Note by the Saker: I did post this excellent article by Mansoureh Tajik because it presented a view rarely seen in the West: a view from Iran and a view from a deeply religious person. Yes, that is somewhat of a departure from my rule about not discussing medical aspects of the pandemic, but in this case, it was worth it, at least in my opinion.
HOWEVER
I ask you to please not use this pretext, again, inundate the comment section with you favorite theory about the virus. Really! Surely you can react and discuss this article without the obligatory “here is my theory about the virus”.
Looks, if I cannot appeal to your common sense, then I will have to shut down the comments section under this article.
Your choice.
The Saker
Calculated Assumptions and Prevention of “Scientifically Shattered” Societies
by Mansoureh Tajik for The Saker Blog
Health is severely commodified and diseases are disgracefully exploited as means to social, political, and financial ends. Statements like, “Let us not play politics with people’s health” are made to dress up stealth politics and covert missions to play political games with people’s health and lives on behalf of some vested interest. It is done so by pretending the efforts are devoid of any politics and solely intended for the good of the general public.
In the current atmosphere of uncertainty, disinformation, and behind-the-scene jockeying around this maroon aureole, therefore, our priorities demand us to make transparent the underlying politics of top contenders in the competition of narratives. Who is doing what to whom, how, why, and what is next?
I borrow a passage from Sylvia Noble Tesh’s classic book (1988), Hidden Arguments: Political Ideology and Disease Prevention Policy,[1] to contextualize the point of this exercise and questions, The discussions in that book are a bit dated but their resonances feel rather current. She asserted:
“Behind debates about such questions as the toxicity of environmental pollutants, the hazards of smoking, and the health effects of cholesterol lie other hidden arguments. These arguments are more fundamental: What is the legitimate source of knowledge? What is the nature of human beings? And what is the ideal structure of society? Firmly but often unconsciously held answers to these questions guide scientists, policy makers, and ordinary citizens alike to different constellations of facts about the causes of disease and hence, to different preferences for prevention policy.”[2]
We could add questions about an infectious disease like COVID-19 and its potential causes to Tesh’s list and still be in the same frame of argument. It has been stated in the past and it does not hurt to repeat, as Shi’a, we do not believe there to be any separation between our politics and our religion. Health and diseases greatly affect if and how we perform our required and essential tasks like prayers, fasting, Hajj, jihad, and more. Even our most basic greeting, Salam, and the name of our religion, Islam, all share the same root as our word for health, Salamat. So, for us, there is no shame or any compulsion in admitting that matters related to health and diseases are one and the same as our religion and our politics.
Those societies in which their systems of beliefs have convinced their people, however, that health and disease decisions are made through some apolitical processes and free of political values should have followed Tesh’s advice some thirty years ago that,
“We need public discussion about the values, beliefs, and ideologies with which scientists and policy makers begin. This is not an unwarranted intrusion of politics into science. There is no science uninfluenced by politics. This is a plea to get the politics out of hiding.”[3]
Judging by the signs, I sense that the time for such public discussions by the elites are way passed their deadlines. Discussions about exactly whose political values, views, and interests in public health and diseases are hidden from the very public, at the exclusion of, and at the expense of that very public are all passed due. It appears in not so distant a future such discussions will be carried out by the public on the streets with guns and at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, it is useful to discuss and clarify a few relevant items since the decisions we make rest heavily on what we assume the causes of current events are. It is imperative to make the correct decision and determine which side to take and where to spend most of our energy. In this essay, I would like to discuss one of the Saker’s position regarding SARS-COV-2 and contrast that with the position of the Iranians.
From the beginning of the coronavirus affair, the Saker has maintained a firm position that novel coronavirus is not a bio-weapon. He made his point here and reiterated his position through multiple updates. He solidly sealed his view here. In a recent article here, he provided a reminder by recapitulating that “a truly weaponized virus would both be much more transmissible than SARS-COV-2 and it would be far more deadly.”
It is certainly quite appropriate to assume the null until we have enough solid evidence to reject it. That means, in the case of the novel coronavirus the default assumption would maintain the virus not to be a bio-weapon unless and until there is preponderance of reasonable evidence to reject the null assumption. The Saker has gone a step further, however. His statements, in effect, provide an acceptance of the null not as an assumption but as a proven statement.
The position of the Iranians contrasts with that position. It is not prudent for us to accept the Saker’s firm assessment and to rule out a strong possibility that SARS-COV-2 could be a bio-weapon. My own impetus to pry open the Saker’s stance is twofold. On one hand, I would like to ensure the principle of precaution in these discussions are not overlooked (i.e. the need to err on the side of caution). On the other hand, I think the actual rationale provided by the Saker concerning the aspects of “transmissibility” and “deadliness” of SAR-COV-2 in determining its weaponization status needs additional investigation.
First the principle of precaution. Iranians are a nation that has been the subject of relentless conventional and non-conventional attacks by the US and the west from every imaginable venue and by any conceivable means. Therefore, as a people who are still suffering from the consequences of the chemical attacks by then weaponized agent, Sadam Hussein, we do not feel we have the luxury of definitively accepting a non-weaponized status for this virus.
We imagine for ourselves four possible scenarios based on two rival assumptions. First, if we assumed this virus is a bioweapon and planned according to that assumption, and the virus turned out to have been indeed a bioweapon, then we have done right by our nation and what we are obligated to do in terms of preparation and protection.
Second, if we assumed the virus is not a bioweapon, thus we do not treat it as one but it is, in fact, a bioweapon, then we are guilty of neglect, carelessness, and in breach of our duties in protecting ourselves and our nation.
Third, if we assumed the virus is a bioweapon and prepared accordingly and it turned out not to have been one, then we have prepared for and put into practice a drill with all its required infrastructure that are useful for our defenses and preparedness. In addition, we have supported the country’s health system and have helped reduce its burden in dealing with an infectious disease.
Fourth, if we assumed the virus is not a bioweapon and it was not one, then we would have carried on with life as usual and dealt with a particularly tough flu season and we were no more prepared than before the whole affair.
The Leader of Iran, Ayatullah Khamenei clarified[4] Iran’s position and decision in one of his earlier speeches on March 8 as follows:
“Another key point is that we are asking all sections in the country, we request them to cooperate with a sense of responsibility with the Ministry of Health which is at the frontline of this issue and to make available to the ministry all their necessary resources. We have, of course, asked the armed forces and all organs linked to our office [i.e. the office of the Commander in Chief of all armed forces, Ayatullah Khamenei] that they, too, cooperate and put all of their resources in this area at the service of the people. This is not an event that has just happened for our country. You know and you have heard that this has happened in many countries of the world. The difference, of course, is that in many countries, they are hiding the truth, they are not talking about it. Our officials have spoken with sincerity and truthfulness from the very first day. They have been transparent in their reporting. They have made people aware of the situation which is a good thing. There are places though that we know they have it much worse than we do, but they do not talk about it. We do ask God Almighty for health and wellbeing for all those other countries, too. God Will InshAllah help them, too.
And the last word on this matter is that this event is a transient issue as well. It will pass. It is not an extraordinary event. Happenings similar to this occur in the country. Certainly, I do not wish to minimize the issue but we should not aggrandize it either. There is something that has happened. It will take a specific period of time. A period of time that will not be too long, InshAllah. This will exist for the country and then it will go away. The experiences that we will gain in this area, the actions that people take, and what various organs do, which in fact a general and a public drill in this area, this could become an achievement. If we could have these sorts of achievements, a calamity changes to a blessing. A threat changes into an opportunity.”
Last week, in an event held during this year’s Army Day celebration in Iran on Friday, April 17, Amir Sartip Aziz Nasirzadeh, the head of Islamic Republic’s Air Force, said[5],
“We view the spread of coronavirus through a military lens. The spread of this virus, in our calculation, is a biological threat or a quasi-biological threat. This subject for the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the military is a practice and a drill to counter biological threats.”
For Iranians, therefore, to assume the novel coronavirus as a bioweapon is logically and wisely a more appropriate assumption. An assumption of otherwise could be more deleterious. However, the Iranians having figured into their calculus not to accept the null assumption about the novel coronavirus is not a reasonable evidence to reject the Saker’s argument. Therefore, I discuss the second element that motivates me to offer this rebuttal which relates to the actual rationale provided by the Saker. He used not high enough “transmissibility” and insufficient “deadliness” as two major determinants to reject the weaponization of SAR-COV-2.
To be fully transparent, I must say I am not an expert in weapons and my practical military training is limited to what a regular Basiji goes through here in Iran. That makes my expertise in this area limited to not accidentally shooting myself in the foot. My argument is therefore literary in essence and not based on practical skills and field experience.
