that the
world will need to diminish the large-scale economic and societal consequences of a severe
pandemic.
This was about the same time that a pandemic program was ended.
Two months before the novel coronavirus probably began spreading in Wuhan, China, the
Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training
scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat.
The project, launched by the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2009, identified
1,200 different viruses that had the potential to erupt into pandemics, including more than
160 novel coronaviruses. The initiative, called PREDICT, also trained and supported staff in
60 foreign laboratories -- including the Wuhan lab that identified 2019-nCoV, the new
coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
There are many mysteries about COVID like how wide spread is the infection. Estimates as
high as 50-80% have been floated, meaning that we should be near herd immunity. However, the
antibody test may not be reliable and evidently some people don't develop antibodies.
Dr John Campbell discusses the lack of antibodies in the blood serum of people who have
recovered. He also looks at a homeless shelter population that has 37% of the people testing
positive none of whom show symptoms (10 min mark).
The Economic fall out also is very curious. I mean the economy is at a stand still, but the market goes up (thanks to tax payers who are
buying all the bad debts of banks, corporations, and oil wells). Excellent episode of Max and Stacy with Micheal Hudson.
Max and Stacy look at how fairness is the basis of justice and how there is a fundamental
unfairness in the never-ending bailout from the elites while the bottom 99% must suffer the
risk offloaded onto them by those forever bailed out. In the second half, Max interviews Dr.
Michael Hudson, author of 'Super Imperialism' , about 'neofeudalism' in the modern age. As
big banks, hedge funds and private equity receive a 'debt jubilee' from the central bank,
ordinary Americans are indentured servants to their unpayable debts.
The "increasing confidence" comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence,
the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasized -- as
is often the case with intelligence -- that it's not definitive and should not be characterized
as such. Some inside the administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities
are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing.
... ... ...
President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more
than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to
internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on retrospective
infection data .
"This is tremendous," said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of
California, Los Angeles. "If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much
fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the
collapse of Wuhan's medical system."
Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty and The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
Let's look at an organization that brought Chinese and US agencies & researchers
together - especially UNC's Ralph Baric and Wuhan Lab's Zhengli Shi - the Ecohealth Alliance.
Isolating the virus that would be reengineered at UNC with "gain of function"
Christine Brim 1:49 PM - 15 Apr 2020
In 2015 Peter Daszak, President of Ecohealth Alliance and Zhengli Shi, the Wuhan "bat
lady" researcher working with UNC's Ralph Baric, created a US-China Govt to Govt working
group on infectious diseases
March 2015, just after NIH halted "gain of function" research (but not for UNC), Ralph
Baric and UNC applied for a patent "Methods and compositions for chimeric coronavirus spike
proteins," apparently assigned (in part?) by UNC to NIH in 2017. https:// patents.google.com/patent/US20170 096455
UNC's Ralph Baric; Harvard Med School; a Swiss institute; FDA and Wuhan Virology
Institute's Zhengli Shi & Xingyi Ge were all co-authors on this Nov. 2015 article: "A
SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence"
https://www.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P MC4797993/
Christine Brim 6:20 PM - 15 Apr 2020
But 6 months later, Nature Medicine published a correction to the article: "the authors
omitted to acknowledge a funding source, USAID-EPT-PREDICT funding from EcoHealth Alliance,
to Z.-L.S." (Cute use of initials..) Presumably Z.-L.S. was Zhengli-Li Shi
Christine Brim 6:27 PM - 15 Apr 2020
So in April 2016, someone (Nature Medicine? USAID?) decided to disclose that USAID had
funded Wuhan Virology Institute's Zheng-Li Shi (also known as Z.-L.S....), *through* the
EcoHealth Alliance. (See above for Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance's push for US/China info
sharing)
So I turned the TV on this morning (a few minutes ago) and there was already a campaign to
be seen to make China come clean that they are responsible for this virus. Arrghhh!
The DNA already says that it is a natural virus and has not been screwed around with. Can't
people recognize a psyops when they see one? There is less proof for this one than there was
for Russiagate – which had none. Some idiot in Texas is suing China for $20 trillion
for causing it and a think tank in the UK is suggesting a more modest $4 trillion.
On the other side, China is noting that they had military games in Wuhan which the US
attended. There is a conspiracy theory on their side that somebody from this team slipped a
Fort Detrick cocktail at those wet markets and when you think of all the sanctions, military
provocations, attacks and the like that Trump and his team have done against China, they have
a much better case for their conspiracy theory than Trumps. If you like this 'China didit'
theory so much, I have one to sell you that Assad gassed his own people when he was winning
as well.
Dunno if this ever emerged from moderation this morning. The only actual evidentiary trail
I've seen sourcing the Wuhan virus is this one. By an American long-term resident of Beijing,
it documents a virology lab post-doc officially disappeared after contracting symptoms
following an accident involving bat poo.
The US has given this lab $2.7 million in recent years (so it's not just a doomsday lab),
and criticized its containment practices in 2015. This story should sprout legs.
Interesting. I've seen some good videos in particular by JC on a Bike, he's a bike
commuter Univ Pitt [neuro] biologist who recently spent 4 years at a lab in Netherlands.
He has reviewed lots of published work where each step of gain of function is developed. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOQEt5OIWT_jUEBqfCAZiRXXj_3Oj1fS_
Most of the unique features of covid19 are unique and have never been observed in
nature.
Nature is more like the raw materials and then they've developed many specific capabilities
such as move the spike, use caged ferrets to breed some generations of new viruses, then
select the ones with the desired attributes.
Some of the research has been about making it virulently transmissible via aerosol airborne
droplets. In 2015 there was quite a controversy when they achieved this. Critics said this
could leak and could not be contained.
More here (from January!)
https://harvardtothebighouse.com/2020/01/31/logistical-and-technical-analysis-of-the-origins-of-the-wuhan-coronavirus-2019-ncov/
Regarding the origin, I searchd using 'China refuse us cdc,' and got several articles from
Feb. 2020.
1. Feb 7, 2020, NY Times, CDC and WHO offers to help China have been ignored for
weeks.
2. Daily Beast, China shuns offers from WHO and CDC to help with Coronavirus.
3. New York Post, Feb 3, 2020, China has yet to allow CDC in country to help with
Coronavirus.
Then in March, this from Reuters: Exclusive, US slashed CDC staff inside China prior to
Coronavirus Outbreak.
Was it because of non cooperation from Beijing? Why kept 100% people there when many were
getting cooperation? I think I might have posted the same question then.
In any case, I don't know if the offers to help were accepted later.
But, I understand, it's critical to be on the scene early, in any investigation.
There is lots of cooperation between the labs. Baric's lab at UNC Chapel HIll has trained
several key workers in Wuhan and they have ongoing collaboration with Harvard/Dana Farber in
Boston. Nothing has been cut or curtailed there is much on-going work and they have not
stopped the funding and daily work. If any politicians want to spout off about the lab they
should just get in on the normal daily zoom meetings between the labs. We are not unfriendly
with China we have an extensive ongoing virus research program in full speed ahead. Much
published work showing each improvement to make a chimeric SARS+bat coronavirus, move the
spike, run serially thru ferrets (ACE2 like people/cats) and see what develops, test in lung
nose and determine the transmissibility, several pandemic epidemic virulent strains have been
published about. It's normal ongoing research. It's nature at work. With some help from
researchers.
Thread (100 tweets) (scroll up/down) https://twitter.com/ThomasConnors/status/1247517901487321090
Agreement by China to a WHO team including 2 CDC people was reported by the Hill, among
others, on February 3rd. That team didn't actually arrive until the 16th. Why is unclear, but
there were any number of kerfuffles, like the China travel ban and the preference of
administration members for calling it the Wuhan virus, that had China and the US trading
rants and accusations during the interim.
https://www.mymcmedia.org/tag/daniel-sirotkin/
Montgomery County detectives have arrested a Germantown man for sex offenses allegedly
committed against a teenage girl that he was coaching and tutoring. According to a police
statement, in November of 2013, Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) officials notified the
police department that a man hired by parents as a private tutor and private athletic
......
A former tutor and private athletic coach was sentenced today to seven years in prison for
sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. Daniel Mandel Sirotkin, 30 of Germantown, pleaded guilty
in the case against him. Montgomery County Judge Richard E. Jordan sentenced Sirotkin to 35
years but suspended all but seven years.
Harvard educated. Sent to the big house for pedophilia.
A lot of people have been pushing his stuff without checking into him or what he
writes.
He writes a lot of his own evidence including the so called smoking gun update. Wrote the so
called scientific research piece and added the names of two unrelated Chinese scientists to
it.
He started the blog in September 2018. One post October 2018 then next post August
2019.
This is the stuff he was writing in August.
The proliferation of agriculture, both domesticating animals and growing crops, brought
seismic and irreversible changes to early human societies. One impact was that that
populations suddenly became much denser, another was that humans began to interact much
more frequently and closely with domesticated animals. These two factors – population
density and our cohabitation with the creatures that would become our beef, pork, and
poultry – allowed contagious zoological diseases to kick a firm foothold into human
societies and marked the beginning of an arms race between pathogens and immune systems
that's still ongoing.
"Diseases such as malaria, smallpox and tuberculosis, among others, became more
virulent," and we've since traced the flu back to ducks, pigs, and geese as its original
hosts. Additionally, barnyard animals like cats, rats, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs,
and birds have all played roles in transmitting – in no particular order –
anthrax, rabies, tapeworms, plague, chlamydia, and salmonella....
...Ancestral communities in Eurasia, Africa, the Americas, and Southeast Asia were each
exposed to unique biological threats, depending on the geographical and environmental niche
they inhabited and the animals they domesticated. Although there was some overlap, their
exposures were still discrete enough so that when one community did come into contact with
the other, widespread pandemics of the strangers' diseases often occurred and entire
populations were wiped-out.
Living shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and with their newly domesticated livestock,
disease became a much bigger threat than it'd ever been to early hunter-gatherer
communities. This immunological legacy is still with us, as different racial groups express
different rates of a vast array of common diseases to this day.
So what does any of this have to do with love? Well, understanding that requires a quick
introduction to that insidious stranger inside each and every one of us.
Another entry for October
Because if it had been, my failing would have been understood and seen as something that is
part of all of us. I would have been held even tighter and loved all the harder if the
relationships around me hadn't been pure illusion. I spent my life doing everything I could
to protect your son and grow up with my arm around him and everyone else, and yet at the
first sign of trouble – nearly all you motherfuckers cut bait.
I am shabby and broken now. But that's a good thing, because I get to spend the rest of
my life with the rest of us broken, discarded folks who know what Real is.
Presumably you're also avoiding reading anything by former UN weapons inspector Scott
Ritter since his convictions for engaging in online sexual grooming of apparently underaged
teenage girls and exposing himself to one of these girls online.
Truth be told, if Ritter still has something worthwhile to contribute to current
geopolitical issues, and steers clear of issues in which his past personal history might
create a conflict of interest, and his contributions can be cross-checked and verified, I'll
read what he has to say.
Presumably you're also avoiding reading anything by former UN weapons inspector Scott
Ritter since his convictions for engaging in online sexual grooming of apparently underaged
teenage girls and exposing himself to one of these girls online.
Truth be told, if Ritter still has something worthwhile to contribute to current
geopolitical issues, and steers clear of issues in which his past personal history might
create a conflict of interest, and his contributions can be cross-checked and verified, I'll
read what he has to say.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 18 2020 23:33 utc | 91
I am not sure what does it mean "online sexual grooming of apparently underage"..., since
the "apparent underage" was an electronic construct, Ritter did not do anything in the real
world. But I agree that what is more important is expertise. Ritter has a lot of experience
on various weapons, inspections, interference of intelligence agencies etc. Sirotkin seems to
have no experience in science, although he clearly read some popular science books and
understood most of it (malaria is not a disease caused by contact with domesticated animals,
unless there was an effort to domesticate mosquitoes). The claim that in a lab, the genetic
drift seen in RNA viruses can be faster than in nature is not obvious at all. It boils down
to the number of generations. Scientists perform some experiment involving infecting animals
with viruses, analyze the results, and then proceed with another experiment, using the
original strand or the new viruses. In nature, a human, pangolin or a bat gets infected and
within a week the progeny that developed in his/its throat infects others. It is actually
very hard to beat the speed of the natural process, and accelerating it 10 times or more is
not plausible.
Importantly, the discussed experiments were done on viruses with known RNA sequences, so
there is a record that can be verified. We know about the labs that were not secret, results
were regularly published, they had foreign visitors etc. It is unlikely that they had
unaccounted sinister activity. In the same time, trillions of wild viruses engages in the
survival of the fittest at brisk speed.
The U.S. legal system is such that I have no confidence that Scott Ritter was not framed.
The Deep State certainly had motivation for setting him up, as they did with Assange.
Note that ALL the 18 letters appear to have asked for voluntary cooperation to the end of
the budgeted grant period. So the public needs to see December 2014 waiver letters to 5 MERS
and 2 flu projects. What were they granted in the waivers? @TomFitton@diana_west_@Harvard2H
Baric et al published their research - funded and authorized under the Obama
administration - in Nature Medicine in 2015.
Christine Brim 11:12 AM - 15 Apr 2020
And...Baric was given the go-ahead by NIH (which...would have been Fauci, no?) "NIH
allowed it to proceed during a review process, which eventually led to the conclusion that
the work did not fall under the new restrictions, Baric told Nature."
Back around that time I was working at a Pharma company, and a visiting scientist
commented on a Post-Doc application he'd recently received from a Russian fellow. His PhD
project had been to aerosolise E coli. Only one reason you'd want to do that . The visiting
scientist did say the work the Russian fellow had done to produce that dangerous product was
top notch.
Back in the mid-90's there was an article, maybe in New Scientist?, discussing how we were
in a new age of "knowledge is dangerous." Where once concepts like liberty and equality were
hazardous to entrenched political systems, now the biotech sciences had opened a new
dangerous door. As part of the article they discussed how to find, isolate, propagate,
sporulate, and aerially disperse anthrax over the DC area -- but they explicitly left
multiple critical steps out of their description. The problem, as the article went on to
discuss, is that the USA was then graduating 4-6k PhD's a year with the knowledge and skills
to fill in those missing steps.
I tell myself that the many suppliers of oligonucleotides would notice if I started
ordering the smallpox genome in little snippets from multiple sources. But that would imply
having confidence in the FBI and DHS.
Going back and watching BIKE COMMUTER @jjcouey narrate while biking in his Feb 27
video, reviewing virus papers first described by @havard2h in January. Start at minute 20
(out of 30) Shows they tried using #coronavirus as inert
virus to create vaccines https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=LlplnH 3VYyc
The Coronavirus crisis appears set to herald a new era of much poorer relations between
China and the Western world, with Western countries having borne the brunt of the fallout from
the pandemic and, particularly in the United States, increasingly blaming China at an official
level for the effects.
[1] Looking at the U.S. case in particular, at first responses to the virus were if
anything optimistic – the fallout in China was seen as a 'correction' which would shift
the balance of global economic power back into Western hands. Indeed, U.S. Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross stated on January 30 th that the fallout from the virus in China "will
help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America" with millions at the time placed under
lockdown in Wuhan and elsewhere.
[2] Western publications from the New York Times to the Guardian widely
hailed the virus as potentially bringing an end to China's decades of rapid economic growth
– with a 'rebalancing' of the global economy towards Western power strongly implied.
[3] ,
[4] Against North Korea, the New York Times described the virus as potentially
functioning as America's "most effective ally" in achieving the outcome Washington had long
sought – "choking the North's economy."
[5]
The result, however, has if anything been strong resilience to the virus across much of East
Asia, with Vietnam and South Korea being prime examples of successful handling alongside Macao,
Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland – in contrast to a very sluggish and often
ineffective response in the West.
[6] From rot filled and broken emergency supplies in the U.S. national reserve
[7] to nurses wearing bin bags due a lack of protective equipment,
[8] the commandeering of supplies heading to other countries,
[9] and the enlistment of prison labour to build mass graves in New York City
[10] – signs have unanimously pointed to chaos. It should be pointed out that
the U.S. reported its first case on the same day as South Korea – which had the virus
fully under control several weeks earlier due to more effective handling and a lack of
complacency.
[11] The U.S. and wider Western world had a major advantage in its warning time over
China in particular, but effectively squandered it.
[12]
The results of the fallout from the Coronavirus in the Western world, and in the U.S. in
particular, could be extremely serious given the context of escalating American pressure on
China in the leadup to the outbreak. Blaming China for the virus across American press and in
the White House itself – despite it having reached America primarily from Europe rather
than Asia
[13] – has heralded mass hate crimes against the Asian American community of
unprecedented seriousness and scale since the targeting of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s.
[14] Perhaps even more seriously, however, the official American response as public
opinion is directed against China appears set to place the world's two largest economies on a
potentially catastrophic collision course. On April 14th U.S. Senator Josh Hawley unveiled
highly provocative legislation which would strip China of its sovereign immunity in American
courts and allow Americans to sue China's ruling Communist Party directly for the damages
caused by the coronavirus crisis.
[15] Such legislation relies heavily on growing anti-Chinese sentiments and
depictions of China as directly responsible – and contradicts evidence from the World
Health Organisation among others that China's response effectively stalled the global spread of
the virus at its own expense with its lockdown.
[16]
An unbiased analysts shows that the disproportionate fallout in the Western world relative
to East Asia is overwhelmingly due to poor preparation – and had effective South Korean
style measures been implemented from the outset America would have seen only a small fraction
of the cases it currently suffers from.
[17] Nevertheless, calls from the U.S. and to a lesser extent from within other
Western states
[18] to make China foot the bill are manifold. Scholars from the American Enterprise
Institute and Stanford University's Hoover Institution among others have made direct calls for
Western states to unilaterally "seize the assets of Chinese state-owned companies," cancel
debts to China and expropriate Chinese overseas assets "in compensation for coronavirus
losses."
[19] The Florida based firm the Berman Law Group has already filed two major lawsuits
suing China calling for compensation for the outbreak – and the situation looks set to
worsen considerably with many more suits to follow. Regarding how the crisis could play out,
and how the U.S. could act on its massive claims against China over the virus which are
expected to be in the hundreds of billions at least, there is an important precedent for
American courts providing similar compensation to alleged victims of an East Asian government
and the American state taking action accordingly – that of the Otto Warmbier case in
2018. Assessment of the Warmbier case sets a very important precedent with very considerable
implications for the outcome of a Sino-American dispute.
Otto Warmbier was an American student arrested in North Korea in 2016 for stealing a poster
and violating a restricted high security area in Pyongyang. The student was returned to the
U.S. the following year in a comatose state, with his parents alleging that his teeth had been
artificially rearranged and his body showed signs of torture. This was strongly contradicted by
medical analyses, with the Hamilton County Coroner's Office carrying out an external
examination of Warmbier's body and dismissing the claim by his father that his teeth had been
pulled out and rearranged by the North Koreans. "The teeth are natural and in good repair," the
office concluded, after Warmbier's father had sensationally claimed that "his bottom teeth look
like they [the Koreans] had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged them." Coroner Dr. Lakshmi
Kode Sammarco stated addressing the claim of forced rearranging of Otto's teeth: "I felt very
comfortable that there wasn't any evidence of trauma. We were surprised at the [parents']
statement." She said her team, which included a forensic dentist, thoroughly evaluated the body
and assessed various scans of his body.
[20] Medical assessments showed no signs of mistreatment or any trauma to the
student's head or skull, with a blood clot, pneumonia, sepsis, kidney failure, and sleeping
pills were also cited as potential causes of death.
[21] Nevertheless, Warmbier's parents would continue to claim against all available
evidence that their son had been tortured to death – filing a lawsuit against the North
Korean government. Where a full autopsy could have provided data to more completely undermine
their claims, and was strongly recommended by doctors, they were adamant in their refusal and
no autopsy was carried out. Forensic scientists were highly critical of this unusual and
unexpected decision in this critical case.
[22]
In response to the Warmbers' claim against the North Korean state, which amounted to a
staggering $1.05 billion in punitive damages and around $46 million for the family's suffering
in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Washington in October 2018, Pyongyang was asked to
pay the couple $500 million.
[23] This was despite no evidence for the couple's claims of Korean culpability, but
at a time when public opinion was strongly against North Korea and would have supported the
motion. To seize the Warmbiers' compensation, the United States Navy would later that year
commandeer a North Korean cargo ship, the Wise Honest, and escort it to American territory
where it was subsequently sold at auction. The couple was provided with a part of the ship's
value, and future seizures of Korean merchant shipping to meet the remainder of the American
family's claim remain possible under U.S. law.
[24] The seizure of the ship, one of North Korea's largest, represented a
considerable loss to its fleet and complemented the effects of ongoing Western sanctions to
undermine the country's economy.
The significance of the Warmbier case is that it provides a strong precedent for the U.S.
Military, should China inevitably refuse to pay the hundreds billions expected to be demanded
in compensation, to engage in effective state level piracy against Chinese merchant shipping to
provide funds for its increasingly struggling economy.
[25] With trade war having failed to significantly slow Chinese economic growth and
foreign trade, which had been its primary goal,
[26] more drastic means may be adopted for the same end using the Coronavirus crisis
as a pretext. Other similar recent cases of do exist, including unilateral seizure and sale of
Iranian government owned properties by the Canadian government in 2019 to compensate alleged
victims of terror of conflicts with Hezbollah and Hamas. This was despite neither of these
being UN recognised terrorist organisations and Iran's support for these non-state actors being
entirely legal under international law.
[27] The fact that these properties were on Canadian soil and governed under Canadian
law however, rather than in international waters, makes this a considerably less provocative
case than the Warmbier case one or than what is being proposed against China.
Further evidence that the U.S. would consider unilateral commandeering of shipping against
China was provided by the U.S. Naval Institute, which in April published an important paper
titled 'Unleash the Privateers' highlighting that it remained legal under American law for U.S.
security firms to be tasked with commandeering and either sinking or capturing and selling
Chinese merchant ships in the event of conflict. It highlighted that China was the largest
trading nation in the world with a merchant fleet several times the size of its American
counterpart – and that this provided a vulnerability the U.S. should be willing to
exploit.
[28] Taken together, the circumstances surrounding claims against China and moves to
strip it of its sovereign immunity, the Warmbier precedent, the well timed and extremely
radical naval institute paper and above all America's need to reverse its losses and undermine
China's growing trade and economic prosperity to perpetuate its own hegemony, between them
point to a high possibility of the U.S. adopting state level piracy against Chinese shipping as
a future policy. While evidence strongly contradicts claims that China is responsible for the
Coronavirus and the massive fallout the U.S. is now experiencing – much as evidence from
American coroners and forensic scientists contradicted the claims of the Warmbier family
– these inconvenient facts are highly unlikely to prevent the U.S. from taking action to
secure its perceived rightful place as the leader of the global economy by seizing what it sees
as its rightful property through attacks on Chinese trading vessels.
It is by no means a certainty that the United States will engage in such an escalatory
course of action, and the nature of the overall Western response beyond the current harsh
rhetoric and unfounded accusations is yet to be seen. It is important at this stage, however,
to highlight the not insignificant possibility such a course will be taken by the U.S. and
other Western parties to reverse the trend towards a decline in their economic positions
relative to China. Repercussions from such seizures will almost certainly be far more severe
than the relatively muted global response to the seizure and sale of a commandeered North
Korean ship two years prior. While China's Navy is concentrated in the Western Pacific and is
poorly placed to defend its trade routes from the global reach of Western warships, Beijing and
its allies have a wide range of means to retaliate which could deter the Western powers from
taking such a course of action.
'Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak,' New York
Times (accessed April 16, 2020).
↑ Staracqualursi, Veronica and Davis, Richard, 'Commerce secretary says coronavirus
will help bring jobs to North America,' CNN, January 30, 2020.
↑ Bradsher, Keith, 'Coronavirus Could End China's Decades-Long Economic Growth
Streak,' New York Times, March 16, 2020.
↑ Davidson, Helen, 'Coronavirus deals China's economy a "bigger blow than global
financial crisis,"' The Guardian, March 16, 2020.
↑ Koettl, Christoph, 'Coronavirus Is Idling North Korea's Ships Achieving What
Sanctions Did Not,' New York Times, March 26, 2020.
↑ Graham-Harrison, Emma, 'Coronavirus: how Asian countries acted while the west
dithered,' The Guardian, March 21, 2020.
Inkster, Ian, 'In the battle against the coronavirus, East Asian societies and cultures have
the edge,' South China Morning Post, April 10, 2020.
↑ Chandler, Kim, 'Some states receive masks with dry rot, broken ventilators,'
Associated Press, April 4, 2020.
↑ Glasser, Susan B., 'How Did the U.S. End Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags?,'
The New Yorker, April 9, 2020.
↑ 'US Seizes Ventilators Destined for Barbados,' Telesur, April 5, 2020.
Willsher, Kim and Holmes, Oliver and. McKernan, Bethan and Tondo, Lorenzo, 'US hijacking
mask shipments in rush for coronavirus protection,' The Guardian, April 3, 2020.
Lister, Tim and Shukla, Sebastian and Bobille, Fanny, 'Coronavirus sparks a 'war for masks'
as accusations fly,' CNN, April 3, 2020.
↑ Crane, Emily, 'Workers in full Hazmat suits bury rows of coffins in Hart Island mass
grave as NYC officials confirm coronavirus victims WILL be buried there if their bodies aren't
claimed within two weeks after death toll rises to 4,778,' Daily Mail, April 9, 2020.
↑ 'Special Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirus,'
Reuters, March 18, 2020.
'Once the biggest outbreak outside of China, South Korean city reports zero new coronavirus
cases,' Reuters, April 10, 2020.
↑ Johnson, Ian, 'China Bought the West Time. The West Squandered It,' New York
Times, March 13, 2020.
↑ 'New York coronavirus outbreak originated in Europe, studies show,' The Hill
, April 9, 2020.
↑ De Souza, Alison, 'Asian Americans tell harrowing stories of abuse amid coronavirus
outbreak in the US,' Straits Times, April 1, 2020.
Chapman, Ben, 'New York City Sees Rise in Coronavirus Hate Crimes Against Asians,' Wall
Street Journal, April 2, 2020.
↑ Schultz, Maarisa, 'Sen Hawley: Let coronavirus victims sue Chinese Communist Party,'
Fox News, April 14, 2020.
↑ Wang, Yanan, 'New virus cases fall; WHO says China bought the world time,'
Associated Press, February 15, 2020.
Johnson, Ian, 'China Bought the West Time. The West Squandered It,' New York Times,
March 13, 2020.
↑ 'Special Report: How Korea trounced U.S. in race to test people for coronavirus,'
Reuters, March 18, 2020.
'Once the biggest outbreak outside of China, South Korean city reports zero new coronavirus
cases,' Reuters, April 10, 2020.
↑ Cole, Harry, 'China owes us £351 billion: Britain should pursue Beijing
through international courts for coronavirus compensation, major study claims as 15 top top
Tories urge "reset" in UK relations with country,' Daily Mail, April 5, 2020.
↑ Stradner, Ivana and Yoo, John, 'How to Make China Pay,' American Enterprise
Institute, April 6, 2020.
↑ Nedelman, Michael, 'Coroner found no obvious signs of torture on Otto Warmbier,'
CNN, September 29, 2017.
↑ Lockett, Jon, 'Tragic student Otto Warmbier 'may have attempted suicide' in North
Korean prison after being sentenced to 15 years for stealing poster,' The Sun , July 28,
2018.
Basu, Zachary, 'What we're reading: What happened to Otto Warmbier in North Korea,'
Axios , July 25, 2018.
Tingle, Rory, 'Otto Warmbier's brain damage that led to his death was caused by a SUICIDE
ATTEMPT rather than torture by North Korean prison guards, report claims,' Daily Mail,
July 25, 2018.
Fox, Maggie, 'What killed Otto Warmbier?' NBC News, June 20, 2017.
Tinker, Ben, 'What an autopsy may (or may not) have revealed about Otto Warmbier's death,'
CNN, June 22, 2017.
Nedelman, Michael, 'Coroner found no obvious signs of torture on Otto Warmbier,' CNN,
September 29, 2017.
↑ Tinker, Ben, 'What an autopsy may (or may not) have revealed about Otto Warmbier's
death,' CNN, June 22, 2017.
Nedelman, Michael, 'Coroner found no obvious signs of torture on Otto Warmbier,' CNN,
September 29, 2017.
↑ Brookbank, Sarah, 'Family of Otto Warmbier awarded $500 million in lawsuit against
North Korea,' USA Today, December 24, 2018.
↑ Lee, Christy, 'U.S. Marshals to Sell Seized North Korean Cargo Ship,' VOA,
July 27, 2019.
'Seized North Korean cargo ship sold to compensate parents of Otto Warmbier, others,'
Navy Times, October 9, 2019.
↑ Blyth, Mark, 'The U.S. Economy Is Uniquely Vulnerable to the Coronavirus,'
Foreign Affairs, March 30, 2020.
Schulze, Elizabeth, 'The coronavirus recession is unlike any economic downturn in US
history,' CNBC, April 8, 2020.
Schwartz, Nelson D., 'Coronavirus Recession Looms, Its Course "Unrecognizable,"' New York
Times, April 1, 2020.
Davies, Rob, 'Coronavirus means a bad recession – at least – says JP Morgan
boss,' The Guardian, April 6, 2020.
Lowrey, Annie, 'Millennials Don't Stand a Chance,' The Atlantic , April 13, 2020.
↑ Wei, Liu, 'Trump's Trade War on China Is About More Than Trade,' The
Diplomat, July 20, 2018.
↑ Bell, Stewart, 'Iran's properties in Canada sold, proceeds handed to terror
victims,' Global News, September 12, 2019.
↑ Cancian, Mark and Schwartz, Brandon, 'Unleash the Privateers!,' U.S. Naval
Institute, vol. 146, no. 2, issue 1406, April 2020.
↑
A very interesting assessment. The Warmbier case shows that the ‘rules based
order’ espoused by the US and its Western allies is not so rules based as they claim
– they can ignore evidence from their own medical assessments to put forward a
politicised demonisation case and use this as a pretext to make ridiculous compensation
demands and even engage in state piracy in international waters to claim foreign
nations’ property.
Quite abominable behaviour – the international community should really wake up and
unite against this.
Mexican American War (US Cavalry moved into territory previously agreed by US to be Mexican)
Fenian Raids into Canada (led by a US Military officer on ‘leave’ –
leads to formation of IRA – attempts to initiate revolution in Canada to sunder from
British Empire – fails but could have led to war)
USS Maine incident used to incite the Spanish American War later found to be a coal dust
explosion
Philippine-American war started by US sentry shooting Filipino soldier
US stays out of WWI but secretly supplies Allied forces using civilian Cruise Liner
– Lusitania torpedoed and used to justify entry into WWI by USA (fast forward about 80
years and … the Germans were right, it was carrying munitions
US sells Japan advanced war material, embargoes oil supply, leads to invasion of China
WWII US bankrolls Adolf Hitler (ends better for the USA than it did for Germany or the
Soviet Union, or actually anybody else)
USA enters WWII on Allied side after Pearl Harbour – see McCollum memo
‘inducing Japan to an overt act of war’
Korean war – research this one yourself – wow
Viet Nam War – Gulf of Tonkin false flag
Iraq – “It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were
dispersed. We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and
east, west, south and north somewhat.” – Sure, you go with Donald Rumsfailed,
have they been found yet???
I’m not sure when I’ve read a sillier article. I had to skip down quite a way, to
see if the author was actually going to say something about ‘Official State
Piracy’. So, the US is going to hijack merchant ships carrying some of the $558B USD
exports coming from China?
The willful decimation of the Western Economies is certainly going to have a gigantic
impact on China. Where are all those exports going, when their customers have stopped buying?
Right now, there are virtually no stores open in the West. Order cancellation from Western
importers has probably just begun, and will be huge. This will accelerate the shift by China
toward domestic consumption, which is a good thing for China, and the rest of the World as
well. On the other side, this will increase policies in the West to repatriate production,
also a good thing.
I disagree. The article does highlight very legitimate points regarding the nature of
Western-led order and the threat posed to peaceful trading nations from seizures based on
false pretexts.
To equate BRI investment with imperialism I think shows a serious lack of understanding of
what imperialism is. Chinese fleets voyaged to East Africa, Oceania and possibly the Americas
long before Europeans knew those places existed. There were no genocides, armed settler
colonies or attempts to impose certain religions or ideologies.
Overseas investment isn’t imperialism. It can be if you carry out assassinations and
coups to force other countries to accept investment on your terms (the French in West Africa
being a prime example), but if simple foreign investment is imperialism then imperialism
really has no meaning. This definition also serves to whitewash the genocidal crimes of
genuine imperialists which wiped out the populations of three continents (Americas and
Oceania) and caused tremendous suffering for two others.
”So, the US is going to hijack merchant ships carrying some of the $558B USD exports
coming from China?”
Given the manifest insanity of the US, I wouldn’t put it past them to demand payment
in addition to the merchandise, accompanied by violent, brute racism. That’s not
particularly ”silly”, only highly repugnant.
I surely doubt the the Indispensiblistan will take two big moves in pirating chinese ships.
Because the second one will trigger a harsh response from Beijing. XI jin knows pretty well
they are not in the opium war circunstances.
They can:
1-build up their second and third naval base in Africa – besides from upgrading the
existent Djibouti facilities and one in Venezuela practically overnight.
2-Stop important and vital exports to US and Canada, and further just select the items that
will hurt the enemy the most.
3- Offer military aid to Syrian government and direct economic assistance to Iran.
Is the United States About to Engage in Official State Piracy Against China?
Is the earth round rather than flat?
Of course.
America and its “democratic” allies are pirate nations from top to bottom. So
they are will instinctively seize upon the COVID-19 pretext to try and extort money from
China.
But it won’t necessarily be through direct naval piracy only.
It will be through the launching of various lawsuits to provide a legal fig leaf for this
piracy and then attempted seizures of Chinese business assets–similar to how America
has seized and stolen the financial assets of Iran and Venezuela–as well as America
repudiating repayment of the US Treasury “debts” that China has purchased.
Parts of that Wired.com story read like a stenographed PR release so I am not sure really what to make of it. The story seems
to make light of the safety breaches that were occurring at the Fort Detrick lab. While it is likely that most breaches (apart
from the waste disposal issue and the use of chemical rather than thermal treatment of waste) appeared to be minor OHS-type breaches
and appropriate staff training was all that was required, I did get an impression while reading the article that the CDC had its
arms twisted to grant re-accreditation to the facility due to pressure from the White House to get a vaccine ready in time before
November this year.
'Ambassador says coronavirus imported to China, points to genetic sequence as proof'
"Five reputable scientific organizations, including the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical
Garden and the Central Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have collected
data on 93 genome specimens of COVID-19, published in a global database covering 12
countries on four continents," the diplomat specified. "The research revealed that the
earliest 'ancestor' of the virus is mv1, which evolved into haplotypes H13 and H38, and
they, in turn, led to emergence of the second-generation haplotype -- H3, which evolved
into H1."...
...The previous gene sequences, H13 and H38, were never discovered in Wuhan.
"This suggests that the H1 specimen was brought to the seafood market by some infected
person, which sparked the epidemic. The gene sequence cannot lie," Zhang Hanhui
asserted.
"We cannot rule out that the Americans use such reference laboratories in third countries
to develop and modify various pathogenic agents, including in military purposes," she
commented.
The diplomat recalled that the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research in
Tbilisi, a Georgia-based US biological laboratory, is an official part of the US military
system of global infectious diseases control. "Moreover, according to recent reports,
top-ranking Pentagon officials have recently visited it to offer the Georgian authorities
to expand the range of research," she noted.
If I create a chimera virus in a lab, or do gain-of-function research to produce a
super-virus, I might make millions of dollars and become famous.
If the virus escapes, the whole world suffers the cost of the risk I took (and by the way,
escapes happen not infrequently enough, so its a matter of time)
That is a good example of an unethical decision that should be banned. Heads: I win.
Tails: everyone loses.
U.S. officials and the intelligence community have confirmed to Fox News that they have
taken the possibility of the coronavirus being man-made or engineered inside China as some sort
of bioweapon off the table and have ruled it out at this point.
Sources point to the structure of the virus, in saying the genome mapping specifically shows
it was not genetically altered. The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus was a
naturally occurring strain that was being studied there -- and then went into the population in
Wuhan.
Sources say the investigation of open source and classified data points to the work in the
lab of Dr. Shi Zhengli, who was working on antivirals and immunizations for coronavirus,
specifically with bats.
... ... ...
"We know that the first sightings of this occurred within miles of the Wuhan Institute of
Virology. We know that this – the history of the facility, the first BSL-4 lab where
there's high-end virus research being conducted, took place at that site," Pompeo said on the
Hugh Hewitt Show. "We know that the Chinese Communist Party, when it began to evaluate what to
do inside of Wuhan, considered whether the WIV was, in fact, the place where this came
from."
"And most importantly, we know they've not permitted the world's scientists to go into that
laboratory to evaluate what took place there, what's happening there, what's happening there
even as we speak," he said.
There has been speculation for months, not just in the U.S., that the virus originated in a
Chinese laboratory. A February study on the origins of the virus from the South China
University of Technology concluded: "In addition to origins of natural recombination and
intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan."
... ... ...
During Thursday's daily press briefing, China's foreign ministry pushed back on claims that
anything suspicious had taken place in the Wuhan lab and reiterated there was no evidence that
the coronavirus, which has infected more than 2 million people globally, was made there.
"... The two breaches reported by USAMRIID to the CDC demonstrated a failure of the Army laboratory to "implement and maintain containment procedures sufficient to contain select agents or toxins" that were made by operations in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories, according to the report. Biosafety level 3 and 4 are the highest levels of containment, requiring special protective equipment, air flow and standard operating procedures. ..."
"... The CDC, in its inspection findings, noted six departures from the federal regulations for handling select agents and toxins. One of those departures was the two breaches. ..."
"... Another departure was that the military laboratory systematically failed to implement biosafety and containment procedures. In one instance, personnel deliberately propped open the door to the autoclave room while the employee removed biohazard waste. ..."
"... "This deviation increases the risk of contaminated air from room [redacted] escaping and being drawn into the autoclave room, where individuals do not wear respiratory protection," according to the report. ..."
"... This article is written by Heather Mongilio from The Frederick News-Post, Md. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected] ..."
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases is located. (Getty Images/Alex Wong)
24 Nov 2019
The Frederick News-Post, Md. | By Heather Mongilio
The Army's premier biological laboratory on Fort Detrick reported two breaches of containment earlier this
year, leading to the Centers for Disease and Control halting its high-level research.
The U.S. Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases announced Friday that it would restart its operations on a
limited scale.
Gain of Function Virus Tinkering, ongoing for past 18 years, funded by the usual suspects
(CIA< USAID< DOD). Scared the hell out of scientists when they made super potent
Frankenstein viruses. Ended big money funding October 2015, Took a look at it again,
Reinstated Funding January 2017.
So they knew how dangerous it could be (would be) as a Potential Pathogenic (Pandemic),
but decided! that NO (zero) preparations were necessary in the event that such a Pandemic
occurred. No masks, No effective medical countermeasures, ie: drugs, hospitals, ventilators.
Just let her rip.
And they don't know nothing about it. With all the surveillance, the data mining, they
just can't figure out who dunnit.
Fox News reports that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and that
"patient zero" was a lab employee who became infected before spreading it in the
community...
... ... ...
In what may or may not be a bit of narrative shaping from 'official sources,'
Fox reports that China's Wuhan laboratory was working with COVID-19 "not as a bioweapon, but as
part of China's effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal
to or greater than the capabilities of the United States. "
So - lab accident while trying to compete with America's capabilities appears to be the
official story.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that the US State Department received two cables
from US Embassy officials in 2018 warning of
inadequate safety at WIF, which was conducting 'risky studies' on bat coronaviruses
, according to the
Washington Post , which notes that the cables have " fueled discussions inside the U.S.
government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus ."
Responding to the report, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed
that the United States has taken a "keen interest" in the theory that COVID-19 originated at
the Wuhan lab, but that "we don't know for certain."
On Tuesday, President Trump hinted that there was more to the story about the lab , after a
Fox News reporter asked him about the Wuhan Institute and whether the US had considered the
possibility that the virus may have leaked.
Trump's response was extremely interesting, to say the least.
"More and more we're hearing the story...we are doing a very thorough examination of this
horrible situation that happened."
As a follow-up, the reporter continued, " did you ever discuss with him concerns about lax
safety protocols about that lab?"
Trump replied: " I don't want to talk about what I discussed with him about the laboratory.
I just don't want to talk about it ," Trump responded.
Trump on reporting that the coronavirus, while a naturally-occurring virus, came from a
Wuhan laboratory:
"I don't want to say that ... but I will tell you more and more we're hearing the story we
are doing a very thorough examination"
Meanwhile, Fox News also reports that China "100 percent" suppressed and altered data -
destroying samples, scrubbing contaminated areas, and stifling academic articles.
There were doctors and journalists who were "disappeared" warning of the spread of the
virus and its contagious nature and human to human transmission. China moved quickly to shut
down travel domestically from Wuhan to the rest of China, but did not stop international
flights from Wuhan.
Additionally, the sources tell Fox News the World Health Organization (WHO) was complicit
from the beginning in
helping China cover its tracks. -Fox
News
The USA has transcended the post-truth stage; it is now at the post-lie stage.
In the wake of the deteriorating COVID-19 pandemic situation outside China, a number of
foreign politicians and media outlets have been pointing the finger at China, blaming it for
the outbreak, as well as stigmatising its efforts to control and prevent the spread of the
lethal virus. In response to such unfair and biased comments, the South China Morning Post
columnist Alex Lo published an article on April 12 titled 'How US media dish out their own
propaganda on China and Covid-19', unveiling the truth behind the stereotypical framing of
China's actions against the pandemic. The author noted that such accusations are despicable,
portraying even innocent and uncontroversial measures in the most insidious light possible.
Here is a screenshot of the article:
China can do nothing right. It's either incompetent or evil. As observed by Passage, a
Canadian online publication, this is how mainstream American news media have generally been
reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic and China,
When the death tolls and cases were rising, Beijing was accused of doing nothing and
letting people die. When they started to decline, it was lying. Before Wuhan was put under
an unprecedented lockdown. China was trying to "save face" by downplaying the health
crisis. When tire lockdown was imposed, it was a massive violation of human rights and a
power gTab.
When Chinese citizens and overseas Chinese criticised Beijing, it was proof the central
government had lost all legitimacy and trust. But when they celebrated the epidemic being
put under control, they were stage actors or brainwashed.
bast week, the White House and Republican politicians rounded on US government- funded
Voice of America for spreading "Beijing's propaganda" by quoting official Chinese
coronavirus figures and showing footage of people celebrating the end of Wuhan's
lockdown.
White House accuses US broadcaster of promoting 'Beijing's propaganda 1
In a study by the non-profit FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), when ordinary
Chinese volunteered to help in the fight against the disease, they were described as
"neighbourhood busybodies" in "Мао-style mass crusades" (The New York
limes, February 15). When Hubei government officials were sacked for withholding
information about the coronavirus, CNN (February 13) and Business Insider (February 11)
reported they were "purged".
When foreign governments and global organisations were critical of Beijing's anti •
pandemic efforts, it was proof of Chinese incompetence or maleficence. But when they
offered praise, they were either bought off or secretly "communist" sympathisers.
While fighting the epidemic, Beijing was accused of hoarding medical gear. When it
offered medical aid to other countries, it was propaganda. Outside China, few people have
heard of Dr Zhang Jixian. who treated several patients with similar symptoms in early
December at a Hubei provincial hospital and correctly deduced it was a novel coronavirus.
She was officially recognised as the first to alert the authorities, thereby triggering the
nationwide epidemic surveillance and saving countless lives.
However, everyone knows about Dr Li Wenhang, who was reprimanded by public security, but
was never arrested (as claimed by USA 7'oday, The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles
Times) or otherwise punished, for inadvertently leaking information based on Dr Zhang's
findings online. He tragically died from the disease at a young age. The "whistle-blower"
became a martyr; he was neither. "Fair and balanced" reporting? Fox News' srvle.
perhaps.
America possesses a devastating weapon more fearsome than nukes: lawyers. Attorneys are
lining up to sue the People's Republic of China for having mishandled the COVID-19 virus and
mislead the rest of the world as to the danger.
Beijing's negligence and deceit cost other peoples greatly. But the Trump administration
should be careful what it wishes for. What if lawyers around the world sued the U.S. for the
carnage and casualties caused by its misbehavior? The damages would be incalculable.
The idea of holding the PRC government liable for the costs born by the rest of us from the
coronavirus pandemic is obviously attractive. Proposals to unleash the lawyers have even been
picked up by Washington's right-wing chattering class, including Marc Thiessen, who penned
speeches for President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld -- the chief actors in the "Mission
Accomplished" debacle a few years back.
Thiessen explained: "No one can blame Beijing for a viral outbreak beyond its control. But
the Chinese communist regime should be blamed -- and held legally liable -- for intentionally
lying to the world about the danger of the virus, and proactively impeding a global response
that might have prevented a worldwide contagion." The obvious question is how?
Multiple private lawsuits already have been filed against the PRC. They will go nowhere
because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity: governments typically must agree to be sued. The
denizens of Zhongnanhai are unlikely to show up in American trial courts to answer for their
crimes.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) urged the State and Justice Departments to file suit against the PRC
before the United Nations International Court of Justice. The London-based Henry Jackson
Society issued a report advocating that "the world take legal action against the PRC for the
breaches of international law and their consequences." HJS offered a long list of potential
legal forums.
Alas, while filing before international tribunals might offer emotional satisfaction, and
perhaps even serve an educative purpose, they typically have no means of enforcement. And
attempting to apply commercial treaties, also suggested by HJS, would stretch them past the
breaking point. International litigation is another dead-end.
However, Thiessen suggested a simple fix. Remember the problem of sovereign immunity? No
worries. Congress should just end China's legal protection and enable private lawsuits. Then
Chinese assets worldwide could be seized to satisfy the resulting judgments (one early U.S.
case is demanding a modest $20 trillion ). Other proposals with similar results would
have Washington sua sponte seize Chinese assets or repudiate U.S. debt held by
Beijing.
Any of these would be the equivalent of declaring global economic war. No one should imagine
the PRC supinely allowing Americans to grab Chinese property and cash around the globe. "Sure,
take our money," responds a chastened President Xi Jinping, who dons a hairshirt and begs for
forgiveness as U.S. litigants gain recompense.
Not likely.
Imagine implementing the Thiessen Plan. The Chinese courts, subordinate to the Chinese
Communist Party, would immediately open their doors for all sorts of imagined offenses.
Lawsuits already have been filed there charging America with creating and spreading COVID-19;
they could result in their own $20 trillion verdicts. U.S. investments in the PRC would be
first to be taken, with Chinese assiduously scouring foreign lands for American assets. Friends
and foes alike would be caught between the world's two greatest economies and traders. What
could possibly go wrong?
The bigger problem, however, would be the lightbulb going off in other countries. If
Americans can sue foreigners for the devastation wreaked by the latter's actions, why can't
foreigners sue Washington for the destruction that it has caused -- and continues to cause --
around the world? Where to begin?
Perhaps with the disastrous invasion of Iraq promoted by Thiessen's earlier work. The
relatives of thousands of American dead and the tens of thousands of U.S. wounded would be out
of luck, since Congress isn't likely to allow them to sue. However, the Iraqi parliament could
recognize the financial windfall within reach and open the courtroom doors to families of the
estimated 400,000 (some estimates reach a million) Iraqis killed in the sectarian conflict
triggered by Bush's disastrous misadventure. Award, say, a million dollars per. That comes to a
nice round $400 billion.
Millions were driven from their homes, many of them from their country. Religious minorities
proved uniquely vulnerable. Even those not killed, kidnapped, ousted, or otherwise displaced
likely suffered significant economic damage from years of conflict and terrorism. Iraq's
population in 2003 was about 25.6 million. Let's go cheap here. "Only" $20,000 each, on the
theory with a freer economy and legal oil sales they should eventually make up some of the
losses. That would come to $512 billion.
Added to that would be the cost of the Islamic State's depredations. Many Iraqis suffered
through a second round of violence as ISIS evolved from Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which existed only
because of the invasion. There now are around 40 million Iraqis. How much are they due for
their nation being ravaged anew? The second round of fighting was shorter, so give everyone
another $10,000. That's an additional $400 billion.
So, in total Iraqis are due $1.3 trillion plus change.
How much should Washington pay for having destroyed Iran's democracy in 1953? That delivered
Iranians successively into the not-so-tender mercies of the Shah and then to the Ayatollah
Khomeini and his successors. How much to compensate the victims and their families? Tens of
thousands were murdered, imprisoned, tortured, mistreated, and/or impoverished.
The U.S. also should pay for its support to Saddam Hussein after he invaded Iran. Some
300,000 Iranians died (estimates of Iraqi casualties range up to 240,000). The economic damage
also was immense. As well as the costs imposed by the Islamic Republic on the people of Iran,
which continue today. And the cost of Washington's economic war against the Tehran government,
highlighted by immiserating sanctions. Any estimate is arbitrary, but surely creative Iranian
lawyers in Iranian courts could win at least a trillion dollars in damages for the Iranian
people's 67 years of suffering at Uncle Sam's hands.
Libya is another American debacle. The Obama administration helped destroy the country,
which remains at war almost a decade later. The Islamic State took advantage of the chaos to
enter. At least Washington can argue that blame should be shared. After all, the Europeans were
not only co-conspirators but key architects, pushing the U.S. to join in the bombing of Muammar
Gaddafi's forces. And some deaths -- actually a surprisingly small percentage of the total --
occurred in the fighting that preceded America's involvement.
Estimates of total dead run up to 30,000. Cut the latter in half for a compromise number.
Knock a couple thousand off for deaths before the U.S. entered. That's 13,000. At a million
dollars each the bill is $13 billion. Cut that in half, to $6.5 billion, for Washington's
share. The country's current population is about 6.8 million. How much are they owed for a
decade of chaos and conflict? Give them the same $30,000 received by Iraqis: that comes to $204
billion. Washington's responsibility: $102 billion.
Alas, this is just the start. Bahrainis, Egyptians, and Saudis continue to suffer under
U.S.-backed and -subsidized tyrannies. Generous American support for Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko
created untold suffering that continues today in the dictatorial and war-torn Democratic
Republic of Congo. Washington blundered through a complicated series of Balkan civil wars,
largely ignoring Bosnian, Croatian, and Kosovar atrocities against Serbs. U.S. backing for
Nicaragua's Anastasio Somoza Debayle encouraged a revolution ultimately dominated by
communists, leading to more repression and war.
Around the world Washington has interfered in elections, sponsored coups, bombed nations,
intervened in civil wars, invaded countries, supported dictators, sanctioned societies, funded
killers, and endorsed repression. And, shockingly, lied to, misled, and abandoned friends as
well as foes for its own advantage. Imagine the accumulated damages if everyone harmed by the
U.S. government sued Americans.
Of course, not everything touched by Uncle Sam turns into a debacle. The defeat of Nazi
Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II were major positives for hundreds of millions of
people. Alas, that was counterbalanced by earlier intervention in World War I, a conflict with
no clean hands. Doing so unbalanced Europe and released the political viruses of fascism,
Nazism, and communism -- and led to World War II. Intervention in South Korea saved tens of
millions of people from Kim Il-sung's Dark Ages in the North. However, America's involvement in
Vietnam expanded and lengthened a hideous conflict, consuming millions of lives.
Moreover, many of Washington's choices were not intentionally malign. Still, the U.S.
routinely carelessly and callously subordinated the lives, welfare, and futures of others to
advance its own interests. Americans never have proved forgiving when others treated them the
same way.
Sue Beijing? Americans should be careful what they wish for. Having established the
precedent, they might become the next target of lawyers around the globe. The result could
prove far more costly than their worst nightmare.
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to
President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire .
He also is a graduate of Stanford Law School and a member of the California and D.C. bars.leave a comment
And by the way who on this earth – with a sound and thinking brain – would
believe in anything claimed by the USA aka whatever president or state-related ministry or
organization. They all got exposed as LIARs again and again.
From the Korean-War to Vietnam, to public assassination of highest political figures, to
Katrina's aftermath & FAILED prevention, to housmade water crises to 9/11 including air
safety in NYC, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Russia"Gate" and Libya ( the latest where a
British parliamentary committee came to the conclusion all was based on fraud, wrong or
manipulated intelligence, fake news and utter willingness to go to war !!!)
Go to Wikileaks and pick up whatever topic you like and then read those emails or sources
and take a look at public statements and mass-corporate-media so callled articles –
some even use the word "Investigative" – they are mostly a parade of distortions,
omissions, whitewashing, lies, imputations of others, doctored statistical numbers, faked
sources & intelligence and so on, and on and on .
Go to ShadowStatistics ( shadowstats.com ) and take a look at official economical released
data & stats.!!??
The Kremlin has rejected criticism of Russia's handling of the coronavirus outbreak after
China said its largest source of imported cases had come from transmissions in the far
northeast, bordering Russia. "We hear that there is now an exchange of criticism over
coronavirus between different countries, which is played like ping pong. We consider this to be
a thankless exercise," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
Beijing's Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on April 13: "The Chinese people
have watched Russia become a severely affected country from one that did a great job. This
should sound the alarm: China must strictly prevent the inflow of cases and avoid a second
outbreak." The newspaper is run by the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily.
China reported 46 new confirmed cases on Tuesday compared with 89 cases a day earlier,
according to the National Health Commission. Of the new cases, 36 involved travelers arriving
in the country from overseas, compared with 86 a day earlier.
"China is on guard against imported cases," the state-owned Global Times wrote in its
editorial on Tuesday, saying that the US and Europe are "not ready to restart [their]
economy." It warned that "once the epidemic is repeated in Europe and the US, or spreads
around the epicenters worldwide, it will disastrously continue."
William Gruff
Boris was taught a lesson. He's far from winning. Trump's number one enemy has always been
China. Decoupling US and its vassals from China was a problem and I did not see how he could
accomplish that as the US west would go through a lot of pain in the decoupling.
Now the US west is blaming its decoupling pain on China.
If the USA knew that biosecurity in Wuhan lab is compromised, why they did not act. They
essentially financed large part of the reserach via reserach grants.
Pompeo told MacCallum, "The mere fact that we don't know the answers, that China hasn't
shared the answers, I think is very, very telling. To your point, the President said that there
are multiple sources. What we do know is we know that this virus originated in Wuhan, China. We
know that there is the Wuhan Institute of Virology just a handful of miles away from where the
wet market was. There's still lots to learn."
Saying that "we don't know the answers" because China hasn't shared them is very misleading
because we now know that American diplomatic officials warned Washington two years ago about
inadequate safety at the Wuhan biolab. Those unheeded warnings reportedly prompted the U.S.
government to consider whether the Wuhan lab was the source of the virus, according to a recent
Washington Post
article .
In January 2018, the U.S. embassy in Beijing sent U.S. science diplomats to
the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which had distinguished itself in 2015 as "China's first
laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety (known as BSL-4),"
says the Washington Post . "WIV issued a news release in English about the last of these
visits, which occurred on March 27, 2018 Last week, WIV erased
that statement from its website, though it remains archived on the Internet."
U.S. officials on the trip were so concerned by what they saw that they sent two diplomatic
cables labelled Sensitive But Unclassified back to Washington.
"The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and proposed more
attention and help," says the article. (This may explain why the
U.S. government gave $3.7 million to the Wuhan lab.)
U.S. officials
warned in the first cable that "the lab's work on bat coronaviruses and their potential
human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic."
In other words, the U.S. government already had many pieces of the coronavirus origin puzzle
two years before the pandemic began.
Pompeo further dissembles and spends 90 percent of the interview blaming China. "Today you
saw further evidence that there were days -- days that went by -- from when the Chinese
Communist Party, the leadership there, knew about this virus before they told the public writ
large," said Pompeo.
There's no doubt that China did not share everything it knew about the virus and its origins
with the World Health Organization, or with the U.S. But that is not an excuse for our
government ignoring multiple warnings from U.S. officials on the ground in Wuhan.
MacCallum pressed him, charging that U.S. officials "said that it was highly likely that a
pandemic could result from how mishandled everything was there. What happened to those cables?
Who received them in the State Department? Who went over them in the State Department two years
ago?"
Pompeo answers:
"Martha, I appreciate you want to ask about that. I can't comment on the cables tonight. I
can say this. This is a laboratory that contained highly contagious materials. We knew that.
We knew that they were working on this program. Many countries have programs like this. And
in countries that are open and transparent, they have the ability to control and keep them
safe and they allow outside observers in to make sure all the processes and procedures are
right. I only wish that that had happened in this place. We would know more about it and we
would know more about what has transpired there, if anything, today."
The Chinese government isn't the only one attempting to shirk responsibility here. The State
Department was warned of what was happening in the lab in Wuhan and seems to have done nothing
about it. The U.S. even went as far as
funding the Chinese research.
Consider that this may be the "costliest government cover-up of all time" as a U.S.
government source briefed on the details of early actions by China's government told Fox
News. How much? As information like these cables surface, it is clear we may not yet know the
half of it.
"... Media and experts have accused China of concealing the real figures of the pandemic. According to them, with 1.4 billion people, how can I believe that she has had only about 80 000 people infected and only a little over 3,000 deaths ! They have concluded that China had necessarily lied to. And yet if China had obtained this result, it is neither by falsehood or by concealment, but because the Chinese government has taken measures to prevent and control the most comprehensive, the most stringent and the most stringent to detect, report, isolate and treat people contaminated with a maximum of reactivity, in order first to safeguard the life and health of its population. ..."
"... We saw the Commander of an aircraft carrier to ask his superiors for permission to come ashore to allow sailors infected to be treated to earth. He has been sacked... and I could go on. And yet, I have not seen a lot of news stories or in-depth survey of the major western media revealing these facts. These media and these experts, both enamored of objectivity and impartiality, have they a conscience ? Do they have ethics ? ..."
"... The accusations against Chine really began in earnest as soon as people began to twig to the Ft Detrick shut-down and the "vaping deaths". ..."
"... CT (coincidence theory) and a cynical eye strongly suggests that we not believe a claim until it's been denied. Sam is denying by blaming Chine. ..."
"... The Mockingbird mass media tools have something far more important: Duty to an empire that is staggering from crises. The pandemic isn't even the greatest of the crises that is bedeviling the empire. Even the financial meltdown is just one of the biggies. A particularly insidious crisis growing in the West is the Mockingbird mass media losing control of the narratives needed to maintain empire. This leaves the media tools desperate, almost frantic, in their narrative spinning. ..."
"... By the way, everyone knows that Stephen Hawking was a guest at Epstein's Island, right? In fact, a large number of notable scientists had been guests there. Now why would the CIA want blackmail material on top scientists and "experts" ? Well, I guess that even though scientists will naturally feel obligation to their benefactors' empire, their tendency to prioritize truth might at times be inconvenient. ..."
If after having done so many things the first three weeks, we still believe that "China"
has dragged on ", that therefore the Europeans and Americans during the two months that
followed the first report from China and a month after the closure of Wuhan ? Their leaders
have said that it was only a " grippette ", that there was no need to worry, that the virus
struck only the Yellow and that the risk to see it circulate in their countries was
minimal. Their media and the experts, while accommodating a serenity blind of their
country, sought to defame China, to mock the strokes of good jokes and hoping for a
"effect" Chernobyl.
On the other hand, he never found anyone to reflect on the measures to combat the
epidemic or the procurement of medical equipment necessary to avoid being caught short.
The Editor-in-chief of the british magazine the Lancet has called "a national scandal"
the measures of prevention health in the uk. Recently, the President of the European
Council Research (ERC), Mauro Ferrari, has declared "to have lost faith in the system"
European handling of the pandemic, and resigned with a bang.
Media and experts have accused China of concealing the real figures of the pandemic.
According to them, with 1.4 billion people, how can I believe that she has had only about
80 000 people infected and only a little over 3,000 deaths ! They have concluded that China
had necessarily lied to. And yet if China had obtained this result, it is neither by
falsehood or by concealment, but because the Chinese government has taken measures to
prevent and control the most comprehensive, the most stringent and the most stringent to
detect, report, isolate and treat people contaminated with a maximum of reactivity, in
order first to safeguard the life and health of its population.
China was not afraid to cut his GDP thousand billion yuan, to inject hundreds of
billions of yuan in resources, to mobilize more than 40 000 health care workers from the
four corners of the country to go to support of Wuhan and Hubei, and ultimately defeat the
epidemic in only two months.
However, at the same time, in the West, we have seen politicians tear to retrieve voice
; to advocate the immunization of a group, abandoning their citizens alone in the face of
the slaughter viral; between-steal medical supplies ; sell to private structures and
equipment purchased with public money to enrich themselves ; we did sign on to the boarders
of the retirement home certificates of the " Waiver to emergency care "; the personal
caregivers of the EHPADs have abandoned their positions from one day to the next, deserted
collectively, leaving it to die residents of hunger and disease ;
We saw the Commander of an aircraft carrier to ask his superiors for permission to
come ashore to allow sailors infected to be treated to earth. He has been sacked... and I
could go on. And yet, I have not seen a lot of news stories or in-depth survey of the major
western media revealing these facts. These media and these experts, both enamored of
objectivity and impartiality, have they a conscience ? Do they have ethics ?
And this
"When cuttlefish is in danger, it spits its ink to blacken the water and took the
opportunity to take flight. It is a well known tactic of some political elites and western
cultural. "They wanted to simply be attributed to China the responsibility for their own
inability to cope with the epidemic and the multiple tragedies that followed, and so," to
whiten completely. "
By the time I finished my text, I discovered a report on the Net. On 8 April, the
academic journal world-renowned, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) has
published an article co-written by academics in British and German entitled network
Analysis the phylogenetic genomes of SARS-CoV-2.
The first author of the article is Dr. Peter Forster of the University of Cambridge.
According to the study, the researchers classified the new coronavirus in three types (A,
B, and C) according to their development.
The type A is the closest of the virus extracts of the bat and pangolin. It is the one
most frequently identified among hiv-infected patients in the United States and Australia.
That is, what researchers call " the root of the epidemic ".
The strains of type B are variants of the type A and are mainly present in China. Those
that are spreading on a large scale in Europe are those of the type C. Unfortunately, it
appears that the results of the research of Dr Peter Forster are not interested in the
western mainstream media.
With every accusation by Sam that "Chine did it"... with every such act, Wally recalls I.
F. Stone.
The accusations against Chine really began in earnest as soon as people began to twig
to the Ft Detrick shut-down and the "vaping deaths".
CT (coincidence theory) and a cynical eye strongly suggests that we not believe a claim
until it's been denied. Sam is denying by blaming Chine.
As 'b' says, the Science will help, possibly be determinant...but we have watched the
"science" yield to "we know where your kids live"...and fraudulent reports from OCPW - the
Oscars for the "whitehelmetz" and so forth...then there's the "Warren Report"...the lies
about biowar against Chine and Korea in 1952 (Sam did that).
Wally would like to when the 1952 campaign ended. He can't find out...
About the science...building 7 final report by University of Alaska is published. 125
pages of engineering report.
@ "ae911truth[dot]org" read report. also a straight up video review, as a college lecture.
Keep copy? Sure? Good with vodka and popcorn.
Then read the NIST report. (gag)
These "scientific" stories cannot both be true. We may expect, reasonably, a similar set
of lies, "stories" about the germz?
"These media and these experts, both enamored of objectivity and impartiality, have
they a conscience ? Do they have ethics ?" --Chinese Ambassador quoted and translated by
Peter AU1 @152
The Mockingbird mass media tools have something far more important: Duty to an
empire that is staggering from crises. The pandemic isn't even the greatest of the crises
that is bedeviling the empire. Even the financial meltdown is just one of the biggies. A
particularly insidious crisis growing in the West is the Mockingbird mass media losing
control of the narratives needed to maintain empire. This leaves the media tools desperate,
almost frantic, in their narrative spinning.
By the way, everyone knows that Stephen Hawking was a guest at Epstein's Island, right? In
fact, a large number of notable scientists had been guests there. Now why would the CIA want
blackmail material on top scientists and "experts" ? Well, I guess that even though
scientists will naturally feel obligation to their benefactors' empire, their tendency to
prioritize truth might at times be inconvenient.
It is essential for men of science to take an interest in the administration of their own
affairs or else the professional civil servant will step in -- and then the Lord help you.
Rutherford
Notable quotes:
"... The Mockingbird mass media tools have something far more important: Duty to an empire that is staggering from crises. The pandemic isn't even the greatest of the crises that is bedeviling the empire. Even the financial meltdown is just one of the biggies. A particularly insidious crisis growing in the West is the Mockingbird mass media losing control of the narratives needed to maintain empire. This leaves the media tools desperate, almost frantic, in their narrative spinning. ..."
The year that Rutherford died (1938 [sic]) there disappeared forever the happy days of
free scientific work which gave us such delight in our youth. Science has lost her freedom.
Science has become a productive force. She has become rich but she has become enslaved and
part of her is veiled in secrecy. I do not know whether Rutherford would continue to joke and
laugh as he used to.
"These media and these experts, both enamored of objectivity and
impartiality, have they a conscience ? Do they have ethics ?" --Chinese Ambassador quoted
and translated by Peter AU1 @152
The Mockingbird mass media tools have something far more important: Duty to an empire
that is staggering from crises. The pandemic isn't even the greatest of the crises that is
bedeviling the empire. Even the financial meltdown is just one of the biggies. A particularly
insidious crisis growing in the West is the Mockingbird mass media losing control of the
narratives needed to maintain empire. This leaves the media tools desperate, almost frantic,
in their narrative spinning.
By the way, everyone knows that Stephen Hawking was a guest at Epstein's Island, right? In
fact, a large number of notable scientists had been guests there. Now why would the CIA want
blackmail material on top scientists and "experts" ? Well, I guess that even though
scientists will naturally feel obligation to their benefactors' empire, their tendency to
prioritize truth might at times be inconvenient.
SST has fully jumped the shark, it seems, going full in with the "Chinese poisoned us/this is
war" concept, which will be the new "Putin stole the election". Racist troglodytes are
already flooding the comment board calling for the summary execution of anyone involved with
Chinese students or academic institutions. The empty wheel blog went full in with the
Russiagate nonsense and became virtually unreadable. SST is next.
Americans are wigged out, in general. They will believe what they want to believe, and
shout anyone else down while insisting they must be Russian or Chinese agents.
@3
Agreed, I have been following SST for about 5 years now, but that was enough time to realize
that while they know the truth about RussiaGate, the origins of the war on Syria and the
advent of a new Cold War, there was a enough there to see that they were completely down with
Trump's domestic agenda. At this point I consider them the new Brown Shirts and petit
bourgeois reactionaries. I've had to stop looking at their site!
@ jayc #3 The Chinese war against the US is like Russia's war against the US: self
defense. It's not difficult to see who the aggressor is - and has been since 1945. That these
two countries have been driven into alliance by a shared adversary is deliciously ironic, or
would be if it did not have the overwhelming potential to be globally catastrophic.
The inability of the Colonel to recognize (voice?) that reveals his true allegiance.
Whether it is to a continued income stream from media consultancy or ties to the intelligence
cartel or both makes no difference.
That's too extreme and it looks like Colonel Lang jumped into "China did it" bandwagon, but this point does make sense: "they used their money to infiltrate
American and Canadian research facilities to enhance the capabilities of their own research
facilities. Some Americans in their worship of money above all aided that infiltration."
Notable quotes:
"... SST will continue to press the china War story. pl ..."
"... Some of us have long suspected that the CCP have been exploiting the vulnerability of the contemporary American elite mindset of personal gain at any cost. What happens when the fifth column are the political, financial and corporate leadership of a nation? ..."
"... If the China CCP is actively engaging in a bio-weapon attack against us, then why not infecting a few Americans at some airport such as Bejing before they fly home? that would make the epicenter somewhere in the US, no need to sacrify many thoudsands in Wuhan. ..."
"... So the PRC sought to bring down America with ... the flu? Or did they have advance intelligence that the US media and government were going to go full retard over this and lockdown the entire country? Is Bill Gates a Chinese agent? ..."
"... It is no question that relations between China and USA has deteriorated even further with this COVID 19 pandemic. I am however, wondering how did China nurture CoVID virus? They literally got "nuked" by it themselves. ..."
"... From the sidelines, it looks to me that they've responded to it more efficiently than US, where CoVID 19 pandemic is a catalyst for a crysis accumulated in US prior to pandemic onset. ..."
It is apparent that the CCP has sought to nurture the creation and/or development of the
COVID-19 virus. To that end they used their money to infiltrate American and Canadian research
facilities to enhance the capabilities of their own research facilities. Some Americans in
their worship of money above all aided that infiltration.
We now receive a lot of obvious troll attacks from "friends" of China. Some of them are from
Europeans. That is sad because for the CCP the Europeans are merely an inconvenience whose
interests are "collateral damage."
SST will continue to press the china War story. pl
"I now consider the CCP and the Chinese government to be enemies of the US that are engaged
in an undeclared war against the Unites States."
Thank you, Col. Lang! Coming from a long time warrior deeply knowledgeable about the "dark
arts" it means a lot for us civilians.
Some of us have long suspected that the CCP have been exploiting the vulnerability of
the contemporary American elite mindset of personal gain at any cost. What happens when the
fifth column are the political, financial and corporate leadership of a nation? Congresses and president's from George H.W. Bush to Obama and the leadership of both
political parties have been instrumental in the voluntary dismantlement of our industrial
base.
I'm not convinced with your statement "The present pandemic is merely one theater of that
war".
If the China CCP is actively engaging in a bio-weapon attack against us, then why not
infecting a few Americans at some airport such as Bejing before they fly home? that would
make the epicenter somewhere in the US, no need to sacrify many thoudsands in Wuhan.
So the PRC sought to bring down America with ... the flu? Or did they have advance intelligence that the US media and
government were going to go full retard over this and lockdown the entire country? Is Bill Gates a Chinese agent? Will
his vaccine make us all start craving bat soup?
I am long time lurker at this board and found this topic to be an interesting one. It is no question that relations between China and USA has deteriorated even further with
this COVID 19 pandemic. I am however, wondering how did China nurture CoVID virus? They
literally got "nuked" by it themselves.
From the sidelines, it looks to me that they've responded to it more efficiently than US,
where CoVID 19 pandemic is a catalyst for a crysis accumulated in US prior to pandemic
onset.
China likely under reported the number of cases and the fatalities from the new Chinese
Virus. China also likely knew about the virus for sometime before reporting it to the WHO. China initially either failed to realized or did not report that the virus can be spread from
human to human.
But also fact is that there is nothing sinister or unusual about this Corona Virus to make
any scientist in the West or even US military intelligence claim that it could be a biological
weapon altered in a military facility.
Fact: China's economy was the first to suffer, with almost total shut down of its economy,
promoting talk in the West of moving manufacturing out of China.
Fact: That shut down was visible to all of us and widely reported.
Fact: China's economy is an export economy, so shutting down the American or other importing
markets is counter productive from a Chinese point of view.
Fact: China sequenced the virus and released all the information to the world including the
CDC on January 10. which would have given ample time for the West to prepare its very advanced
lab, healthcare system and pharmaceutical industry to confront any potential spread.
You obviously have many contacts in the security and intelligence community. Do they share
your outlook? Could you give us a summary of how they are leaning? Thanks.
One "debunking" idea about "the virus" is of course that it's natural. Of course you can
chase the word...after all, man himself is natural, and nature runs on chemistry...and man is
a chemist. A biochemist. So we can stretch "natural" to synthesis in a lab...naturally. The
Semantic value of "natural" is that it's a emotional suggestion used to deceive by
implication. So, OK, "it" is "natural". So's lead. Or arsenic or cyanide. So's a rattlesnake.
So's a tyrant.
