Saturday 14 March 2020

Coronavirus COVID-19: “Made in China” or “Made in America”?

Global Research, March 14, 2020

Trump contends that the coronavirus was “Made in China”.  And that China threatens America.

The president of the US wants Americans to believe that the coronavirus pandemic carries the “Made in China” label.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refers to it as the “Wuhan coronavirus.” 
“The Big Lie” started on January 30th when the WHO Director General pressured by powerful US economic interests declared a global public health emergency with only 150 “confirmed cases” (by the WHO) outside China with only six cases in the USA. And it was called a pandemic. 
“Fake media” immediately went into high gear. China was held responsible for “spreading infection” Worldwide.
On the following day (January 31, 2020), Trump announced that he would deny entry to the US of both Chinese and foreign nationals “who have traveled in China in the last 14 days”. This immediately triggered a crisis in air travel,  transportation, US-China business relations as well as freight and shipping transactions.
While the “Made in China” coronavirus label served as a pretext, the unspoken objective was to bring the Chinese economy to its knees.
It was an act of “economic warfare”, which has contributed to undermining both China’s  economy as well as that of  most Western countries (allies of the US), leading to a wave of bankruptcies, not to mention unemployment, collapse of the tourist industry,  etc.
Moreover, Trump’s “Made in China” coronavirus label almost immediately as of early February triggered a campaign against ethnic Chinese throughout the Western World.
Stage 2.0: “Infections Transmitted by Europeans”? 
On March 11, a new phase was launched. The Trump administration imposed a 30-day ban on Europeans entering the United States through the suspension of air-travel with the EU (with the exception of Britain).
America is now waging its “economic  war” against Western Europe, while using COVID-19 as a justification.
European governments have been co-opted. In Italy a lockdown prevails, ordered by the Prime Minister, large cities in Northern Italy including Milano and Torino have literally closed down.
Confusion, Fear and intimidation prevail.
It’s “Damage Made in America”.
Late February: Financial manipulation characterizes stock market transactions Worldwide.
The stock value of airlines companies collapses overnight. Those who had  “foreknowledge” of Trump’s March 11 decision to ban transatlantic flights from EU countries made a bundle of money. It’s called “short-selling” in the derivative market among other speculative ops. Institutional speculators including hedge funds with “inside info” had already placed their bets.
More generally, a massive transfer of money wealth has occurred, among the largest in World history, leading to countless bankruptcies, not to mention the loss of lifelong savings engineered through the collapse of financial markets.
This process is ongoing. It would be naive to believe that these occurrences are spontaneous, based on market forces. They are deliberate. They are part of a carefully designed plan involving powerful financial interests.
COVID-19: “Made in China” or “Made in America”? 
And now a new bombshell has emerged: The White House rhetoric of accusing China of spreading the “Wuhan virus” Worldwide has been refuted by both Japanese and Chinese reports. Scientific analysis revealed by Larry Romanoff  suggests that the virus was “Made in America”:
“it appears that the virus did not originate in China and, according to reports in Japanese and other media, may have originated in the US.  …
In February, the Japanese Asahi news report (print and TV) claimed the coronavirus originated in the US, not in Chinaand that some (or many) of the 14,000 American deaths attributed to influenza may have in fact have resulted from the coronavirus.
And on March 12, in a statement to the US Congress (House Oversight Committee), CDC Director Robert Redfield unwittingly “spilled the beans”. He candidly admitted, yes, some cases diagnosed as seasonal flu could have been coronavirus.
When did this occur? In October, November? What is the chronology.  It is worth noting that Redfield’s statement is corroborated by both Japanese and Taiwanese virologists.  Two countries which are staunch allies of the USA.
CDC director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday.