To weaponize an agent (biological, chemical, or nuclear) and the degree of weaponization depends entirely on the specific aim and purpose for that weaponizing. That means, a biological agent can be designed and released to be not highly but “just enough” transmissible and not highly lethal but “just enough” deadly to achieve the intended goal of an attack. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had identified around 30 organisms[6] that might be weaponized. CDC employs a classification scheme based on the intended outcome in three different categories of weaponizations for biological agents. The classification is based on “ease of dissemination, morbidity and mortality, panic potential, and level of public health requirements.” They have defined the categories as follows:
“Category A: Highest priority diseases that pose a risk to national security, are easily transmitted, have high morbidity and mortality, would have a major public health impact and cause panic, and require special public health preparedness.
Category B: Moderate priority diseases with lower morbidity and mortality and more difficult to disseminate.
Category C: High priority diseases that have the potential to cause significant morbidity and mortality and are emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dispersion. Category C agents are emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination because of their availability, ease of production and dissemination, mortality rate, and ability to cause a substantial health impact.”[6]
It is therefore important to consider the intended outcomes as important variables in determining the weaponization of SAR-COV-2. Looking from this angle, transmissibility and deadliness would be more of a tactical decision commensurate to specific aims of the attack than key indicators of weaponization. It might be interesting to note that US CDC had classified SARS coronaviruses as potential biological agents under Category C[7], but it is now removed from its main page[8]. Those interested though could search for published scientific articles that used the CDC’s information as their references in earlier dates.
I would like to go a bit further in supporting my position. I will use an example of attack operations during World War I in which the British carried out “low-grade” attacks and acts of sabotage against the Ottoman’s darling project, the Hejaz Railway. An excerpt from an article by S. Anderson (2014) in the Smithsonian Magazine[9] illustrates the significance of the railroad:
“The southernmost town in Jordan, Mudowarra was once connected to the outside world by means of that railroad. One of the great civil-engineering projects of the early 20th century, the Hejaz Railway was an attempt by the Ottoman sultan to propel his empire into modernity and knit together his far-flung realm. By 1914, the only remaining gap in the line was located in the mountains of southern Turkey. When that tunneling work was finished, it would have been theoretically possible to travel from the Ottoman capital of Constantinople all the way to the Arabian city of Medina, 1,800 miles distant, without ever touching the ground. Instead, the Hejaz Railway fell victim to World War I. For nearly two years, British demolition teams, working with their Arab rebel allies, methodically attacked its bridges and isolated depots, quite rightly perceiving the railroad as the Achilles’ heel of the Ottoman enemy, the supply line linking its isolated garrisons to the Turkish heartland.”
Those attacks were carried out under the command of the British agent T.E. Lawrence (the infamous Lawrence of Arabia made famous by Hollywood). The attacks could have actually been more exact and more destructive than they were to finish the job of destroying the railroad in a much shorter time frame. However, they opted for operations that were less destructive. Lawrence himself explains the reason in Revolts in the Desert[10] by saying:
“In the drainage holes of the spandrils six small charges were inserted zigzag, and with their explosion all the arches were scientifically shattered; the demolition being a fine example of that finest sort which left the skeleton of its bridge intact indeed, but tottering, so that the repairing enemy had a first labour to destroy the wreck, before they could attempt to rebuild.”
“Scientifically shattered,” seems to suggest causing “just enough” destruction for the enemy to get entangled and locked in specific areas, to divert its resources, manpower, and focus to those areas and away from other priorities and critical tasks. If the bridges and the railroads of Hejaz Railway were “scientifically shattered” and tulip bombs were used to twist the rails into tangled ribbons of steel but not completely destroy them, why would not a virus be weaponized in a manner that can “scientifically shatter,” let’s say, health systems, health personnel, and infrastructure of a country with “just enough” but not very high destruction and lethality?
I can think of two specific reasons: 1) A fear that bioweapon would spread beyond the target population and adversely affect allies and own forces and populations. 2) A fear of God and the Day of Judgment. Let’s briefly explore both reasons. For the first one, in case the biological agent can make its way back to one’s own population, if the original source of the attack is prepared, then this becomes a non-issue. However, if not, we must examine whether or not those who use such weapons care sufficiently about their own people and populations.
In a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine titled, “Veterans at Risk: The Health Effects of Mustard Gas and Lewisite,” that was presented at a hearing by the members of the US Congress in 1993 regarding US Department of Defense Mustard Gas Testing,[11] it was revealed that 60,000 US service members were exposed to mustard agents and Lewisite during World War II. Based on the records of that hearing, participants in military test experienced varying degree of exposure to mustard agent or Lewisite. The tests ranged from a drop of agent on the arm in “patch” tests to repeated gas chamber trials and fields tests. In addition, there were thousands of non-service individuals who worked in the US arsenals that produced these chemical agents. There were no follow-up medical care or monitoring of long-term effects but at the time of hearing, the information from the study revealed that:
The scanned document is some hundred thirty pages long, within it though, there are some vivid descriptions that illustrate a high level of indifference and disregard for human suffering. An excerpt is shown below:
We could spend quite a bit of time to review similar examples from the exposure of Vietnam Veterans to Agent Orange[12, 13] to CIA and Military testing of LSD[14] to various DARPA projects. However, the point can be made that some governments’ concerns for health and wellbeing of their own people may not be sufficiently high to serve as an obstacle in decision making.
The second reason about why would a given power refrain from “scientifically shattering” populations and societies using bio-weapons is a fear of God and the Day of Judgment. It is that belief that we cannot really get away and there WILL come a day when we must defend our intentions and deeds. Here, I am not talking about a superficial belief and using the name of God Almighty as a political means to material ends. Nor am I speaking of the type of believers who think they can commit all sorts of atrocities and injustice and be forgiven by God because they are just so special and “chosen”.
وَقَالُوا لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلا أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً [And they say, “Never will the Fire touch us, except for a short period of time.” (Qur’ān, Chapter 2, Verse 80)].
I am speaking of genuinely true believers in God who are very fearful and weary of the day they must stand before their Creator and defend their actions. That is enough functional and practical (not theoretical) fear and weariness that would prevent them from violating God’s boundaries and committing atrocities now, here, and in this world.
Perhaps a passage from the book, Brother Qasem[15], which contains a collection of lectures, talks, and views from Martyr Sardar Soleimani could illustrate what I mean. The segment is titled “Didn’t you say you invited him?!” in the book:
“For years we had been chasing after one of the most notorious rebels in Sistan and Bluchestan. This rebel was very active in narcotic trafficking and had martyred great many of our revolutionary guard members. Finally, after employing very complex intelligence operations, we invited him to a special locality for negotiation. Immediately upon his and his companions’ arrival to the designated place, we arrested him and his team and put them in jail. We were very pleased. He was someone whose criminal record would have secured him some fifty death sentences.
In a meeting in which we were visiting the Leader [Ayatullah Khamenei], I brought up the subject and gave the Leader the news about the arrest and described the event. I was expecting to see a positive reaction and happy response from His Eminence. The Great Leader of the Revolution immediately ordered, “Tell them to set him free right this moment.”
Without hesitation and question, I made the call. Afterwards, while quite baffled, I asked, “Agha! Why? I don’t understand; why did I have to do that? Why did you order his release?”
The Leader said, “Didn’t you say you had invited him?! The order of Islam is that if you invite anyone, and he is your guest, even if he is your father’s killer, you have no right to cause him discomfort.”
I was stunned with the response. Immediately, of course, the Leader commanded, “You must make sure to arrest him.” A few months later, in another series of complex operations, we arrested the fellow.”
The rebel in question was Abdulmalik Rigi, the terrorist agent in the service of the US and the Saudis. But he is not the key point of the excerpt, the Taqwa (as operationalized here by the Leader of the Iranian Revolution) is. Taqwa is to always be mindful and fearful of God’s boundaries and to make sure one does not cross them not matter what the event or the situation. May peace be upon you.
References
[1] Tesh SN (1988). Hidden Arguments: Political Ideology and Disease Prevention Policy. 4th Edition, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
[2] Ibid, P. 3.
[3] Ibid, P. 177.
[4] Speeches by Ayatullah Khamenei on Esfand 13, 1398 (March 8, 2020). Speech after Tree Planting Ceremony. Available online at: http://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=45076
[5] Tasnim News Agency, “Fight against corona for armed forces is a military exercise against biological threats.” Farfardin 29 (April 17), 1399; 10:46; News code: 2245243; https://tn.ai/2245243
[6] Williams M, Sizemore DC. “Biologic, Chemical, and Radiation Terrorism Review.” [Updated 2020 Feb 17]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493217/
[7] Moran GJ (2002). “Threats in bioterrorism. II: CDC category B and C agents.” Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, 20(2):311-30.