And when the US "simulated" germ war on it's own cities? Well, that was natural too.
""The Army listed 27 times that it tested simulated toxins on public property, including
releasing spores in two tunnels on a stretch of Pennsylvania Turnpike. In addition to those
experiments in public places, the Army secretary used military personnel and their families
for open-air experiments by spraying simulated germs into the air at a number of bases,
including Fort Detrick, Md.; Fort Belvoir, Va.; and the Marine training school at Quantico,
Va.
Another 504 workers connected with biological warfare activities at Ft. Detrick, Dugway
Proving Ground and the Deseret Test Center in Utah and the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas
suffered infections, according to the Army's count."
A fair number of people died in San Francisco from infections delivered in secret on the
city by the Navy - for days a destroyer steamed spewing bacteria upwind. An "exercise" in
secret.
see> the freethoughtproject[dot]com
"Conspiracy Theory? US Army Has Admitted to Conducting 100s of Germ Warfare Tests On
Americans" (Blevins)
Jul. 2019: primary US bioweapons lab, Ft. Detrick, was shut down over fears that
weaponized pathogens might escape.
Oct. 2019: Event 201, Baltimore, U.S., a pandemic simulation by the Coronavirus
nCoV-2019 Simulation and Emergency Preparedness Task Force at the John Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Health Security. Sponsors: World Economic Forum (WEF), the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, Big Pharma, and other Establishment. No health officials, no
World Health Organisation (WHO) officials. The simulation: 65 million deaths worldwide and
a 15% stock market collapse.
Jan. 30, 2020: the WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, determines that
the outbreak constitutes a PHEIC, Geneva, Switzerland. This decision was taken on the
basis of 150 confirmed cases outside China.
Early Feb. 2020: the acronym of the coronavirus was changed from nCoV- 2019 to
COVID-19.
Pandemic bonds: in 2017, these bonds were sold to private investors on the premise that
they would lose their money if any of 6 deadly pandemics hit. They did not pay out in 2019
when the Ebola virus broke out in Africa. The World Bank announced the creation of these
structured bonds in May 2016 at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Governors meeting in
Sendai, Japan.
The 1st bond issue raised $225 million and features an interest rate of around 7%! That
was substantial. Payout on the bond is to be suspended if there is an outbreak of new
influenza viruses or coronavirus. The 2nd type of bond was even riskier which raised $95
million with an interest rate of more than 11%. This second type of bond keeps investors'
money if there is an outbreak of Filovirus, Coronavirus , Lassa Fever, Rift Valley
Fever, and/or Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.
With every accusation by Sam that "Chine did it"... with every such act, Wally recalls I. F.
Stone.
The accusations against Chine really began in earnest as soon as people began to twig
to the Ft Detrick shut-down and the "vaping deaths". CT (coincidence theory) and a cynical eye strongly suggests that we not believe a claim
until it's been denied. Sam is denying by blaming Chine.
As 'b' says, the Science will help, possibly be determinant...but we have watched the
"science" yield to "we know where your kids live"...and fraudulent reports from OCPW - the
Oscars for the "whitehelmetz" and so forth...then there's the "Warren Report"...the lies
about biowar against Chine and Korea in 1952 (Sam did that).
Wally would like to when the 1952 campaign ended. He can't find out...
About the science...building 7 final report by University of Alaska is published. 125
pages of engineering report.
@ "ae911truth[dot]org" read report. also a straight up video review, as a college lecture.
Keep copy? Sure? Good with vodka and popcorn.
Then read the NIST report. (gag)
These "scientific" stories cannot both be true. We may expect, reasonably, a similar set
of lies, "stories" about the germz?
Creation of a chimaera
The argument is essentially a rerun of the debate over whether to allow lab research that
increases the virulence, ease of spread or host range of dangerous pathogens -- what is
known as 'gain-of-function' research. In October 2014, the US government imposed a
moratorium on federal funding of such research on the viruses that cause SARS, influenza
and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome, a deadly disease caused by a virus that
sporadically jumps from camels to people0
The latest study was already under way before the US moratorium began, and the US
National Institutes of Health (NIH) allowed it to proceed while it was under review by the
agency, says Ralph Baric, an infectious-disease researcher at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, a co-author of the study. The NIH eventually concluded that the
work was not so risky as to fall under the moratorium, he says.....
.....But Baric and others say the research did have benefits. The study findings "move
this virus from a candidate emerging pathogen to a clear and present danger", says Peter
Daszak, who co-authored the 2013 paper. Daszak is president of the EcoHealth Alliance, an
international network of scientists, headquartered in New York City, that samples viruses
from animals and people in emerging-diseases hotspots across the globe.
Studies testing hybrid viruses in human cell culture and animal models are limited in
what they can say about the threat posed by a wild virus, Daszak agrees. But he argues that
they can help indicate which pathogens should be prioritized for further research
attention.
Without the experiments, says Baric, the SHC014 virus would still be seen as not a
threat. Previously, scientists had believed, on the basis of molecular modelling and other
studies, that it should not be able to infect human cells. The latest work shows that the
virus has already overcome critical barriers, such as being able to latch onto human
receptors and efficiently infect human airway cells, he says. "I don't think you can ignore
that." He plans to do further studies with the virus in non-human primates, which may yield
data more relevant to humans.
Gain-of-function (GOF) research involves experimentation that aims or is expected to
(and/or, perhaps, actually does) increase the transmissibility and/or virulence of pathogens.
Such research, when conducted by responsible scientists, usually aims to improve understanding
of disease causing agents, their interaction with human hosts, and/or their potential to cause
pandemics. The ultimate objective of such research is to better inform public health and
preparedness efforts and/or development of medical countermeasures. Despite these important
potential benefits, GOF research (GOFR) can pose risks regarding biosecurity and biosafety. In
2014 the administration of US President Barack Obama called for a "pause" on funding (and
relevant research with existing US Government funding) of GOF experiments involving influenza,
SARS, and MERS viruses in particular. With announcement of this pause, the US Government
launched a "deliberative process" regarding risks and benefits of GOFR to inform future funding
decisions -- and the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was tasked with
making recommendations to the US Government on this matter. As part of this deliberative
process the National Institutes of Health commissioned this Ethical Analysis White Paper,
requesting that it provide (1) review and summary of ethical literature on GOFR, (2)
identification and analysis of existing ethical and decision-making frameworks relevant to (i)
the evaluation of risks and benefits of GOFR, (ii) decision-making about the conduct of GOF
studies, and (iii) the development of US policy regarding GOFR (especially with respect to
funding of GOFR), and (3) development of an ethical and decision-making framework that may be
considered by NSABB when analyzing information provided by GOFR risk-benefit assessment, and
when crafting its final recommendations (especially regarding policy decisions about funding of
GOFR in particular). The ethical and decision-making framework ultimately developed is based on
the idea that there are numerous ethically relevant dimensions upon which any given case of
GOFR can fare better or worse (as opposed to there being necessary conditions that are either
satisfied or not satisfied, where all must be satisfied in order for a given case of GOFR to be
considered ethically acceptable): research imperative, proportionality, minimization of risks,
manageability of risks, justice, good governance (i.e., democracy), evidence, and international
outlook and engagement. Rather than drawing a sharp bright line between GOFR studies that are
ethically acceptable and those that are ethically unacceptable, this framework is designed to
indicate where any given study would fall on an ethical spectrum -- where imaginable cases of
GOFR might range from those that are most ethically acceptable (perhaps even ethically
praiseworthy or ethically obligatory), at one end of the spectrum, to those that are most
ethically problematic or unacceptable (and thus should not be funded, or conducted), at the
other. The aim should be that any GOFR pursued (and/or funded) should be as far as possible
towards the former end of the spectrum. Keywords: Gain-of-function research, Dual-use research,
Biosafety, Biosecurity, Risk-benefit assessment, Decision theory Go to:Executive
Summary
Gain-of-function (GOF) research involves experimentation that aims or is expected to
(and/or, perhaps, actually does) increase the transmissibility and/or virulence of pathogens.
Such research, when conducted by responsible scientists, usually aims to improve understanding
of disease causing agents, their interaction with human hosts, and/or their potential to cause
pandemics. The ultimate objective of such research is to better inform public health and
preparedness efforts and/or development of medical countermeasures. Despite these important
potential benefits, GOF research (GOFR) can pose risks regarding biosecurity and biosafety.
GOFR is a subset of "dual-use research" -- i.e., research that can be used for both beneficial
and malevolent purposes. Whereas the dual-use life science research debate has largely focused
on biosecurity dangers associated with potential malevolent use of research, the GOFR debate
has more explicitly focused on risks involving both biosecurity and biosafety -- the point
being that creation of especially dangerous pathogens might pose highly significant biosafety
risks that are independent of, and perhaps more feasible to measure/assess than, risks
associated with malevolent use.
Following controversy surrounding research, published in 2012, that led to the creation of
highly pathogenic H5N1 (avian) influenza virus strains that were airborne transmissible between
ferrets -- and more recent reports of biosafety mishaps involving anthrax, smallpox, and H5N1
in government laboratories -- in 2014 the administration of US President Barack Obama called
for a "pause" on funding (and relevant research with existing US Government funding) of GOF
experiments involving influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses in particular. This pause applies
specifically to experiments that "may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes such that
the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility in mammals via the
respiratory route" (White House 2014 ). With announcement of
this pause, the US Government launched a "deliberative process to address key questions about
the risks and benefits of gain-of-function studies" (White House 2014 ) to inform future
funding decisions -- and the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was tasked
with making recommendations to the US Government on this matter. As part of this deliberative
process, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) commissioned this Ethical Analysis White Paper
providing:
Review and summary of ethical literature on GOFR;
Identification and analysis of existing ethical and decision-making frameworks relevant
to (i) the evaluation of risks and benefits of GOFR, (ii) decision-making about the conduct
of GOF studies, and (iii) the development of US policy regarding GOFR (especially with
respect to funding of GOFR); and
Development of an ethical and decision-making framework that may be considered by NSABB
when analyzing information provided by GOFR risk-benefit assessment, and when crafting its
final recommendations (especially regarding GOFR funding policy decisions in
particular).
The ethical literature (discussed below) on GOFR to date has primarily focused on
Biosafety concerns -- e.g., that a devastating pandemic could potentially result from a
laboratory accident involving an especially dangerous pathogen created via GOFR
The need for objective risk-benefit analysis, broader community engagement/consultation,
and more transparent GOFR decision- and policy-making
The need to minimize risks -- and controversy surrounding the nature and magnitude of
likely risks of GOFR
The requirement that research benefits outweigh risks -- and controversy surrounding the
nature and magnitude of likely benefits of GOFR
Following (1) discussion of the limitations of risk-benefit assessment as a guide to
decision- and policy-making and (2) identification of numerous existing ethical and
decision-making frameworks, and analysis of their general strengths and weaknesses and/or
specific applicability to GOFR, this White Paper ultimately develops/proposes a framework for
GOFR decision-and policy-making (especially regarding funding of GOFR) comprised of the
following principles:
Research Imperative The ethical acceptability of GOFR posing extraordinary risks
partly depends on the importance of the research question it aims to address.
Proportionality The ethical acceptability of extraordinarily risky GOFR partly
depends on the extent to which there is reasonable expectation that the research in
question will (1) yield answers to the target public health question and (2) ultimately
result in benefits that outweigh risks involved.
Minimization of Risks Other things being equal, the ethical acceptability of a
GOFR study is a function of the degree to which (1) there is confidence that no less risky
forms of research would be equally beneficial and (2) reasonable steps have been made to
minimize risks of the GOFR study in question.
Manageability of Risks Other things being equal, the more manageable the risks of
a GOFR study, the more ethically acceptable the study would be. Conversely, the more
important/beneficial a GOFR study is expected to be, the more we should be willing to
accept potentially unmanageable risks.
Justice Because justice requires fair sharing of benefits and burdens, the
ethical acceptability of GOFR partly depends on the degree to which (1) risks fall on some
people more than others, (2) risks fall on those who are unlikely to benefit, and/or (3)
any resulting harms are uncompensated.
Good Governance -- Democracy GOFR decision- and policy-making should (insofar as
possible) reflect the ultimate values, value weightings, and risk-taking strategies of
public citizens.
Evidence Decision- and policy-making regarding GOFR should be based on
more/better evidence regarding risks, benefits, (means of) risk minimization, who is likely
to benefit or be harmed by research, and the values, value weightings, and risk-taking
strategies of public citizens.
International Outlook and Engagement Because risks and benefits of GOFR (can)
affect the global community at large, the ethical acceptability of GOFR partly depends on
the extent to which it is accepted internationally. Decision- and policy-making regarding
GOFR should (insofar as possible) involve consultation, negotiation, coordination, and
related forms of active engagement with other countries.
This framework is based on the idea that there are numerous ethically relevant dimensions
upon which any given case of GOFR can fare better or worse (as opposed to there being necessary
conditions that are either satisfied or not satisfied, where all must be satisfied in order for
a given case of GOFR to be considered ethically acceptable). Rather than drawing a sharp bright
line between GOFR studies that are ethically acceptable and those that are ethically
unacceptable, this framework is designed to indicate where any given study would fall on an
ethical spectrum -- where imaginable cases of GOFR might range from those that are most
ethically acceptable (perhaps even ethically praiseworthy or ethically obligatory) (i.e., those
that fare best with respect to all 8 dimensions), at one end of the spectrum, to those that are
most ethically problematic or unacceptable (i.e., those that fare worst regarding all 8
dimensions, and thus clearly should not be funded/conducted), at the other. The aim should be
that any GOFR pursued (and/or funded) should be as far as possible towards the former end of
the spectrum.
Existing computer models predicted that the new coronavirus would not bind to ACE2 as well
as the SARS virus. However, to their surprise, the researchers found that the spike
protein of the new coronavirus actually bound far better than computer predictions, likely
because of natural selection on ACE2 that enabled the virus to take advantage of a
previously unidentified alternate binding site.
This claim has already been debunked!
GOD OR MAN - WHO CREATED COVID-19?
I was about to write a long piece on why I believe COVID-19 was created in a laboratory.
Or at least why the proof offered that it is "zoonotic" is bogus. Here is a draft, partly
translated by Google from Finnish.
The closest known relative found in nature to the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes corona
fever is the bat SARS virus "RaTG13" subsequently isolated from a Chinese bat collected in
2013. The lethality and virulence of the mew virus are caused by two "copy-paste" style edits
or changes to the genome. For a simple presentation of the changes see this story by the
Sydney Morning Herald from two weeks week ago:
The perfect virus: two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer .
The adhesion of the viral spike protein to the human ACE2 receptor has been improved.
Better infectivity has been obtained by replacing the RNA sequence of the receptor-binding
domain with the corresponding RNA sequence of the SARS virus found in pangolin.
In order for the virus to penetrate the cell, the spike protein must be cut into two
parts. Coronaviruses often use host cell enzymes for this. MERS virus researchers found
that effective penetration is obtained with the human enzyme furin. The motif recognized by
furin is found in the MERS spike protein at the cleavage site. A four amino acid long
sequence "PRRA" has been added to the cleavage site of the SARS-COV-2 peak protein, which
causes furin to cleave the protein when it is attached to the ACE2 receptor.
So far the dominant hypothesis is that this virus emerged via natural evolution,
especially if the coronavirus has been able to spread in the human population for some time.
But both changes are such that is it possible to do them in specialized lab via "gain of
function" experiments on the basis of the 2019 science and knowledge.
Conspiracy theorists have accused virus and weapons laboratories of developing and
releasing COVID-19. The scientific community has had a need to provethat the virus is the
result of natural evolution. The most notable publication defending "natural selection"
hypothesis is the letter The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
sent by Kristian G. Andersen and partners to Nature Medicine . The key conclusions of
the publication had however already been proved wrong.
The group attempted to improve the adhesion of the bat SARS spike protein to the ACE2
receptor with computer simulations. The simulations did not produce anything resembling the
SARS-COV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD). Andersen et al. concluded that researchers could
not have created the virus in a laboratory, as computer simulations would unlikely have
produced anything like SARS-COV-2.
Thus, the high-affinity binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human ACE2 is most
likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another
optimal binding solution to arise. This is strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not the
product of purposeful manipulation.
However, as early as February 16, the same research team from the University of Minnesota
had produced another study found the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-COV-2 spike
protein infection structure to be identical to that of a related SARS virus found in
pangolins. See: Structural basis of receptor recognition
by SARS-CoV-2 .
The study was published on March 30 and it overturns the basis for the conclusion of
Andersen et al.. SARS-COV-2 is however not derived from the pangolin SARS as it is more
closely related to the 2013 bat SARS (RaTG13). There must have been a cut-and-paste crossover
event in which a fragment of the pangolin virus genome has been implanted into the bat virus.
The cut-and-paste operation is easy to do in the laboratory, but RNA viruses have been found to
exchange genetic material in nature.
A group from the University of Minnesota also studied the adhesion of various spike
proteins. Synthesized spike protein gene sequences for RaTG13, SARS, and SARS-COV-2 were
ordered from the GenScript and then inserted into a Sf9 cell line using pFastBac plasmids.
The monoclonal proteins obtained were mixed with human ACE2 receptor proteins in a test tube.
The SARS-COV-2 spike protein adhered 4–10-fold more tightly than any of the other spike
proteins.
It would therefore be very possible that findings similar to the studies now published
would have been made out of the public in a virus laboratory even before the spread of
COVID-19. The U.S. biological weapons program has several laboratories around Eurasia. The
best known is a laboratory in Georgia named after Senator Dick Lugar. Presumably, U.S.
laboratory databases have a much broader collection of forms of SARS virus found in bats and
pangolins than is found in open databases. It is likely that the SARS-COV-2 strain and the
receptor-binding domain of its spike protein have also been collected.
To investigate whether proteolytic cleavage at the basic amino acid residues, were it to
occur, might facilitate cell–cell fusion activity, we mutated the wild-type SARS-CoV
glycoprotein to construct a prototypic furin recognition site (RRSRR) at either position.
None of the arguments put forward against the laboratory origin of COVID-19 convince me.
The origin of COVID-19 is difficult or impossible to prove. The scientific community has
however concluded that COVID-19 was not born from scratch in Wuhan in the fall of 2019.
Gain-of-function (GOF) research involves experimentation that aims or is expected to
(and/or, perhaps, actually does) increase the transmissibility and/or virulence of pathogens.
Such research, when conducted by responsible scientists, usually aims to improve understanding
of disease causing agents, their interaction with human hosts, and/or their potential to cause
pandemics. The ultimate objective of such research is to better inform public health and
preparedness efforts and/or development of medical countermeasures. Despite these important
potential benefits, GOF research (GOFR) can pose risks regarding biosecurity and biosafety.
GOFR is a subset of "dual-use research" -- i.e., research that can be used for both
beneficial and malevolent purposes (Miller and Selgelid 2008 ; National Research
Council 2004 ). 'Dual-use research of
concern' (DURC) refers to dual-use research for which the consequences of malevolent use would
be exceptionally severe (whereas almost any research might be considered "dual-use" broadly
conceived -- because almost any research, or just about anything for that matter, can be used
for some malevolent purpose or other). Of particular concern in the context of life science
research is that advances in biotechnology may enable development and use of a new generation
of biological weapons of mass destruction.
DURC has thus been one of the most hotly debated science policy issues during the 21st
century, with controversy surrounding a series of published experiments with potential
implications for biological weapons-making. Such studies include the genetic engineering of a
superstrain of the mousepox virus in 2001 (Jackson et al. 2001 ), the artificial
synthesis (via synthetic genomics) of a "live" polio virus from chemical components in 2002
(Cello et al. 2002 ), and the reconstruction
(via synthetic genomics) of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" virus in 2005 (Tumpey et al. 2005 ). Though
all of these studies involved legitimate aims, critics argued that they should not have been
conducted and/or published. Some argued that publishing studies like these in full detail
provided "recipes" for especially dangerous potential biological weapons agents to would-be
bioterrorists. Many who acknowledged such potential dangers, on the other hand, argued that
benefits of publication outweighed risks involved.
The most controversial dual-use life science experiments to date involved the creation of
highly pathogenic H5N1 (avian) influenza virus strains that were airborne transmissible between
ferrets, which provide the best model for influenza in humans (Herfst et al. 2012 ; Imai et al.
2012
). This research addressed an important scientific question -- i.e., Might it be possible for
H5N1 to naturally evolve into a human-to-human transmissible strain and thus result in a
pandemic? -- and (purportedly) yielded an affirmative answer. After the US National Science
Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) initially recommended that these studies should be
published in a redacted form (i.e., including key findings, while omitting detailed description
of materials and methods), it later approved publication of revised versions in full, and the
papers were published in 2012. Advocates of these studies/publications argued that they would
improve surveillance of H5N1 in nature (facilitating early identification of, and thus better
response to, the emergence of potential pandemic strains) and facilitate development of
vaccines that might be needed to protect against pandemic strains of the virus. Critics
questioned the validity of claims about such benefits and argued that the studies might
facilitate creation of biological weapons agents that could kill millions, or possibly even
billions, of people.
While the concern about the biological weapons implications of this ferret H5N1 research
pertains to dangers of dual-use life science research as traditionally conceived, many of the
objections to this research additionally addressed the danger that the pathogens created might
have escaped from laboratories, and potential consequences thereof -- and there were particular
concerns about the conditions under which this research was conducted (e.g., the safety level
of the laboratories where this research was conducted). Controversy surrounding these ferret
H5N1 experiments has thus lead to a significant shift in debate about dual-use research to
framing in terms of "gain-of-function research". Whereas the dual-use debate largely focused on
biosecurity dangers associated with potential malevolent use of research, the GOFR debate has
more explicitly focused on risks involving both biosecurity and biosafety -- the point
being that creation of especially dangerous pathogens might pose highly significant biosafety
risks that are independent of, and perhaps more feasible to measure/assess than, risks
associated with malevolent use.
Since the first high-profile DURC life science experiments were published in the early
2000s, much policy debate has surrounded questions about how DURC should be governed. Among
other things, it has been argued that increased oversight of research and/or publication of
potentially dangerous discoveries may be necessary, that codes of conduct for scientists
(explicitly addressing dual use issues) should be adopted, and/or that scientists should be
further educated about the dual use phenomenon and ethics; and relevant policies have been
implemented to varying degrees in different countries. In light of the ferret H5N1 research
controversy, furthermore, influenza researchers imposed a voluntary moratorium on GOF studies
from January 2012 to February 2013; and the US Government developed/adopted policy regarding
the funding of GOF H5N1 studies in 2013 (Department of Health and Human Services 2013 ).
Following more recent reports of biosafety mishaps involving anthrax, smallpox, and H5N1 in
government laboratories -- and burgeoning debate regarding biosafety risks of GOFR more
generally (Kaiser 2014 ) -- in 2014 the
administration of US President Barack Obama called for a "pause" on funding (and relevant
research with existing US Government funding) of GOF experiments involving influenza, SARS, and
MERS viruses in particular. This pause applies specifically to experiments that "may be
reasonably anticipated to confer attributes such that the virus would have enhanced
pathogenicity and/or transmissibility in mammals via the respiratory route" (White House
2014
). With announcement of this pause, the US Government launched a "deliberative process to
address key questions about the risks and benefits of gain-of-function studies" (White House
2014 )
to inform future funding decisions -- and NSABB was tasked with making recommendations to the
US Government on this matter. As part of this deliberative process, the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) commissioned this Ethical Analysis White Paper providing:
Review and summary of ethical literature on GOFR;
Identification and analysis of existing ethical and decision-making frameworks relevant
to (i) the evaluation of risks and benefits of GOFR, (ii) decision-making about the conduct
of GOF studies, and (iii) the development of US policy regarding GOFR (especially with
respect to funding of GOFR); and
Development of an ethical and decision-making framework that may be considered by NSABB
when analyzing information provided by GOFR risk-benefit assessment, and when crafting its
final recommendations (especially regarding GOFR funding policy decisions in
particular).
It is very sad to see how far SST has sunk in its adoption of this conspiracy theory. Lots
of smoke and no fire. The US did not develop SARS-1 or SARS-2 or MERS neither did China.
Nature did. Is there anyone here who can read sequence data? It seems not. Why did SST apply
critical thinking and logic re Syrian chemical weapons attacks and the Skripals but have now
completely lost the plot?
China has not escaped, any more than we have, this is going to be a problem for the next
couple of years as it continues to wax and wain as we relax and reimpose containment
measures.
I will be very interested to see what is in those vials, my money says they are DNA
related to his cancer research and has nothing to do with SARS-2's RNA or any other
virus.
A distinct aspect of the shift in debate from framing in terms of "dual-use research" to
"gain-of-function research" has been focus on biosafety concerns -- e.g., that a devastating
pandemic could potentially result from a laboratory accident involving an especially dangerous
pathogen created via GOFR. In light of Ron Fouchier's claim that the ferret-transmissible
strain of H5N1 he produced is "probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make"
(Enserink 2011 ) and (previous) NSABB
chair Paul Keim's claim that "I can't think of another pathogenic organism as scary as this one
[created by Fouchier's team] I don't think anthrax is scary at all compared to this" (Enserink
2011
), for example, some critics argued that the study in question should have been, and/or that
future similar research should be, conducted in laboratories with the highest bio-containment
level -- i.e., biosafety level 4 (BSL-4), as opposed to BSL-3 ("enhanced") in which this
research was done (Swazo 2013 ). Fouchier has, in
response, pointed out that his research received necessary institutional biosafety
review/approval; and others have argued that his research (given employment of safety measures
beyond ordinary BSL-3, including vaccination of lab workers against H5N1) in effect involved
safety equivalent to BSL-4 (Roos 2012 ). Anthony Fauci
(Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) has concluded that
"the scientists who triggered this debate [including Fouchier] have conducted their research
properly and under the safest and most secure conditions" (Fauci 2012 , p. 1).
It's called getting out ahead of the narrative. There's similar talk coming out the US,
including the notion of reneging on debt. If it ever comes to that, it would amount to a
fatal own-goal.
China has been very careful over decades to make sure FDI in China matches their foreign
holdings, especially of FDI originating in the US vs their holdings of USTs. Even if
declaring China's USTs null & void didn't completely crash the global dollar system,
China would retaliate by immediately nationalizing all American owned assets in the country.
China gets the factories & R & D centres, along with their IP, the US gets its
worthless paper back.
I'd take China's side of that trade every time, and I bet Ford, GM, IBM etc wouldn't be
thrilled either.
The only way to reverse that trade is war, but I think we'd hear a lot about what a "Great
Deal!" it was for the US instead.
And this video series: Peter Forster, a geneticist at the University of #Cambridge, has
identified three distinct strains of COVID-19. Forster and his team traced the origins of the
epidemic by analyzing 160 genomes from human patients and found that the strain in #Wuhan
mutated from an earlier version.
@obwandiyag
You're probably right, but you fail to realize that there has been a great deal of
collaboration between virologists from the US, China, and other countries on research into
genetically modifying and weaponizing coronaviruses. So while "the usual suspects" are
considered such for very good reasons, it is still possible the virus escaped from a Chinese
lab. (And even if it did, it could well have been a US-manufactured virus. See Francis
Boyle.)
The timeline would, however, suggest Ft. Detrick as the initial source of the outbreak at
the end of last summer. Whether by accident or design.
And I agree with you in abhorring the "blacks bad" brigade on this website, but the site
is much more than that. To Mr Unz's credit, he has picked up some very fine writers from the
dissident far left who were recently kicked off the political-correctness pseudo-left
bandwagon: CJ Hopkins, Linh Dinh, Gilad Atzmon, Michael Hudson, Mike Whitney and others. They
are the main reason I visit this site.
Well A criminal investigation is an interesting suggestion, but we'd have to first
investigate why biological weapons labs are allowed to exist at all There are National
and International laws against the use of biological weapons, but NONE of these laws are
being enforced by civilian populations or legal "BAR" associations. Why is that?
The suggestion that the FBI be called to investigate the COVID-19 "pandemic", would be
about as functional as the 9/11 Commission's investigation of why building 7 collapsed into
it's own footprint in less than 10 seconds Jus' sayin'
"... According to the report, the bat coronavirus research was aimed at preventing the next SARS-like pandemic "by anticipating how it might emerge," however according to the report "even in 2015, other scientists questioned whether Shi's team was taking unnecessary risks ." ..."
"... WaPo is careful to note that ' many ' have said there's no evidence that COVID-19 was engineered, and that concensus is that it came from animals, "that is not the same as saying it didn't come from a lab, which spent years testing bat coronaviruses in animals ," according to Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at UC Berkeley. ..."
"... "The idea that is was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there's almost nothing on the other side," said one WaPo source. ..."
"... Meanwhile, the CCP has put a complete lockdown on information related to the origins of the virus - refusing to provide US experts with samples collected from the earliest cases, and quickly shutting down the Shanghai lab which published COVID-19's genome on January 11th for "rectification." ..."
US State Department Cables Warned Of Potential 'SARS-Like Pandemic' After Visiting Wuhan
Lab Experimenting With Bat Coronavirus by Tyler Durden Tue, 04/14/2020 - 09:50 The US
State Department received two cables from US Embassy officials in 2018 warning of inadequate
safety at a Wuhan, China biolab conducting 'risky studies' on bat coronaviruses
, according to the
Washington Post , which notes that the cables have " fueled discussions inside the U.S.
government about whether this or another Wuhan lab was the source of the virus ."
A US delegation led by Jamison Fouss, the consul general in Wuhan, and Rick Switzer, the
embassy's counselor of environment, science, technology and health took the unusual step of
repeatedly visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) - which had become China's first
laboratory to achieve the highest level of international bioresearch safety (BSL-4) in 2015.
The last of the visits, which occurred on March 27, 2018, was documented on
WIV's website and subsequently scrubbed (
archive ) .
US officials were so concerned by what they saw that they warned of a potential pandemic
stemming from the lab's work on bat coronaviruses .
What the U.S. officials learned during their visits concerned them so much that they
dispatched two diplomatic cables categorized as Sensitive But Unclassified back to
Washington. The cables warned about safety and management weaknesses at the WIV lab and
proposed more attention and help . The first cable, which I obtained, also warns that the
lab's work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of
a new SARS-like pandemic . -
Washington Post
"During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a
serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely
operate this high-containment laboratory ," reads a January, 2018 cable drafted by two
officials from the embassy's environment, science and health sections who met with scientists
from the WIV.
Interestingly, the Chinese researchers were receiving assistance from the Galveston National
Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other U.S. organizations, however the
Chinese had requested additional help. Consequently, the cables warned that the US should give
the WIV additional support because of how dangerous the research on bat coronaviruses was .
As the cable noted, the U.S. visitors met with
Shi Zhengli , the head of the research project, who had been publishing studies related
to bat coronaviruses
for many years . In November 2017, just before the U.S. officials' visit, Shi's team had
published
research showing that horseshoe bats they had collected from a cave in Yunnan province
were very likely from the same bat population that spawned the SARS coronavirus in 2003.
"Most importantly," the cable warns, " the researchers also showed that various SARS-like
coronaviruses can interact with ACE2, the human receptor identified for SARS-coronavirus . This
finding strongly suggests that SARS-like coronaviruses from bats can be transmitted to humans
to cause SARS-like diseases . From a public health perspective, this makes the continued
surveillance of SARS-like coronaviruses in bats and study of the animal-human interface
critical to future emerging coronavirus outbreak prediction and prevention."
According to the report, the bat coronavirus research was aimed at preventing the next
SARS-like pandemic "by anticipating how it might emerge," however according to the report "even
in 2015, other
scientists questioned whether Shi's team was taking unnecessary risks ."
In October 2014, the U.S. government had imposed a
moratorium on funding of any research that makes a virus more deadly or contagious, known
as "gain-of-function" experiments.
WaPo is careful to note that ' many
' have said there's no evidence that COVID-19 was engineered, and that concensus is that it
came from animals, "that is not the same as saying it didn't come from a lab, which spent years
testing bat coronaviruses in animals ," according to Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at UC
Berkeley.
"The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat
to public health that came from this lab's research, if it was not being adequately conducted
and protected," he said.
Meanwhile, similar concerns remain about the nearby Wuhan Center for Disease Control and
Prevention Lab - a level 2 biosecurity facility, while the Chinese government refuses to say
whether either lab was involved .
Notably, the Wuhan CDC is located roughly 900 feet from the wet market which accounted for
roughly half of the new COVID-19 cases late last year.
That said, the report notes that the wet market didn't sell bats - and the first known
patient had no known connection to the market. That said, there's nothing to say that an
employee from the Chinese CDC didn't accidentally infect themselves and go shopping for meat
during the virus's well known asymptomatic incubation period .
According to WaPo , citing sources familiar with the cables, the US embassy wanted to sound
an alarm about the grave safety concerns at the WIV lab, "especially regarding its work with
bat coronaviruses ."
"The cable was a warning shot," said one US official. "They were begging people to pay
attention to what was going on."
Next, WaPo moves on to the 'blame the Trump admin' phase of the report, noting that "no
extra assistance to the labs was provided by the US government in response to the cables" which
"began to circulate again inside the administration over the past two months as officials
debated whether the lab could be the origin of the pandemic and what the implications would be
for the U.S. pandemic response and relations with China."
Inside the Trump administration, many national security officials have long suspected
either the WIV or the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab was the source of
the novel coronavirus outbreak .
According to the New York Times, the intelligence community has provided no evidence to
confirm this. But one senior administration official told me that the cables provide one more
piece of evidence to support the possibility that the pandemic is the result of a lab
accident in Wuhan .
Of note, the Obama administration 'paused' funding to the WIV, which was lifted a year into
Trump's presidency according to the National Review
.
"The idea that is was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it
leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the
lab is packed with bullet points and there's almost nothing on the other side," said one WaPo
source.
Meanwhile, the CCP has put a complete lockdown on information related to the origins of the
virus - refusing to provide US experts with samples collected from the earliest cases, and
quickly shutting down the Shanghai lab which published COVID-19's genome on January 11th for
"rectification."
As WaPo notes, "Several of the doctors and journalists who
reported on the spread early on have disappeared."
On Feb. 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a new
biosecurity law to be accelerated. On Wednesday,
CNN reported the Chinese government has placed severe restrictions requiring approval
before any research institution publishes anything on the origin of the novel
coronavirus.
And now - considering the source of the report, the bat's out of the bag and the official
narrative has been set - which we were called conspiracy theorists for positing three months
ago.
His warning coincided with the launch of a Senate probe into the origins of and response to
the coronavirus pandemic. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman
Ron Johnson said that the investigation would ask difficult questions about why the United States
was not properly prepared to handle the health crisis. The inquiry will also put the World Health
Organization (WHO) and China under the microscope.
"Where did this all start from? Was this transferred animal to human? Was this from a lab
in China? Might have been the best of intentions trying to come up with the different cures,
with the different therapies for the coronavirus in general," Johnson said on Monday.
"We need to know what role [the] WHO might have had in trying to cover this thing up."
Accusations that China is at least partially responsible for the pandemic also came from the
State Department. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in an interview that Beijing failed to
inform the world about Covid-19, which purportedly originated in Wuhan, China, in a "timely
fashion." He said that the US government was focused on overcoming the crisis but that
there will later be "time for recriminations."
The United States and China have exchanged incendiary accusations over the virus, with
officials from both countries alleging cover-ups and other nefarious activities.
At home, Democrats have accused the Trump administration of downplaying the seriousness of
the virus while there was still time to prepare. Many Americans have instead placed their faith
in Dr Anthony Fauci, who is spearheading the country's response to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Why not build them in the USA? Several nations are demanding the US dismantle these labs
and take them home
That issue has already been discussed here for some time. Following a decision years ago
to stop biowarfare research by US labs a few years ago, the military top brass (there are so
many of those "initials" establishments I forgot which) decided to do what they normally do,
go underground and offshore to avoid the prying eyes of possible audits by zealous officials
(there are a few, thankfully) or potential Snowdens who go rogue and spill the beans. Same
reason why Guantanamo was set up – to avoid supervision by legitimate authority.
In addition, the top brass decided to sub-contract much research piece-meal to different
research institutions (mostly universities) at home and abroad, each one given only a
discrete, innocuous, field for research in such manner that only the directing mind knew the
final objective, like putting the individual pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.
That is the reason why the "Defence" establishment has dished out many research grants to
heaps of biological studies (mind you, for "defensive" purposes and "identify threats") even
to Chinese ones!
Also note that they were also busy at collecting DNAs from all over, particularly through
the secret labs (the locals are not allowed to have a peek) surrounding Russia. Even Putin
himself had highlighted that "strange curiosity about the Russian DNA research".
Sorry, guys, but having worked in molecular biology and cell signaling for 30+ years I must
say that I do not believe in artificial construction of this virus. Not because the US or
Israeli military would have any scruples – they won't, no crime is too vile for them.
Simply because we don't know enough to improve on coronavirus, or any virus or bacteria, for
that matter, that we can to make it more infectious or more pathogenic.
I can believe that some bioweapons lab isolated this virus from nature and spread it, but
I cannot believe that it purposely made it. We just don't know enough for that.
@AnonFromTN
Gain of function of virus mutations and modifications is being conducted. What weapon labs do
we do not know. But clearly the civilian research studies how the modified and new viruses
have different transmission paths, different virulence on animals and human cells cultures.
While I may agree with you that making viruses from scratch as designed by computer to the
specified properties of the virus may not yet be possible, however using the existing animal
and human viruses as a launching pad and then testing, even if by trial and error, of its
properties, and selecting the desired ones is possible. Humans are very ingenious, they do
not need to understand how do things work but empirically they can figure the cause and
effect. Edison did that for countless trials on light bulb filaments and people invented
inoculation long before there was a germ theory or knowledge of the immune system.
"The first category, which he called "gain of function research of concern," includes the
generation of viruses with properties that do not exist in nature. The now famous example he
gave is the production of H5N1 influenza A viruses that are airborne-transmissible among
ferrets, compared to the non-airborne transmissible wild type. "
"The second category deals with the generation of viruses that may be more pathogenic
and/or transmissible than the wild type viruses but are still comparable to or less
problematic than those existing in nature."
" Finally, the third category, which is somewhere in between the two first categories,
includes the generation of highly pathogenic and/or transmissible viruses in animal models
that nevertheless do not appear to be a major public health concern."
"In Session 8 of the symposium, Dr. Ralph Baric, University of North Carolina and a member
of the symposium planning committee, explained that GoF experiments for CoV research
encompass a very diverse set of experiments that are critical to the development of
broad-based vaccines and therapeutics."
Note: Baric was chief author of now famous 2015 paper coauthored with Zhengli-Li Shi of
Wuhan (who is getting l0ts of media exposure recently)
"Baric listed experiments important for the identification of determinants of pathogenesis
and virulence, defined the virus-host interaction networks, and described the alleles
responsible for susceptibility and the host response patterns that drive a pathogenic or
protective responses."
"In most instances, GoF experiments looking at receptor interactions with SARS-CoV and
MERS-CoV showed that in in vitro or in vivo models with a civet strain gain human ACE2
receptors but also lose the civet ACE2 receptor. "
Simply because we don't know enough to improve on coronavirus
The Nature article discarding an engineered virus did not raise such objection, while it
would have clearly much better made the case than the far-fetched, long-winded reasons the
authors came up with.
They claim that the virus could not have been engineered, not because it is
impossible, but because its structure is "counter-intuitive", as if they were able to read
the minds of bio-weapon designers.
Their article screams damage control. They may be involved in bio-warfare and know secrets
you don't, while you are an honest biologist doing useful work that actually benefits
humankind.
I think you are wrong.
@Iris My
guess is, they (or those they whitewash) isolated a number of viruses, selected the most
promising one, and unleashed it at China. Being government employees, they are as
shortsighted as the rest of the government and could not see two moves ahead. Now we have
what we have. Not because they were super-creative, but because they were super-stupid.
@Anonymous
We have about as much chance of finding 'patient zero' as finding out, say, who Lee Harvey
Oswald really was, or when and where Bin Laden actually died (if he did).
Gilad Atzmon brought up an interesting possibility in his article: lab mice have escaped
research facilities and wild rodents making nests with research waste. Seeing that many
nations are reasearching viruses, it would be so easy for a series of little honest mistakes
by lab workers and janitors to wind up freeing one critter or its waste into a dumpster
outside the facility. A little bad luck later, and something awful is spreading amongst human
beings.
I was always fearful of a particular scenario on this subject: a "12 Monkeys" type
situation in which an ecological/population control zealot employee at a lab intentionally
releases some contagion he hopes lowers the world population, and (like in the movie) made a
few stops around the world to evenly spread it so countries didnt have much advance warning.
The movies depiction of that was one of those, "Oh no, I hope some nut doesn't see this movie
and get some evil ideas" moment for me when I saw that flick 25 years ago.
@A123
'However, the other significant possibility is mishandling of a non-weaponized sample by
staff at the Wuhan Bioweapon Laboratory.'
That has always been my leading theory. Especially as there is a 2015 research paper
(below) discussing genetic modification of coronaviruses with authors from UNC (US) and Wuhan
Virology Institute. There are legitimate reasons to investigate coronaviruses. But, even in
that paper there is a statement that the particular variant they were investigating had
dangerous properties, and posed a risk that may not justify the research.
A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human
emergence
Vineet D Menachery1, Boyd L Yount Jr1, Kari Debbink1,2, Sudhakar Agnihothram3, Lisa E
Gralinski1, Jessica A Plante1, Rachel L Graham1, Trevor Scobey1, Xing-Yi Ge4, Eric F
Donaldson1, Scott H Randell5,6, Antonio Lanzavecchia7, Wayne A Marasco8,9, Zhengli-Li Shi4
& Ralph S Baric1,2
1Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, USA. 2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. 3National Center for Toxicological
Research, Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, Arkansas, USA. 4Key Laboratory of Special
Pathogens and Biosafety, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan,
China. 5Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. 6Cystic Fibrosis Center, Marsico Lung Institute,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. 7Institute for
Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona Institute of Microbiology, Zurich, Switzerland.
8Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical
School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 9Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts, USA. Correspondence should be addressed to R.S.B. ([email protected]) or
V.D.M. ([email protected]).
Personal anecdote: my wife and I (both past 65) had a 'weird' cold a couple of weeks
before all Hell broke loose in the US. Only symptoms, slight fever and feeling run-down, with
a lot of sleeping (my wife slept about 46 out of 48 hours). Felt run-down for a week or two
afterward. Had never had a cold like that. Personally, I have never had the 'flu'.
Back in 2015 USA
Today published extensive research relating to the ongoing safety issues in biological
laboratories in America and elsewhere. "Vials of bioterror bacteria have gone missing. Lab mice
infected with deadly viruses have escaped, and wild rodents have been found making nests with
research waste. Cattle infected in a university's vaccine experiments were repeatedly sent to
slaughter and their meat sold for human consumption. Gear meant to protect lab workers from
lethal viruses such as Ebola and bird flu has failed, repeatedly." The American outlet revealed
that "hundreds of lab mistakes, safety violations and near-miss incidents have occurred in
biological laboratories coast to coast in recent years, putting scientists, their colleagues
and sometimes even the public at risk." Naturally, safety failures in biological laboratories
aren't just an American problem. "A small, deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome
in China in 2004 was traced to lab workers at the National Institute of Virology in Beijing. In
2007, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle in England that required herds to be
slaughtered was blamed on leaking drainage pipes at a nearby research complex."
In 2014 the US National Institute of Health removed its funding of gain-of-function (GOF)
experiments involving the influenza, SARS, and MERS viruses. Gain-of-function involves
activating mutations to change the gene product to enhance its effect or so that its normal
actions are superseded by a different and abnormal function. Apparently, the National Institute
of Health's moratorium ended on Dec.
19, 2017 when the US announced that it would resume funding American gain-of-function
experiments involving these viruses. This means that since 2017 some American laboratories have
been experimenting with Corona viruses; creating mutants with the financial support of the
government.
Treating the Corona virus outbreak as a crime ought to include a visit by the FBI to the
office of the National Institute of Health and a careful review of all the files related to
American laboratories conducting GOF experiments with Coronavirus. This investigative procedure
must be exercised in every region and country in the world that has engaged in GOF
experiments.
As soon as the Corona virus became the new disaster, Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military
intelligence officer, was quick to point to
China's biowarfare program as a possible originator of the virus.
ORDER IT NOW
By now, with the exception of President Trump and his Pompeo character, not many are
convinced that Covid-19 is a Chinese Virus (as Trump refers to it when he wants to annoy
progressives). A criminal investigation would have to examine Chinese as well as Russian,
British, French, German, etc. laboratories and their safety records. It should also verify
whether Dany Shoham had any evidence for his assertion regarding China or whether he was
attempting to divert attention from another possible suspect in this Corona affair.
Israel, with its extensive biological warfare laboratories and WMD facilities must also be
subject to thorough scrutiny.
During his first term as Israel's leader, Mr Netanyahu authorised a risky attempt to
assassinate the Palestinian rising star and Hamas leader, Mr. Khaled Meshaal in the Jordanian
capital, Amman. Five Mossad agents, posing as Canadian tourists, were sent to Amman. They
ambushed Mr Meshaal on a street corner and sprayed poison into his left ear and expected him to
die within 48 hours.
But their plan went wrong. One of Meshaal's bodyguards chased the two Mossad agents who had
carried out the operation and, with the help of a passing Palestinian Liberation Army officer,
managed to capture them.
Instead of escaping over the border as they had planned, the rest of the Mossad team was
trapped in the Israeli embassy in Amman. Mr Netanyahu was left with no option other than to
negotiate with King Hussein of Jordan and plead for his assassins' return. The king, who was
dying of cancer, drove a hard bargain. Israel had to supply immediately the antidote to the
poison that was killing Mr Meshaal. Netanyahu also had to agree to release nine Jordanians and
sixty-one Palestinian prisoners amongst them Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas
and at the time, Israel's most hated foe.
But here is the astonishing piece of this saga. The poison used by Israel is a slow-acting
but lethal poison that gradually shuts down the brain's respiratory centre, leading to death.
The doctor that revived Meshaal described his condition as respiratory oxygen deficiency. To
date, it is not clear what type of agent was used by the Mossad against Meshaal, but a few
facts are known. Israel employed a biological/chemical agent with a respiratory effect. Israel
possessed the antidote to its lethal agent. Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli PM, authorised the
botched assassination and the usage of a biological/chemical weapon.
Israel is not a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention
. It is generally assumed that the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona develops vaccines and
antidotes for chemical and biological warfare. In 2012 Haaretz wrote of the Ness Ziona laboratory that it's an
"institution that very rarely finds itself in the news, and when it does, it's usually because
of some controversy or other. According to Israeli sources, the institute develops
pharmaceuticals, vaccinations, treatments and antibodies to protect Israelis from chemical
(gas) or biological weapons. That's along with its civilian research projects." Haaretz
continues, "according to foreign reports, it also develops chemical and biological weapons. One
of these reports said institute scientists had developed the poison that was meant to have
eliminated Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in the botched Mossad attack against him in
Amman in 1997."
Any detectives who examine the Ness Ziona Lab will have to figure out how the Israeli
institute is already so advanced in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine. According to the
Israeli press, a novel
corona virus vaccine is already being tested at the institute.
Ness Ziona is not alone at the front of the Corona vaccine race. Migal, another Israeli
company, announced at the end of February that it was
almost ready with a vaccine. Detectives should ascertain whether Migal, like other
laboratories around the world, is a safe environment and that it wasn't in the Galilee
laboratory that a tiny but vicious virus escaped its guardians.
Foreign
Policy Magazine revealed three weeks ago that the Corona virus' early appearance in Iran
that sickened government and military leaders caused some Iranian officials to believe that the
Coronavirus was part of an 'American-Zionist biofare military campaign' against their republic
and its leaders.
The US has been using bioweapons on China since 1951 and on Cuba since the 70s. The effect
has been to make both countries' public health systems better than America's, as their life
expectancy advantage demonstrates.
Naturally, China would like to stop the attacks and, last year, an opportunity presented
itself.
There are Chinese researchers in every biolab in the USA and last Fall some noticed a
novel Coronavirus epidemic, caused by what we now know as Type A Covid-19, and reported it to
the CCDC in Beijing. The CCDC asked for DNA profiles and tissue samples.
The DNA profiles were easy to send, but the FBI was on the case and caught at least two
Chinese smuggling samples out, but two others escaped the FBI's airport dragnet. I suspect
that, since the plot would have taken at least a year to hatch, a patriotic Chinese in the
chain of custody learned how the US planned to use it as a weapon.
The CCDC alerted its national network of 70,000 pathogen reporters and, when the fake US
Army team brought the more-deadly Type B to Wuhan, Beijing sprung the trap. A reader, Valerie
Van Kerckhove, an Industrial engineer in biochemistry, experienced in pharmacovigilance and
molecular biology, alerted me:
"I actually find the response by the Chinese government to be extremely interesting. It
seems like it's overblowing the matter on purpose. Considering the low number of cases
(compared to China's population) and low death rates, it feels like the Chinese government is
overblowing fears on purpose, with maps filled with dark areas and shutting down everything
everywhere (and this is during China's most important holiday season).I suspect it's
practicing for when a Really serious disease breaks out, the sort with people dying like
flies. So I find all this fuss quite interesting. We've been warned about a potential
superbug outbreak for years, and now we can see how the response will look like. No doubt the
Chinese government is busy taking notes on what it could have done better."
From the POV of excess deaths, Covid-19 is just a blip, but China really went to town on it
and staged the greatest civil defense drill in human history and talked it up so much that it
became a global topic of conversation and remains so.
So the civil defense drill worked, they have the lowest death rate in the world, they have
identified the three Covid strains, their sequence and locations of appearance, and they're
starting to put the heat on the US to fess up to a coverup... or else China will do it for
them.
I suspect we're watching an American PR stunt go horribly wrong. Donald Trump, if he even
knew about it, should have heeded his own words, "People say you don't like China. No, I love
them. But their leaders are much smarter than our leaders. And we can't sustain ourselves
with that. It's like, take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your
high school football team."
When you step back from the origins of the disease and just look at how CV-19 propagates it's
difficult to tell just how bad things are vs how they would have been without the panic. Then
I wonder if there is actually a parallel control population somewhere. How about the homeless
population? In the US it's huge, has poor hygiene, nutrition, medical care, and lives outside
the official economy. No lock-down there. In short it's an invisible world of untouchables.
If the virus is anything like as nasty as some tout it to be one would expect it to rip
through that population like a buzz saw. So anyone know?
It seems that a non discriminating rapidly disseminating viral illness is a rather poor
choice for a bio-weapon. The second video with the grave and somber tone of the announcer
seems propagandistic with the coda of suggesting suing China.Accounts of the 1918 flu
epidemic are filled with all kinds of similar finger pointing. I'm not a fan of conspiracy
based thinking and I'm already reading all kinds of nutty stuff on FB and other social media
platforms. Viruses are truly a bane and they're so slippery they're almost magical in the way
they end up everywhere. It seems to me that it's better to focus on preventive and curative
measures, medical, social, and economic, rather than engage in futile "analysis" trying to
find a human perpetrator. Nature engages in all manner of nasty perpetrations on humanity all
by itself thanks to its endless bag of tricks with viruses, bacteria, protozoans, and even
nasty bits of work like prions. As for the human (political) fumbling in China (and
everywhere else), it's standard fare when societies are caught with their pants down and
leadership gets singled out in retrospect for blame. It's hard to control events when events
are in control.
I wouldn't use the uneven spread in China as evidence that they did a Kamikaze attack on us
(another inappropriate cultural metaphor). The spread in the U.S. was also extremely uneven.
The first cases appeared on the West Coast but Washington / CA have < 10% of our cases
while NY/NJ still have over 50%.
In a Kamikaze attack you only risk one pilot, China risked more than that including their
global reputation. Doing so would mean that their entire strategy hinged on our incompetence
as they gave us a good solid month to respond. As cynical as I am I wouldn't touch that bet.
China notified WHO on 12/31 and by 1/24 human to human transmission, w/5,000 probable cases,
WHO rated global outbreak HIGH and recommended temperature screening. By then China put Wuhan
in full lockdown, if that is not showing your cards then what is?
Had we reacted as aggressively as Japan/S.Korea w/a 14 day isolation and contact tracing
screening for all arrivals from infected countries and temperature screening on everyone else
in Feb. then we would be laughing at them. Trump's selective travel ban was a good start but
insufficient. Instead we held Mardis Gras.
I cannot think of a single good reason why we did not start aggressive containment
measures after 1/24. Did I sound the alarm? No. I just read the WHO situation reports
recently but I would hope that there is some arm of the U.S. govt that does so. The first
three are sufficient. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
Well, well, what a surprise. The Communist Party of China might have obfuscated,
dissimulated, and unthinkably, lied about what they knew and when they knew it about
CoVID-19? This included gagging a world level expert in emerging diseases. This also might
include the nasty case of another Chinese doctor, alarmed at what he suspected was happening
who tried to get out the word, then subsequently disappeared, and later was reported to be
dead.
But, of course, the NIH (yes, that National Institute of Health) was funding research at
the two Chinese facilities mentioned in this article, undoubtedly because China, despite all
their current propaganda, is the point of origin of dangerous flus/respiratory diseases. But
a Rutgers authority suspects that, instead of working at the maximally-secure level of 4,
this bat research was being conducted at level 2, far less safe for preventing accidental
releases. Given the widely-known Chinese tendency to cut corners, and perpetrate frauds, and
then to lie about everything, one wonders where the oversight from the NIH went, no?
This link is from the Daily Mail, which unfortunately is visually cluttered, and infested
with pop-up ads. Just x out the ads, and soldier on; their sourcing is often very good, and
they don't pull punches. Read it all the way through. If the Chinese indeed knew the genetic
sequencing for the virus by early January, only to withhold this information vital to the
development of screening tests, and potential vaccines from other nations and
research/pharmaceutical organizations, well, things are going to get bad for them.
And just for shits & giggles, here is another link to something that might prove
eye-opening. This concerns a section of an address to a meeting of this nation's governors by
SoS Pompeo. I don't care much for Pompeo, but his having been previously head of the CIA, and
thus having been in a position to learn of this information, makes it of substantially more
interest.
This post has been updated to include the referenced CCP list/grading of the governors. It
covers only a bit more than 30 out of 50. Our own Gov. Murphy is not on the list. The speech
does go into some of the possible approaches to the state governments, and I have to say
these are classic espionage penetration/recruiting techniques. Hmm. It has become crystal
clear that similar activities with US universities and technological entities have led to
massive infiltratration by Chinese wolves in sheep's clothing, and for analagous reasons;
i.e., greed for full price tuition, and pecuniary gain for corporations having overridden
prudence about security of high-level intellectual content and technological/engineering
processes. Ya know, maybe if the FBI & the CIA were more interested in
counterintelligence than in subverting the President and the national election that put him
there, we might be better off. Just a crazy idea, I know.
I am sure that President Putin is taking all of this in as he considers how he should
structure his dealings with the Chinese going forward. After all, Russia shares a long
border, and increasing ties with these less than trustworthy "partners". But here in the USA
(and with our yapping poodles in Europe) it was Russia this, Russia that, slap some sanctions
on them, and here we are today with positive relations again with Russia difficult to see.
Stupid beyond comprehension, and this idiocy has driven Russia and China closer, something
that may not have happened were it not for listening to NeoCons in the case of Russia, and
NeoLiberals in the case of China.
Chinese Embassy Blasts "Hasty, Reckless" Western Claims That Virus Originated In
Wuhan by Tyler
Durden Mon, 04/13/2020 - 10:25 In a simply stunning piece of propaganda following a weekend
of extremely high level officials across the world's (non-Chinese-rotation) nation, the Chinese
Embassy in the UK has unleashed a statement of pure farce proclaiming there is no evidence
that the virus originated in Wuhan... let alone China.
Read on if you dare... (emphasis ours)
Last week, The Mail on Sunday carried an article propagating a groundless theory that
links the origin of Covid-19 to a lab in Wuhan.
The article also discredits China's effective efforts in combating Covid-19 and promoting
international co-operation.
There has been no scientific or medical conclusion yet on the origin of Covid-19, as
relevant tracing work is still under way.
The World Health Organisation has made repeated statements that what the world is
experiencing now is a global phenomenon, the source is undetermined, the focus should be on
containment and any stigmatising language referring to certain places must be avoided.
The name Covid-19 was chosen by the WHO for the purpose of making no connections between
the virus and certain places or countries.
The origin of a virus is a complicated, scientific issue . It should be left to scientists
and doctors to find out through studies and research.
Hasty and reckless allegations, such as naming China as the origin in an attempt to shift
the blame, before any scientific conclusion is reached, is totally irresponsible and will
definitely do harm to international co-operation at this critical time.
China and the UK exchanged views seriously on the origin of the virus and reached
consensus.
In his telephone conversation with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, State Councillor and
Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that 'alarmingly, some people are attempting to
politicise the epidemic, label the virus and stigmatise China.
'Such moves are extremely harmful to international co-operation and solidarity , and will
only disrupt the joint efforts of various parties to tackle the virus.
'It is believed that the world, including the UK, will respond in an objective and fair
manner and reject such narrow-minded actions'.
Mr Raab expressed the UK's firm opposition to politicising the outbreak and fully agrees
with China that the source of the virus is a scientific issue that requires professional and
science-based assessment.
Covid-19 is a global challenge. The right thing to do for every responsible stakeholder,
including the media, is to work together and leave no place for rumours or prejudice.
" China was not truthful with the world at the outset of this. Had they been more truthful
with the world, which would have enabled them to be more truthful with themselves, they might
have actually been able to contain this entirely." Gottlieb noted.
"There is some growing evidence to suggest that, as late as January 20th, they were still
saying that there was no human-to-human transmission, and the WHO was validating those claims
on January 14th, sort of enabling the obfuscation from China." he added.
"... the incorrect information was propagated right from the beginning because you know
when the first cases came out, that were identified I think on December 31st in China and we
became aware of this, they said this was just animal to human period."
"We don't know what's there, but the fact that the Communist Party is covering this up
should trouble us deeply," China affairs columnist Gordon Chang said.
But, apart from that, why wouldn't we trust China?
Some studies earlier suggested that the new coronavirus had been caused by bats, and
although this theory has not been confirmed, Israeli media has suggested that that the recent
mysterious deaths of the nocturnal creatures could have come as a punishment for the onset of
global disease or as a sign of something even more dreadful. Swarms of dead bats with no
physical signs of trauma were spotted across Israel, raising questions and fears about the
end-of-days omen.
The photos of the dead creatures lying in Gan Leumi Park in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan
were first
shared by Adi Moskowitz on Facebook, who asked for an explanation to the mysterious
phenomenon. Similar photos and videos were published by some other users in neighbouring
cities, according to Breaking Israel News, which was suspicious of the death plague among bats
and even linked it to a biblical prophecy about the end of humanity as it is.
Durvasa says: March
14, 2020 at 8:02 pm The editors note has appeared in the Nature News article after the
above posted date.
Editors' note, March 2020: We are aware that this story is being used as the basis for
unverified theories that the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19 was engineered. There is no
evidence that this is true; scientists believe that an animal is the most likely source of
the coronavirus.
Cross‐species transmission of the newly identified coronavirus 2019‐nCoV
Wei Ji
Wei Wang
Xiaofang Zhao
Junjie Zai
Xingguang Li
First published: 22 January 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25682
Citations: 28
wendy davis
on Sun, 04/12/2020 - 4:34pm 'Documentary Explores the Origins of the CCP Virus' by Alex
Christoforo, April 11, 2020 ,
theduran.com
He opens his quasi-narration with:
As the documentary shows, the CCP's delay in sharing information about the virus with
other countries was not mere oversight.
While The Epoch Times began publishing reports of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus
on Jan. 2, most outlets had yet to pick up on the story because of the CCP's lockdown on
information. Three months later, over 200 countries and territories have been infected and
the CCP virus has caused over 85,000 deaths infecting at least 1.4 million, but information
is murkier than ever.
"We've pretty much heard every rumor under the sun. We've heard every theory, every crazy
rumor, we've heard all these different narratives," said Joshua Philipp, award-winning
investigative reporter and host of the show "Crossroads."
The rumors aren't by accident: The CCP has been actively engaging in a disinformation
campaign, and media outlets around the world have parroted the propaganda. As a result,
entire nations have been operating under false information as they try to battle the pandemic
within their borders.
Philipp and his colleages at The Epoch Times and NTD Television thought it their
responsibility to sift through all the information available, verify it, and put it into one
place. The result is the just-premiered documentary "Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan
Coronavirus," which is available to watch online. Less than two days after its premiere, the
documentary has around 1.6 million views across different platforms.'
he then adds a boatload of additional narration ahead of the 56 min 'documentary'.
i dunno if you've ever seen the Epoch Times ads on youtube, but their 'blockbusters' are
akin to bellingcat's online-sourced 'journalism'. i lasted about 7 minutes; you decide.
Anti-China Cult Gets U.S. Government Money - Runs Large Pro-Trump Ad Campaign
Falun Gong is a cult which claims to have millions of followers. It was founded in China by
Li Hongzhi who thinks of himself as a higher being. Falun Gong mixes some Taoism and Buddhism
with nutty ideas, conservative politics and strong anti-communism:
...
In 1999 the cult attempted to gain political power in China. The government shut it down for
pushing its followers to not use medical therapies. Li Hongzhi and some of his followers
moved to the United States. As the cult is strongly anti-communist the U.S. government used
it to put pressure on China. Some institutions and companies related to Falun Gong are openly
funded with U.S. government money.
The main media outlet of the Falun Gong organization is the Epoch Times. NBC reports of
its astonishing growth as a pro-Trump social media force:
By the numbers, there is no bigger advocate of President Donald Trump on Facebook than The
Epoch Times.
...
The NBC report says it is not clear where the "web and media" money that gets invested in
pro-Trump advertisement actually comes from.
Here is a hunch. What NBC does not mention is that Falun Gong is a U.S. anti-China asset.
The Bush/Cheney administration used the Falun Gong to intentionally embarrass China's then
President Hu Jintao when he visited Washington:
...
A footnote confirms that the Falun Gong companies received part of that money through the
BBG:
Of the FY2009 Internet Freedom funding, the BBG received $1.5 Million. The BBG promptly
used to contract with DIT to expand its Freegate software operations for some $600,000 and
with UltraReach for $840,000.
DIT or Dynamic Internet Technology is run by one Bill Xia. In a 2006 Businessweek portrait
he confirms that he is a Falun Gong member. The DIT website lists only four customers: the
Falun Gong's Epoch Times, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and the New York and Hong Kong
based propaganda group Human Rights in China (HRIC). VOA and RFA are financed by the
USAGM/BBG. HRIC is financed by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, the Soros Open
Society Institute and similar organizations.
...
It might well be that the money Falun Gong generates through such propaganda endeavors is
channeled through its media empire into pro-Trump advertisement.
But the significant support U.S. government agencies give to Falun Gong, combined with the
virulent anti-China policies of the Trump administration, lets one assume that there are also
official dark money sources, think CIA, that support the Falun Gong's anti-China efforts.
Money is fungible. A U.S. government financed organization should not invest it in
partisan U.S. politics. Some enterprising Democratic candidates could up their game by taking
a deeper look into this issue.
interested in this.
'Documentary Explores the Origins of the CCP Virus' by Alex Christoforo, April 11,
2020 , theduran.com
He opens his quasi-narration with:
As the documentary shows, the CCP's delay in sharing information about the virus with
other countries was not mere oversight.
While The Epoch Times began publishing reports of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)
virus on Jan. 2, most outlets had yet to pick up on the story because of the CCP's
lockdown on information. Three months later, over 200 countries and territories have been
infected and the CCP virus has caused over 85,000 deaths infecting at least 1.4 million,
but information is murkier than ever.
"We've pretty much heard every rumor under the sun. We've heard every theory, every
crazy rumor, we've heard all these different narratives," said Joshua Philipp,
award-winning investigative reporter and host of the show "Crossroads."
The rumors aren't by accident: The CCP has been actively engaging in a disinformation
campaign, and media outlets around the world have parroted the propaganda. As a result,
entire nations have been operating under false information as they try to battle the
pandemic within their borders.
Philipp and his colleages at The Epoch Times and NTD Television thought it their
responsibility to sift through all the information available, verify it, and put it into
one place. The result is the just-premiered documentary "Tracking Down the Origin of the
Wuhan Coronavirus," which is available to watch online. Less than two days after its
premiere, the documentary has around 1.6 million views across different platforms.'
he then adds a boatload of additional narration ahead of the 56 min 'documentary'.
i dunno if you've ever seen the Epoch Times ads on youtube, but their 'blockbusters' are
akin to bellingcat's online-sourced 'journalism'. i lasted about 7 minutes; you decide.
This article does integrates several known facts into a single picture.
Notable quotes:
"... Submitted by Harvard to the Big House ..."
"... "But it is only a machine. It doesn't think. It follows instructions. If we learn how to alter that programming, then we become the architects of that change." ..."
"... And so since 2017 the floodgates have been opened, and money has poured in to fund gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, and they've been seen as everything as as potential base to create an HIV-vaccine from , to being able to help scientists in their mission to create a universal vaccine against the flu and common cold. ..."
"... "Distributed responsibility is the problem. One person gives the order, another carries it out. One can say they didn't pull the trigger, the other that they were just doing what they were told, and everyone lets themselves off the hook." ..."
"... Far more sinister than the Gates Foundation funding dual-use gain-of-function research is the involvement of scientists hoping exclusively to bankroll their own companies through this kind of work. ..."
"... Their article insists we should take Zhengli at her word when she claims to have not found a match after she checked COVID-19's genome against everything in her lab. As if someone responsible for releasing the most virulent pathogen to hit humanity in modern history, one that's already killed thousands and is projected to kill millions and millions more all across the globe, would simply fess-up to it, torpedoing her career and the years of research performed by her and her colleagues? And possibly opening all of them up to legal and other repercussions? ..."
"... If you still aren't sure whether the scientists involved with kind of research are being forthright, there's Dr. Ralph Baric. It was in his lab at UNC that a hyper-virulent bat Franken-virus was created by splicing a new protein-spike on an existing coronavirus, creating a monster so vicious that a virologist with the Louis Pasteur Institute of Paris warned: " If the [new] virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory ." ..."
"... Baric orchestrated research that involved isolating a coronavirus from civets and then passing it through mammalian ACE2 receptor cells that were grown in the lab from kidney and brain samples – serial passage through host cell lines instead of entire hosts, which imparted a strong affinity for ACE2, and presumably created an airborne strain of coronavirus. And if cells derived from kidneys and brains were used for the serial passage development of COVID-19, that might help explain its affinity for attacking the kidneys and brains of its human hosts. ..."
"... So if he was being honest, you might expect him to warn the public about the lethal potential coronaviruses pose during our current outbreak. However, when he was asked if the public should be worried about COVID-19 he said that people should be more worried about the seasonal flu . Pretty bizarre statement from a scientist who knew full well how dangerous coronaviruses could be, especially given the fact that not only was Zhengli Shi working in his lab on that project in 2015, but Xing-Yi Ge was too. Both of whom returned to Wuhan where they've continued their work for years. ..."
"... both Xing-Yi Ge and Zhengli Shi were part of the research team that created this hybridized hyper-virulent bat coronavirus under Baric, who's actively downplayed the risk posed by COVID-19, and then returned to work in Wuhan, where funding provided in part by Daszak's company allowed them to continue their work on coronaviruses with plenty of research to cut-and-paste into their work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology's Disease Engineering Technical Research Center. ..."
"... And as Dr. Ian Malcolm puts it in Jurassic Park , it is never a good idea to futz around with science and research when you don't fully understand it, nor its possible implications. ..."
"... Zhengli also secured millions of dollars in grant money from various American institutions including our Department of Defense as well as the U.S. Biological Defense Research Directorate, and millions more from other foreign governments. ..."
"... "Mars will accuse Earth of using a bio-weapon. Earth will claim it was Mars. The Belt will blame the other two. It's a good way to start a war and cover it up." ..."
"... And curiously Zhengli Shi, of UNC and Wuhan fame, co-authored a 2019 paper which used inert viral shells to figure out exactly how SARS, with its affinity to the ACE2 receptor just like COVID-19, was able to harness ADE to hijack white blood cells for enhanced cell entry. A gain-of-function extension of this research would be exactly the kind of experiment that could've given birth to COVID-19, especially considering that 2019 paper managed to fine-tune the exact concentration of antibodies that would best facilitate ADE. ..."
"... Further increasing the possibility that COVID-19's unique clinical presentation may be due to its ADE being juiced by laboratory engineering are the observations from an ER doctor who's stated that I have seen things that I have never seen before I have witnessed medical phenomenon that just don't make sense in the context of treating a disease that is supposed to be viral pneumonia. ..."
"... "I have seen things that I have never seen before I have witnessed medical phenomenon that just don't make sense in the context of treating a disease that is supposed to be viral pneumonia." ..."
"... "I'm seeing people who look relatively healthy with a minimal health history, and they are completely wiped out, like they've been hit by a truck. This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people. Patients will be on minimal support, on a little bit of oxygen, and then all of a sudden, they go into complete respiratory arrest, shut down and can't breathe at all That seems to be what happens to a lot of these patients: They suddenly become unresponsive or go into respiratory failure." ..."
"... "this severity of [acute respiratory distress] is usually more typical of someone who has a near drowning experience -- they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs -- or people who inhale caustic gas. Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that. I've never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me." ..."
"... "Holy shit, this is not the flu. Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth. The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the coronavirus patients, we've had to restrain them. They really hyperventilate, really struggle to breathe. When you're in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever, you don't know when someone is trying to help you, so you'll try to rip the breathing tube out because you feel it is choking you, but you are drowning." ..."
"... two-point-seven ..."
"... "Nothing ever killed more people than being afraid to look like a sissy." ..."
"... "Sometimes it takes a few monsters to get back on track." ..."
And as far back as 2015, Chinese labs were reported to have been
involved with dual-use gain-of-function research , swapping around viral genomes in the lab
to try to create the most virulent strain possible. Additionally, studies
examining COVID-19's infectivity in ferrets found that it spreads readily among them, and
also appears airborne in that animal model, lending support to the idea that ferrets were used
for serial passage. Further support for possibility that serial passage through lab animals
played a role in the creation of COVID-19 comes from an April
2020 pre-print , which found that it binds with ferrets cells more tightly than any other
species except the tree shrew, which only scored about 2% higher. Tree shrews have also been
used for serial viral passage, and were promoted in a 2018 paper out of
China as a preferable host for laboratory serial passage since they're cheaper, smaller,
easier to handle, and closer to humans evolutionarily and physiologically than ferrets.
Pangolins however, formed a much weaker bond than either, and were clustered way down on the
list along with a handful of other much more unlikely intermediate animal hosts.
Quite curiously, one of the scientists supporting this troubling research in an article that
noted the virus
"could change history if it was ever set free" appeared
on Joe Rogan's podcast in 2020 a few weeks into the current pandemic, claiming that
COVID-19 was definitely natural and making no mention of this animal-based dual-use
gain-of-function research at all. Odd, right? It's almost like Michael Osterholm , whose entire career
rests on
advancing gain-of-function of research , might want to whitewash what's really going on?
Did that sunshine tickle when it was being blown up your ass, Joe?
Osterholm failed to tell the story of this genetically modified H5N1 Bird Flu, which was
turned into a virus that
"could make the deadly 1918 pandemic look like a pesky cold." This result was so troubling
that the NIH, which had funded the research, tried to make sure that the it would only be
published after enough details were taken out to make replication of the experiment tough to
perform. However one of the virologists involved in the research thought these restrictions
were a bit silly, since the gist of the experiment was enough to allow anyone with enough money
to replicate them without a problem. Especially researchers who were already familiar with
manipulating bat coronaviruses,
two of whom learned how to do exactly that at UNC in 2015 before returning to Wuhan to
continue their work.