Embedded video



It is worth noting that the Taiwan virologist (referred to above)
“stated that the US has recently [?] had more than 200 “pulmonary fibrosis” cases that resulted in death due to patients’ inability to breathe, … He said he .. informed the US health authorities to consider seriously those deaths as resulting from the coronavirus, … [He] then stated the virus outbreak may have begun earlier than assumed, suggesting  “We must look to September of 2019”. (quoted in Larry Romanoff, op cit)
China’s Foreign Ministry has reacted to CDC Robert Redfield’s statements intimating that the virus could have originated in the US.
When Did “Patient Zero” Begin in the US?
@CDCDirector Dr. Robert Redfield: Some cases that were previously diagnosed as Flu in the US were actually . It is absolutely WRONG and INAPPROPRIATE to call this the Chinese coronavirus. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4860650/user-clip-diagnosed-flu-covid-19 



The World is at the Crossroads of the Most Serious Social and Economic Crisis in Modern History
People Worldwide are being misled. They are told: “It’s going to get worse”. In several countries, the economy has closed down. Supermarkets, shopping malls, offices, factories, schools, universities are at a standstill. People are confined to their homes. Fear and intimidation prevail.
In the meantime, coinciding with the coronavirus lockdown in Italy, 30,000 US troops have been dispatched to the EU, under US-NATO’s  “Defend Europe 2020” war games against Russia, in the largest military deployment since World War II. “Could the Defender become the Invader…?”
Let’s be clear: The coronavirus pandemic is not the “cause” of this unfolding economic and social crisis. It is the “pretext” for the implementation of a carefully designed “operation” (supported by media disinformation) which destabilizes national economies, impoverishes large sectors of the World population and literally undermines the lives of millions of people. What we are dealing with is “An Act of War”.

For further details see:

What Happens Next: The Potential Impacts of a Continued Freeze of US Trade with China
The geopolitics are complex. How will economic events unfold? We will essentially focus briefly on US-China relations.
Those who formulated America’s “undeclared economic war” against China, failed to envisage the potential backlash on the US economy.
It’s an “Economic Harakiri” i.e. “Suicide American Style”
In a matter of  months, if normal US-China trade relations and transportation are not resumed, the impacts on the national economies of Western countries could be devastating.
A large share of goods displayed in America’s shopping malls, including major brands are  “Made in China”.
“Made in China” is the backbone of retail trade in the USA which indelibly sustains household consumption in virtually all major commodity categories from clothing, footwear, hardware, electronics, toys, jewellery, household fixtures, medical supplies, medicine and prescription drugs,,  TV sets, cell phones, etc.
“Made in China” also dominates the production of a wide range of industrial inputs, advanced technology, machinery, building materials, automotive, parts and accessories, etc. not to mention the extensive sub-contracting of Chinese companies on behalf of US conglomerates.
While the US has a powerful and sophisticated financial apparatus (which has the ability to manipulate trade and stock markets Worldwide), America’s Real Economy is in a shambles.
Production does not take place in the USA. The producers have given up production.
The US trade deficit with China is instrumental in fuelling the profit driven consumer economy which relies on “Made in China” consumer goods. Meanwhile China holds a large part of the US public debt which they can readily convert into real assets overnight.
At this juncture of the coronavirus crisis, Beijing policy makers are fully aware that the US economy is fragile and heavily dependent on “Made in China”.  Moreover, China has overtaken the US in several high tech areas including 5G.
And with an internal market of 1.4 billion people, coupled with a global export market under the “Belt and Road” initiative, the Chinese economy will have the upper hand.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Washington Post Hypes False News on Mass ‘Burial Pits’ for Coronavirus Victims in Iran



Washington Post Hypes False News on Mass ‘Burial Pits’ for Coronavirus Victims in Iran