[8] US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Bioterrorism Agents and Diseases by Category. Access online at: https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp#c
[9] Anderson S (2014). “World War I: Hundred Years Later, The True Story of Lawrence of Arabia.” Simithsonian Magazine, Special Report, Available online at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-lawrence-arabia-180951857/
[10] TE Lawrence (1926). Revolt in the Desert. Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.
[11] Hearing before the Sub-committee on Compensation, Pension, and Insurance of the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, Second Session, March 10, 1993. Printed for the use of the Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, Serial No. 103-3. Available online at: https://ia802307.us.archive.org/31/items/departmentofdefe1993unit/departmentofdefe1993unit.pdf
[12] Hansen JC (1981). “The Vietnam Veteran vs Agent Orange: The War that Lingers.” Government Accounting Office (GAO) Review, Spring 1981, Pages 29-36. Available online at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/674041.pdf
[13] Stellman JM & Stellman SD (2018). “Agent Orange During the Vietnam War: The Lingering Issue of Its Civilian and Military Health Impact.” American Journal of Public Health, 108(6): 726-728.
[14] Disbennett BM (2014). “An Analysis of CIA and Military Testing of LSD on non-Consenting US Service Members and Recovery through the VA Disability System.” Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice, 3(2): 173-201.
[15] Mehrvanfar A (1397). “Brother Qasem: a Collection of Strategic thinking of Haj Qasem Soleimani in areas of Guardianship, Revolution, Holy Defense, Martyrdom, the Protectors of Haram, Culture and Arts.” Mehr Amir-Al Mumenin Publishing, 1st Edition, Page 23. [Translated from the original in Farsi by the author.]
The passage from Brother Qasem underlines how offensive & dishonourable the murder of Qasem Soleimani, not only in the act itself but particularly in the context of him being invited, a guest. An offence to God.
The question of “bioweapon or no” will forever run in circles, in much the same way as the questions of “JFK” or “9/11”.
It will come down to a matter of personal belief, articles of faith if you like, which will be dependent on which narratives & circumstantial evidence one finds most compelling.
(with apologies to Jimmy Moglia) I believe that just as fire burns and water gets you wet, biowarfare labs are in the business of engineering bioweapons, and there is one empire that has more of these facilities than the rest of the world put together.
Whether “Cov-fefe” (as I like to call it) was vat-grown can never be disproven until each & every one of these labs from any potentially interested party is put under the proctoscope. And yet neither can it be proven until /unless a whistle-blower steps forth And is presented to the masses. Anything less can be discredited, shoved under the rug, “Assanged” away.
Politically, no one wants this to be biowarfare because the implications are too enormous. A nuclear-level response will be warranted. So the politicians will sling accusations for leverage but no concrete facts.
The concept of Taqwa is certainly very noble, and those whose rule take this path are inspiring to their followers.
But the western masses will not appreciate this, they will only hear demonisations. Vis a vis the western leadership, it would be wiser if the limits of Iran’s acceptable actions remain in doubt, as the USA certainly has no boundaries.
Amen to “an offence to God”. I know the most high is deeply wounded.
Brother Blue Iconoclast
Isn’t the Taqwa described similar to the law—spoken or unspoken I do not know–that was broken by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth when they murdered King Duncan?
Not only was it regicide, but Duncan was a guest of Macbeth and thus in his power and hence under his protection.
Katherine
The humanity can only realize benefit for all sentient beings, with the practice of religions from the east: buddhism and islam
Christianity is also a religion of the East, at least originally.
Just saying
I will testify here and now, in the presence of the most high, Allah, God the Father, whomever or however you want to address him that Lord Buddha is entirely aware of the most high. If he chose not to mention first causes or speculate I don’t fault him. As with his mercy to the worlds. Every prince of the spirit has his gifts and way of teaching. The problem is that the “cultural west” or those who think they are educated don’t believe in the spirit—it is not real to them. Their hearts are not open, they do not see. They believe in only the mind. They are enlightened. So if they are inclined to psychology they gravitate to Buddhism, if they feel the lack of true believerhood as Eric Hoffer so aptly described they will gravitate to Islam. (Their superficially perceived apprehension of Buddhism and Islam) .
Jesus Christ is as alive as ever he was and will be. What about the spiritual practices of the early church fathers, the martyrs? The simple priests who served the people and god? The cloud of unknowing? The prayer of Jesus?
The gospel is alive as well—for me this is the time of the end— its as plain as the nose on the end of your face.
In my world, my faith is: if you can’t acknowledge the most high in faiths that acknowledge him, don’t expect him to acknowledge you, and from experience hell is a drag.
And Jesus arose and taught in the east.
Brother Blue Iconoclast
My own opinion, as previously posted, agrees both with the writer’s opinion and with the Saker’s.
With the Saker’s opinion, Cov19 has probably not been “weaponized” in a BioWarfar Lab because such a weapon would have been far more deadly; Cov19 is a new strain of ordinary Bird Flu virus: a dozen new strains of seasonal Corona flu occur every year, and Cov19 deaths lie well within annual seasonal variations of flu severity.
With the writer’s opinion, both Iran and China were right to treat novel strain Cov19 as a potential bioweapon. China rolled out its “Peoples War” Civil Defense Program and showed the country was fully prepared: stopped an Influenza Epidemic in its tracks, with fewer deaths than Belgium; an astonishing feat, considering how infectious is the normal seasonal flu. Iran was less prepared, but again scored fewer deaths than did Belgium or Germany with much smaller populations. Link to number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths worldwide as of April 24, 2020, by country; the top 7 countries are Western, then come Iran and China:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1093256/novel-coronavirus-2019ncov-deaths-worldwide-by-country/
Moreover, still agreeing with the writer, I think Cov19 originated in strains of bat flu stocked by BioWarfare Labs in the U$A, as evidence: Cambridge research showing that Wuhan strain B mutated earlier than year 2020, from strain A which is found in the U$A as well as China — but not found in Wuhan!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwii1aLUjIPpAhVOzoUKHYWIBcUQFjAAegQIARAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcontent%2Fearly%2F2020%2F04%2F07%2F2004999117&usg=AOvVaw2pDfeTsOEWN-gOdmX6F5UT
To my mind, even if that virus has not been “weaponized” nevertheless it leaked from careless handling by Fort Detrick Lab and Fort Belvoir Labs, part of the high density U$ Military / CIA Complex around Langley Virginia, which includes West Point Military Academy, the High Tech Naval Base, and easy access to Washington DC. From these Labs a mysterious Deep Lung Pneumonia spread to the civilian population around Fort Belvoir a couple of years ago. One of the armed guards around Fort Belvoir was a cyclist in the U$ Team which performed so astonishingly badly in NATZO’s Military Olympics held in Wuhan 4 months before the outbreak in Jan 2020. Then, via the Officer Class and the Naval Base, that virus spread to U$ warships around the globe. The U$ has been engaged in BioWarfare since at least 1970; so, given Uncle $cam’s notorious carelessness with Nuclear hazards, Chemical Poisons and Bio-Hazards such as the anthrax scare (traced to Fort Detrick) after the 911 scare, on this matter I agree with the author as well as with the Saker.
Novel virus strain Cov19 is no more harmful than some of the previous “normal seasonal flu viruses”; nevertheless Iran and China chose the right option to treat it as a NATZO Bioweapon. I hope that in future Iran will be as well prepared as China was; but we in “the West” are woefully unprepared for Blowback from the viruses we try to weaponize. Any more than we in “the West” (which includes Israel and Australia) are prepared for Blowback from the nuclear weapons we have stockpiled.
Great comment! Ron Unz wrote an analysis and he supported a comment by one of his writers, namely, “a high communicability, low lethality disease is perfect for ruining an economy,” suggesting that the apparent characteristics of the coronavirus were close to optimal to ruin China’s progress as a superpower. https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-our-coronavirus-catastrophe-as-biowarfare-blowback/
In that way, your argument and Unz’s support Mansoureh Tajik’s perspective. In the end, $$$ is the root of all evil. The race to find a vaccine, and to keep in place dominion over the world are demonic reasons to do whatever is needed to stay on top. May God have mercy on their (non-existence) souls.
A small comment on supposedly hard data: The death data should be fairly exact, if you look at Statista there are 5877 deaths for Germany.
If you look at https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/ and scroll down to Germany there is absolutely nothing to see. People died in similar numbers as regularly.