A few years later the NIH would ban this dual-use "gain-of-function" research, a ban that
would remain in place from 2014 until 2017, when it was lifted. And what was the reasoning
behind lifting the ban? To allow for research on flu viruses, as well as SARS and MERS –
coronaviruses just like our new friend, COVID-19. And so hundreds of millions of dollars of
funding poured into research on these viruses, supposedly with oversight meant to reduce
"the potential to create, transfer, or use an enhanced potential pandemic pathogen."
Turns out, that oversight might not have worked out too well, witnessed by the thousands who
have already died from COVID-19.
"But it is only a machine. It doesn't think. It follows instructions. If we learn how
to alter that programming, then we become the architects of that change."
And so since 2017 the floodgates have been opened, and money has poured in to fund
gain-of-function research on coronaviruses, and they've been seen as everything as as potential
base to create an
HIV-vaccine from , to being able to help scientists in their mission to create a universal
vaccine against the flu and common cold. Unsurprisingly, the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, which helped bankroll Event 201, has also poured millions and millions of dollars
into the search for a vaccine against HIV , much of which is centered around harnessing
coronaviruses.
Gate's previous forays into vaccination programs haven't always gone so well, in 2009 a
Gates-sponsored HPV vaccine from Merck caused severe side effects among hundreds of the
girls it was administered to, ultimately killing seven of them. In addition to the faulty
science behind this vaccine program, was evidence that the majority of patients had no idea
what they were signing up for, but were pushed through into treatment anyways. More unethical
behavior was reported in the Gates-funded MenAfriVac campaign in Chad, which between 50 and 500
children vaccinated for meningitis
were reported to develop paralysis , leading a South African newspaper to announce that "we
are guinea pigs for the drug-makers." And there are a scattershot of other accounts covering
possible malfeasance by Gates-funded vaccination programs all across the globe. So not that
Bill Gates is personally punching little kids in the face, but that his well-meaning funding
may end up in a lot of the wrong places in the blind pursuit for results, providing financing
for very shady and entirely unethical practices.
Pointing out the funding from their foundation isn't meant to demonize the Gates family,
only to begin to build the idea that accountability does't lie with the scientists in Wuhan
alone, or the Chinese Communist Party for trying to cover-up the beginning of the pandemic. And
to point out that nothing about being a computer scientist or a businessman has anything to do
with public health policy, or the scientific and social implications around gain-of-function
research. Why the NIH allowed this really obvious Pandora's Box to be reopened in the first
place deserves to be answered, and the organizations funding this research should carry much of
the blame as well.
Bill Gates might want to be an effective philanthropist really bad, and he may have been
amazing at designing computer software and undercutting his competition – however that
doesn't a philanthropist make. After all, beyond the questionable tactics practiced by many of
the vaccination programs he's funded, his very well-intentioned attempt to save lives by
providing insecticidal
mosquito-nets was ultimately destructive: many of the villagers provided with the
mosquito-nets decided they were better used as fishing-nets, resulting in food shortages due to
over-fishing from the fact the nets smaller weave caught far too many juvenile fish,
undercutting population growth.
Seemed like a good idea at the time, right?
"Distributed responsibility is the problem. One person gives the order, another
carries it out. One can say they didn't pull the trigger, the other that they were just doing
what they were told, and everyone lets themselves off the hook."
Far more sinister than the Gates Foundation funding dual-use gain-of-function research is
the involvement of scientists hoping exclusively to bankroll their own companies through this
kind of work.
While The Expanse had Jules-Pierre Mao , a scientist-CEO
who used his private company to hybridize the protomolecule – a mysterious apparently
alien substance that seems to have a mind of its own – with humans to create unstoppable
biological weapons, today we have Peter Daszak . His
company, EcoHealth Alliance, which is a non-profit that depends largely on multi-million dollar
government grants to function, has been
partnering with Chinese researcher for years in an attempt to secure funding for more and
more research into coronaviruses. At least they're not really even pretending to be
philanthropic.
And in one of the more transparent attempts at blatant PR-spin, Daszak
was featured alongside one of the researchers who
learned how to create hyper-virulent bat coronaviruses at UNC back in 2015, Zhengli Shi.
Their article insists we should take Zhengli at her word when she claims to have not found
a match after she checked COVID-19's genome against everything in her lab. As if someone
responsible for releasing the most virulent pathogen to hit humanity in modern history, one
that's already killed thousands and is projected to kill millions and millions more all across
the globe, would simply fess-up to it, torpedoing her career and the years of research
performed by her and her colleagues? And possibly opening all of them up to legal and other
repercussions?
If you still aren't sure whether the scientists involved with kind of research are being
forthright, there's Dr. Ralph Baric. It was in his
lab at UNC that a hyper-virulent bat Franken-virus was created by splicing a new
protein-spike on an existing coronavirus, creating a monster so vicious that a virologist with
the Louis Pasteur Institute of Paris warned: " If the [new] virus escaped, nobody could
predict the trajectory ." It should also be noted that several years prior to tinkering
directly with bat coronavirus spike-proteins, Baric orchestrated research that involved
isolating a coronavirus from civets and then passing it through mammalian ACE2
receptor cells that were grown in the lab from kidney and brain samples – serial
passage through host cell lines instead of entire hosts, which imparted a strong affinity for
ACE2, and presumably created an airborne strain of coronavirus. And if cells derived from
kidneys and brains were used for the serial passage development of COVID-19, that might help
explain its affinity for attacking the kidneys and
brains of its human hosts.
So if he was being honest, you might expect him to warn the public about the lethal
potential coronaviruses pose during our current outbreak. However, when he was asked if the
public should be worried about COVID-19 he said that
people should be more worried about the seasonal flu . Pretty bizarre statement from a
scientist who knew full well how dangerous coronaviruses could be, especially given the fact
that not only was Zhengli Shi working in his lab on that project in 2015, but Xing-Yi Ge was
too. Both of whom returned to Wuhan where they've continued their work for years.
Xing-Yi Ge is especially notable since in 2013 he became the very first scientist to isolate
a bat coronavirus from nature
that uses the ACE2 receptor , which is found in human, tree shrew, and ferret lungs and
allows coronaviruses to become airborne. And as you might have learned by now, that's the exact
receptor used by COVID-19 to enter human cells – if anyone would know how to finagle that
part of the coronavirus genome, it'd be him. So both Xing-Yi Ge and Zhengli Shi were part
of the research team that created this hybridized hyper-virulent bat coronavirus under Baric,
who's actively downplayed the risk posed by COVID-19, and then returned to work in Wuhan, where
funding provided in part by Daszak's company allowed them to continue their work on
coronaviruses with plenty of research to cut-and-paste into their work at the Wuhan Institute
of Virology's Disease Engineering Technical Research Center.
And as Dr. Ian Malcolm puts it in Jurassic Park , it is never a good
idea to futz around with science and research when you don't fully understand it, nor its
possible implications.
However it wasn't just Daszak funding their work, Zhengli also secured millions of
dollars in grant money from various American institutions including our Department of Defense
as well as the U.S. Biological Defense Research Directorate, and millions more from other
foreign governments.
So although the Chinese Communist Party deserves its share of the blame for attempting to
cover the outbreak up, arresting the heroic scientists trying to warn us and issuing gag-orders
and the destruction of evidence, this research likely wouldn't have occurred at all if the NIH
hadn't lifted the ban on gain-of-function research in the first place. And it was funded
directly by American tax dollars, by government officials willing to let others play god at
their behest.
But now that the virus is out of the lab, are the private entities responsible for its
creation going to bear any of the blame at all? Or will America and China continue to point
fingers at each other until the worst happens?
"Mars will accuse Earth of using a bio-weapon. Earth will claim it was Mars. The Belt
will blame the other two. It's a good way to start a war and cover it up."
One last spoiler warning okay, so in The Expanse the central plot device pushing
things forward is the discovery of a mysterious substance dubbed the protomolecule, which seems
to have a mind of its own and seek out radiation as sustenance before then beginning "the
Work," a mysterious intergalactic goal that isn't revealed until later seasons.
And its not individual nations who first attempt to harness the protomolecule, but their
Peter Daszak, the aforementioned scientist and CEO named Jules-Pierre Mao, who attempts to
weave it into the genomes of immuno-compromised children to create hybridized super-soldiers.
Not for his own private army, but as a game-changing bio-weapon he'll sell to whichever
government is willing to pay the most for it. So in The Expanse, it takes amoral
scientists as well as the collusion of officials affiliated with both governments for this
research to happen and be hidden, and when these Hybrids are eventually dropped between both
armies the carnage is immense.
Luckily, we haven't gotten that far on earth yet, but the rhetoric between America and China
has been
heading in that direction – it's been growing increasingly hostile as each blames the
other for starting the pandemic and covering it up, with China even going so far as to threaten
to cut off our supply of antibiotics and other life-saving medical goods. Meanwhile Daszak,
Baric, Zhengli, and others sit back counting their lucky stars and their money, since both
governments and the public at large seem to have bought their story that there's no way this
virus leaked out of one of their labs, and every government on earth now wants to harness their
research to help create vaccines and treatments.
And these researchers have been assisted by
scientifically spurious and journalistically vacuous articles which mindlessly regurgitate
claims from the Chinese government, and its scientific propaganda
arm , the WHO, about how bad the outbreak was in the past and how contained it is now. As
the Chinese government arrested whistle-blowers and sent agents out into the street in
bio-hazard gear while carrying automatic weapons to detain anyone suspected of breaking
quarantine, while literally welding apartments buildings shut,
the American media fawned over China's "decisive and heroic" actions.
Please take a moment to consider the fact that almost everyone reading the news to you on
television was selected due to their connections or how photogenic they are, not because of any
actual journalistic chops or ability to think critically.
So as two superpowers are pushed closer and closer to conflict, the research that's almost
certainly the source of COVID-19 not only continues unabated, but if anything talk of more
funding to stop this sort of supposedly natural pandemic from happening again is pouring into
the pockets of the people who, if they weren't directly responsible, should certainly have been
at the forefront of warning the world about the risks posed by lab-altered coronaviruses, and
been disclosing the existence of this sort of research in the first place.
Oddly, each and everyone one of them is pretending that viral dual-use gain-of-function
research has never occurred at all. Or not so oddly, when you stop and think about how much
they have to lose if their role in this pandemic is revealed.
"The hardest part of this game is figuring out who the enemy really is."
Other than the fact it doesn't bear the direct marks of genetic tampering, just like the
engineered hyper-virulent H5N1 Bird Flu, there's literally nothing natural about COVID-19's
behavior or clinical presentation. And hauntingly, peer-reviewed research has noted that a
crucial region of its genome " may provide a
gain-of-function for efficient spreading in the human population."
Not only is it so distant from any other coronavirus that it forms its own clade, but there
isn't even a natural path for it to have emerged through – assertions about pangolins
have always been dubious at best, but were even further debunked when analysis of COVID-19's
genome at the regions that most accurately show heritage made it "very
unlikely" that pangolins had ever been involved at all.
Beyond that is the fact that its affinity for the ACE2 receptor is
somewhere between 10 and 20 times higher than SARS , and it also creates viral loads
thousands of times higher than SARS. These two characteristics point towards
COVID-19 using
antibody-dependent enhancement , or ADE, to enter human cells. This is when the virus is
able to hijack white blood cells to more easily enter into the rest of our body's cells,
allowing it to seep deep into its hosts' nervous systems, creating permanent neurological
damage in the hosts it doesn't kill outright. ADE could also explain why
between 5% and 10% of once "recovered" patients in Wuhan have been showing up with fresh
infections, since that phenomenon allows a virus to hijack the antibodies created by a previous
infection to re-attack an old host. And curiously Zhengli Shi, of UNC and Wuhan fame,
co-authored a 2019
paper which used inert viral shells to figure out exactly how SARS, with its affinity to
the ACE2 receptor just like COVID-19, was able to harness ADE to hijack white blood cells for
enhanced cell entry. A gain-of-function extension of this research would be exactly the kind of
experiment that could've given birth to COVID-19, especially considering that 2019 paper
managed to fine-tune the exact concentration of antibodies that would best facilitate
ADE.
Both HIV and Dengue Fever use antibody-dependent enhancement to boost their virulence,
however its generally a phenomenon that takes a long time to occur when it happens in nature.
However COVID-19 looks like it
may have had its ADE jacked into hyper-drive as it was passed between a series of animal
hosts, since it has the aforementioned much stronger ability to bind to host cells and creates
viral loads orders of magnitude higher, and also appears to immediately to be able to enter its
hosts nervous systems, killing many of its victims by attacking the region of the brain
that controls breathing , drastically lowering white blood cell counts early on in
infections, and apparently re-infecting individuals who had already appeared to clear their
infection.
Further increasing the possibility that COVID-19's unique clinical presentation may be
due to its ADE being juiced by laboratory engineering are the observations from an ER doctor
who's stated that I have
seen things that I have never seen before I have witnessed medical phenomenon that just
don't make sense in the context of treating a disease that is supposed to be viral
pneumonia. In an interview with Medscape, Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell went on to say that the
closest thing to the symptoms he was witnessing in his emergency room.
Nothing about COVID-19's clinical presentation is typical, including the fact that in many
patients the first sign of infection
seems to be losing your senses of smell and taste without any other symptoms, something no
other virus on earth is known to do to otherwise asymptomatic patients – but which could
possibly be due to artificially enhanced ADE immediately gaining entry into those nerve cells
and frying them. Further increasing the possibility that COVID-19's unique clinical
presentation may be due to its ADE being juiced by laboratory engineering, are the observations
from an ER doctor who's stated that "I have seen things that I have never seen
before I have witnessed medical phenomenon that just don't make sense in the context of
treating a disease that is supposed to be viral pneumonia." In an interview with Medscape,
Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell went on to say that the closest thing to the symptoms he was witnessing
in his emergency room were those created by altitude sickness .
This condition occurs when the organs that sense the level of oxygen concentration in the
air you breathe notice that level decreasing, and begin a cascade of physiological changes
that, as the COVID-19 patients horrifically showcase, can quickly turn deadly when they throw
your body's balance out of wack. And since these organs are found in your neck
right next to your carotid arteries , it is well within the realm of possibility that after
frying the nerve cells that control smell and taste, that if the viral load is large enough,
that the infection may eventually move into these organs and fry them too – tricking your
nervous system into miscommunicating the concentration of oxygen in the environment, and
scrambling the same system that's used when your body is subjected to the lowered oxygen levels
that occur at high altitude to possibly trick your body into producing fewer red blood
cells.
Additionally, an unnaturally juiced-up ability to use ADE would also explain what other
front-line medical workers are
observing in their patients : "I'm seeing people who look relatively healthy with a
minimal health history, and they are completely wiped out, like they've been hit by a truck.
This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people. Patients will be on minimal
support, on a little bit of oxygen, and then all of a sudden, they go into complete respiratory
arrest, shut down and can't breathe at all That seems to be what happens to a lot of these
patients: They suddenly become unresponsive or go into respiratory failure." This sort of
sudden precipitous decline is exactly what would be expected if COVID-19's ability to use ADE
had been accentuated in the lab, and would also explain the clinical observations that
"this severity of [acute respiratory distress] is usually more typical of someone who has a
near drowning experience -- they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs -- or people who
inhale caustic gas. Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that. I've never seen a
microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That
was what really shocked me."
And also the following horrific account: "Holy shit, this is not the flu. Watching this
relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of
his mouth. The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping
for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the
coronavirus patients, we've had to restrain them. They really hyperventilate, really struggle
to breathe. When you're in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever,
you don't know when someone is trying to help you, so you'll try to rip the breathing tube out
because you feel it is choking you, but you are drowning."
No one knows exactly how many people have died in Wuhan, where in January and February
crematoriums were running 24/7 when they'd typically only be operational for four hours a day
and five days a week, but one apparent pattern is that the longer the virus was allowed to
circulate and spit off new variants, the more lethal it became. Further evidence that far more
lives were lost in Wuhan than the Chinese government is disclosing is provided by the fact that
some 21 million cell phone users have somehow fallen of the map in China, as well as the
long lines witnessed to collect loved ones' ashes in Wuhan, which alone is reported to have had
some 45,000 cremations . So this high lethality may be due in part to the multiple variants
that had time to circulate in Wuhan, a hallmark of ADE since each subsequent variant is able to
escape detection by our immune systems while still hijacking our white blood
cells to increase its virulence.
And unsurprisingly, neither ADE nor the possibility that COVID-19 could be a product of
dual-use gain-of-function serial animal passage has been mentioned on television by the
virologists most likely to be able to identify these phenomena, meaning our front-line medical
responders are being blindsided by a virus that's not behaving like anything natural, like
anything they've ever seen.
Even more indicative of an unnatural origin is the fact that the process of a virus
transferring from one species to another, called a zoonotic jump, follows a
well-established pattern in the literature.
For a virus to fully jump into a new species , several months if not years are required for
the process to complete. First a variant of the virus infects one new host, an infection that
will fizzle out the first time it happens since there's no way for a virus to be immediately
adapted to a novel host species. But with continued exposure, more individual infections occur,
some of which produce slightly mutated variants more adapted to the biology of the new host
species, until eventually a variant wins the selective virulent lottery and is able to spread
easily among its new host population, killing and reproducing as it goes.
And yet research published in 2018
found that only two-point-seven percent of villagers living about a kilometer from
local bat-caves carried any evidence of past bat coronavirus infections. That study happened to
examine people living in Wuhan as well, and found absolutely zero evidence of previous bat
coronavirus infection at all there, making it all-but-impossible that zoonotic jumping occurred
since earlier less-lethal variants of the virus would have left a wide signature in its new
host population. Instead, COVID-19 emerged out of nowhere, or more likely just out of a local
lab, and was immediately extraordinarily well-adapted to humans – spreading through the
air with ease, killing as it went. Plus there's the fact that all the initial victims were
infected with the same variant, if a natural zoonotic jump had occurred, multiple different
variants would inevitably have been found at the start of an outbreak.
And so as our titular quote alludes to, although its certainly possible to train a monkey to
warm up a frozen burrito in a microwave, it's pretty damn unlikely that a wild monkey that'd
never been in contact with humans before could be presented with a frozen burrito and a
microwave, and figure out to heat up a snack.
In the same way, everything about the way COVID-19 interacts with its human hosts and
spreads among them indicates that it's been artificially trained to be familiar with human
biology – bizarrely blocking our senses of smell and taste before doing anything else,
spreading readily among asymptomatic patients and then infecting and killing us with far more
efficiency than any natural emergent virus at the start of its outbreak, and first emerging
without taking any of the steps necessary to naturally perform a zoonotic jump into humans.
At some point in the next few weeks, Americans will literally be dropping dead in the
streets, collapsing curbside as they already have in China, Italy, and Iran.
And while the people on your television will be parroting whatever their corporate parents
tell them to, and while the scientists intimately involved in this kind of research preen as
"having told you so" about the threat coronaviruses pose instead of informing the public about
how truly grave the threat we face is – millions will die, and the work that caused this
pandemic will continue at an accelerating pace as funding for gain-of-function research pours
in.
"Nothing ever killed more people than being afraid to look like a sissy."
As we're quite fond of saying, America is a free country. And without sensible federal
guidance, and with our pandemic response team being undermined by economic advisers and
relatives with only the vaguest grasp of how science works,let alone epidemiology, we are very
quickly approaching what might be our last inflection point.
While the Olympics have been postponed for the first time in modern history and other
nations from New Zealand to France lock-down entirely for at least the coming several weeks,
Americans haven't been convinced not to crowd into public places and public transportation.
Supposedly, prayer, toughness, and the American Spirit are going to work as effective
anti-viral treatments.
So by the time the public and our officials collectively realize that COVID-19 has no
intention of behaving anything close to like the flu does, or like any natural virus ever has,
and that our front-line healthcare workers have been
effectively battling a biological weapon for weeks, the deaths of millions more Americans
will already be inevitable.
The current push to get the economy back on track leads only to human carnage, rushing back
into the virus's maws can't possibly lead anywhere good. Slowing down to get the full picture
of what's going on is apparently off the table, as is any sort of reasoned discussion about how
to save the most lives while still being able to keep the economy in stasis until the pandemic
is under control. And so America will be forever changed by this pandemic, as our once-trusted
institutions lead us directly to slaughter.
Rushing into danger has never ended well. After all, it's always the doors and corners where
they get you.
"Sometimes it takes a few monsters to get back on track."
"... Next, to garner publicity for an analysis that could have been performed on a desktop, China chose Tianhe , the world's first petaflop computer, to compare lung images attributed to vaping and to Covid-19. Using AI-assisted analysis whose algorithm's accuracy is over 99 percent, Tianhe-1 found a high probability of Covid-19 in the CAT image of a patient who became severely ill between July and August in North Carolina. ..."
"... Everybody knows that US is found of wars. Unfortunately, they have almost zero talent for prosecuting wars (like the wars have done something wrong – it's all US actually) and you have the result which is finding new and creative ways to wage wars, because you are not too good in the classical ways of warfare. ..."
"... My fortnight on the can preceded the initial June bump in 'vaping deaths' lamely attributed to Vitamin E acetate and, in a tour de force of OPSEC, to an inadvertent fuckup at Fort Detrick. ..."
"... It would be enlightening if we knew how the CDC goes about its auditing procedure. Did a whistleblower alert them and the next day the bio lab was shutdown? ..."
"... If it started in the USA before China I'd expect at least tens of millions of US cases now instead of half a million. Also, the restrictions on early testing were necessary because test kits had to be rationed for the most likely cases. ..."
"... But are they really that incompetent? What kind of idiot designs a weapon that exclusively kills non-combatants already on Death's doorstep? Wouldn't an IQ above room temperature (presumably needed for bio-engineering a virus) presuppose the realization that a weapon must strike potential combatants and disable them? ..."
"... Smashing article by Godfree Roberts – again! Although it is a synthesis of public domain information already gathered (and some published here at UR) it is much more than connecting the dots and becomes a coherent summation and logical conclusion that the US many "initials agencies" have been "gaming" another tool of their abundant arsenal of hybrid warfare dirty tricks – the only way they know of derailing the unstoppable Chinese course to condemn the US to irrelevance. And that hurts when the hubris-drunk ruling class elite (and their imitative monkeys here) proclaim to all and sundry their "chosen", "exceptional" and "indispensable" quality, now facing the public humiliation of having their snouts rubbed into the dirty to the glee of the sane side of mankind. ..."
"... This is actually a very, very good point. No one in the USA seems to be interested in patient zero. ..."
"... So the hypothesis is then that it started naturally in the US, which figured out what it was, and that it spread it to China with their military games team – in the heart of China's travel network, just when the Chinese were moving the most for New Year? ..."
"... Obviously the cases reported in the DC Metro Area last summer cannot be attributable to the same virus that spread from Wuhan due to different rates of infectious propagation, so it is misleading to insinuate that the early virus also caused the current worldwide outbreak. ..."
"... If one presumes that both viruses came from a lab, then one should not rule out that the one causing the cases reported last year was merely an early and comparatively more benign prototype, without the enhancements ("gain of function" properties) and chimera qualities that were subsequently engineered ("weaponized") at a lab in Wuhan. Such a relationship would already be sufficient to explain why the US government officials would prefer to remain silent about this topic. ..."
"... Professor Boyle from University of Illinois readily acknowledged the likelihood, two months ago, that the base of the virus that spread rapidly in Wuhan had American origins, specifically from a lab at the University of North Carolina. ..."
"... US hospitals are now doing mass testing for the presence of antibodies which nobody can hide. With such a high number of both past and current Covid-19 cases, the empirical data is now showing that there had been a viral outbreak in the US Northeast BEFORE the Wuhan outbreak last year. ..."
"... The Epoch Times is saturation bombing YouTube with its new documentary blaming China for the outbreak. ..."
"... I suspect the answer to your question is contained in the agency's title: the Center for Disease Control. They had to intervene (though I'm sure they were reluctant, as you say) because a disease had escaped and they had to control it. ..."
"... That would explain why they shut down Ft.Detrick AND why they banned testing for the escaped virus (probably Covid Type A) and suppressed test results. Combine DOD embarrassment (fatal to Manning and Assange) with CDC corruption (documented elsewhere on Unz Review) and you have a perfect storm of bullshit. ..."
"... Thanks for your very welcome and thought-provoking article Mr Roberts. One such thought duly provoked (and especially after watching George Webb's clip posted above at comment No. 14) concerns the so-called 'vaping death' phenomenon, to which Mr Webb alludes in his clip. He describes how it is important to run a weapons-grade biowarfare virus through actual hosts, in several stages beyond its first formulation in the lab, in order to increase its virulence, and that this might first include rodents and then move onto human hosts. ..."
"... Is it possible that proprietary vaping formulations might have been used as a vector, in order to give the virus its essential 'run-around' in human hosts? ..."
"... CDC Lifts Shutdown Order on Army Biolabs at Fort Detrick https://news.yahoo.com/cdc-lifts-shutdown-order-army-202001923.html ..."
"... Notice that no one in the media will tell you how many patients are in each hospital. This is vital information and it is newsworthy. Why do they refuse to tell us. Even Medscape doesn't know. . https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/928518 ..."
"... I have heard from some nurses that some are full. I have heard from other nurses that their hospitals are empty. This is hearsay. Most of these nurses are hysterical and you cannot question them and get coherent answers. ..."
"... Now we know that a protocol has been sent to every hospital by the CDC about how to treat the patient. Intubation. Doctors are now saying this is the wrong protocol and that the ventilators are killing the patients. ..."
"... We are learning that it is not a respiratory problem, but a oxygen in the blood problem. ..."
"... We also learned that the government is paying hospitals MORE if they are treating Covid patients, and alot more if they put them on ventilators. This is also creating a problem with the numbers for hospital administrators who, like everyone else with dollar signs in their eyes, are guiding what doctors are to do with these patients. Further, it is clear by the Bigtree interview with the emergency room doctor that these protocols have the consequence of usurping their clinical judgment. https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/physician-speaks-out-hospitals-are-getting-paid-more-to-list-patients-as-covid-19/ ..."
"... We also know that they are manipulating the numbers. We know this from the CDC directives given to hospitals about how they are to count Covid patients. We also know this by other measures taken which reward them (more money) if they lie, or fudge the truth. Alot of doctors already do this already to get money from insurers. I have personal knowledge about this. ..."
"... I suspect 'vaping' was part of the coverup of the release of Covid-19 from Ft. Detrick. It certainly was never proven. ..."
"... Why at the Wuhan war games? Why not some other random location in China by a random tourist traveling to Wuhan? Seems like people just googled events in Wuhan and that stuck out, but to me it makes no sense. ..."
"... Event 201 is a pandemic tabletop exercise hosted by The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The exercise illustrated the pandemic preparedness efforts needed to diminish the large-scale economic and societal consequences of a severe pandemic. ..."
"... The US military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) warned Trump in early November of 2019 that a viral pandemic was spreading in China. ..."
"... Was this the reason why the NCMI warned Trump that a viral pandemic was spreading in China which would soon impact the USA? ..."
"... ZH was banned from twitter a couple of months ago when it released an expose on the Bio research facility in Wuhan. Since that banning, ZH has been mounting a propaganda war against China parroting all the official CIA narratives. ..."
Finding the Index Case, Patient Zero, of an epidemic is critical to understanding and curbing further transmission. Dating its
first appearance, sequencing its genomes, following the changes in its genetic structure, and finding the root of its genetic family
tree help estimate the epidemic's scale and scope of transmission, find intermediate hosts, understand how spreading took place and
curb future transmission by focusing resources to contain it. Since genetic sequencing data can only come from those who are diagnosed,
health workers still rely on contact tracing to find people whose infections have gone undetected. Once a patient is diagnosed, their
primary contacts must be located and questioned about relevant symptoms and, if any of those contacts themselves fall ill, they trigger
a second layer of contact
tracing and the workload grows exponentially. Covid-19's long incubation and asymptomatic transmission can make the search herculean:
Indian health officials contacted 2,666 people after the first case was confirmed in Karnataka.
Every public health official on earth knows this yet, despite its WHO
obligations , the CDC refuses to identify America's Patient Zero and attacks those–including the WHO itself–who requests the
information. The thesis of this article is that the CDC's coverup will fail and the consequent revelations will hasten the fall of
our First Republic [1]
***
In 2012, the Rand Corporation concluded, 'the only threats capable of destroying America's way of life are pandemics.' In 2015,
after Ezra Klein spoke with Bill Gates about his algorithmic model showing how a new strain of flu could spread rapidly he
wrote , "A pandemic disease is
the most predictable catastrophe in the history of the human race, if only because it has happened to the human race so many, many
times before." In 2017, Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed 'no doubt' that
President Trump would face a viral pandemic during his tenure. In 2019, HHS' Crimson Contagion pandemic
report , marked 'not to be disclosed,' found Federal agencies jockeying over who was in charge, states and hospitals struggling
to figure out what equipment was stockpiled or available, and cities and states going their own ways on group and school closings.
This is truly astonishing, since
Patient Zero for both the Spanish Flu and Swine Flu (the deadliest
[2] pandemics of their centuries),
were Americans. Our public health system is so ineffectual that we now host endemic diseases like
typhus , usually seen only in wartime. Our public health system is so ineffectual that our healthy life expectancy at birth
is lower than China's. The CDC is remarkably corrupt . The CDC has
often been slow to detect pandemic outbreaks
and incurious about tracing them. The CDC classifies discussions of Covid-19 Top Secret. The CDC is led by a non-scientist military
officer. The CDC did nothing when the WHO issued its warning January 3. The CDC blocked Covid-19 testing for months after thousands
started dying.
The CDC has been dismantling our public health system. In 2018 the White House
pushed Congress to eliminate $252 million for disease security programs and reduce health spending by
$15 billion by cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS and eliminating the
$30 million
Complex Crises Fund. The President
ordered the National Security Council's Global Health Security unit shut down and reassigned Adm. Timothy Ziemer and his team.
Then-National Security Advisor John Bolton
pressured Adm. Ziemer's DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert to resign, too, and neither team was replaced. Much of the staff of the
CDC's Global Health section was laid off and cooperating countries were cut from forty-nine to ten, and CDC Director Robert Redfield
sought a further $7 billion cut for FY 2021. Last November a bipartisan panel convened by the CSIS
concluded , "The United States must either pay now to gain protection and security or wait for the next epidemic and pay a much
greater price in human and economic costs."
On July 9th, another pneumonia of unknown cause was reported in Alexandria, VA and all lung images showed the 'ground glass' shadow
typical of Covid-19. Coincidentally, the CDC chose that date to
withdraw the only American epidemiologist embedded with Beijing's CCDC. The following week a pneumonia epidemic was reported
at a nursing home in Burke, VA and the Virginia State Health Bureau banned collective activities and began screening residents in
assisted care facilities and requiring enhanced hygiene. In early August the CDC expanded its pneumonia patient detection system
and, in an unprecedented civilian intervention in military affairs, shut down the Army's main military biowarfare lab (and Superfund
site), Fort Detrick, MD where, a senior scientist said, the atmosphere
was one of "fear and mistrust."
In late August, the Virginia Department of Health confirmed three more cases of severe lung illness of unknown origin. Between
August-October, 2,500 patients reported gastrointestinal symptoms beginning before respiratory symptoms, with fever, elevated heart
rate, and elevated white blood cell count–all symptoms typical of Covid-19. Many sought ambulatory care several times before hospitalization
and their lung images showed a 'ground glass' shadow. Fifty percent needed intubation, many required supplemental oxygen, and some
required assisted ventilation. Fifty-three died and the cause of the outbreak remains unexplained
[4]
A similar outbreak [5] was occurring
simultaneously in Lombardy, Italy.
The following month the Deputy Director of the CIA participated in a pandemic tabletop exercise, Event 201, that modeled a fictional
coronavirus pandemic and, after years of reducing headcount, the CDC began hiring quarantine managers:
In January, after private briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, five senators avoided significant losses by
selling major stock holdings and 219 CEOs, the largest cohort ever, retired at the top of the stock market.
On January 3 ILINet [6]
was functioning normally when the WHO
alerted the CDC to Covid-19. When Beijing uploaded its genetic sequence a week later the CDC
forbade its sentinels, including
UW's Dr. Helen Chu [7] that such
information suppression is common with the CDC, "I presume her lab continues to conduct the tests for research but is barred from
sharing the results with public health authorities. I used to be the principal investigator on an IRB-approved, non-clinical brain
imaging study for research many years ago. We decided that in the rare case we detected an abnormality in a participant's brain,
we would strongly suggest that they consult a clinician. Similarly, perhaps your lab could inform a participant testing positive
for the virus in your study to seek medical attention immediately." Two months later Dr. Chu ignored the CDC's injunction and immediately
discovered Covid-19 fatalities in Seattle. The CDC still obstructs and discourages testing.
DETROIT – A NURSE was found dead from coronavirus after her employer reportedly refused to test her because she wasn't showing
symptoms. Lisa Ewald, 53, worked as a nurse at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for more than 20 years but died last week after being
exposed to the deadly virus. Ewald said she believed she was exposed to the coronavirus by a patient around March 24 while working
in the emergency room. Neighbor Alexis Fernandez said Ewald immediately tried to get herself tested, but was told by her employer
she couldn't until she showed symptoms. According to her family, the nurse was
refused
a test twice.
WASHINGTON -- A coroner in Indiana wanted to know if the coronavirus had killed a man in early March, but said that her health
department denied a test. Paramedics in New York City say that many patients who died at home were never tested for the coronavirus,
even if they showed telltale signs of infection. In Virginia, a funeral director prepared the remains of three people after health
workers cautioned her that they each had tested positive for the coronavirus. But only one of the three had the virus noted on the
death certificate. Across the United States, even as coronavirus deaths are being recorded in terrifying numbers -- many hundreds
each day -- the true death toll is likely much higher.
New York Times , April 7, 2020.
Hunting for Patient Zero
Chinese research shows that
the virus was introduced into their country from elsewhere,
Japanese and
Taiwanese studies point to the US as its likely source,
and
Russian and Czech authorities share their suspicions.
[9] Kristian
Andersen , a Scripps Institute evolutionary
biologist, said it is 'entirely plausible' that infected persons brought the virus into the seafood market from somewhere outside
and dated their 'most recent common ancestor' as early as 1 October 2019, when
US athletes participated in
the 2019 Military World games in Wuhan. Daniel
Lucey , an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University, said the first infection has been confirmed as occurring in November
2019, (not in Wuhan), suggesting the virus originated elsewhere. "One group put the origin of the outbreak as early as 18 September
2019. China must have realized the epidemic did not originate in that Wuhan Huanan seafood market." Lucey also noted that MERS was
originally believed to have come from a patient in Saudi Arabia in June of 2012 but later, more thorough studies traced it to an
earlier hospital outbreak of unexplained pneumonia in Jordan in April of that year and Western media's origin stories about SARS,
MERS, and ZIKA have all later proven wrong.
Circumstantial Evidence
The Director of the CDC is a career military officer and a non-scientist. The CDC blocked Covid-19 testing for months and still
obstructs it. The CDC discusses Covid-19 in a
top secret, secure facility because, staffers said, "It has something to do with China." Only under persistent Congressional
questioning did the CDC Director reluctantly reveal the existence of earlier cases that had been diagnosed as influenza.
The CDC Director flatly refuses to discuss Patient Zero. Western media show no interest in investigating Patient Zero. Western
media dismiss questions about Patient Zero as 'political' despite the fact that they are scientific. Powerful US Government officials
acted on foreknowledge of the epidemic The media have been attacking the World Health Organization for months.
President Trump has threatened to de-fund the WHO.
***
Death of a Thousand Cuts
It appears that China has chosen to play offense this time and its weapons may prove decisive. Most American medical laboratories
employ Chinese researchers, some of whom
smuggled
hospital tissue samples to China during the period under discussion. This explains the FBI's medical panic
[10] last Fall, the CDC's
secrecy, and the Chinese Government's brazen demand that the US reveal Patient Zero. If China has biological samples of American
Covid-19 from 2019, then its demand is just the opening shot in a war of perceptions. Uncharacteristically, Chinese diplomats have
ensured that a global audience is paying attention by repeating its challenge in major languages:
Next, to garner publicity for an analysis that could have been performed on a desktop, China chose
Tianhe , the world's first petaflop computer, to compare lung images attributed to vaping and to Covid-19. Using AI-assisted
analysis whose algorithm's accuracy is over 99 percent, Tianhe-1 found a high probability of Covid-19 in the CAT image of a patient
who became severely ill between July and August in North Carolina.
The features included white patches encroaching on the lower parts of both lungs, a phenomenon raising the eyebrows of some radiologists
at the early stage of the outbreak because it was rarely seen in other types of pneumonia.
Said the AI-generated report, "The image shows features of Covid-19, and a comprehensive diagnosis is recommended in combination
with epidemiological information and other clinical characteristics." The patient was one of five who presented at the WakeMed Hospital
in Raleigh, North Carolina at about the same time, with acute lung injuries, according to information on the CDC website. Dr Kevin
Davidson, who led a medical team that examined the patients at WakeMed, defended the original diagnosis but, said a Wuhan doctor,
"The disagreement between Tianhe and WakeMed could be resolved by a laboratory test for the new coronavirus in the patient's samples.
If the samples are no longer available, an antibody test can be performed instead." Pigs will fly
Truth and Consequences
There are more rounds to be fought but, if China wins, will be sweet revenge for America's many biological attacks since 1951
[11] , including
Harvard's theft of thousands of biological
samples in the 1990s, and recent epidemics of mysterious origins. With ninety percent of its workforce already back in operation,
if China does wins, where will the world be in twelve months if
Covid-19, like Swine Flu and Spanish Flu, began in the United States? Covid-19 began at a notoriously unsafe military biowarfare
facility? The US Government and media covered it up? The US blamed an innocent nation? The US scapegoated the WHO? The US mishandled
its own outbreak disastrously? The US coverup precipitated another financial crisis? China again rescued the world from the American
recession?
For politicians seeking to deflect attention from their own shortcomings and curry favor with the new superpower, blaming America
may prove irresistible.
Postscript: That HHS and the CDC might be involved in villainy is not news. In the 1980s Linus Pauling described the criminal
lengths to which HHS went to discredit years of promising research on Vitamin C's effects on the longevity of thousands of cancer
patients.
[2] Patient Zero for the 1918
'Spanish Flu' was traced to Kansas City. Patient Zero for H1N1 officially occurred in San Diego in April, 2009, but three unrelated
clusters during March suggest that transmission began earlier.
[3] The US Military Games team
trained at Fort Belvoir before competing in Wuhan.
[4] The CDC does not actually
count and then report the number of people who contract influenza or pneumonia during the flu season, "Because influenza surveillance
does not capture all cases of flu that occur in the U.S., CDC provides these estimated ranges to better reflect the larger burden
of influenza. These estimates are calculated based on CDC's weekly influenza surveillance data and are preliminary." The numbers
are statistical estimates only.
[5] Doctor Giuseppe Remuzzi,
director of the Mario Negri Pharmacology Institute in Milan, became a superstar in China. In an interview that went viral,
Remuzzi
talks about his explosive findings in conversations with general practitioners in Lombardy. "Do you know what happened? Certain family
doctors, who have the best antennas in the territory, at least the most able and attentive ones, have told me recently that they
were seeing grave cases of pneumonia, which we had never seen in other years. These pneumonia cases had nothing to do with typical
flu pneumonia, they were interstitial pneumonias, they had to do CT, radiography [to diagnose it], and this was seen in October,
November, December. So this virus has been circulating a long time." That was indeed in parallel with or even before the first coronavirus
cases in Wuhan in mid-November. It's been already scientifically established that the virus strains in Wuhan and in Lombardy are
different. Which came first, and where from, remains a matter of incendiary debate.
[6] The US Outpatient Influenza-Like-Illness
Surveillance Network of three-thousand sentinel health care providers who report the weekly percentage of outpatient ILI visits to
the CDC. China's network, modeled on the CDC's, has 70,000 sentinels.
[8] Comment from Why The
US Wasn't Ready for the Coronavirus . NYT 03/11/2020.
[9] March 29.
Tass , "In order to unambiguously answer the question about the origin,
where the first case emerged, major research needs to be carried out. So, Washington's accusing tone in comments against China occasions
utter bewilderment. As for 'US trace' in the COVID-19 outbreak, we don't have this data yet. However, for a long time we have been
watching with concern the US military and biological activity carried out in direct proximity with our borders. In other words, there
are indeed questions for the US."
[10] Including the arrest
of Charles M. Lieber, Chair of Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and leader of a Chinese research group using
nanotechnology to identify viruses.
[11] See The Report of
the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of the Facts Concerning Bacterial Warfare in Korea and China .
Sir Joseph Needham, Lead Author
No matter how the hunt for the patient zero turns out, I would still put the final blame on US. Because even if the patient zero
is found to be Chinese – the patient -10 would most likely be an American.
Whatever mistake the Chinese have made, even if they are proven to be ultimately the designers of the Covid 19, what might
have propelled them to do something like that is simply the desire to be prepared for possible biowarfare against US.
Everybody knows that US is found of wars. Unfortunately, they have almost zero talent for prosecuting wars (like the wars have
done something wrong – it's all US actually) and you have the result which is finding new and creative ways to wage wars, because
you are not too good in the classical ways of warfare.
I mean it's only understandable, you are sitting, thinking about your favorite hobby – wars, and your not too good track record
in them, and bright ideas start occurring to you.
You notice a bunch of lazy viruses just lounging around uselessly, wasting their youth, and you think that you found a way
to put them to some good use – make some good soldiers out of those lazy, good for nothing viruses. That's what I think happened
here. Even if the Chinese designed the virus – it was in response to someone else's creative ideas of how to utilize the abundance
of supply in viruses for something more "productive".
How do you do? I'm Patient Zero. I got a persistent cough with two straight weeks of awesome runs in 2019. This was an unprecedented
combination for my nose and my asshole, as I never get anything. A panel of a couple dozen infectious diseases returned nothing.
Zero positives.
When there's a reliable antibody test, I'm going to get one and I shall be famous as the Gaétan Dugas of not buttfucking. And
like him, I wasn't even the first.
My fortnight on the can preceded the initial June bump in 'vaping deaths' lamely attributed to Vitamin E acetate and, in a
tour de force of OPSEC, to an inadvertent fuckup at Fort Detrick. This was not in Virginia, either. Or Washington. Or Detroit.
When you conduct your illegal medical experiments on the domestic population, you have a long grace period while your data is
lost in the noise. Multiple introductions can be sequenced to hack and impede reporting. After that, when you're CIA, you've got
focal points in the public health system to obfuscate the data down to a dull roar. Then, when it's plain as the nose on your
face, you blame it on your enemy China.
As old micro explained, you have to run biological weapons through a new species to boost viability and virulence there. Who
better than the poor shmuks in your own downtrodden shithole? Documentary evidence and SCO COMINT show that UNC isolated SARS-COV-2,
then Battelle contractors at Fort Detrick ran it through mice, then possibly ferrets, then us. CIA let it run for a good long
time before anybody noticed except us biped lab rats.
The next epidemic in Virginia is going to be CIA scumbags hanging upside down from lampposts.
It would be enlightening if we knew how the CDC goes about its auditing procedure. Did a whistleblower alert them and the next
day the bio lab was shutdown? Knowing of the US attitude towards whistleblowers this would seem highly unlikely. Or during a once
yearly audit a probable release was picked up by the CDC, and then the bureaucratic wheels are slowly set in motion. I cannot
imagine a government body making overnight decisions. In other words was something noticed in, maybe December 2018, and enacted
on months later?
Stanford Researchers Say Californians May Have Herd Immunity to COVID-19
Inside Edition CBS April 10, 2020
As heartbreaking images of a mass grave on New York City's Hart Island garner national attention, some wonder why California,
the West Coast epicenter of the pandemic, isn't being hit harder. Stanford University researchers believe the COVID-19 virus
came to California last fall and was misidentified as a bad outbreak of the flu. Now, it's possible millions of Californians
were exposed to the virus and have developed herd immunity.
First of all, Wuhan lab is not a germ warfare lab. It is a pathogen research lab. The French helped build it and scientists
from other countries have visited it.
Secondly, the virus came to California last fall according to the Stanford researchers. Yes, last fall, mind you. See above
link. That was before Wuhan's outbreak.
I think you got it in reverse. If 'Patient Zero' is an employee of Wuhan lab, we will have a successful hunt. If 'Patient Zero'
is an American, the chance of locating that person is infinitely small.
@Cyrano There is evidence
that patient zero is Maatja Benassi. Going down this rabbit hole explains the breakouts in the USA last year and the cases in
the Lombardi region of Italy in October, November and December. George Webb's analysis are very thorough:
@Colin Wright Of course you
are guaranteed not to have a successful hunt if you are not even hunting. And since hunting is imperative, the lack of hunting
itself is proof that Patient Zero was, indeed, associated with Fort Detrick. The very Fort Detrick that had two "breaches" around
August 2019 that resulted in the CDC shutting down Fort Detrick.
You may remember Fort Detrick as the source of the Anthrax that was sent around in late 2001. Despite that obvious breach,
the CDC did not shut down Fort Detrick at that time. So, it seems, these breaches in 2019 were much more serious. But CDC won't
tell you what was released – that's CLASSIFIED . Why? Americans don't have a right to know what pathogen Fort Detrick unleashed
upon the world?
The fact is you boot-licking AmeriNazis don't care. If the US government murders 1 billion innocent babies you still don't
care, you'll wave the flag and say your eyes were lying. Pathetic, really.
I do not think the isolated cases at the nursing homes and the vaping deaths are related to SARS-CoV-2, as that virus spreads
much faster and the outbreak that started in the US in mid-February 2020 would have started back in mid-August 2019. Also the
vaping deaths started in April 2019 and were spread all over the country and one would have to come up with a plausible theory
why only vapers were effected and why there were no "break-outs" in any of the regions where it happened. See map below (gray
is 0, light purple is 1, dark purple is 2, red is 3, orange is 4, and yellow is at least 5 vaping deaths):
Of course, there were at least
two breaches at Fort Detrick (the nature of which are classified, of course, since Americans obviously have
no reason to know what lethal pathogens their bio-warfare labs have released), so either those cases are unrelated, or the first
cases were of the other breach of a much less easily transmitted virus.
What's much more telling is the US knowing much more about the virus in Nov. 2019 than China did (
here ), and that Event 201 "just happened" to simulate in Oct. 2019 the exact pandemic scenario which has unfolded.
There are countless labs in the US conducting research on coronaviruses, par. with bat components, a lot of it funded by DARPA
and the NIH. See e.g.
here ,
here , here (notice the bat in the graphic), and
here (see p. 17).
Importantly, DARPA and NIH research
includes "gain of function" research , which seek to construct more deadly viruses than are found in nature. Whether or not
this research is "defensive" or "offensive", the fact is they create super-viruses.
@BobX Good comment (there's
a serious argument in your irony). If it started in the USA before China I'd expect at least tens of millions of US cases now
instead of half a million. Also, the restrictions on early testing were necessary because test kits had to be rationed for the
most likely cases.
It's still necessary to check low probability hypotheses though. Sometimes there's a change in virulence with
a mutation. There's also a remote possibility that US pneumonia treaters were doing something right for COVID-19 earlier by pure
luck and that's not being done now because it's regarded as an inferior treatment for pneumonia. Trying to find patient zero for
a new illness is and always has been expected of all countries, not just the USA. That the USA becomes abusive when asked to do
what everybody has always done is suspicious but I suspect it has a lot to do with a wounded feeling of failed superiority.
[email protected]
Even if the Chinese designed the virus utilize the abundance of supply in viruses for something more "productive".
But are they really that incompetent? What kind of idiot designs a weapon that exclusively kills non-combatants already
on Death's doorstep? Wouldn't an IQ above room temperature (presumably needed for bio-engineering a virus) presuppose the realization
that a weapon must strike potential combatants and disable them?
If SARS-CoV-19 is lab made, it could only have been an African lab normally dedicated to researching Grape Drank formulas.
Smashing article by Godfree Roberts – again! Although it is a synthesis of public domain information already gathered (and
some published here at UR) it is much more than connecting the dots and becomes a coherent summation and logical conclusion that
the US many "initials agencies" have been "gaming" another tool of their abundant arsenal of hybrid warfare dirty tricks – the
only way they know of derailing the unstoppable Chinese course to condemn the US to irrelevance. And that hurts when the hubris-drunk
ruling class elite (and their imitative monkeys here) proclaim to all and sundry their "chosen", "exceptional" and "indispensable"
quality, now facing the public humiliation of having their snouts rubbed into the dirty to the glee of the sane side of mankind.
Pity the State endowed with the capacity and resources to be a model to follow ending up as a laughing stock of a mockery –
the end result of electing clowns for rulers for a money-whoreshipping clique.
So the hypothesis is then that it started naturally in the US, which figured out what it was, and that it spread it to China with
their military games team – in the heart of China's travel network, just when the Chinese were moving the most for New Year?
" On July 9th, another pneumonia of unknown cause was reported in Alexandria, VA and all lung images showed the 'ground
glass' shadow typical of Covid-19. "
" Most American medical laboratories employ Chinese researchers, some of whom smuggled hospital tissue samples to China
during the period under discussion. "
Obviously the cases reported in the DC Metro Area last summer cannot be attributable to the same virus that spread from Wuhan
due to different rates of infectious propagation, so it is misleading to insinuate that the early virus also caused the current
worldwide outbreak.
If one presumes that both viruses came from a lab, then one should not rule out that the one causing the cases reported last
year was merely an early and comparatively more benign prototype, without the enhancements ("gain of function" properties) and
chimera qualities that were subsequently engineered ("weaponized") at a lab in Wuhan. Such a relationship would already be sufficient
to explain why the US government officials would prefer to remain silent about this topic.
Professor Boyle from University of Illinois readily acknowledged the likelihood, two months ago, that the base of the virus
that spread rapidly in Wuhan had American origins, specifically from a lab at the University of North Carolina.
What is presented in the article is not inconsistent with the plausible allegation that the current viral outbreak was accidentally
released in Wuhan in November.
So I guess the resulting moral of this article is that the USA should be culpable for the ongoing outbreak anyway, somehow,
because they operated Level-4 biological labs but were then too lax and allowed Chinese researchers to steal dangerous viruses
from these purportedly secure labs to then be made more deadly at their lab in Wuhan.
Please do go on about how it started in the US but we hid the bodies until we could blame it on China. Godfree you are full
of shit clear up to your eyebrows you Chicom shill.
US hospitals are now doing mass testing for the presence of antibodies which nobody can hide. With such a high number
of both past and current Covid-19 cases, the empirical data is now showing that there had been a viral outbreak in the US Northeast
BEFORE the Wuhan outbreak last year.
The presence of all FIVE strains of the Covid-19 virus in the USA against only one strain in the UK, Germany, Spain, France,
Italy, Australia, Japan, HK, Singapore, South Korea and only TWO strains in China proves that the USA is where the Covid-19 virus
originated.
A hunt for a patient zero is a common Hollywood plot. By doing so, the narrative is accepted, it's a frame. Two other scenarios:
A – the virus has been released by intent, in this case we would probably have multiple patients. B – there is not one "new" virus,
just testing, by witch casualties are categorized as that illnesses.
It's just ridiculous. Have a look at the alleged mass funeral on Heart island.
Well there has been this theory going around for a while of patient zero being a 'matbenassi' or other alias linked to US intelligence
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23maatjebenassi
(some of those may have been removed)
Raises more questions than answers.
The two terms of President Obama seem to have been enough to render agencies such as the FDA and CDC into inept paper shufflers
that were unable to respond to the situation. It is irrelevant from a public health and safety point of view what happened in
China. The Federal agencies saw and/or did nothing.
As I recall, the FDA took about 3 weeks to even decide on a name for the virus/disease that didn't "stigmatize" anyone. The
CDC "borked" what testing material was available and then took almost 2 weeks to notify anyone that they couldn't possibly handle
the testing load. With these groups alone, the U.S. had no further need of traditional "enemies".
I suppose that there are some functional components of these agencies that could be transferred, possibly, to the NIH. The
rest should be transferred to un-furnished trailers at Prudhoe Bay and south Chicago to collect fleas, ticks, and other vermin
that might threaten the local population. That would be a matter of national safety while we chase the Carona Virus and try to
keep infected people alive. I suspect that there is no option under Federal employment rules for charging negligent homicide.
@BobX Why would we have to
hide the bodies? You just write a cause of death that matches symptoms and go on with it. Nothing to test for until China released
the make up of the virus.
Stanford Researchers Say Californians May Have Herd Immunity to COVID-19
CBS Inside Edition, April 10, 2020
As heartbreaking images of a mass grave on New York City's Hart Island garner national attention, some wonder why California,
the West Coast epicenter of the pandemic, isn't being hit harder. Stanford University researchers believe the COVID-19 virus
came to California last fall and was misidentified as a bad outbreak of the flu. Now, it's possible millions of Californians
were exposed to the virus and have developed herd immunity.
I suspect the answer
to your question is contained in the agency's title: the Center for Disease Control. They had to intervene (though I'm sure they
were reluctant, as you say) because a disease had escaped and they had to control it.
That would explain why they shut down Ft.Detrick AND why they banned testing for the escaped virus (probably Covid Type A)
and suppressed test results. Combine DOD embarrassment (fatal to Manning and Assange) with CDC corruption (documented elsewhere
on Unz Review) and you have a perfect storm of bullshit.
Thanks for
your very welcome and thought-provoking article Mr Roberts. One such thought duly provoked (and especially after watching George
Webb's clip posted above at comment No. 14) concerns the so-called 'vaping death' phenomenon, to which Mr Webb alludes in his
clip. He describes how it is important to run a weapons-grade biowarfare virus through actual hosts, in several stages beyond
its first formulation in the lab, in order to increase its virulence, and that this might first include rodents and then move
onto human hosts.
He also adumbrates the potential logistical difficulties attendant upon finding suitable vectors, in order to get the virus
into these (presumably unwitting) human hosts. Is it possible that proprietary vaping formulations might have been used as a vector,
in order to give the virus its essential 'run-around' in human hosts? I'd appreciate your (or iindeed others') thoughts on this.
I have been intrigued by the language of the virus crisis, especially these two items:
1. Lockdown – this used to conjure up images of disciplinary measures for dangerous or uncooperative prisoners in jail, preferably
high-security. Now John Q. Public is in lockdown.
2. Herd immunity – herd is a term normally applied to a group of animals. With humans, it has a contemptuous undertone. Why not
"group immunity"? "Group" suggests humans and not a bunch of zebras in the Kalahari.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/33b53zeUp3k?feature=oembed
"Thinning the herd"
I take from this two things, at least as food for thought –
1. We are seen as dangerous.
2. We are seen as animals.
@Ilya G Poimandres My theory
is that Corona Virus is a bio weapon that the US released during the Wuhan war games.
But because of poor safety measures at Fort Dietrich the virus broke containment last year. If the US already has a cure, they
could have contained it from breaking out.
What interests me the most, is that anyone in the Healthcare field will tell you that this fall was a brutal flu season. It
was quite deadly. This leads to to question if a milder form of the virus was circulating at that time.
@skrik PS IF the HIV inclusions
in the spike are present in *all* 5 types [those 5 only present in *one* country] THEN it would be pretty clear as to origin
@BobX As far back as late
November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China's Wuhan region, changing the patterns
of life and business and posing a threat to the population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting.
Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were detailed in a November intelligence report by the
military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), according to two officials familiar with the document's contents .Those
analyses said China's leadership knew the epidemic was out of control even as it kept such crucial information from foreign governments
and public health agencies.
CPH comment: If an epidemic was sweeping Wuhan in November changing patterns of life and business, how could the Wuhan gov't
covered it up ??
This means the US military inserted the virus in Wuhan in Oct/Nov, knew an epidemic would sweep Wuhan in the next few months
and tried to warn Trump to make preparations for the US.
Notice that no one in the media will tell you how many patients are in each hospital. This is vital information and it is newsworthy.
Why do they refuse to tell us. Even Medscape doesn't know. .
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/928518
I have heard from some nurses that some are full. I have heard from other nurses that their hospitals are empty. This is hearsay.
Most of these nurses are hysterical and you cannot question them and get coherent answers.
But the reason we cannot know is because the government and the media REFUSE to tell us. On my local channels in New York with
Grandpa Cuomo speaking for hours every day, this vital, pertinent and newsworthy info should have been given us. They should have
put it up on a screen everyday how many are in each hospital. They do not even tell us how many are in all hospitals. Nor do they
tell us how many are on ventilators.
Putting two and two together, they may be channeling these patients into certain hospitals, creating overcrowding in some,
and being empty in others. BUT I cannot know this because they refuse to give us pertinent and newsworthy information. Why?
Now we know that a protocol has been sent to every hospital by the CDC about how to treat the patient. Intubation. Doctors
are now saying this is the wrong protocol and that the ventilators are killing the patients.
We are learning that it is not a
respiratory problem, but a oxygen in the blood problem. Is this even a virus? Comments are being made about how the virus is getting
into the hemoglobin without a "receptor" https://thehighwire.com/
We also learned that the government is paying hospitals MORE if they are treating Covid patients, and alot more if they put
them on ventilators. This is also creating a problem with the numbers for hospital administrators who, like everyone else with
dollar signs in their eyes, are guiding what doctors are to do with these patients. Further, it is clear by the Bigtree interview
with the emergency room doctor that these protocols have the consequence of usurping their clinical judgment.
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/physician-speaks-out-hospitals-are-getting-paid-more-to-list-patients-as-covid-19/
We also know that they are manipulating the numbers. We know this from the CDC directives given to hospitals about how they
are to count Covid patients. We also know this by other measures taken which reward them (more money) if they lie, or fudge the
truth. Alot of doctors already do this already to get money from insurers. I have personal knowledge about this.
They are presuming that everyone who comes into hospitals with flu symptoms or respiratory problems have this virus (what about
other flus? Did they disappear?) . They are directing that doctors put down this virus on the death certificate even though the
doctors clinical judgment may be otherwise. Why would they do this. Why would they try to influence a doctor's clinical judgment
in this way? If they were on the level, they would not even try to influence a doctor's clinical judgment. He is in the best position
to know what his patient died from.
Taking these drastic measures cannot possibly have anything to do with the flu. Scientists and doctors, biomathematicians,
should have known this by looking at the numbers in China. They should have known it was the same as any other flu. Finding a
new strain of virus is commonplace. They are filed with WHO all the time. See Wodarg. Com Further, David Crowe from
Theinfectiousmyth.com shows that the conclusions that were drawn
by the Chinese in their clinical studies had no real basis in fact.
Trump has clearly turned over his Presidency to these insane people in CDC and other government health agencies who are making
money as shown by RFK, Jr., and who have complete immunity from lawsuits for any vaccines they inject into us. This immunity from
lawsuits is a law. It is not a secret. The law is there for all to see. The lack of any studies about the adverse effects of these
vaccines is known because none have been published. They have not published any because they don't have any. But they will make
500 billion dollars giving everyone a vaccine, and the people in the CDC also stand to gain monetarily.
https://www.facebook.com/RTAmerica/videos/the-cdc-is-actually-a-vaccine-company-robert-f-kennedy-jr/607386286749107/
Here is another, among the many, microbiologist and infectious disease doctor saying that what governments are doing is insane.
Wodarg.com
Could it be any clearer that the measures they are taking have nothing to do with the flu? Look how willingly the people are
swallowing what the media is saying and are NOT LISTENING TO WHAT THEY ARE NOT SAYING AND SHOULD BE SAYING because it is pertinent
and newsworthy information. The gaps and holes in their news coverage are as wide as the Grand Canyon. Is there anyone left with
a critical mind, who doesn't just swallow whole, even when we see measures like this being taken, even when there are large gaps
and holes in the information? Just count the masks, and you will see how many.
@GeeBee I basically watch
trends and have no technical expertise to contribute. I suspect 'vaping' was part of the coverup of the release of Covid-19
from Ft. Detrick. It certainly was never proven.
Why at the Wuhan war games? Why not some other random location in China by a random tourist traveling to Wuhan? Seems like
people just googled events in Wuhan and that stuck out, but to me it makes no sense.
@BobX Infectious diseases
share many similarities to conspiracy theories whatever the subject matter.
The impulse to declare the Patient Zero being a rough equivalent to the reductionist conspiratorial beginning.
Bias Confirmation is present in both. You don't get a more concise iteration, utterly lacking in self-awareness, than this:
In our last episode, Last Man Standing, we wondered if the Covid-19 outbreak might prove advantageous to China. Here we
speculate about how–thanks to a bureaucratic decision about a common illness–it may cause America to lose world hegemony.
Roberts makes no bones about his for CCP China. I've enjoyed reading him for insight into what is being Transmission Belted
on its behalf and, not the least, when Radio Silence is ordered.
The bias I prefer is one against knee-jerk conspiracy theorizing. As a general proposition, countries have responded in character
and current condition. CCP China did as any communist country would, only more so -- first with secrecy and then an utter disregard
for liberties or anything else that might at some point threaten the CCP and its current leadership.
As the pandemic spread exponentially, so did the level of complexity any conspiracy theory -- remember, exercises in reductionism
-- had to account for. Killing them in direct relation to the IQ of the would be host.
I apologize for taking the fun out of this one. But don't worry, there will be future waves ad infinitum.
Mar 25, 2020 How does the new coronavirus compare with the flu? Which one is more worrisome?
For comparison, in the U.S. alone, the flu (also called influenza) has caused an estimated 38 million illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations
and 23,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nov 4, 2019 Event 201 Pandemic Exercise: Segment 4, Communications Discussion and Epilogue Video
Event 201 is a pandemic tabletop exercise hosted by The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The exercise illustrated
the pandemic preparedness efforts needed to diminish the large-scale economic and societal consequences of a severe pandemic.
Mar 20, 2020 BREAKING: Incoming Troops & MARTIAL LAW As ALL of NY ORDERED on LOCKDOWN With Strict QUARANTINE!!!
Meanwhile the national guard has been deployed and the US military is taking the steps now to have their soldiers ready for
anything when it comes to dealing with those who may disobey the orders.
Is it possible that proprietary vaping formulations might have been used as a vector
This is a very good question.
A virus cannot reproduce but can survive outside the human body.
When exposed, SARS-CoV-2 would survive for only hours, possibly 2-3 days. But a purpose-made vaping preparation mimicking a lab
in-vitro solution would have the potential to increase considerably its survival time, as well as pass it onto smokers.
South Korea only racked up 250 wu-wu virus fatalities TOTAL. America has managed to rack up 2000 wu-wu fatalities in just ONE
DAY! Quite exceptional for even the Exceptional Nation. All together now: USA .USA USA ..USA . Louder now: USA .USA ..USA ..
What is the significance of type B mutating slowly in China but rapidly elsewhere?
The researchers who produced this identification of 3 virus strains, A, B and C, noted the oddity that the original
Strain B, the most common in Wuhan, stayed quite stable and constant while within SE Asia, but went through much accelerated and
varied mutations when taken outside of SE Asia.
This oddity could be due to:
– either an unknown founder event
– or the fact that the B type was so well adapted to East Asian that it did not have to mutate in order to survive.
Cluster B is striking with regard to mutational branch lengths: While the ancestral B type is monopolized (26/26 genomes)
by East Asians, every single (19/19) B-type genome outside of Asia has evolved mutations. This phenomenon does not appear to
be due to the month-long time lag and concomitant mutation rate acting on the viral genome before it spread outside of China
(Dataset S1, Supplementary Table 2).
A complex founder scenario is one possibility, and a different explanation worth considering is that the ancestral Wuhan
B-type virus is immunologically or environmentally adapted to a large section of the East Asian population, and may need to
mutate to overcome resistance outside East Asia.
In other terms, the original Strain B would have been tailored to East Asians or to their environment.
@Godfree Roberts Yes I did
see that explanation diagram earlier, but I was thinking more along the lines that there was a point when CDC ears pricked. When
that was would be interesting to know , because then the public could determine roughly the Maryland bio lab release date occurrence.
You could then say, "okay the release obviously happened before this particular date. "All we do know is when the CDC shut down
the bio lab, not when their suspicions were aroused. I do think we won't know that little tidbit of information for another 25
years.
The CDC is led by a non-scientist military officer.
This is false, as a quick google search reveals that the current director of the CDC, Robert R. Redfield, while ALSO a (retired)
military officer, is an MD who became a medical researcher focusing on the field of virology.
"These techniques are mostly known for mapping the movements of prehistoric human populations through DNA. We think this
is one of the first times they have been used to trace the infection routes of a coronavirus like COVID-19."
The team used data from virus genomes sampled from across the world between 24 December 2019 and 4 March 2020. The research
revealed three distinct "variants" of COVID-19, consisting of clusters of closely related lineages, which they label 'A', 'B'
and 'C'.
Forster and colleagues found that the closest type of COVID-19 to the one discovered in bats – type 'A', the "original human
virus genome" – was present in Wuhan, but surprisingly was not the city's predominant virus type.
Mutated versions of 'A' were seen in Americans reported to have lived in Wuhan, and a large number of A-type viruses
were found in patients from the US and Australia.
Wuhan's major virus type, 'B', was prevalent in patients from across East Asia. However, the variant didn't travel much
beyond the region without further mutations – implying a "founder event" in Wuhan, or "resistance" against this type of COVID-19
outside East Asia, say researchers.
The 'C' variant is the major European type, found in early patients from France, Italy, Sweden and England. It is absent
from the study's Chinese mainland sample, but seen in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.
@Tor597 Yes, there is a lot
of anecdotal evidence to this virus being around for a while. I'm not sure if it was artificial – the Novosibirsk virus lab head
said that it looks natural (after carefully saying that one couldn't know if it was artificial)..
https://youtu.be/2opZ3o6BrE8 (in Russian).. Everyone could be political,
but the Russians are fairly honest.
Could have been of course, but that it cripples old people instead of children, would make it a terrible weapon in the long
run – just lower pension and medical costs for China.
In either case, it is the intention that matters. Whether natural or artificial, did the US intentionally spike China with
it?
On the balance of its historical actions, it would only surprise me if they didn't!
@Cyrano Worried about the
response? Check out this video of what our heroes in scrubs are doing in the empty ER's to fight the mighty coronavirus at "Coronavirus
Got Talent" on YouTube and weep not for the patients but for what had once been a civilized nation.
And because "We're all in this together," remember to post selfies of you and your family holding up worshipful cards reading,
"We stayed home for you, so you could stay at work for us." Got help us.
This is the biggest load of crap I have ever seen. This fool even repeats the old bio-warfare canard the Commies and their Western
friends spread during the Korean War! Amazing! Communist China is a brutal, aggressive dictatorship. China is a dirty, dirty place.
These epidemics (and pandemics) have been coming out of China for centuries because of the way of life of the poor in China, living
with their animals and consu,ing things not fit for human consumption. There are no great mysteries about this, except the question
of whether the ChiComs let it escape from a bio-warfare lab, on purpose or by accident .
Flimsy cover up. The symptoms of EVALI and COVID19 are identical, and according to the CDC there is no diagnostic test for EVALI.
Here in California the COVID wave never crashed, and I think the thesis of previous exposure and herd immunity is correct.
The only difference between these diseases is what the CDC claims about them. CDC is now in the awkward position of making
it look like "Chinese flu" is a full-blown health crisis in America, when many or most Americans have already been exposed.
This means the US military inserted the virus in Wuhan in Oct/Nov, knew an epidemic would sweep Wuhan in the next few months
and tried to warn Trump to make preparations for the US.
This is the smoking gun.
The US military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) warned Trump in early November of 2019 that a viral pandemic
was spreading in China. How did they know this fact in early November of 2019 when the Chinese discovered the new virus only in
late December of 2019? Did the US military brought this virus to China when they participated in the Wuhan military games from
Oct 18-27, 2019? Did the US participants who were hospitalized during their stay in Wuhan and later airlifted out of China test
positive for Covid-19 after their return to the USA? Was this the reason why the NCMI warned Trump that a viral pandemic was spreading
in China which would soon impact the USA?
@NPleeze Remember, dead vapers
were mostly healthy young people. EVALI was only a scapegoat for these outliers. Older victims would have been blamed on the flu,
and indeed the CDC shows an unusually high number of flu fatalities for 2019-20. Meanwhile 80+ percent of cases were asymptomatic/mild.
The only thing that could ever distinguish EVALI from a respiratory infection was a history of vape use. It was always a correlation
and no causative mechanism was ever demonstrated.
@George A random tourist
bringing in a biological agent is too risky to be caught through screening.
The advantage of the war games is that you have hundreds of military personnel coming into the country at the same time. It
is easier to sneak something in because they don't go through the same type of airport screening.
Plus, I think for this operation you can't do it with just 1 person. You need a team of people to spread it.
While the US suffers a lack of protective face masks, the US Dept. of Defense, shipped over 1 million masks to the Israeli
army -- and then covered it up!
[MORE]
As soon as this drew attention, the Jerusalem Post quickly altered the report.
@Iris Wow, so that leads
credence to the race based bioweapon that targets China.
If it was not the B strain that hit China, the virus may not have even spread since it would have had to mutate to find an
efficient way to enter the population.
I really want to know what strain Iran was hit with. It seems like they were targeted with a bioweapon too.
The "Czech authority" the article links to was first cited in the Last Man Standing thread and contains a couple of smoking
guns, including what I'd consider an extremely interesting, perhaps even critical one.
I view this as a very important interview, but in no way does Dr. Pekova hint that she thinks it originated in an American
Lab. She may have said so elsewhere, but in that particular interview she specifically does not. She initially avoids specificity,
mentions the Wuhan laboratory in passing and declines to answer the interviewer's more leading questions. To suggest that she
suspects an American lab is to claim the article's author can read her mind.
The italicized quotes below are from the subtitles (but the bolding is mine)
The first of the smoking guns is that the test kits initially released by the CDC were, in addition to being the viral test
design equivalent of an F-35, non-specific for the SARS-2 virus. The CDC test targets the "tail" of the genome of which much is
common across the Corona family, so it gives false positives for SARS-2 but doesn't indicate the crucial viral load of the SARS-2
virus itself. As she notes, " during an epidemic, that's not the way to do it. "
One may wonder why the CDC took such a long time coming up with a useless and expensive test, but Dr. Pekova and her colleagues
quickly developed an alternative. It uses the same technologies as the CDC's but is simple (even a mobile lab can do it), quick
(15min), cheap, near 100% accurate for both the presence of SARS-2 and the viral load, and, most importantly, it targets a part
of the genome which is unique to SARS-2. No other known virus has this sequence, so the test wouldn't be picking up one or more
of the 1,000s of other Corona viruses that may be present in the subject at the time.
One may further wonder why the CDC would focus on the SARS-2 genome's generic tail rather than its unique sections further
towards the "head" of the genome. While Dr. Pekova never directly answers that question, she states unequivocally that a singularly
important and unique part of the genome could not have had a natural origin.
She explains:
Virus mutation occurs primarily in the regions that " encode (the) structural proteins that form the body of the virus (and)
attack the cell ". They found nothing unusual through the bulk of the genome, BUT " what sets it apart is the regulatory
region the 'control room' of the virus which is the region where replication of the virus is triggered ". " In this virus
it looks like someone entered the control room as if someone entered, opened the closets and threw everything out of them, flipped
chairs – and if it were a natural variant one could hardly imagine that such extensive mutations, insertions, deletions, various
single-nucleotide mutations could happen accidentally and that the virus wouldn't die during this process, because the virus doesn't
let anything touch this control room. " She goes on to say that while mutating structural proteins are quite acceptable
as they have no impact on the virus' survival, the genome's regulatory region, the control room, must remain free of mutation.
As any mutation could kill it, they happen rarely, incrementally and only to the virus' advantage. With a scientist's typical
understatement, she concludes that what happened in the SAR-2's control room is "atypical". When the interviewer asks in closing
whether even more dangerous viruses are being created in secret labs, she replies " I don't even want to imagine that, but
it's certainly possible. ".