The Washington Post published fake news about Iran’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, peddling phony claims that Iran dug mass “burial pits” for victims of the disease and covering the true number of deaths.
As countries across the world grapple with the COVID-19 outbreak, Iran’s struggle to contain the deadly disease has attracted more than usual attention from mainstream outlets in certain countries.
Despite numerous statements from World Health Organization officials praising Iran’s efforts against the outbreak, certain outlets have focused on erringly similar themes regarding Iran; that the country is in chaos, is mishandling the outbreak and that it’s “putting other countries at risk”.
The newspaper specifically published a string of exclusively conspiracy-minded and politicized reports about the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.
Its latest reports include headlines such as “Iran’s government is lying its way to a coronavirus catastrophe”, “Iran struggles to contain coronavirus outbreak, putting Middle East countries at risk” and “Coronavirus pummels Iran leadership as data show spread is far worse than reported”.
In its latest article on Iran – titled “Coronavirus burial pits so vast they’re visible from space” – the US daily claimed satellite images show newly dug “trenches” the size of a “football field” to accommodate bodies of the coronavirus victims.
The images illustrate a cemetery near Iran’s epicenter city of Qom. The paper cited dubious reports and videos circulating over the internet about Iran covering up its coronavirus deaths.
The report concluded that the graves have been dug to “accommodate the rising number of virus victims in Qom”.
Many observers, however, have been quick to point out inconsistencies and flaws in the report, with some highlighting the unprofessional reporting used in the article; using hyped expressions such as “seen from space” to portray a false image of mass graves.
Observers pointed that the overall length of the purported 100 yards of “burial pits” in the satellite images cannot accommodate more than about 75-100 graves, not significantly higher than the official death toll announced for the city.
Others have presented evidence showing that the vacant graves in the area are not specifically related to the coronavirus outbreak and that long rows of graves had been also dug long-before the pandemic.
The report, however, has circulated widely among social media accounts and various foreign-funded anti-Iran outlets, prompting Iranian officials to issue official statements on the matter.
Executive Manager of Qom Municipality’s burial sites, Seifoddin Mousavi, told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [IRIB] that the graves had been planned before the outbreak as part of usual procedures in the cemetery.
He stressed that all the operations in the cemetery are taking place according to international protocols regarding burial sites.
On Friday, Kianoush Jahanpour, the head of the public relations and information center of the Iranian Health Ministry, said that the new coronavirus has claimed 514 lives in the country.
Iran’s security forces have announced that they plan to adopt special measures in the near future to contain the outbreak across the country.

Related

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

«حفلة الجنون» الأميركية: نحو تبديل قواعد الاشتباك؟


نور أيوب السبت 14 آذار 2020


«حفلة الجنون» الأميركية: نحو تبديل قواعد الاشتباك؟
أسفر الهجوم الأميركي عن استشهاد 5 جنود ومدني وجرح عدد آخر (أ ف ب )