CV encompasses several strains
1% Wuhan strain (bioweapon?)
1% Iran strain (bioweapon?)
3% several naturally occurring common flu strains
95% figments of the imagination
The ruling Mafia – like all habitual liars – loves illusions. Lying about facts is a tricky business, and fails earlier or later. Lying about fictions not so much. That’s why we have black holes, anti-matter, string theory, gods, messengers of gods, not to speak of sons of gods, derivatives, yen carry trades, reverse repo, Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, Hunger Games, and from 2020 on, annually mutating novel never-isolated viruses that keep humanity masked, vaccinated and quarantined.
Bill Katz’ coronavirUS is like Rita Katz’ ISIS. It’s main job is to further (ZIO-)fascism in the West.
http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronavirus-criminal-con.html
Yep, CV “corona villain” is the villain that keeps on producing.
Katherine
Nathan Rich – Today I destroy the argument that Bill Maher made about calling COVID-19
the “Chinese Virus/Disease.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpNkqQaTEM
The idea that the virus has to be lethal to be a bioweapon is clearly fallacious given the evidence of the past two months where a clearly sub-lethal virus has been sufficient to bring the world economy to its knees – clearly it is not exceedingly lethal to humans but extraordinary lethal or at least crippling to economies and the infrastructure upon which we all rely on for life and sustenance. Maybe not a bioweapon on its own, but when combined with other agents the virus is clearly so. The missing ingredients is of course being propaganda and politics. Virus plus those has acted like an extremely potent bioweapon.
Right, Steven, it has proved to be a bioweapon — but a self inflicted bioweapon against “the West”. The top 7 score in my Link to “Novel Virus Cov19 Deaths” are all prosperous “Western” countries with MICmad U$ UK heading the death list. It is called Blowback.
Note this strange statistical correlation. Cov19 Blowback correlates with Debt Blowback: the top “Prosperous Western” countries are also top Bailout countries. It seems to me this Cov19 Circus is a “Western” distraction like 911 was. A cover for erosion of civil liberties, MIC ramp up and — above all, like the “too big to fail” Bailouts of 2008 followed the 911 Circus of 2001 — an Anglo Zio Capitalist mind control operation on “Prosperous Western” countries: expect even more Social Welfare for the 1%, even more Austerity for the Rest.
Given the facts that you’ve listed in the second paragraph and the fact that one of the main agenda items for the AZs is to terrorize their own host populations, I’m not sure that I’d characterize virus deaths as “blowback.” More like intentionally fortuitous collateral damage, perhaps? There are no innocent bystanders anymore; anyone and everyone is subject to the reign of terror.
@Disaffected. Agreed re deliberate exaggeration by “West” of relatively harmless Cov19 as a method of mind control over their own population: as was 911, WMD at 40 minutes, War on Terror, Viagra Rape, Gassing his own People, and Iran’s Nuclear Bomb. But the Blowback is real: China promptly extinguished Cov19 with minimal Lockdown, and thus exposed “the Prosperous West’s” total inability to deal with the Frankenstein monster that our masters are trying to create in our Bio Warfare Labs. The next step is Debt Blowback: four decades of military expenditure on petty resource wars have drained resources in the West, leading to stagnation and debt — as Ramin Mazaheri repeatedly reminds readers on the Vineyard.
Mansoureh,
The Iranian government is correct in first suspecting a biological attack. I think also many governments who are at odds with the US/West would also have suspected biowarfare. To do otherwise would be criminally negligent on the part of the governments.
I agreed with the Saker then when he said that the Corona virus isn’t a bioweapon. Apart from transmissibility and deadliness, biowarfare also presents a hazard to the attacker — there is no way to control the agent once it is released, more so when an attack is conducted in peacetime, or rather in undeclared war. In such circumstances contact between both sides have to be conducted as usual in order to maintain the attacker’s innocence especially when such a reviled weapon — at least reviled by the public worldwide, if not by the offending government — is used. Thus it’s difficult to insulate the attacker from the biowarfare agent.
At any rate, more and more people are regarding Corona as a nasty flu and the panic was/is mainly generated by the MSM. I believe they are correct.
I can only half agree Standeasy.
I am sorry Saker if i am breaking the rules, but i assure you i am in no sense a troll although as a person with some micro/genetics training and i guess a public health mentality I cannot accept the idea that this is a trivial disease or some sort of hoax.
I think that the logical approach described by Mansoureh is brilliant and both China and Iran were wise to treat it as such. I am puzzled by Russia’s loss of control.
I cannot accept the bland dismissal of COVID as a bioweapon because ït was not nasty enough”. Sorry but this is just not plausible. The ideal bioweapon would be:
1. It will have a high infectivity
2. one that makes the enemy really, really sick for say three weeks/month but does not kill them quickly. This uses up resources, destroys moral and created panic, as well as massively increasing the spread
3. spreads undetected for an extended period ie days to weeks of non symptomatic carriers able to infect others
effect of a bioweapon. One that kills too quickly will die out quickly because there is not time to spread the disease and or health authorities can rapidly detect and trace contacts.
4. Will specifically affect the young and healthy (troops) and or the middle aged senior management group ie the decision makers, leaders etc
5. Does not affect children (some residual moral code)
6. is a disease for which the originators have either a vaccine, a known treatment or some sort of special resistance.
Now SARS 2 meets criteria 1-3,5 does not seem to meet criterion 4 and we have no real idea about 6.
However your points about insulation are very valid and are the best argument against this being a bioweapon that i can think of. However stupidity and over confidence are hallmarks of many secret government weapons research (Skopal?, US ship design with out elevators and toilets), so I am not entirely convinced that that argument holds. For example if a research mob were testing this virus (or a vaccine) on a healthy population of volunteers eg military or paid healthy subjects eg students, they might have completely missed the serious impact on older people.
Standeasy i really cannot accept in any way your assertion that this disease is no different to the seasonal fly. Just take the Ruby princess. This is Australia’s own specific embarrassment (we have done really well otherwise but this is our absurd failure). So far at least 9 people have died amongst the people on this 2 week cruise (there are 21 linked deaths according to the ABC (reputable government owned public news service) and i think there are others also overseas, as well as the sad reality that there will no doubt be further deaths to come in Australia. Now while seasonal or other flus often break out on cruise boats i am pretty certain (have not got stats) that the death rate after even a bad flu outbreak on a cruise would be so very high. Also it was one month into the epidemic when China initiated its massive response effort and i find it impossible to believe that they would have done this if it was “just the flu.”
Watcher,
Thanks for the bioweapon criteria. I think they are about right.
I’ve written elsewhere in the Vineyard that I think China, like Iran, suspected and treated it as an attack initially. Accordingly PRC then got its civil defence machinery into action. Very impressive response indeed, no doubt about that.
Talking of cruise ships, the Diamond Princess had everyone onboard tested. More than 700 positives but only 13 died, about 1.8% case fatality rate. Bear in mind that those who can afford cruises are generally older and less healthy. People keep focused on the number of cases but it’s the fatalities that really count.
In Dec 2019 and early Jan 2020 the Idiotic MSM stoked up the fears surrounding what was at that time an unknown quantity in order to increase PRC anxiety levels and maybe even stir up some domestic social unrest in China. By Feb the whole world had bought the scare and from then on the panic had a life of its own. It’s especially worse now when a great amount of economic damage has been wrought on people globally. People who’ve lost jobs and perhaps much more are not going to take kindly to their governments telling them that it’s actually much ado about nothing. So now, no government except perhaps Brazil’s and Kazakhstan’s would dare say what Covid-19 is really like to it’s population — it’s very infectious but not particularly deadly. I’m not being blase but it seems to me simple measures (hygiene, protection of high-risk groups, etc) are enough to mitigate its presence. Just like the seasonal flu in the higher latitudes.
Cheers.
Stand easy
I was referring to the Ruby princess (not the diamond) which is a specifically Australian problem where the death rate has been very, very high and the period for infection way, way less. So in a two week period at least 650 people were infected and at least 20 have died.
Some comments first on the Diamond princess – there have been 13 deaths so far but four are STILL critical so i think we can assume after this very long time their chances are not good. also there has been at least one additional death in Australia so the death rate is at least 2% and probably more like 2.3%.