It's as if this virus is running a hitherto unseen, even now barely glimpsed source code so nobody knows what drives it or
how it will behave. The mutations that split the virus into A, B, & C strains and their various permutations in their travels
around the world are just normally expected viral mutations of no great import in themselves. Continuing the software analogy,
they're just apps, morphing as they run but present no danger to the genomic integrity of the virus. They may be of great epidemiological
interest, but they're peripheral in the sense that the crime, the hitherto impossible mutation occurred inside the virus' "inner
sanctum" where mutations aren't normally allowed.
Dr. Pekova hopes to be looking at the SARS-2 "control room" with great intensity in the coming weeks. We can only hope that
her work won't suddenly be de-funded or the results buried due to political considerations. She seems to be the only one speaking
about what would appear to be a crucial distinction between genomic regions, but if the distinction is as crucial as I think it
is the question whether SARS-2 is natural or has been engineered should be settled soon.
A genetically engineered, or trashed and rebuilt "control room" has enormous epidemiological implications as the naturally
occurring, and expected "triggers" that control viral replication have been short-circuited. Perhaps that's why symptoms vary
from nothing at all, to interstitial pneumonia, to brain, nerve and organ damage. Why some patients go from mild, to critical,
to even death in hours. Perhaps that's why it seems to be able to circulate under the radar through a population only to explode
without warning. Perhaps the Chinese realized its unpredictability shortly after they mapped the genome, and why they escalated
a local medical emergency all the way to the Politburo and locked down so dramatically. Perhaps that's why they're pushing back
against the Mighty Wurlitzer that the White House has fired up in its attempt at pre-emptive self-defence.
When the nature/nurture question's been settled, the common mutations that encode structural proteins will indeed gain critical
interest in tracking down the lab it came from, but they ain't the most legally interesting thing right now. If it's natural,
the notion of liability blurs – a regrettable facet of life in a globalized world. If it was engineered in the course of legitimate
research and escaped the lab, liability becomes an issue. If it was engineered and used as a weapon, it's war, and if the currently
accepted mutation genealogy holds, it looks to have backfired horribly.
In other terms, the original Strain B would have been tailored to East Asians or to their environment.
Or more accurately, to the epidemiological environment which includes the East Asian populations and available favourable transmission
pathways. It may also be the case that the "tail" of the B Strain genome exhibited a temporary "stability" (in Dr. Pekova's) terms
that it lost after a couple of less fortuitous mutations "de-stabilized" it.
Frankly, I suspect that time plays a role here as well. It went nova in Hubei, and almost immediately appeared in force in
neighbouring countries, whereas Italy's disaster started almost a month later.
@Nuncle The Epoch Times is
a multi-language newspaper[2] founded in 2000 by John Tang and a group of Chinese Americans associated with the Falun Gong spiritual
movement.
@Tor597 Well for the short
term panic where the elephant hides from the mouse, sure – but it doesn't take out their working human capital, nor bring workers
back home to look after sick children – quarantined old people is not a weapon to stop an economy, it is a weapon to cut pension
and healthcare bills!!
I'm not saying it's impossible, and NATO are exceptionally farsical often, but even if this did run through China and kill
x% of the population, it would have improved their demographics. Honestly I'd put more money this weapon being intended for the
US and allied nations, but they just decided to spike China too – otherwise they'd have been in a position like the US after WWII.
The push to get supply chains – at least for necessary production like food, medicine – yes, that would be a decent motive.
But would they do so much better if there was a plague and production was in home nations? Labourers are stuck at home, so no
one to pick fruit for example. Nobody buying cars when sitting at home, whether made in China or the US. The argument that it
would be easier to restart a national supply chain instead of a global one is reasonable though.. Perhaps, maybe its Donald's
444D chess again!
@Tor597 The most important
oddity thrown up by the study is that the original A strain spread through West Coast USA despite not being the most prevalent
in China, where the B strain is the primary cause of infection.
Furthermore, if we take the official "Wuhan virus" narrative for correct, the A Strain virus would have behaved as a demanding
tourist, and out of the Wuhan major transport hub, would have selectively travelled to the US West Coast only, ignoring all
other destination.
(The A strain can be found in Australia too, but by very the admission of Australian PM, 80% of the cases are imported from the
US).
The overwhelming prevalence of the initial A Strain in the US West Coast is a blatant indication that the pandemic did not
start in China.
Here is damage-control orientated article by the Daily Mail, to read with a big pinch of salt, as it is oriented to brush away
the logical conclusion above:
Stanford Researchers Say Californians May Have Herd Immunity to COVID-19
Stanford University researchers believe the COVID-19 virus came to California last fall and was misidentified as a bad outbreak
of the flu. Now, it's possible millions of Californians were exposed to the virus and have developed herd immunity.
It's always advisable to evaluate the quality of a "researcher" before quoting his shocking claims
The "Stanford researcher" in question is Victor Davis Hanson, a fanatical Neocon associated with the Hoover Institution, and
someone with absolutely no scientific or medical background. For nearly two decades, he's been endlessly ranting about Islamofascists,
ChiComs, and everything else along those lines.
Now, based upon zero evidence, he has suddenly claimed in National Review that most Californians were already infected
with the Coronavirus. Thus, the very low CA fatalities had nothing to do with the early lockdown by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom
and suggests that Trump was right all along.
Naturally, this shocking theory was very widely promoted by FoxNews and other rightwing outlets, but viewed with extreme
"skepticism" by all medical and scientific experts.
Unfortunately, your gullible acceptance of the random spouting-off theories of some ignorant, fanatical Neocon may be quite
indicative of much of the other evidence and analysis provided in this article
may be quite indicative of much of the other evidence and analysis provided in this article
I suppose I should be more explicit
I'm absolutely no medical expert, and all I know about the Coronavirus is what I've read about it. But although most things
are disputed, one thing that almost everyone seems to agree about is that it is *extremely* infectious. For example, most experts
believe that in America a tiny handful of infected individuals in early/mid January had produced something like 250,000 infections
just seven weeks later. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of Italian infections are supposedly traced back to a single visitor
from Germany a couple of months earlier. The Chinese certainly recognize the extremely infectious nature of the virus. Okay.
But in your piece, you are arguing that the virus was already circulating in various parts of Virginia in June and July of
2019. If so, wouldn't we have expected to see many hundreds of thousands of Americans infected by later that year, producing exactly
the same sort of gigantic health crisis we're now facing? You seem to be suggesting that the CDC tried to "cover up" the outbreak.
But once thousands or tens of thousands of Americans were dying, wouldn't that cover-up have failed?
It's obviously possible that some random mutation suddenly made the virus either far deadlier or vastly more contagious. But
except for that possibility, backed by no evidence, I just can't see how the virus could have been circulating in the US almost
a year ago without anyone noticing the consequences.
There certainly seem to be many puzzles about both the nature of the virus and its origins. But its extremely rapid spread
in any community seems one of the few things about which everyone agrees.
For these reasons, I just don't see how the theory advanced in this article makes any sense at all.
@nsa The good old United
States of America was built up largely by the folks of protestant stock from the British isles and had it stayed that way then
none of this shit would have happened you can blame the speculators for ruining the best country in the world. Now let me hear
three loud cheers from you USA, USA, USA!
In comment 95 Dr. Unz is arguing that rapid spread of the virus makes it implausible that it simmered in the population for a
long time. There are a couple of problems with this.
This argument presumes that doubling time or exponential growth is an immutable property of the virus. Even if the virus does
not mutate, this is not the case. The spread of infections is a stochastic process of transition probabilities among several ergodic
states, (let's base it loosely on overwhelmed NY:)
healthy to sick: .006
sick to dead: .2
sick to recovered: .8
recovered to immune: .94
immune to sick: .0002
Now you can put these in a matrix and invert it to find the steady state, and you can iteratively multiply the transition matrix
by a vector of who's in what state. The result is not exponential. It's the product of a markov chain. The growth rate of infection
changes continuously, accelerating, then converging to an asymptote as you approach the steady state. It increases quite slowly
at first.
This variability is compounded if the virus mutates. And on a novel virus' first introduction to a new species it's likely
poorly adapted, floundering around for toeholds on your unfamiliar epithelial cells. As the virus adapts, it may spread more quickly,
kill more quickly, or abate to a sniffle, or some of each.
So treating the growth rate as a constant is superficially plausible but it elides two separate stochastic processes. In the
real world it is not dispositive.
@Erebus " one could hardly
imagine that such extensive mutations, insertions, deletions, various single-nucleotide mutations could happen accidentally and
that the virus wouldn't die during this process "
Her argument is frequently used by creationists that the evolution form A=>B must pass through intermediate stages C (A=>C=>B
) that can be deleterious to survival. The argument is not an iron clad because it's probabilistic like everything in genetics.
The key word here is 'must'. There are too many paths from A=>B to know all about them and their improbabilities. So, while I
like what she said, I am afraid she would back off if she was challenged by somebody who knows as much as she does but is not
keen on her conclusion.
New virus makers could go around the problem altogether by creating the intermediate stage viruses and introduce them into
the natural environments (like bats and pangolins) and then having them discovered by a 'friendly' scientist and published and
cataloged in the virus directory. So when the suspect new virus is studied, its natural antecedents would be waiting in the catalog
to be found to show a plausible natural evolutionary path.
I doubt that she write a paper about it and if somebody did it won't see the light of day.
Great post Godfree. The only thing it lacks are the numerous references to scientific papers that point to an earlier origin of
the virus (the main thesis of your post). I did a quick & dirty job of adding a couple in the link below but there are at least
three papers, from France UK and Italy, also pointing to an earlier origin (and it was done through a variety of analysis methods,
so a fairly robust conclusion). If I do the leg work will you add the papers to your article as a single footnote?
@Stan d Mute There are other
uses for viruses than as weapons. There are apparently, researchers working illegally (Illegally, because the viruses involved
are so dangerous) in secure labs, trying to find viruses to make a vaccine against AIDS. The point of doing such research, in
spite of the dangers of such research, is that the person or team who successfully develops such a vaccine, will be multi-millionaires.
@Ron Unz " gullible acceptance
" – It was not just his gullibility that made him believe it but his strong confirmation bias. Almost always the weakness
of mind is entangled with the weakness of character.
Truth3, re 84, no, I was not. I think we will find multiple introductions in spring 2019 or earlier. You wonder, does the raw
data of last year's false-negative FilmArray panels still exist? The physical samples would be gone, of course, but there's plenty
of storage capacity for the raw genetic results. They might show common anomalies for us mystery cases.
@utu LOL, nobody has a higher
bot army than the Evil Empire's propaganda network. They combine humans with AI bots.
In fact when I read message boards on sites like Breitbart, Inforwars, and the other AmeriNazi/ZioNazi sites, I tend to think
about 95% of the posts are from poorly programmed AI bots. I mean, can humans REALLY be that stupid and ignorant?
@utu Says the pervasively
idiot troll with a massive yet primitive confirmation bias, which only steadily confirms that utu is a moronic troll of little
moral substance, integrity or critical reasoning skills, and a fragile character and ego.
If you taught the children of a tribe of Talmudic Rabbi's obsessed with gematria how to use Crispr, what kind of numbers games
would they play with a Corona Virus? What kind of Amalek style revenge would they dream up?
@Ron Unz I consider this
"Virus" to be one part of a bio-weapon tool kit. The US military looted all German and Japanese bio-weapons and know how immediately
after the war. They even unleashed forms of bio-weaponized syphilus on black soldiers in the '50's and the sprayed the Bay Area
with various toxins and bacteria in the 1950's and 1960's. The LSD wave of mind poisoning, originating out of Stanford and the
Bay Area in the 1950's as part of MKultra was also a form of bio-weapon.
So I doubt anyone would argue that the US has a complete arsenal of bio-weapons. Since we know little about the real US bio-weapons
programs, we must look to weapons programs we are aware of to draw comparisons. A predator drone, a F-35, a Nimitz aircraft carrier
are all multi-purpose, as are most weapons in the US arsenal.
It is therefore quite logical to assume that the US has more than one form of CV19, more that one form of delivery, more than
one form of test kit, more than one form of antidote and/or vaccine.
One very plausible explanation for Victor Hansen expressing a very common held view that there has been a very nasty flu/cold
strain going around Ca and Wa for months is that it is true and that there was a pre-release of a milder virus. This could have
also happened all over or on many other parts of the US.
One way of using a CV19 tool kit would be to release a less lethal stain, perhaps even more contagious, among your population
to build up herd immunity before you release the "Little Boy" bio-weapon on Wuhan (Nagasaki).
I think that there could be a different dynamic at play here vis-a-vis the Corona. The news in the past few years have been full
of stories about intellectual property theft by the Chinese.
I think that the US wants to demonstrate to the world that it's payback time. I mean look, it wasn't a coincidence that Trump
wanted to put a label on the good old Corona – "Made in China".
There was a purpose behind this. He wanted to teach the Chinese a lesson, that even though they are the ones that created the
Corona, the US can steal their intellectual property and run the numbers higher than any country in the world.
I think that they succeeded in this. As of today, US are the country with the highest numbers of Corona infections in the world,
as well as fatalities. So take that China. US is still number one.
The growth rate of infection changes continuously, accelerating, then converging to an asymptote as you approach the steady
state. It increases quite slowly at first.
Probability of the growth slowing down and the process lingering on at a very low level so the number of infected individuals
remain so low that is below the critical point for the process to take off exponentially into a major breakout is very small and
only gets smaller with every additional infected individual. Time works against you. Basically you have two possibilities. The
process either dies out or it takes off exponentially.
Probability of major breakout is P=1-(γ/β)^k where
k- is number of infectious individuals
γ – recovery rate
β – transmission rate
If k increases P->1.
You can run many trajectories to calculate the probability of the breakout not taking off and not dying out and remaining below
radar (k very small) from September 2019 to January 2020 in America. And you may not invoke mutations as your deus ex machina
.
ZH was banned from twitter a couple of months ago when it released an expose on the Bio research facility in Wuhan. Since
that banning, ZH has been mounting a propaganda war against China parroting all the official CIA narratives. They have even
sunk so low that now they even push the "China knew about how bad the virus was but didn't tell the US". It is clear that the
US intelligence agencies were well aware of CV 19 already before the end of 2019 and the virus is even named with 19 (Notice
how CV19 has the 1 and the 9 like 9/11?).
But ZH keeps needling China like I have never seen them do to Russia or Iran in the past. Something has changed there .
Thus, the very low CA fatalities had nothing to do with the early lockdown by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and suggests
that Trump was right all along.
Now that is utterly hilarious and, of course, non-sensical.
The NY lockdown started on March 20, 2020, and California's lockdown started on wait for it March 20, 2020. LOL!!!!!!
At
that time , NY had 8,299 confirmed cases and CA had 1,095 confirmed cases (though CA had done far less testing so who knows).
Why is it, that at that time, CA had less cases? Something to do with authoritarian martial law "being on the minds" of Californians
and saving them from imminent death?
There are a number of differences between the two states, and having lived a long time in both, the two that strike me as most
relevant are: East Coast has a far higher population density with vastly more person-to-person contact while going about daily
business (from walking on crowded sidewalks, to riding on the subway, to living in highrises and sharing hallways/elevators/parking
garages, to the local shops, to congregating in neighborhood parks, etc.). Also, California is much less inter-generational within
a home, and really the greatest contagion risk is a young person (who is immune, asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic) coming home
and bringing the virus with him/her to infect his/her parents or grandparents.
LOL, nobody has a higher bot army than the Evil Empire's propaganda network. They combine humans with AI bots.
So very true. The UK's Daily Mail is a good example too. Under any hot propaganda article, readers' comments become
suddenly very short and expeditious like a subliminal message, without any of the style specificities found with real human. These
comments are of course always "Best rated" too, lol.
@NPleeze "The great snare
of the psychologist is the confusion of his own standpoint with that of the mental fact about which he is making his report. I
shall hereafter call this the 'psychologist's fallacy' par excellence." – William James
Something interesting happens. US CDC usually updated the estimated number of Flu deaths (including pneumonia) once a week. They
just published the total number of estimated flu death between Oct. 1, 2019 to April. 4th, 2020, here is the link
CDC estimates* that, from October 1, 2019, through April 4, 2020, there have been:
24,000 – 62,000
flu deaths
I made a screen shot for the the numbers up to March 28, the number is almost identical, except the upper range is 1000 more.
The new week revised down by 1000.
CDC estimates* that, from October 1, 2019, through March 28, 2020, there have been:
24,000 – 63,000
flu deaths
I put the screenshot here
so what is the conclusion here? at least for this one week, 100% of the so called Flu deaths are actually Covid-19 deaths.
That is why the flu death number remains the same. The deaths counts are all under Covid-19. Then what about the previous numbers?
Since US CDC has never started to test the Covid-19 until mid-March. Could they be ALL Covid-19 deaths, or at least a LARGE part
of them were Covid-19 deaths? I guess no one knows for sure, but it is very possible!
Thus, the very low CA fatalities had nothing to do with the early lockdown by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and suggests
that Trump was right all along.
Now that is utterly hilarious and, of course, non-sensical.
The NY lockdown started on March 20, 2020, and California's lockdown started on wait for it March 20, 2020. LOL!!!!!!
No, I think you're mistaken. Here's an excerpt from the San Jose Mercury News analyzing California's success:
The Bay Area's first-in-the-country orders for residents to stay home -- starting March 17 -- followed several days of increasing
restrictions on public gatherings and were emulated by other California counties. On March 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom mandated that
all 40 million Californians stay home unless they worked essential jobs. New York's statewide stay-home order came March 22.
But by then, New York's cases had multiplied to 15,168 -- 10 times the 1,536 in California at the time.
Keep in mind that the SF Bay Area had been the California epicenter, and it had the first lockdown in the country, coming some
five days before NY. Given the exponential spread of the infection, I've pointed out that a timing difference of just one week
can plausibly produce a death-toll 25 times(!) greater:
I'm certainly not claiming that the only reason for CA doing so well relative to NY was the timing of the lockdowns, with urban
density and mass-transit probably being additional factors. But I do believe that timing was the most important factor explaining
why the per capita death rate in NY is more than 30x greater than CA.
Epoch Times is clearly anti-china outlet so anything from it about china should be taken with
a grain of salt.
If this a pure anti-China propaganda or facts suggest that China did conduct dangerous
experiments with creating himeric viruses able to infect humans?
"The Chinese Communist Party has been very open about its biological warfare ambitions, they
don't even try to hide it. And it's been a huge injustice that people have not held them to
stronger account than they should have, because the Chinese Communist Party is able to act with
impunity and nobody criticizes what they do, " Philipp said.
The documentary is a comprehensive look at what the virus is and what has happened, and
Philipp hopes it can allow nations to make better-informed decisions.
Dr. Sean Lin, former lab director of the viral disease branch at Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research. (Courtesy of Epoch Times)
" At the very least, we can provide this as a package of information that will inform the
entire world exactly where this virus came from, and exactly what needs to be done going
forward," he said.
"And at the very least, they will be more cautious when dealing with the Chinese Communist
Party, especially at this time."
"People's lives are at stake and we find it very necessary to do this kind of work," he
said.
Does anyone have any comprehensive information on "Operation Squaredance", the US' biological
warfare operation waged against Cuba in the 60s? Specifically I'm looking for evidence that
it did indeed take place and can be linked to the outbreak of swine flu, round worm and
dengue that hit Cuba within the year it was supposed to be in action.
There seems to be a similar progression in the pattern of infections that hit Cuba and
those that struck livestock last year in China.
Found this reference, but wouldn't give me the story.
"The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff presented President Johnson with its recommendations for
Operation Square Dance, a plan to totally destroy Cuba's sugar crop in order to cause the
collapse of its socialist government led by prime minister Fidel Castro. President Johnson
refused to approve the operation because of the hardship upon the general ..."
From Wiki, but, that's all it would give me when I yahoo'ed it..
"..introducing aerially, from offshore, a sugar cane parasite Bunga. Subsequently, the
economic and political disturbances caused by this attack could be exacerbated and exploited
by such measures as spreading hoof-and-mouth disease among draft animals, controlling
rainfall by cloud seeding, mining canefields, burning cane, and directing other acts of
conventional sabotage against the cane milling and transportation systems."
Quite a bit of other ugly reading in those pages, including sabotage of "additives" by the
CIA and proposed "dilution" of pesticides, again by the CIA.
JULY 2019
"Mystery" respiratory illness emerges in Greenspring Retirement Community near the (at the
time) suddenly shut down military lab for biological weapons at Fort Detrick.
Mystery grows as 3rd resident dies from still-unidentified respiratory illness
An unknown respiratory illness has claimed a third life at the skilled nursing and
assisted living unit of a sprawling continuing care retirement community in Northern
Virginia.
Officials announced this week that lab testing still had not confirmed the source of the
illness, which has sickened 63 residents and 19 staff members since it first took hold June
30.
The outbreak has so far been confined to the single, 236-resident Garden Ridge unit at
Greenspring Retirement Community.
Fort Detrick was shut down in JULY 2019 for serious protocol violations (reasons
undiscleosed becuase, guess what, national security)
"... In the scientific documentary, Chinese researchers in a laboratory in Beijing managed to graft a surface protein of a coronavirus found in bats onto a virus that causes SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in mice. ..."
"... Furthermore, this specific coronavirus was shown to attach itself to our respiratory cells, triggering the syndrome and thus the organism can infect humans " directly from bats without going through an intermediate species, such as the mouse ". ..."
"... Salvini, along with Giorgia Meloni and the Fratelli d'Itali party , formally requested Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte explore whether the RAI documentary is proof that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that originated in Wuhan was created in a laboratory and escaped the control of Chinese scientists or was used as a bio-terrorist weapon by the Chinese government. ..."
chimera virus, Chinese, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fratelli d'Italia,
Giuseppe Conte, Jiang Yanyong, League Party, Lega Party, Leonardo, Matteo Salvini, pneumoniaacute, RAI, SARS
Former Italian Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini
is demanding answers about the origin of the Chinese coronavirus, particularly in relation to a revived 2015
Italian scientific documentary translated exclusively below by RAIR Foundation USA. In what appears to be a
coordinated attack, the mainstream media has viciously targeted Salvini for asking reasonable questions,
which suggests that he is onto something they would rather bury.
In 2015, Italian state broadcaster RAI
aired Leonardo, a show dedicated to science, which revealed that Chinese scientists had created a pulmonary
"supervirus" from bats and mice "for study purposes" that is capable of attacking humans.
Salvini
and other party leaders are demanding to know if there is a connection with the
research featured in the 2015 documentary and the Chinese coronavirus, which has wreaked havoc on Italy.
In the scientific documentary, Chinese researchers in a laboratory in Beijing managed to graft a surface
protein of a coronavirus found in bats onto a virus that causes SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in
mice. It should be noted that SARS was a "
114-day
epidemic
" which "swept 29 countries, affected a reported 8,098 people, [and] left 774 patients dead "
Chinese military surgeon Jiang Yanyong
exposed
his government's cover-up of the outbreak that originated in 2002–2003 in the Guangdong Province of China.
According to the documentary, the researchers imagined that the hybrid (a "chimera virus") was suitable
for affecting humans, a hypothesis later confirmed by laboratory results.
The episode that aired on Leonardo seems to fit perfectly with COVID-19. The
ingredients are all there: bats , SARS, acute pneumonia, the virus that attacks humans directly and infects
them. The coincidences were enough to warrant question from Lega Party leader,
Matteo
Salvini,
who has asked for clarity from the Italian government.
Salvini, along with
Giorgia Meloni and the Fratelli d'Itali party
, formally requested Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte explore whether the RAI documentary is proof that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that originated in
Wuhan was created in a laboratory and escaped the control of Chinese scientists or was used as a
bio-terrorist weapon by the Chinese government.
The establishment media has reacted swiftly and brutally to reasonable questions regarding the origin of
the Chinese coronavirus. When the media responds in such a matter, the onus is on thinking citizens to push
even harder for the truth. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.
Support our work at RAIR Foundation USA! We are a grassroots activist team and we need your help! Please
consider making a donation here:
https://rairfoundation.com/donate/
Video Transcript: many thanks to
Fousesquawk
for the translation:
Chinese scientists create a super pulmonary virus from bats and mice. It was only for purposes of
study, but there are so many protests. Is it worth the risk?
It is an experiment, of course, but it worries many scientists. A group of Chinese researchers
grafted a protein taken from bats onto the SARS virus, the acute pneumonia transmitted by mice. and out
comes a super virus that could infect humans.
It stayed closed inside a lab, of course. It is used only for study purposes, but is it worth running
the risk of creating a threat so great just to be able to examine it? Maurizio Menicucci.
The debate about the risks of research is as old as science itself. At the heart is the myth of
Icarus, who fell after flying too close to the sun with wax wings made by his father, Daedalus.
That brings up an experiment conducted in China, where a group of researchers succeeded in developing
a chimera, an organism modified by grafting the superficial protein of a corona virus found in bats, the
rather common horseshoe species, onto the virus that causes SARS, the acute pneumonia, albeit in a non-fatal
form in mice.
It was suspected that the protein could render the hybrid capable of infecting humans, and the
experiment confirmed it. It is precisely this molecule called SHC O 14 which permits the corona virus to
attach itself to our respiratory cells, unleashing the syndrome.
According to the researchers, moreover, the organism from the original, and even more so the
engineered one, could contaminate humans directly via bats without passing through an intermediary species
such as a mouse.
And indeed this eventuality has raised a lot a lot of controversy.
Just one year ago the US government suspended funding of research focusing on the most contagious
viruses.
But the moratorium didn't stop the work of the Chinese on SARS, which was already at an advanced
phase and not considered that dangerous.
According to a part of the scientific world, in fact, it is notThe probability that the virus would
pass to our species would be irrelevant in comparison with the benefits, a thinking that many other experts
reject.
First because the relationship between risk and benefit is difficult to evaluate. And then due to the
present-day species, it is more prudent not to put into circulation organisms that could escape or be
removed from the control of the labs.
Hi friends, the documentary is linked under the translated YouTube video:
https://www.rai.it/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-5e3275ba-475c-4cf4-b402-1e27dc47565b.html#p=39
WE ALLLLL THE WHOLE WORLD MUST AND SHOULD PUSH TOGETHER TO BRING DOWN CHINA THROUGH
STOP BUYING FROM CHINA.... ALLL THEIR JUNK....IF WE DO NOT DO SO, WE ALLL WILL END
DEATH UNDER THAT EVIL COMMUNIST PARTY. WE MUST PRAY FOR GOD'S WISDOM TO OVERCOME
EVIL.
YES, IF YOU GO TO YOU TUBE AND FIND "CONCIENCIA RADIO", ALEX BACKMAN HAS EXPOSED THIS.
I LEARN A LOT FROM HIM, AND OF COURSE, THERE IS A LOT OF PEOPLE TRYING TO SILENCE HIM.
US military intelligence
tried to raise the alarm about the coronavirus epidemic in China when it was still embryonic in
November, inside sources claim – raising questions of what they knew and who ignored, or
squashed the report. Not only had the coronavirus epidemic begun spiraling out of control in
Wuhan by November 2019, but military analysts were already warning it "could be a
cataclysmic event" for both China and the US, four sources familiar with the briefings told
ABC on Wednesday. Analysts at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, a subsidiary of the
Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, had been trying to alert Pentagon and Donald Trump
administration officials of the looming catastrophe for months before the country finally took
action, the sources claim.
Based on detailed analysis of intercepted communications and satellite imagery, the NCMI
reportedly projected that a virulent contagion already getting out of hand in Wuhan would soon
be menacing not just China but US troops stationed nearby. Most intriguingly, the sources hint
that analysts may have begun looking into the unfolding epidemic even earlier, given the
timeline for when the material crossed President Trump's desk. By the time the agency's
warnings made it into the President's Daily Brief in early January, they would have had to
undergo "weeks of vetting and analysis."
"The timeline of the intel side of this may be further back than we're discussing,"
one source told ABC, suggesting "preliminary reports from Wuhan" dated back even earlier
than the NCMI report, which was widely released among the intelligence community before
Thanksgiving and spawned several intel community bulletins that supposedly outlined Beijing's
own responses to the growing epidemic. China knew the coronavirus had gotten out of control,
the sources allege, but tried to keep it under wraps – a claim the Trump administration
has echoed repeatedly in the months since then.
The new revelations place the timeline for the virus' origins much closer to the
controversial claims of Chinese foreign policy spokesman Lijian Zhao, who claimed last month
(albeit without real evidence) that the US military had brought the virus to Wuhan when they
sent a delegation to the Military World Games in mid-October.
The Trump administration has been slammed for dragging its feet in response to the
coronavirus epidemic, playing down the potential disruption the disease would cause even as it
upended China's economy and forced millions into quarantine. While the president insisted
"no one could have known" the virus would wreak such havoc in the US, there's no way the
Trump administration could not have seen the information in the NCMI report, former
deputy assistant defense secretary Mick Mulroy told ABC, claiming "it would be a significant
alarm that would have been set off" and "literally every intelligence-collection
agency" would have gotten involved in following up and responding to the
threat.
But Defense Secretary Mark Esper told the outlet he was unaware of the issue coming before
the National Security Council in November or December. No official response was forthcoming
from the administration until Trump closed the border to flights from China in late January
– all the while insisting there was nothing to worry about (and, if insider stock sales
by multiple senators were any indication, telling Congress something different). Worse, not
only had multiple government agencies conducted several pandemic "war games" in the
months leading up to the outbreak, but they had performed poorly, making many of the same
missteps that they would faithfully repeat in real life.
The administration also had China's example to learn from, regarding the importance of early
testing and the futility of 'shutting the barn door' (locking down large segments of the
population) after the horse was gone (after the disease had already spread all over the
country). As a result, the US economy lies in ruins and millions of Americans are out of work
– and the nation still has the highest infection numbers in the world, dwindling medical
supply stockpiles, and no hope of getting back to work any time soon.
That story about US intelligence knowing about COVID in November is bogus. The purpose of
the story is to say that China knew about it in November -- and that US intelligence
discovered their knowing about it.
The claim is patently false because the first time that China, through lab testing,
actually discovered that there was a novel coronavirus was December 31st. US intelligence
cannot hack information from China that never existed. (Unless they planted the virus in the
first place.)
This story being propagated is to lay another fake foundation to say there was a Chinese
'cover up.' Don't fall for this nonsense.
"... This article is from a Chinese state media outlet repeating some questions regarding the origin of the Coronavirus. The questions are serious ones which can easily topple entire official US narratives on the matter and beyond. ..."
"... If the illness has originated from the US military facility as it has been concluded by some, and the US has covered it up and blamed the illness on China, the US didn't only exposed its own citizens to the virus, but it knowingly caused deaths and sufferings among its own people. It erroneously blamed China for not acting fast enough against the situation, while adding the coronavirus deaths to the US annual flu deaths -- which is always high due to its dysfunctional healthcare system. ..."
"... When a crisis situation is identified in mobilizing the population, one common technique to contain dissenting voices is a use of false equivalency. For example, in discussing the US imperial war against Syria, one might have said that Russia was bombing just like the US. ..."
Lastly, as I describe the historical trajectory of the US empire, one can not not examine
the nature of the current coronavirus situation. Although the event is still very much
developing some of us have already raised many questions.
This article is from a Chinese state media outlet repeating some questions regarding the
origin of the Coronavirus. The questions are serious ones which can easily topple entire
official US narratives on the matter and beyond.
If the illness has originated from the US military facility as it has been concluded by
some, and the US has covered it up and blamed the illness on China, the US didn't only exposed
its own citizens to the virus, but it knowingly caused deaths and sufferings among its own
people. It erroneously blamed China for not acting fast enough against the situation, while
adding the coronavirus deaths to the US annual flu deaths -- which is always high due to its
dysfunctional healthcare system.
According to the allegations, some elected officials might have even profited from this
murderous situation.
Subsequently, it stands to reason to question what has motivated the US to act in such a
drastic manner against the virus after knowingly tolerating the deaths being caused by the
virus for a few months.
Some points to keep in mind are:
A social crisis exacerbates structural violence against
already oppressed population leading to augmentation of ruling class interests. A crisis allows
bailout measures for those who are already being served by the system generously. A crisis
allows codification of draconian policies to further restrict already oppressed population. A
crisis justifies the existence of the authoritarian system. All of the above are various
aspects of capitalist hierarchy to serve itself by harming its own people.
When a crisis situation is identified in mobilizing the population, one common technique
to contain dissenting voices is a use of false equivalency. For example, in discussing the US
imperial war against Syria, one might have said that Russia was bombing just like the
US.
However, needless to say, Russia was invited by Syrian government to fight West backed
al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups in Syria. The liberation efforts by the Syrian Arab Army
and its allies brought back Syrian people to their own communities which were devastated by the
US proxy war against Syria.
Instances of falsely equating actions by the Chinese government and that of the US
government must be pointed out in discussing the virus situation. Chinese government detecting
a disease epidemic so that it can allocate sufficient medical care to its people is very
different from the US totally ignoring medical threats regularly and suddenly decides to "care"
in aimlessly draconian ways.
This Facebook post by Phil Greaves concisely lays out the differences. The post refers to
Britain but it also applies to the US.
China: Lockdowns in only the most affected areas.
Quarantine and hospital treatment for ALL suspected cases. Masks provided for everyone, no
"two-meter" bullshit. 200 million CPC members & volunteers mobilised to serve the elderly
& vulnerable with food and medicine. ALL wages paid in full for anyone off work due to the
virus, for the entire duration.
95% production regained after 4 weeks.
Britain:
Nationwide house-arrest. Shuts down nearly the entire economy, sacks millions of
workers, does not guarantee pay for even half of them. Gives the banks hundreds of billions.
Massively reduces healthcare capacity. Allows supermarket chains to exploit panic buyers.
Economic depression inevitable.
It is also very different for the Chinese government to regulate circulation of false
information in order to implement its policies effectively from the US censoring legitimate
questions about its ineffective policies and its active policies to harm its own people and
"others".
Content is automatically generated by Microsoft Azure Translator Text API. CGTN is not
responsible for any of the translations.
Beijing has urged a scientific and professional
explanation regarding the origin of the novel coronavirus after rising accusations that China
was the source of the pneumonia-like disease.
High level U.S. officials including President Donald Trump have been calling it "China
virus." National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien went even further, accusing the Chinese
government of "covering up" the outbreak which as a result "cost the world community two
months."
"We hope certain U.S. officials can focus on their domestic response and international
cooperation instead of trying to shift the blame to China by denigrating the Chinese Government
and people's efforts to fight the epidemic," said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng
Shuang on Friday.
The virus, first found in central China's Wuhan City last December, has been declared a
"pandemic" by the World Health Organization recently. More than 4,750 people have died of the
virus as of Friday with over 125,000 confirmed cases globally.
Late Thursday, another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian suggested that U.S.
is the one that lacks transparency in dealing with the outbreak.
The Beijing official cited Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), addressing a U.S. Congressional committee on Thursday. Redfield confirmed
that some coronavirus-related deaths have been found posthumously.
Zhao posted several tweets, demanding a further explanation from the U.S. Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter
Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter "CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in
U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?" he tweeted.
"It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan," Zhao added, saying the U.S.
should "be transparent" and "make public" all its data. Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter
Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter
Screenshot from Zhao's Twitter The "US owe us an explanation," he wrote.
Editor's Note : The following article is taken from the Chinese-language opinion column
"The Real Point."
COVID-19 has been repeatedly branded the "Chinese virus" by some U.S. politicians,
triggering widespread criticism from the international community. Global media have labeled the
words racist, xenophobic and nothing but a blame game by the Trump administration.
Sky News' Amanda Walker pointed out: "If millions of Americans die, it will be on his watch.
Calling it the "Chinese virus" is a way of deflecting blame."
The blame game won't work. No matter how loud those politicians shout, it won't silence the
questions being asked about America's response to disease prevention and control. Australian
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on March 20 that of all the confirmed cases in Australia,
about 80% are people who have come in from overseas or have caught the disease directly from
them. He added, "The country which has actually been responsible for a large amount of
[coronavirus cases] has actually been the United States."
As an increasing number of unanswered questions are being asked of the U.S. government, the
White House owes an explanation to the general public and the whole world.
Firstly, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there have
been over 30 million cases of influenza during America's flu season, which began in September
2019, with the death toll exceeding 20,000. After CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield conceded
that some of those deaths may have been caused by coronavirus, the question is how many and did
the U.S. government intentionally conceal the reality of COVID-19 with the flu?
One more question awaiting an answer from the U.S. government is: why was the U.S. Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick in Maryland, the largest
biochemical testing base, shut down in July 2019? Was the New York Times report correct that
problems with disposal of dangerous materials led to the shutdown?
Shortly after the chemical lab was closed, the U.S. reported a series of pneumonia cases or
diseases sharing similarities with pneumonia. They were blamed on e-cigarettes by the
authorities, although scientists have serious doubts about this. Almost simultaneously, there
was an H1N1 flu outbreak in the United States; in the following October, several U.S.
organizations held a global pandemic drill codenamed "Event 201"; in December, the first
COVID-19 case showed symptoms in Wuhan, China and in February, several places around the world
reported COVID-19 outbreaks. Based on all these developments, curiosity grew about the real
reasons behind the shutdown of the chemical lab.
It is natural to ask whether there was any link between these events. A petition on the
White House website is asking the government to reveal the real reason behind the Ft. Detrick
closedown. Citizens want to know whether the lab conducted any COVID-19 research and if any of
the virus samples leaked out. The U.S. government ought to answer these questions if it truly
cares for the health of the general public.
The questions continue: in mid-February, when the government downplayed the outbreak, why
did several U.S. senators sell off their stocks, which allowed them to avoid huge losses in the
subsequent plunges on the stock market? Is it possible that these politicians were cashing in
on privileged information on the outbreak, while hiding critical data from the public? Could
the "money comes first" mentality also apply here even when the country faced such a severe
situation?
The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence officials warned back in January about a
global crisis caused by COVID-19, stressing that it is critical for the government to take
early action. It was not until March 13 when the White House declared a national emergency. Why
did the U.S. government waste the precious window created by China paying a heavy price? The
world is waiting for answers from U.S. politicians on all these critical questions.
As of March 21, a total of more than 26,000 COVID-19 cases and 340 deaths had been reported
in the U.S., offering a glimpse at the results caused by U.S. political inaction at such an
acute time. Author of "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" Yuval Noah Harari pointed out in
the Financial Times: "Even if the current administration eventually changes tack and comes up
with a global plan of action, few would follow a leader who never takes responsibility, who
never admits mistakes, and who routinely takes all the credit for himself while leaving all the
blame to others."
Mankind can do nothing to reverse time and bring the dead back to life. Unless those U.S.
politicians change tack immediately, a heavy price will eventually be paid.
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at
[email protected])
Lookit big picture. DoD sees Chine as enemy. DoD has BSL4 and "studies" CV. Closes last
August Ft Det. DoD attacks. DoD lies. DoD serves masters, as Smedly said, thugs and gangsters
for big business.
The rest is details.
Oplan 20 1) create righteous cause with FFA and silence public by incapacitation
2) weaken enemy states in all ways (they are doing their best!)
3) use force.
We're collateral and regrettable losses.
No antiwar demos if "chine did it" (repeat endlessly)
The more often they say chine did it the more certain that Sam did it.
All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material, such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely
after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards.
No infectious pathogens,
or disease-causing material, have been found outside authorized areas at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The CDC inspected the military research institute in June and inspectors found several areas of concern in standard operating
procedures, which are in place to protect workers in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories, spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden confirmed
in an email Friday.
The CDC sent a cease and desist order in July.
After USAMRIID received the order from the CDC, its registration with the Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees disease-causing
material use and possession, was suspended. That suspension effectively halted all biological select agents and toxin research at
USAMRIID, Vander Linden said in her email.
The Federal Select Agent Program does not comment on whether a program such as USAMRIID is registered and cannot comment on action
taken to enforce regulations, Kathryn Harben, a spokeswoman for the CDC, wrote in an email.
“As situations warrant, [Federal Select Agent Program] will take whatever appropriate action is necessary to resolve any departures
from regulatory compliance in order to help ensure the safety and security of work with select agents and toxins,” Harben said in
the email.
The suspension was due to multiple causes, including failure to follow local procedures and a lack of periodic recertification
training for workers in the biocontainment laboratories, according to Vander Linden. The wastewater decontamination system also failed
to meet standards set by the Federal Select Agent Program, Vander Linden said in a follow-up email.
“To maximize the safety of our employees, there are multiple layers of protective equipment and validated processes,” she said.
Vander Linden could not say when the laboratory would be able to continue research.
“USAMRIID will return to fully operational status upon meeting benchmark requirements for biosafety,” she said in an email. “We
will resume operations when the Army and the CDC are satisfied that USAMRIID can safely and consistently meet all standards.”
USAMRIID has been working on modified biosafety level 3 procedures and a new decontamination system since flooding in May 2018.
This “increased the operational complexity of bio-containment laboratory research activities within the Institute,” she said.
At the time of the cease and desist order, USAMRIID scientists were working with agents known to cause tularemia, also called
deer fly or rabbit fever, the plague and Venezuelan equine encephalitis, all of which were worked on in a biosafety level 3 laboratory.
Researchers were also working with the Ebola virus in a biosafety level 4 lab, Vander Linden said.
Of the pathogens, Ebola, bacteria Yersinia pestis (plague), and bacterium Francisella tularensis (tularemia) are on the list of
the Health and Human Services select agents and toxins. The three are considered Tier 1 agents, which pose a severe public health
and safety threat.
Venezuelan equine encephalitis also falls under the Federal Select Agent Program, according to the Code of Federal Regulations.
The military research institute is looking at each of its contracts to see what will be affected by the shutdown. USARMIID work
outside the lab is not expected to be affected, including on Ebola, Vander Linden said.
“We are coordinating closely with the CDC to ensure that critical, ongoing studies within bio-containment laboratories are completed
under appropriate oversight and that research animals will continue to be cared for in accordance with all regulations,” she said
in an email. “Although much of USAMRIID’s research is currently on hold, the Institute will continue its critical clinical diagnostic
mission and will still be able to provide medical and subject matter expertise as needed to support the response to an infectious
disease threat or other contingency.”
According to the Code of Federal Regulations, which also lists required training, records and biosafety plans, Federal Select
Agents Program registration can be suspended to protect public health and safety. It is not clear if this is why the USAMRIID registration
was suspended.
The code also gives the Department of Health and Human Services, under which the CDC falls, the right to inspect any site and
records, without prior notifications. Vander Linden said in the email that the CDC inspected USAMRIID several times over the past
year, both unannounced and on a regularly scheduled basis.
USAMRIID will work to meet requirements set by the Army and the CDC and have its suspension lifted, Vander Linden said.
“While the Institute’s research mission is critical, the safety of the workforce and community is paramount,” she said. “USAMRIID
is taking the opportunity to correct deficiencies, build upon strengths, and create a stronger and safer foundation for the future.”
"To say that I'm infuriated by the recent actions of President Trump of the United States
is an understatement," Ball said. "I cannot believe for a second that in a time of crisis
that President Trump would even think about banning key medical supplies to Canada."
Ball noted that in 2001, more than 6,600 passengers descended on Gander, Newfoundland, a
town of 10,000 without warning as more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following
the attacks on the United States.
Flight crews filled Gander's hotels, so passengers were taken to schools, fire stations,
church halls. The Canadian military flew in 5,000 cots. Stores donated blankets, coffee
machines, barbecue grills. Locals gave passengers food, clothes, showers, toys and banks of
phones to call home free of charge.
"Newfoundland and Labrador will never give up on humanity . We will not hesitate for one
second if we had to repeat what we did on 9-11. We would do it again," Ball said.
"This is a time when we need to work together to continue to protect our residents and
keep them safe from COVID-19 no mater where they live or what passport they hold."[.]
Trudeau noted Canada supplies the U.S. with many supplies, including pulp for
surgical-grade N95 masks, test kits and gloves. Canadian nurses also work in the
U.S.
Question Canadians are asking. Those advising Trump, can they find Canada on the world
map? Sanctions and tariffs equates loss of market share.
British elite hypocrisy in action? Why in case of Novichok
Porton Down and the Army nurse on the scène were discounted?
Beware Daily Mail (or more precisely the Sunday version). Notorious for anti-Russian and anti-Chinese stories, along with
smearing anything even mildly left-wing
...a leak from a laboratory in the Chinese city is "no longer being discounted" by UK
ministers, according to a report in The Mail on Sunday .
... ... ...
American biosecurity expert Professor Richard Ebright, of Rutgers
University's Waksman Institute of Microbiology, New Jersey, said that while the evidence
suggests Covid-19 was not created in one of the Wuhan labs, it could easily have escaped from
there while it was being analyzed, the report said.
Prof Ebright said he has seen evidence that scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and
the Institute of Virology studied the viruses with only "level 2" security -- rather than the
recommended level 4 – which "provides only minimal protection against infection of lab
workers," the report said. He concluded that the evidence left "a basis to rule out [that
coronavirus is] a lab construct, but no basis to rule out a lab accident."
Intriguingly, when the wildlife market was closed in January, a report appeared in the
Beijing News identifying Huang Yanling, a researcher at the Institute of Virology, as "patient
zero" – the first person to be infected.
The claim was described as "fake information" by the institute, which said Huang left in
2015, was in good health and had not been diagnosed with Covid-19.
China poses a biosecurity risks for the entire planet. One year before the first coronavirus case
was identified in Wuhan, US Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a
Chinese biologist with three vials labeled "Antibodies" in his luggage.
According
to
an unclassified FBI tactical intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News:
"Inspection of the writing on the vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to
believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
(MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) materials."
Why is China trafficking in dangerous viruses in the first place?
According
to Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign
Relations:
"A
safety
breach
at a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab is believed to have caused
four suspected SARS cases, including one death, in Beijing in 2004. A similar accident caused
65
lab workers
of Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute to be infected with brucellosis in
December 2019. In January 2020, a renowned Chinese scientist, Li Ning, was sentenced to 12 years
in prison for selling experimental animals to local markets".
In February, Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao, from Guangzhou's South China University of Technology,
wrote
in
a research paper:
"In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host the killer coronavirus
probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level [
sic
] may need to be
reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories".
Xiao later
told
the
Wall
Street Journal
that he had withdrawn the paper because it "was not supported by direct
proofs".
Chinese laboratory mistakes have happened before. By 2010, researchers published
as
fact
: "The most famous case of a released laboratory strain is the re-emergent H1N1 influenza-A
virus which was first observed in China in May of 1977 and in Russia shortly thereafter". The virus
may have
escaped
from
a lab attempting to prepare a vaccine in response to the U.S. swine flu pandemic alert.
In 1999 the most senior defector in the US from the Soviet biological warfare program, Ken
Alibek, revealed that Soviet officials concluded that China had suffered a serious accident at one
of its secret biological plants, causing two major epidemics of fever that had swept China in the
late 1980s. "Our analysts", Alibek
stated
in
his book,
Biohazard
,
"concluded that they were caused by an accident in a lab where Chinese scientists were weaponizing
viral diseases".
In 2004, the World Health Organization
disclosed
that
the latest outbreak of "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) in China involved two researchers
who were working with the virus in a Beijing research lab. The WHO
denounced
Chinese
breaches of safety procedures, and director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Li
Liming,
resigned
.
Science
magazine
also
stated
that "for the third
time in less than a year, an outbreak of SARS seems to have originated from a failure in laboratory
containment".
Moreover, three years ago, when China opened the laboratory in Wuhan, Tim Trevan, a Maryland
biosafety specialist, told
Nature
that
he worried about the safety of the building because "structures where everyone feels free to speak
up and openness of information are important." Free speech and open information: exactly what
Chinese regime fought against in December and January.
A Chinese
video
about
a key researcher in Wuhan, Tian Junhua, which was released a few weeks before the outbreak in
Wuhan, shows Chinese researchers handling bats that contained viruses. In the video (produced by
China
Science Communication
, run by the China Association for Science and Technology), Tian
says
:
"I am not a doctor, but I work to cure and save people... I am not a soldier, but I
work to safeguard an invisible national defense line".
"I can feel the fear: the fear of infections and the fear of getting lost. Because of the
fear, I take every step extremely cautiously. The more scared I feel, the more care I take in
executing every detail. Because the process of you finding the viruses is also when you can be
exposed to them the easiest. I do hope these virus samples will only be preserved for scientific
research and will never be used in real life".
For a month, the Chinese Communist Party, instead of fighting the contagion, did everything
possible to censor all information about the Covid-19 outbreak. After President Xi Jinping declared
"
a
people's war
" on the epidemic on January 20, Chinese security services pursued
5,111
cases
of "fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information". The
Chinese Human Rights Defenders
documented
several
types of punishment, including detention, disappearance, fines, interrogations, forced confessions
and "educational reprimand".
After that, China lied about the real number of deaths. There are
photographs
of
long lines of stacked urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan. Outside
one funeral home, trucks
shipped
in
2,500 urns. According to Chinese official figures, 2,548 people in Wuhan have died of the
Covid-19. According to an
analysis
by
Radio
Free Asia
, seven funeral homes in Wuhan were each handing out 500 funeral urns containing
remains for 12 days, from March 23 to the traditional tomb-sweeping festival of April 5, a time
that would indicate up to 42,000 urns, or ten times higher than the official figure.
In February, it was reported that
Wuhan
crematoriums
were working around the clock to cope with the massive influx of infected bodies.
Wuhan's officials are apparently pushing relatives of the victims to bury the dead "
quickly
and quietly
".
"Natural virus" does not exclude its fallout from a laboratory where pathogens are
collected and studied.
The
Nature Medicine
authors "leave us where we were
before: with a basis to rule out [a coronavirus from] a lab construct, but no basis to rule out a
lab accident", Professor Ebright
commented
.
"
Debate may rage over which center it is, but at this point it seems undeniable
that a center has been directly involved with research on viruses, although not necessarily on the
creation of a virus"
wrote
Father
Renzo Milanese, a longtime Catholic missionary in Hong Kong
.
"In other words, the virus passed from a research center in Wuhan early on. More
importantly there is also no question that the authorities were aware of the dangerousness of
the virus, that they did not inform anyone and that they tried to keep the facts hidden".
US Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a resolution calling for an international investigation
into China's handling of the spread of the virus.
According
to
Hawley:
"The Chinese Communist Party was aware of the reality of the virus as early as December but
ordered laboratories to destroy samples and forced doctors to keep silent. It is time for an
international investigation into the role their cover-up played in the spread of this
devastating pandemic".
Admitting a fault, as the Japanese did after the
Fukushima
nuclear accident
in 2011, might be one way for a country to be accepted again by the
international community. Censoring, denying and covering up, as China is doing, will not.
"China claims that the deadly virus did not escape from its biolab,"
said
a
China specialist with the Population Research Institute, Steven W. Mosher.
"Fine. Prove it by releasing the research records of the Wuhan lab".
Come again?
Back in 2017 at forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University Dr. Fauci made an
interesting statement. Fauci told the audience the Trump administration will not only be
challenged by ongoing global health threats such as influenza and HIV, but also a surprise
disease outbreak.
Fauci: no antibody tests are necessary
Fauci: there will be 2.5 million deaths
Fauci: Oops, there's 200k
Fauci: I love Hillary
Fauci: I recommend shutdown until last Covid case
Fauci: I wouldn't take hydrocloroquinine
Fauci: we need the hospital ship because hospitals are overwhelmed.
Fauci: Oops, there's only 3 patients on the NYC ship
STOP LISTENING TO FAUCI
He needs to be fired too, at minimum, shoved out the door and told to never come back.
And who the he!! suggested bringing him on board in the first place?!
About drills that eerily "predicted" the COVID-19 pandemic, the Crimson Contagion pandemic
exercise that I posted about two threads back is even more suspicious in its predictive
accuracy and involvement of multiple American federal agencies, state governments, and
hospitals.
Among other things, the Crimson Contagion drill gives lie to the Trump assertion that no
one could have foreseen such a pandemic as COVID-19.
Add to that Whitney
Webb's latest multi-part series about the similarities of biowarfare simulations prior to
outbreaks of deadly pathogens - Dark Winter and Crimson Contagion.
In that very long article she writes:
Upon further investigation, key leaders of both Event 201 and Crimson Contagion, not only
have deep and longstanding ties to U.S. Intelligence and the U.S. Department of Defense,
they were all previously involved in that same June 2001 exercise, Dark Winter. Some of
these same individuals would also play a role in the FBI's "sabotaged" investigation into
the subsequent Anthrax attacks and are now handling major aspects of the U.S. government's
response to the Covid-19 crisis. One of those individuals, Robert Kadlec , was
recently put in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) entire
Covid-19 response efforts, despite the fact that he was recently and directly responsible
for actions that needlessly infected Americans with Covid-19.
...
Kadlec , a veteran of the George W. Bush administration and a former lobbyist for
military intelligence/intelligence contractors, is now leading HHS' Covid-19 response and
led the Trump administration's 2019 "Crimson Contagion" exercises, which simulated a
crippling pandemic influenza outbreak in the U.S. that had first originated in
China.
You definitely want such a shady figure in charge of a pandemic response team
This is better journalism than the junk we are fed by the MSM. And, of course, YouTubers
like you are seen as a "threat" to YouTube, because you are informing us without bias.
It's just surreal how one small Youtube channel does the job all the other major news
sources with their resources should have done. Following the usual pattern, I expect this
story to appear in other sources in two or three weeks or so. Our small local newspaper just
started becoming critical of the WHO this week, by the way. Keep up the great work.
Native Chinese speaker here. I don't wanna comment on the validity of the claims since I
have not done any research in this area myself, but I can confirm that any Chinese language
content in this video is valid, from job postings, research papers to researcher bios and
maps, everything says what OP claims it says.
Out of all the "conspiracy theories", (bio bombs, deep state creation designed to incite
fear to insense the markets and create panic so they could capitalize, etc...). This theory
makes the most sense.
"... There’s no proof the coronavirus accidentally escaped from a laboratory, but we can’t take the Chinese government’s denials at face value. ..."
"... Shi -- a virologist who is often called China's "bat woman" by her colleagues because of her virus-hunting expeditions in bat caves over the past 16 years -- walked out of the conference she was attending in Shanghai and hopped on the next train back to Wuhan. ..."
"... If coronaviruses were the culprit, she remembers thinking, "could they have come from our lab?" ..."
"... On February 4 -- one week before the World Health Organization decided to officially name this virus "COVID-19" -- the journal Cell Research posted a notice written by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology about the virus, concluding, "our findings reveal that remdesivir and chloroquine are highly effective in the control of 2019-nCoV infection in vitro ..."
"... One of the authors of that notice was the "bat woman," Shi Zhengli. ..."
"... In his YouTube video, Tye focuses his attention on a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology named Huang Yanling: "Most people believe her to be patient zero, and most people believe she is dead." ..."
"... There was enough discussion of rumors about Huang Yanling online in China to spur an official denial . On February 16, the Wuhan Institute of Virology denied that patient zero was one of their employees, and interestingly named her specifically: "Recently there has been fake information about Huang Yanling, a graduate from our institute, claiming that she was patient zero in the novel coronavirus." Press accounts quote the institute as saying , "Huang was a graduate student at the institute until 2015, when she left the province and had not returned since. Huang was in good health and had not been diagnosed with disease, it added." None of her publicly available research papers are dated after 2015. ..."
"... On February 17, Zhen Shuji, a Hong Kong correspondent from the French public-radio service Radio France Internationale, reported : "when a reporter from the Beijing News of the Mainland asked the institute for rumors about patient zero, the institute first denied that there was a researcher Huang Yanling, but after learning that the name of the person on the Internet did exist, acknowledged that the person had worked at the firm but has now left the office and is unaccounted for." ..."
"... As Tye observes, a public appearance by Huang Yanling would dispel a lot of the public rumors, and is the sort of thing the Chinese government would quickly arrange in normal circumstances -- presuming that Huang Yanling was still alive. Several officials at the Wuhan Institute of Virology issued public statements that Huang was in good health and that no one at the institute has been infected with COVID-19. In any case, the mystery around Huang Yanling may be moot, but it does point to the lab covering up something about her. ..."
"... That Radio France Internationale report on February 17 also mentioned the next key part of the Tye's YouTube video. "Xiaobo Tao, a scholar from South China University of Technology, recently published a report that researchers at Wuhan Virus Laboratory were splashed with bat blood and urine, and then quarantined for 14 days." HK01, another Hong Kong-based news site, reported the same claim . ..."
"... The paper was removed a short time after it was posted, but archived images of its pages can be found here and here . ..."
"... despite the stories of "bat soup," they conclude that bats were not sold at the market and were unlikely to be deliberately ingested. ..."
"... Botao Xiao's paper theorizes that the coronavirus originated from bats being used for research at either one of two research laboratories in Wuhan. ..."
"... In one of their studies, 155 bats including Rhinolophus affinis were captured in Hubei province, and other 450 bats were captured in Zhejiang province. ..."
"... Surgery was performed on the caged animals and the tissue samples were collected for DNA and RNA extraction and sequencing. The tissue samples and contaminated trashes were source of pathogens. They were only ~280 meters from the seafood market. The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Union Hospital (Figure 1, bottom) where the first group of doctors were infected during this epidemic. It is plausible that the virus leaked around and some of them contaminated the initial patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed in future study. ..."
"... In summary, somebody was entangled with the evolution of 2019-nCoV coronavirus. In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high risk biohazardous laboratories. Regulations may be taken to relocate these laboratories far away from city center and other densely populated places. ..."
"... The bat researcher that Xiao's report refers to is virologist Tian Junhua, who works at the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control. In 2004, the World Health Organization determined that an outbreak of the SARS virus had been caused by two separate leaks at the Chinese Institute of Virology in Beijing. The Chinese government said that the leaks were a result of "negligence" and the responsible officials had been punished. ..."
"... Bat urine and blood can carry viruses. How likely is it that bat urine or blood got onto a researcher at either Wuhan Center for Disease Control & Prevention or the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Alternatively, what are the odds that some sort of medical waste or other material from the bats was not properly disposed of, and that was the initial transmission vector to a human being? ..."
"... Virologists have been vehemently skeptical of the theory that COVID-19 was engineered or deliberately constructed in a laboratory ; ..."
"... But it is a remarkable coincidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was researching Ebola and SARS-associated coronaviruses in bats before the pandemic outbreak, and that in the month when Wuhan doctors were treating the first patients of COVID-19, the institute announced in a hiring notice that "a large number of new bat and rodent new viruses have been discovered and identified." And the fact that the Chinese government spent six weeks insisting that COVID-19 could not be spread from person to person means that its denials about Wuhan laboratories cannot be accepted without independent verification. ..."
There’s no proof the coronavirus accidentally escaped from a laboratory, but we
can’t take the Chinese government’s denials at face value.
It is understandable that many would be wary of the notion that the origin of the
coronavirus could be discovered by some documentary filmmaker who used to live in China.
Matthew Tye, who creates YouTube videos, contends he has identified
the source of the coronavirus — and a great deal of the information that he presents,
obtained from public records posted on the Internet, checks out.
... ... ...
Scientific American
verifies much of the information Tye mentions about Shi Zhengli, the Chinese virologist
nicknamed "Bat Woman" for her work with that species.
Shi -- a virologist who is often called China's "bat woman" by her colleagues because
of her virus-hunting expeditions in bat caves over the past 16 years -- walked out of the
conference she was attending in Shanghai and hopped on the next train back to Wuhan. "I
wondered if [the municipal health authority] got it wrong," she says. "I had never expected
this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China." Her studies had shown that the
southern, subtropical areas of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan have the greatest risk of
coronaviruses jumping to humans from animals -- particularly bats, a known reservoir for many
viruses. If coronaviruses were the culprit, she remembers thinking, "could they have come
from our lab?"
. . . By January 7 the Wuhan team determined that the new virus had indeed caused the
disease those patients suffered -- a conclusion based on results from polymerase chain
reaction analysis, full genome sequencing, antibody tests of blood samples and the virus's
ability to infect human lung cells in a petri dish. The genomic sequence of the virus -- now
officially called SARS-CoV-2 because it is related to the SARS pathogen -- was 96 percent
identical to that of a coronavirus the researchers had identified in horseshoe bats in
Yunnan, they reported in a paper published last month in
Nature . "It's crystal clear that bats, once again, are the natural reservoir," says
Daszak, who was not involved in the study.
Analyses of the SARS -CoV-2 genome indicate a single spillover event, meaning the virus
jumped only once from an animal to a person, which makes it likely that the virus was
circulating among people before December. Unless more information about the animals at the
Wuhan market is released, the transmission chain may never be clear. There are, however,
numerous possibilities. A bat hunter or a wildlife trafficker might have brought the virus to
the market. Pangolins happen to carry a coronavirus, which they might have picked up from
bats years ago, and which is, in one crucial part of its genome, virtually identical to SARS
-CoV-2. But no one has yet found evidence that pangolins were at the Wuhan market, or even
that venders there trafficked pangolins.
On February 4 -- one week before the World Health Organization
decided to officially name this virus "COVID-19" -- the journal Cell Research posted a
notice written by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology about the virus, concluding,
"our findings reveal that remdesivir and chloroquine are highly effective in the control of
2019-nCoV infection in vitro . Since these compounds have been used in human patients with
a safety track record and shown to be effective against various ailments, we suggest that they
should be assessed in human patients suffering from the novel coronavirus disease." One of
the authors of that notice was the "bat woman," Shi Zhengli.
In his YouTube video, Tye focuses his attention on a researcher at
the Wuhan Institute of Virology named Huang Yanling: "Most people believe her to be patient
zero, and most people believe she is dead."
There was enough discussion of rumors about Huang Yanling online in China to spur an
official denial . On February 16, the Wuhan Institute of Virology denied that patient zero
was one of their employees, and interestingly named her specifically: "Recently there has been
fake information about Huang Yanling, a graduate from our institute, claiming that she was
patient zero in the novel coronavirus."
Press accounts quote the institute as saying , "Huang was a graduate student at the
institute until 2015, when she left the province and had not returned since. Huang was in good
health and had not been diagnosed with disease, it added." None of her publicly available
research
papers are dated after 2015.
The web page for the
Wuhan Institute of Virology's Lab of Diagnostic Microbiology does indeed still have "Huang
Yanling" listed as a 2012 graduate student, and her picture and biography appear to have been
recently removed -- as have those of two other graduate students from 2013, Wang Mengyue and
Wei Cuihua.
Her name still has a hyperlink, but the linked page is blank . The pages for
Wang Mengyue and Wei Cuihua are blank as well.
(For what it is worth, the South China Morning Post -- a newspaper seen
as being generally pro-Beijing --
reported on March 13 that "according to the government data seen by the Post, a 55 year-old
from Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted Covid-19 on November
17.")
On February 17, Zhen Shuji, a Hong Kong correspondent
from the French public-radio service Radio France Internationale, reported : "when a
reporter from the Beijing News of the Mainland asked the institute for rumors about patient
zero, the institute first denied that there was a researcher Huang Yanling, but after learning
that the name of the person on the Internet did exist, acknowledged that the person had worked
at the firm but has now left the office and is unaccounted for."
Tye says, "everyone on the Chinese internet is searching for [Huang Yanling] but most
believe that her body was quickly cremated and the people working at the crematorium were
perhaps infected as they were not given any information about the virus." (The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention says that handling the body of someone who has died
of coronavirus is safe -- including embalming and cremation -- as long as the standard
safety protocols for handing a decedent are used. It's anyone's guess as to whether those
safety protocols were sufficiently used in China before the outbreak's scope was known.)
As Tye observes, a public appearance by Huang Yanling would dispel a lot of the public
rumors, and is the sort of thing the Chinese government would quickly arrange in normal
circumstances -- presuming that Huang Yanling was still alive. Several officials at the Wuhan
Institute of Virology issued public statements that Huang was in good health and that no one at
the institute has been infected with COVID-19. In any case, the mystery around Huang Yanling
may be moot, but it does point to the lab covering up something about her.
China Global Television Network, a state-owned television broadcaster, illuminated
another rumor while attempting to dispel it in a February 23 report entitled "Rumors Stop
With the Wise":
On February 17, a Weibo user who claimed herself to be Chen Quanjiao, a researcher at the
Wuhan Institute of Virology, reported to the public that the Director of the Institute was
responsible for leaking the novel coronavirus. The Weibo post threw a bomb in the cyberspace
and the public was shocked. Soon Chen herself stepped out and declared that she had never
released any report information and expressed great indignation at such identity fraud on
Weibo. It has been confirmed that that particular Weibo account had been shut down several
times due to the spread of misinformation about COVID-19.
That Radio France Internationale report on February 17 also mentioned the next key part
of the Tye's YouTube video. "Xiaobo Tao, a scholar from South China University of Technology,
recently published a report that researchers at Wuhan Virus Laboratory were splashed with bat
blood and urine, and then quarantined for 14 days." HK01, another Hong Kong-based news site,
reported the same claim .
The first conclusion of Botao Xiao's paper is that the bats suspected of carrying the virus
are extremely unlikely to be found naturally in the city, and despite the stories of "bat
soup," they conclude that bats were not sold at the market and were unlikely to be deliberately
ingested.
The bats carrying CoV ZC45 were originally found in Yunnan or Zhejiang province, both of
which were more than 900 kilometers away from the seafood market. Bats were normally found to
live in caves and trees. But the seafood market is in a densely-populated district of Wuhan,
a metropolitan [area] of ~15 million people. The probability was very low for the bats to fly
to the market. According to municipal reports and the testimonies of 31 residents and 28
visitors, the bat was never a food source in the city, and no bat was traded in the
market.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization
could not confirm if bats were present at the market. Botao Xiao's paper theorizes that
the coronavirus originated from bats being used for research at either one of two research
laboratories in Wuhan.
We screened the area around the seafood market and identified two laboratories conducting
research on bat coronavirus. Within ~ 280 meters from the market, there was the Wuhan Center
for Disease Control & Prevention. WHCDC hosted animals in laboratories for research
purpose, one of which was specialized in pathogens collection and identification. In one
of their studies, 155 bats including Rhinolophus affinis were captured in Hubei province, and
other 450 bats were captured in Zhejiang province. The expert in Collection was noted in
the Author Contributions (JHT). Moreover, he was broadcasted for collecting viruses on
nation-wide newspapers and websites in 2017 and 2019. He described that he was once by
attacked by bats and the blood of a bat shot on his skin. He knew the extreme danger of the
infection so he quarantined himself for 14 days. In another accident, he quarantined himself
again because bats peed on him.
Surgery was performed on the caged animals and the tissue samples were collected for
DNA and RNA extraction and sequencing. The tissue samples and contaminated trashes were
source of pathogens. They were only ~280 meters from the seafood market. The WHCDC was also
adjacent to the Union Hospital (Figure 1, bottom) where the first group of doctors were
infected during this epidemic. It is plausible that the virus leaked around and some of them
contaminated the initial patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed in future
study.
The second laboratory was ~12 kilometers from the seafood market and belonged to Wuhan
Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences . . .
In summary, somebody was entangled with the evolution of 2019-nCoV coronavirus. In
addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus
probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in
high risk biohazardous laboratories. Regulations may be taken to relocate these laboratories
far away from city center and other densely populated places.
However, Xiao has
told the Wall Street Journal that he has withdrawn his paper . "The speculation about the
possible origins in the post was based on published papers and media, and was not supported by
direct proofs," he said in a brief email on February 26.
The bat researcher that Xiao's report refers to is virologist Tian Junhua, who works at
the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control. In 2004, the World Health Organization determined that an
outbreak of the SARS virus had been caused by two separate leaks at the Chinese Institute of
Virology in Beijing. The Chinese government said that the leaks were a result of "negligence"
and the responsible officials had been punished.
In 2017, the Chinese state-owned Shanghai Media Group made a seven-minute documentary
about Tian Junhua, entitled "Youth in the Wild: Invisible Defender." Videographers followed
Tian Junhua as he traveled deep into caves to collect bats.
"Among all known creatures, the bats are rich with various viruses inside," he says in
Chinese.
"You can find most viruses responsible for human diseases, like rabies virus, SARS, and
Ebola. Accordingly, the caves frequented by bats became our main battlefields." He
emphasizes, "bats usually live in caves humans can hardly reach. Only in these places can we
find the most ideal virus vector samples."
One of his last statements on the video is:
"In the past ten-plus years, we have visited every corner of Hubei Province. We explored
dozens of undeveloped caves and studied more than 300 types of virus vectors. But I do hope
these virus samples will only be preserved for scientific research and will never be used in
real life. Because humans need not only the vaccines, but also the protection from the nature
."
The environment for collecting bat samples is extremely bad. There is a stench in the bat
cave. Bats carry a large number of viruses in their bodies. If they are not careful, they are
at risk of infection. But Tian Junhua is not afraid to go to the mountain with his wife to
catch Batman.
Tian Junhua summed up the experience that the most bats can be caught by using the sky
cannon and pulling the net. But in the process of operation, Tian Junhua forgot to take
protective measures. Bat urine dripped on him like raindrops from the top. If he was
infected, he could not find any medicine. It was written in the report.
The wings of bats carry sharp claws. When the big bats are caught by bat tools, they can
easily spray blood. Several times bat blood was sprayed directly on Tians skin, but he didn't
flinch at all. After returning home, Tian Junhua took the initiative to isolate for half a
month. As long as the incubation period of 14 days does not occur, he will be lucky to
escape, the report said.
Bat urine and blood can carry viruses. How likely
is it that bat urine or blood got onto a researcher at either Wuhan Center for Disease Control
& Prevention or the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Alternatively, what are the odds that some
sort of medical waste or other material from the bats was not properly disposed of, and that
was the initial transmission vector to a human being?
Virologists have been vehemently skeptical of
the theory that COVID-19 was engineered or deliberately constructed in a laboratory ;
the director of the National Institutes of Health has
written that recent genomic research "debunks such claims by providing scientific evidence
that this novel coronavirus arose naturally." And none of the above is definitive proof that
COVID-19 originated from a bat at either the Wuhan Center for Disease Control & Prevention
or the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Definitive proof would require much broader access to
information about what happened in those facilities in the time period before the epidemic in
the city.
But it is a remarkable coincidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was researching
Ebola and SARS-associated coronaviruses in bats before the pandemic outbreak, and that in the
month when Wuhan doctors were treating the first patients of COVID-19, the institute announced
in a hiring notice that "a large number of new bat and rodent new viruses have been discovered
and identified." And the fact that the Chinese government spent six weeks insisting that
COVID-19 could not be spread from person to person means that its denials about Wuhan
laboratories cannot be accepted without independent verification.
JailBanksters , 6
minutes ago Why I'm skeptical ...
Like in 911, the culprits were Identified within hours of attack without any proof and any
investigation.
The Fake Newz Media then began the circle jerk of Information, it must be true because
everybody's saying the same thing. The same thing with Wuhan. They tried to blame the Fish
Market, but the person they claimed was zero, NEVER went to fish market. When that story fell
apart, they then tried to pin it on somebody working in a Canadian Lab that stole it, and that
story just didn't Pan out either. So Now we're back to Bats and the Wuhan Lab.
No real proof of anything, just speculation.
And it's the Banking System that will benefit greatly from this Virus, not China.
Resigned,
12 minutes ago
"The novel 2019 coronavirus is nature punishing the human race for keeping
uncivilized living habits. I, Shi Zhengli, swear on my life that it has nothing to do with our
laboratory".
...and then Shi disappeared...
Now the Lab is 'reportedly' run by Maj Gen Chen Wei, China's top Military Bio Weapons
expert...
BCNU...
PeterCamenzind , 21 minutes ago
Right on cue - another hit piece on China to whip up
the plebs into a frenzy, I started to set my watch on these carefully prepared drivel
appearances. We need more of these stories, we need a war now to revive the economy - lets also
throw the Saudis and Russians into the pot while we are at it, they have the gall to make
gasoline affordable - USA! USA! USA!
smaker , 23 minutes ago (Edited)
The article headline is
wrong.