الردّ الأميركي السريع على الهجوم الصاروخي الذي استهدف «التاجي» لا يبشّر بالخير. «حفلة من الجنون»، وكسر لقواعد الاشتباك، وتأكيد أن واشنطن «محت» الخطوط الحمراء، وأنها باتت في مواجهة العراق دولة وشعباً… كل ذلك يعزّز فرضيّات التصعيد في الأيام المقبلةالردّ الأميركي على الهجوم الصاروخي الذي استهدف «معسكر التاجي» (45 كلم شمال العاصمة بغداد) كان أشبه بـ«حفلة جنون» تعكس إفلاساً ضارباً في مقاربة الإدارة الأميركية للأزمة المستفحلة مع الأحزاب والقوى السياسية العراقية، والمتعلّقة بانتشار قواتها على طول بلاد الرافدين. قيادة «العمليّات المشتركة» العراقية أكّدت في بيان أمس، تعرّض البلاد إلى «اعتداء سافر» من طائرات أميركية مقاتلة استهدفت قطعات الجيش العراقي (مغاوير الفرقة 19) ومقر اللواء 46 في «الحشد الشعبي»، وفوج شرطة بابل الثالث، ومطار كربلاء (قيد الإنشاء، ويقع على الطريق الرابط بين كربلاء والنجف)، ما أسفر عن استشهاد خمسة جنود ومدني، وجرح عدد آخر.
هو ردّ «مجنون» بتوصيف مصادر أمنية رفيعة، لأنه يكسر «قواعد الاشتباك» المعمول بها منذ سنوات، والقاضية بـ«تحييد» مؤسسات الدولة ومنشآتها في سياق المواجهة بين فصائل المقاومة وقوّات الاحتلال. مصادر سياسية مطّلعة قالت لـ«الأخبار» إن الهجوم الأخير «يعكس إفلاس الإدارة الأميركية، ورفضها التزام القرار السيادي العراقي الداعي إلى انسحاب القوات الأجنبية وفق جدول زمني يُتفق عليه بين الجانبين… واشنطن ترجمت عجزها عن تحديد عدوّها من صديقها». وعليه، فضّل الجيش الأميركي العسكرية اعتبار كل نقطة في البلاد هدفاً يمكن استهدافه. هذا «الجنون» من شأنه، وفق المصادر، أن «يعقّد الأزمة أكثر، ويشرّع الأبواب أمام تصعيد مرفوض (حالياً) من الحكومة الاتحادية، والمؤثرين في القرار السياسي».
بيان «المشتركة» حمل لهجة حادّة ضد الجانب الأميركي كلهجته ضد «المجموعات» التي استهدفت «التاجي»، إذ وصف ما جرى «انتهاكاً لمبدأ الشراكة والتحالف بين القوات الأمنية العراقية، والجهات التي خطّطت ونفّذت الهجوم الغادر»، كما رأى أن الحديث عن كون «الهجوم ردّاً على العمل العدواني الذي استهدف التاجي ذريعة واهية تقود إلى التصعيد ولا تقدّم حلّاً للسيطرة على الأوضاع».