Secondly despite what is “accepted’ theory I am fairly sure that there are at least two strains of this virus one of which is nastier than the other. i should in fact say that that is exactly what one Chinese scientific published paper has said – the L and S strains. It seems quite likely that the Diamond Princess strain was the earliest strain – from Korea, Wuhan or Hong Kong which by all accounts was the less virulent. This is probable since it was largely cruising in East Asian waters. The Ruby Princess strain could well have been the European stain that has affected Italy, Spain and now the UK. Again this is likely since the boat was cruising between Australia and NZ – a group far more likely to have contact with Europe. So when trying to work out just how deadly this virus is look to Italy, New York and Spain where the mortality rate is running at 10-15%.
Third, while those on cruise ships are an older demographic that is not always the case, since groups of younger people go too to get drunk and party. Also while they are certainly older they are not at end of life stage ie they are NOT the demographic of nursing homes. Most are still quite active – 60s-70s, rather than 80-90s.
Four I think that in fact for this disease the morbidity is probably more important than the mortality. With the flu, older people do die but the death is usually quite quick – a burst of untreatable pneumonia after hospitalisation of a week or so, perhaps a fortnight. With this disease we have many on ventilators for weeks and in fact in terms of resources is more like polio with many people in iron lungs for months or years.
I am just puzzled about why you think that Italy and new York have not got a problem. Look for example at San Marino. 5.7% of the entire population tested.1.5% of the population positive and 0.12% of the entire population dead. That is not just an ordinary flu rate. Italy will probably lose about 0.1% of its entire population in a single period of 6 months. It has already lost 0.044% and there are still 105,000 active cases and more being added daily, although the number is decreasing.
Now finally compare Sweden to Norway. Sweden adopted the sort of approach you suggest but when compared to Norway that has already meant the loss of an additional 1800 lives. I am not too sure that that is a loss of life I am willing to accept.
The UK figures may also reveal a great deal since they do not include nursing homes or other community deaths, so avoids the distortion caused by death at the very end of life being attributed to COVID hen it could have been many age related factors. In the UK 299 people are dead for every million people. It is of course very race specific in the UK, with nearly all the medical personnel who have died being from ethnic minorities.
That is of course the other major difference with the flu – COVID kills medical people far more than the flu.
Watcher,
Re cruise ships. Without meaning to sound callous, a 2 – 3% death rate from a seemingly deadly infectious disease (what we are constantly being told) requiring lockdowns with consequent disruption of lives is not very high.
In San Marino (population 35,000) it’s true that (Wikipedia) 40 out of 476 (8%) infected persons died; it is also true that 62 persons (13%) recovered from Corona. I’ve not looked up New York’s figures. A link would help.
Fatality rates for no-lockdown Sweden and locked down UK are roughly similar. In fact according to Oxford University research,
“Week 15 of 2020 saw 1810 deaths from all types of respiratory conditions. This is actually 8% lower than figure for the previous week (1965), and much lower than 2020’s week 2 winter peak of 2477 respiratory deaths.”
https://www.healthwatch-uk.org/2-uncategorised/185-covid-19-1.html
It would be interesting to know if the medics who died had co-morbidities. Also their ages.
I’ll stop here because the mods might lose their patience with this conversation.
Cheers.
Swdwn now (26, april) have more than 2000 dead. Norway, with a population now about 65% of the Swedes, has less than 160 dead as of today. All due to different pandemic-precautionary measures.
Good point about Norway, JoveBove.
Corona deaths: 193 as at 26 April ’20
For perspective look at influenza deaths:
“We estimated the overall influenza-related excess mortality as 910 deaths per season, or 2·08% of the overall deaths. Age-grouped analyses indicated that the major part of the excess mortality occurred in the ⩾65 years age group, etc, etc.”
Old data (1975-2004) but influenza patterns should be roughly the same.
If Norway implemented lockdowns every winter from now on, we can reasonably expect deaths to be similar to that for Corona.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268810000671
For China and Iran, they have been subjected to America’s and the West’s hybrid warfare campaign for the past several years such as the Maximum Pressure campaign against Iran; US assassination of Gen. Soleimani; USA economic sanctions against Iran; Made-in-America Hong Kong color revolution; suspicious breakouts of swine and avian flu that decimated the Chinese farm industry, forcing it to rely more on US agricultural imports during the USA’s Trade War; the USA’s Uighur “concentration camps” psyops; and the America war on Huawei.
So it is not surprising that both nations would suspect more US hybrid warfare in the form of an American biowarfare attack.
Yes, I think you are right on a number of issues, and very good reading wisely put. If I put some of my thoughts on the western elite to work I come up with their political objectives together with recent reports on lack of readiness to deal with infection of a large number of people (Report by GPMB Global Pandemics Monitoring Board), Rehearsal (military style drill) creating readiness towards political establishment to implement political objectives, and finally actors that are able to infect a large number of peoples across continents and countries.
All that is in place.
Western socialism do not deal with people or citizens other than as objects. There is thus no concern of the welfare of people. Bioweapons are their perfect companions in order to execute their politics. The length to which western socialism has evolved as the normal tool of system of government may be understood by their intent of totalitarian control over peoples lives which is gained by socialism. It has been deeply implemented in UN and EU.
Antonio Guterres, Sec. Gen. UN, Leader of Socialisty Party, Portugal, vice President of Socialist International (Democratic Socialism).
Ursula von der Leyen, President EU Commision. London School of Economics (Democratic Socialism, Fabian Society). Fabian Society should be given more scrutiny.
The system of EU is that of non-binding parliamentary system ruled by the EU commision, a designed fascist system of socialism. Individual countries have largely socialitst governments, Eu parliament serve mostly as non-binding talking mechanism for political purposes.
Boris Johnson, PM Britain (UK), Socialist. London School of Economics, Fabian Sociaety. Democratic Socialism. Rothschild appointee fmr. Mayor of London .
Democratic Socialism USA. The Democrat party is adopting Democratic Socialism as thought by the universities and run by the demostrations in the streets financed by the Rothschild Society George Soros.
George Soros finance the HRW and Amnesty International.
George Soros finance the presidential candidate.
George Soros finance the Department of State.
George Soros finance the UN. (Rotschild Society, London School of Economics).
Rockefeller finance the UN. (Rothschild Society since Standard Oil).
Rockefeller Club of Rome.
Rockefeller World Economic Forum.
Rockefeller Munich Security Conference.
Rothschild Council on Foreign Relations. Rockefeller.
George Soros (Rothschild Society) European Council Foreign Relations.
Brookings Institute (Rothschild society) Political Bureau, also Doha.
Club of Madrid (Rockefeller Club of Rome Political Appointees), Gro Harlem Brundtland GPMB.
Trilateral Commision (Rockefeller)
Bilderberg. (Rockefeller)
World Bank. Rothschild Society. World Banking Syndicate.
IMF. Rothschild Society. World Banking Syndicate.
Federal Reserve. US Banking Syndicate Rothschild Society.
Reserve Banking = National Banking System of the World. Private and nationalised into Parliamentarian System for political control over socialism works also within conservative parties.
Scandinavia. Social Democracy. Puris national socialism historical equivalent to the german national socialist party (nazi=national socializmus, NSDAP hitsorical sister party, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei).
China. Communism. Totalitarian socialist system. One leader serve as the CORE of the Party. The Party serve as the lawmakers as well, it is totalitarian. Rotschild moved production and financial muscle to take advantage of the totalitarian socialist system with comparable free labour and establishing cost. Transfer of finance.
Russia. Authoritarian system. Integrates well with the other systems of world bodies. Established independence. Under sanctions. Ideology undetermined. democratic reforms/constitutional reforms.
Iran. Independent. Under sanctions.
Syria. Independent. Under sanctions and military insurgence.
Background.
Fabian Society created London School of Economics. The system of democratic socialism of Fabian Society was also a sister to NSDAP (Germany) and were very extreme. Actually one of the founders were the famous G Bernhard Shaw who also was a kind of superstar of the time period. He was a monster by today’s standard promoting the socialism they were to implement. Fabian Society also created the Coefficients Club a kind of synergy meeting Club with the nobility and Rothschild and was also linked to the Cecil Rhodes Round Table Bureau, in essence all the Rothschild operations were closely interlinked and remain so today.
So the Fabian Society and London School of Economics is also a Rothschild Society Education System, and they are also integrating the national socialism of Social Economics.
The ideology of Fabian Society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCUXzY9Uzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmIKlvsfFZA
https://criticalunity.org/news/nwo/population/293-depopulation-of-a-planet
https://thebridgelifeinthemix.info/in-profile/in-profile-the-fabian-society/
https://www.historia.ro/sectiune/general/articol/g-b-shaw-defender-of-stalinism-and-eugenics
http://canadianpatriot.org/what-is-the-fabian-society-and-to-what-end-was-it-created/
One realise that the political elite actually have the goal of depopulation and they create policies to further that goal. Bioweapons and viruses are their natural tools. And they have independent actors, clandestine actors, the police state, the judiciary system, military actors in short politicians have designed direct control over all these actors, while pretending to be representing the people. And they have put in place their own members into power positions they have created for this purpose, and designed new streamlined systems like EU.