There are other trails just as strong or stronger that lead elsewhere.
This article is yet another in a long line that selectively chooses facts and other
information to draw a chosen conclusion. The ZH "new intake" of anti-China paid trolls will be
loving it. Check out their venomous comments. And check out the downvotes they give to anybody
who questions China's blame.
Truth is we do not know who is responsible for this.
That's the only known fact.
PeterCamenzind , 3 minutes ago
This article is right out of a
Langley laboratory, that much we can easily ascertain.........the attempt here is to deflect -
or as Pompus stated it: we lie, we steal, we kill, we cheat - we have a god given right to do
whatever we want to do.
Add this to the list of American disinformation campaigns like mythical Iraqi Weapons of
Mass Destruction; Kuwaiti Incubator babies; Muammar Qaddafi's "Viagra rape squads"; Syrian
"chemical weapons" use in Douma; Russia hacking America's faux democracy; USA-armed moderate
jihadists in Syria; and the fraudulent War on Terror.
The more people die in America because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the more America
points the finger at China ... as if this somehow makes the Land of the Free's criminal
negligence in this pandemic more "tolerable."
"Based on the genome sequence and properties of the virus, there is no basis to suspect the
virus was engineered," said Prof. Richard H. Ebright, the laboratory director at the Waksman
Institute of Microbiology and a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers
University.
https://www.thestreet.com/latest-news/was-the-coronavirus-outbreak-caused-by-a-lab-accident
Ebright gives no details to allow consideration of the very specific reasons given by the
Indian research team who offered the polar opposite conclusion. They don't make as much money
as he does, but they are each far more specifically qualified and experienced with respect to
genetic sequences in viruses. Ebright also gives no insight as to what properties he is
referencing or how they indicate it is not bio-engineered. If he is implying it's not not
intended as a weapon because it has been no more effective than other viruses (which might
have been engineered as well), that argument has been dismissed for obvious reasons by many
who frequent this forum.
Now Ebright says: "But Richard H. Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers
University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday that there is a real
possibility that the virus entered the human population due to a laboratory accident.
When asked specifically if he believes the virus could have leaked from Shi's lab in Wuhan,
Ebright said: "Yes."
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-leaked-wuhan-institute-virology-richard-ebright-shi-zhengli/
Please consider the following. An American virologist who worked in biological warfare for
30 years has advised that the easiest and most cost effective way to create viruses with
enhanced weaponization capability is to infect ferrets, let them breed, and look for
resulting viruses to find something useful.
https://harvardtothebighouse.com/2020/01/31/logistical-and-technical-analysis-of-the-origins-of-the-wuhan-coronavirus-2019-ncov/
If this is true, and there is no reason to doubt him, there is absolutely no way for anyone
to discern a virus deliberately created to be a bioweapon in a bioweapon laboratory that has
been accidentally released from a virus created (whether accidentally or intentionally) in a
bioweapon laboratory for benign or laudable reasons that has been accidentally released.
None. And perhaps more importantly, Ebright knows that. Or he knows nothing and has been
blowing smoke to reporters...whether intentionally or by virtue of his own lack of
information.
There is every reason to suspect the virus might have been accidentally released from the
laboratory. There is every reason to suspect there is a certain amount of deliberate salting
of information in US mainstream media over these issues. The assertion it cannot have been a
bioweapon but might have leaked from the laboratory is not a scientifically supportable
statement given the use of live animals to create bioweapons in the first place.
Sponsored by the The Gates Foundation, the John Hopkins Center for Global Security, and
the World Economic Forum, Event 201 was held October 18, 2019, the SAME DAY that the World
Military Games began in Wuhan, China.
Video one (at 17:21) specifically names the Novel Coronavirus as the cause of a global
pandemic! (The Event 201 videos predicted 65 million deaths from the pandemic . . . the
FactCheck.org website blatantly lies about this, using semantics to say that this was a
"model" and "not a prediction".)
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic
Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic
exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The exercise illustrated areas where
public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in
order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.
Serious question: Has America's misnamed "intelligence community" leaked anything
truthful to the mass media since the run-up to America attacking Iraq?
I have been trying to remember an instance when they have not lied and am having trouble
with that so if anyone else knows I would appreciate a quick reminder.
Narrative management seeking a scapegoat. US intelligence argues that China officially knew
of pandemic in November, and implies that an alleged failure to sound the alarm until end of
December created the conditions resulting in US and other countries to be unprepared. This is
nonsense. All countries outside of China had more than enough time to prepare. The failing of
US leaders and bureaucracy has been exemplified by first allowing identified infected persons
to freely wander through NYC, for example, since February, followed by allowing outbreaks
within their own military forces.
Deliberate state-sponsored campaigns to create/identify scapegoats has numerous awful
precedents historically.
Exact numbers are not important, but the policies are. The Chinese policy has been very clear
right from the beginning: eradicate the virus. It seems to be working. The US policy has been
murky from the start, but appears to be : don't eradicate the virus; let it become endemic.
The latest evidence for this is a sign next to Trump: "30 Days To Slow The Spread". These two
policies are fundamentally incompatible. I am still thinking that Uncle Sam wants to surround
China and friends with endemic corona virus.
The US police state which has been evolving for decades has now ripped away the facade of
freedom overnight. Where I live the state governor has issued an "executive order" placing us
all under house arrest unless we meet certain exceptions, to be decided by ham-fisted
bureaucrats and police.
The Governor's order which effectively seizes every resident without a warrant or probable
cause or due process of any kind is patently offensive and unconstitutional. Meanwhile there
will be no statewide moratorium on rent, mortgages, utilities, so landlords are free to evict
tenants who are prohibited from earning a living.
During a press conference she was asked about this. She said talked to a few landlords
(who no doubt contribute to her election campaigns) who informed her that a
"one-size-fits-all" approach was not acceptable to them.
There are no defined endpoints to these restrictions. Now that the racetracks are closed,
instead of betting on dogs and ponies we should start a pool on how long until the whole
place explodes like a super volcano. My bet is for the third day of a 90F plus heat wave in
Washington DC - probably by mid-June.
TJ: Why the fuck did any country let in anyone coming from China is the real question one
should ask. Of course, China should've closed down its own borders to protect others, but the
other governments who willingly did nothing, endangering their very own populations, are even
more guilty.
Besides, one can make the same accusation against most countries, to begin with Italy: Why
did Italy not close its borders when the virus spread there? The bulk of European infections
can be traced back the Northern Italy after all. So, there again, the biggest crime lies with
other European governments who failed to fully isolate Italy as soon as it was obvious the
infections appeared there.
B: I made the same reasoning, Hubei is big and has plenty of deaths all around. If there
were no funerals for more than 2 months, that's a lot of urns lying around.
As for the current "China lied about the numbers", these idiots should've guessed it was
serious shit when China put under lockdown a 60-mio people province that was nowhere near
rebellion Hong-Kong style. As far as I can see, it's mostly Western asshole leaders
deflecting attention and trying to make their people believe they did a good job and no one
could've done better, since after all China had a horrendous death rate as well - though I
hope most people won't fall for such an obvious lie.
We could invert your question: if the West is so superior than China, then why didn't its
intelligence system didn't see through China's alleged lies and immediately blocked flights
from China to their respective countries?
Either you are superior or you're not. You can't be both at the same time.
Even in this op-ed, the Global Times contained. It didn't mention capitalism's
degeneration since 2008, which left it in a very frail state (that's probably why they hired
a British analyst to write it).
There were people who were infectious who left China before the Chinese authorities had even
identified the COVID-19. The only way to stop an infection entering a country would be to
insist that every single visitor to that country remained in quarantine for thirty days after
entry. Just imagine the impact on tourism and business. To visit for a one hour business
meeting requires two months in quarantine, one month upon entry to the destination country
and another month on return to the home country as all countries would be entitled to demand
similar quarantine terms.
As for Italy
:
He says it looks unlikely that Italy could have done anything to completely prevent the
virus from entering. "The only thing we could have done is introducing the current lockdown
on 30 January, a decision that was impossible and unthinkable at the time," he says. Even
stopping flights from China might have had no influence at all, he says – new,
provisional research suggests that the coronavirus reached Italy from Germany.
Every country in the EU closing its borders to residents of every other country in the EU
without good cause couldn't happen. And the UK, which was leaving the EU did nothing at its
borders - I read tweets through February and March from air passengers travelling to the UK
that were amazed at the lack of testing and quarantine even when fellow passengers clearly
displayed the symptoms of COVID-19.
Rats appear to be scurrying to deflect attention from the ratlines.
Bhadrakumar had an interesting piece up suggesting some truth telling is likely going on
in certain circles.
In an exclusive remark, a "source in the Russian Foreign Ministry" told the state news
agency Tass:
"In order to unambiguously answer the question about the origin, about where the first
case emerged, major research needs to be carried out. So, Washington's accusing tone in
comments against China arouses blatant bewilderment."
The source then went on to touch on the allegation made in China -- namely, that a team
of American military personnel had visited Wuhan, China, previously before the outbreak.
The Russian Foreign Ministry source said:
"As for "US trace" in the COVID-19 outbreak, we don't have this data today. However, for
a long time we have been watching with concerns the US military and biological activity
carried out in direct proximity with our borders. In other words, there are indeed
questions for the US."
Now, a few things must be said right at the outset. Any longtime observer of the Russian
state system, media culture and Russian diplomacy would know that Tass, which functions
under the supervision of the Kremlin is not in the business of lapping up stray remarks by
a moonlighting Russian source.
....Suffice to say, one plausible explanation for the Tass report today is that Moscow
has alerted Trump to something that he may not yet be aware of. "
William Gruff @14: One hardly needs to leak if one is manning the news desks!
Red Ryder , Apr 1 2020 20:51 utc |
39 For all the Monday morning quarterbacks, factor this in your criticisms: the Chinese,
the WHO, the world's experts did not know how infectious this virus was until it was in South
Korea. That Korean cult religious group and the spread from there was the first clear sign.
China had its infectious impact in its Wuhan hospitals, when they began losing doctors and
nurses to the virus. It was six weeks into the breakout before the scientists understood that
the danger was the spread, not the deadliness.
The fear then woke everyone that modern hospitals could not handle the spiral spread, the
logarithmic growth potential of COVID-19.
Now, we know that the virus began outside China many months before Wuhan. Probably,
summertime 2019. There are a lot of "flu" deaths in the USA which were symptomatic but
untested that match COVID-19. Many deaths were caused by that virus in 2019. And there are
many survivors who describe the experience identical to those who survive it now.
Dispersing the herd, social distancing, is the most effective tool to mitigate the
epidemic potential of this virus. Where that was done, it slowed and died. It needs crowds of
people to keep growing and keep going.
Watch it wipe out the crew on the Teddy Roosevelt.
With the most permissive settings possible we do get some hits.
4 hits with an "expect"(number of times we expect to see matches of this type by chance in the given search) score of 2.8
8 hits with an "expect" score of 9.8
I BlastPed the region that spans the first 2 "insertions", and found no so called insertions at all in the alignments with
other bat-cov viruses. On the contrary the alignments showed very natural diversities around the two "insertion" regions. The
two "insertions" are obviously products of evolution，not engineered artifacts！ Furthermore，even human has huge number of proteins
that are homologous with those of vegetables，so why it is a surprise that there are short homologous regions between 2 viruses？
...If you read the comments, these guys cherry picked matches to HIV that aren't even in the top 100 matches. It's a nonsense
paper that is utterly irresponsible.
Tian Junhua, known to his colleagues as
'Insect Man', is using his childhood passion for bugs to combat the spread of disease in
China.
Tian Junhua has been studying tiny insects since he himself was tiny, but who could have
imagined that one day he would grow into a giant in the world of science?
The journal Nature recently published an article titled Redefining the
Invertebrate RNA Virosphere , reporting on the discovery by the Chinese Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention of 1,445 viruses that use ribonucleic acid as their genetic
material.
Tian, 36, who works for the centre in Wuhan, Hubei province, was one of the authors of the
article. He is a researcher in the centre's institute for disinfection and vector control, and
his colleagues refer to him as Insect Man.
He has collected almost one million insect and
animal samples over the past 12 years
He was born in the countryside near Jingmen, Hubei, and a large part of his childhood was
spent outdoors, he said. "We didn't have extracurricular classes like children living in the
city did. All of our games were played in the fields."
Playing alongside a river and in the fields every day, he became adept at catching all kinds
of creepy-crawlies. In the summer, he said, he could easily catch 22lb of freshwater prawns
every day. "When I was a child I liked watching and catching all kinds of animals, especially
bugs."
In 2000 he began studying taxonomy at Huazhong Agricultural University, he said, a field few
choose to specialise in. After graduating in 2004 he began working for the disease control and
prevention centre, where he monitored, identified and classified pests and disease carriers
such as mosquitoes, mice and cockroaches.
Five years later he had caught thousands of rodents in the surrounding fields and mountains
and knew every species distributed around Wuhan. He can now judge at a glance whether an area
is likely to contain mice, and his work has provided ample research samples to be used for
disease prevention and control. By Tian's own estimate, he has collected almost one million
insect and animal samples over the past 12 years.
After a spate of tick-borne diseases hit Henan and Shandong provinces in 2009, he was sent
to investigate as part of a research group. He worked for more than 20 days straight,
collecting samples. Over the following four years he and his colleagues collected about 120,000
ticks, which provided material to help with the clinical diagnosis of tick bites. It was then
that Tian discovered a previously unknown virus in his hometown, which was named Jingmen virus
after it.
This article was originally produced and published for China Daily. View the original
article atchina.org.cn
First, some perspective on past bioweapons tests. In 2015,
the Smithsonian Magazine published an article describing a US Navy bioweapons test in 1950
using a bacterium that produces a red pigment to make it easy to examine its effects:
Beginning on September 26, 1950, the crew of a U.S. Navy minesweeper ship spent six days
spraying Serratia marcescens into the air about two miles off the northern California
coast. The project was called "Operation Sea Spray," and its aim was to determine the
susceptibility of a big city like San Francisco to a bioweapon attack by terrorists.
At the time, the US military thought that Serratia couldn't harm humans. The bug
was mostly known for the red spots it produced on infested foods and had not been widely
linked to clinical conditions. That changed when one week after the test, 11 local residents
checked into a Stanford University Hospital complaining of urinary tract infections.
The military had performed similar tests in other cities across the country over the next
two decades, until Richard Nixon halted all germ warfare research in 1969 . The San Francisco
experiment
didn't become public knowledge until 1976 .
Keep that above phrase in bold in mind as you read the rest of this article. It is important
to note that the US didn't "invent" bioweapons. Bioweapons have been used in various forms
since ancient times, as summarized in this
excellent article . After WW-I, the Geneva Protocol of 1925 was signed by 108 nations that
"prohibited" the development and use of biological agents (and chemical weapons such as those
used in the WW-I trench warfare on both sides) in "civilized warfare." But that treaty had no
verification measures, so nations continued their research and development.
The US actually learned a great deal about bioweapons from our WW-II adversaries,
particularly the Japanese at the notorious Unit 731 as summarized here :
Between 1932 and 1945 Japan experiments included testing biological weapons on humans, and
attacked 11 Chinese cities with biological weapons. The Japanese, as the US learned at the
end of World War II, had been making significant progress learning about traditional
biological warfare agents like botulism and anthrax.
The US Army sent several investigators to Japan after the war to interrogate captured
Japanese scientists. Leading the team was Dr. Norbert Fell and Lt. Col. Arvo Thompson.
Working with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's intelligence team at Supreme Commander Allied Powers
(SCAP), Dr. Fell and Thompson learned the full extent of the Japanese program headed by Lt.
Gen. Shiro Ishii.
From 1938-1945 Ishii carried on experiments against POW's, including US forces at the
Mukden POW Camp in northeast China. He directed Unit 731, the secret Japanese unit engaged in
human experimentation. Ishii was initially given command of the "Togo Unit" of 300 men, which
rapidly grew and acquired additional "cover" identities. The first major BW facility was
built at Beiyinhe, some 70km outside Harbin, known locally as the "Zhong Ma Prison Camp. Open
air testing on prisoners was conducted at the the officially named "Water Purification Unit
731" at Pingfan near Harbin, a remote, desolate area on the Manchurian Peninsula. Pingfan's 6
square kilometers housed more than 150 buildings, including administrative buildings,
laboratories, workers dormitories, and barracks. By 1945, the Japanese program had stockpiled
400 kilograms of anthrax to be used in a specially designed fragmentation bomb. Studies
continued there until 1945, when the Unit 731 complex was leveled by burning it.
And since the Chinese were themselves victimized by Japanese biological warfare in WW-II, it
is no surprise that they began research into the development of bioweapons, as well. It is
alleged that the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is just a cover for the research and
development of Chinese bioweapons. Before digging into Wuhan, we return to the
Smithsonian Magazine which published an article about the bird flu in 2017 that is almost a
precursor of the spread of the Chinese-originated Wuhan virus. The article was entitled, "Is
China the Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic":
H7N9 first spread from birds to humans in 2013. Since then, there have been five waves of
the virus. The fifth wave began in October 2016. By September 2017, it had infected 764
people -- far more than any of the four preceding waves. Health officials recently confirmed
that there have been 1,589 total cases of H7N9, with 616 of them fatal. "Anytime you have a
virus with a 40 percent mortality rate," says Tim Uyeki, the chief medical officer for the
influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "that's very, very
serious."
So far, the only verified means by which patients have acquired the virus is through
direct exposure to infected animals. But if H7N9 were to mutate further and develop the
ability to pass readily from person to person, it could spread rapidly and kill millions of
people worldwide. The potential for disaster has normally cautious medical researchers
expressing concern, even suggesting that H7N9 might rival the fierce influenza virus that
caused the 1918 pandemic, which killed between 50 million and 100 million people.
At least two flu pandemics in the past century -- in 1957 and 1968 -- originated in the
Middle Kingdom and were triggered by avian viruses that evolved to become easily
transmissible between humans.
... ... ...
Now for some more informed speculation from a pal who synthesized the below commentary from
multiple sources, including
here ,
here , here
, here , and
here . It is a compelling read but has not been verified or substantiated officially.
There are two different coronaviruses. One is extremely deadly, the other is much less
deadly, killing only 1-3%, and mostly old people.
There has been an underlying conspiracy theory suggesting that the origin of the deadly
coronavirus was from a
virology lab in Wuhan. That was previously speculation, but now Chinese scientists have
released new findings that link the laboratory in Wuhan and COVID-19.
The latest coronavirus update found that the death toll is now at 1,770, and there are
another 70,548 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease in mainland China according to the
country's National Health Commission. More than
780 million people, nearly half of China's population, are currently living under various
forms of travel restrictions.
The coronavirus is believed to have originated from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in
Wuhan, China. The food market sells a wide variety of animals, including bats, which is one of
the most common carriers of the COVID-19. The coronavirus is a zoonotic disease, which means it
can be transmitted from animals to humans.
However, the new report states that the lethal respiratory disease was more likely to start
in a laboratory instead of the market. The South China University of Technology released a new
paper on the origins of the coronavirus, and concluded that the disease was probably created by
the Wuhan Center for Disease Control (WCDC) and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The Wuhan Center for Disease Control is located only 900 feet from the Huanan Seafood
Wholesale Market, and is near the local hospital. "The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Union
Hospital where the first group of doctors were infected during this epidemic," the paper read.
Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died on Monday
from the coronavirus .
The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is China's first
and only Biosafety Level 4 "super laboratory," that studies "the most dangerous pathogens."
Laboratories that handle pathogens receive a rating of 1 to 4, according to Live
Science . A level 1 is the lowest risk, and a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) is the highest
risk.
In a paper titled "The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus," Chinese researchers
explained why they believed the deadly disease originated from a lab in Wuhan. The paper,
written by Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao, noted that the WCDC houses disease-ridden animals,
including 605 bats.
The paper found that the "genome sequences from patients were 96% or 89% identical to the
Bat CoV ZC45 coronavirus originally found in Rhinolophus affinis (intermediate horseshoe bat)."
The closest population of these bats living in the wild is in the Zhejiang province, which is
600 miles away.
"This laboratory reported that the Chinese horseshoe bats were natural reservoirs for the
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) which caused the 2002-3 pandemic,"
according to the report.
According to the paper, a researcher at the WHCDC allegedly quarantining himself for two
weeks after the blood of one of the bats in the lab dripped on his hand. The same scientist
quarantined himself after one of the infected bats urinated on him.
The same researcher discovered a tick on a bat, and ticks can spread diseases from one host
to another.
"It is plausible that the virus leaked around, and some of them contaminated the initial
patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed in a future study," the report
said.
"The principal investigator participated in a project which generated a chimeric virus using
the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system, and reported the potential for human emergence 10," the
report says according to
Daily Mail . "A direct speculation was that SARS-CoV or its derivative might leak from the
laboratory."
Researchers have discovered over 500 new coronaviruses in bats over the last 10 years.
"So there's a clear and present danger from our contact with wildlife," disease ecologist
and president of EcoHealth Alliance, Peter Daszak, told WBUR . "And if
that contact is expanding and especially through things like the wildlife trade, it's bringing
us at risk of these pandemics for sure."
There are also reports that claim the coronavirus may have jumped from animals to humans
from contact
with pangolins , which are one of the world's most-trafficked animals.
On Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned China's original story of where coronavirus
came from.
"We don't know where it originated, and we have to get to the bottom of that,"
Cotton said on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures . "We also know that just a few
miles away from that food market is China's only biosafety level 4 super laboratory that
researches human infectious diseases."
"Now, we don't have evidence that this disease originated there, but because of China's
duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question to see what
the evidence says," Cotton added. "And China right now is not giving any evidence on that
question at all."
And given Chinese dishonesty and lack of transparency, we have to consider all
possibilities until the evidence is in. But sure @jotted , you take the Chinese Communist
Party line at face value.
Communist China has censored its citizens in the past, and covered up the extent of how bad
the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) outbreak was in 2003.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping published a timeline of his actions to combat the coronavirus on
Sunday, but it revealed that he knew about the COVID-2019 outbreak two weeks before he
acknowledged it publicly.
"I issued demands during a Politburo Standing Committee meeting on January 7 for work to
contain the outbreak," Xi said. "On January 20, I gave special instructions about the work to
prevent and control the outbreak."
An Israeli biological warfare expert with a doctorate in medical microbiology claims that
the coronavirus could possibly be a biological weapon. Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military
intelligence officer who has studied Chinese biological warfare, said the Level 4 virology lab
in the Hubei province could have been developing a biological weapon.
"Certain laboratories in the institute have probably been engaged, in terms of research and
development, in Chinese [biological weapons], at least collaterally, yet not as a principal
facility of the Chinese BW alignment," Shoham told
The Washington Times .
Professor Richard H. Ebright, the laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of
Microbiology and a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University, has gone
on the record to say that the coronavirus is not a genetically-engineered disease.
"Absolutely nothing about the genome sequence of the virus suggests that the virus was
engineered in a lab," Ebright told
The Street . "The genome sequence of the virus indicates that its progenitor was the bat
coronavirus RaTG13 or a closely related bat coronavirus."
Several Chinese state media outlets in recent months touted the virus research and lionized
in particular a key researcher in Wuhan , Tian Junhua , as a leader in bat
virus work.
... ... ...
Chinese officials refused to provide samples of its coronavirus strains to U.S. researchers
shortly after the outbreak became public and did not allow international disease specialists to
visit Wuhan for
weeks.
Handling bats
The Chinese video "Youth in the Wild -- Invisible Defender" records researchers engaged in
casual handling of bats containing deadly viruses.
The seven-minute film boasts that China has "taken the lead" in global virus
research and uncovered over 2,000 viruses in the past 12 years, the time since the outbreak of
the bat-origin virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The deadly virus behind the current pandemic is called SARS Coronavirus-2 and also has been
traced to bats.
Prior to China
's discoveries, an estimated 2,284 types of viruses had been found in the previous 200 years,
the video says.
Chinese state media outlets revealed that Mr. Tian once failed to wear protective
gear in a cave and as a result came into contact with bat urine. To avoid contracting a
disease, he self-quarantined for 14 days -- the same recommended period for people exposed to
the new COVID-19 strain.
Mr. Tian
works for the office of decontamination and biological disease vector prevention and control
within the Wuhan CDC
. According to a May 2017 report by the Wuhan Evening News, Mr. Tian has gathered thousands of bats
for research work on bat viruses since 2012.
"Bats have a large number of unknown viruses on their bodies," he said. "The more thorough
our research on bats is, the better it will be for human health."
The researcher also has gathered viruses from ticks, mice and wasps.
After the incident exposing him to bat urine, Mr. Tian said, he kept a safe distance
from his wife. "As long as I am not getting sick during the incubation period of 14 days, I can
be lucky to get away with it," he said.
The Wuhan report
said the collection of research samples was difficult, dangerous and hard to fund.
Shenzhen News, a publication of the Guangdong Communist Youth League, described in December
how Mr. Tian
shuttled through caves and jungles looking for viruses in bats and ticks, called "vector
organisms," in the quest to develop vaccines. The report said the nearly 2,000 viruses
discovered in China
over the past 12 years nearly doubled the total number of known viruses.
A search of the Wuhan CDC
website since the novel coronavirus outbreak contains no reference to Mr. Tian or his work. He has
co-authored at least two scientific studies on the Wuhan virus and its impact
According to Steven W. Mosher, a China specialist with the Population Research Institute,
this research could be especially harmful to humans. "China claims that the deadly virus did not
escape from its biolab," Mr. Mosher said. "Fine. Prove it by releasing the research records of
the Wuhan lab."
Chinese government researchers
isolated more than 2,000 new viruses, including deadly bat coronaviruses, and carried out
scientific work on them just three miles from a wild animal market identified as the epicenter
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several Chinese state media outlets in recent months touted the virus research and lionized
in particular a key researcher in Wuhan , Tian Junhua , as a leader in bat
virus work.
The coronavirus strain now infecting hundreds of thousands of people globally mutated from
bats believed to have infected animals and people at a wild animal market in Wuhan . The exact origin of the virus,
however, remains a mystery.
Reports of the extensive Chinese research on bat viruses likely will fuel more calls for
Beijing to make public what it knows about such work.
"This is one of the worst cover-ups in human history, and now the world is facing a global
pandemic," Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican and ranking member of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, said last week. Mr. McCaul has said China should be held accountable for the
pandemic.
A video posted online in December and funded by the Chinese government shows Mr.
Tian inside
caves in Hubei province taking samples from captured bats and storing them in vials.
"I am not a doctor, but I work to cure and save people," Mr. Tian says in the video. "I am not a
soldier, but I work to safeguard an invisible national defense line."
Chinese officials have said the virus likely spread from wild animals to people at
Wuhan 's Huanan
Seafood Wholesale Market, not far from the Wuhan
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC
), the national center for China 's bat virus research.
Wuhan is finally
stirring back to life after a harsh crackdown on travel and street activity was imposed in late
January. The city's bus, subway and train systems started to run again over the weekend. Shops
downtown were operating with some restrictions Monday, although customers were scarce.
But British news accounts also reported over the weekend that some of the stalls at
China 's so-called
"wet" wild animal markets, as they reopen, have begun once again selling bats and scorpions and
resumed questionable practices such as slaughtering small animals right at the site.
Chinese officials refused to provide samples of its coronavirus strains to U.S. researchers
shortly after
In late January we asked whether a prolific Chinese scientist who was experimenting with bat
coronavirus at a level-4 biolab in Wuhan China was responsible for the current outbreak of a
virus which is 96% genetically identical - and which saw an explosion in cases at a wet market
located just down the street .
For suggesting this, we were kicked off Twitter and had the pleasure of several articles
written by MSM hacks regarding our 'conspiracy theory' - none of which addressed the plethora
of hard evidence linked in the post. These are the same people, mind you, who pushed the
outlandish and evidence-free Trump-Russia conspiracy theory for years .
Whether or not the virus was engineered (scientists swear it wasn't) - it shouldn't take
Perry Mason to conclude that a virulent coronavirus outbreak which started near a biolab that
was experimenting with -- coronavirus -- bears scrutiny . Could a lab worker have accidentally
infected themselves - then gone shopping for meat at the market over several days, during the
long, asymptomatic incubation period?
In February, researchers Botao Xial and Lei Xiao published a
quickly-retracted paper titled "The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus" - which
speculated that the virus came from the Wuhan biolab.
Now, mainstream outlets are catching on - or at least have become brave enough to similarly
connect the dots.
Earlier this week, Fox News ' Tucker Carlson suggested that COVID-19 may have originated in
a lab.
Tucker Carlson is currently citing a report that he openly admits he can't confirm is true
to question if coronavirus was made in a lab pic.twitter.com/CTxrJtw0Sh
And now, the
Washington Times is out with a report titled "Chinese researchers isolated deadly bat
coronaviruses near Wuhan animal market."
Chinese government
researchers isolated more than 2,000 new viruses, including deadly bat coronaviruses, and
carried out scientific work on them just three miles from a wild animal market identified as
the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several Chinese state media outlets in recent months touted the virus research and
lionized in particular a key researcher in Wuhan , Tian Junhua , as a leader in bat
virus work.
The coronavirus strain now infecting hundreds of thousands of people globally mutated from
bats believed to have infected animals and people at a wild animal market in Wuhan . The exact origin of
the virus, however, remains a mystery. -
Washington Times
"This is one of the worst cover-ups in human history, and now the world is facing a global
pandemic," said Texas GOP Rep. Michael T. McFoul - a ranking member of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee . McFoul believes China should be held accountable for the outbreak.
Meanwhile, a video from December funded by the Chinese government shows Tian collecting
samples from captured bats and storing them in vials.
"I am not a doctor, but I work to cure and save people," said Tian, adding "I am not a
soldier, but I work to safeguard an invisible national defense line."
The mainstream theory behind the virus is that it crossed over to humans after first
infecting an intermediary species - such as a pangolin.
This guy forgot about anthrax case, when anthrax weaponized or not was leaked from Fort
Detrick . Why not modified coronavirus? The fact that they tried to modify coronavirus is
known.
SBaker says: Show Comment
March 31, 2020 at 12:49 pm GMT @Anonymous Finally, an article on the UNZ from a real
microbiologist instead of some spy novel nonsense as is usually the case. The old
microbiologist fraud will likely generate more comments because there are way too few informed
people on this site.
Here is a comment from a friend with a similar background in training that actually worked
where the old microbiologist fraud claimed to work. Copy of a statement from an informed
scientist. "Good to talk to you. The article is a typical conspiracy article that could be
right out of the National Inquirer. When I was head of Infectious Disease Research for the DoD,
I use to get about 1 of these every 6 months or so. Usually a reporter was going to break the
next "Watergate Scandal". Where all of this breaks down is the openness of the BW Defense
program at Ft. Detrick. First of all, it is not behind fences and walls. People walk in and out
of the main building all day. Yes, you have to have special permission to go beyond the
entrance because there are BL3&4 agents being worked on in the labs. Secondly, if these
things were happening, you would have to have 100's of scientists and lab techs (most of them
civilians) sworn to secrecy which would be just impossible in a free society such as ours. You
and I know that the only reason the Unabomber took so long to catch is that he had no
accomplices.
Thirdly, there are a number of university scientists from all over the US that do 1 and 2
year sabbaticals at USAMRIID because they can work with BL 3 & 4 organisms on site. If
nefarious things were going on in Detrick, they would be the first to blow the whistle.
Stuff like this has been put out before and is usually by someone who was a poor researcher
or nut job.
Look up Steven Jay Hatfill. He was one of these. He knew nothing about BW but got a post doc
at Detrick and went all over the place telling people he was an expert in BW. I met him and
will tell you he was a bullshit artist of mega proportions. I was head of the BW program and
was getting calls from contractors as far away as California wanting to know who this guy was.
About that time the Anthrax Letters thing broke in 2001 and the FBI fingered him. This was
stupid, because anyone who knew him knew he did not have the smarts to pull the thing off. The
FBI was just ill-formed and under a great deal of pressure themselves to find the culprit. They
kept up the pressure on Hatfill because of his reputation. It finally ended up with the Fed's
having to pay him a few million for damages."
@Been_there_done_that On January 21, Wuhan Institute of Virology filed a "new uses"
patent for Gilead's Remdesivir for use in the treatment of cv-19. http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/2/435384.shtm
In Chinese, google will translate
They knew about this virus long enough ahead of time to do the research and collect the
clinical data to support a patent application.
Wuhan Institute of Virology only a few blocks from the open-air wet meat market that is
suspected as the original source of the virus hopping from animal to human.
Wuhan institute was engaged in dangerous experiments of creating "chimera viruses". That's a
proven fact.
Notable quotes:
"... the new strain, or SARS-Cov-2, had a mutation in its genes known as a polybasic cleavage site that was unseen in any coronaviruses found in bats or pangolins, according to Andersen and his colleagues. ..."
"... Nature Medicine ..."
"... They said also that the most powerful computer models based on current knowledge about the coronavirus could not generate such a strange but highly efficient spike protein structure to bind with host cells. ..."
"... "In fact, any bioengineer trying to design a coronavirus that threatened human health probably would never have chosen this particular conformation for a spike protein," he said. ..."
In December, doctors in Wuhan began noticing a surge in the number of people suffering from
a mysterious pneumonia. Tests for flu and other pathogens returned negative. An unknown strain
was isolated, and a team from the Wuhan Institute of Virology led by Shi Zhengli traced its
origin to a bat virus found in a mountain cave close to the China-Myanmar border.
The two viruses shared more than 96 per cent of their genes, but the bat virus could not
infect humans. It lacked a spike protein to bind with receptors in human
cells.
Coronaviruses with a similar spike protein were later discovered in Malayan
pangolins by separate teams from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, which led some researchers to
believe that a recombination of genomes had occurred between the bat and pangolin viruses.
But the new strain, or SARS-Cov-2, had a mutation in its genes known as a polybasic
cleavage site that was unseen in any coronaviruses found in bats or pangolins, according to
Andersen and his colleagues.
This mutation, according to separate studies by researchers from China, France and the US,
could produce a unique structure in the virus' spike protein to interact with furin, a widely
distributed enzyme in the human body. That could then trigger a fusion of the viral envelope
and human cell membrane when they came into contact with one another.
Some human viruses including HIV and Ebola have the same furin-like cleavage site, which
makes them contagious.
An international team of scientists say the coronavirus may have jumped from animal to humans
long before the first detection in China. Photo: AP The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 might
have been quietly spreading among humans for years or even decades before the sudden outbreak
that sparked a global health crisis, according to an investigation by some of the world's top
virus hunters. Researchers from the
United States , Britain and Australia looked at piles of data released by scientists around
the world for clues about the virus' evolutionary past, and found it might have made the jump
from animal to humans long before the first detection in the central China city of Wuhan.
Though there could be other possibilities, the scientists said the coronavirus carried a
unique mutation that was not found in suspected animal hosts, but was likely to occur during
repeated, small-cluster infections in humans.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_KEKZZNxb3Q
The study, conducted by Kristian Andersen from the Scripps Research Institute in California,
Andrew Rambaut from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Ian Lipkin from Columbia
University in New York, Edward Holmes from the University of Sydney, and Robert Garry from
Tulane University in New Orleans, was published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine on March 17.
Dr Francis Collins, director of the US National Institute of Health, who was not involved in
the research, said the study suggested a possible scenario in which the coronavirus crossed
from animals into humans before it became capable of causing disease in people.
"Then, as a result of gradual evolutionary changes over years or perhaps decades, the virus
eventually gained the ability to spread from human to human and cause serious, often
life-threatening disease," he said in an article published on the institute's website on
Thursday.
In December, doctors in Wuhan began noticing a surge in the number of people suffering from
a mysterious pneumonia. Tests for flu and other pathogens returned negative. An unknown strain
was isolated, and a team from the Wuhan Institute of Virology led by Shi Zhengli traced its
origin to a bat virus found in a mountain cave close to the China-Myanmar border.
The two viruses shared more than 96 per cent of their genes, but the bat virus could not
infect humans. It lacked a spike protein to bind with receptors in human
cells.
Coronaviruses with a similar spike protein were later discovered in Malayan
pangolins by separate teams from Guangzhou and Hong Kong, which led some researchers to
believe that a recombination of genomes had occurred between the bat and pangolin viruses.
Doctors in Wuhan began noticing a surge in the number of people suffering from a mysterious
pneumonia in December. Photo: Handout
But the new strain, or SARS-Cov-2, had a mutation in its genes known as a polybasic cleavage
site that was unseen in any coronaviruses found in bats or pangolins, according to Andersen and
his colleagues.
This mutation, according to separate studies by researchers from China, France and the US,
could produce a unique structure in the virus' spike protein to interact with furin, a widely
distributed enzyme in the human body. That could then trigger a fusion of the viral envelope
and human cell membrane when they came into contact with one another.
Some human viruses including HIV and Ebola have the same furin-like cleavage site, which
makes them contagious.
It is possible that the mutation happened naturally to the virus on animal hosts. Sars
(severe acute respiratory syndrome) and Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome), for instance,
were believed to have been direct descendants of species found in masked civets and camels,
which had a 99 per cent genetic similarity.
There was, however, no such direct evidence for the novel coronavirus, according to the
international team. The gap between human and animal types was too large, they said, so they
proposed another alternative.
"It is possible that a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 jumped into humans, acquiring the genomic
features described above through adaptation during undetected human-to-human transmission,"
they said in the paper.
"Once acquired, these adaptations would enable the pandemic to take off and produce a
sufficiently large cluster of cases to trigger the surveillance system that detected it."
They said also that the most powerful computer models based on current knowledge about
the coronavirus could not generate such a strange but highly efficient spike protein structure
to bind with host cells.
The study had significantly reduced, if not ruled out, the possibility of a laboratory
origin, Collins said.
"In fact, any bioengineer trying to design a coronavirus that threatened human health
probably would never have chosen this particular conformation for a spike protein," he
said.
***********************
March 28, 2020 at 9:35 am
A bit of background on coronavirus origins and why it is so important:
All known coronavirus infecting humans (so far up to 7 including SARS CoV 2) can be traced
to other animals and are almost certainly of zoonotic origin. Of these 5 can be traced to
bats species which are considered the main reservoir of coronavirus. In bats these are mainly
intestinal viruses that can spread to other species through faeces. The other two are of
rodent origin. Three of these were known before SARS CoV 2 to be endemic in humans. There is
a wealth of info about the molecular evolution of these virus and their clinical properties
(how and when these were aquired) and I am following here a review that was published in
Trends in Microbiology in 2016. After MERS CoV and SARS CoV 1 a lot of attention was given to
these including some many studies assessing the potential risk of new zoonotic CoV diseases
and particularly about SARS-like CoVs.
The three human endemic CoV previously known are:
HCoV-Nl63 (alphacoronavirus): Mild cough. Shares a common ancestor with a BatCoV
identified in a North American Bat that can be traced to about 600-800 years ago by molecular
clock analysis. The intermediate host is unknown.
HCoV-229E(alphacoronavirus): Mild cough and pneumonia in immunocompromised patients.
Diverged from Bat CoV about 200 hundred years ago and is closely related with camelid CoVs.
It is possible through not demonstrated that its capacity to infect humans was acquired in
alpacas or in another mammal that was common intermediate host for humans and alpacas.
HCoV-OC43 (Betacoronavirus A): Cough and occasional mild pneumonia. Origin in rodents
about 120 years ago. Possible intermediate host: cattle.
After SARS CoV 1 another HCoV was identified in a few patients with pneumonia HCoV-HKU1
also belonging to Betacoronavirus A and most probably from rodent origin whose unknown and
probably extint ancestors could have originated in the 1950s. This spells that we already
haven't identified all possible human infecting coronaviruses.
SARS-CoV 1 (Betacoronavirus B): appeared in 2002 from civets and have a common ancestor
with bat CoVs that can be traced to about 1980s (up to 17 years before the outbreak.
MERS-CoV (Betacoronavirus C) that was identified in outbreaks originating in the Arabic
Peninsula from camels in 2012. Has an origin in bat CoVs that can be traced to 2006, then
jumped to camels and evolved adquiring capacity to infect humans. There is reason to think
that new MERS-like outbreaks could occur. So a surveillance on this is in place.
Finally SARS CoV 2 (betacoronavirus B) responsible for Covid 19 whose intermediate host
has not been identified and shares common ancestors with bat CoVs isolated from bats in
Yunnan. More extensive research is needed to identify the closest bat relative and the
putative intermediate host. Similarities with pangolin CoVs in the S gene may be due to
evolutionary convergence or some unidentified and very difficult to prove recombination event
in some unknown host.
Coronaviruses have shown high capacity to jump hosts and those arguing that this is not
possible. Not to mention that cats and dogs have been shown to be readily infected by SARS
CoV 2, this shows how easy is for this virus to jump species and why is so important to
establish international surveillance systems for coronavirus emergence instead of spelling
stupid conspiranoic theories. Too late for SARS Cov 2, but necessary for the future.
Russia Concerned by Proximity of US Bioweapon Labs Amid Outbreak
The official slammed US authorities for blaming China for the COVID-19 pandemic and
manipulating its data on the virus, and in turn, accused the United States of spinning the
global health crisis into political attacks.
"We do have questions for the US. It would be nice to hear its justification for placing
so many labs near Russia and China, instead of its playing propaganda games with the
coronavirus", the official said.
Analyzed retrospectively, "planned" events such as 9/11 or the JFK assassination reveal a
great degree of contingency planning. As well, the traumatic centerpiece was experienced by
most persons in the role of spectator.
It is unlikely this Coivid event is "planned" as there is no possible way to account for
the myriad contingencies involved in a widespread pandemic and economic crash. Everything was
going fairly well for the west's elites, why risk it all with a pandemic which might yet
upend/bankrupt the entire system?
So the SCMP is deliberately missing out the scenario that it mutated in an animal host and
that the only reason to not explore the possibility that it was engineered is that there is
no public data on it. There is a lesson here, always go to the source and find out what they
really said rather than some 2nd or 3rd hand account which is probably slanted by everything
from politics to simple human prejudice.
With a disgusted look on his face, President Trump replied: "You should have let us
know."
Military Exercise meaning (from Wikipedia): "A military exercise or war game
is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring
the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the
purpose of ensuring the combat readiness of garrisoned or deployable forces prior to deployment
from a home base."
What is actually going on here? Does the White House care to explain?
*Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your
email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
"... Nextstrain has crunched nearly 1,500 genomes from the new coronavirus, and the data already show how this virus is mutating -- every 15 days, on average -- as the COVID-19 pandemic rages around the world. ..."
A March 17 article in Nature Medicine co-authored by Andersen makes this argument by
comparing the genomic features of SARS-CoV-2 with all of its closest family members,
including SARS, MERS, and strains isolated from animals such as bats and pangolins.
First off, most of SARS-CoV-2's underlying structure is unlike any of coronaviruses
previously studied in a lab. The novel coronavirus also contains genetic features that
suggest it encountered a living immune system rather than being cultivated in a petri
dish.
Moreover, a bioweapon designer would want maximum impact and might rely on history to
obtain it, but the novel coronavirus carries subtle flaws indicative of natural selection.
For instance, coronaviruses use what are known as spike proteins, which look like heads of
broccoli, to bind and access cellular "doorways" called receptors. It's how the viruses
infect animal cells.
Experiments have shown that the novel coronavirus strongly binds with
a human receptor called ACE2, but the interaction isn't optimal, the authors explain.
"This isn't what somebody who wanted to build the perfect virus would have picked,"
Andersen says. Overall, their analysis suggests the virus jumped from an animal to humans
sometime in November.
Other interesting notes:
Nextstrain has crunched nearly 1,500 genomes from the new coronavirus, and the data already
show how this virus is mutating -- every 15 days, on average -- as the COVID-19 pandemic
rages around the world.
I read somewhere that the typical flu mutates 6-8 times a month, so nCOV is actually less
mutagenic than the typical flu, if this pattern holds.
c1ue @190: "...a bioweapon designer would want..."
Repeating this nonsense disqualifies the post. Nobody who has ever made this argument has
ever been able to defend it, and the poster here will be no different.
"The novel coronavirus also contains genetic features that suggest it encountered a
living immune system..."
Of course, I suppose it couldn't possibly have "encountered a living immune system"
in the lab at Ft Detrick or in one or more of the CIA's black site dungeons.
Why do people bother regurgitating such empty "proof" ?
"... The more I watch these moves by Pompeo the more sympathetic I become to the most sinister theories about COVID-19, its origins and its launch around the world. Read Pepe Escobar's latest to get an idea of how dark and twisted this tale could be . ..."
There are few things in this life that make me more sick to my stomach than watching
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talking. He truly is one of the evilest men I've ever had the
displeasure of covering.
Into the insanity of the over-reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak, Pompeo wasted no time
ramping up sanctions on firms doing any business with Iran, one of the countries worse-hit by
this virus to date.
It's a seemingly endless refrain, everyday,
more sanctions on Chinese, Swiss and South African firms for having the temerity in these
deflating times to buy oil from someone Pompeo and his gang of heartless psychopaths disapprove
of.
This goes far beyond just the oil industry. Even though I'm well aware that Russia's
crashing the price of oil was itself a hybrid war attack on US capital markets. One that has
had, to date, devastating effect.
While Pompeo mouths the words publicly that humanitarian aid is exempted from sanctions on
Iran, the US is pursuing immense
pressure on companies to not do so anyway while the State Dept. bureaucracy takes its sweet
time processing waiver applications.
Pompeo and his ilk only think in terms of civilizational warfare. They have become so
subsumed by their big war for the moral high ground to prove American exceptionalism that they
have lost any shred of humanity they may have ever had.
Because for Pompeo in times like these to stick to his talking points and for his office to
continue excising Iran from the global economy when we're supposed to be coming together to
fight a global pandemic is the height of soullessness.
And it speaks to the much bigger problem that infects all of our political thinking. There
comes a moment when politics and gaining political advantage have to take a back seat to doing
the right thing.
I've actually seen moments of that impulse from the Democratic leadership in the US Will
wonders never cease?!
Thinking only in Manichean terms of good vs. evil and dehumanizing your opponents is
actually costlier than reversing course right now. Because honey is always better at attracting
flies than vinegar.
But, unfortunately, that is not the character of the Trump administration.
It can only think in terms of direct leverage and opportunity to hold onto what they think
they've achieved. So, until President Trump is no longer consumed with coordinating efforts to
control COVID-19 Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper are in charge of foreign policy.
They will continue the playbook that has been well established.
Maximum pressure on Iran, hurt China any way they can, hold onto what they have in Syria,
stay in Iraq.
To that end Iraqi President Barham Salei nominated Pompeo's best choice to replace Prime
Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi to throw Iraq's future into complete turmoil. According to Elijah
Magnier,
Adnan al-Zarfi is a US asset through and through .
And this looks like Pompeo's Hail Mary to retain US legal presence in Iraq after the Iraqi
parliament adopted a measure to demand withdrawal of US troops from the country. Airstrikes
against US bases in Iraq continue on a near daily basis and there have been reports of US base
closures and redeployments at the same time.
This move looks like desperation by Pompeo et.al. to finally separate the Hashd al-Shaabi
from Iraq's official military. So that airstrikes against them can be carried out under the
definition of 'fighting Iranian terrorism.'
As Magnier points out in the article above if al-Zarfi puts a government together the war in
Iraq will expand just as the US is losing further control in Syria after Turkish President
Erdogan's disastrous attempt to remake the front in Idlib. That ended with his effective
surrender to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is sad that, to me, I see no reason to doubt Pompeo and his ilk in the US government
wouldn't do something like that to spark political and social upheaval in those places most
targeted by US hybrid war tactics.
But, at the same time, I can see the other side of it, a vicious strike back by China
against its tormentors. And China's government does itself, in my mind, no favors threatening
to withhold drug precursors and having officials run their mouths giving Americans the excuse
they need to validate Trump and Pompeo's divisive rhetoric.
Remaining on the fence about this issue isn't my normal style. But everyone is dirty here
and the reality may well be this is a natural event terrible people on both sides are
exploiting.
And I can only go by what people do rather than what they say to assess the situation. Trump
tries to buy exclusive right to a potential COVID-19 vaccine from a German firm and his
administration slow-walks aid to Iran.
China sends aid to Iran and Italy by the container full. Is that to salve their conscience
over its initial suppression of information about the virus? Good question. But no one covers
themselves in glory by using the confusion and distraction to attempt further regime change and
step up war-footing during a public health crisis, manufactured or otherwise.
While Pompeo unctuously talks the talk of compassion and charity, he cannot bring himself to
actually walk the walk. Because he is a despicable, bile-filled man of uncommon depravity. His
prosecuting a hybrid war during a public health crisis speaks to no other conclusion about
him.
It's clear to me that nothing has changed at the top of Trump's administration. I expect
COVID-19 will not be a disaster for Trump and the US. It can handle this. But the lack of
humanity shown by its diplomatic corps ensures that in the long run the US will be left to fend
for itself when the next crisis hits.
Please go to the site rumormillnews.com and scroll down to the headline, did Bill
Gates and World Economic Forum predict coronavirus outbreak, click on this headline which
takes you to the youtube video, click on the youtube link and watch the 18 minute video, that
reveals they knew they were going to release the coronavirus, this video was made on October
18, 2019.
Coronavirus "covid 19" is a weapon of mass panic disinformation. From almost nowhere the
epidemic has spread followed up by relentless coverage of "opinions" made mostly by an
ignorant presstitudes, equally ignorant government officials and in a small number of
virologists or MD's.
Seems like a classic "conspiracy theory", doesn't? I thought so, until the governments have
announced, that you don't have to pay your taxes right away, that your expired driver
licences are still OK and you do not have to rush to renew, that you are going to receive
substantial amount of money to help you to survive. Governments do not forgo taxes? Which
leads to conclusion (another Conspiracy" theory), the governments know about the covid 19
virus and its origins much more they are telling us
The Trump administration ran an extensive simulation exercise last year from January until
August involving a respiratory virus from China that became a pandemic.
In the simulation exercise, 47 days elapsed from the first case in the US until the WHO
declared a pandemic.
This year, the first cased in the US was declared by the CDC on January 21st. The WHO
declared a pandemic 50 days later on March 11th.
A pandemic scenario, code-named "Crimson Contagion," was simulated by the Trump
administration last year: A respiratory virus began in China, was then detected in Chicago,
and 47 days later, was declared a pandemic. By then it was too late. https://t.co/vOFgBiWgYy pic.twitter.com/Rj7JmQKwLx
@Oddly
Enough For almost all the terror related crimes these last 20 years, had "simulations" or
"drills" going either simultaneously or before the event: 9/11, Boston Marathon Bombing,
7/7/05 London Bombing, San Bernardino, and many others.
Trump is used by the Globalist-internationalists-communists as a huge scapegoat. That
should be clear by now. Neither Trump admin or the Chinese had any reason to benefit from
this. Who does set to benefit? Why the Globalists of course. They're already talking about
increasing the world-wide police state as well as increasing all the HIGH-TECH gadgetry they
are moving us in direction of.
But most likely the virus was an accident; not intentional at all. But people will use
it
My own take in bullet point. I know little about medicine and virology, as most here. I am
just trying to use my critical faculties.
– Corona is a class of viruses, that will be found in 5-15% of all diagnosed cases,
with a higher likelihood in cases that show symptoms of disease.
– there seems to be no test for Covid19 in particular. Anyway, the number of test-kits
is limited and symptom-free people for good reason stay away from doctors. In fact, in the
current situation, I would advise to stay away from health care facilities, unless you
desperately need help. So, the test sample will always be highly biased towards people with
severe issues, probably pulmonia.
– Corona deaths are cases, who died WITH, not necessarily OF corona. The people who die
during this alleged pandemic, are for the largest part by far, old with serious
preconditions. Corona did most likely not cause their death in the first place.
– hospitals across the western world – and especially in Italy with EU fiscal
policy – have been run down by austerity. Italian hospitals already broke down during
the 2017 flu pandemic (that noone ever talked about, though the death count was about 25 000,
if I get the numbers right).
– under these conditions, people with preconditions will in a hospital likely get a
super infection with multi resistent bacteria, which will probably kill them. When I grew up
in the 80s, it was still common sense that old people stay away from hospitals, because they
would not survive it. Only in very recent times have the conditions improved. Austerity has
cancelled this progress, as was to be expected.
– certainly, the large number of super infectious lung diseases has not yet been
properly mapped. Everything that is now being diagnosed as Corona, will most likely be some
sort of this.
Thus, I do not see any hint, why I should believe in corona.
On the other hand:
-the WHO and related institutions are highly corrupt
– we have the case of the great and expensive Tamilfu nothing burger.
– we have the cases of Russiagate, Ukrainegate, younameitgate,where obviously wrong
narratives were maintained far beyond any reasonable ending. This is already being used
against Trump. Expect the anti trumpers in the US to stick to this story up to their last
breath. These are the 2020 presidential elections. The stakes could not be higher!
Throughout the western world, contempt for government is as high as never before in modern
times. We are nearing the Wests 1989 moment – only that there is no good outcome to be
expected.
And in these conditions, our governments all of a sudden have to withdraw our civil rights
to save us from a danger that is as leathal as it is invisible????
erroneously omits OCTOBER from Dr. Ramuzzi' timeframe, as noted in comments #106 and 108 of
his post. It is highly relevant errata.
YES I noticed that too. Still looking for some post mortem data(looking at YOU USA)from
August on for all those deaths from severe pneumonia. Some serious science by credible people
is needed to inform us barflies.
Vladimir Zelensky is asked to check what exactly 15 American biological laboratories are
doing in Ukraine right away. The details of their work are classified. Even the leadership
of Ukraine does not explain anything.
1)Critical note. Italian doctors recall seeing "very strange and very serious pneumonia,
especially in older people, in November and December 2019 in Lombardia (Italy) before we
knew that this outbreak was occurring in China"
2) Evidence. The fact that there have been simultaneous appearances of a new virus in 3
different countries (China-Italy-South Korea) determines, in all three cases, that there is
no clear epidemiology and the inability to identify the original source or a zero patient
.
(3) Controversy. Biological weapons experts unanimously agree that the sudden appearance
in a human population of a new and unusual virus in multiple locations at the same time is
evidence of an intentionally released pathogen.
While China is starting to control the epidemic...another new virus?
Global Times @globaltimesnews A person from Yunnan Province died while on his way back to
Shandong Province for work on a chartered bus on Monday. He was tested positive for
#hantavirus. Other 32 people on bus were tested.
yeah jackrabbit... when the usa wasn't busy trashing russia for this that and the other
thing, they then moved on to trashing china... and of course everything will be used to trash
either... so now we have the '''china''' virus according to the head bimbo in charge.. give
it up... the neo con hot meal being served up regularly is going to happen regardless of
coronavirus, or king turnips ''china'' virus... the msm in the usa is as predictable as you
and pat lang, lol.. no offense, but i have to agree with kikilown....
The Trump Regime recently sent out a cable directing US government officials to focus on
specifically criticizing China for the COVID-19 pandemic--and conveniently distract blame
away from the Trump Regime's own belated and haphazard response:
"As the number of coronavirus cases continues to grow at a rapid pace in the U.S., the
White House is launching a communications plan across multiple federal agencies that focuses
on accusing Beijing of orchestrating a "cover-up" and creating a global pandemic, according
to two U.S. officials and a government cable obtained by The Daily Beast.
The cable, sent to State Department officials Friday, lays out in detail the
circumstances on the ground in China, including data on coronavirus cases and deaths, the
local business environment and transportation restrictions. But it also issues guidelines for
how U.S. officials should answer questions on, or speak about, the coronavirus and the White
House's response in relation to China.
[...]
The cable was disseminated to officials at a time when the administration is engrossed
in a communications battle around how to disseminate the flow of crucial health information
to the American public while at the same time deflecting criticism that the White House was
unprepared for the pandemic and that President Trump is at odds with members of his
coronavirus task force.
One of the results of those internal deliberations appears to be a renewed focus on
underscoring China's missteps. Two U.S. officials working on the administration's coronavirus
response said the White House is pushing federal agencies to stick closely to the national
security council's talking points, especially when senior officials take to the podium, to
ensure continuity with President Trump.
"These talking points are all anyone is really talking about right now," one official
said. "Everything is about China. We're being told to try and get this messaging out in any
way possible, including press conferences and television appearances."
Authoritarianism is a lame term by the West to excuse their own chronic lack of
responsibility at all levels. At least here in Singapore everyone knows true freedom revolves
around our wallets and essential goods/services, and not from ideological chicken soup.
You are either big liar or very ignorant about that specific wet market in Wuhan.
That specific wet market 海鲜市场 is a seafood market.
It doesn't sell bat.
You are picturing it with your imaginations about the market.
The bat eating report comes from west MSM suddenly after the virus breaks out. The reporting
material they show you is picture of Chinese tourism TV show host eat bat soup in some south
pacific ocean. Given the rapid response of this west MSM, it's very suspicious that they are
after something, again.
The saying of Chinese eat bat is just the same degree as true as Westerners eat human flesh.
Chinese has every reason to suspect the US militaries. Nathen Rich in Youtube has
explained some time line details on Mar.17 about why it's possible this virus has US
origin.
I just add more about China side information: during the Military Game, 5 strange 'dysentery'
US soldiers visited the hospital 金银潭 which also becomes a virus center
later in Wuhan.
Route studies in China also shows that earliest infected cases in Wuhan have close contact
with the hotel where the US soldiers live during the Game.
US should give us back those 5 soldiers, so we can give them a check.
After Chinese spokesman Zhao Lijian's questions at twitter, some US netizens already
remembered their strange flu/pneumonia experience in last winter and their strange dead
relative cases at the time.
Italy expert also remembers that in last December, there are already strange pneumonia in
Italy, which now they would call COVID-19.
China is not the origin of COVID-19, it is just the first country to detect the virus and
opened the information to WHO.
The only reason Chinese might not revenge back for this virus given by US is that now it
looks like that US possibly did not do it to China on purpose, but due to pure stupidity and
incompetence.
I really shouldn't bother myself explain it to you. Because unfavoured truth doesn't
matter to you since US already decide to turns itself the enemy of China. It's basically war
time, everything at war to some degrees, no hot wars yet. US government, media and people
will serve the war target. US dominance and power in world media and propaganda crushes
Chinese voices.
So I expect more smears and lies from US.
But it's not totally bad that you continue feel better about yourself, about your system,
and buy all the lies your MSM feed you.
For all this strange behaviour of the virus being reported by Italian doctors - listen to
the must watch interview with Dr Paul Cottrell. SARS-Cov-2019 has capacity to attack human
cells in 4 ways. He makes strong case for it being a weaponised virus, he details genomic
sequencing that points to this being most likely hypothesis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ilxBYZHvQ
As does the man who wrote the draft for the US bioweapons law, Professor of International
Law at University of Illinois, Francis Boyle, citing the language of 'enhanced' viruses in
peer reviewed published literature:
Professor Boyle served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, as a consultant
to the American Friends Service Committee, and on the Advisory Board for the Council for
Responsible Genetics. He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for the
Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989,
that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by
President George H.W. Bush.
Again: if nCOV was really already in the US in November - where was the surge in
hospitalizations?
What if the Covid-19 victims were living in military barracks? These people tend to be
young, and we know that the young tend not to suffer much from an infection by the
coronavirus. Even if the epidemic got completely out of control, it would have been limited
to the barracks; there would not have been a surge of hospitalizations.
In fact, even a huge outbreak in the barracks might not have been enough to warn the
higher ranks. So they could have ordered those 300 athletes to Wuhan's Military World Games
completely unaware that many of them were carrying a highly infectious disease. The unhealthy
athletes proceeded to infect the city. And the rest is history.
Then there is the coincidences of Bill Gates and the Event 201 in Oct 2019 laying out the
almost exact scenario that is unfolding today. The Coincidence of the US military being in
Wuhan at the exact time the pandemic is supposed to start in China. There is the coincidence
of Iran being the first country outside of Asia to have a deadly outbreak. There is the
coincidence that the US 2018-19 flu outbreak killed 80,000 people when usually is 20,000,
That Fort Detrick was closed down in 2018. then there was the incredible incompetence of the
CDC sending out tests that didn't work. I read of one researcher that was actively inhibited
from testing. and the FDA made research laboratories go through bureaucratic hoops to get
their tests being able to be used until the US finally said this is serious weeks and weeks
later. Coincidence theorists have no problems with this but I see it not as a bug but a
feature. There has been 100s of millions of dollars spent on Corona virus research since
SARS. I know China is a big place with a lot of farm animals but the number of new virus
outbreaks in their agriculture has been staggering. And the US has used biowarfare against
China before - in the Korean War. It has used bio warfare against Cuba and Nicaraugua. And
there are idiots in charge of what tries and fails to be US foreign policy.
Dr Paul Cottrell has a lengthy video where he line by line dissects the Nature article
(Andersen et al) which you cite in your 19 March post for evidence that dismisses the
bioweapon theory. He shows the article to be wrong on facts and disingenuous: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e2kJH7vOVBU
The video is long and best of one has the open access Nature article to read as Cottrell
dissects it. Skip to the 1hr 40' mark for more summing up.
Could you study the analyses of, or even interview, Dr Cottrell and Professor Boyle and
then provide us with your thoughts on their quite plausible theories?
I think b has not been very good with this corona virus reporting. He thinks he was wrong on
his initial reporting and changed as new facts emerged. however he basically repeats the
mainstream line. I certainly am no expert, But then again it seems thee is a wide divergence
of views from the "experts" but there is a mainstream conclusion which b agrees with. And the
mainstream media is pushing the fear full stop.
I still think this is not a specially dangerous virus. almost entirely it is old people
dying. almost entirely most of them have pre-existing conditions. My initial take was people
who would die fairly soon or might die if they got a bad flu are dying but sooner. I know my
wife went to the hospital and acquired a very bad pneumonia. She was on a respirator for over
a week and afterwards was diagnosed with COPD. How many of these deaths are people who are
sick with corona virus and go to the hospital and get a hospital acquired infection but are
counted as dying from COV-18? Virologist have been heavily researching corona viruses since
the SARS and MERS outbreaks that didn't kill very many people
I do agree that this virus seems exceptionally communicable. That nature article b cited
seemed as if it was written to dismiss the idea that the virus was made in some biolab. I
have read an article debunking this Nature article - the writer was trying to make a case
that it came from a Chinese lab He agreed it wasn't manufactured by gene editing but was
created by passing a corona virus through ferrets who do have the same ACE receptor that
humans have and COV-19 uses to infect cells.
Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research ...
the announcement by Ralph Baric and co-workers at the University of North Carolina that
they had created a chimeric SARS-like virus, which expresses the spike (attachment protein)
of a bat coronavirus in a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone (4). As in the cases of the
genetically modified H5N1 avian influenza viruses, the newly generated SARS-like virus is
potentially an extremely dangerous, possibly pandemic pathogen... That was 5 years ago.
I agree with the uselessness of bioweapons as a military operation. The economic blowback
we are now seeing is proof
But But what if this global crisis is exactly what those who want to totally control us
would want to happen. It is precipitating the roll out of medical martial law.
There are laws on the books that give extraordinary powers in the event of a global
epidemic or even a pandemic.
Not to mention in the US the Continuity of Government provisions strengthened massively
after 9/11. Every year the state of emergency triggered by 9/11 has been renewed. Mandatory
vaccinations for everyone. Quarantine powers granted The initiation of martial law. Now you
don't have to be a terrorist but just said to be infected and away you go.
I don't think COV-19 is the one to justify the full implementation but it is another giant
step for setting up the population for the full implementation.
It is disturbing to discover that all the most important research on bacteriological weapons
financed and coordinated by the Pentagon have developed above all in two countries,
Georgia and Ukraine , which have become a colony of the USA thanks to the colored
revolutions which the Open Society's
financier George Soros took all credit for .
This probably one of the most important article that promote hypothesis that that the virus
originated in the USA.
Godfree Roberts pointed out strange "waping pneumonia" epidemic in the USA in august, 2019.
But as Ron Unz pointed out "waping pneumonia" was not contagious, so it might be the precursor to
Wuhan version of the virus, but it is definitely not identical. Some participants of the forum
pointed out that the virus could evolve since the accidental release. But the fact remains that
while "waping pneumonia" cases were registered in several states there was no mass infection of
medical personal as typically happens with COVID-19.
I do not see the comparison of genetic structures between two, and that is something really
alarming. Theoretically it is in the USA government interests to put this hypothesis to the rest
as it is very damaging to the reputation of the USA.
Notable quotes:
"... If it started October 12 in the US it had time to incubate, spread to Lombardy, and infect Wuhan hotel workers on October 27, during the Military Games (i.e., almost November). ..."
"... We didn't notice when it killed 3200 here because we forbade testing until early March*. The CDC planned to bury our 3200 in the stats for a bad 'flu season (which this is) as it always does. ..."
"... Then, when China reported the outbreak there, instead of saying nothing they blamed China for causing it -- the kind of stupidity (like starting a trade war with the world's biggest economy when our economy was already shaky) the White House specializes in. ..."
"... Assuming the best case scenario, that it was only incompetence that made the US miss the outbreak of a pandemic on its soil, a fair conclusion is that the Chinese government has more care and more respect for its people than so-called "democracies" ..."
"... -- As the ground glass opacity (white patches) can be easily seen in CT scans of the lungs of patients with the novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia, it should have been an easy thing to separate the cases of COVID-19 and H1N1 flu. But why were there so many misdiagnoses? ..."
"... -- Why are there new [US] biological laboratories in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan? Are those labs for biochemical warfare? ..."
"... If the Coronavirus had been circulating in America in August 2019, we probably would have seen a million dead Americans by the end of the year, and I don't remember reading about it in my morning newspapers. ..."
"... Since Trump and his friends are denouncing China, the Chinese leaders wish to respond with a theory that makes America look bad and blames the Coronavirus outbreak on the US. But they're very reluctant to point to the pretty strong circumstantial evidence that the virus outbreak was a biowarfare attack on China (and Iran) by the Deep State Neocons. After all, that would be difficult to prove and also would be an act of war. Anyway, given the total incompetence of the US government, the Coronavirus is about to inflict enormous punishment upon the population and economy of the US, whether we were actually guilty or not. ..."
"... Considering that the Jul 2019 lab breach of containment has happened in a unique location, involving limited personnel, and was found out, is it not possible that the US authorities had locally applied the same measures China did, almost quenching a nascent epidemic and postponing its outbreak? ..."
"... President Trump's charges are indeed ridiculous: he pretends that his country is the only one on Earth not to have received the epidemic warnings issued by China, while all other nations have been applying more or less strict containment measures for months. ..."
"... There is also the possibility that the "doubling period" was not initially (in the early stages, in the U.S.) so short as every 5 or even 3 days when there were very few initial cases, or indeed, only ONE ("Patient Zero") initial case. ..."
"... That is to say, unless and until a minimum critical mass of infected is reached, the rate of spread of Detrick-19 virus could be significantly slower. INITIALLY. ..."
"... The facts presented by Dr. Roberts have checked out. They provide an alternative theory for the origin of the SARS-2 Coronavirus. It is after all only a theory, same as the theory that it came from Wuhan bats. We'll probably never know unless everyone works together on the investigation. Even then, we won't be absolutely sure. While both sides like to say everything is on the table, cooperation apparently is not included. I think China is tired of getting insulted and attacked by morons, which is understandable. I myself do enjoy the freedom to lie and insult and be ignorant, and the Chinese will have to pry that away from my cold dead fingers. ..."
"... In any case, something happened at the Fort Detrick lab that caused the CDC to shut it down last July. Humans may have been contaminated (it's possible but we won't know unless Fort Detrick work is declassified). Since the Coronavirus did not have that protein spike for attaching to human cells, the infected persons did not get sick, and there was minimal or no transmission. ..."
"... The next big mutation probably occurred shortly before or after the GIs arrived at Wuhan. The protein spikes are now much better adapted to attaching to human pulmonary epithelial cells, which causes pneumonia and since there is no defence against this new virus, the result could be deadly. Subsequent mutations may have further adapted SAR-2 to human cells making the virus very contagious among humans. This is of course, still a theory, but hopefully answers Ron's concern that Dr. Roberts is a propagandist for the CCP. At the end of the day, we all believe what we want to believe. I believe I'll have a beer. ..."
"... Patient Zero, an infected US serviceman*, went to Wuhan with the US Military Games team. ..."
"... He infected four of his teammates and all five were hospitalized in Wuhan with Covid-19. If that is the case then the Chinese have their medical records. If Mike Pompeo is begging it's because he has no alternative. ..."
"... CDC Director Robert Redfield recently admitted that some deaths previously attributed to 'flu have been reclassified as Covid-19 after post-mortem DNA testing. I assume that at least one of those patients died in December since Dr. Redfield refused to reveal their dates. ..."
"... Right now the CDC is still refusing to share its data with the WHO or identify Patient Zero ** to the American public -- unprecedented behavior during a pandemic. ..."
"... In trying to debunk the hypothesis that COVID-19 was circulating before Q4, Unz assumes that the virus has a single immutable R0. That assumption does not hold if the virus is circulating in a new species for the first time. As old micro points out, a novel virus gains virulence as it adapts to its new host organism. And it did in fact mutate in the US, into four or five distinct strains. So you can't just extrapolate and compare. Let's not get like Caitlin Johnstone's Republican RPCs and call unwelcome notions Chinese. ..."
"... The interview with Italy's Dr. Remuzzi has been truncated in English-language media. He actually says the virus outbreaks were observed by doctors as early as OCTOBER, and not just November as reported. ..."
"... I think that can best be explained by the different types of Corona Virus strains. The S Type is a more mild form of the disease. ..."
"... Interestingly enough, vaping increases your chance of becoming severe 14 times. ..."
"... So the mild strain could have been in circulation causing a moderately increased death rate that many have observed this flu season with certain spikes of deaths due people vaping. ..."
"... What happened in China, Italy, and Iran I believe was the result of the more virulent L strain. ..."
"... Under your reconstruction, let's ask ourselves how many Americans were infected when that alleged serviceman carried the Coronavirus to Wuhan in October. Maybe he was the only infected individual in America and by purest chance, he happened to take the virus to China, launch the disease there, then avoid infecting any other American when he returned home. But this is *exceptionally* implausible. ..."
"... Well, my impression is that the existence of this sharp S strain/L strain difference is still under dispute. But leaving that aside, your theory is that the Deep State Neocons (or whomever) deliberately attacked China and Iran with the deadly form of the Coronavirus, which seems a perfectly plausible hypothesis to me. ..."
"... The military games thesis offers two pieces of information -- five US team members hospitalized and forty-two hotel employees first infectious cluster -- which should be relatively easy to ascertain independently. The thesis is certainly viable if both can be confirmed. ..."
"... Incidentally, Ft. Detrick developed the bioweapons the US used on China in 1951. Ah, those were good times! ..."
"... Of course it's possible that an outbreak occurred in the US in October or earlier. If that happened, it's not that no one noticed but that these cases were miscategorized as influenza or other respiratory problems. In other words, COVID-19 doesn't seem to exist until you can identify it, and if there is no testing for it, then it is invisible to the CDC. ..."
"... This issue has already been addressed in a congressional hearing, in which the CDC admitted that COVID-19 might have been among the deaths categorized as influenza last year. The CDC doesn't know because they never tested for it. (And they don't want to go back to test the earlier cases either.) ..."
"... According to Godfree Roberts's Chinese counter-narrative America was infected before China and apparently life went on in America w/o anybody noticing. The epidemic grew exponentially and still nobody noticed. There was no Wuhan in America. So it must be true that the covid-19 is just like a flu. Most get it, some feel under the weather and few old people die. It happens every year. But apparently not to Chinese who created a crisis out of nothing by getting hysterical about 3,200 people dying in Hubei province in 3 months, a province of 58 millions where every month 34,000 people die on average. If Chinese did not overreact there would be no crisis and we all would be OK. Did I get it right? Is this Godfree Roberts's theory in a nutshell? ..."
