I get very annoyed by all the irresponsible reporting that circulates about COVID. I read countless daily criticisms of Trump and Boris. The Democrats in the USA, and the Socialists in the UK, would almost have us believe that between them they'd developed COVID-19 in some back room, and released it in order to kill-off as many of their own citizens as possible.
As bad as the pandemic has been, this is clearly nonsense. Had Hillary been elected in the US, and Corbyn in the UK, they would no doubt have handled the situation in exactly the same way; and suffered the same criticisms.
The only name that doesn't appear amongst such critiques, is that of Xi Jinping. If anyone should be pilloried in this pandemic; it's him. Even now the Chinese refuse to give details of how, and why, this virus managed to escape.
Conspiracy theories abound; most of which are pure fantasy. China's ruling 'politburo' keeps a tight hold both on it's citizens, and on the information it reveals, so I don't expect we'll ever know the truth, although many China-escapees are suggesting that this was a Laboratory Developed Bio-Weapon that found its way out.
What we are certain about, however, it that the resulting global economic disaster will take years, if not decades, to remedy, and maybe China should be made to cough-up!
Can Xi seriously allow such a disaster to happen, killing over a million people, and not be held responsible?
Xi is an amateur. Competent communists and socialist can kill tens of millions of people.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone believes their official COVID death toll of 4,740; they must be crazy
DeleteThe detractors are very good at condemning, but none of them have alternative solutions?
ReplyDeleteI see that Sir Kier has yet to propose any alternative. I wonder why?
DeleteI have.
DeleteProtect the vulnerable.
Encourage herd immunity.
We are not on the 500th wave of Spanish Flu.
Actually what would have happened if Hillary and Corbyn won would be a media silence. The constant, deafening criticism would not have seen light of day. Hillary certainly wouldn't have been slated for lack of PPE because that would be admitting the truth. Afters SARS the US national stock were depleted and, despite 7 long years of a Democrat president and recommendations from the CDC and FEMAs own rules, they were never refilled. The media would have to have admitted that Obama and the administration she served in failed miserably to fulfil its duty.
ReplyDeleteOf course, as recently demonstrated in the disclosed memos, we know know Hillary was supposed to win and the whole Russian collusion farce was actually entirely fake, a ploy by the Clinton campaign to discredit Trump. A ploy that was known about by both Obama and Biden, who both then denied knowledge of it. Again the media is silent. That in itself speaks volumes.
For the record, yes I suspect the Chinese released it deliberately and I suspect they also already have a vaccine since they created it as a bio weapon in the first place.
All politicians of all colours would have come to the same conclusion, to find an acceptable balance between saving human lives, and saving the economy. There is no other ethical answer.
DeleteAs you said Carl, conspiracy theories abound.
DeleteWhile I know a little about Britain and its politics and I feel a connection, the behaviour and leadership of Trump should see him locked up. That a country like India with its poverty, huge population and poor medical care has better figures than the US is damming of the richest country in the world. I agree, Corbyn would have been as incompetent as Johnston has been but just borrowed a bit more. You are correct about Xi and I have no problem with it being called the China Virus. Had the attempted early cover not happened, the world might be in a much better place. English you may be, but you are pretty safe in rural France, however you do have family in the wider world.
ReplyDeleteThey are all feeling around in the dark, looking for an exit. It will come in time, but for the moment we're all in the same boat. However, if blame should be placed anywhere, it should be with China.
DeleteAs the Indian health minister pointed out far fewer Indian people have underlying health conditions, half of the population isn't obese, the Indian life expectancy is 69 in the US it is 78 despite them being far more unhealthy. The average age of Covid victims in the USA is 82(CDC figures) and all but a small percentage have underlying health conditions that would have been terminalin India. Finally India, despite its massive population, has only carried out 85 million covid tests. The US 120 million.
Deletesorry Cro, ruddy autocorrect.
ReplyDeleteNo one knows how things would have turned out under different regimes, but I find it difficult to believe that Clinton would have acted as Trump did.
We will never know, it might have been better or it might have been worse. One thing is certain, that she wouldn't have found a magic wand.
DeleteTake an educated guess and look at Sweden.
DeleteAs nearly everyones Nation's economy has gone down the pan, China's has risen by 11%. Time the world got together and started manufacturing so we didn't have to buy from them. Another thing that irks me, why are we giving such a rich country foreign aid?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, and we're still giving them £67.9 Million.
DeleteI hate how Trump calls it the Chinese virus, causing hate against a whole people, but that's Trump for you. The man is a Joke, and being in his role is frightening for the world.
ReplyDeleteWe still don't know if it was a Laboratory produced Bio-Weapon, but it's looking more likely. Someone should take the blame, but obviously not the entire Chinese nation.
DeleteI would be interested in respectable sources putting forward the view that COVID 19 was a lab produced bio weapon. Sounds like another conspiracy theory to me
DeleteI agree. It is 100% racist, and every time he says "China virus" he is confirming his racism. IF he had acted when he was first informed of the virus, thousands of American lives could have been saved. But saving lives is NOT his priority (obviously!!), I live in Canada and am looking at the USA with horror, disbelief and little hope for your future. I have family in the USA, it's all very very sad.
DeleteAs a lifelong socialist, may I say that it never occurred to me for even the briefest of moments that COVID-19 was created by Trump and Johnson. Like Poppypatchwork I feel sickened by Trump's vindictive use of the term "Chinese Virus". The flu epidemic of 1918 began on a chicken farm in America. Should we rename it "The American Flu"? It certainly did not begin in Spain.