About the virus as bio-weapon: the *creation* of the virus *specifically as weapon* is a different thing than *using* a virus as weapon.
Several years ago the US government used smallpox as bio-weapon to kill as many natives as possible; the “bio-weapon use” is a fact, it was willingly done. It wasn’t “created” however (back then the means to do that didn’t existed).
So it may well be (and it is my conviction that it is very likely that it indeed happened like that) that this new virus emerged in the wild (either naturally, or as consequence of other things gone out of control (like influence of toxic pollution, etc); but not *specifically* engineered).
All signs (number of cases, number of mutations, timing, spreading) point to the origin of the virus being inside the US.
It may well have gone unnoticed for some time, then blindly denied (because of the exceptionalist mindset).
However, at some point, at least some people, admitted the reality of it, and its “potentialities”.
It’s very well possible that some mad minds (the same kind that the ones using smallpox to commit genocide, that dropped atomic bombs just to test them, or that used biological weapons against Koreans) purposedly sent to target countries infected people (those people, unaware of that fact).
In the case of Iran, the timing, and the possible mad minds make it a possibility not to discard. At that time the “potentiaity” of the virus was know, and those mad minds have repeteadly shown in the past that they are able to actually do such atrocities as using bio-weapons. Those mad minds have also reeteadly shown the ability and willingness to do the worst things.
(BTW, note also how the Chinese reaction has been all along the one you could expect in case of an hostile bio-war attack. And they are right. Even if it is the case that it wasn’t a planned attack, following the saying “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” it is a *duty* for any country on the target of the Evil Empire to always expect a biological attack from the mentioned Evil Empire. Because it can happen, they did several times in the past; so better be always prepared)
An honest and insightful work here. Well written, detailed, and accurate. My words, of course, cannot truly bestow the praise that is worthy, although they try to. I thank you for this article, which I find to be excellent.
Also, if I may comment on the regard towards God which is shown by the faithless,…
God is the one thing that that all should fear, in Life and thereafter. Those who do not know this, will come to know it when it is God’s will that they do.
Regarding the Taqwa under discussion, I don’t think one has to believe in God and fear that meeting with one’s Maker in order to grasp the heinousness of the crime of falling upon a person who is a guest in one’s house.
There is such a thing as honor and even ethics that is not dependent on belief in God.
In fact, an argument could be made that needing God to guarantee one’s behavior is a weaker position than following one’s own conscience. Furthermore, belief in God makes it all too easy to “bargain” with God to bend God’s rules, as is so common a phenomenon in Jewish culture (and jokes).
Katherine
“There are people who worship Allah to gain His Favors, this is the worship of traders; while there are some who worship Him to keep themselves free from His Wrath, this is the worship of slaves; a few who obey Him out’ of their sense of gratitude and obligations, this is the worship of free and noble men.”
Imam Ali in Peak of eloquence speech no. 237
Katherine, your “conscience” is The Holy Spirit.
In the era of Globalism and the “Post-Westphalian Order” which Tony Blair (among many other satanic “elites” espoused and the Bushes, Clintons and Obama loyally served,…….. Saker’s training and analysis encounters confounding complications.
No longer do you have the simpler chessboards of the 19th century where national armies line up against each other and all the black or white pieces perform in seemingly coordinated, consistent rational fashion to promote the “victory” of either the while or the black side, after the “necessary sacrifice” of some pawns and hopefully minor pieces. .
In that old classical paradigm, COVID 19 as a bioweapon is correctly rejected as an ineffective instrument of weakening opposing national armies and strengthening the army of the nation deploying the weapon.
However, that sort of national rivalry is not what the current struggle on this planet is about, when you really get down to brass tacks. In the current anti-nation state paradigm promoted and imposed on ALL nations and the vast majority of ALL their peoples COVID 19 (as a reality quite a few question…..or as an idea which has already mutated biochemically as well as as an instrument of political control) most obviously IS an instrument being wielded politically.
And if warfare is Politics By Other Means, then “19” (and many more to come, from the Invisible Enemy…which is not inaudible, and has gleefully broadcast what will be coming…in the way of their plan to rule….) can legitimately be considered a weapon…just as ideologies, propaganda, ideas and even religions can be weaponized.
The first natural law duty of every individual, family, larger social group in any territory or traditional “nation” is to survive.
The difficulty Iranians, Russians, Chinese and even American populations face in obeying that law……is that, currently, in the great majority of cases of individuals in all nations, those individuals CAN see other nations as rivals to their interests…but cannot see the actually greater threat to ALL common people of all nations….in the form of a globalist elite which is deeply burrowed into the host bodies of ALL western nations…but is also present in more limited degree in Russia, China …and yes, even IRAN.
What people need to get through their heads is that “victory” in such a situation requires changing this devilish paradigm…NOT “defeating China” as Steve Bannon would love to do for the Vatican, nor “defeating Russia” as the “Fake Left” morons in America believe is an axiom of defense of their sacred right to sexual deviancy………….nor defeating Deplorable American Conservatives…..as many here are manipulated into desiring.
When viewed in this paradigmatic context, I have never doubted that this Viral Psyop was a “weapon”.
Perhaps not a “Bio” weapon……but most definitely a weapon of mass economic and political opposition destruction.
I appreciate the author’s Iranian/Islamic point of view on this matter. It is very useful.
However so is the article I link right here, from an American perspective…which is also nationalistically limited by the first duty of natural law…….”Survive!”……… to not fully appreciating the potential for invincible alliance with the rest of humanity targeted by the same Satanic Globalist Elites.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/04/the_wuhan_virus_pandemic_has_exposed_the_american_ruling_class.html?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com&utm_campaign=dbr
It ends thusly:
“………..The time has come to reopen the economy. Except many of the denizens of the ruling class insist on moving the goalposts and setting targets that can never be met before the country reopens. They are insisting on universal testing (an impossibility) and a vaccine (which will take up to 18 months) before the nation can get back to work. In other words, a guaranteed safe world — there can be no more outbreaks and deaths from the virus. They intend to hold President Trump politically responsible for a reopening that in any way fails to meet these unattainable metrics.
The fate of untold millions of Americans mired in an economic and societal depression is immaterial as long as the economy and the nation are in shambles come November 3, 2020. The people be damned as long as Donald Trump and his populist movement, the most serious threat the ruling class has ever faced, are permanently defeated.
This nation has survived wars, depression and seven global pandemics yet the Wuhan Virus has revealed that the current American Ruling Class is most serious long-term threat to this nation in its 244-year history.”
END
You see, The Globalist “Ruling Class” as parasites, do not share the same identity as the host nations and peoples they parasitize. Stuck with their Sick Identity, they will sacrifice Any …and ALL “nations” and /or peoples to preserve their anti-human identity. The only way to defeat them is not to “defeat America” any more than it is to “defeat” Russia, China or Iran.
It is necessary to unite….to defeat their sick “globalist”…”transgender”…..”transhuman”……Technocratic and Godless Paradigm.
Although, they would disagree, arguing,
“WE….are the only God of this world! And, unfortunately, it is now necessary to sacrifice ALL…of “ya’ll” to us…..so that through the death of you and your past expiration date nations………….Our Bloodlines …may survive …perhaps not forever…but at least longer than any potential rival for power……….on this planet.”
I like your thinking Bro . Well put.
Bro 93: I completely agree with you. Nicely put.
Bro 93:
What you describe is certainly what the evidence before our eyes suggests is going on.
Katherine
I’m agreeing with the first three replies Bro 93
Well said
Bro,
You have located the proper tree and more Hounds arrive as we speak. We have no choice but to eliminate these “coon”. Some think that they have seen Mark Cuban aka “Disco” moving this way. I converse almost daily with someone close to him and ….well, let’s just say for now “Disco” may enter the stage from a direction not expected. He may wear that MAGA hat after all.
hound
If Donald Trump is the greatest threat to the globalist elites then I would suggest that they have very little to fear.
His presidential term so far, is largely notable for the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement, the cold blooded murder of Qasem Soleimani and the financial sanctions imposed against any country that is prepared to defy US bullying. On top of that we have to suffer the endless and embarrassing grovelling to Israeli interests, matched only by Trump’s total ineptness and utter lack of grace.
Not too much for the globalists to worry about there, he is their man.