"... No matter which view point you take, it is hard to create a unifying theory of anything right now since there is still a lot we don't know yet. ..."
"... The main thing that bothers me is why was China, Italy, and Iran hit so hard. I no longer think it was a racially targetted weapon but something has to account for the difference in intensity. ..."
"... There being S and L variants with different virulence makes the most sense to me but there are probably other scenarios that make sense too. ..."
"... You could take the same virus that is going around everywhere, and then enhance it in a test tube to make it easier to infect people, then release it in countries you want to target. ..."
"... The graph below shows that flu activity is 20 times higher in February compared to October. Why do you expect CV (itself a 1/7 of the flu) to behave differently? ..."
"... In the beginning, when the numbers are tiny, the rate of infections will completely depend, and vary wildly, on the actual infected individuals and their behaviour/circumstances. Just that first guy can infect 20 people or one (technically none, but that would end it) which would almost certainly affect the timing by months. ..."
"... However, except for its excellent propaganda, the American government spent months doing nothing about the Coronavirus, being totally lazy and incompetent in non-propaganda matters. And to the horror and dismay of our leaders, the Coronavirus just ignores their propaganda, regardless of its outstanding quality. ..."
"... it is strictly not true that nobody noticed. In Northern Italy a bunch of doctors noticed. ..."
"... It seems that China, from that start, strongly suspected a deliberate Biological Warfare attack, but could not YET prove it, and so remained silent. ..."
"... This is to try to exonerate our country from the charge of military aggression and attempted genocide, and to lower the bar to gross incompetence and widespread and willful lying and cover-up, ignoring the domestic danger to protect the military, and leveling malicious accusations against another country, all of the preceding costing a huge number of innocent lives around the world. ..."
"... A viral outbreak can reach its first milestone -- 100 infected -- in any number of months so we shouldn't be extrapolating current rates (even if they were reliable) to pinpoint the initial timing. It's a completely useless approach for that purpose. Also, the numbers will almost always be fairly small and easy to overlook in the first couple of months. ..."
"... Keep in mind that Godfree Roberts postulates that infection in the US began before China. China on Jan 22 had 571 case and on Feb 1 14,308 cases while the US on March 8 had 541 cases and it reached 13,789 cases on March 19. So US is about 45 days behind China. Clearly this is not congruent with Godfree's hypothesis. ..."
"... I would go even further and claim that the hypothesis that the infection in China began on October 27, 2019 during the Military Games might be a stretch. It implies that it took 87 days to get to 571 on Jan 22 which is about 10 day doubling time. ..."
China suffered through the H1N1 coronavirus epidemic in 2008 largely because the CDC took 6
months to identify it and, as a result, 300,000 died prematurely. SARS (774 deaths) was the
clincher. They created a hair-trigger alarm system, mandated post-mortem pneumonia DNA testing
nationwide, and promoted the CDC head, Dr. George F. Gao [1] to Demigod.
Their Covid-19 emergency has now passed and must give Dr. Gao a B+ because, though his
system contained a potential epidemic it suffered from a weakness: local politicians could
delay, (but not stop) the alarm sounding. Doubtless for sound bureaucratic reasons, Wuhan
officials delayed notifying Beijing for a few weeks but, after Beijing pried the information
from the Wuhan Director of Public Health [2] They fired him the next day.
Henceforth local politicians will be out of the loop and everyone will have a CDC hotline
number. , the system swung into action, everyone pitched in, and they literally killed
it.
National cohesion and coordination were amazing, thanks to the Communist Party. They
coordinated everything and filled all the gaps, no questions asked. Ninety percent of the
frontline volunteer medical staff -- of whom 18 died -- were Party members sworn to 'bear the
people's burden first and enjoy their pleasures last.' Zhang Wenhong, a prominent Party member
and Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Shanghai's Huashan Hospital, became a
local hero for his pep-talk to Party members [emphasis added]:
The first-aid team put themselves in great danger. They are tired and need to rest. We
shouldn't take advantage of good people. From now on, I'll replace all the frontline medics
with Party members from different sectors. When we joined the Party, we vowed that we would
always prioritize people's interests and press forward in the face of difficulties. This is
the moment we live up to the pledge. All CPC members must rush to the front line. I don't
care what you were actually thinking when you joined the party. Now it's time to live up to
what you promised. I don't care if you personally agree or not: it's non-negotiable .
Altogether, 40,000 volunteers self-organized and showed up to help Wuhan.
Now the storm has passed and China has become the world's Santa Claus, giving out goodies
and turning a potential disaster into a real triumph.
Nothing would make that triumph sweeter than the public revelation that our CDC knew about
Covid-19 last September. Like many national public health systems, the CDC ignores novel
Coronaviruses every 'flu season and blends their effects in with the immense, fluctuating
number of annual deaths. That's why, back in 2008, the CDC took so long to detect H1N1: they
weren't looking.
Same old, same old until January 1, when China identified a nasty Coronavirus and the US
went ballistic and blamed them for starting a pandemic and insulted their culture and their
government.
But they handled Covid-19 so competently that they won the world's admiration [3] and made our
attacks on them look mean, but no big deal. People will forget about the huge fuss we made and
just remember vaguely that China is filthy and its leaders are liars. Except for two
things:
Their society's health policies are more compassionate than ours , as older
readers will realize. They have always placed a higher societal value on eighty year-olds than
we do. So when they were threatened with premature, painful deaths, they put their entire
economy on hold for two months and cooperatively saved their parents and grandparents, to
worldwide applause (at least from my age-group). Now China is competing to have the lowest per
capita Covid-19 death rate of any major country. The world suspected that Covid-19 was
circulating outside China last yearwhen they recalled this : First Vaping Death
Reported by USA Health Officials . August 2019, "Amid the lack of information
, investigators scrambled to find shared links to the respiratory problems. Officials said
earlier this week that many patients, most of whom were adolescents or young adults, had
described difficulty breathing, chest pain, vomiting and fatigue ." Covid-19 symptoms. If
that's too speculative, here's what NPR turned up: Other Countries can Learn Important Lessons from Italy, says Dr.
Giuseppe Remuzzi, co-author of a recent paper in The Lancet about the country's dire situation.
The takeaways include how to swiftly convert a general hospital into a coronavirus care unit
with specially trained doctors and nurses. "We had dermatologists, eye doctors, pathologists,
learning how to assist a person with a ventilator," Remuzzi says. Some question why Italy was
caught off guard when the virus outbreak was revealed on Feb. 21. Remuzzi says he is now
hearing information about it from general practitioners. " They remember having seen very
strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November. This
means that the virus was circulating, at least in northern Lombardy before we were aware of
this outbreak occurring in China. "
The WHO has not requested the data from CDC because the US has been attacking the WHO daily
and Dr. Ghebreyesus knows the US can get him fired. But Dr. Ghebreyesus and Dr. Gao and every
Health Minister on earth know the truth. Dr. Remuzzi's Italian DNA is traceable. So is China's.
The world is very good at tracing Coronaviruses back through their generations and China has
done so and now it seems the shit is about to hit the fan.
WUHAN OUTBREAK: CHINA DEMANDS AN HONEST ACCOUNTING
It is now virtually certain
that COVID-19 was brought to Wuhan by American troops taking part in the city's World Military
Games last Oct. 18-27. The 300-strong US contingent stayed 300 meters from the Huanan Seafood
Market where China's outbreak began (see map below) at the Wuhan Oriental Hotel. Five of the US
troops developed a fever on Oct. 25 and were taken to an infectious-diseases hospital for
treatment. 42 employees of the Oriental Hotel were diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the first
cluster in Wuhan. At the time only 7 people from the market had been thus diagnosed (and
treated before the hotel staff). All 7 had contact with the 42 from the hotel. From this
source, the virus spread to the rest of China. The American Military Games team trained at a
location near Fort Detrick, the military's viral lab closed down by the CDC in July for various
deficiencies. The big question now is whether the transmission was planned, or accidental.
Chinese authorities are awaiting an explanation from US authorities. A few days ago, Mike
Pompeo phoned Yang Jiechi, Chinese State Councillor for Foreign Affairs. Pompeo's counterpart
is actually Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Yang is Wang's boss, so Pompeo wanted to talk about
something urgent and important. Pompeo wanted the Chinese not to publicize what they had found.
Yang's reply: "We await your solemn explanation, especially about Patient Zero."
China's leaders have long suspected US military involvement in the Wuhan outbreak but were
determined to stop the disease before pursuing the Americans for an honest accounting.
Notes
[1] Dr. Gao has made
contributions to the study of inter-species pathogen transmission. He organized the first World
Flu Day on November 1 2018, commemorating the centenary of the Spanish flu. It was also the
15-year commemoration of the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, SARS, which led to
China prioritising investment in the public health system. He is a virologist and immunologist.
He has served as Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention since 2017
and Dean of the Savaid Medical School of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences since
2015. Gao is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of
Sciences, as well as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and the US
National Academy of Medicine. He was awarded the TWAS Prize in Medical Science in 2012 and the
Nikkei Asia Prize in 2014.
[2] They fired him the next
day. Henceforth local politicians will be out of the loop and everyone will have a CDC hotline
number.
[3] Dr Bruce Aylward, head
of the WHO International Mission said,"In the face of a previously unknown disease, China has
taken one of the most ancient approaches for infectious disease control and rolled out probably
the most ambitious, and I would say, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in
history. China took old-fashioned measures, like the national approach to hand-washing, the
mask-wearing, the social distancing, the universal temperature monitoring. But then very
quickly, as it started to evolve, the response started to change . . . So they refined the
strategy as they moved forward, and this is an important aspect as we look to how we might use
this going forward. WHO has been here from the start of this crisis, an epidemic, working every
single day with the government of China WHO was here from the beginning and never left. What's
different about this mission is it's complementing a lot of other external experts."
Since this was published, Ron has queried me on the dates and here is what I came up with:
It has been spreading for the same amount of time in both China and the US but China has a
detection system for novel Coronaviruses and we don't.
If it started October 12 in the US it had time to incubate, spread to Lombardy, and
infect Wuhan hotel workers on October 27, during the Military Games (i.e., almost
November).
It killed 3200 there and they noticed and got on it.
We didn't notice when it killed 3200 here because we forbade testing until early
March*. The CDC planned to bury our 3200 in the stats for a bad 'flu season (which this is)
as it always does.
Then, when China reported the outbreak there, instead of saying nothing they blamed
China for causing it -- the kind of stupidity (like starting a trade war with the world's
biggest economy when our economy was already shaky) the White House specializes in.
If we begin a proper national testing program like China's -- and signs are that we won't
-- total 'flu/Coronavirus deaths will match our worst season in 40 years: January 6, 2020:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
said while it's impossible to predict how the flu will play out, the season so far is on
track to be as severe as the 2017-2018 flu season, which was the deadliest in more than four
decades , according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The initial
indicators indicate this is not going to be a good season -- this is going to be a bad
season," Fauci said.
And this commenter got it before that. With no vaping of anything. I don't get anything.
So did xymph. It was persistent and bad but fortunately pneumonia and fibrosis did not ensue.
And Lola Short was not the first fake flu death, either. CDC emergency response is classified
in part because they were testing for it novel coronavirus along.
An amazing and truly mind-blowing article, hopefully, it will not fall into the memory hole
or be 'accidentally' erased. It reveals the ugly little wizard hiding behind the American
flag.
This is why Harvard chemistry chair Prof. Charles Lieber got rolled up with trumped up
charges when this outbreak hit the news.
Lieber's specialty was in virus detection tech. His work in Wuhan enabled China to detect
an accidental or intentional virus spread by the US relatively early. China's response to the
outbreak alerted the US to this fact, so the feds brought the hammer down on Lieber.
Two of the world's biggest threats may someday be reduced by wires thousands of times
thinner than a hair but capable of detecting a single virus. The specter of worldwide viral
epidemics is always with us, so detecting them quickly offers the possibility of saving
thousands of lives. The pathogens also can be stealthy biological weapons, making their
positive detection a vital national defense requirement.
"We want to find a single virus before it finds you," says Charles Lieber, Hyman
Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. Tests recently completed in his laboratory
show that these unimaginably thin nanowires can sense and distinguish between viruses that
cause flu, measles, and eye infections. Lieber believes future versions will be able to
spot HIV, Ebola, SARS, West Nile, hepatitis, bird flu, and other dangerous viruses.
"Viruses are among the most important causes of human disease and are of increasing
concern as agents for bioterrorism," Lieber says. "Our work shows that nanoscale silicon
wires can be configured as detectors that turn on or off in the presence of a single virus
particle. Such detectors could be fashioned into arrays capable of sensing thousands of
different viruses, ushering in a new era for diagnoses, biosafety, and quick response to
viral outbreaks."
Many thanks to the author for yet another great article.
Assuming the best case scenario, that it was only incompetence that made the US miss
the outbreak of a pandemic on its soil, a fair conclusion is that the Chinese government has
more care and more respect for its people than so-called "democracies" . Unlike others,
China took the pain to identify and contain an epidemic that would have otherwise taken a
high toll on the elderly, the vulnerable and health personnel.
Not everyone believes in the best case scenario, however.
From CGTN Chinese website, this "1o Questions to the US government " article asks in
particular:
-- As the ground glass opacity (white patches) can be easily seen in CT scans of the
lungs of patients with the novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia, it should have been an
easy thing to separate the cases of COVID-19 and H1N1 flu. But why were there so many
misdiagnoses?
-- Why are there new [US] biological laboratories in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan? Are those labs for biochemical
warfare?
Well, unless I'm missing something huge, the hypothesis advanced in this article makes
absolutely no sense at all
Apparently, the claim is that Coronavirus began circulating in the US as early as August
2019, but the results were misclassified as "vaping deaths."
This seems totally nuts to me. As we know from China, Northern Italy, and most recently
New York, Coronavirus is *extremely* contagious. In the absence of severe government
restrictions, the number of infected individuals tends to double every 3-5 days, thereby
increasing by a factor of something like 100-1000x per month. And it seems to kill at least
1% of the population, perhaps rising to 5% when the health system collapses under the strain
of the 20% who require hospitalization.
If the Coronavirus had been circulating in America in August 2019, we probably would
have seen a million dead Americans by the end of the year, and I don't remember reading about
it in my morning newspapers.
But let's ignore that part of the article, and go to the next point, namely that several
of the American military officers visiting Wuhan in October 2019 had *accidently* been
infected in the US, and thereby spread it to China.
America has a population of something like 330 million, and if so few Americans were
infected in October 2019 that nobody here noticed, the likelihood that tiny handful would
happen to include the ones visiting Wuhan is nil.
Even in such extraordinarily implausible circumstances, that would mean the infection took
off in the US at least as early as it did in Wuhan. So the exponential growth in the two
countries would have been roughly similar, and nobody would have paid attention to the Wuhan
disaster because so many Americans would have already been dying.
This whole theory is so ridiculous and illogical, I strongly suspect it's just (very poor
quality) PRC propaganda, being promoted for obvious political reasons.
Since Trump and his friends are denouncing China, the Chinese leaders wish to respond
with a theory that makes America look bad and blames the Coronavirus outbreak on the US. But
they're very reluctant to point to the pretty strong circumstantial evidence that the virus
outbreak was a biowarfare attack on China (and Iran) by the Deep State Neocons. After all,
that would be difficult to prove and also would be an act of war. Anyway, given the total
incompetence of the US government, the Coronavirus is about to inflict enormous punishment
upon the population and economy of the US, whether we were actually guilty or not.
So instead they concocted this ridiculous "Oops!" theory just so that they have something
to say in response to Trump's ridiculous charges.
Now that's perfectly fine, and I understand what they're doing and why. But I'm not a PRC
propagandist so I don't have to pretend that their theory makes any sense at all.
As we know from China, Northern Italy, and most recently New York, Coronavirus is
*extremely* contagious. In the absence of severe government restrictions, the number of
infected individuals tends to double ever 3-5 days
As of the 5th March, where no stringent health measures had been implemented yet except in
Asia, the number of infected people globally was around 100,000 and was doubling every 6
days. At the same time, and by implementing strict containment, China had managed to extend
the doubling rate to two months .
Considering that the Jul 2019 lab breach of containment has happened in a unique
location, involving limited personnel, and was found out, is it not possible that the US
authorities had locally applied the same measures China did, almost quenching a nascent
epidemic and postponing its outbreak?
America has a population of something like 330 million, and if so few Americans were
infected in October 2019 that nobody here noticed, the likelihood that tiny handful would
happen to include the ones visiting Wuhan is nil.
Just before major competitions, sports team gather for extensive training and "friendly"
games; it is always the case. It is possible that one or two American individuals only were
infected, then contaminated their colleagues during training just prior to the games, thus
making the cluster that brought the virus to Wuhan only a little time before the games.
So instead they concocted this ridiculous "Oops!" theory just so that they have
something to say in response to Trump's ridiculous charges.
President Trump's charges are indeed ridiculous: he pretends that his country is the
only one on Earth not to have received the epidemic warnings issued by China, while all other
nations have been applying more or less strict containment measures for months.
These assumptions are for an accidental contamination.
As we know from China, Northern Italy, and most recently New York, Coronavirus is
*extremely* contagious. In the absence of severe government restrictions, the number of
infected individuals tends to double ever 3-5 days, thereby increasing by a factor of
something like 100-1000x per month. And it seems to kill at least 1% of the population,
perhaps rising to 5% when the health system collapses under the strain of the 20% who
require hospitalization
(Allow me to play Devil's Advocate):
There is also the possibility that the "doubling period" was not initially (in the
early stages, in the U.S.) so short as every 5 or even 3 days when there were very few
initial cases, or indeed, only ONE ("Patient Zero") initial case.
That is to say, unless and until a minimum critical mass of infected is reached, the
rate of spread of Detrick-19 virus could be significantly slower. INITIALLY.
(A 5-day doubling period would be a rough compounded increase of 15% a day, while a 3-day
doubling period would be a rough compounded increase of 26% a day -- these are obviously very
fast).
What if, for reasons of the patterns and frequencies of travel and typical interaction and
circulation of individuals in society (all the usual activities -- driving on the freeway,
playing video games, fixing up his own house etc.), as long as only a few individuals were
sick, the doubling period was as long as 30, even 45 days?
It is possible the infected "Patient Zero from Ft. Detrick" simply had little opportunity
to interact with others for some time (for example, he might have been someone who spent time
alone, liked to read, a bit of a shut-in, who knows?)
You start with only one person accidentally exposed and sick. It COULD theoretically have
taken 2 weeks to a month to infect a second, and another 2 weeks/1 month for those 2 infected
people to become 4 infected. And so forth.
UNTIL you hit say 100 or more people infected and interacting in society all at once, at
which time an inflection point is reached, and the daily rate of increase trends sharply
upward.
(Devil's Advocate mode off.)
OTOH,
IF, in fact, a critical mass of infected people need to be present for the Detrick-19
Virus to spread quickly, then, I have to admit, it does point rather heavily in the direction
of a deliberate (vice accidental) effort to spread the virus in Wuhan, China and Qom, Iran --
in other words, NOT AN ACCIDENT, but a premeditated act of war by the United States against
China and Iran.
To which reasonable conclusion, quite a few of our countrymen have come.
The facts presented by Dr. Roberts have checked out. They provide an alternative theory
for the origin of the SARS-2 Coronavirus. It is after all only a theory, same as the theory
that it came from Wuhan bats. We'll probably never know unless everyone works together on the
investigation. Even then, we won't be absolutely sure. While both sides like to say
everything is on the table, cooperation apparently is not included. I think China is tired of
getting insulted and attacked by morons, which is understandable. I myself do enjoy the
freedom to lie and insult and be ignorant, and the Chinese will have to pry that away from my
cold dead fingers.
As for Ron's opinion on the contagious character of the current strains, we should
remember that viruses mutate very frequently. Therefore the early Coronavirus strain that
first infected humans may have survived in the hosts for long periods without causing harm or
readily transmitted to another human. Eventually, a mutuation creates the protein spikes that
lets the virus grab onto human cells (see linked scientific article below), especially
bronchial and pulmonary epithelial cells. Then all hell breaks loose. I would like to make
Dr. Roberts's theory a bit more complete by adding that the SARS-2 Coronavirus likely
originated from a bat. It is known to be studied in Fort Detrick ostensibly for scientific
purposes. On this, America is not alone. Many governments and research institutes know that
this is coming and have been studying on ways to defend humans from the next outbreak. The
only thing that seems a little suspicious is why Fort Detrick? Googling Fort Detrick and MK
Ultra will give us some background.
In any case, something happened at the Fort Detrick lab that caused the CDC to shut it
down last July. Humans may have been contaminated (it's possible but we won't know unless
Fort Detrick work is declassified). Since the Coronavirus did not have that protein spike for
attaching to human cells, the infected persons did not get sick, and there was minimal or no
transmission. To the rest of the world, nothing happened. The next significant mutation
may allow the virus to become transmitted to another human host, similar to how even today
over eighty percent of the infected are asymptomatic or experience only slight flu symptoms.
People would think that it's just a cold. The next big mutation probably occurred shortly
before or after the GIs arrived at Wuhan. The protein spikes are now much better adapted to
attaching to human pulmonary epithelial cells, which causes pneumonia and since there is no
defence against this new virus, the result could be deadly. Subsequent mutations may have
further adapted SAR-2 to human cells making the virus very contagious among humans. This is
of course, still a theory, but hopefully answers Ron's concern that Dr. Roberts is a
propagandist for the CCP. At the end of the day, we all believe what we want to believe. I
believe I'll have a beer.
@Ron
Unz Let's dispense with the vaping deaths and other tantalizing possibilities and
simplify the hypothesis thus:
1. Patient Zero, an infected US serviceman*, went to Wuhan with the US Military Games
team.
2. He infected four of his teammates and all five were hospitalized in Wuhan with
Covid-19. If that is the case then the Chinese have their medical records. If Mike Pompeo is
begging it's because he has no alternative.
3. The Army should have quarantined the team ** after they returned to the US on December
1, so our outbreak may have started late December, if other returned team members tested
positive.
4. A Chinese arrived from Wuhan Jan. 19 and asked to be tested for the coronavirus China
had identified. He tested positive and our media call him 'Patient Zero' but..
5. We don't know when our domestic outbreak started because the CDC discouraged testing
from January until early March despite having received the WHO's Coronavirus warning January
1.
5. CDC Director Robert Redfield recently admitted that some deaths previously
attributed to 'flu have been reclassified as Covid-19 after post-mortem DNA testing. I assume
that at least one of those patients died in December since Dr. Redfield refused to reveal
their dates.
6. Right now the CDC is still refusing to share its data with the WHO or identify
Patient Zero ** to the American public -- unprecedented behavior during a pandemic.
______________________________________________________
*It doesn't materially matter if he was infected while training near Ft. Detrick but, if he
was, it helps explain the coverup.
** Did some team members go on leave to Italy after the Games? USMAC makes that easy.
*** The significance of finding Patient Zero is to determine the time of initial infection
and then estimate the scope of transmission and epidemic scale. The second purpose is to find
the intermediate host. If Patient Zero really is our hypothetical US serviceman
and the CDC is lying about him, then Patient Zero assumes political significance,
too.
In the absence of severe government restrictions, the number of infected individuals
tends to double ever 3-5 days, thereby increasing by a factor of something like 100-1000x
per month.
That's a misconception, Mr Unz.
You've failed to notice Pynchon's 3rd Proverb for Paranoids :
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about
answers .
Everybody's been encouraged to watch the wrong card -- namely, 'confirmed cases '
-- which is the number of people who have returned a positive test (on a test which is worse
than a coin toss, as Zhuang et al have recently shown).
The obvious way to have low numbers of "confirmed cases", is to administer very few
tests .
Zero tests = zero confirmed cases regardless of what the actual number of infected
is, or its rate of growth. That shows the weakness of using 'confirmed cases' as a basis for
spread.
'Confirmed cases' is a low-information quantity, and I think it was chosen
deliberately .
'Not testing' is what the US did -- it was administering 1 test per million population as
recently as early March.
It's obvious that failing (or refusing) to test, doesn't stop the virus from spreading:
the rate at which it actually spreads is independent of the rate at which tests are
conducted.
So while people weren't being tested, the virus was doing what it does -- at whatever rate
it can achieve 'in the wild'.
Now
If Mr Roberts' claims are correct and this particular coronavirus existed in a
human-transmissible form as early as last September, then by March there will already have
been a large 'stock' of infected people in the US and elsewhere, all of whom were untested. 5
months (near enough) of untrammeled spread at whatever rate this things spreads at (left for
below), versus 2 months or so.
And
Since this was -- as the quote from Fauci indicates -- a reasonably bad flu season,
there will have been tens of thousands of people with a range of 'flu like symptoms from
October onwards. If Mr Roberts' information is correct, some proportion of those will have
been undetected coronavirus (they could never be 'confirmed cases' because nobody
was being tested ).
Now
Those among the ill who were otherwise healthy, would have simply gotten over it (with the
worst cases requiring time off work and bed rest). Before and after they would have simply
gone about their business -- infecting others.
By the time testing was being implemented, there's a very high likelihood that a very
large proportion of them were entirely virus-free -- making them undetected,
undetectable , resolved cases. Contact tracking proceeding backwards from people who
contracted coronavirus from them, would draw a blank (especially if the original carrier's
specific case had no symptoms).
So
Depending on the actual start date (September 2019 vs January 2020), there are 2-6 months'
worth of infected that are sitting there untested at the time that testing begins.
Some of these people will be in cohorts timed to have symptoms by March; some of them will
have become very ill. These -- and people in their downstream orbit -- are the first
cohort that was tested.
And of course there are others downstream from the Sep-Mar 'resolved' cases; some
of those having low- or no-symptoms, going about their daily lives, being undetected
infectious.
OK, so now we have some starting stock of infected and resolved as at the start of
testing, and it's a much bigger number than 1 (i.e., the starting value for the
#ZOMFG!!_exponential curve).
Now start testing.
People who were infected weeks ago by a slow-spreading virus, start getting detected as
new 'confirmed cases'.
Ramp up testing #ZOMFG!!_exponentially!!! (which is roughly what has happened), and
the 'confirmed case' numbers will also ramp up #ZOMFG!!_exponentially!!! .
Mathematically, that could just mean that there is a constant proportion of the population
who is infected.
If the virus spread was accelerating , positive tests as a proportion of total
tests would slope upwards .
There's no evidence of that, either cross-sectionally (i.e., across countries with
different test numbers) or internally (as test counts increase in a given country).
The exact opposite is happening -- as more testing is happening, the ratio of confirmed
cases to total tests is declining .
The rate of growth of 'confirmed cases' won't slow until much later, because of the
existing 'stock' of infected.
The stock of infected on the day that 'confirmed case ' #1 is
detected , was absolutely, certainly, emphatically, irrefutably not 1 .
Later, the downside analogies of same phenomena will also give the false impression that
control measures having an effect.
This will give charlatans the bonus of being able to applaud each other and declare
themselves and their flailings as the sine qua non of victory (the " Omaha Beach
Effect ').
With a full-court media press behind them (because journalists are innumerate and
gullible) this will, they hope, infect the minds of the Mass Man with the worst possible
virus: the one that makes people believe that politicians and their apparatchiks are
competent.
Reference (on the terrible false-positive problem for the current test)
In trying to debunk the hypothesis that COVID-19 was circulating before Q4, Unz assumes
that the virus has a single immutable R0. That assumption does not hold if the virus is
circulating in a new species for the first time. As old micro points out, a novel virus gains
virulence as it adapts to its new host organism. And it did in fact mutate in the US, into
four or five distinct strains. So you can't just extrapolate and compare. Let's not get like
Caitlin Johnstone's Republican RPCs and call unwelcome notions Chinese.
Also, don't forget, there were multiple introductions. There is no one patient zero.
Contagion by multiple introductions is prima facie biological warfare.
The interview with Italy's Dr. Remuzzi has been truncated in English-language media.
He actually says the virus outbreaks were observed by doctors as early as OCTOBER, and not
just November as reported.
A reporter asks Dr. Remuzzi about virus cases from Fall of 2019. Below is a
translation:
Dr. Remuzzi (at 4:19): "It is very true. Do you know what happened? Certain family
doctors, who have the best on the ground information, at least the most attentive ones,
have told me recently that they were seeing truly grave cases of pneumonia, which we had
never seen before. These pneumonia cases had nothing to do with typical flu pneumonia, they
were interstitial pneumonias, they had to do CT, radiography, [to diagnose it], and this
was happening in October, November, December. So this virus has been around a long
time."
So, in summary, Dr. Remuzzi not only says the cases occurred in October, but that multiple
"family doctors, who have the best on-the-ground information" have observed the strange
pneumonias at that time as well, and says explicitly that "this virus has been around a long
time."
@anon There was a huge
panic over "vaping" pneumonia here in Ottawa, Canada last August. I developed pneumonia at
that exact same time (I don't vape).I know exactly how and when I got it too -- oral congress
with a peeler's not-so-private parts very late in her shift. I'm not a freaking coincidence
theorist, and can certainly do rudimentary arithmetic. Then, the clusters of "vaping illness"
around Ft. Detrick at the VERY SAME TIME (youtube that) Anyone still thinking this is a
pangolin plague isn't bat-soup crazy (that's far too generous an assessment) -- they're a
brain-dead cretin that is destined to die of terminal stupidity (said the idiot pig!).
@Ron
Unz Your comment, while reasonable, could be proven wrong if the virus, due to heat,
humidity, or vitamin D level of the population, is suppressed in late summer. Then the virus
starts proliferating only in the Fall. Assuming it is vitamin D, the half life of the vitamin
in the human body depends on diet (can be very long), but for most people it is of order a
few weeks.
Lombardy is extremely foggy in Fall, and they had a hospital crisis already in Dec. 2019,
due to too many patients and not enough respirators. The interview with Prof. Remuzzi
provides hard data. People have highest vit. D levels in late summer, and lowest right now
(in the N. Hemisphere). This hypothesis would also explain the extremely low numbers in
tropical countries (they typically do not get the flu either).
If my point is correct, this epidemics should solve itself in early summer. Then you would
have a consistent explanation for all facts
@occupatio Thanks for
advertising my work Occupatio. Since I did that translation a bit on the fly I want to make
some small corrections, highlighted in caps.
It is very true. Do you know what happened? Certain family doctors, who have the best
ANTENNAS IN THE TERRITORY, at least the most ABLE AND attentive ones, have told me recently
that they were seeing grave cases of pneumonia, which we had never seen THE OTHER YEARS.
These pneumonia cases had nothing to do with typical flu pneumonia, they were interstitial
pneumonias, they had to do CT, radiography, [to diagnose it], and this was SEEN in October,
November, December. So this virus has been CIRCULATING a long time."
Your analysis assumes this specific virus is not a bioweapon The (possible) race
targeting nature of the bioweapon would help partly explain why the virus had a much weaker
effect in America despite being leaked here months earlier.
No. Back a month or two ago, I was indeed quite suspicious that the Coronavirus might be a
bioweapon racially-targeting East Asians, and we ran several articles by Lance Welton arguing
that case. But the facts proved otherwise, including the very rapid spread and growing death
toll in Italy and most recently in New York. Over the next few months, I fear that hundreds
of thousands of Americans may die, and the overwhelming majority are likely to be
Caucasian.
So the mild strain could have been in circulation causing a moderately increased death
rate that many have observed this flu season with certain spikes of deaths due people
vaping.
The author of a paper on Italy's coronavirus crisis says general practitioners remember
seeing strange pneumonia cases in December -- even November -- meaning the virus was
circulating in parts of Italy before doctors were aware of the outbreak in China.
https://t.co/ngJ92m8Gaa
The above link goes over the concept of super spreaders. These were people that led to
explosive outbreaks that are more characteristic of the parabolic pandemic you describe.
I believe that the US may have seeded the S strain in America first in order to try and
increase herd immunity to the public without needing vaccinations.
Once the S strain was seeded in America, the L strain was released in China and Iran. It
spread to S. Korea and Italy.
1. Patient Zero, an infected US serviceman*, went to Wuhan with the US Military Games
team.
Under your reconstruction, let's ask ourselves how many Americans were infected when
that alleged serviceman carried the Coronavirus to Wuhan in October. Maybe he was the only
infected individual in America and by purest chance, he happened to take the virus to China,
launch the disease there, then avoid infecting any other American when he returned home. But
this is *exceptionally* implausible.
The other possibility is that large numbers of Americans were already infected in October,
and one or more of them happened to go to China. But if that were true, there would have been
a massive outbreak in the US even before the one in China, so the theory makes absolutely no
sense.
So maybe the virus was harmless in the US or not easily contagious. But when it got to
China, it suddenly decided to randomly mutate into the extremely contagious and deadly form
we now have. But that's also *exceptionally* implausible.
I've never been particularly impressed with PRC propaganda, but this propaganda story is
so ridiculously bad and implausible I can't see how even a child could believe it.
I believe that the US may have seeded the S strain in America first in order to try and
increase herd immunity to the public without needing vaccinations.
Once the S strain was seeded in America, the L strain was released in China and Iran. It
spread to S. Korea and Italy.
Well, my impression is that the existence of this sharp S strain/L strain difference
is still under dispute. But leaving that aside, your theory is that the Deep State Neocons
(or whomever) deliberately attacked China and Iran with the deadly form of the Coronavirus,
which seems a perfectly plausible hypothesis to me.
But I'm extremely skeptical that they had earlier released a different form of Coronavirus
to spread around the US to protect us from the other form. Anyway, if that was their "clever
plan," it clearly didn't work, and hundreds of thousands of Americans may soon pay with their
lives for such total incompetence.
Since your theory relies upon the total incompetence of the purported biowarfare
attackers, it's really pretty similar to the one I've been suggesting.
The military games thesis offers two pieces of information -- five US team members
hospitalized and forty-two hotel employees first infectious cluster -- which should be
relatively easy to ascertain independently. The thesis is certainly viable if both can be
confirmed.
I'll settle for one of 300 guys training near Ft. Detrick getting infected on the last day
of training. Pure bad luck but plausible enough to get us to where we are today and to
explain our government's utterly weird, paranoid behavior -- a factor which must be
explained, too.
Incidentally, Ft. Detrick developed the bioweapons the US used on China in 1951. Ah,
those were good times!
I have always been impressed by how well the PRC's words match their deeds.
Of course, if you think that the words our media put into their government's mouth (when,
for example, summarizing a speech) match what they actually said then of course you won't be
impressed.
But if you compare the official translations -- even their courts translate important
decisions now -- it's hard to fault them.
They've made 150 major promises in the past 70 years and kept all of them -- and that's
why they are where they are today.
Of course it's possible that an outbreak occurred in the US in October or earlier. If
that happened, it's not that no one noticed but that these cases were miscategorized as
influenza or other respiratory problems. In other words, COVID-19 doesn't seem to exist until
you can identify it, and if there is no testing for it, then it is invisible to the
CDC.
This issue has already been addressed in a congressional hearing, in which the CDC
admitted that COVID-19 might have been among the deaths categorized as influenza last year.
The CDC doesn't know because they never tested for it. (And they don't want to go back to
test the earlier cases either.)
We are talking about tens of thousands of influenza and pneumonia deaths in the recent
season, according to the CDC. It is easy for an early-stage, new epidemic to 'hide' in these
statistics. The US system is first of all unsuitable for finding the new virus, and secondly,
as is shown by the US govt suppression of investigative testing early this year in Washington
state, the CDC does not actually want to know how early COVID-19 was present on American
soil. I'm referring to the NYT story, in which the CDC shut down Dr. Chu's investigation of
Washington state testing for COVID-19, after she independently found a patient with COVID-19
who had not traveled, and had no known contact with those exposed to COVID-19.
According to Godfree Roberts's Chinese counter-narrative America was infected before
China and apparently life went on in America w/o anybody noticing. The epidemic grew
exponentially and still nobody noticed. There was no Wuhan in America. So it must be true
that the covid-19 is just like a flu. Most get it, some feel under the weather and few old
people die. It happens every year. But apparently not to Chinese who created a crisis out of
nothing by getting hysterical about 3,200 people dying in Hubei province in 3 months, a
province of 58 millions where every month 34,000 people die on average. If Chinese did not
overreact there would be no crisis and we all would be OK. Did I get it right? Is this
Godfree Roberts's theory in a nutshell?
@Ron
Unz I pretty much agree with everything you said.
No matter which view point you take, it is hard to create a unifying theory of
anything right now since there is still a lot we don't know yet.
The main thing that bothers me is why was China, Italy, and Iran hit so hard. I no
longer think it was a racially targetted weapon but something has to account for the
difference in intensity.
There are many countries that are pretty much doing nothing and the severity of their
outbreak is mild to moderate. Meanwhile the effects on Italy, China, and Iran were truly
devastating.
It was speculated that Chinese smoking was what made their outbreak so bad, but over time
that just seems like a minor contributing factor. So what was the main driver that made the
outbreak so bad then?
There being S and L variants with different virulence makes the most sense to me but
there are probably other scenarios that make sense too.
You could take the same virus that is going around everywhere, and then enhance it in
a test tube to make it easier to infect people, then release it in countries you want to
target.
This is kind of like how plants are fed fertilizers. You can plant the same species of
tree all over the world. But if you fertilize the trees in Italy, China, and Iran what would
happen?
Specifically, 2 to 4 plasmids are used as the vectors, a strategy that aims to minimize
viral gene recombination and thereby reduce the possibility of reversion to the WT [wild
type] virus
As HIV is the causative agent of AIDS, which could raise some safety concerns, some
investigators employed SIV [simian imunodeficiency virus] vectors in the development of
similar 3‐plasmid systems
@occupatio Also, same
link, see the #98 comment by Lysias, a regular there, who lost his brother to pneumonia in
December. Yes, he lived near Fort Detrick.
@Godfree Roberts I
appreciate your bringing specific, contestable assertions into this discussion. Uncle Sam,
sadly, is quite capable and willing to act as you suspect. People like Mr. Pompeo should be
held to account, something that the MSM in this country will not do.
But your schoolgirl crush on the rulers of China distracts from and undermines your
reportage.
@Ron
Unz If you have trouble believing that the epidemic could not propagate in early Fall,
but it is propagating now, you will also have trouble believing in mortality by month
Obviously, if the probability of dying is flat, which seems to be your assumption, then
every month has the same mortality. But that is not the case, and yes, the reason for the
modulation in mortality is flu and other viruses, nearly absent when vit. D status is
sufficient. This is why these epidemics are strictly in winter.
The graph below shows that flu activity is 20 times higher in February compared to
October. Why do you expect CV (itself a 1/7 of the flu) to behave differently? Do you
really expect an epidemic to develop equally if R0 is 0.1, or 2?
If it started October 12 in the US it had time to incubate, spread to Lombardy, and
infect Wuhan hotel workers on October 27, during the Military Games (i.e., almost
November).
It killed 3200 there and they noticed and got on it.
We didn't notice when it killed 3200 here because we forbade testing until early
March
This is very plausible but I think it's important to note that we can't use just
arithmetics to find out initial starting points for any viral outbreak. It can only be done
through on the ground interviews, testing and detective work. In the beginning, when the
numbers are tiny, the rate of infections will completely depend, and vary wildly, on the
actual infected individuals and their behaviour/circumstances. Just that first guy can
infect 20 people or one (technically none, but that would end it) which would almost
certainly affect the timing by months.
So, even if we, as an example, test everyone in a city and find a single cluster with 100
infected persons, the patient zero for that area could have arrived a month ago or six months
ago. We simply won't know until we do the legwork.
Actually, I think the Coronavirus outbreak together with this article effectively illustrate
the competing strengths and weaknesses of China and the US.
China is generally run on meritocratic grounds by trained engineers and other skilled
professionals. So when an unprecedented viral epidemic erupted out of nowhere just before
Lunar New Year, they moved with remarkable speed and determination to take all steps
necessary to avert a disaster, and managed to do so, resulting in only relatively minor
damage to their economy and a few thousand deaths. But the quality of their government
propaganda is terrible, so they came out with a ridiculous and logically-contradictory story
about the Coronavirus outbreak, as presented above.
Meanwhile, America has spent decades being run by its Ministry of Propaganda, whose
highly-skilled professionals believe that they can create Reality using words and pictures. I
think it's pretty clear that these Deep State Neocons were responsible for promoting the
various "China Done It!" stories about the Coronavirus that started in January, quite
possibly as a cover for what was actually their own biowarfare attack against China (and
Iran). Their propaganda is also highly implausible when you carefully consider it, but still
vastly superior to the totally lame PRC propaganda.
However, except for its excellent propaganda, the American government spent months
doing nothing about the Coronavirus, being totally lazy and incompetent in non-propaganda
matters. And to the horror and dismay of our leaders, the Coronavirus just ignores their
propaganda, regardless of its outstanding quality.
As a result, the rate of infection and death in the US, especially New York, has grown
exponentially, and hundreds of thousands or even millions of Americans may die over the next
few months, while our national economy has been wrecked.
Everything is a trade-off, and countries that heavily invest in their technocratic
management naturally are weaker in their propaganda, and vice-versa. So the rest of the world
will have to decide whether the Chinese or the American approach turned out to be more
successful.
The epidemic grew exponentially and still nobody noticed.
Utu, there is a big difference between a flu epidemic propagating in Fall and propagating
in winter. Specifically, the exponential curve changes dramatically. See my other post. Also
it is strictly not true that nobody noticed. In Northern Italy a bunch of doctors
noticed.
@Ron
Unz Let us postulate that the initial release was accidental, and that the subsequent
vectoring of the Detrick-19 Virus to China from the United States was likewise accidental.
How might all this have come about?:
Maybe he was the only infected individual in America and by purest chance, he happened
to take the virus to China, launch the disease there, then avoid infecting any other
American when he returned home. But this is *exceptionally* implausible.
We are dealing with a much smaller population set than the American people. We are talking
only of the fraction of our military who might have been infected with an earlier variant of
Detrick-19/"America-virus". The percentage of our military that was infected would be far
higher than the infected in the general population -- not only is the base set much smaller,
but the occupations involved would be more exposed to any military pathogens around (simply
being in and around bases).
Consider also that, since the military sent 300 service members from all across our
military to compete in the World Military Games, the chances of ONE (1) of them being one
of the undocumented infected persons who got it around the Fort Detrick or Fort Belvoir area,
go up.
So maybe the virus was harmless in the US or not easily contagious. But when it got to
China, it suddenly decided to randomly mutate into the extremely contagious and deadly form
we now have. But that's also *exceptionally* implausible
As to the virus failing to raise alarms within the United States in spite of circulating
since perhaps early October, it is very plausible that the optimal mass of asymptomatic
carriers was not achieved in the United States, or (far more likely) was buried in the
statistics of the known, "boring" disease of "Flu".
I.E. the American health system was not paranoid about anything SARS-like, so we weren't
looking.
The obverse was probably true in Wuhan. It did achieve the optimal density of infected in
and around the games venues, the hotels, the restaurants and the market place, AND the
Chinese, rightly paranoid about a SARS repeat, were alert to Detrick-19/Corona-virus.
A cluster was subsequently reported to the WHO by the Wuhan medical authorities, and here we
are. ( It seems that China, from that start, strongly suspected a deliberate
Biological Warfare attack, but could not YET prove it, and so remained silent. )
This is to try to exonerate our country from the charge of military aggression and
attempted genocide, and to lower the bar to gross incompetence and widespread and willful
lying and cover-up, ignoring the domestic danger to protect the military, and leveling
malicious accusations against another country, all of the preceding costing a huge number of
innocent lives around the world.
It's simply more comforting for us to think that we screwed up, then covered it up,
disregarded the grave danger to our own people, and spewed lies about another country, than
to admit that maybe we did it all deliberately.
According to Godfree Roberts's Chinese counter-narrative America was infected before
China and apparently life went on in America w/o anybody noticing. The epidemic grew
exponentially and still nobody noticed.
A viral outbreak can reach its first milestone -- 100 infected -- in any number of
months so we shouldn't be extrapolating current rates (even if they were reliable) to
pinpoint the initial timing. It's a completely useless approach for that purpose. Also, the
numbers will almost always be fairly small and easy to overlook in the first couple of
months.
It happens every year. But apparently not to Chinese who created a crisis out of nothing
by getting hysterical about 3,200 people dying in Hubei province in 3 months, a province of
58 millions where every month 34,000 people die on average.
The virus has infected only a super tiny fraction of the world's population so far. If we
abandon "hysterics" and allow it to infect 80+% of us in a relatively short amount of time,
the numbers of infected would explode by orders of magnitude and the mortality rate would
probably surpass the Italian one. Even now, some countries are lacking proper facilities to
cope so we'd end up burying hundreds of millions.
Since we're talking about exponential growth, the " rice and
chessboard " story is instructive. One infected rice grain only managed to produce 128
infected grains at the end of the first row on the chessboard but more than 8 billion near
the beginning of the fifth one.
The world suspected that Covid-19 was circulating outside China last year
I ran into a person I know recently here in Chicago and he stated he had the flu in Jan
and that it lasted for three weeks, two of them being very bad. I sort of wondered what sort
of flu he could have had that would be so severe in an otherwise healthy person. They just
diagnose flu through symptoms and that's been it up to now. Maybe this thing has been
circulating for a while without being specifically identified. American troops spread the
"Spanish Flu" then blamed the Spanish, which gave it its nickname.
Try to forego this Pat Buchananesque pronoun propaganda that conflates the American people
with those creatures that rule us and as much of the world as they can.
To distract you back to that Petri dish the Diamond Princess .
2154 of the 3711 people on board the Diamond Princess were over 60 years of age;
the crew numbered 1045, and these would tend to be younger and healthier so even if some were
infected they should have recovered. What I find hard to believe is that all those who died,
died of Covid-19 and not of any other ailments, which considering the age and probably ill
health of many of these passengers seems rather odd -- not even due to complications arising
from the seasonal flu. You can find the detailed age breakdown at:
It would be useful to know what was the prevalence of the seasonal flu among these
passengers, but were they tested for this at all? So they all got the coronavirus and nobody
got the flu, or so it seems? For the sake of completeness of these studies, one would expect
that they should also be testing for seasonal flu in parallel. If you come across any data
for these flu tests for those on board the Diamond Princess , or elsewhere, post it.
Obviously if a passenger tested positive for both the seasonal flu and Covid-19, and then
died, they'd have a problem to decide which of these was the cause of death. Since we know
that the seasonal flu kills many of these elderly and sick, shouldn't the experts have also
investigated the incidence, prevalence, and mortality due to seasonal flu among the
passengers? And likewise in the general population.
@Ron
Unz If all these assertions are true, it would be important to find out what happened to
those 5 military persons AFTER they went back to the US.
Are they still alive?
How were they transported back to the US, separately or along with all other military
games personnel ?
Other pertinent questions:
how were they treated by the infectious disease place, what kind of medication were they
given? what reasons they gave for their illness? did they claim malaria, because malaria drug
hydroxylchloroquine has been shown have some effectiveness (ie this demonstrate fore
knowledge).
As to why it did not spread wildly in US before this:
a. this is a planned attack by rogue group, perhaps with permission from just one or two,
as to who, I would have to pick the fat guy with name started with a P . That's why he has
been "relatively" quiet since this virus event; before he has been basically issuing threats
or bribes almost every day on Iran, China, Russia, Syria almost daily;
b. it did not infect others because they only started doing it in Wuhan, and got
themselves infected as well
c. it's possible after they left, they were quarantined, or perhaps victims of dead men tell
no tales
etc
Note that the theory of "accident" does not make as much sense, as it would suggest a
wider earlier epidemic in the US.
The Chinese are trying to give the US a way out by giving some stupid "accidental"
excuses, because to say that it's a deliberate attack would require (demanded by her
citizens) a war-like response.
They don't like war, really, incase there are still idiots rainwashed with the "Chinese
aggression to take over the world" type mentality reading this.
A viral outbreak can reach its first milestone -- 100 infected -- in any number of
months
Not any number of months. There are limits to how slow the lingering process that you
postulate can be. All carriers would have to exhibit exceptional meandering to avoid
infecting too many subjects. So the probability of it gets lower and lower as you need to
postulate longer times to get from 1 to 100 cases.
Keep in mind that Godfree Roberts postulates that infection in the US began before
China. China on Jan 22 had 571 case and on Feb 1 14,308 cases while the US on March 8 had 541
cases and it reached 13,789 cases on March 19. So US is about 45 days behind China. Clearly
this is not congruent with Godfree's hypothesis.
I would go even further and claim that the hypothesis that the infection in China
began on October 27, 2019 during the Military Games might be a stretch. It implies that it
took 87 days to get to 571 on Jan 22 which is about 10 day doubling time.
Fortunately for Godfree China is most likely lying and the true count case on Jan 22 was
probably higher. Unfortunately for Godfree he is trapped because he is psychologically
incapable to openly question Chinese figures.
We know from the Diamond Princess and now the Costa Luminosa that SARS-CoV-2 is not
extremely contagious. 17% of the people on the DP were infected, half without symptoms
(perhaps even false positives-the jury is out). 52 from 3711 (1.4 %) became critically ill or
died. On the CL 74 (known to be an overcount, in a shared cabin both were counted as
critical) from 1471 (5% or less) became critically ill or died according to current
information. So, in cases of 100% population exposure, or as close as it will be in this
world we see 1 to 5% critically ill (assuming a consistent definition of critically ill).
They could easily be lost in the everyday winter flu statistics in the US. The deaths from
vaping are a key clue.
@Philip Owen"not
extremely contagious" -- You are making a wrong conclusion. Passengers on Diamond
Princess were isolated in their cabins. Passengers who tested positive were taken out of the
ship to military hospital in Japan. Diamond Princess was not a peri dish! The epidemic was
arrested there and stopped.
" passengers who tested positive [ ] have been transferred to hospitals "
"For those left on board, there is nothing to do but sit in their cabins, wait for meals
to be delivered, watch television or choose from a limited selection of movies on demand.
Those lucky enough to have a balcony can at least sit in the sun, look at the ocean and
talk to their neighbors."
@Commentator Mike The
most interesting part of the paper you linked (thanks) is the fact that it took TEN
authors plus the whole "CMMID COVID-19 working group" to estimate ONE number, the CFR from
SEVEN cases of deaths among passengers of Diamond Princess. And the result is 1.1% (95% CI:
0.3 -- 2.4%). What a waste.
Your analysis assumes this specific virus is not a bioweapon.
It was most likely bat soup and other crazy food.
But if it was a bio-weapon, it was likely spread by rogue elements, not by official state
policy. I can't imagine the government deciding to spread this all around to tank the economy
in China and US.
"The world is very good at tracing Coronaviruses back through their generations and China has
done so and now it seems the shit is about to hit the fan."
From the info Roberts has gathered here, the Chinese have traced the source of the virus.
I sort of thought they had when Chinese officials began publicly talking about the usa being
the likely source.
The israeloamericans thought they would pull another one, but instead China defeated them
quite spectacularly. No doubt the israeloamericans thought they would bring China down, while
using the large size of their own interrelated economies to weather the storm and come out on
top. Not the first time they, the western capitalist oligarchy, tried this gambit, btw.
China is already in recovery, while the israeloamerican colonies are still far from
recovery. This means China will be on the rise while israeloamerica is still in descent.
There is a term for this in tennis, it's called:
@Ron
Unz "So maybe the virus was harmless in the US or not easily contagious."
Yes, maybe the virus was engineered to affect a specific Asian genetic group harshly (or
developed this aspect naturally), and is mostly like a normal flu to others.
The virus has infected only a super tiny fraction of the world's population so far. If
we abandon "hysterics" and allow it to infect 80+% of us in a relatively short amount of
time, the numbers of infected would explode by orders of magnitude
It would be good to clarify what "hysterics" are actually about.
In the lowly world of "inferior" beings (not Israel or the US, obviously), countries abide
by the International Health Regulations, which oblige them not only to disclose any
potential epidemic that could harm populations and Health Systems to the WHO, but also to
help other countries with knowledge and means.
The death rate of Covid-19 does not matter : by definition, it is an unknown
parameter anyway in the case of a new pandemic appearing. "Inferior" countries, such as the
PRC, treat the patients first and will calculate death rates later. It is not possible at
this stage to scientifically calculate the Covid-19 death rate: there is not enough data, not
enough distance, and not enough specific information by risk classes anyway (age,
pre-existing conditions, level of exposure).
Only some non-scientific, anecdotal, common-sense information is available at this
stage:
-- the coarse global "death rate" stands at around 5%
-- the Covid-19 syndrome kills essentially the elderly, those with pre-existing health
condition, and health personnel . It is therefore an unacceptable threat to National
Health Systems.
-- In a developed country, it seems to increase standard mortality rate by about 10 % per day
(France: 1900 instead of 1700 per day)
-- It requires to mobilise a large number of intensive care units, which are already long
past their capacity in Italy, and nearing the end of their capability in France. Germany has
just offered to take on French patients from the badly hit Alsace epidemic centre.
-- As a matter of comparison, the epidemiological risk link of AIDS is incomparably lower
(only 40 million people infected after 4 decades); it still remains a WHO priority.
-- Covid-19 kills care personnel exposed to it: 4 French doctors have died so far.
In an uncertain situation with no distance, the attitude towards Covid-19 was likely to
be different, depending on the culture of the country:
-- Italy, France, Germany, Spain Iran, China being relatively equalitarian countries, not
likely to let their elderly go before their time, they declared national emergency.
-- The UK is a class society, but where the rule of law is strong and people heavily-taxed.
Malthusian Boris Johnson would have loved to have his way and let "herd immunity" do its job
of culling the elderly, but he needs to think of future elections. So, he followed suit with
fellow European countries.
The US, although the Nr 1 global economy, has done none of the above. Does stating this
evidence make one a PRC sycophant?
" Coronavirus: 'strange pneumonia' seen in Lombardy in November, leading Italian doctor says
Virus was circulating 'before we were aware of the outbreak in China', says Giuseppe
Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research"
A "strange pneumonia" was circulating in northern Italy
as long ago as November, weeks before doctors were made aware of the novel coronavirus
outbreak
in China, one of the European country's leading medical experts said this week.
"They [general practitioners] remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe,
particularly in old people in December and even November," Giuseppe Remuzzi, the director
of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, said in an interview
with the National Public Radio of the United States.
"This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of]
Lombardy and before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China."
@Ron
Unz This is a rare case where I disagree with Ron Unz. I believe the accidental release
theory put forward by Godfree is not a ridiculous story promoted by PRC. It is a reasonable
possibility independently arrived by a number of fair minded people too. Considering the
following reasons / points:
1. The bioweapon attack and the accidental release theories are not mutually exclusive. It
is possible to have both. Further, the order can't be determined at the moment. There could
be a bioweapon attack followed by accidental release, or the reverse order.
2. Cases of unexplained source of infection is sufficient to throw more weight to the
accidental release theory over the bioweapon theory. And we know there are plenty of (early)
cases where the sources can NOT be traced to China/Iran/Italy/whatever possible target of
bioweapon attack.
3. Although Fort Detrick was close in August, it does not followed the leak happened
around that time. It could be later (or earlier).
4. The accidental release could be transmitted to Wuhan by US military personnel, or it
could be transmitted by other innocent visitors.
5. The assumption of Covid-19 being extremely infectious is not necessarily valid. The
assumption is based on confirmed test cases in various countries. We know most countries,
including China, started the testing late. So many of the test case increases were due to
"pent-up" cases. So it exaggerates the rate of increases.
6. Wuhan and several hotspots are densely populated. So US rate of infection was likely
lower. Further the weather, temperature, human travel pattern may affect the rate too, most
pointing to lower US rate than China's.
The accidental release theory is also consistent with your view of crazy, lazy and
incompetent government. It also does not require the assumption of ill-intent (although this
last one is not hard to find).
@Stoneman If the
original form of the virus could not attach to human cells, then it would need a different
host in order to replicate and that host would have to have contact with humans in order to
pass it on. If it can't replicate, then it can't mutate. So what was its host in the
meantime?
Four special patients "exposed" a special military Games support force
Recently, as two foreign athletes of imported infectious diseases were discharged from
Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, this brought a special medical security team to the surface of the
current Military Games. They are the military games organized by Jinyintan Hospital to
prevent and treat infectious diseases.
It is understood that during the military games, five foreign athletes were sent to Wuhan
Jinyintan Hospital because of suffering from imported infectious diseases. The hospital
immediately launched an emergency plan for infectious diseases, launched isolation treatment
for five infectious disease patients, and provided high-quality medical care services, which
not only made foreign athletes and officials feel professional and reliable medical services,
but also effectively controlled the spread of infectious diseases. .
According to reports, in order to do a good job in medical services for various infectious
diseases during the military games, the city's Jinyintan Hospital has stored 77 infectious
disease treatment drugs, 29 infectious disease protective supplies, and 4 bioterrorism
protective supplies; five experts were selected as Member of the expert team of the public
health emergency team of the military games; sent 2 deputy chief physicians to the medical
support center of the military games to participate in the front-line diagnosis and treatment
of infectious diseases; formed the bioterrorism medical rescue emergency team of the military
games and opened at the military games Coordinated with the Military Command Medical Command
Center, organized 11 emergency drills for medical treatment and transfer of Ebola virus
disease and 4 emergency drills for medical treatment of bioterrorism, which provided a strong
guarantee for the smooth running of the event.
Zhang Hongxing, the party secretary and director of the Municipal Health and Health
Committee, also made a special trip to the infectious ward of the hospital to condolence two
of the patients, shake hands with them, ask about their illness, comfort them and raise their
health, and send blessings. He fully affirmed Jinyintan Hospital's effective response to the
infectious disease treatment of this international event, and highly praised the medical
security team behind the scenes.
This url shows the phylogeny of COVID19.
There is no evidence for more than one place of origin of the virus.
All existing patients can be traced to coviral Eve's RNA with an inferred date of November
28. The phylogeny shown would suggest that other nations did not have emerging epidemics
within their own borders pre-existing a single origin genesis, as this would imply that other
branches of the genetic development of the virus would trace back before the first sequenced
patient. No sequencing results exist to support such an hypothesis. In fact as seen in the
phylogeny there are typically multiple generations of the virus with mutations before this
went international.
Given the totality of the viral sequencing that has been performed (and this has been the
most sequenced pandemic ever (using nanopores almost in real time)) there is not much room to
propose alternative narratives.
Our media's silence about America's bizarrely suspicious behavior -- refusing to identify
Patient Zero, refusing to perform post-mortem tests, refusing to say where the first
outbreaks were identified, discouraging testing until March, producing faulty test kits -- is
effective.
Yet it is precisely that behavior that gives Chinese suspicions credibility.
@jjc The stories in
Chinese media confirm military patients being treated in special infectious wards, and carry
photos of them with the medical staff, but do not identify their infection as Covid-19.
Four special patients "exposed" a special military Games support force : https://user.guancha.cn/main/content?id=248463
If it was Covid-19 then it could now be identified retroactively. No-one has done
that but the Chinese Ambassador is asking who was our Patient Zero. And we're not saying.
Why?
The Games ran until October 27 so the team would have been home by November 1, presumably.
All militaries are strong on epidemics, given their history in warfare. Were the returnees
ultra-quarantined for fear of creating a scandal? Can we talk to them?
@utu The Games ran until
October 27 so the team should have been home by November 1.
All militaries are strong on epidemics, given their history in warfare. Were the returnees
ultra-quarantined because they had a highly infectious strain of Coronavirus? Can we talk to
them?
The stories in Chinese media confirm military patients being treated in special infectious
wards and carry photos of them with the medical staff, but do not identify their infection as
Covid-19. Four special patients "exposed" a special military Games support force :
https://user.guancha.cn/main/content?id=248463
If it was Covid-19 then it could now be identified retroactively. No-one has done
that but the Chinese Ambassador is asking who was our Patient Zero. And we're not saying.
Why?
I would go even further and claim that the hypothesis that the infection in China began
on October 27, 2019 during the Military Games might be a stretch. It implies that it took
87 days to get to 571 on Jan 22 which is about 10 day doubling time. Fortunately for
Godfree China is most likely lying and the true count case on Jan 22 was probably
higher.
There's really no need to assume that China was lying. As we all know, it's
*exceptionally* difficult to correctly estimate the number of infected individuals since
Coronavirus has a long incubation period and something like 80% of the cases are anyway mild
or asymptomatic. Obviously, there's no way the Chinese could have tested all 11M residents in
Wuhan, let alone their entire country. Similarly, the reported number of identified cases in
the US is now around 40K, but the true figure must be vastly higher.
Therefore, some people have reasonably argued that it's much better to rely upon the
number of deaths. Taking into account the incubation period, speed of propagation, and the
mortality rate, the estimate is that the number of infections = 800-1000 times the number of
deaths (during periods when the virus is spreading without restriction). I think there had
been 17 deaths by Jan. 23 in China, so there were probably 14,000-17,000 infections. Since
it's quite plausible that a few extra very early deaths were misidentified, the infection
total might even be considerably higher.
Those numbers are pretty consistent with a doubling time of 6 days or less, which seems
perfectly reasonable given all the huge estimation error-bars.
@Godfree Roberts
Hilarious translation like from an anti-Chinese satire sketch. I am afraid your valiant fight
on the behalf of China that exists only in your fantasy is not helping the real China.
Anyway, there is no mention that the five foreign devils were Americans but you wrote this:
"Five of the US troops developed a fever on Oct. 25 and were taken to an
infectious-diseases hospital for treatment."
so you confabulated their nationality and confabulated their fever which is not mentioned
either. Godfree Roberts, you are a liar.
Check again the article in Global Times I have linked:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180549.shtml
A Wuhan hospital clarified the clinical diagnoses of five foreign athletes at the 7th CISM
Military World Games held in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province in October 2019, saying
that they contracted malaria and were not infected by the novel coronavirus.
Zhang Dingyu, chief physician with the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, told Southern Weekly
during a telephone interview on Sunday evening, stressing such cases had nothing to do
with the novel coronavirus pneumonia, or COVID-19 .
Zhang's clarification came after an old media report resurfaces online, claiming that
five athletes were sent to a hospital in Wuhan for medical care and quarantine measures
after they were infected with an imported epidemic between October 18 to 27. Posts
subsequently went viral on social media, prompting theories that they were the original
carriers of the novel coronavirus.
You give very infantile vibes. Naivety, lack of sound judgment and retarded moral
development. Sad.
Before deciding which country to listen to, everybody should brush up on the US government's
two-decade history of undermining the object and purpose of the Biological Weapons
Convention.
@vot
tak Some say the Deep State is using the Corona Crisis as excuse for the economic
meltdown that was just waiting to happen. Even if true, I doubt if Wall Street goons
engineered this crisis with some bio-weapon.
So far, it seems like Bat Soup to me. Chinese need to stop eating crazy shit.
Also, they need to be more humane to animals. Otherwise, they aren't fully human, and
Morrissey is right.
the estimate is that the number of infections = 800-1000 times the number of deaths
Are you sure you want to go there? CFR=0.1% 40 times lower than the official estimate for
Wuhan. Three times lower than currently in Germany. With that low mortality perhaps we are
worrying too much. Still a lot of deaths if 60% of American get infected but not in millions.
Four times more than from flu in 2017-2018 when there were 45 mil symptomatic cases, 21 mil
medical visits and 0.8 mil hospitalizations. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html
"There's really no need to assume that China was lying." -- Oh, no. Godforbid. China and
lying in one sentence, that can't be.
That's unreasonable. Unless China tested all 11M people in Wuhan, how could they possibly
know the exact number of infected individuals given the long latency period?
The current official total in California is about 2,100. But nobody believes that's
correct, and the true figure is probably at least 10x larger. Is California "lying"?
"the estimate is that the number of infections = 800-1000 times the number of deaths "
-- Nonsense. Mortality for Wuhan was about 4% not 0.1%.
No, I think the Wuhan mortality rate only spiked that high when the health care system was
overwhelmed, and I doubt that had yet happened by Jan. 23 since they only began constructing
that large temporary hospital on Feb. 3. On Jan 23 there were only a couple of hundred severe
cases in a city of 11M. So I assume that the mortality rate at that point was the usual
1%.
Backing out the number of infections from the number of deaths requires assumptions of the
mortality rate, the timelags of infection and death, and the propagation time. But I think a
ratio of 800-1000x is a reasonable means of estimating the number of infections. Here's the
(very crude) reasoning:
Assume 100 individuals infected on Day 1, resulting in 1 death 15 days later. Based upon a
five-day doubling period, the number of infected will have grown to 800 by the time that
death occurs. This is obviously a *very* crude estimation technique, since I don't know the
mean time from infection-to-death. But given the latency period and lack of widespread
testing, it's probably much more accurate than the official totals during the exponential
expansion of the virus, whether in the US or China.
You stretching numbers as if they were made of rubber. This is just another form of
confabulation. Godfree Roberts you are a liar!
Ha, ha. I'm not Godfree Roberts and I'm not a liar!
Are you sure you want to go there? CFR=0.1% 40 times lower than the official estimate
for Wuhan.
No, you're missing the key point. For example, I just read somewhere that the mean time
from infection to death is about 3 weeks. If that's correct, then the deaths that occur
*today* give us an estimate of the number of infections 3 weeks ago (based upon the assumed
mortality rate). And once we know the number of infections three weeks ago, we can try to
estimate the current number of infections.
In effect, current deaths give us a reasonably accurate time-lagged picture of
infections.
WUHAN, China -- A hit from behind on the final lap may have dashed the U.S. Armed
Forces' hopes for gold in women's cycling, but bruised ribs and a cracked helmet didn't
stop Sgt. 1st Class Maatje Benassi from crossing the finish line.
Benassi led the pack for much of the third and fourth laps in the 50-mile, five-lap road
race Sunday during the second day of cycling competition in the CISM Military World Games.
She had dropped back to draft a while and was just beginning her final push when the crash
happened.
"My plan was to move up on the left," Benassi said. Two more wide right turns were
approaching before the finish "and so if you move on the left, you don't have to hit your
brakes; you can carry all that momentum -- that speed -- going into the turn."
Matthew Benassi worked at Fort Detrick lab that was shut down. What is Maatje Benassi's
relationship with Matthew Benassi?
Much like Ebola, the early symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, myalgia, and fatigue, might
be confused with malaria and lead to challenges in early clinical diagnosis. It is said that
the five infected US troops in Wuhan in October were diagnosed and treated for Malaria at a
local Wuhan hospital -- chloroquine -- but they actually had COVID. And they apparently
recovered. This may also explain why Trump is pushing chloroquine treatment so aggressively.
@Ron
Unz To flesh out what I previously said about the 'starting stock' that will exist in an
environment where nobody is testing anyone for a while, consider the following 'back of the
envelope' example. (It's a decent-sized envelope).
This is also a really nice little example to show how unrealistic the unconstrained
epidemiological models are.
Start with some broad parameters. I've got them from 'official' sources (I'll write this
up properly at some point -- maybe tomorrow -- and give a link with references and
what-not).
Examine the numbers in the list below, and see if you think any of them are
controversial.
• the average person has 5 contacts per day with uninfected people;
• there's a 20% chance of infection from contact with an infected person;
• the incubation period is 5 days;
• 70% of infected people have symptoms less than a cold (half of them totally
symptomatic);
• the infectious period lasts for ten days;
• 21 days after infection, people are dead or recovered (assume 3.8% IFR).
Now we can step through day by day and see what stock of infected people we wind up with
at various points in time. The day-on-day changes match the transition functions for an
unconstrained SEIR model.
[MORE]
Start at Day Zero : Patient Zero -- who is infected, contagious and asymptomatic --
gets off a plane.
.
.
.
[Iterate iterate iterate]
.
.
.
Day 45: 2.8 MILLION have been exposed; 1.9 million are infectious, only 1500 have
recovered, and there have been only 55 deaths.
(NB: 'deaths' and 'recovered' are a function of the total infected population 21 days ago;
"infectious" is equal to infectious yesterday plus 20% of people exposed 5 days ago).
That total infected number's unrealistically high because of the nature of the model: it
is missing a shitload of obvious constraints.
For example: people might have 5-10 contacts a day, but it's not with new people .
(On the flip ide, it's not like each uninfected can only get it from a specific infected
individual -- but there will be innate spatial constraints on movements, too)
By the 60-day mark, unless you put constraints on the model, there are 298 million
people who are infectious (and 445 million exposed).
This is obviously stupid in a world where the overwhelming majority of people test
negative (98.7% negative with 121,000 tests done in Australia) and most countries don't
contain 445 million people.
At 60 days it's also generating 9000 deaths a day in a single country , from a
single imported patient , and has a cumulative death toll of 30,000.
These are all far too unrealistic, because the model has no built-in constraints.
Uninfected people would become progressively rarer after the 50-day mark (by which time 10
million would be infectious in an unconstrained model), and the death toll would be just over
a thousand already.
But let's stick with it -- otherwise we have to do some tweaking, some combination of
• reduce the infectiousness;
• decrease the IFR (3.5%);
• lengthen the incubation period;
• reduce the number of contacts per infected person per day.
Now if Day Zero is at the very end of October 2019, then by mid- December
there would be 1.8 million infectious wandering around -- a million of whom would have
no or few symptoms.
How many ' confirmed cases ' would there be on the same date? ZERO. Testing
hadn't started yet .
If Day Zero is instead late December 2019, under this scenario (which as I say, is based
on parameters promulgated by the authorities) there would be almost 2 million infectious
wandering around by February 15.
By Feb 15 the US had conducted 2148 tests and had 15 confirmed cases.
The difference: the CDC assumes that 'Day Zero' is the date of the first confirmed
case (January 21) -- which is fucking stupid .
They are effectively claiming that between January 1 and January 21, no infected-asymptomatic
person from Wuhan, Italy, Iran or elsewhere, entered the US and went about their normal
lives.
I call bullshit on that.
.
If this thing was worth worrying about -- genuinely highly infectious; with a genuine IFR
above 3% and transitional dynamics akin to those described by a SEIR model -- then by the
time testing started in earnest (mid-March) it was already too late to 'fix' by any mechanism
whatsoever.
The most likely explanation is that this thing is moderately infectious, but not very
lethal: under that scenario there are plenty of people already out there carrying and
spreading the thing, and tests are 'finding' those people, not new infections.
That's consistent with the C/T (confirmed cases / total tests) being relatively constant
(in fact slightly declining )
So I've been let down by Mother Nature yet again: she has again failed to furnish me with
my longed-for 14th-century style 'rinse-out' of the gene pool. What a BITCH .
@Ron
Unz"Ha, ha. I'm not Godfree Roberts and I'm not a liar!" -- I am really sorry.
When writing it I thought I was responding to GR. I posted it and then I realized my mistake
and erased the comment. Refreshed the page and it wasn't there. But apparently I was too
late. Then I wrote my second comment.
Assume 100 individuals infected on Day 1, resulting in 1 death 15 days later. Based upon
a five-day doubling period, the number of infected will have grown to 800 by the time that
death occurs.
Now I understand and agree providing that the true CFR is 1%. On Jan 22 there were 17
deaths which translates to 1700 infections (instead of 571 worldometers.info ) which using 5 day doubling period gets
us to the patient zero 54 days earlier, i.e, late November which makes late October first
infection feasible providing all crude assumptions: CFR could be less than 1%, number of
deaths on Jan 22 could be larger than 17 because, you know them Chinese, they could be
lying.
A few days ago, Mike Pompeo phoned Yang Jiechi, Chinese State Councillor for Foreign
Affairs. Pompeo's counterpart is actually Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Yang is Wang's boss,
so Pompeo wanted to talk about something urgent and important.
Pompeo wanted the Chinese not to publicize what they had found.
This story would be more credible if a recording of said phone call is made public. In
fact, it would blow the whole thing up.
I have heard from a source in "deep state" that they had known about coronavirus in DC
back in November, and that lots of people had already had it. They just took antibiotics. I
don't know how credible that is since antibiotics appear not to be able to cure Covid-19, or
at least not by itself. A French doctor has discovered that if used in conjunction with
hydroxycloroquine then the cure rate is 100% in 6 days. Maybe it wasn't a true French
discovery, he was tipped off.
