DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
The American Duce: The "gangster face" of the Duopoly, but Democrats actually pursue nearly identical policies. (Image by DonkeyHotey)
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o avoid self-examination of the failures that let that U.S. exceed Covid-19 casualty numbers of every other nation the powers that be decided to blame someone else.
Trump first attempt was to blame the World Health Organization for not providing all information. But 16 U.S. administration officials were embedded with the WHO in Geneva. They relayed real time updates of all information the WHO received.
As the Democrats and the media did not join him Trump in blaming the WHO another scapegoat was needed. Everyone then agreed that it China would be the most convenient target.
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.
As this is an election year both parties try to associate the other side with the new villain:
“Donald Trump sent critical medical supplies to China as Americans continue to suffer. He needs to follow his supposed motto of America First,” American Bridge President Bradley Beychok said in a statement. “We’re making sure that voters across Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin know full well not only how badly Trump botched this crisis, but also how badly he bent the knee to China in the midst of it as well.”
...
“We are more than happy to let the American public decide whom they trust, President Trump or Beijing Joe Biden, to get tough on China,” said Brian O. Walsh, president of America First, in response to the new ad campaign by American Bridge. American Bridge said the ad is the first of its new offensive campaign targeting Trump, his company, business associates and adult children over their ties to China and other foreign investments.The group said it plans on rolling out microtargeted digital ads on that theme as part of “an all-out assault on Trump and his family over their corruption — in China and other countries — involving foreign bribes, political favors, shady real estate investments, and parties with dictators.”
This will be bad for other important political issues:
Rania Khalek @RaniaKhalek - 19:27 UTC · Apr 17, 2020
The anti China hawkishness is going to drown out progressive momentum for universal healthcare and cancelling student debt. Like Russiagate, this new yellow peril will lead to greater military spending and more war. Sad so many who should know better can’t see that.
Some lawmakers 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."
Another claim is that China somehow created the virus or let it escape from a laboratory in Wuhan where it was researching bat viruses.
But scientists see strong evidence that the novel coronavirus is a natural development and they do not believe that it leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan:
Edward Holmes, a biologist at the University of Sydney and a fellow of the respected Royal Society in London, said the Wuhan laboratory blamed by some for the pandemic does have specimens of the bat virus RaTG13, the closest relative of Covid-19 source SARS-CoV-2, but the two are not genetically linked.
RaTG13 strains, he says, are from the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, not the central city of Wuhan, the pandemic’s initial epicenter.
...
Genome tracing has revealed that the bat virus RaTG13 has at least 20 years of genetic divergence, or evolutionary change, from SARS-CoV-2, and possibly as much as 50 years, ruling it out as the source of the pandemic.
The claims against China made by both U.S. parties do not have a factual basis.
It is no wonder then that Chinese people are asking "What Do You Really Want From Us?"
Posted by b on April 18, 2020 at 17:43 UTC | Permalink
Joe Biden is sunk if the "Blame China" meme endures.
Hello Hunter B. and $1.5 billion deals with Chinese banks!!
Hunter Biden appears to still be on the board of a Chinese private equity firm he co-founded, despite his lawyer pledging late last year that the potential first son would resign, a report alleges.
Chinese business records, the Daily Caller reports, still list Robert Hunter Biden — the younger Biden’s full name — as a director and board member of BHR Partners.
George Mesires, a lawyer for Biden, said back in October that Biden would be relinquishing his director title “on or by October 31,” but the outlet reported that business records it obtained were submitted as recently as March 24.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/15/hunter-biden-still-listed-as-board-member-of-chinese-company-report/
In contrast Trump can point to trade wars he's initiated with China to prove how tough he's been with China.
Posted by: Julian | Apr 18 2020 17:56 utc | 2
Except, it almost certainly WAS lab-modified.
You are, OrangeMan and US spooks entirely aside, I promise you, wrong here.
It escaped, from the Wuhan lab, by accident, and was likely related to vaccine research, not as a 'weapon.'
COVID-19 Is A Man-Made Virus: HIV-Discoverer Says "Could Only Have Been Created In A Lab"
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-man-made-virus-hiv-discoverer-says-could-only-have-been-created-lab
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...
Posted by: james | Apr 18 2020 18:04 utc | 4
@Florin
"Except, it almost certainly WAS lab-modified."
And you "know" this, how?
Saying it's so doesn't make it so.
Posted by: erik | Apr 18 2020 18:06 utc | 5
The accusations it came from a Wuhan lab without proof are very much a reenactment of the lead up to war in Iraq.. i see zerohedge is keen to push this.. interesting... i wonder how they get their funding??
Posted by: james | Apr 18 2020 18:06 utc | 6
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.
Posted by: Trauma2000 | Apr 18 2020 18:09 utc | 7
I think you are right this time b. The anti-China nonsense is intended to distract people from the pre Covid 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".
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Apr 18 2020 18:15 utc | 8
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
Sorry, but you simply do NOT think evil enough.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Apr 18 2020 18:33 utc | 9
Chris 1
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.
It is no wonder then that Chinese people are asking "What Do You Really Want From Us?"
They want your complete destruction and eternal enslavement.
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.
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See more at my blog !!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 18 2020 18:41 utc | 12
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.
Posted by: the pair | Apr 18 2020 18:50 utc | 13
And the crazies go wild again.
Zerohedge brainwashed sinophobes, so called Amercian "Patriots" who should know better but dont want to look weak, psychotic nutjobs who speak of their "theorys" even though they are too ignorant or stupid to even read any scientific publication and study.
And deep state + big business from both "parties". All united in their nutjob pseudo "theories" and in shifting the blame on the "chinamen".
OMG.
And all here in the bar. It would be a comedy if it would not be our new reality.
And by virtue of transatlantic puppets even now in European MSM.
Again, thanks Bernhard for your principled stance, in spite of the ghosts of Alex Jones that haunt this bar.
Gives "Bat Shit Crazy" a whole new dimension.
Posted by: DontBelieveEitherPr. | Apr 18 2020 18:52 utc | 14
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"b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Regarding those US covid casualty numbers: How to fill out a Covid death certificate
https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-montana-physician-dr-annie-bukacek-discusses-how-covid-19-death-certificates-manipulated/5709062
Posted by: Chris | Apr 18 2020 17:50 utc | 1