Source of the CoVid virus is not important. It is the politics that are played around it which make it a weapon. The question is, who benefits? Which world actors are utilizing the virus to their advantage; thus a weapon?
“We could spend quite a bit of time to review similar examples from the exposure of Vietnam Veterans to Agent Orange[12, 13] to CIA and Military testing of LSD[14] to various DARPA projects. However, the point can be made that some governments’ concerns for health and wellbeing of their own people may not be sufficiently high to serve as an obstacle in decision making.”
Mansoureh Tajik brings up an incredibly important point, which as far as I am concerned refutes the notion that Our Dear Leaders and their nasty, evil minions would never risk blowback on the “friendly” population. These are, it must be remembered, the genealogical and ideological descendants of people who in the 1950s and 1960s coolly calculated how many tens of millions of their own citizens that they could “afford” to lose in a nuclear exchange with the USSR.
Reading the perspectives of Iranians on hybrid and covert warfare is always quite eye-opening for me. While I have for a long time in my mind relegated the leaders of the West to perdition on moral grounds, understanding their tactics, techniques and procedures is useful for analyzing and understanding events. “By way of deception shalt thou do war” – that is their motto, and therefore blindly applying Occam’s Razor can and will lead you astray if not properly tempered with genuine understanding. Thank you, Mansoureh Tajik, for providing this insight, and I hope to read more of your analysis.
@EVERYBODY: I did post this excellent article by Mansoureh Tajik because it presented a view rarely seen in the West: a view from Iran and a view from a deeply religious person. Yes, that is somewhat of a departure from my rule about not discussing medical aspects of the pandemic, but in this case, it was worth it, at least in my opinion.
HOWEVER
I ask you to please not use this pretext, again, inundate the comment section with you favorite theory about the virus. Really! Surely you can react and discuss this article without the obligatory “here is my theory about the virus”.
Looks, if I cannot appeal to your common sense, then I will have to shut down the comments section under this article.
Your choice.
The Saker
Many thanks for posting this, Saker. It is the most original, and to my mind, best analysis of the situation that we are now in. Indeed, the author is extremely astute to have drawn a comparison between the work of Lawrence and the effects of the virus, in that both scenarios resulted in the most damaging effects to infrastructure, be that railway bridges, and therefore the Turkish military position, or the current economy and society at large.
There is absolutely overwhelming evidence and testimony that this contagion is nowhere near as severe as is being reported, especially in the light of all the other co-morbidity factors in the victims, which include heart and lung disease, compromised environmentall conditions, poor nutritional status and diseases arising therefrom, etc, etc. And yet people are being drawn into the fear and hysteria – that is the real damage.
Appreciate the initiative.
Have confidence in you and the people working with you.
Like this writer, I cannot separate my religion from my politics. This is my life. This is why I have run out of somebody I can vote for here in Canada. Of course, a none vote is also a vote of nonconfidence. For too long people have voted for who they think will create the best economy rather than having moral considerations play an important part.
For me, this article is no so much about a virus as it is about the inclination toward evil in the heart of man. I was aware that the Brits and Americans had used their soldiers as test subjects. Not just them, but in Canada and also likely the other two ‘five eyes’ members. And not just testing on soldiers but on unsuspecting citizens too. I read about Christian martyrs almost every day. Some of the treatments they suffered would make beheading appear merciful. When I read the examples presented here regarding mustard gas, while repulsive to me, is not new or surprising. It is not unusual to see masses of people treating all of creation in cruel and abusive ways. We really must not accept this conduct anymore. Not from ourselves and not from others.
Mr. M Tajik’s discussion showed how a fine mind can take Horrifically ghastly facts and calmly put them into a logical discussion yet at the same time ending in an uplifting teaching sub-story. Agreed, the ends do not justify the means and it is up to our true spiritual leaders to remind us when in our haste we forget.
As a medically minded person, I am impelled to understand the nature of this Beast ( Panic-demic as well as
Viral-Thingee) and might I say that medical complacency as well as overwraught fear especially if it is projected onto a conveniently demonized nation state like Iran will be yet another terrible blot on the United States.
I think it is sensible and logical to assume the worst—that the virus is a bioweapon.
Not from a point of view of blame, but from the point of view of preparedness, adequate response, and learning.
It doesn’t matter what others—other people, other countries, other NGOs or international organizations— think or say they think. They will have their own reasons for trying to devalidate their enemies. The louder they cry “conspiracy theory,” “corona denier” etc. etc. the more suspect they become, IMHO.
What matters is the dynamic in one’s own country. Furthermore, from a governance and messaging perspective, continually guessing and letting the guesswork determine the response seems to be a position of weakness. Better to announce clearly to citizens: This is the deal, and this is how we are responding, and this is what we expect of you.
Assuming the worst is what people do in all kinds of situations. Assume the possibility of death.
Someone who goes out hiking alone should be prepared for the worst, not a medium danger.
Regarding the bioweapon logic, suppose someone wants to eliminate that hiker. He could of course attack him, shoot him, push him over a cliff, etc. Or he with malignant intent could arrange things so that he causes the hiker’s death indirectly. It is less certain, but also less identifiable as a crime.
The hiker falls into a trap of some kind that does not look like a trap. Then he can’t get out and dies of exposure. Or he finds that the shelter he was expecting to use has been removed. Or some other indirect thing. The outcome is more chancy, but it doesn’t look like a crime scene. In fact, observers will say, that cannot possible be a crime scene because it is too chancy! So, the more indirect and less reliable, the more effective the weapon, from an investigation/evidence perspective, that is, covering one’s tracks by not leaving any. Thus, an “indirect” and chancy bioweapon would be more effective than a powerful, “direct” one.
Just want to add that I am glad to read a clear paragraph on the importance of clarifying assumptions as to “medical” priorities. It is obvious that all decisions made at a state level—lockdown or not, exact features of the virus regime (for example, in Sweden), even when presented as purely evidence-based, have a political component. What is annoying to me is that those who advocate draconian lockdowns insist that there viewpoint is purely medical. That is nonsense, because shutting down the economy and locking people in their houses has obvious other medical consequences. So, lockdown folks, just admit that your view of “medical” is a pretty narrow one.
Katherine
Mansoureh Tajik’s above article is well reasoned and reconfirming my gut feeling all along of a “weaponised virus” about this business,because of the outcome now playing out,foreseen a mere few months ago.
Such as,draconian measures being implemented almost everywhere,well documented and discussed here and elsewhere amongst friends etc.
Laws once passed rarely getting repealed and now we have,for want of a better phrase “medical martial law” in all but name globally.
Clearly in some countries the objective is to protect the people from a perceived weapon.
In other countries where the weapon may be known or not,panic is sufficient a tool,coupled with possible ignorance of these hybrid areas of malfeasance amongst most officials,to achieve the objective of the generator.
Looking back and forward,now,it must be scrutinised what’s afoot in different aspects of the other elements of this weaponising of almost everything that can be conceived of as being a weapon.
Ultimately this weaponising mindset is capable of doing anything and everything to dominate humanity even if,and it’s a big if,this virus is totally “innocent” there still remains the mindset that will use any and every opportunity to tighten the screw.Game theory for sure is written all over the aethers.
Survival mode has been by many millions entered and the economic dimension/depression will lead where it always does,to the top of the hill.
My personal concerns are for the hardship and food crisis that must surely follow.
About this I sincerely hope I am wrong.
It is really up to us one by one to stay clear and courageous.
But it’s solely about blame, Katherine. That’s what this coronavirUS is all about!
(since you write; “Not from a point of view of blame…”)
That’s why China and Iran did everything perfectly right, and already won or are winning this [information] war.
The complete and utter meltdown of the Western financial system was inevitable, and imminent.
(as Ernst Wolff – Germany’s most prominent expert on the Western financial system – explains)
The coronavirUS is the scapegoat, and China and Iran were subsequently to be blamed (the scapegoat) for the coronavirUS.
The West is going down anyway, in spite of its turn towards fascism / totalitarianism under cover of the coronavirUS, not unlike the Nazi-Ukraine banana republic.
Laika,
I was speaking about “blame” (not) deployed by by *Iran.*
I was not speaking of the USA. In fact, I made it very clear that I was not referring to the USA and I didn’t think Iran should either.
Katherine
Is it not a simple fact that with the creation of the Atomic Bomb everything changed politically because well not even the bloodline families are safe. Just imagine if you will the Treaty of Versailles attendees having hanging over their heads the Atomic Bomb. Realizing that not even they were safe changed things considerably. Hence capitalism has to go and Socialism is the way.