Well, one of the world's leading epidemiologists was interviewed by the NYT. And he says that
according to his detailed models, the *best case* scenario involves over a million American
dead.
This is clearly shaping up to be the greatest American disaster at least since the Civil
War 150 years ago.
If it's indeed blowback from a biowarfare attack against China (and Iran), I'm not
surprised that the Deep State Neocons responsible are so desperately trying to convince
people it was all caused by "Chinese bat soup" and other propaganda-nonsense. And this
obviously helps to explain the large numbers of trolls and shills now cluttering up the
comment-threads of this website.
" the genome of COVID-19 has also been examined countless times with the result that there
are now over 300 papers on MedRXiv concerning the structure, nature, and origins of the
virus. None of these papers have highlighted anything suggesting an artificial origin of any
aspect of COVID-19."
On the contrary, there are many such papers on MedRXiv and other scientific paper
publishing sites. Quite a few are referenced in
this article , which makes a compelling case for COVID-19 being a laboratory engineered
virus
The latest subject which engages conspiracy theorists is the COVID-19 pandemic, some
contributors and commentators on this site believe that the virus was genetically engineered
and released as part of the conflict between China and the rest of humanity
The attached article is worth reading, particularly because it was published in 2007, and
the authors pointed out that some Chinese customs could cause pandemics due to viruses
jumping from an animal host into humans. http://catallaxyfiles.com/2020/03/23/interesting/
@Alfred I
have heard that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had a partnership with an American
university. Kind of odd that such an exchange is taking place despite us hearing about China
being hostile towards America and vice versa? But then again, there are numerous ethnic
Chinese working in the CIA and nobody seems to care.
Okay follow my logic:
1. Corona Virus is bullshit. FACT
2. Every single country in the world is buying into this. No exceptions. Iran, Russia Huh?
Therefore: Whatever it is, it's not a bankster conspiracy or NWO takeover (not directly
anyway). It has to be something so big and terrifying that every country in the world submits
to it.
sharon marlowe ,
I don't think that you're doing anything more than fear-mongering, Reggie Le Doux. I believe
the reaction that China had was to a possible bio-weapon attack. States like Russia, China,
and Iran are well aware of what took place last autumn–Event 201.
And once the outbreak occurred in China, they treated it as a bio-weapon.
So we're not seeing "something so big and terrifying that every country in the world
submits to it", instead we're watching the rational distrust that Russia, China and Iran has
with the U.S. and British regimes. And of course we're watching the U.S. and Britain take
full advantage of the panic, as well. In my view.
Richard Le Sarc ,
In very recent times China has suffered waves of bird flu attacks, devastating poultry, and
African Swine Flu, spread by 'gangsters' using drones. The Chinese know of the long history
of US bio-warfare, including in Korea using the methods (eg use of arthropods to spread the
diseases)of the butcher Shiro Ishii, of Unit 731 infamy, who became a very trusted ally of
the USA post-WW2. So they undoubtedly suspected a US attack, which still seems far more
likely as a cause, as 'patient zero' remains elusive (as in Iran)and the first disease
cluster was in the hotel where the US team to the World Military Games was staying.
Seamus Padraig ,
As far as I know, Russia, Iran and China also accept the official version of 9/11. So that
absolutely proves that Bldg. 7 didn't collapse that day?
sharon marlowe ,
Yet Ahmadinejad, when he was President of Iran went before the UN assembly in New York and
questioned the official version of 9/11. Yet Russia broadcast in prime time the 9/11
documentary, "Zero: An Investigation into 9/11". And since you've already struck out twice,
Seamus, I assume you don't know what China's views are either.
бели орао
збг ,
" it has to be something so big and terrifying " ..
Yes.
Liberal bankster capitalism is approaching death , in agony and in pain , and with sad
knowledge that there is no new lie to offer world.
All schemes failed , virtually bubbles would explode leaving empty space , no money. No more
leverage.
Financial speculation would not provide seven digits salary , one should have to work , for
real. Not virtual.
Yes.
Something big is coming. New age. New social order.
Capitalism will be replaced with new kind of life , like feudalism was replaced by
capitalism.
So this is transition age , capitalism going into past history , and new life style not
formed yet.
Like age of capricorn is continued by age of Aquarius.
Terra incognita.
That is terrifying to old billionaires. Old deep state.
Who will lead new games ?
I find the idea that the virus originated in a Wuhan "wild food" market to be utterly
compelling
I immediately stopped reading. This writer has never lived in the 3rd world. He thinks
that all of us should buy our food from Coles or Walmart in plastic wrap. He is unbelievably
ignorant.
Africans have been eating bats from before humans learned to walk upright. Nothing like
this has come out of Africa. Even Ebola came from an area suspiciously close to a US
"biological research" center. Why exactly does the US need to litter these centers around
Russia, Iran and China? Is there any good reason other than for the development of agents to
damage crops, kill livestock and sicken people?
The reader must look at the total picture and not concentrate on COVID-19 to exclusion of
everything else. The US and Israel are undoubtedly developing biological weapons.
Furthermore, their leadership is such that they are unable to think of the consequences of
releasing such agents.
BTW, WordPress shut down the site which originally published this article. Hardly a
surprise.
During the decade 2000-2010, all kinds of technology was developed for a variety of animal
viruses, in terms of vaccines, but also technology applicable to weaponizing viruses. Of
particular relevance to this discussion are technologies developed around the SARS virus, one
of the closest relatives to CoVid19.
i. Generation of Virus-Like-Particles using SARS-CoV structural proteins in a mammalian cell
system. Patent Publication Number 20080063664 (2008).
This is one standard system for generation of pseudovirions to create an immune response
i.e. a vaccine candidate.
ii. Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Construct encoding recombinant Coronavirus. Patent Grant
Number 7445928 (2008).
This is a system for replicating full length coronavirus genomes in bacteria (which
obviously scale up much faster than mammalian cells).
iii. Live Attenuated Coronavirus Vaccines. Patent Number 7452542 (2008).
This is a patent showing that 'attenuated coronavirus' (i.e. sufficiently weakened to be
safe to inject) has been produced for vaccination purposes.
iv. Coronavirus-like particles with functionally deleted genomes. Patent Number 7556957
(2009).
This is basically a patent covering genetically altered coronaviruses still able to
replicate in production systems but not able to replicate in humans when used as a vaccine.
v. Methods for producing recombinant Coronavirus. Patent Number 7279327 (2007).
This basically shows that you can package up any coronavirus-like sequence you like (within
reason) into functional virus particles capable of infecting cells. This is abasically enabling
technology for theoretical weaponization of Coronaviruses.
That is just a sample.
So the theory goes that in the decade 2011 – 2020, full weaponisation of Coronaviruses
was undertaken worldwide to prepare for the event we are just experiencing.
2. Secret production of all the technologies necessary to 'save the world' in 4 months after
'discovering' coronavirus.
How much easier it is to be 'ready to put vaccines into trials quickly' if you had already
developed the vaccines, you just needed to drip feed the media about 'unbelievable progress'
from January to March 2020, eh?
3. Organise the multiple releases of CoVid19 in predetermined locations (China, South Korea,
Italy, Iran, others?)
4. Launch the hysteria campaign according to the usual CIA playbook.
5. Bankrupt the bottom 97%.
6. Forcibly vaccinate everyone, not caring if 1% die.
7. Have lots more viruses you can threaten mankind with if they ever think they will escape
their slavery.
The capitalist pigs were really fast in getting in on the act to patent anything and
everything they could if it was related to SARS, and indeed MERS – I don't subscribe to
these conspiracy theories, but fact remains, they love profiting from our ill health and
ensuring any suitable drug that may help our species is usually beyond the price of most
public health care systems. Christ, Goldman Sachs adores chronic illness as a money spinner
and hates anything that even smells of an actual cure.
We need to be wary of cover-your-ass (CYA) propaganda narratives.
Government failure (including failure by government officials) is now being excused and
misdirected.
Those failures are so deep and systemic that they appear to me to have been deliberate.
There are only a few reasons why they would want to fail. Some of these may be:
cover up the origin of the virus (that Covid-19 was already circulating in the
US/West)
cause a CRISIS! that allows for directing hate toward China and accelerating
"decoupling" Western economies from China;
cause a CRISIS! that allows for bailouts of an over-extended Wall Street and favored
companies like Boeing.
In essence, the misnamed "intelligence community" is a distillation of the gravest
intellectual flaws in contemporary neoliberal (non-STEM) academia.
So naturally when China tries to "out-victim" them by pointing out that the virus
was a bioweapon attack, these members of the misnamed "intelligence community" feel
honor bound to defend the supremacy of their own victim status by minimizing China's victim
status. That may sound crazy to people from prior generations, but it is the logical
destination for victim culture.
@ harvardtobighouse site art title "China owns Nature magazine's ass – Debunking "The
proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" claiming COVID-19 definitely wasn't from a lab" is a subject
for analysis.
Wally avoids attempts to criticism of the paper(s) in quo as to technical value, but he is
"innarrested" in the implied actual reasons for the creation of papers in re CV19.
Wally wonders about the goals of the authors. Their reasons, not their science.
Truth, they say, is first casualty of war. Wally says that lies are effaced by actions
over Time...antelopes do not (poof!") become zebras, and thus Truth is, in a time of lies,
that which the mark knows but refuses to see.
Look. See. Say Truth. But after Truth? Obey. "They" hold all the cards.
War is a racket. That which seems to be other than what it is, is a racket. It is also the
art of limiting the options in an opponent, while maximizing your own option set. Before CV
Imperial options were one. (that was gitoutta da zuswang, kick over table) Now Imperial
option horizon is vast. Your options, fellas, are pret-near zilch.
Need pictures?
Wash your hands and be polite. Obey. Make the best of the freak show toboggan ride. Read
real books.
Oh, Wally's got a gudun. "The Hidden History of the Korean War" (I. F. Stone. He found it
in pdf ferfree.
I read that the virus contains sequence first isolated from pangolin, and a sequence known
from bats, basically, small inserts from one to another, very typical viral method of DNA
exchange, so a bat infected a pangolin, pangolin infected a bat or some third species was
involved. RNA viruses mutate very rapidly, leading to many identified genome that were
classified into 5 hyplotypes.
The origin scenario is unlikely in USA (I seen many critters smoking at my patio, but
never a pangolin.)
However, given global presence of US forces, NGOs, business people etc., presumably
including locales with pangolins as well as those with horseshoe bats, USA was bound to get
all strains under the sun.
Hi B,
Regarding the origin of the virus, it seems three ideas are floating around:
1. created deliberately as a weapon
2. accidentally released
3. natural development
The virus as a bio-weapon makes no sense at all. You have argued against it, and the Saker
also makes a solid case that its not a weapon.
I first ignored all stories with this slant because they appeared in anti-Chinese
propaganda sites that are usually full of rubbish. The linked paper does include some links
to these sites, but it also includes plenty of other supporting evidence. Its not proof - its
a hypothesis that seems plausible to me.
I'd be interested in your view if you have any interest in looking at it.
The paper presents a number of arguments against natural development.
Interestingly, there is plenty of blame to go around. Although some may jump to blame the
Chinese government for doing dangerous research and not being careful enough to stop the
virus escaping, it seems NIH and USAID funded the researchers. Its likely the research was
chasing many millions of dollars for vaccination research dangled by Bill Gates et al.
In brief, two Chinese researchers who worked at UNC. One created a virulent strain of SARS
a few years ago. They both work at the Wuhan lab. When doing vaccine research, you sometimes
have to create a 'monster' for the test vaccine to kill. Maybe the monster escaped
accidentally. SARS has escaped accidentally 4 times from the Beijing lab in the last few
years. That's the summary.
If the rebuttal of Nature's statement can itself be rebuffed, it would be very
informative. Thanks.
It does a marvellous job, as far as I can tell, explaining that this virus is manipulated,
which is exactly why we don't know where it came from. They assume it was manipulated by
China. However, the text was written two months ago and they had no idea how much would
change in such a short time. And by whom was it written? A professor who worked at Los Alamos
National Laboratory (ironically, we have been mentioning the Manhattan Project a few times)
and an NSA analyst. I can't help thinking of "plausible deniability" when reading this. It
calls for closing these evil laboratories but make no mention of the Pentagon-run facilities
that are just that.
"These officials "failed us" in the same way that our media "fails us": they serve the
interests of the EMPIRE-FIRST Deep State."
Yuppp. Our error is to assume all 17 intelligence agencies; the presstitudes; and US
"leadership" exist to serve the American people. And so, yes, they "fail" the people. But, from the point of view of the controllers of those agencies and of those "leaders",
they hardly ever fail !!!
While the people argue over virulent minutae, they are once again helping themselves to
the US Treasury.... Trillions of USDs.... LOL
".... was then told to STOP TESTING...... A medical person would not try to suppress testing.
That would be a "management decision" and its the Nation Security Council that was running
the show (and which had classified all discussions related to virus preparations)...."
Thanks for reminding us of Dr Chu's story. What if the US leadership:
Knew the coronavirus was already out in the wild in the US by Sep 2019;
Decided to set up China to be the "origin" to be blamed;
Realized that a "pandemic" can be the cover for kicking the table over to do the Great
Financial Reset;
we remember, don't we?, when the US staged their usual war games exercises in 1990....wearing gear for the desert when we
weren't in any war situation with anyone in the Middle East. Yet it wasn't much longer when we were.
And now you're saying the US ran an exercise involving a pandemic? Why oh why do I think they knew it was coming? And if they
knew it was coming....
@Shahryar National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Mojave desert, in 1986, and that was hardly a rarity even back then.
My ex husband went in late 1989 I believe, or early 1990. So yes, all that desert training when "we" were still solely focused
on the Warsaw Pact nations, but hey, that's just CT, right? And then behold, Gulf One in 1990 just happened out of the blue? Yeah,
sure.
As for stupid ass Americans I overheard some conversation this week about how saying the US created the virus is fake news
and is how one gets shot in America.... The stupid is simply too pervasive in this country and sadly, it'll prove fatal for many
here in the land of the free. We'll be number 1 alright, just not in the way most sheep like Americans think we are.
we remember, don't we?, when the US staged their usual war games exercises in 1990....wearing gear for the desert when we
weren't in any war situation with anyone in the Middle East. Yet it wasn't much longer when we were.
And now you're saying the US ran an exercise involving a pandemic? Why oh why do I think they knew it was coming? And if
they knew it was coming....
China put the country on a war footing and immediately responded by pulling out all the stops in an extremely effective way.
Unless their aim was to reduce the population, here and abroad, of non-productive individuals?
I figure, from the manner the US is handling this situation, the game is to defeat the virus in the US using herd immunity.
Herd immunity in the US would leave countries like China vulnerable to successive infections until a vaccination is developed.
Then what if mutations occur?
That would be a two-fer. Just say'n......
Lots here for a great movie. Any screenwriters in the crowd?
On the subject of bioweapons... The logic is that folks actually KNOW what they are doing,
that there are high levels of proficiency. We have absolute disasters in conventional weapons
programs. The money flows, which seems to be what many people care about: engineering
scientists or lab scientists- interesting jobs that people get used to doing (and don't want
to lose).
The US dropped disease infected insects on North Korea in the 50s.
Lyme Disease's epicenter was right in the area of Plum Island (US military research facility
[or such]).
Nuclear energy is safe...
Mistakes happen. Coverups happen. As noted, no government would possibly admit to being at
the center of a mistake like this.
The CIA unleashed LSD with the thought/hope that it could be a mind control drug. It
turned out to be the complete opposite: LSD tended to turn people into being
anti-establishment!
So, yes, we can seemingly point out that COVID-19 isn't exactly a good bioweapon*, but who
knows what, if it was manufactured, the early thoughts were.
*We are, however, assuming that it's death count that's the actual measure, not total
fear? If you consider that the US govt (and others too) are in economic meltdown over this
then I'd have to say that it's actually as effective a weapons as you could figure. US
sanctions target the general population of a country to get them to oust their political
leaders. One could speculate that COVID-19 was the perfect tool to overthrow a global
economic system that was nearing it's end: add in that China's Belt and Road initiative was
seen as the end of USD hegemony. It's big game stakes we're talking about.
But what about other labs, undeclared by wannabe dictators, that may not be up to the same
standards?
Stonebird | Mar 19 2020 21:53 utc | 200:
Non-state actors (i.e. wealthy people and their god damn foundations) should not be
dismissed as well. Some of them do have enough resources to make it happen.
Seer | Mar 20 2020 1:07 utc | 246:
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment could be considered as one, under the guise of scientific
research.
Well that blows the "inadequately funded" and "Sane" theories of bioweapon R&D out of
the water.
A terrific comment I've read recently pointed out that WMDs, even nukes, are by nature
poor as Weapons, ie have few military applications.
Their main value is psychological, ie they are terror weapons whose main aim is disruption
& Fear. Cov19 is accomplishing that very nicely (with a little help from the
media).
There a picture of the virus' genome for people who don't read Portuguese.
Anyway, long story short is: SARS CoV-2 is closely related to RATG13, which is traced from
bats. This all but guarantees both have a common ancestor. Therefore, evolution, not
bioengineering, resulted in the SARS CoV-2.
To the questions possed by Pepe Escobar, you would add...
Why have been decreed a harsh censure by Youtue, Twitter and Faceook on any information
debunking official false information or denouncing the lack of material affecting health
workers in the West?
I find somehow interesting that it is precisely now, when the virus is strongly affecting
the West, that you have decided to exert a harsher control of the narrative, when at the time
the virus was only affecting China, Iran and even Italy, the most outlandish accusations
against these peoples were being published here without any obstacle.
BTW, what is your opinion about that guy, Robert Steele, an unconditional Trump supporter,
who mantains the infection is a hoax since the first minutes?
With respect to debunking the virus as a military bioweapon because it affects mainly
elders and is affecting also US citizens, what about the fact that in some countries there
are eing mainly victims in the range of the 50s-60s and even younger?
Also, were not the US conscripts also affected by Orange Agent in Vietnam?
I fear that damaging Us citizens was never a worry for TPTB...
On the other hand, a military goal does not seem what could have been looked for by said
actors, but to act as a cover for an economic meltdown which is developing in parallel and to
have the alibi for the establishment of an state of exception with which to cover the next
big thievery on the working class to rescue again big business
Starting from today, in Spain, law enforcement forces have the right to detain any
civilian caught out of its domicile without a document jusifying it...Just received a video
of the detention of a young girl who was walking with her earphones...
Also a Basque nurse, 51 years old, have died after a week in hospital...Some health
workers in a provnce in the central country who published a video on the shameful lack of
protective gear and material, when two months have passed since the first cases were
registered in Europe, have denounced being menaced...By now, people is being allowed to
publish complaints on this...Wonder how long this will last...
It is certainly very convenient for the authorities to have the population in lockdown
while an economic crash and a mass deths of elders are happening...al the more when countries
like France were facing social unrest with respect pension reforms and each and every
country, especially at their "economic forums" like Davos, were pointing at increasing
pensioners numbers as a major challenge to the current liberal economic order...
"So please stop the "escaped from lab" or "weaponized" assertions. They have no basis and
unless you provide real scientific evidence such claims will in future get your comment
deleted and may even get you banned."
Wow- "B" goes Pat Lang on his own blog.
.....
"There is zero evidence that the virus is from a Chinese or U.S. or other (weapon)
laboratory and the claim actually makes no sense. (1)
To artificially create such a complex entity and to test all its variants would have been
a program of the size of the Manhattan project and would have cost billions. (2)
Weapon researchers are sane people with a limited budget. They look for methods to defeat
an enemy. A virus that affects all humans indiscriminately but kills mostly very old ones
would have no military value." (3)
(1)- And there is NO factual evidence otherwise. Nuclear, Chemical and Biological
development/use do not "make sense" in a sane world. Yet the U.S. spends more $, time, energy
and propaganda than the rest of the world combined in exactly those areas.
(2)- The U.S. invests Billions in an ever increasing budget terminally. Billions of $$$ go
missing and are unaccounted for every year. Remember the cash that went missing in Iraq? A
pile so high you could "see it from the moon". Pentagon cannot be accurately audited
financially, black holes of black budget money everywhere printed and sold to the U.S. >
M.I.C. Billions granted (given away) to rogue nations for weapons research and development
ring a bell?
(3)- Sane people with limited budgets my ass. The budget increases EVERY year and cannot
even be accounted for. Wounding an enemy on the tactical battlefield creates more stress and
problems than outright killing them (resources for wounded). The U.S. military value strategy
is NOT to win and end wars...but to sustain them indefinately so the Economy of War continues
to flourish.
Notice the Economic Sanctions have NOT been lifted? That alone should clarify what sort of
vile regimes run by vile humans with vile values exist in power today. I do wonder if you
"woke" today incredibly naive or did you get a knock on your door?
In all the time I've been reading and commenting at MoA (and that goes back years) I have
never seen you throw down such a heavy threat of censorship. What is this really about?
Are you just going to scrub away any inquiry apart from the accepted wisdom?
Since all of us are encouraged to be rational here, let's at least talk about the logical
reason that might cause Chinese authorities to accuse the USA of being the source of the
virus. They have done this several times. Why do thy make this accusation?
There is another explanation that does not involve any weapons laboratory. There has been
another explanation of the virus that suggests that the altered virus came out of a
multi-national effort to use coronavirus, or some natural variant of it, to create vaccines.
Someone here at MoA offered a couple of links. One of the links was authored by a virology
PHD.
A multinational effort was said to include the United States, China, and European nations
(including Germany). You say in your article that it would take something like a Manhattan
Project, to come up with with this strange Covid-19 variant. However, the biologist who was
covering this PHD paper, says that the virology expert's report indicates that the emergence
of this particular strain could have been accidental, with so many cultures going in Petri
dishes, on a variety of subject mammals, in a number of different countries who were all
sharing the research toward a common goal.
But if so, I'm * extremely * skeptical that the perpetrators ever intended or
imagined that it would leak back into the US and inflict the horrific economic and social
damage that now seems unavoidable. How to explain this lack lack of foresight?
Dr. Unz,
That's because -- if it indeed is a bio-weapon -- the value of the attack for this
particular case does not lie in the attack itself. The goal is the propaganda that can be
generated from the attack, i.e. the propaganda value . Words in general (and therefore
propaganda) have real-world material power. It affects people's thinking, which in turn
affects people's actions and behavior, which in turn have real-world consequences. Propaganda
of this sort would then utterly damage the world's perception of China, which could then
affect China's economic, diplomatic, and political dealings.
If the infection were contained within China's borders or within isolated parts of East
Asia, then not much of a big fuss could be made about it. The infection needs to spread for
it to have propaganda value. Note that Covid-19 has a very low fatality rate compared to SARS
or other recent infection outbreaks. Yet it is very infectious (meaning, many people getting
infected / high rate of infection). Covid-19 is a virus that is very infectious BUT has a low
fatality rate -- exactly the kind of virus you want if you wanted something to spread.
Also, the elites are willing to incur losses in the short-run. They'll weather whatever
short-run losses just fine, and they'll make up for it in other ways. The real people that
will get hit economically in a permanent way are the low-income, the middle-class, and even
the upper middle-class. The oligarchs won't.
What they're really concerned about is the long-run, and that's smart on them. They'll
have real losses in the long-run if China completes its rise. China is set to complete its
overall rise (not on everything, but just overall) in the probably the next 5 to 10 years.
Much of the indicators for this has been covered by that Godfree guy and by others. So
something must be done to stop it.
Let me cut through all this speculative noise with Occam's Razor.
The virus is natural. The CCP elites are using it in exactly the same way the USG and EU
elites are. Both financial systems and economies were clearly crashing beginning in early
September. Now the elites get to blame all the troubles on a virus (which isn't actually
killing anyone in interesting numbers). Absent the WuFlu they'd all risk getting strung up
pretty soon. Now instead of being called out for the decade+ of ineptitude that lead to a
collapsing global bubble economy, they get to be praised as heroes that saved everyone from
dying.
Now that I've cleared up all that nonsense about a bioweapon and grand scheme to kneecap
China, I have to say that the "China inevitably taking over" narrative is rather ridiculous,
flu or not. Japan re-ascendant and taking back Manchokou is more believable. As the USA
washes its hands of these messes overseas and pulls back homeward, China is in the worst
position. All its neighbors hate it and will check it. China has been the #1 beneficiary of
Pax Americana this century. Well, Americans are rapidly losing interest in that project.
This makes it even more mysterious, for the US Air Force is making this sound like "all's
normal, nothing to see here, move along", and the underlying implication is "we're doing this
with the full knowledge and permission of the Russian government," which, indeed, if the
assertions are true, it is hard to imagine American agents secretly traveling around Russia
taking DNA samples without the Russian government's knowledge and permission. Anyway, here's
the "explanation":
While some initially discounted Putin's remars as another loony conspiracy theory, as it
turns out, he was right: The group responsible for the tissue collection was none other than
the US Air Force, proving that yet another conspiracy theory has become a conspiracy
fact.
A representative for the US Air Force Education and Training Command explained to
Russia Today that
the choice of the Russian population was not intentional, and is related to research the Air
Force is conducting on the human musculoskeletal system.
Eyebrows were first raised in July when the AETC issued a tender seeking to acquire
samples of ribonucleic acid and synovial fluid from Russians, adding that all samples (12 RNA
and 27 synovial fluid) "shall be collected from Russia and must be Caucasian." The Air Force
said it wouldn't collect samples from Ukrainians, but didn't specify why.
Now, hang on, because there's a curve ball coming here, and it's the centerpiece of today's
high octane speculation. But before we get to that, the most obvious use of such data would be
for the purpose of constructing of some sort of biologically-specific weapon, targeting just
those
always-byzantine-scheming-never-to-be-trusted-Russians-and-their-evil-supergenius-criminal-mastermind-Vladimir-Putin.
And of course, that purpose is mentioned in the article:
However, some suspect that this explanation is merely a ruse, and that the Pentagon is
collecting the tissue for a much more sinister purpose, according to RT .
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian genetic material is being
harvested all over the country. "Do you know that biological material is being collected
all over the country, from different ethnic groups and people living in different
geographical regions of the Russian Federation? The question is – why is it being
done? It's being done purposefully and professionally. We are a kind of object of great
interest," Putin told Russia's Human Rights Council, without specifying who might be behind
the activities involving Russians' biological samples. "Let them do what they want, and we
must do what we must," he said.
The fact that Russian tissue samples specifically are on the wanted list made some
wonder whether the Pentagon is working on a biological weapon to target Russians. "I'm not
saying that it is about preparing a biological war against Russia. But its scenarios, are,
no doubt, being worked on. That is to say, in case the need suddenly arises," Franz
Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Defense
and Security, wrote on Facebook. "It is also no secret that different ethnic groups react
differently to biological weapons. Hence the collection of the biological material from
Russians living in different geographical locations. In the west, everything is done
extremely scrupulously and is verified up to the tiniest detail."
But then comes the final few paragraphs, whose implications are, if one reads them
carefully, a stunner:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Tuesday that Russian special services are in
possession of intelligence suggesting that NGOs are collecting the genetic material -
intelligence that presumably prompted Putin's initial speculation about who might be behind
the collections.
" Some emissaries are really carrying out such activities, representatives of
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other bodies. Such cases were registered, and
security services, the president naturally have this information ," he said.
This is not the first attempt to collect samples of Russian genetic material by foreign
agencies in Russia, Igor Nikulin, a former member of the UN biological weapons commission,
told RT.
" Such attempts were made back in the 90s, when there was a Human Genome program, then
there were various programs in the 2000s too under different pretexts, including the most
noble, but for some reason all this happens in the interests of the US military department,
and this raises suspicion," Nikulin said.
He noted that, as a rule, "samples of Europeans of the Slavic group, mostly Russians" are
sought-after. "Blood samples are taken for analysis, and if an organization is foreign, what
they are doing with the results is always unknown," he said. (Italicized emphasis added)
A group of economists and policy experts on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to
immediately lift the United States' crippling sanctions against Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and
other countries, warning that the economic warfare -- in addition to being cruel in itself --
is "feeding the coronavirus epidemic" by hampering nations' capacity to respond.
"This policy is unconscionable and flagrantly against international law. It is imperative
that the U.S. lift these immoral and illegal sanctions to enable Iran and Venezuela to
confront the epidemic as effectively and rapidly as possible," Columbia University professor
Jeffrey Sachs said in a statement just hours after the Trump administration intensified
sanctions against Iran, which has been devastated by COVID-19.
Promising to "smash" Venezuela's government during a "maximum pressure March," Trump has
imposed crushing sanctions that force Venezuela to spend three times as much as
non-sanctioned countries on coronavirus testing kits.
A lot of people are simply fundamentally ignorant of numbers: one, two, BIG is how they
think.
nCOV as a bioweapon: the reality of genetic manipulation is a lot less than the hype.
Genetically manipulated animals can occur because the animals are cheap and easy to test on
and industry can then clone en mass once a lucky bullet hits (i.e. they do/find what they
want). For a bioweapon: How do you test? How do you refine something that isn't working the
way you want?
CRISPR is touted as a magic wand - it is only in comparison to other methods. Even for
CRISPR, the ability to modify is in the 50% to 80% success range for a 1 nucleotide change -
and this is accompanied by an enormous and unquantified amount of insertions in areas that
aren't wanted. That's why genetic manipulation in humans is hard - the first attempt
(pre-CRISPR to be clear) had 80% of the test subject develop leukemia.
Secondly: animals.
You don't get squat from eating an animal unless it is animal sushi.
However, eating animals guarantees handling animals. Handling animals means
catching/raising, butchering, handling the meat. One person in this chain with a cut on their
hands/arms is all that is needed for a species crossing.
This isn't the only way though. There have been cases, for example, where a person caught
rabies from a bat that ran into him. No bite, but the rabid bat left microscopic scrapes on
the person which got infected.
So all you morons complaining about Chinese eating everything - it doesn't even have to be
the consumption that's the cause. Mixing people with wild animals results in potential
exposure. Deal with it. For that matter, there are lots of bats in the US. The rabies case
above was in Canada
Recall " vaping
deaths ?" in the USA in September 2019? "As of Friday, there have been more than 450 possible
cases of lung illness associated with using e-cigarettes reported to the CDC across 33 states and
the US Virgin Islands. The numbers have been changing frequently. Before the death in Kansas,
five deaths were reported in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Oregon."
Notable quotes:
"... there was an article "Revenge of pangolins" claiming that the virus has 90% similarity with a pangolin virus ..."
"... Actually, how eating an animal can lead to an infection? It is not all that simple. Say that you live in a village with bats and pangolins that hop or fly around while having some sniffles. You can inhale snuffled out droplets, touch a surface where the droplets landed, or catch a critter and eat it. Which type of contact is more frequent? INDIRECT CONTACT. This is the common "evolutionary strategy" of this class of viruses: direct contact with the previous host is not necessary. ..."
"... We already know the evidence record going back to the 1940s that they always have deliberated a bio-attack on their own people, along with the world's people. Coupled with this they've always had their agribusiness campaign though which they deliberately destroy all ecological safeguards along with the usual environmental destruction, every step of the way denying that they're sawing off the very limb which allows them their precarious perch. ..."
"... The US Army has been working on bioweapons for a long time, and have a documented history of deploying them on adversaries, and even their own citizens. ..."
"... What's more, we know Wuhan researchers were splicing together "chimeric" coronaviruses; they wrote an article in Nature warning about their increased pathogenicity! ..."
"... As you pointed out, there's good reason not to believe eating bats or frequenting the Wuhan wet market led to this pathogen jumping the species barrier. I think most of the evidence points to this virus being engineered for research purposes, and then released by accident. ..."
"... military weaponization is not the only strategy possible. In the Hybrid War against a national adversary, creating havoc by means of a bioweapon is a social destabilization that is non-military but a weaponization nonetheless. ..."
"... Maybe not. No proof. Must hold judgment. But I also hold the concept that havoc in society that leads to economic recession is very possible. ..."
Myth: The virus originated from a military weapon research laboratory.
Facts: There is zero evidence that the virus is from a Chinese or U.S. or other (weapon)
laboratory and the claim actually makes no sense
--------------------
Advocate of the Devil: no so-called evidence BECAUSE the designers hide their work so
well.
Smart Alec: there was an article "Revenge of pangolins" claiming that the virus has 90%
similarity with a pangolin virus. Pangolins are rather frequent critters in southern China
and Indochina, a bit like possums where I live: shy, nocturnal, smallish (like a small cat?),
but delicacy to some people. The remaining 10% indicates more hopes from species to species.
In any cases, there are thousands of mammalian species and it is not like a virus is specific
to one or two. Symptoms differ, but the virus only needs to trick the hosts to make its
copies and spread them.
Actually, how eating an animal can lead to an infection? It is not all that simple. Say
that you live in a village with bats and pangolins that hop or fly around while having some
sniffles. You can inhale snuffled out droplets, touch a surface where the droplets landed, or
catch a critter and eat it. Which type of contact is more frequent? INDIRECT CONTACT. This is
the common "evolutionary strategy" of this class of viruses: direct contact with the previous
host is not necessary.
Myth: The virus originated from a military weapon research laboratory.
Facts:
There is zero evidence that the virus is from a Chinese or U.S. or other (weapon)
laboratory and the claim actually makes no sense. The genome of the virus consists of more
then 23,000 'letters'. It is significantly different that the genome of other known viruses.
To artificially create such a complex entity and to test all its variants would have been a
program of the size of the Manhattan project and would have cost billions.
Weapon researchers are sane people with a limited budget.
That, at least, is hard-core false. We already know the evidence record going back to the
1940s that they always have deliberated a bio-attack on their own people, along with the
world's people. Coupled with this they've always had their agribusiness campaign though which
they deliberately destroy all ecological safeguards along with the usual environmental
destruction, every step of the way denying that they're sawing off the very limb which allows
them their precarious perch.
">Myth:
>
> The virus originated from a military weapon research laboratory.
>
> Facts:
>
> There is zero evidence that the virus is from a Chinese or U.S. or other (weapon)
laboratory
> and the claim actually makes no sense. The genome of the virus consists of more then
23,000
> 'letters'. It is significantly different that the genome of other known viruses. To
artificially
> create such a complex entity and to test all its variants would have been a program of
the size
> of the Manhattan project and would have cost billions.
>
> Weapon researchers are sane people with a limited budget. They look for methods to
> defeat an enemy. A virus that affects all humans indiscriminately but kills mostly
> very old ones would have no military value."
makes zero sense to me. The US Army has been working on bioweapons for a long time, and
have a documented history of deploying them on adversaries, and even their own citizens.
It seems highly unlikely to me that the Chinese didn't conduct similar research, if only
to counter US efforts and develop vaccines.
What's more, we know Wuhan researchers were splicing together "chimeric" coronaviruses;
they wrote an article in Nature warning about their increased pathogenicity!
(I especially like the brief, evidence-free, argumentum ad verecundiam paragraph the
editors inserted in March telling people "nothing to see here!")
As you pointed out, there's good reason not to believe eating bats or frequenting the
Wuhan wet market led to this pathogen jumping the species barrier. I think most of the
evidence points to this virus being engineered for research purposes, and then released by
accident.
I mean, would you want to live anywhere near a Chinese lab researching "chimeric
coronaviruses" that showed "increased pathogenicity"?
I would just offer this: military weaponization is not the only strategy possible. In the
Hybrid War against a national adversary, creating havoc by means of a bioweapon is a social
destabilization that is non-military but a weaponization nonetheless.
The US is waging a massive Hybrid War against China. What restraints are they showing in
this war?
They have been using every weapon in the toolkit, except . . .?
Maybe not. No proof. Must hold judgment. But I also hold the concept that havoc in society
that leads to economic recession is very possible.
Waiting for science to tell us more. And thank you again for your facts and logic.
As I understand it, research laboratories can create new strains of known viruses when
looking for or researching vaccines. With SARS and MERS much research into various strains of
the bat coronavirus has been conducted in laboratories around the world.
Why does the US military have infectious disease laboratories or research centers in so many
of the ex soviet states. They appear to have ben kicked off around 2010 2011
Department of Defense (DoD) Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) was established
in 1997 following the release of Presidential Decision Directive, National Science and
Technology Council-7, which tasked DoD to improve infectious disease surveillance,
prevention, and response.
The strategic goals of the GEIS Section include:
.Supporting GCC infectious disease and theater campaign priorities through strengthening
surveillance, outbreak response, collaboration, and coordination of the global DoD laboratory
network
.Informing FHP decision and policy making through timely dissemination of surveillance
information to key stakeholders
.Enhancing national and global health security by preventing, detecting, and responding to
infectious disease threats
.Informing DoD and interagency research and development of infectious disease
countermeasures such as diagnostic tools, prophylaxes, therapeutics, insecticides, and
personal protective equipment
Download PDF
To the Editor
-- Since the first reports of novel pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China
1
,
2
,
there has been considerable discussion on the origin of the causative virus, SARS-CoV-2
3
(also referred to as HCoV-19)
4
.
Infections with SARS-CoV-2 are now widespread, and as of 11 March 2020, 121,564 cases have been confirmed in
more than 110 countries, with 4,373 deaths
5
.
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause
severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms
6
.
Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data. We
offer a perspective on the notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could
have arisen. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully
manipulated virus.
Notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome
Our comparison of alpha- and betacoronaviruses identifies two notable genomic features of SARS-CoV-2: (i) on
the basis of structural studies
7
,
8
,
9
and biochemical experiments
1
,
9
,
10
,
SARS-CoV-2 appears to be optimized for binding to the human receptor ACE2; and (ii) the spike protein of
SARS-CoV-2 has a functional polybasic (furin) cleavage site at the S1–S2 boundary through the insertion of
12 nucleotides
8
,
which additionally led to the predicted acquisition of three O-linked glycans around the site.
1. Mutations in the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2
The receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein is the most variable part of the coronavirus
genome
1
,
2
.
Six RBD amino acids have been shown to be critical for binding to ACE2 receptors and for determining the
host range of SARS-CoV-like viruses
7
.
With coordinates based on SARS-CoV, they are Y442, L472, N479, D480, T487 and Y4911, which correspond to
L455, F486, Q493, S494, N501 and Y505 in SARS-CoV-2
7
.
Five of these six residues differ between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV (Fig.
1a
). On the basis of structural studies
7
,
8
,
9
and biochemical experiments
1
,
9
,
10
,
SARS-CoV-2 seems to have an RBD that binds with high affinity to ACE2 from humans, ferrets, cats and other
species with high receptor homology
7
.
Fig. 1: Features
of the spike protein in human SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses.
a
, Mutations in contact residues of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The spike protein of
SARS-CoV-2 (red bar at top) was aligned against the most closely related SARS-CoV-like
coronaviruses and SARS-CoV itself. Key residues in the spike protein that make contact to the ACE2
receptor are marked with blue boxes in both SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses, including SARS-CoV
(Urbani strain).
b
, Acquisition of polybasic cleavage site and O-linked glycans. Both the
polybasic cleavage site and the three adjacent predicted O-linked glycans are unique to SARS-CoV-2
and were not previously seen in lineage B betacoronaviruses. Sequences shown are from NCBI GenBank,
accession codes
MN908947
,
MN996532
,
AY278741
,
KY417146
and
MK211376
. The pangolin coronavirus
sequences are a consensus generated from
SRR10168377
and
SRR10168378
(NCBI BioProject
PRJNA573298
)
29
,
30
.
Full size image
While the analyses above suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may bind human ACE2 with high affinity, computational
analyses predict that the interaction is not ideal
7
and that the RBD sequence is different from those shown in SARS-CoV to be optimal for receptor binding
7
,
11
.
Thus, the high-affinity binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human ACE2 is most likely the result of
natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise. This
is strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not the product of purposeful manipulation.
2. Polybasic furin cleavage site and O-linked glycans
The second notable feature of SARS-CoV-2 is a polybasic cleavage site (RRAR) at the junction of S1 and
S2, the two subunits of the spike
8
(Fig.
1b
). This allows effective cleavage by furin and other proteases and has a role in determining viral
infectivity and host range
12
.
In addition, a leading proline is also inserted at this site in SARS-CoV-2; thus, the inserted sequence is
PRRA (Fig.
1b
). The turn created by the proline is predicted to result in the addition of O-linked glycans to S673,
T678 and S686, which flank the cleavage site and are unique to SARS-CoV-2 (Fig.
1b
). Polybasic cleavage sites have not been observed in related 'lineage B' betacoronaviruses, although
other human betacoronaviruses, including HKU1 (lineage A), have those sites and predicted O-linked glycans
13
.
Given the level of genetic variation in the spike, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2-like viruses with partial or
full polybasic cleavage sites will be discovered in other species.
The functional consequence of the polybasic cleavage site in SARS-CoV-2 is unknown, and it will be
important to determine its impact on transmissibility and pathogenesis in animal models. Experiments with
SARS-CoV have shown that insertion of a furin cleavage site at the S1–S2 junction enhances cell–cell fusion
without affecting viral entry
14
.
In addition, efficient cleavage of the MERS-CoV spike enables MERS-like coronaviruses from bats to infect
human cells
15
.
In avian influenza viruses, rapid replication and transmission in highly dense chicken populations selects
for the acquisition of polybasic cleavage sites in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein
16
,
which serves a function similar to that of the coronavirus spike protein. Acquisition of polybasic cleavage
sites in HA, by insertion or recombination, converts low-pathogenicity avian influenza viruses into highly
pathogenic forms
16
.
The acquisition of polybasic cleavage sites by HA has also been observed after repeated passage in cell
culture or through animals
17
.
The function of the predicted O-linked glycans is unclear, but they could create a 'mucin-like domain'
that shields epitopes or key residues on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
18
.
Several viruses utilize mucin-like domains as glycan shields involved immunoevasion
18
.
Although prediction of O-linked glycosylation is robust, experimental studies are needed to determine if
these sites are used in SARS-CoV-2.
Theories of SARS-CoV-2 origins
It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like
coronavirus. As noted above, the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 is optimized for binding to human ACE2 with an efficient
solution different from those previously predicted
7
,
11
.
Furthermore, if genetic manipulation had been performed, one of the several reverse-genetic systems
available for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used
19
.
However, the genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus
backbone
20
.
Instead, we propose two scenarios that can plausibly explain the origin of SARS-CoV-2: (i) natural selection
in an animal host before zoonotic transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans following zoonotic
transfer. We also discuss whether selection during passage could have given rise to SARS-CoV-2.
1. Natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer
As many early cases of COVID-19 were linked to the Huanan market in Wuhan
1
,
2
,
it is possible that an animal source was present at this location. Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to bat
SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses
2
,
it is likely that bats serve as reservoir hosts for its progenitor. Although RaTG13, sampled from a
Rhinolophus affinis
bat
1
,
is ~96% identical overall to SARS-CoV-2, its spike diverges in the RBD, which suggests that it may not bind
efficiently to human ACE2
7
(Fig.
1a
).
Malayan pangolins (
Manis javanica
) illegally imported into Guangdong province contain
coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2
21
.
Although the RaTG13 bat virus remains the closest to SARS-CoV-2 across the genome
1
,
some pangolin coronaviruses exhibit strong similarity to SARS-CoV-2 in the RBD, including all six key RBD
residues
21
(Fig.
1
). This clearly shows that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein optimized for binding to human-like ACE2 is the
result of natural selection.
Neither the bat betacoronaviruses nor the pangolin betacoronaviruses sampled thus far have polybasic
cleavage sites. Although no animal coronavirus has been identified that is sufficiently similar to have
served as the direct progenitor of SARS-CoV-2, the diversity of coronaviruses in bats and other species is
massively undersampled. Mutations, insertions and deletions can occur near the S1–S2 junction of
coronaviruses
22
,
which shows that the polybasic cleavage site can arise by a natural evolutionary process. For a precursor
virus to acquire both the polybasic cleavage site and mutations in the spike protein suitable for binding to
human ACE2, an animal host would probably have to have a high population density (to allow natural selection
to proceed efficiently) and an ACE2-encoding gene that is similar to the human ortholog.
2. Natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer
It is possible that a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 jumped into humans, acquiring the genomic features
described above through adaptation during undetected human-to-human transmission. Once acquired, these
adaptations would enable the pandemic to take off and produce a sufficiently large cluster of cases to
trigger the surveillance system that detected it
1
,
2
.
All SARS-CoV-2 genomes sequenced so far have the genomic features described above and are thus derived
from a common ancestor that had them too. The presence in pangolins of an RBD very similar to that of
SARS-CoV-2 means that we can infer this was also probably in the virus that jumped to humans. This leaves
the insertion of polybasic cleavage site to occur during human-to-human transmission.
Estimates of the timing of the most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 made with current sequence data
point to emergence of the virus in late November 2019 to early December 2019
23
,
compatible with the earliest retrospectively confirmed cases
24
.
Hence, this scenario presumes a period of unrecognized transmission in humans between the initial zoonotic
event and the acquisition of the polybasic cleavage site. Sufficient opportunity could have arisen if there
had been many prior zoonotic events that produced short chains of human-to-human transmission over an
extended period. This is essentially the situation for MERS-CoV, for which all human cases are the result of
repeated jumps of the virus from dromedary camels, producing single infections or short transmission chains
that eventually resolve, with no adaptation to sustained transmission
25
.
Studies of banked human samples could provide information on whether such cryptic spread has occurred.
Retrospective serological studies could also be informative, and a few such studies have been conducted
showing low-level exposures to SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses in certain areas of China
26
.
Critically, however, these studies could not have distinguished whether exposures were due to prior
infections with SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 or other SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses. Further serological studies
should be conducted to determine the extent of prior human exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
3. Selection during passage
Basic research involving passage of bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses in cell culture and/or animal models
has been ongoing for many years in biosafety level 2 laboratories across the world
27
,
and there are documented instances of laboratory escapes of SARS-CoV
28
.
We must therefore examine the possibility of an inadvertent laboratory release of SARS-CoV-2.
In theory, it is possible that SARS-CoV-2 acquired RBD mutations (Fig.
1a
) during adaptation to passage in cell culture, as has been observed in studies of SARS-CoV
11
.
The finding of SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses from pangolins with nearly identical RBDs, however, provides a
much stronger and more parsimonious explanation of how SARS-CoV-2 acquired these via recombination or
mutation
19
.
The acquisition of both the polybasic cleavage site and predicted O-linked glycans also argues against
culture-based scenarios. New polybasic cleavage sites have been observed only after prolonged passage of
low-pathogenicity avian influenza virus in vitro or in vivo
17
.
Furthermore, a hypothetical generation of SARS-CoV-2 by cell culture or animal passage would have required
prior isolation of a progenitor virus with very high genetic similarity, which has not been described.
Subsequent generation of a polybasic cleavage site would have then required repeated passage in cell culture
or animals with ACE2 receptors similar to those of humans, but such work has also not previously been
described. Finally, the generation of the predicted O-linked glycans is also unlikely to have occurred due
to cell-culture passage, as such features suggest the involvement of an immune system
18
.
Conclusions
In the midst of the global COVID-19 public-health emergency, it is reasonable to wonder why the origins of
the pandemic matter. Detailed understanding of how an animal virus jumped species boundaries to infect
humans so productively will help in the prevention of future zoonotic events. For example, if SARS-CoV-2
pre-adapted in another animal species, then there is the risk of future re-emergence events. In contrast, if
the adaptive process occurred in humans, then even if repeated zoonotic transfers occur, they are unlikely
to take off without the same series of mutations. In addition, identifying the closest viral relatives of
SARS-CoV-2 circulating in animals will greatly assist studies of viral function. Indeed, the availability of
the RaTG13 bat sequence helped reveal key RBD mutations and the polybasic cleavage site.
The genomic
features described here may explain in part the infectiousness and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans.
Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently
impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed
all notable SARS-CoV-2 features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related
coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.
More scientific data could swing the balance of evidence to favor one hypothesis over another. Obtaining
related viral sequences from animal sources would be the most definitive way of revealing viral origins. For
example, a future observation of an intermediate or fully formed polybasic cleavage site in a
SARS-CoV-2-like virus from animals would lend even further support to the natural-selection hypotheses. It
would also be helpful to obtain more genetic and functional data about SARS-CoV-2, including animal studies.
The identification of a potential intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2, as well as sequencing of the virus from
very early cases, would similarly be highly informative. Irrespective of the exact mechanisms by which
SARS-CoV-2 originated via natural selection, the ongoing surveillance of pneumonia in humans and other
animals is clearly of utmost importance.
I am amazed that nobody wants to answer these most obvious, important questions:
1. When did patient zero begin in the US?
2. How many people are infected?
3. What are the names of the hospitals?
4. Why were US health authorities forbidden to test for Covid-19 after WHO issued a Red
Alert January 1?
5. Why does the CDC classify its coronavirus deliberations?
6. Why are Coronavirus meetings at HHS held in Sensitive Compartmentalized Information
Facilities, which are usually reserved for intelligence and military operations?
From New Eastern Outlook: "We can make some blanket statements about COVID 19 and will do
so now:
The capability to create COVID 19 exists
The will to create COVID 19 exists
The intelligence and humanity required to not create COVID 19 does not exist
The will to experiment through infecting the general public with a pathogen such as COVID 19
exists and has extensive historical precedent
"Black funded" laboratories operating under cover of animal diseases research or biological
warfare defense facilities, run by the US, British, Israeli and other governments, are not
only capable of creating COVID 19 but are evidenced as being funded for exactly this type of
program
Simply put, there are actors out there that can and would unleash a global pandemic as a
component in a long term "chaos theory" operation."
" the fact that coronavirus genome variations in Iran and Italy were sequenced and it
was revealed they do not belong to the variety that infected Wuhan "
This is an important part of the puzzle, but it is still too early to already make
conclusive inferences. The following article from more than a week ago refers to efforts in
tracking the progression of the virus, under the implicit premise it initially originated
from one source, which need not necessarily be the case:
Quote, in reference to a virologist who was the first to develop the diagnostic test:
A virologist at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, he had sequenced the
virus from a German patient infected with COVID-19 in Italy. The genome looked similar to
that of a virus found in a patient in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, more than 1 month
earlier; both shared three mutations not seen in early sequences from China. Drosten realized
this could give rise to the idea that the Italian outbreak was "seeded" by the one in
Bavaria, which state public health officials said had been quashed by tracing and
quarantining all contacts of the 14 confirmed cases. But he thought it was just as likely
that a Chinese variant carrying the three mutations had taken independent routes to both
countries.
What is not mentioned here is that the initial viral outbreak near Munich was known to
have originated from a Chinese female with connections to Wuhan, who had visited a seminar at
an auto parts manufacturer, where a few employees became infected, leading to the temporary
closure of the company there. So the early Bavarian version of this virus, alluded to above,
which appeared similar to the genome presumed to have come from Italy, did surely originate
in China.
According to the article, at the time it was compiled, already 350 sequences had been
shared on an online platform. Honest journalists need to delve into this particular line of
inquiry to make sense of how this has been spreading.
@eah
There are at least four possibilities. Covid-19 was
1. Accidentally created and accidentally spread.
2. Accidentally created and deliberately spread.
3. Deliberately created and accidentally spread.
4. Deliberately created and deliberately spread.
Based on the evidence and lack of it, it seems that #1 and #3 are more likely
explanations.
We would be closer to knowing if the CDC would answer those six questions that it keeps
avoiding:
1. When was patient zero detected in the US?
2. What are the names of the hospitals who detected Covid-19 earliest?
3. How many people are infected?
4. After WHO issued a Red Alert January 1, why were US health authorities forbidden to test
for Covid-19 until March?
5. Why does the CDC classify its coronavirus deliberations?
6. Why are Coronavirus meetings at HHS held in Sensitive Compartmentalized Information
Facilities, which are usually reserved for intelligence and military operations?
Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research
An experiment that created a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus -- one related to the
virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) -- has triggered renewed debate
over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth
the risks.
Please don't stick your head in the sand like Tubby the Grifter and blame it on the
Chinese.
If that con artist would of been on the ball like Russia, this Corona thing would be
winding down. But not as long as there's a chance to do some looting and deflate the DOW
bubble while blaming that on China.
I think the article's author is less than convincing in his thesis.
He basically has woven a tapestry of hints and suggestions, a lot of them wordplay
stuff.
The case for the coronavirus being an engineered bio-weapon, made by a number of authors,
is quite plausible.
Even the fact that the virus is not as deadly as a great many diseases can be understood
as supporting the notion of a weapon, a weapon intended to inconvenience and cost rather than
just kill.
But the idea of the US deliberately having used it seems less plausible for several
reasons.
The fact that the US has now some seriously unbalanced people in leading positions –
Pompeo, Trump, et al – does mean that the considerations against use might well be
pooh-poohed.
That's a strong statement to make, but it is sadly the reality of America today.
I've posted the info below under several COVID-19 "conspiracy theory" articles on
unz.com (there's been a LOT of them), most
recently here –>
link to comment -- but it has mostly been ignored, which shows more than anything that
(too) many unz.com commenters are
agenda-driven (also in part anti-intellectual):
Link to a 2008 paper/study by Chinese scientists/researchers affiliated with the Wuhan
Institute of Virology available on the NIH website –> link to study
Highlighted excerpts from the abstract:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus
(SARS-CoV), which uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as its receptor for cell
entry. A group of SARS-like CoVs (SL-CoVs) has been identified in horseshoe bats .
SL-CoVs and SARS-CoVs share identical genome organizations and high sequence identities,
with the main exception of the N terminus of the spike protein (S), known to be
responsible for receptor binding in CoVs . In this study, we investigated the
receptor usage of the SL-CoV S by combining a human immunodeficiency virus-based
pseudovirus system with cell lines expressing the ACE2 molecules of human, civet, or
horseshoe bat . In addition to full-length S of SL-CoV and SARS-CoV, a series of S
chimeras was constructed by inserting different sequences of the SARS-CoV S into the SL-CoV
S backbone. Several important observations were made from this study. First, the SL-CoV
S was unable to use any of the three ACE2 molecules as its receptor . Second, the
SARS-CoV S failed to enter cells expressing the bat ACE2. Third, the chimeric S covering
the previously defined receptor-binding domain gained its ability to enter cells via human
ACE2, albeit with different efficiencies for different constructs. Fourth, a minimal
insert region (amino acids 310 to 518) was found to be sufficient to convert the SL-CoV S
from non-ACE2 binding to human ACE2 binding , indicating that the SL-CoV S is largely
compatible with SARS-CoV S protein both in structure and in function. The significance of
these findings in relation to virus origin, virus recombination, and host switching is
discussed.
So back in 2008, researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology converted a SARS-like
coronavirus (SL-CoV) found in bats, which was not able to infect humans, into a virus that
could infect humans by changing its (spike) protein cover (S) to include an amino acid
sequence from HIV .
Time will tell, I guess.
Maybe, maybe not (Seth Rich, Epstein, et al, etc) -- personally, I'm agnostic on the
subject of COVID-19: its origin, how it first infected humans, its epidemiological spread --
I simply haven't seen convincing forensic or circumstantial evidence one way or the
other.
But I do find the extremely rapid spread of the virus outside China, where it
supposedly originated, especially over the last two weeks or so , somewhat suspicious,
as well as unprecedented (it seems to me) -- certainly a comprehensive epidemiological study
of this is warranted.
Godfree, re comment 29, my understanding is the naturally-impossible H1N1 chimera first broke
out in Mexico not far from the US border and spread back here. That way CIA could blame it on
those dirty greasy Mexicans. Don't know where CIA sprinkled their illegal COVID-19 bioweapon
but I got it last spring, in what is now one of the larger hot spots. I don't get nothin.
This was unusually persistent but not otherwise debilitating, so far, for me. Too bad there
was no way to test for antibodies then (except at UNC.)
CIA knows you have to run your genetically-engineered strains through the population to
boost viability and virulence and that takes time, so people should be digging into deaths
last spring and summer.
People can also look for the effects of CIA compartmentation on the BWC-illegal
development work. You ask the developers (Baric and the Aussies and crucially, their
uninvolved colleagues) what they thought they were doing. Probe for outrage, then you know
you're getting warm. The researchers can't acknowledge their involvement in felony offenses.
They need a rationale. The scope of their contracts will be very illumninating because the
components must interoperate. A lot of us have life-science contacts in the relevant areas.
Let's work em!
The wisdom of crowds long since exploded 9/11 commission bullshit but there's no outside
pressure to adjudicate it because all CIA did was blow up its long-suffering population. This
is different. The whole world has a beef.
The null hypothesis is CIA germ warfare, and the mounting evidence says, don't you dare
reject it.
@onebornfree
The U.S., too, would have had virus of said North Carolina study (and you can bet UK and
Israel, too, had access). And once the study publishes, so does entire world a blueprint to
build their own. Beyond that, Boyle is engaged in pure speculation, without providing any
further evidence.
@Godfree
Roberts If someone answer these questions, he is as good as next Snowden or Manning
awaiting treason charge. He will point out patient zero before Jul2019, and why Ft Detrick
bioterrorism lab was shut down.
China needs to publicly offer asylum as encouragement to whistleblower.
Jan~Jun19 What triggered CDC to investigate Fort Detrick biowarfare lab? Jul19 What
happen to require shut down of Fort Detrick bioterrorism lab? Aug19 Outbreak of unknown
lung failure pneumonia falsely blamed on e-cigarette. How many cases? What happen
since? Oct19 Event 201 & Wuhan Military Competition. Why a UN sponsored event
doesn't invite China & countries hit by SARS, but war agency Pentagon & pharma
giants? Why US scored so badly at 35th rank? Nov19 US & India stepped up media warfare
to accuse Wuhan lab developed Coronavirus bioweapon. Doxxing of Wuhan lab scientists. Such
smearing started since early 2019. Greatgameindia.com & ZeroHedge.com Dec19 Wuhan detected COVID. CDC reported up to
31M flu infections, 300k hospitalization, 31k deaths on modeling. Jan20 Wuhan shut down.
WHO declared epidemic & emergency. US & India intensified media warfare. CDC
strangely refused to use WHO test kits but failed to produce ownself. Feb20 Global outbreak
started with different strands from China. Iran & Italy were hit badly. Mar20 WHO
declared Pandemic. Sign showing infections in Jp, SK, Italy, Iran and elsewhere could have
started as early as Wuhan.
1918 US infected its soldiers and sent to Europe frontlines to spread, killing tens of
millions. When Spain discovered and spoke out, US sticked a name on it. For next 100yrs its
called "Spanish Flu".
2019 100yrs later, US is repeating same old trick sending to whole world this time. When
China discovered and spoke out, Trumps called it "Chinese Flu".
Event 201 was sponsored by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum
(WEF), the CIA, Bloomberg, John Hopkins Foundation and the UN. The World Military Games
opened in Wuhan on the exact same day.
I think many UNZ readers [still] remember the question [during 9/11]. "Is this a
drill or is it real ?"
So many bad apples in a single basket [was HRC too busy blaming Russia, to attend these
'festivities?'], what could possibly go wrong ?
side note : is + real contain all the ingredients to spell Occupied
Palestine
The virus may not have been created in a laboratory but as a minimum it should be studied to
learn more about its origin and spread. At the present time we only hace circumstantial
evidence but it point in one direction. Certain facts are worth considering:
2)The Wuhan wet-market is not the first source of the coronavirus;
2) SARS-CoV virus was being studied and experimented on at a US Bioweapons lab at Fort
Detrick. In August 2019, it was cited for unsafe conditions that may have led to
contamination of wastewater;
3) The US sent over 300 military personnel to the World Military Games in Wuhan in late
October 2019;
4) Four foreign military participants came down with an unknown respiratory illness during
the games;
5) Genetic studies conducted in Taiwan and Japan indicate that the ancestral form of
SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 coronavirus does not occur in China but is found in the US and
elsewhere.
Thank you for that, the government is indeed corrupt as can be, but competent they are
not. That's only in the movies. For many, their only real expertise is how the government
"works", and bullshitting with turgid prose ad infinitum. Petraeus is great example in all
respects. A tool.
In regards to the origin of the virus, no need to speculate about biolabs etc. Ever since
the agricultural revolution, the explosive aggregation of humans and livestock - China being
a perfect example - has formed a perfect petri dish for chronic and acute infectious diseases
that devastate the populations, over and over again.
The point about the ACE-2 receptors is that the virus seems to affect all races equally.
That issue is separate from the distribution of haplotypes around the world, and the
relationships of the haplotypes with each other.
I will unfortunately have to go against the grain here and say that I still fail to see the
immense danger of the virus.
The argument this article makes - particularly in its third paragraph - that drastic
measures taken by governments and private institutions means that the virus is a huge threat
doesn't logically follow. No matter how drastic the measures, how large the public's panic or
how rabid the panic buying, my chance of dying from the virus even if contracting it is, as a
sub-60 year old, healthy person still at roughly 1%, not much higher than viruses that gain
little to no media or political attention.
The fact that it affects old people, but unlike many other viruses not babies is another
factor that should lessen fear, rather than increase it.
This article summarizes the poll but mentions no reasons why those who do not believe the
mainstream narrative should change their opinions other than empty polemic statements (such
as "It would require deliberately ignoring these developments or accepting a completely false
narrative about them to conclude that the threat has been overblown at this point.")
In lieu of proper counter-arguments, it is false to assume that only those willfully
ignorant or believing in false narratives would not be as concerned about this virus as those
in the media and others blowing it out proportion.
A thought. I have often heard the regime in Beijing described as evil, but not stupid. Why on
earth would they have shut down an entire province and partially shut down their whole
country with all the attendant societal disruption and economic devastation if they didn't
think COV is a lot more than flu? Remember, the Chinese are famously fatalistic about life
and death (that is a polite way of saying that they care less about individual human lives
than we do). And what about the Italians. Were they just nervous nellies who had an
irrational panic attack over nothing? OBVIOUSLY they, and many other countries, think this is
a lot more serious than influenza.
my chance of dying from the virus even if contracting it is, as a sub-60 year old, healthy
person still at roughly 1%, not much higher than viruses that gain little to no media or
political attention. The fact that it affects old people, but unlike many other viruses not
babies is another factor that should lessen fear, rather than increase it
Nobody really has *any* solid idea of the epidemiology of this yet, so your blithe 1% is a
kind of wish-thinking. In the States, thanks to the lack of testing (i.e., the failure to
ramp up basic precautionary public health responses), **any** confident assertions of rates
and chances really just serve to flag the speaker as somebody who doesn't know how much he
doesn't know. Nassim Yaleb has some interesting thoughts about the real logic of our
situation:
First of all, you assume that I don't give a damn. I do. I don't think the virus is
unimportant. No virus is.
Second, the lack of certainty plays in favor of my argument rather than yours: We do
already have numbers on the amount of people infected, the amount of people who recovered and
the amount of people who died. From the latter two, we can surmise the percentage chance of a
person surviving an infection. Combining this with the percentage of people who died who were
over the age of 60 (80%) and the number of those people who had pre-existing, severe
conditions (75%) gives us a good idea.
Those who became infected with the virus but either didn't know that it was more than a
common fever or who became infected and had symptoms mild or even non-existent won't figure
into the number of people infected. Hence, the actual percentage chance of dying from the
virus is even lower, since only those who had symptoms severe enough and got tested will
figure into it. The reverse doesn't apply.
Hence, the actual risk of dying is even lower than the numbers suggest.
We don't even know if reinfection is a possibility. As I said, at this point *all*
serene predictions of the disease's likely course are fatuous. What the hell are you, The
Hobby Epidemiologist?
Funny how you specify that "serene" predictions in particular are fatuous while excluding
pessimistic ones. Perhaps it's you who is driven not by data but something else, rather than
me?
You are right. We are flying blind as long as we are not testing widely. However, there is
a lot of data available from other places and using that data we can actually extrapolate
quite a bit. Check this out:
US President Donald Trump is refusing to stop using the name 'Chinese Virus,' despite or
perhaps in spite of protests from Beijing and some US media outlets claiming that doing so is
inappropriate or even racist. Asked about his use of the term during a White House press
conference on Tuesday, the US president said he will continue calling Covid-19 a "Chinese
virus" because it came from China, and he did not appreciate attempts by Beijing to argue
otherwise.
"China was putting out information, which was false, that our military gave this to them.
That was false," Trump said. "And rather than having an argument, I said I have to call
it where it came from: it did come from China. So I think it is a very accurate term ."
President Trump: "China was putting out information which was false... I have to call it
where it came from: it did come from China. I think it is a very accurate term... I didn't
appreciate China saying our military gave it to them." pic.twitter.com/flXo8p6qfc
I didn't appreciate China saying our military gave it to them. Our military did not
give it to anybody.
This was apparently a reference to Zhao Lijian, a newly minted spokesman for the Chinese
Foreign Ministry, who made a controversial claim last week that the virus – which was
first registered in the city of Wuhan in December 2019 – could have been brought there by
the US military team during the Military World Games the month prior.
Fellow Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang sidestepped questions about Zhao's comments at
the time, neither confirming nor denying if they represented Beijing's official position on the
matter.
On Tuesday, however, Geng said his government was "strongly indignant " over Trump's
use of " Chinese virus " that he called " a kind of stigmatization ," and
demanded that Washington " immediately stop its unjustified accusations against
China."
The day before that, China's news agency Xinhua tweeted that "Racism is not the right
tool to cover your own incompetence ." While they did not tag anyone in particular, it was
clear who it was addressed to.
Beijing insists that the exact origin of the covid-19 novel coronavirus has never been
conclusively established. Various – and conflicting – theories have pointed to bats
sold as a delicacy at the Wuhan food market, or pangolins. There have also been wild conspiracy
theories, such as that the Chinese government created the virus in one of its Wuhan bioresearch
laboratories, or that it was a genetically tailored US bioweapon unleashed on China that went
out of control.
Among the myriad, earth-shattering geopolitical effects of coronavirus, one is already graphically evident. China has re-positioned
itself. For the first time since the start of Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1978, Beijing openly regards the US as a threat, as stated
a month ago by Foreign Minister
Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference during the peak of the fight against coronavirus.
Beijing is carefully, incrementally shaping the narrative that, from the beginning of the coronovirus attack, the leadership knew
it was under a hybrid war attack. Xi's terminology is a major clue. He said, on the record, that this was war. And, as a counter-attack,
a "people's war" had to be launched.
Moreover, he
described the virus as a demon or devil. Xi is a Confucianist. Unlike some other ancient Chinese thinkers, Confucius was loath
to discuss supernatural forces and judgment in the afterlife.
However, in a Chinese cultural context, devil means "white devils" or "foreign devils": guailo in Mandarin, gweilo
in Cantonese. This was Xi delivering a powerful statement in code.
When Zhao Lijian , a spokesman for the Chinese
Foreign Ministry, voiced in an incandescent tweet the possibility that "it might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan" –
the first blast to this effect to come from a top official – Beijing was sending up a trial balloon signaliing that the gloves were
finally off. Zhao Lijian made a direct connection with the Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019, which included a delegation of
300 US military.
He directly quoted US CDC director Robert Redfield who, when asked last week whether some deaths by coronavirus had been discovered
posthumously in the US, replied that "some cases have actually been diagnosed this way in the US today."
Zhao's explosive conclusion is that Covid-19 was already in effect in the US before being identified in Wuhan – due to the by
now fully documented inability of US to test and verify differences compared with the flu.
Adding all that to the fact that coronavirus genome variations in Iran and Italy were sequenced and it was revealed they do not
belong to the variety that infected Wuhan, Chinese media are now openly
asking questions and drawing
a connection with the shutting
down in August last year of the "unsafe" military bioweapon lab at
Fort Detrick , the Military Games, and the Wuhan epidemic. Some of these questions had been
asked – with no response – inside the US itself.
Extra questions linger about the opaque
Event 201 in New York on October 18, 2019: a rehearsal for a worldwide pandemic caused by a deadly virus – which happened to
be coronavirus. This magnificent coincidence happened one month before the outbreak in Wuhan.
Event 201 was sponsored by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the CIA, Bloomberg, John Hopkins Foundation
and the UN. The World Military Games opened in Wuhan on the exact same day.
Irrespective of its origin, which is still
not conclusively established , as much as Trump tweets about the "Chinese virus," Covid-19 already poses immensely serious questions
about biopolitics (where's Foucault when we need him?) and bio-terror.
Too Many "Coincidences": The October 2019 Simulation of a High Level Pandemic
There are too many "coincidences" to conclude that this strengthened coronavirus –
considerably stronger than SARS, the one of the 2002/2003 epidemic – 'escaped' a Wuhan
lab by accident, or as the west would like to present it: by negligence.
First, there were the Military Olympics in October in Wuhan (18 – 27 October 2019),
where about 200 American soldiers participated; the first cases of 2019-nCoV fever were
discovered about two weeks later – two weeks is the average gestation period from
infection to outbreak.
Second, there was Event 201, on October 18, 2019, at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health
Security, in Baltimore, Maryland, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the
World Economic Forum (WEF – the corporatocracy representing Big Weapons, Big Pharma and
Big Money), and the John Hopkins Institute.
The theme was simulating a High-Level Pandemic Exercise – and yes, the simulation
produced 65 million deaths. Just a couple of weeks before the first COVID-19 victims were
identified.
Curiously, in their defense the sponsors of Event 201, now say,
"We are not now predicting that the nCoV-2019 (which was also used as the name of the
simulation) outbreak will kill 65 million people. Although our tabletop exercise included a
mock novel coronavirus, the inputs we used for modeling the potential impact of that
fictional virus are not similar to nCoV-2019."
China is Confronting the COVID-19 Epidemic. Was It Man-Made? An Act of of Bio-warfare?
By Peter Koenig, February 29, 2020
The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is "Agenda ID2020"
By Peter Koenig, March 12, 2020
With the onset of what used to be called 'gene scissors', now CRISPR, recombinant DNA
experimentation has been made very easy. A new Aum Shinrikyo with something FAR more deadly
than sarin, whether designed or accidental, is only a matter of time. Then there is the
entire bio-warfare establishment in the USA and Israel, run by certifiable genocidal
psychopaths, beyond the control of their putative 'Governments' and financed by shadowy
Rightwing lunatics, who WILL NEVER accept Chinese global eminence, and who are simply lusting
for the End Times to arrive in their life-times. The jig is most definitely up, up and away.
Sputnik has finally
produced an article dealing with China's demand for answers from the Outlaw US Empire
related to COVID-19 being a bioweapon. although the item's short on substance, it at least
breaks the silence in place since last Thursday.
As expected, Pompeo dodged the questions and tried to return serve to China, but IMO the
evidence cited by China's too strong as many deaths attributed to flu were actually caused by
COVID-19. Escobar's parsing of Xi's word choices I posted to the latest open thread along
with the pointed questions show China has much to doubt and everything to suspect.
I am confident that the covid is a bio-weapon, but I disagree that it was part of an
elaborate and carefully planned plot. It is more of a rash act by petulant retards in the
misnamed "intelligence community" lashing out in mindless anger because they are
losing on all fronts. I seriously doubt the Harvard frat boys down in Langley expected their
little pranks to shake the West's economy all the way to its foundations. Predicting that
would necessitate being able to think at least two or three moves ahead on "the Grand
Chessboard" , but Langley's finest are shoot-em-up video game players, not chess
masters.
Dr. Wodarg is a moron. A retired Professor longing for attention.
Watch what he says and note that he never addresses SARS-CoV2 specifically. Every student is
aware that there are a lot of Corona viruses out there. What he doesn't get is what MoA
readers and every half - educated pundit fully understood weeks ago:
SARS-CoV2 is a NEW strain! No one is immune and that's why it is spreading so far. Since
it is not an immediate killer, every person is a spreader long before first symptoms show
up.
Period!
And now watch Moron Wodarg's babbling again and check whether he addresses these crucial
basics.
Same accounts for the "expert" The Saker dug out of some other intellectual mud pit.
I'm soooo fed up with all these parasites which try to suck public attention out of the
misery of so many poor bastards only to feed their morbidly oversized ego.