ReplyDeleteWe will probably never know the truth and theories will abound. Just as we will never know if a Labour government might have handled it better. In any case such speculation is pointless as politicians are judged on how they have performed, not how they might have, given the chance.
ReplyDeleteAll the countries are lying, and are responsible for how the virus was handled in their own land. How it started, we will never really know, but what was done and not done is seen in the number of coffins that are counted.
ReplyDeleteTruth is a hard commodity these days. Wading through the misinformation seems to be a way of life.
ReplyDeleteWhile we may never know the true origin, we certainly do know about the incompetence demonstrated by Trump and Johnson. And in Trump's case, not merely incompetence but downright criminal behaviour by hiding the true nature of the virus (as clearly demonstrated by the Woodward tapes). His lies and politicizing of the lack of response and his complete sidelining of the medical experts must never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteOur border remains closed and we pray it will stay that way for a good long while!
In the UK it seems to me that it's been a constant revolving door of DO vs, DON'T DO - no real plan and constant backtracking - no wonder so many are completely confused!
Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and believe me, I give thanks every day that I live here and not in the US or the UK right now.
I certainly agree about your last observation. Living here in the wilds of France, we hardly know that all this is going on around us; other than we do listen to the news.
DeleteTrump and Boris are easy targets. To focus on Xi, while more appropriate (if nothing else, for silencing doctors in Wuhan trying to raise the warning, thereby allowing global transmission), would undermine an ideology that worships globalism as the only true, moral and intelligent view. One world order. Utopia. Like that 1960s/70s Coca Cola commercial where all the young folks held hands on a hillside and sang about buying the world a coke. What COVID-19 has shown us is the need for individual countries to have production facilities within their own borders for essentials like PPE, medicines, soaps/disinfectants, paper products, etc. For when the next pandemic hits. Fully expecting backlash on this, so delete if necessary.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds exactly like what the UK is doing at the moment. Pissed off with poor standards, they will get back to a position where real quality counts, outside of the EU.
DeleteThe cynic in me says that we will be getting back to the situation where those who give the govt the most in donations will get the most contracts and profit will outweigh quality or standards in food manufacture, animal welfare and workers rights. Only time will tell.
DeleteThere are no easy solutions. And leaders will face disapprovel whatever they try - either for trashing the economy, or causing needless deaths- or both.
ReplyDeleteHowever I do wish Trump would appear a little chastened. His approach- while it could be argued does much to encourage positivity and maybe alleviate fear, could be construed as making a mockery of those who have succumbed or been left with long term sequelae- not to mention those who will now suffer (financially or health-wise) due to lack of, or inadequate health insurance- and no doubt some of those to the right of the political spectrum will regard them as "loosers"
The USA is almost in a state of civil war. Not only is the virus dividing, but the BLM activists are doing their best to divide society.... It doesn't look good.
DeleteCro, rather than focussing on the BLM activists. I would look to Trump who, when asked to speak out against whites supremacists said “Proud Boys - stand back and stand by, But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem”. All he did was put more wood on the fire!
DeleteWhat is happening in the USA now is something (still) inconceivable to me, whose grandfather immigrated here from Russia as a boy. No prouder American than when he became a full citizen in his adult years. I grew up with that understanding. No, this doesn't look good. It doesn't end well. Never has, historically. Which is why we've bought land in a remote, high country area of the Southwest, near a few Indian Nations and National Parks. To remove ourselves in retirement from the toxic social environment as much as possible. Rage and hatred are rampant, endless, everyday issues. Many of your comments (above) reflect that. From folks who once preached tolerance and love and inclusion.
DeleteWe, over on this side of the pond, are amazed to see fully kitted-out neo-militiamen on the streets of the US, with semi automatic weapons in their hands. Is this legal?
DeleteIt varies from state to state, Cro, but in my humble opinion, it's never a good or safe idea. I predicted it, though, when the "mostly peaceful protests" that included tearing down statues, burning, smashing and looting started off the summer in cities that were still on state-enforced lock downs. My town is 30k population. We had an active shooter (he shot several cops) on the loose in June.
DeleteThe Proud Boys national leader is a Black Cuban American. The PB who is being hounded by the authorities for punching an ANTIFA looter, while Portland lets ANTIFA and BLM arsonists and looters walk free, is a Samoan American. Youtube was full of videos by minority Americans who are PBs until many were taken down for no reason other than they were generating interest in their cause of a MULTI RACIAL group who supports traditional Western values. The tech giants don’t want any other voices for minorities other than the DNC.
ReplyDeleteIt’s almost like the issue is not about race but about ideologies, which groups support traditional Western values and which are Communists. Wait it is EXACTLY like that.
While I think emotionally charged demonstrating in the streets by either group is counterproductive it is ANTIFA and BLM who have caused BILLIONS of dollars of damage in mostly minority areas. Great job, Marxists.
To M, of course it's about ideology; both sides (for months) have used the same actual words... "It's a battle for the soul of America." The press acting as 4 star general, orchestrating and fueling said battle. Encouraging the notion of seeing fellow Americans as "the enemy" and attaching omnipotence (it seems) to one human being who does not actually possess that level of power. And one day, we'll look over the carnage that remains and ask ourselves what it was all for.
ReplyDeleteWell you got everyone going
ReplyDeletePolly put the kettle on and we'll all have tea
ReplyDeleteAnd it all started with a piece about the cost of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteI will finish this by saying that Ms Sturgeon (of Scotland) has been a constant and volatile critic of Boris over his handling of Covid-19. Now Scotland's cases of the virus are suddenly the highest in the world (I think), and Boris says nothing. Some simply shout, others get on with the job in hand.