Murder ink has evolved into quite the killing machine and I imagine nature has played an important role. Look what nature has taught us? Like for example fish of the sea. One the great white shark kills with its teeth while another more subtly kills with injecting poison the Red Lion Fish or the really bad one the Box Jelly Fish.
LOL I’m actually reminded of an episode of Hawaii Five O from the 1970’s. It was an episode where a Chinese agent had killed an important person by using a Box Jelly Fish. For a time it looked like a natural death until further investigation revealed some disturbing evidence of the Jelly Fish. To make a long story short until trustworthy individuals with the knowledge and power to correctly assess and analyze different scenarios’ we will never know the truth really and being suspicious is of course only natural and healthy.
Or take for example the coca leaf and an argument I got into with someone regarding the religious aspects of it. Why he argued did God create something so harmful? My reply was simple. Do you really think that God thought that man would cook it and smoke it to his own detriment? Whatever purpose it serves in nature I doubt very much that when God created it He said too myself O, I better not create this because the man I created will get around to smoking it! Unlike us God does not think up evil thoughts as He himself told the Israelites when they were sacrificing their children to Moloch. Such thoughts wouldn’t even enter my mind God said to them!!!!!!!!!!!
As for Covid I watch Boris Johnson and say too myself if he dies well then we truly have a problem. To have someone like him with the best medical care and he passes away well then there is more going on. He however, is back to work healthy and strong?
And then get this I have a friend at work who said to me just last week in disbelief and anger that the father of a friend of his died recently of cancer and they put what on the death certificate? Covid 19? The family is beside themselves with disbelief because he did not have Covid 19 but cancer?
Why would they do this?
This illustrates the significance of the CDC’s changed guidelines on completing the cause-of-death section of the death certificate. The inference is seems inescapable to me that they are trying to beef up covid-19 mortality figures. Could it be that as the denominator (number of persons who have active viruses or antibodies but who are not sick) rises with more testing being done, they (the CDC) are motivated to herd doctors into boosting the numerator to maintain the scare stats? Of course many doctors are short of time. But the correct reaction to that, if it is the case, should not be: OK, we’ll just relax our guidelines so that no one gets reliable data now or in the future.
Katherine
Cui bono?>Cicero. Who benefits? Follow the money. COVID19 vaccine/s are the highest trading stocks while oil, for only one example, collapsing. Taoists practiced balance in earth nature, all great spirits self realized do not prey upon life in earth. The Way, very clear no such reality as separate. Spiritually evolved beings’ passion is compassion. We are not separate. Those of earth who do not get this truth are to be pitied. Great, as always, Saker. Thanks!!! Energy is Chi and Light is energy. Dark and chaos must be changed into subtle light.
”Taqwa is to always be mindful and fearful of God’s boundaries and to make sure one does not cross them no matter what the event or the situation.”
I would find it quite difficult to have any mercy upon the West’s abominable ”Elites” if any of them became possible for me to target physically as per invitation. But, yes, it’s definitely a valid point in the context of Soleimani’s murder. So it turns out not to be a problem, after all. Simply don’t invite the swine and scum but let your agents deal with them.
For me, the first part of the article is the most interesting. What is the role of sciences in a society? And relied: what is the role of scientists in a society? The Covid-19-crisis has brought to the fore these questions. Neither sciences, nor scientists are „free“. Dominant meanings and dominant personalities in sciences are not decided by some objective rules. The quality of scientific meanings and personalities is just one criterion among others, and by far not the most important one.
The blind trust in the authority of some scientists in the West (who, by the way, just do more or less the job for which they are paid) is one of the real disturbing things during this crisis. In my eyes, one should judge in the same way politicians and scientists in important positions in the West: some of them may be more or less honest and trustworthy. Adore some scientists and condemn all politicians is just an irrational position.
This is interesting but I don’t agree with all that much of it (although I don’t entirely agree with Saker either).
To get the basic question out of the way, I don’t think the virus is a bioweapon.
But whether it is or not, may matter for longer term political purposes but doesn’t make much difference in terms of public health. The virus is what it is; scientists are studying it, both directly and looking at how the spread, infection and so on have been operating in the real world, and what you need to know is what they have found out about how it behaves, what treatments work and so on. So the author’s argument about how assuming it is a bioweapon may be appropriate as a sort of precautionary measure makes little sense to me; what would you do different to protect the public if you thought it was a bioweapon? It spreads and kills the same either way.
And his later counterargument to The Saker about why someone might deliberately not make a bioweapon as lethal as they could, I don’t find compelling. It’s an interesting insight into the Iranian mindset; maybe those considerations would be relevant if Iranians were developing a bioweapon. But we’re talking about Americans here. If Americans were going to unleash a bioweapon, they’d make it as deadly as they could. They’re not subtle that way, for one thing–they believe in overkill, not in “just enough”. And they definitely don’t fear God would disapprove of them slaughtering people, and they mostly wouldn’t fear backlash much. Americans think God wants them to kill anyone they find remotely inconvenient, and is generally at their beck and call. I’ve often gotten the impression that, to Americans, God is some sort of mid-ranking State Department operative whose job is to smite America’s designated enemies. That and an assistant football coach. And they tend to be overconfident, especially the kind that would go around developing bioweapons in the first place–IMO it takes overconfidence to develop and deploy bioweapons at all, because sensible people are aware that you can’t control the buggers. So no, an American bioweapon would not look like Covid-19, it would have a really high death rate, and probably a quite different profile in terms of just who died most.
The one disagreement I have with The Saker on the topic is, I think Covid-19 is, while not very lethal, definitely really good at spreading. It spreads by air, it spreads from people who don’t have symptoms, which is a really big win. I’m not sure an engineered virus could really improve on it very much in that department.
One reason it is good at spreading is that the bug is under estimated by its human experts examining it, trying to figure it out its ways and means.
Apparently, word is slowly getting out that it can remain on surfaces far longer than previously thought.
Abandoned cruise ship investigators have determined the bug lasts for weeks on surfaces and not just days, they have gone aboard these ships weeks later to find the bug still there and waiting for them.
“they have gone aboard these ships weeks later to find the bug still there and waiting for them.”
This info does not chime with the data gathered by Dr. Hendrik Streeck, in Germany. He found that the surfaces of homes where positive-tested people lived had no “live” viruses on them.
From Wiki:
“Coronavirus research
In early April 2020, Streeck and his team reported with reference to their COVID-19 Case-Cluster-Study that they had “carried out an intensive search of the home of a family infected with the coronavirus but found no trace of it on surfaces.”[18]
So, can you please document the studies that show data opposite to Streeck’s?
Perhaps the difference is between live/infectious and dead/noninfectious viruses.
Katherine
It was a media disturbing statement made live on tv, interrupted and refuted (like yours, w/questionable background) by the interviewer only to later become docile and let the statement stand on its own.
If you make your own facts, and you are mistaken, you have done your citizens a great disservice.
You have no idea if the places you are referring to were cleaned prior to being inspected, these ships were in a more contained environment than your homes of private people, no telling how many relatives rummaged thru those houses looking for goodies of wealth and most likely safely cleaned their way through searching.
“(like yours, w/questionable background)”
Excuse me?
You are setting yourself up as qualified to sit in judgment of and put down Dr. Hendrik Streeck and his work????
I don’t think so.
Katherine
It started out as a virus but it`s mutated into an IQ test.
Hi
I don’want to venture into some kind of conspiracy theories, but as a mid-specialist in the field along with the dawn of western whatever people in high places think of them selves (e.g. supremacy), I just cannot loose the feeling of this virus planted if not is making awfuly lot of money to medical companies and suppliers in between and more importantly for governments or pension funds (something that they just must not say out loud) who highly likely love this virus, as it helps them (simply said) get rid of the pensioners. One should do the calculus how much money could for instance Italy save in couple of years. In am well aware of sick comment here, but if we look at some other countries (no need to point them out), who have even less empathy to the elders and have not yet called for total lock downs, one just cannot get rid of the feeling, that there are probably some calculations over savings over to early late pensioners…
This is an outstanding article. The necessity for precaution he cites in the case of Iran also applies to and is the same precautionary principle adopted all over the eastern Mediterranean and MENA, including Europe. In reaction to Russia’s demonstration and publicising its newest series of weapons including undetectable nuclear warheads, the Bulgarian journalist in 2018 noted that it may not have been coincidental that in 2017 the US reversed Obama’s bioweapon ban and touted its bioweapon capability.
The fact that the worst hit countries and regions are US rivals / enemies adds extra weight to this.
To ignore this possibility until proven otherwise – especially among targeted and “scientifically shattered” countries – would be national, even ethnic, suicide.