في هذا الإطار، تساءل البيان عن المبرّر الأميركي لاستهداف المنشآت الحكومية، العسكرية والمدنية، في ظلّ التوصيف الأميركي للضربات الجوية بـ«الناجحة»، والإعراب عن الرضى بـ«حجم الأضرار التي خلّفتها».
في غضون ذلك، تتساءل المصادر عن سبب الاستهداف المتكرّر لمقارّ «الحشد» الذي يُعدّ جزءاً من المؤسسة الأمنية ــــ العسكرية، وملتزماً قرار الدولة العراقية، فـ«المواجهة» بالمنظور الأميركي ضد الفصائل، وليس «الحشد»، وعجز واشنطن عن مواجهتها يدفع بها إلى استهداف «الحشد» في ظاهرة متكرّرة. أما التصعيد الخطير، فكان استهداف مقارّ الجيش والشرطة الاتحاديّة، التي «تواطأت» مع المنفذين الميدانيين لضربة «التاجي»، كما ينقل مطّلعون على مناخات السفارة الأميركية. لكن المصادر السياسة تعلّق على الإعلان الأميركي «إبقاء حاملتي طائرات في المنطقة (للمرّة الأولى منذ 2012) للرد على التهديد، المتمثّل في الأسلحة المتطوّرة التي قدّمتها إيران»، بالقول: «الجانب الأميركي بات عاجزاً جدّاً» منذ اغتياله نائب رئيس «هيئة الحشد» أبو مهدي المهندس، وقائد «قوّة القدس» في «الحرس الثوري» الإيراني قاسم سليماني، ورفاقهما، في محيط مطار بغداد الدولي، مطلع العام الجاري، كما أنها رأت تصعيده الأخير قائماً على «حجج واهية».
بالعودة إلى بيان «المشتركة»، وبيان الرئاسات الثلاث والأحزاب والقوى السياسية، يُسجّل التنديد والاستنكار المصاحب بلهجة حادّة، ووصف ما جرى بأنه «تصرّف خارج عن إرادة الدولة العراقية، واعتداء على سيادتها، ويقوّي التوجهات الخارجة عن القانون… فلا يحق لأي طرف أن يضع نفسه بديلاً عن الدولة وسيادتها وقراراتها الشرعية». هذه اللغة استُتبعت بتسليم الخارجية العراقية السفير الأميركي لدى بغداد، ماثيو تولر، مُذكّرة احتجاج، وتبليغه بأن الحكومة سترفع شكوى إلى مجلس الأمن الدولي، وأخرى إلى الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة، بشأن الاعتداء على مقارّ الجيش والشرطة و«الحشد». لكن السؤال يبقى، وفق أكثر من مصدر، أمام هذا الحراك الدبلوماسي، عن مآلات المفاوضات مع الجانب الأميركي الداعية لانسحابه، وهذا ما سيترجم «الحرص» الحقيقي على السيادة الوطنية ويثبتها فعلاً لا قولاً أو بياناً.
حمل بيان «المشتركة» والرئاسات الثلاث لهجة حادّة ضد الاحتلال الأميركي
في غضون ذلك، تتساءل المصادر عن سبب الاستهداف المتكرّر لمقارّ «الحشد» الذي يُعدّ جزءاً من المؤسسة الأمنية ــــ العسكرية، وملتزماً قرار الدولة العراقية، فـ«المواجهة» بالمنظور الأميركي ضد الفصائل، وليس «الحشد»، وعجز واشنطن عن مواجهتها يدفع بها إلى استهداف «الحشد» في ظاهرة متكرّرة. أما التصعيد الخطير، فكان استهداف مقارّ الجيش والشرطة الاتحاديّة، التي «تواطأت» مع المنفذين الميدانيين لضربة «التاجي»، كما ينقل مطّلعون على مناخات السفارة الأميركية. لكن المصادر السياسة تعلّق على الإعلان الأميركي «إبقاء حاملتي طائرات في المنطقة (للمرّة الأولى منذ 2012) للرد على التهديد، المتمثّل في الأسلحة المتطوّرة التي قدّمتها إيران»، بالقول: «الجانب الأميركي بات عاجزاً جدّاً» منذ اغتياله نائب رئيس «هيئة الحشد» أبو مهدي المهندس، وقائد «قوّة القدس» في «الحرس الثوري» الإيراني قاسم سليماني، ورفاقهما، في محيط مطار بغداد الدولي، مطلع العام الجاري، كما أنها رأت تصعيده الأخير قائماً على «حجج واهية».
بالعودة إلى بيان «المشتركة»، وبيان الرئاسات الثلاث والأحزاب والقوى السياسية، يُسجّل التنديد والاستنكار المصاحب بلهجة حادّة، ووصف ما جرى بأنه «تصرّف خارج عن إرادة الدولة العراقية، واعتداء على سيادتها، ويقوّي التوجهات الخارجة عن القانون… فلا يحق لأي طرف أن يضع نفسه بديلاً عن الدولة وسيادتها وقراراتها الشرعية». هذه اللغة استُتبعت بتسليم الخارجية العراقية السفير الأميركي لدى بغداد، ماثيو تولر، مُذكّرة احتجاج، وتبليغه بأن الحكومة سترفع شكوى إلى مجلس الأمن الدولي، وأخرى إلى الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة، بشأن الاعتداء على مقارّ الجيش والشرطة و«الحشد». لكن السؤال يبقى، وفق أكثر من مصدر، أمام هذا الحراك الدبلوماسي، عن مآلات المفاوضات مع الجانب الأميركي الداعية لانسحابه، وهذا ما سيترجم «الحرص» الحقيقي على السيادة الوطنية ويثبتها فعلاً لا قولاً أو بياناً.