A very interesting bibliography of sources and an interesting essay as well> medium [dot]
com "REVEALED: The long-suppressed official report on US biowarfare in North Korea"
Author's articles in this genre extend to Ridgeway admitting to McCloy that since he in
Korea had done as horrible things as the nazi's in now in prison, they ought to be
released...and stuff on Unit 731.
............
The CV and the propaganda storm 'round it, in context, looks like ww3 to me, everybody
locked up and afraid, a "lost" weapon-germ another coincidence, lookit the big picture.
In this study, a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-based pseudovirus system was
employed to address these issues. Our results indicated that the SL-CoV S protein is unable
to use ACE2 proteins of different species for cell entry and that SARS-CoV S protein also
failed to bind the ACE2 molecule of the horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus pearsonii. However, when
the RBD of SL-CoV S was replaced with that from the SARS-CoV S, the hybrid S protein was
able to use the huACE2 for cell entry, implying that the SL-CoV S proteins are structurally
and functionally very similar to the SARS-CoV S. These results suggest that although the
SL-CoVs discovered in bats so far are unlikely to infect humans using ACE2 as a receptor,
it remains to be seen whether they are able to use other surface molecules of certain human
cell types to gain entry. It is also conceivable that these viruses may become infectious
to humans if they undergo N-terminal sequence variation, for example, through recombination
with other CoVs, which in turn might lead to a productive interaction with ACE2 or other
surface proteins on human cells.
Essentially, in 2007 Shi Zhengli, lead researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (only
20 miles from the wet market: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/01/23/22/23795084-0-image-a-3_1579817027497.jpg
) was creating synthetic bat coronavirus strains capable of utilizing human pulmonary ACE2
receptors – which is exactly what COVID-19 does.
COVID-19 (or whatever the politically correct name is) was either a bioweapon, or some
theoretical recombinant strain they were studying (to preempt the next SARS), when someone
released it, either intentionally or not. Perhaps a researcher got infected and then spread
it throughout Wuhan, or perhaps a lab tech stole infected lab animals to sell at the wet
market.
Now, because of this lab, millions of people will die.
Lijian Zhao spokesman for China foreign ministry is sticking it to the US. Considering
whitehouse has classified talks on coronavirus, US quite likely have something to hide.
1. Chinese spox: We hope certain US officials could focus on domestic response &
international cooperation instead of trying to shift the blame to China by denigrating
Chinese efforts to fight the epidemic. This is immoral & irresponsible, & will not
help mitigate COVID-19 in US.
2. Chinese spox: Some US official accuses China of "covering up". Well, the world knows
better whether China is open & transparent. We do not comment on if US response is open
& transparent, but obviously, someone in US still turns a deaf ear to international
appraisal on China.
3. Chinese spox: Countries like Singapore, ROK took necessary measures & put the
epidemics under control because they made full use of this precious time China bought for the
world. As for whether US availed itself of this window, I believe the fact is witnessed by US
&the world.
4. Chinese spox: As a Chinese saying goes, "Turn inward & examine yourself when you
encounter difficulties." We urge the US officials to respect facts. Every minute wasted on
smearing & complaining would be better spent on enhancing domestic response &
international cooperation.
Some #influenza deaths were actually infected with #COVID-19, Robert Redfield from US #CDC
admitted at the House of Representatives. US reported 34 million cases of influenza and
20,000 deaths. Please tell us how many are related to COVID-19?
@CDCDirector
1/2 CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza
were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House
Oversight Committee Wednesday.
2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are
infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic
to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!
I thought I would share this timeline in 2 sections. No analysis from me.
Part I
2002 -Godfather of corona virus (Ralph Baric of UNC ) patents process for vaccine.
2003-SARS coronavirus released
2003 After the SARS outbreak Shi Zhengli led a team to collect bat samples across the
country for virus detection.
2008-Biolake established in Wuhan. Biolake has become home to more than 1,800 bio firms and
over 50,000 highly-skilled professionals, with annual output exceeding 120 billion yuan
($17.76 billion).
2010-Study by Rockefeller Foundation on impact of a coronavirus like pandemic on society and
governance, . One scenario envisioned is "Lock Step: A world of tighter top-down government
control and more authoritarian leadership, with limited innovation and growing citizen
pushback."
2010 -Shi Zhengli's team published a paper to examine the sensitivity of different types
of bat ACE2 to human SARS-CoV spike protein (S protein) using live SARS virus and HIV (AIDS)
pseudovirus.
2013-MERS-CoV released. First known case was in Jordan (retrospectively) but announced
during outbreak in Saudi Arabia some months later in September
October 30, 2013, Nature magazine published a paper entitled "Isolation and
characterization of a bat SARS-like Coronavirus that uses the ACE2 receptor", from the
research team including Ge Xingyi, Shi Zhengli, Dasak and other experts from Yunnan. The
entire genome sequence of the new coronaviruses RsSHC014 and Rs3367 isolated from the
chrysanthemum bat (horse hoof bat). Shi Zhengli provided the SHC014 Coronavirus S protein
sequence and plasmid, which is her field of expertise.
2014 Shi Zhengli received a $665,000 grant from NIH for a study titled The Ecology of Bat
Coronaviruses and the Risk of Future Coronavirus Emergence (NIAID R01 AI1 10964) as well as
$559,500 more from USAID for a study titled Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT_2China (Project
No. AID-OAA-A-14-00102).
2015 The Wuhan Institute of Virology openthe first biosafety level 4 (BSL–4)
laboratory to be built in mainland China.
2015 MERS From May to July , a large outbreak of MERS initiated by an infected traveler
from the Arabian Peninsula swept South Korea and resulted in 186 confirmed cases and 38
deaths.
November 9, 2015 Ralph Baric of UNC and Shi Zhengli jointly published a study on their
efforts to engineer a virus with the surface protein of the SHC014 coronavirus, found in
horseshoe bats in China, and the backbone of one that causes human-like severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) in mice.
Funding for this project was from the DoD
2016- iD2020 alliance established, funded by Bill Gates and others. A strategic, global
initiative launched in response to the Sustainable Development Goal 16.9: "provide legal
identity to all, including birth registration, by 2030", in collaboration with the United
Nations Office for Partnerships.
2017-World Bank issues 300 million in Pandemic Bonds. Default triggered should a pandemic
be declared before July 2020. Gates funded WHO declares Pandemic on March 11-2020 after over
110,000 cases, in over 110 countries. Note all the 11's here
2017- CEPI was founded in Davos by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum in 2017. Its
mission is to stimulate and accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging
infectious diseases and enable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks.
July 18, 2019 .The CDC sent a cease and desist order to USAMRIID concerning the Fort
Detrick laboratory. USAMRIID would not return to fully operational status until meeting
benchmark requirements for biosafety. USAMRIID had been working on modified biosafety level 3
procedures and a new decontamination system since flooding in May 2018. USAMRIID scientists
were also working with the Ebola virus in a biosafety level 4 lab. Partially reopens in
November with embedded CDC researchers. Nice cover story.
September 20, 2019 - ID2020 and partners launch program to provide digital ID with
vaccines
October 18, 2019 Bill Gates funded study of Event 201 at Hopkins University simulating a
coronavirus pandemic. Attended by George Gao of China CDC
Nov 17 , 2019. Earliest case according to the South China Morning Post who also reported
Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and
who came under medical surveillance before authorities announced the emergence of the new
virus.
November 20 2019 . A patent is approved related to coronavirus vaccines is owned by
Pirbright Institute (formerly the Institute for Animal Health) which is partially owned or
funded by the Gates foundation.
December 29, according to Caixin the industry leader Huada Gene (Shenzhen, China) completed a
case of gene sequencing, and the results showed that the virus and SARS gene sequence
similarity was as high as 80%.
On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission announced multiple
cases of pneumonia were related to the South China seafood market.
On December 31, the first expert group of the National Health Commission on December 31,
2019. Peng Zhiyong, director of Critical Care Medicine confirmed the diagnostic criteria was
1)have a history of exposure to the South China seafood market; 2) have a fever Symptoms; 3)
whole genome sequencing. All three criteria are required to confirm the diagnosis.
On January 1, 2020, the South China Seafood Market was closed for a environmental sanitation
rectification.
Presumably the confiscated all live animals and tested them. They have not reported which
animals if any tested positive. No bats are sold in the market.
On January 1, Huida Genes three sample test reports were reported to the Wuhan Municipal
Health Commission.
On Jan 2 , Wang Yanyi, director of Wuhan Institute of Virology, issued a
notice to researchers, forbidding anyone to release info the virus without permission.
On Jan 5, Zhang's Yongzhens team at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre isolated and
finished the genome sequence of the then-unknown virus on January 5. The Shanghai centre
reported its discovery to the National Health Commission on the same day
Jan 9, China's officially announces that mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan were caused
by a hitherto unknown coronavirus.
Jan 11. Zhangs team made the finding public after it saw that the authorities had taken no
obvious action to warn the public about the coronavirus.
Jan 12. According to an article in SCMP today the laboratory at the Shanghai Public Health
Clinical Centre was ordered to close for "rectification" on January 12, a day after Professor
Zhang Yongzhen's team published the genome sequence on open platforms.
January 18, the second group of experts such as Zhong Nanshan of the National Health
Commission on December 31, 2019 revised the diagnostic criteria after 16 consecutive days of
NO NEW CASES (clearly impossible)
On January 22, Gao Fu, director of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
said that the source of the New Coronavirus in Wuhan was wild animals illegally sold in a
seafood market in Wuhan.
On January 23, 2020, Wuhan declared lockdown. Subsequent cities and provinces followed in
the next days but a few million people had already departed Wuhan by this time for the
weeklong New Year Holidays .
Also on January 23, the Shi Zhengli team published an article on bioRxiv preprinted
version of the platform titled, "A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of
probable bat origin." The report proposed that the new Wuhan Coronavirus was derived from
bats. The paper was subsequently published in the journal Nature on February 3.
The article stated that they found that the sequence of the novel Coronavirus was 96.2%
identical to that of the Coronavirus numbered RaTG13 derived from Yunnan horseshoe bats
January 24, Netflix releases Pandemic series, a documentary about a future pandemic,
funded by Bill Gates and obviously production began well before the Wuhan pandemic
On January 26, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that 33 samples
tested positive for the New Coronavirus nucleic acid out of 585 environmental samples taken
from the South China Seafood Market . They announced that the virus originated from wild
animals sold in the South China Seafood Market but did not identify which animals.
On Jan 27th, Shi Zhengli submitted the registration information of RaTG13 bat virus
referred to in her Jan 23 preprint article, showing that the virus was isolated from the
feces of Yunnan horseshoe bats (chrysanthemum bat) as early as July 24, 2013. It was never
mentioned in any of her previous papers. Must of been locked away in an ice box for 7 years
or something.
On January 27th a report published online by Science cited a paper in the medical journal
The Lancet, suggesting that the source of the New Coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan may not be
the South China seafood market.
The paper, titled "Clinical Features of New Coronavirus Infected Patients", was published
in The Lancet on January 24. The first author of the paper was Huang Chao Lin, the deputy
director of Jinyintan Hospital, the first designated hospital for unknown pneumonia in Wuhan.
The rest of the authors included other clinicians in the hospital and members of several
research institutions.
This paper revealed the following key information:
* The first patient had an onset of disease on December 1st, which was not associated with
the seafood market.
* The first patient had no epidemic association with subsequent patients.
* On December 10th, another 3 cases had occurred, of which 2 were not related to South China
seafood market.
* Starting from December 15th, cases with a history of exposure to the seafood market are
concentrated.
* The paper counts a total of 41 patients, and 14 cases are not related to the seafood
market, the proportion exceeds 1/3.
* No bats are sold in the seafood market and no trace of bats has been found.
On January 29 a study in The Lancet analyzed 99 confirmed cases at Jinyintan Hospital, 50
of which had no history of contact with the seafood market.
The New England Journal of Medicine also published a paper showing that: Of the 425 cases,
45% of those affected before January 1 had no history of exposure to the seafood market.
Why did China require that the "history of seafood market contact" be included in the
diagnosis criteria up until January 18 when it knew that at least one third of the cases are
not related to the seafood market?
On February 7th, Liu Yahong, President of South China Agricultural University, revealed
that researchers from South China Agricultural University, Lingnan Guangdong Provincial
Laboratory of Modern Agriculture, Shen Yongyi, Xiao Lihua and other researchers analyzed a
thousand metagenome samples and found a β-crown on pangolins. The virus they said may be
closely related to Wuhan Coronavirus.
Shen Yongyi of Huanong Veterinary College Research Institute stated in an interview that
the pangolin samples found to carry the virus did not come from Guangdong, and were "obtained
from certain institutions." He admits that no such virus was found in the samples of common
Chinese pangolins collected by themselves. As to why "a specific agency" took the initiative
to provide them with these special samples, it was not mentioned in the report.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00548-w
"Researchers at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou suggested pangolins as
the animal source at a press conference on 7 February. Pangolins are highly sought-after in
China for their meat and their scales; the latter are used in traditional medicine. Although
sales of the animal are forbidden in China as part of a worldwide ban, they are still
smuggled in from a handful of southeast Asian and African countries. The researchers said
they had found a coronavirus in smuggled pangolins that was a 99% genetic match to the virus
circulating in people.
But the result did not actually refer to the entire genome. In fact, it related to a
specific site known as the receptor-binding domain (RBD), say the study's authors, who posted
their analysis1 on the biomedical preprint server bioRxiv on 20 February. The
press-conference report was the result of an "embarrassing miscommunication between the
bioinformatics group and the lab group of the study", explains Xiao Lihua, a parasitologist
at the South China Agricultural University and a co-author of the paper. A whole-genome
comparison found that the pangolin and human viruses share 90.3% of their DNA.
The RBD is a crucial part of coronaviruses, which allows them to latch on to and enter a
cell. Even a 99% similarity between the RBDs of the two viruses is not necessarily enough to
link them, says Linfa Wang, a virologist at Duke–National University of Singapore
Medical School who was part of the team that found the origin of the SARS virus."
It apparently needs repeating, but even knowing full well that CV is a deliberate bioweapon
attack by the United States, the Chinese will not bluntly and openly assert that the virus
is an attack and that they know it.
Even if the Chinese had incontrovertible proof (which they likely do have) that the
coronavirus was manufactured; even if they found the copyright notice encoded directly in the
nucleotide sequence of the virus, they will not be claiming that it was a deliberate attack.
First, that is not remotely how the Chinese think. They strongly believe in giving even their
most villainous enemies an "out" . They give their opponents the opportunity to back
down while saving face. Their stating the virus came from the US but that its release may
have been accidental is actually an extraordinarily strong accusation by Chinese standards.
It is not going to get any more direct than that, regardless of the proof.
Second, a direct confrontation with the US on this attack means war. Not only is China
currently on their back foot and not in the best position to launch a kinetic war due to the
viral attack, they are still hoping to better prepare their military so that they can have
more control over the progress of the conflict. That is important to the Chinese because they
know the US likes killing civilians and destroying infrastructure in order to "Shock and
Awe" their targets, as this bioweapon attack clearly demonstrates. The Chinese would like
the ability to steer the conflict so that the US doesn't get many opportunities to do that
"Shock and Awe" on their civilians, and they are not there yet.
Finally, this attack was almost certainly not a US military operation. The risks of
blowback and collateral damage that many posters refer to as arguments against using such a
weapon are risks that the military would definitely consider and calculate, and doubtless
they would act on those calculations exactly as everyone expects and refuse to use such a
weapon. The CIA, on the other hand, are not so inhibited and "squeamish" . On the
contrary, they revel in the suffering of others, even if those doing the suffering are
nominally "on their side" .
William Gruff | Mar 13 2020 20:10 utc | 105 The microbiologist cat @ saker (see above) would
seem to agree. So do I, but he's 'sposed to be an expert. MB dud says the cia boys were
crazy...
You assume that the bug is a bioweapon with no vaccine. Fatality rates amongst five-eyes,
US in particular will tell us whether or not a vaccine had been developed.
Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 13 2020 20:10 utc | 105
I very doubt this can be done without at least some interventon by the military, I mean,
by using their labs, like the infamous Fort Detrick. The CIA has not such labs, thus part of
the military is compromised always. The CIA may be involved in the spreading.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 13 2020 21:01 utc | 121
I think now you have the answer to that hypotesis right now in US, and you will see more
clearly in the coming weeks, when the deaths skyrocketed in the USA
I do not buy the theory of a US bioweapon attack on China, as I said before
The reasons for the 5 strains I think is globalization, and USA is at the center of it and
it is the country that receive more visits from the rest of the world.
What I could believe is an accidental release of a chimeric virus, (probably made to find
vaccines) in China, that was repeatedily researched for example in the following study:
Doctor Zhengli-Li Shi, this woman, as top researcher in Wuhan Instute of Virology, wrote
with his group of Wuhan in 2015 the following article I have read & study because I think
it is extremely interesting for all what they said:
I invite the commentariat to read carefully the full length article, and I extract some
paragraphs I consider interesting, for example they say:
"Therefore, to examine the emergence potential (that is, the potential to infect humans)
of circulating bat CoVs, we built a chimeric virus encoding a novel, zoonotic CoV spike
protein -- from the RsSHC014-CoV sequence that was isolated from Chinese horseshoe bats1 --
in the context of the SARS-CoV mouse-adapted backbone. The hybrid virus allowed us to
evaluate the ability of the novel spike protein to cause disease independently of other
necessary adaptive mutations in its natural backbone. Using this approach, we characterized
CoV infection mediated by the SHC014 spike protein in primary human airway cells and in vivo,
and tested the efficacy of available immune therapeutics against SHC014-CoV"
So they create a "chimeric" SARS-CoV virus that can cause disease (in humans)
They continue:
"we synthesized the SHC014 spike in the context of the replication-competent,
mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone (we hereafter refer to the chimeric CoV as SHC014-MA15) to
maximize the opportunity for pathogenesis and vaccine studies in mice (Supplementary Fig.
2a). Despite predictions from both structure-based modeling and pseudotyping experiments,
SHC014-MA15 was viable and replicated to high titers in Vero cells"
So they "maximize the opportunity for pathogenesis" and "replicate to high titers". Very
interesting
And then they continue saying:
"To test the ability of the SHC014 spike to mediate infection of the human airway, we
examined the sensitivity of the human epithelial airway cell line Calu-3 2B4 (ref. 9) to
infection and found robust SHC014-MA15 replication, comparable to that of SARS-CoV Urbani
(Fig. 1c). To extend these findings, primary human airway epithelial (HAE) cultures were
infected and showed robust replication of both viruses"
So in the last paragraph they have found that the new chimeric virus they have created
(they called it SHC014-MA15) "show robust replication" in human cells. A great success I
guess
But they continue with the research and say:
"We next analyzed infection in more susceptible, aged (12-month-old) animals.
SARS-MA15–infected animals rapidly lost weight and succumbed to infection"
So they test the new chimeric virus (they call it SARS-MA15 and also SCH014-MA15) in mice
and they saw a high pathogenicity in the lungs of the animals, more acute in older ones.
Then they continue with the trials of the SHC014-MA15 chimeric virus they created:
"Similarly, antibodies 230.15 and 227.14, which were derived from memory B cells of
SARS-CoV–infected patients13, also failed to block SHC014-MA15 replication (Fig. 2b,c).
For all three antibodies, differences between the SARS and SHC014 spike amino acid sequences
corresponded to direct or adjacent residue changes found in SARS-CoV escape mutants (fm6
N479R; 230.15 L443V; 227.14 K390Q/E), which probably explains the absence of the antibodies'
neutralizing activity against SHC014. Finally, monoclonal antibody 109.8 was able to achieve
50% neutralization of SHC014-MA15, but only at high concentrations (10 μg/ml) (Fig. 2d).
Together, the results demonstrate that broadly neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV may
only have marginal efficacy against emergent SARS-like CoV strains such as SHC014."
So it seems that the new chimeric virus they created is quite resilient to the antibodies
normally used to treat SARS. So there are not good news.
Still more about the risks of their chimeric virus:
"the creation of chimeric viruses such as SHC014-MA15 was not expected to increase
pathogenicity. Although SHC014-MA15 is attenuated relative to its parental mouse-adapted
SARS-CoV, similar studies examining the pathogenicity of CoVs with the wild-type Urbani spike
within the MA15 backbone showed no weight loss in mice and reduced viral replication23. Thus,
relative to the Urbani spike–MA15 CoV, SHC014-MA15 shows a gain in pathogenesis (Fig.
1). On the basis of these findings, scientific review panels may deem similar studies
building chimeric viruses based on circulating strains too risky to pursue, as increased
pathogenicity in mammalian models cannot be excluded"
So they recognize they have created a very dangerous chimeric virus with a high
pathogenesis, nobody expect to be more pathogenic (paradigm change), and easily transmitted
in human cells and hard to fight by antibodies, and they said at the end "building chimeric
viruses based on circulating strains too risky to pursue, as increased pathegenicity in
mammalian models cannot be excluded"
Do you feel a cold sweat?
At the end of the article they said:
"Coupled with restrictions on mouse-adapted strains and the development of monoclonal
antibodies using escape mutants, research into CoV emergence and therapeutic efficacy may be
severely limited moving forward. Together, these data and restrictions represent a crossroads
of GOF research concerns; the potential to prepare for and mitigate future outbreaks must be
weighed against the risk of creating more dangerous pathogens. In developing policies moving
forward, it is important to consider the value of the data generated by these studies and
whether these types of chimeric virus studies warrant further investigation versus the
inherent risks involved "
So I have some questions to ask:
a) What are the probabilities that a strange new virus, never seen before, very easily
transmitted and very pathogenic, started exactly some thousands meters from the research lab
where these people were creating dangeorus SARS chimeric viruses one day and the
following?
b) What are the probabilities that a new "wild" virus be so similar to this chimeric virus
created in 2015 for this study? Could it be a self-fulfilling prophecy?
DFC
China is also wondering when coronavirus first appeared in the US. It does appear to have
been running for some time undetected in the US. Long enough from what I can make of it that
hospitals should now be swamped.
Read the very long set of comments by OldMicrobiologist at The Saker's, and it jibes with
material he's written before, all of which I have no grounds to doubt. I agree with Gruff
@105 regarding China's response and add that its "Good Neighbor" outreach to other affected
nations is a part of that response--Italy it should be noted was very positive about BRI.
Also, I expect a very important quid pro quo from the Koreas to the vast detriment of the
Empire. The blowback's going to be massively destructive to the Empire's economy.
Very often since Trump's election, China has rightly accused the Outlaw US Empire of
"Arrogance" of the worst sort--racist and otherwise. Whatever China decides to do will be in
concert with Russia. Backing out of the recently agreed Trade Deal is almost a certainty.
Would China consider a total embargo on trade or something very specific and symbolic like
all pharmaceuticals and related goods?
Meanwhile, the head of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman,
has called on Trump to resign using language Circe would applaud:
"President Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation's public health, and
he should resign immediately.
"In a time when protecting the nation's public health demands clear, truthful, and
compassionate leadership, Trump has offered exactly the opposite.
"He has dissembled about the seriousness of the coronavirus epidemic, either because he
refuses to accept the truth or fears the impact on his political fortunes, or both.
"He has refused to make science-based recommendations (e.g., older people should avoid
cruise ships and plane travel) or to declare a public health emergency out of fear about the
impact on the stock market.
"He has misstated his administration's own policies.
"He has presided over an administration that has inexplicably failed to deliver vitally
needed coronavirus tests to healthcare providers around the country and then repeatedly lied
to or misled the American public about remedying the problem. Instead of taking
responsibility for the problem and fixing it, Trump has bizarrely blamed it on his
predecessor, Barack Obama.
"He has attacked his political rivals rather than seek to bring the country together.
"These failings have nothing to do with political ideology or legitimate areas of policy
disagreement. They are intolerable failures of leadership in a time of national crisis that
have endangered the lives of all Americans. Trump should step down immediately."
The only thing missing is inclusion of Mike Pence for doing the same. Of course, Trump
won't resign, but it will be of great interest to see if Weissman's demand is reported on by
BigLie Media.
"And let's be clear. Lack of healthcare and affordable medicine does not only threaten the
healthcare and well-being of the uninsured. It threatens everyone who comes in contact with
them.
"In fact, what this crisis is beginning to teach us is that we are only as safe as the
least insured person in America."
The only two words he doesn't explicitly say about this crisis and why it's so is Moral
Failure .
I think, by now, anyone with even partially working body parts, realized that 9/11 was an
inside job. In fact, this was such a botched, and badly organized false flag event that it
should be classified as a student comedy with atrocious acting skills, and no stage
management. However, despite of all the evidence out there, I haven't seen a single world
leader making any statements in this regard. There is no outcry, no condemnation, or even
acknowledgment of this obvious false flag.
Now, let us jump into our current timeline with this pandemic. The elites were whining
about population control since forever, and breathlessly harping about upcoming pandemics
through every imaginable channel. They were especially "terrified" of the aging population
and the rising power of China. Recently, Bill Gate's foundation conducted some pandemic
drills (tones of links to it all over this forum), etc, etc and all over sudden we have a
virus that is dangerous for the aging population, and it wreaking havoc in China. However, I
believe the main goal of it all is to create panic that would serve as a perfect cover for
the upcoming financial collapse. People are frightened by the propaganda fear porn that is
oozing through every media crack and, getting mentally soft to accept any explanation and
outcome cooked up for them by the elites.
No matter how much evidence there is, there will be no international outcry, or
acknowledgment of this crime, for us long as the empire remains useful to those who run it,
and those who trade with it.
Apologies for links to the deeply problematic, and sometimes downright repulsive, unz.com,
but it just so happens that they publish a lot of intriguing stuff as well.
The Army Quietly Re-Opens Its Infamous Germ Warfare Lab
The Fort Detrick Laboratory Experiments with Ebola, Plague and Other Deadly Toxins; Anthrax
Connection
I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I have zero proof other than my gut feeling that this is a
bioweapon. I do have 40 year of biodefense research experience behind me and worked at Fort
Detrich on bacterial vaccines where I developed my own aerosol infection routes and developed
multi-species models of pathogenesis to establish correlates of immunity. Because I was a
one-stop shop doing everything including animal care, aerosol exposures, sample analysis,
necropsy, and histopathology, etc. plus I had research programs in endemic areas studying the
immunopathological response in human populations to establish immune correlates of protection
for candidate vaccines all for the Biological Defense Research Program (BDRP).
I recall the early years when the Department of Homeland Security was stood up and they
got the lion's share of poorly performing ciivil servants un-fireable under the then OPMA
policies. I was brought in as a technical expert as we were in dire straits for funding so I
(and others) was lent out as a research prostitute. This is a little known problem with civil
service employees. They are impossible to eliminate and generally rise to levels where they
can cause the most damage. However, an opportunity arose whereby agencies in the Federal
government had to contribute bodies to the new Department of Homeland Security (as no new
vacancies were created when the agency was stood up meaning everyone had to sacrifice
personnel) so most, if not all, employees sent to DHS were the worst of the worst. However,
the DHS labs (specifically NBACC) also tied into some nefarious microbiologists working at
the CIA (ostensibly part of DHS) and it is an understatement to say that what I saw being
proposed horrified me. That work, I am certain was performed at Battle Memorial Institute in
West Jefferson, Ohio under a DHS contract doing the work for the CIA under the auspices of
NBACC. As I was very vocally opposed to this stuff I was removed from the secure access at
DHS but not DoD to the offensive work which I had pointed out was not only illegal but
unethical. I have since retired now more than 10 years and am far away from all of that. I
won't say more as they will reach out and seek retribution. But, if you look hard enough you
can find still on the internet some references. There are some pissed off people out there
should anyone care to actually do some leg work and try and figure this out. But, our news
people no longer does this work so there is very little possibility of ever learning the
truth.
However, that said, I notice some interesting things with COVID-19, that perked my ears up
a bit. Yes, it could be a natural infection jumping species from bats to humans with a
probable intermediate host, under conditions of human encroachment into world habitats. It is
actually most likely to have been that, except for the strain differences being observed.
That leads one to believe if it is in fact true, and I have no reason to doubt the Chinese on
this, that it originated outside of China and it seems likely to have originated in the US.
If, in fact, the US has 5 strains currently and China only one then it must have been
percolating in the US for some time before it arose in China. Likely, deaths in the US were
attributed to other diseases such as influenza and only retrospective sampling will determine
this. It would be interesting to do a combination GPS-Molecular biology tracking of strains
over time and distance. Also, a definite genetic analysis of strains over time would also be
beneficial and can be done easily on every isolated strain. This would have value in
attributing the course of the disease over time as part of a natural history study of the
virus. We would need access to all samples of every lung disease related death for the past
12 months to be certain to track all potential deaths. NBACC is the key to figuring out what
nefarious stuff was being funded.
It is possible that this virus has mutated over time to become more virulent. In
particular engineered strains are generally unstable over multiple passages through multiple
hosts. In my experience when testing strains for pathogenesis and lethality it is wise to
first passage a frozen isolate several times through a susceptible animal host to regain full
strength. If you test a lab isolate (usually frozen or lyophilized) generally it is wimpy
unless you passage it at least 3 passages through an animal model. The worst strains are
always those recovered from humans who died from the disease and not field collected strains.
If this was perceived to be a useful agent from the likes of Bolton or Pompeo, who are
terrible and evil people, then it is conceivable this was thought to teach the Chinese a
lesson in economics. You have to be a complete idiot to release a virus for which you have no
effective countermeasures but this administration seems to be filled with complete idiots.
So, expecting normal behavior from these people is futile.
It could have been released during the 7th CISM military games held in Wuhan October
18-27, 2019 and that fits perfectly into the time scale for the actual infections. Now
interestingly enough, I was a participant in several CISM competitions in Europe for skiing
(I was on active duty for 26 years) so I am very well versed in who these athletes are. In
general the best are Olympic competitors who are ostensibly part of the National Guard of
their states who pay for their training by extended military active duty periods where their
sole job is sports training. I used to lose every year to one of these guys and generally I
placed a distant second place in cross country skiing. I also participated in the biathlon
competitions and our soldiers were the very top level because they were in fact Olympic
athletes. Rumor is that the US participants at CISM were atrocious which is very atypical so
one wonders who these "athletes" were. I am reminded of the US military mission in Brazil to
help flood victims which coincidentally was the exact same time that all the power
transmission stations in Venezuela were destroyed. So, again a hackle or 2 rise when I heard
about that. However, it is the perfect opportunity to release a virus on a target
population.
I will also like to add that not all biological warfare agents are lethal. In fact, the
worst are non-lethal as it consumes vast amounts of resources in treatment and lost
productivity. Deaths are actually cheaper. So, a high communicability, low lethality disease
is perfect for ruining an economy. As Trump's administration claims they are waging war
against economic enemies (currently China heads the list) using all possible actions. This
fits perfectly into that; however, it may end up destroying the American economy which would
be ironic.
I believe the Chinese response was exactly what a country would do if they were attacked
with a bioweapon which explains a lot of their actions. I do not believe it was an accidental
release from the BSL-4 labs in Wuhan. In fact, this may have been an irresistible opportunity
similar to the alleged Novichuk release just 8 k away from Porton Down laboratories (the UK
Fort Detrich). Interestingly, the potential release from PDL was never put forward as a
logical explanation. Anyway, it sticks me that the CIA seems to have developed a pattern over
time. As long as I am pushing my gut feelings I will throw out there the potential for a
bioengineered adenovirus with c-fos and c-jun over expression which would cause sarcomas.
That work was all published at the National Cancer Institute located where? Fort Detrich. I
am certain it is just a coincidence. I can imagine the cackling going on at the CIA when
planning this operation and again the coronavirus operation(s). I believe there were at least
two attacks with Iran being the second and perhaps North Korea as well. However, evidence
against it being a bioweapon is Russia, Venezuela, and Cuba are minimally affected. This
could mean effective countermeasures or botched attacks. It is inconsistent though with the
way the CIA operates.
Adenovirus is another virus similar to coronavirus in usage and easily aerosolized. I have
made my own for over expression of medical treatments for wound infections. Has anyone other
than myself noted that so many enemies of the US have died from sarcomas particularly in
South America? My point is perhaps this stuff has been ongoing for quite some time and with
some fairly good results. So, familiarity breeds contempt so as they gin more experience and
begin to think this is good stuff, it is not out of the realm of possibility that this is in
fact a bioweapon. That Iran was hit so hard is another hackle rising. It is just simply too
good (for the idiots in the US government) to be a coincidence.
So, we are left with some interesting problems about this virus. Where was patient zero in
China. What will be the results if a natural history study is conducted correlating
geolocation, strain identity, severity of disease over time? Will that work be prevented? If
so, that is yet another reason to be suspicious. Will it continue to mutate and what will be
the outcome of this? Lots of good stuff to examine here and it will keep a lot of people busy
for years.
OldMicrobiologist.
Maybe you can explain this:
"Coronavirus have not previously been known to cause severe disease in humans".
This is excerpt from the patent issued to CDC, US government. Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7220852B1/en
So the question for me is why should a harmless virus be patented by the US government and
used for research in labs like US army research at Ft. Derick? That makes it military. Why is
there then the SARS-CoV, and the latest COVID-19 which is SARS-CoV-2 ? The swineflu was
likewise proven to be lab made at least in sources other than mainstream and WHO, the same
was the case with Ebola, and even HIV.
It immediately raises the question of ban of biological weapons labs in my mind, by
internatiopnal treaties just like a ban on the use of napalm, landmines and so on, since a
harmless virus are researched in army labs and suddenly appears as aggresive viruses .
It is an interesting question. Under the bioweapons conference treaty no offensive work can
legally be done and any signatory can demand an onsite inspection of facilities for
verification at any time. To my knowledge that has never been demanded of the US. It has been
done to Russia and China is not a signatory, nor is Israel or North Korea. We have been
caught doing inappropriate biodefense research several times now but only because it became
known and there were no consequences.
The slippery slope within DoD is to make a counter measure you have to try and look
forwards and using intelligence based informatics to design offensive agents. In my opinion
this is fallacious as we can't make countermeasures against the normal 10 agents on the high
threat list (since the program's inception in 1942) other than anthrax and smallpox for which
we have had effective vaccines for decades. Since 9/11 no new effective and/or safe vaccines
have been been made for any of the rest of the agents on the list. This includes several far
more likely biothreats like the plague, tularemia, glanders, brucella, Ebola, Marburg, etc.
This was despite pouring billions into biodefense research most of which went to
universities. When things cooled down the funding dried up as always. USAMRIID is currently
shut down and may never re-open. But contracted services still go on and are funded using
black money so not under the purview of Congress. So trying to make vaccines against
biothreat agents that don't exist seems ridiculous when the real threats, some of which the
US has used in warfare, are still out there without effective preventatives. What happens is
when you pour money into an area as happened after 9/11 all kinds of ridiculous stuff gets
funded with very little oversight. The goal is to spend the money and no one really cares if
any actual product is created. In fact, success means the demise of your program so the
incentive is to drag it out for as long as funding is available. I had programs managed under
DTRA funding that because I got new program managers as often as every 3 months had no clue
or even any expertise in the matter and had zero idea of what we were doing. I got tired of
doing a new dog and pony show each time I was assigned a new manager who usually was some
very young recent PhD graduate with no experience at all. Often they were nebutistic
appointments and daddy was a Congressman or Under Secretary.
The intelligence based decisions are as usual idiotic as is most intelligence coming out
of the CIA and its affiliates. You get better intelligence reading PUBMED than you get out of
any intelligence agencies. The microbiologists who work at the CIA and its contract companies
were all military microbiologists who because they were essentially incompetent drifted over
to the CIA. Then you have some IMHO ridiculous events. I recall when Ken Alibekov "defected"
he spoonfed a bunch of made up BS which the CIA bought lock stock and barrel. I had working
for me at the same time several former Soviet microbiologists (one of who was a senior
researcher at Biopreparat) who were in fact the real deal and all told me he was a bullshit
artist. One thing he peddled was a chimeric smallpox-Ebola and another a Ebola-anthrax. So
the CIA immediately funded an effort to create chimeric viruses. To my knowledge these were
unsuccessful however, the COVID-19 may be being caused by a chimeric virus. The only good
reason to make a chimeric virus is to develop a attenuated strain for use as a vaccine. But,
as often happens some attenuated mutants become more lethal as an unintended consequence.
Another event was trying to force photo data from Iraq to prove they had an offensive
bioweapons program. These guys had no clue what laboratory equipment was in actuality and had
offered up a cooking truck with pots and pans etc. as proof. They were and I assume still
are, idiots.
DoD programs are actually transparent and managed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Less transparent are the foreign stuff being funded under the Nunn-Lugar Act which includes
the debacle of the "white elephant" lab and its satellite labs in the Republic of Georgia. No
one will ever look into any of this but likely will end up blaming Russia or China.
They tend to underestimate their adversaries. China has an offensive program and if they
get convinced they were attacked then I believe something nasty will be coming soon to the
US. But, China is not stupid and won't release a biothreat agent they have no preventative or
treatment for. I also had several Chinese scientists working for me and I respect them
immensely.
That should be PROMED for current infectious disease reporting around the world. It is
exceptionally good and not funded or controlled by governments. PUBMED is for online
publications which is also good but controlled by the government. I am fully aware of
censorship of research papers by the US. I recall I wrote a letter to the editor of Science
back in 1999 when the government decided to stockpile billions of doses of ciprofloxacin. I
did a quick BLAST search and found that only a single base pair mutation in anthrax made it
completely resistant to cipro. That letter was published and after 9/11 never seen again.
There are other example such as the Canadian paper maybe also in 1999 showing that anthrax
delivered in envelopes was not very effective. That one disappeared as well and the same as
the Canadian paper where they were aerosolizing B. cereus spores out the back of a moving
truck and using aerial infrared cameras demonstrated that these streams of aerosolized spores
agglomerated into cloudlets which moved along in the wind and would usually avoid detector
arrays which sampled airflow for aerosol particles. That is still the current state of the
art for battlefield detection and that paper showed it to be ineffective at best. I can think
of dozens of papers that were removed. After 9/11 any research paper that could be used by a
foreign actor to develop better biothreat agents was rejected for publication outright.
Almost none of my work was published after that except in classified reports which I believe
were never read by anyone. I recall part of the madness in setting up NBACC was to generate
very lengthy "white papers" that scrubbed through all published articles to assemble the
complete picture for the then 10 threat agents. I wrote or edited two of those and they were
immediately buried in some deep classified archive to the researchers who might benefit from
this work could never actually use it. A complete waste of months and a ton of money. If you
are perceiving that the US government biothreat programs are a complete shambles then you are
not wrong.
I'll go into that a bit more as well. It used to be in the military programs we were
"command directed". This means the military made a decision to make a vaccine against a
perceived threat agent. They would assemble a research group assign them the mission and give
5 years funding to be continued if milestones (reasonable given the pittance of funding
given). If you made progress then you got another 5 years of funding. That funding agency
located at MRMC Fort Detrick was a Research area managed usually by a Major and a Captain,
both microbiologists and experienced. Two people. There were 5 research area Directorates so
a total of 10 program managers and a couple administrative colonels. This managed the entire
DoD biothreat research programs and did it well. However, someone decided we needed an Agency
to manage this stuff and DTRA which was funded by the Nunn-Lugar Act was already involved in
the disassembly of Soviet nuclear capabilities so they wanted a bigger piece of the pie so
absorbed the Research Directorates. The BDRP program at DTRA (basically identical as before)
was now managed by over 400 contractors. The money came out of the research money we were
supposed to be allocated.
After DTRA took over the funding was no longer Command Directed and we were all required
to go out and fu-ind whatever funding we could hence why we made "deals" with DHS and the
CIA. We went to an annual funding cycle instead of 5 years and never ending Gantt charts and
reports. This was the age of 6 Sigma and the end of Management by Objective. We were also
charged rent and had to pay for every service at our Institute including the security and
even the library. Even our higher command MRMC stole 6% off the top to pay for pet projects
unfunded by anyone with a brain. So, this became the age of entrepreneurial research and the
end of productive research. Our commander, as an example, had no idea what we were doing at
all and was shocked at all the "cool" stuff we were doing. This is the new breed of commander
who manages by committee and never goes out walking the floors to visit labs. What the old
school commanders call management by walking around and poking your nose into everything. But
now these guys sit in their office and are fed whatever the REMFs decide they should hear.
This is management in the US government as a whole and there are so many hidden agendas and
internal conflicts between programs it is difficult to describe just how awful it is to try
and do research in that environment. A lot of the worst of those commanders or research
Division Directors went on to be current heads of HHS, CDC, and their undersecretaries, etc.
which explains why those agencies are so screwed up and why there is such a horrible response
to this virus.
Thanks for scaring the pants off us .lol, on a serious note, does that not leave open the
possibility the US, like Brit TB infected blankets, sent infected people to the Wuhan
Military Games who then infected others, or vaccinated against say a coronvirus, and it
mutated, infecting others that way.
How many secondary epicenters seperated geographically by more than one thousand kilometers
at this point? Cross reference with confirmed and/or suspected research laboratory sites.
How about timeframes correlating to said locations? Progression of events? All relevant
aspects of the entirety of the situation at each location? Along correct comparative analysis
guidelines (for a correct analytical investigation)? Personnel? Locations? Financing? Cover?
Interactivity nodes in comm structures of relevant networks in this particular field of
'research'?
Maybe we should just go ahead and put our cop hats on now.
OldMicrobiologist: Thank you for your fascinating personal testimony. I t appears that you
have presented much valid circumstantial evidence for your hunches about this probable
bioweapon. After awhile coincidence just isn't a good enough
explanation either especially if they start to pile up.
With the Fort Detrick lab having been shut down due to some failure, this suggests some kind
of "leak", accidental or otherwise.
Imagine the military or CIA had to game-play the situation.
If the pandemic was first recognized in the US, most of the economic damage would be to
the US economy.
Taking the virus to your enemy would even the scores with losses to all but maintaining
the relative status-quo. The media would then recognize the "source" as being in
China/Iran/Italy. This requires suppression of testing and information in the US media.
Could we be seeing the reaction to an accidental release from the US?
'Next, there were A LOT of comments yesterday about the virus being engineered. They were
often delivered with a great deal of gravitas, but with exactly ZERO evidence'
With due respect, sir Saker, if China release the evidence or somehow we, the
international The PPL, were allow to see the evidence, then we would immediately also have a
war, dont we??? We would skip all the money market tanking/stealing events
Anyway, it seem, as of today/yesterday, China has unofficially call covid-19 a new name
– 'Disease X'
Basically china is saying its not a just flu-virus. So what is it? Thats china's open
question to the world of agency looking at this 'Disease X'.
I personally read it as a very specific 'magic language'.
Either way, quite likely we may get 'the evidence', and soon. Some clues to the 'evidence'
has been shown by china's state media and it seem, by my unfounded imagination, china is
ready to point out who is the patient 0.
But you understand as well, we all need the 'enemy' punished for the worldwide crisis.
Hope you are feeling better.
Do take extra care, you and your family :)
It seems that the Chinese are officially treating this as a biological terror attack
considering the Chinese choice of name: "Disease X" corresponding to Clade-X pandemic terror
exercise and the Chinese Foreign Minister tweeting that possibly the US army might have been
behind the attack.
If the virus was not being weaponized, what was going on with the efforts around it.
We have no vaccines. We barely have tests for it. We have no medications to treat it.
But governments have been "researching" making variants of it.
Makes you wonder. Makes you think.
Sort of like controlled demolition of skyscrapers as the logical conclusion for how "they
fell" into their footprint.
Larchmonter i just found these @ presstv
""Since there is speculation that this incident might be a 'biological attack', this measure
could be also some form of biological defense drill, which would add to national power and
strength [of the country]," the leader said."(Khamenei)
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/12/620729/Iran-Leader-order-headquarters-coronavirus
I do not have any knowledge other than you guys so i will not speculate about biological
warfare just yet.
I have made a few thoughts about it but i dont know what to believe yet.
'US Army Behind Covid-19 In Wuhan': China's Foreign Ministry Levels Bombastic Charge
by Tyler Durden Thu,
03/12/2020 - 11:55 A truly bombshell and unprecedented accusation, underscoring that if Sino-US
relations amid the broader crisis weren't already bad enough, they're about to crash much, much
lower: China's Foreign Ministry spokesman tweets "it might be the US Army who brought the
epidemic to Wuhan" -- the widely acknowledged epicenter and origin point of the Covid-19
pandemic.
Such shock allegations have recently been swirling in foreign media, especially in Chinese,
Iranian and Russian press; however, this is the first time such a high Beijing has leveled the
charge -- this after President Trump controversially referred to it as a "foreign virus".
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remarks on his official Twitter account
Thursday, citing prior televised testimony by CDC Director Robert Redfield to the House
Oversight Committee:
2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are
infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic
to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3
After for months the globe wrangled over "patient zero" and origin points in China,
including scrutiny focused on the Chinese state-owned virology lab in Wuhan, which itself
happened to be in the ground zero hot zone, it appears Beijing is now aggressively deflecting
"blame" for the spread.
"Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!" [sic] Lijian demanded.
When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the
hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent!
So it appears the official Chinese party line is now that the virus originated in the United
States!
The charge appears rooted in the part of Redfield's testimony where he said early Covid-19
cases were mistaken for regular influenza.
1/2 CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza
were tested positive for novel #coronavirus
in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. #COVID19
pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3
Formerly as deputy chief of mission at China's embassy in Pakistan, Lijian actaully has a
history of combative and bombastic statements on Twitter that many in the West have actually
compared to Donald Trump's social media style of unfiltered accusations.
It'll be interesting to see if other top officials in Beijing and in the Communist Party
double down on this tweets and affirm these "suspicions" and outlandish accusations leveled at
Washington.
But first, "bombastic" = "speech or writing that is pompous and inflated and
suggests extravagant verbal padding and little substance". The author, Tyler Durden
(either consciously or unconsciously), thinks the tweet by the PRC official is just
that, that's why it's in the title of his piece.
The PRC spokesman was in a war of words with a US official who had accused China of
being slow and opaque in its response to Covid-19, hence the stream of angry
tweets.
Why do you think the nukes were placed in Incirlik during Cold War 1 in the first
place? Well, in the good old days it was called "dispersal of forces"; nowadays it's
more fashionable to call it "distributed firepower." The idea was to make the USSR look
anxiously to both west and south, quite difficult. Now RF only has to look west; all
things being equal, a wee bit easier. The distances from both countries, Turkey
(Incirlik) and Poland, to RF territory are about the same, so no significant difference
as far as early warning is concerned.
Apparently you do not understand context
Even Taiwan and Japanese TV reports are accusing the US. The virus outbreak occurred
in the east, west, north and south of Wuhan at the same time.
The common ancestor of the different strains mutated somewhere between mid November
and mid December according to virologists. No patient 0 found.. It is all about
context Stand Easy.
Poland is closer to Moscow and Poland is in Europe that is the big difference
you forget.
Moving nukes to Poland.. I thought was all about Iran like the missile shield..
Silly me.
"... Hall also mentions, elsewhere in his piece the past anthrax attacks, which were falsely blamed on Al Qaeda and/or Iraq. He does not mention, however, that this very same Dany Shoham had written papers at the time arguing that the anthrax attacks originated in Iraq: ..."
"... the fact that the same individual, Dany Shoham, agent of the state of Israel, proved to be guilty of misdirection with the 2001 anthrax attacks, suggests that his finger-pointing at China's Wuhan lab is yet another instance of misdirection. ..."
What is the past or current relationship of Dr. Shoham to the Ness Ziona Institute for
Biological Research? Did Dr. Shoham have professional interactions with Dr. Plummer
following the reported cultivation and genetic sequencing by the Winnipeg scientist of the
Saudi-derived strain of SARS. This strain came to be known as MERS. Was Dr. Plummers's
involvement in a strain of Coronavirus that initially targeted Arabs a factor in attracting
Dr. Shoham's interest to Winnipeg's NML.
To Professor Raina MacIntyre the epidemiology of MERS strongly suggested bioterrorism.
Australian Infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Raina MacIntyre from The School
of Public Health And Community Medicine at UNSW, analysed the epidemiologic features of
MERS-Cov compared to SARS and shows that it is very different to SARS in a new study,
published today in Environment Systems and Decisions ( http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10669-014-9506-5/fulltext.html
). Many of the features are paradoxical and cannot be explained by known principles of
epidemiology.
Very nice survey of the competing theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus(es).
Professor Hall mentions Israeli Intelligence Dany Shoham drawing attention to the possibility
that the virus escaped the Wuhan lab. Hall also mentions, elsewhere in his piece the past
anthrax attacks, which were falsely blamed on Al Qaeda and/or Iraq. He does not mention,
however, that this very same Dany Shoham had written papers at the time arguing that the
anthrax attacks originated in Iraq:
I'm not taking credit for this important observation: I read it somewhere else this past
week. But the fact that the same individual, Dany Shoham, agent of the state of Israel,
proved to be guilty of misdirection with the 2001 anthrax attacks, suggests that his
finger-pointing at China's Wuhan lab is yet another instance of misdirection.
I saw the following excerpt from a past Rockefeller Foundation publication covered recently
on the YouTube channel of Helen Buyniski -- "Helen of Destroy" (YouTube) &
@velocirapture23 (Twitter). She writes for RT and is based in NYC. Anyway, the publication
gives an eerily prescient "scenario" and accurate prediction of how China would handle
something like today's coronavirus. Seems inevitable that "even more authoritarian control
and oversight of citizens and their activities" will be the outcome of chronic pandemic
outbreaks. And whether the coronavirus is a bioweapon or not, you can sleep soundly knowing
that the Rockefeller Foundation and its cohorts have long-anticipated it and are fully
prepared for it.
Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development
May 2010
Produced by the The Rockefeller Foundation and Global Business Network
"In 2012, the pandemic that the world had been anticipating for years finally hit.
Unlike 2009's H1N1, this new influenza strain -- originating from wild geese -- was
extremely virulent and deadly. Even the most pandemic-prepared nations were quickly
overwhelmed when the virus streaked around the world, infecting nearly 20 percent of the
global population and killing 8 million in just seven months, the majority of them healthy
young adults. The pandemic also had a deadly effect on economies: international mobility of
both people and goods screeched to a halt, debilitating industries like tourism and
breaking global supply chains. Even locally, normally bustling shops and office buildings
sat empty for months, devoid of both employees and customers.
The pandemic blanketed the planet -- though disproportionate numbers died in Africa,
Southeast Asia, and Central America, where the virus spread like wildfire in the absence of
official containment protocols. But even in developed countries, containment was a
challenge. The United States's initial policy of "strongly discouraging" citizens from
flying proved deadly in its leniency, accelerating the spread of the virus not just within
the U.S. but across borders. However, a few countries did fare better -- China in
particular. The Chinese government's quick imposition and enforcement of mandatory
quarantine for all citizens, as well as its instant and near-hermetic sealing off of all
borders, saved millions of lives, stopping the spread of the virus far earlier than in
other countries and enabling a swifter post-pandemic recovery.
China's government was not the only one that took extreme measures to protect its
citizens from risk and exposure. During the pandemic, national leaders around the world
flexed their authority and imposed airtight rules and restrictions, from the mandatory
wearing of face masks to body-temperature checks at the entries to communal spaces like
train stations and supermarkets. Even after the pandemic faded, this more authoritarian
control and oversight of citizens and their activities stuck and even intensified. In order
to protect themselves from the spread of increasingly global problems -- from pandemics and
transnational terrorism to environmental crises and rising poverty -- leaders around the
world took a firmer grip on power."
I found a PDF of the publication on the internet today.
@secondElijah China will most likely NOT retaliate. It is not their way of doing things.
Let me explain.
My wife is Chinese. She has many relatives back there. They are all very intelligent and
very hard working, and very successful. They all agree: China will not retaliate.
Instead, China will learn another terrible lesson about the West. The US has launched
previous bioweapon attacks against China and Korea, and China did not 'retaliate'. Japan used
the Chinese in horrific experiments via infamous Dr Ishii and his utterly evil "Unit 731",
and the Chinese did not 'retaliate'. It is really not in their nature to respond that way. It
is the Western way to retaliate, even where the evidence is non-existent and sometimes,
utterly manufactured (9/11 and Afghanistan/Iraq.)
What the Chinese are doing is exactly what they should be doing: quickly learning and
growing stronger from this tragedy.
They are learning how to respond to a real potential pandemic, and they are winning.
They are learning how to best work with their peoples in such a severe and tragic
circumstance, and they are winning.
They are learning that the best way forward is to not point fingers and accuse, but to
simply work towards defeating the problem as quickly as possible, and showing the world
through their example that their system is effective and responsive. And they are
winning.
The MSM of the West will do its utmost to blacken the reputation of the Chinese in every
way imaginable, no matter how the Chinese respond. But the Chinese will simply move forward
towards achieving their goals of protecting their peoples and defeating the virus as soon as
possible. And they will win.
The Chinese are proving very adaptive, resourceful and resilient to the West's various
methods of doing hybrid warfare. They are proving to be an admirable example of Nietzsche's
famous maxim: "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger."
And so I must wonder what provocations the evil geniuses of the West will do next, knowing
that the response of the Chinese will be intelligent, organized, efficient and effective.
COVID-19 has a long incubation period and it is easy to spread. Additionally, patients
have been cured (stopped showing symptoms), released from medical care, and then had a
relapse. Trying to use quarantined to stop the spread is unlikely to be effective.
A national actor wanting to target China would would select a weapon that could be
contained in China thus protecting their own citizens. Intentionally choosing this virus
makes no sense. Almost any other choice would be better.
Why would any nation deliberately release COVID-19 when it is near 100% certain to escape
globally?
_____
Could this be a non-state attack?
There are certainly death cults and terrorist groups that would be willing to try a
bioweapon attack. And, as the target is everyone, terrorists would intentionally choose
COVID-19.
Releasing a virus in China while U.S. soldiers are present could trigger a nuclear war
between the U.S. and China. The hysteria from a global pandemic would serve their ends, and
starting a nuclear war would be a bonus.
"And so I must wonder what provocations the evil geniuses of the West will do next,
knowing that the response of the Chinese will be intelligent, organized, efficient and
effective."
Great comment. What the evil geniuses will do next will include calling Chinese cowards in
order to provoke a response. See the anon that responds to your comment:
"No, Chinese are cowards who pick and choose when to retaliate. If it was a small Asian
neighbor that harmed China in any way, they would launch a harsh campaign against that
country. But Chinese have an inferiority complex towards Westerners, so they will just take
it all in stride. And thats why Western powers become emboldened to do more and more, rinse
and repeat. China is the largest cuck nation on Earth."
Elites in US and China are so intertwined that the nature of the dirty tricks, if dirty
tricks have been taking place, might be far more complex that a simple nation vs nation
conflict with one aggressor only.
The dominant elite in the US is an economic one (Wall St) and while Western
hypercapitalism is dependent on the continuation of China's commercial success, there is only
one elite in China and that is the Communist Party of China. The decisions taken by Xi are
taken in his capacity as the Chairman of the CPU rather than President of China,
China has been quite careful not to alarm the American Deep State, which consists of old
men still worried about Russia, and in thrall to the Israel lobby. The idea of people in
Langley and the Pentagon getting together to mount a bioweapon attack on China is
laughable.
I'll take the liberty of republishing a few of my own recent comments on the possible
bioweapon aspect of the Coronavirus story:
As of right now, I haven't seen any solid evidence that the coronavirus is a bioweapon.
But let's assume that it is.
It was released at the absolute worst time for China, just before Lunar New Year, when
it could have easily spread throughout the country. Let's say it was released during the
worst ten-day window of a given year. The likelihood of this happening randomly (e.g. due
to an accidental bioweapon release) is less than 3%, meaning that there's a 97% the release
was non-accidental.
Consider also that the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, just after 300 American military
personnel had visited that city. That surely further depresses the odds of a random
bioweapon release.
So I'd say that if the coronavirus was a bioweapon, the likelihood of a non-random
release is something like 99%, which I find pretty persuasive amid all the complex and
conflicting claims and arguments.
Consider a particularly ironic outcome of this situation, not particularly likely but
certainly possible
Everyone knows that America's ruling elites are criminal, crazy, and also extremely
incompetent.
So perhaps the coronavirus outbreak was indeed a deliberate biowarfare attack against
China, hitting that nation just before Lunar New Year, the worst possible time to produce a
permanent nationwide pandemic. However, the PRC responded with remarkable speed and
efficiency, implementing by far the largest quarantine in human history, and the deadly
disease now seems to be in decline there.
Meanwhile, the disease naturally leaks back into the US, and despite all the advance
warning, our totally incompetent government mismanages the situation, producing a huge
national health disaster, and the collapse of our economy and decrepit political
system.
As I said, not particularly likely, but certainly a very fitting end to the American
Empire
And I'm still very suspicious about the circumstances of the outbreak. It hit China just
before Lunar New Year, the absolutely worst possible time, and the epicenter was Wuhan, a
key transport hub. It really seems an *astonishing* coincidence that 300 American military
servicemen had been visiting Wuhan just prior to the outbreak, at a peak of international
tension.
How would Americans react if 300 PRC officers had visited Chicago, and immediately
afterwards, a deadly new plague broke out in that city, with a major risk of spreading
throughout the country?
Isn't it also rather suspicious that Iran has been hit so hard? So the two countries in
the world most subject to current American hostility just tend to be especially
"unlucky"
Well, supposedly something like 25,000 Chinese live and work in Italy, so a secondary
outbreak there is hardly so surprising.
On the other hand, I'm not sure how many Chinese are Shia Muslim pilgrims to Qom,
Iran.
By contrast, if someone wanted to deliberately spread a bioweapon within the pro-Iran
Shia Muslim community, as a leading pilgrimage Qom would be an ideal release target
location.
None of this proves anything, but it seems *highly* suspicious
But the attack via biochem began earily, in Korea about 1950, in the active phase of
bombing by the "UN" and spread into China. The work followed the Japanese designs, but with
lots more resources.
see>"REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE
FACTS CONCERNING BACTERIAL WARFARE IN KOREA AND CHINA"
Use the title for a searchterm. Long paper in pdf.
"... North Korea's negotiating position has not really changed with the announcement. They have repeatedly said for years they are willing to agree to denuclearization of the Peninsula in return for security guarantees. I find the media trumpeting this as a new development rather vexing. Anyways, China has been putting the screws on them since about September/October (Apparently, they told Kim Jongun they know they can't overthrow the DPRK government, but they can get rid of him personally), which is also why there have not been any new nuclear tests. ..."
"... I think Yves has got it right: USA threatens PRC with tariffs, so PRC pressures NK to make concessions to the USA. i.e. Two big guys screwing the little guy. ..."
"... In the USA, imperialist machtpolitik is a thoroughly bipartisan affair. It doesn't matter how faithfully NK or PRC might fulfill obligations. Trump's successors, whoever they may be, will simply apply more pressure and demand more concessions. They won't stop until somebody else stops them. ..."
I believe Trump could negotiate a deal. But I also believe he could blow up the whole talk
before it even happens. He has shown that he'll bend quickly to neocon pressure, with
increased interest in foreign war (Bolton hiring) and the ramping up of hostilities by
bouncing Russians from the U.S. over the phony poisoning story in the UK.
I don't disagree with your comment, but not comfortable with the term "bend to". Trump
gets enamored with different people at different times, but he always is looking
down at them. They may get enough rope to scare the rest of us, but they are still on a
rope.
Bolton is horrible, but a lot of other horrible people have come and gone in this really
quick year.
Bolton is horrible but probably won't last long. Nobody at Trump's ear has, including his
own children.
Trump just announced that we're withdrawing from Syria. That's more than Obama ever
did.
Part of being a nationalist demagogue is that you're not as interested in foreign wars
unless they enrich the country. Not a single one of our wars does that. There's nothing
interesting in mercantilism, for instance, that we can't do at home (drill baby drill).
I'm not saying I agree with that view, I'm just saying that if he's a nationalist
demagogue, it only follows that he's not interested in, uh, "non-for-profit warmaking".
I am NO Trump fan or voter, but it does appear that he's the first one to apply sanctions
to those specific Chinese banks handling the trade with North Korea.
(Somewhat) OT, but it strikes me that the best way to look at Trump is through the lense
of what he is – the US version of Sylvio Berlusconi. A sleazy billionaire Oligarch with
no core principles and a fondness for Bunga Bunga parties.
Rather than as LITERALLY HITLER as per the verbiage of hashtag the resistance.
Thus, rather than as a crazed madman bent on "evil" at all times one wonders whether Mr.
Bunga Bunga would do a deal with Lil' Kim. Sure he would, assuming that the ruling military
Junta allows him to. It might be in the interest of the latter to de-escalate this particular
hotspot (as NK crisis/hype fatigue may set in) and simply push Iran as the next flashpoint to
hype.
Indeed! They even sound quite similar -- I recall in a speech that Berlusconi gave when he
was still the Italian president and the Italian left was screaming for his resignation,
Sylvio claimed such demands were making him uneasy, since if he was to go home, and he had 20
homes, it would be difficult for him to decide which house or mansion to go to!
It seems the bottom line for negotiations with North Korea have little to do with this
article which covers Trump's thoughts on nuclear proliferation between major powers that have
massive stockpiles.
North Korea is mainly interested in protecting itself from regime change and from becoming
a US outpost (as in target) butt up against China. It is hard to believe that Kim Jong-Un
would get any advantage whatsoever out of dismantling his nuclear arsenal, however small. One
assumes he is aware of Gaddafi in particular and US's track record on keeping it's promises
– particularly over the span of different administrations – in general.
The above comment assumes full disarmament as the minimum condition of any "negotiation"
since Trump has gone so far out of his way to make that clear.
Oh, and now see the lead story at the Financial Times, China uses economic muscle to bring
N Korea to negotiating table:
China virtually halted exports of petroleum products, coal and other key materials to
North Korea in the months leading to this week's unprecedented summit between Kim Jong Un,
the North Korean leader, and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The export freeze -- revealed in official Chinese data and going much further than the
limits stipulated under UN sanctions -- shows the extent of Chinese pressure following the
ramping up of Pyongyang's nuclear testing programme. It also suggests that behind Mr Xi's
talk this week of a "profound revolutionary friendship" between the two nations, his
government has been playing hard ball with its neighbour.
I would normally agree but Kim Jong-Un was just summoned to China. Not even given a state
visit. The Chinese announced North Korea would denuclearlize:
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearization and to meet
U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who
promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbour.
China has heretofore pretended that it couldn't do anything about North Korea. It looks
like Trump's tariff threat extracted China jerking Kim Jong-Un's chain as a concession. I
don't see how Kim Jong-Un can defy China if China is serious about wanting North Korea to
denuclearlize. Maybe it will merely reduce its arsenal and stop threatening Hawaii (even
though its ability to deliver rockets that far is in doubt) and just stick to being able to
light up Seoul instead.
Agree. I wasn't aware of the details you mention above regarding the export freeze. (I
won't use Google and my normal 'trick' doesn't work to get around FT's paywall – and I
won't use the trial membership either). I'm hopeless.
Anyway, you make a very convincing case. I can only imagine that Kim Jong Un is one
miserable scared rat. My point about a "silk noose" below was perhaps on the mark.
Kim might agree on paper or through an insincere promise to denuclearize, but I don't see
a closed authoritarian regime like the North agreeing to an inspection regime that would
insure that such a pledge would be lived up to. Reduction, but build-up on the sly w/o
inspections.
China may be interested in a deal to the extent that it prevents a bloody war breaking out
that they'll probably expend manpower to help clean up and it insures the security of a North
Korean buffer that keeps American troops off their border; After all, they've got to keep the
powder dry for "reunification" with Taiwan.
I also don't believe that the US would agree to concessions, such as removing American
troops from the peninsula. the pentagon wouldn't like it, the hawks around Trumps wouldn't
like it, and I believe the SK leadership would not be too crazy about the potential
ramifications for their security with such an agreement.
But, can Trump (by extension, the US), make an agreement that can be relied on over its
term?
For any hope of NK trusting any deal with the US he would have to stand by the Iranian
deal. Then there's Bolton and the Neocon Will To War, for deeply pathological reasons which
by nature cannot be debated.
In this case, the mere possibility of a "deal" is possible, but only if there is a third
party to hold both of them to it.
That's the crazy thing about this. What possible inducement could Kim Jong-Un have gotten
to attend his own funeral? Why would anyone trust the US an inch?
I suppose if he can keep his own people in a suspended state of extreme propaganda, then
he might be vulnerable to his own medicine, but that seems at odds with his behavior so far
(such as the assassination of his uncle). If anything, he would be especially leery of
anything coming out of the US.
And then can he really be that psyched out by Bolton, Pompeo and Torture Lady so
that good cop Trump can hand him is own death certificate with a space for his signature?
Whatever happened during this China trip, the overarching theme must have been how to
manage the US. Here's one rough scenario:
NK 'disarms' to some definition, under the auspices of China, acquiring in return an
explicit Chinese security umbrella for the buffer it presents between them and SK. Nobody
really wants a unified Korea in any case. In return, the US vacates SK militarily, ever so
discretely and over time.
Done correctly, and with the finesse necessary for Trump, China is in a position to
extract all sorts of concessions from the US on other fronts as well. Nothing positive is
going to happen here without China, and they hold most of the cards. If nothing positive
happens, we have to consider the pressure that'd build on Trump to do something, anything,
and that probably being something rash. (Better a big disaster over there than a mammoth one
over here thinking).
"he can't go willy nilly and set nukes a-flying just because it struck him as a good idea
that day."
I mean sure. His "button" isn't literally connected to a missile somewhere, but he sure as
hell can ask that nukes be fired whenever and wherever he wants. You could argue that someone
in the chain of command would prevent that from happening, but that's more of a hope than a
guarantee. For a really good read on how this all works and the history of the nuclear
program I highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illusion/dp/0143125788
With Bolton on board and seemingly everyone with half a brain, a little logic and the
ability to hold their tongue for more than about 5 seconds out, I highly doubt anything will
come of these negotiations. In fact, I'm more worried that the US will get steamrolled by
China and NK.
That isn't true. See the link I provided, which you clearly did not bother to read.
Various people can refuse his order as illegal. Former Secretary of State Jim Baker, in a
Financial Times, before Trump was elected, said the same thing. Bolton is the National
Security Adviser. He may have a lot of informal power by having direct access to the
President, but he does not tie in to the formal chain of command, either at the DoD or
State.
Oh I read it and I've read many other articles and a lot of non-fiction on the issue.
Again, I would call your position and the position of this article hopeful at best. Trump has
the football, he has the codes in his jacket pocket and everyone responsible for carrying out
the order to launch has been raised up through a military system that ensures no one
questions an order from their superior. Relying on various people to refuse his order as
illegal in this system is not a fail-safe I feel comfortable with. I do find it interesting
that you just assume I didn't read the article as if this one article is the end all be all
on the subject.
The article seems a bit confused about what it's trying to say. Stopping nuclear
proliferation has been a major policy priority of the US and other western governments since
the 1960s, and if I recall correctly it was one of Bolton's priorities when he was in Bush
the Lesser's administration. It's something in which all of the declared nuclear powers have
an interest, because the smaller the number of nuclear powers in the world, the greater the
difference between them and the rest. This is much more important than wild fantasies about
rogue attacks: if N Korea becomes a de facto nuclear power like India, Israel and Pakistan,
then all sorts of other countries might be tempted to have a go, starting with S Korea (which
has the capacity and has been caught cheating before). Whilst this risk is objectively small,
an end to the NK programme would make it even smaller. I suspect the deal will be that NK
denuclearizes and China guarantees its security: a non-nuclear NK will be even more of a
client state than it is now.
Nuclear competition among the superpowers is quite different and involves a whole set of
different issues.
Less warfare = more wall
But remember the last time Trump said something in Syria's favor? A chemical attack happened
in small village for no logical reason and the hawks immediately took to framing Assad. Trump
then backed off and took harder line on Assad, launching missiles into Syria.
So I'm inclined to think he wants a deal. But look out for screaming hawks immediately
trying to scuttle anything.
Perhaps 30 years ago, Trump was an international defense luminary, but I see little
evidence of the boasted emotional control and cool Trump claimed. He is unarguably a
successful grifter. Is that what it takes to make peace? What happens when the other guy
realizes he has been lied to by a congenital liar? Back to square 1.
In my take, the recent meeting between the heads of China and N Korea just Trumped any
leverage the US might have had in peace talks. Trump will be there only if a scapegoat is
needed. Both S. Korea and Japan have expressed doubts about our reliability as a defense
shield against powerful China – Japan and the Koreans' neighbor. What Little Rocketman
has likely achieved is diplomatically checkmating the US. Now Trump's tariff threats serve
only to push US allies in the region closer to China. Should that turn out to be the case,
the economic repercussions are as dangerous and unpredictable as nukes in the air or as Trump
himself. I sure hope I got this all wrong.
"no enduring principles" is a feature of politicians everywhere today. Their concern is to
represent the rich and their qualification is to present those biased arguments in a way that
beguiles the electorate into supposing its a good idea for them as well. Step Two is the "who
would have thought it?" response after the country catches on.
In former times the candidate for public office would assert his principles on the
hustings and the voters would remember what they knew of him before voting. Sure, there were
ambitious unreliable people who were willing to exchange their reputations for office but
they were few. We should get back to those days.
We allowed our merchants and spooks to drive USSR to the precipice without any thoughts
about the nukes they had. It appeared then that warheads supposedly in Ukraine were missing.
We will likely discover what happened to them in due course. It is possible that surveillance
of communications is the main reason they are not a thread for the time being but that does
not mean they have dropped out of existence.
Thank you NC for introducing an issue that should concern economists as much as everyone
else.
North Korea's negotiating position has not really changed with the announcement. They have
repeatedly said for years they are willing to agree to denuclearization of the Peninsula in
return for security guarantees. I find the media trumpeting this as a new development rather
vexing. Anyways, China has been putting the screws on them since about September/October
(Apparently, they told Kim Jongun they know they can't overthrow the DPRK government, but
they can get rid of him personally), which is also why there have not been any new nuclear
tests.
Don't forget the United States has itself promised to denuclearize, under the NPT.
It would certainly bring me great pleasure if Trump of all people were to bring about some
great positive change in regards to the Forever War with North Korea. Imagine all the whining
liberals if Trump, unlike Obama, actually did something worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
I think Yves has got it right: USA threatens PRC with tariffs, so PRC pressures NK to make
concessions to the USA. i.e. Two big guys screwing the little guy.
PRC and NK leaders might think that all they have to do is get through a short patch of
bad weather until 2020. If so, they are badly kidding themselves.
In the USA, imperialist machtpolitik is a thoroughly bipartisan affair. It doesn't
matter how faithfully NK or PRC might fulfill obligations. Trump's successors, whoever they
may be, will simply apply more pressure and demand more concessions. They won't stop until
somebody else stops them.
The Last but not LeastTechnology is dominated by
two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt.
Ph.D
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An international team of scientists say the coronavirus may have jumped from animal to humans long before the first detection in China. Photo: AP The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 might have been quietly spreading among humans for years or even decades before the sudden outbreak that sparked a global health crisis, according to an investigation by some of the world's top virus hunters. Researchers from the United States , Britain and Australia looked at piles of data released by scientists around the world for clues about the virus' evolutionary past, and found it might have made the jump from animal to humans long before the first detection in the central China city of Wuhan.
Andrew Burchett
Marcello Mirantes
Rodrigo R
Renee Nal
martha
MAYRA
Annette
Edward
Richard
An international team of scientists say the coronavirus may have jumped from animal to humans
long before the first detection in China. Photo: AP The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 might
have been quietly spreading among humans for years or even decades before the sudden outbreak
that sparked a global health crisis, according to an investigation by some of the world's top
virus hunters. Researchers from the
United States , Britain and Australia looked at piles of data released by scientists around
the world for clues about the virus' evolutionary past, and found it might have made the jump
from animal to humans long before the first detection in the central China city of Wuhan.