Related Videos


Related News
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Finian Cunningham March 12, 2020



Finian Cunningham March 12, 2020
The decision to go-ahead with NATO’s biggest-ever war games in Europe at a time of heightened fears over the coronavirus sure raises questions about the military alliance’s stated purpose of maintaining security.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg has said the Defender-Europe 20 exercises will not be cancelled due to the flu-like disease which has now spread to every country in the European Union causing hundreds of deaths so far.
Over the next five months some 17 allied NATO members will participate in military maneuvers across seven European states: in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. All of the host nations have reported infections from the COVID-19 virus. “Host” being an operative word when it comes to also talking about the relationship with the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn is quoted as saying that the coronavirus outbreak has “become a global pandemic” and the “worst has yet to come.”
In all, 37,000 troops are involved in the Defender-Europe 20 war games, the biggest contingency since the end of the Cold War nearly three decades ago. The U.S. is sending 20,000 personnel. Most of those troops will return to bases located in at least 20 American states. Thus, the risk factor of spreading the disease across Europe and the U.S. is significantly increased by the NATO events.
Going ahead with the European war games looks especially ill-advised given that U.S. forces in Asia-Pacific have cancelled similar military exercises that were scheduled in South Korea out of fears about coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Defender-Europe 20 events underway come amid reports that the U.S. Commander in Europe, Lt. General Christoper Cavoli, may have been infected after attending a recent military conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The top health advisor to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Brig. General Paul Friedrichs has also admitted that the number of COVID-19 cases among the Pentagon’s armed forces may be far higher than is being reported.
The seeming lack of cautionary measures by the U.S.-led NATO alliance is in contrast to growing public concerns for containing the disease. Italy – which has recorded the second highest fatalities worldwide after China – has placed a total lockdown on public travel for its 60 million population. Airlines across Europe have cancelled thousands of flights as some carriers go out of business altogether.
Sporting events across Europe including major soccer matches are being cancelled or will be held without attendance by fans. The six-nations rugby tournament has been thrown into disarray from match fixtures being rescheduled; a big match between Ireland and France due this weekend is postponed until October.
In Britain there are calls for parliament to be suspended after health minister Nadine Dorries was reported to have been infected. Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of complacency in dealing with the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also come under fire for not taking sufficient containment measures or providing adequate resources such as testing kits. The official number of U.S. cases of COVID-19 is relatively low so far, but that is thought to be due to limited testing.
It would therefore seem reasonable in this context of pandemic risk that such a multinational event like NATO’s Defender-Europe 20 be called off. As it proceeds, the war games appear to a perfect vector for accelerating disease spread between two continents and beyond. Indeed, not parking these war games seems the height of carelessness.
How fitting that NATO should be so unresponsive to real need. This lumbering 29-nation military organization which consumes a combined annual budget of $1 trillion is a creature of habit and slavish ideology. Nearly 30 years after the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the world has moved on. But not, it seems, NATO. It continues to hold its war games supposedly defending Europe from “Russian invasion”.
If NATO can’t adjust to such glaring world realities as the end of the Soviet Union three decades ago, then no wonder its response to coronavirus is hardly fleet-footed. It’s the military equivalent of a dinosaur whose functioning is no longer supported by its environment.
The irony is that NATO’s obscene military largesse is crushing public finances that would otherwise be more usefully spent, such as building up healthcare infrastructure that would help mitigate crises like the coronavirus. Many other societal needs are chronically neglected because of exorbitant military budgets among NATO members. Donald Trump brags that he has cajoled European allies to fork out hundreds of billions more dollars on military budgets.
The coronavirus is but a stress-test on whole societies that have become hollowed out by excessive militarism and the corporate capitalist super-structure it serves.
Even before the coronavirus problem emerged in China earlier this year, the NATO war games in Europe (and elsewhere) have been a cause for much criticism. The geopolitical tensions that this U.S.-led militarism is engendering towards Russia and China have been deplored. Moscow has denounced the Defender-Europe 20 event as a “rehearsal for war” which is completely disconnected from reality. The inveterate Cold War ideology that drives NATO is imposing insecurity and risk of war on Europe in a way that makes a mockery of NATO claims about being dedicated to “security and defense”.
The reckless risk-taking with regard to inflaming a coronavirus pandemic is typical of NATO’s obsolete purpose. Like the disease itself, NATO is a parasite on host nations draining vital public resources. This organization should be “self-isolating”… 30 years too late.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!