By John R. Houk
© February 25, 2020
Coronavirus spread map
(posted (1/29/20 The Sun)
If you live in a nation where the rule of law affords you at
least the semblance of Freedom, you should trust information coming from
Communist China like a mouse should trust a carnivorous snake.
The only indisputable fact about the Coronavirus (increasingly
being called COVID-19) is the point of origin
is Communist China. The official Communist government line on the Coronavirus
is somehow the virus developed in some kind of wetland/fish market in Wuhan.
That line is apparently receiving wide acceptance by the Mainstream Media (MSM)
and official non-Chinese government and health organization outlets.
YET those same outlets are also reporting the Communist
government in China is being less than cooperative in divulging statistical and
scientific data relating to the Coronavirus.
That lack of cooperation has led many investigative news
outlets typically relegated to Conspiracy Theory by the MSM to come to
conclusions that differ from the Communist government line by scanning documented
info that the MSM has failed to divulge or has buried in their difficult to
locate media sections.
Those conclusions disagreeing with the official Communist
government line points from the worst case scenario of a bio-weapon development
accident to a best case scenario bio-virus study accident all spilling into the
Chinese population originating in Wuhan China.
Propping up the Conspiracy Theory conclusions is a
discovered fact (from a Chinese government memo) is that the Communist government
has unleashed thousands of Internet propaganda trolls to counter negative info-stories
relating to the Coronavirus associated with Chinese Communist designs. One such
report on the propaganda trolls comes from The Epoch Times
(who are sadly in the process of transforming from free to subscription):
The propaganda department in
virus-stricken Hubei Province has engaged over
1,600 censors to scrub the internet of “sensitive” information relating to the coronavirus
outbreak, according to an internal document obtained by The Epoch Times.
The internal report, dated Feb. 15,
detailed the agency’s efforts to ramp up censorship measures. It was drafted
after a speech given by Chinese leader Xi Jinping via video link on Feb. 10 to
“frontline responders” of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of
Hubei, where the virus first broke out.
The revelations come as the Chinese
regime tightens information controls over the worsening outbreak, as netizens
have increasingly turned to the internet to vent their frustrations about the
authorities’ response, or document what is happening on the ground.
The illness has seen a steadily
growing official list of infections and deaths on a daily basis. Experts and
commentators, however, believe the actual number of infections to be far
greater, due to underreporting and shortages in testing kits and hospital
beds—meaning many people are left undiagnosed.
1,600 Trolls Deployed
According to the document, the
department has hired more than 1,600 trolls, known as the 50-cent army in
China, to regulate internet speech continuously, 24/7.
The trolls, through technological
and manual screening, had identified as many as 606,800 posts online with
“sensitive or harmful information,” it said.
Their approach, it said, was to
“timely dispel the online rumors” and “strike powerful blows offline.”
As of Feb. 14, the online censors
had deleted as many as 54,000 such “rumors,” and had social media influencers
write nearly 400 commentary articles to shape the narrative.
The regime’s propaganda efforts,
the report said, should be directed toward promoting the effects of officials’
outbreak control measures and the “moving deeds” of volunteers, … GREAT ARTICLE – READ MORE (Exclusive: Chinese Regime Deploys 1,600 Online Trolls to
Suppress Information on Coronavirus; By Cathy He and Eva Fu; The Epoch
Times; 2/18/20 Updated: 2/19/20
Marxist Mind Censors &
Coronavirus
I also found a video reporting on Communist Chinese propaganda
manipulation of Coronavirus information. The Internet propaganda trolls begins
about the 6:20 mark of the 18:10 minute video:
VIDEO: 1,600 internet trolls deployed to suppress coronavirus info;
Soldiers get body temperature measured
Posted by China in Focus - NTD
17.7K subscribers - Feb 19, 2020
An exclusive. We obtained an internal
document that reveals the Chinese #communist regime is ramping up
propaganda efforts inside Hubei province, the epicenter of the #coronavirus outbreak.
And inside #China, cases of the virus in the
Chinese army are also increasing. Photos show soldiers wearing face masks and
getting their body temperature measured.
Japan now has nearly 700 cases of
the coronavirus. 621 of which are from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The U.S. state department has
labeled five Chinese media outlets as foreign missions to make it clear that
these media outlets primarily trade in propaganda.
You can’t trust a Communist. Think twice before dismissing these
Communist Chinese reports of a screw-up involved with bio-weapon or bio-hazard
research which you should definitely check out:
o Virus-hit Wuhan has two laboratories linked to Chinese
bio-warfare program; By Bill Gertz; The Washington Times; 1/24/20
o Did China Steal Coronavirus From Canada And Weaponize It?
Posted by Tyler
Durden - Submitted by Great Game India; ZeroHedge;
1/26/20 10:11
o Is the Coronavirus a Bioweapon? A look
at the Chinese regime's biological warfare intentions, capabilities; By Steven W. Mosher; The Epoch Times; 2/7/20 UPDATED: 2/10/20
o Coronavirus – natural phenomenon, accident or well-planned
bio-terrorist attack? By Raj Gonsalkorale; Daily
FT; 2/10/20 00:03
o Was this coronavirus PATIENT ZERO? Scientist describes
gruesome bat attack at Chinese lab; By Brian McGleenon; Daily
Express; 2/16/20 11:10 UPDATED: 2/16/20 12:12
CCP & Coronavirus
Despotism
Doug Bandow writing for the Foundation for Economic
Education (FEE) speculates the Coronavirus
casualties within China could lead to the demise of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP – additional
info detail from Alpha History) or at least the demise
of the current leadership of the CCP. I hope he is correct but it is my opinion
that history doesn’t show the Chinese populace rising in anger over authoritarian
rule even back toward Imperial Chinese days. The Mao Zedong Communist movement
took place in a China ultimately governed by various Chinese warlords who
perpetrated the illusion of an emperor. Essentially Mao was a warlord that
defeated other warlords utilizing the Mao concept of Marxism. Perhaps Communist
authoritarianism filtered by Western institutions implanted in Hong Kong and
Taiwan filters a Mainland uprising. I don’t know.
JRH 2/25/20
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OR just buy some FEEL GOOD coffee.
BLOG EDITOR: I’ve apparently
been placed in restricted Facebook Jail! The restriction was relegated after
criticizing Democrats for supporting abortion in one post and criticizing
Virginia Dems for gun-grabbing legislation and levying protester restrictions.
Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I
choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me completely.
Conservatives are a huge portion of Facebook. If more or all Conservatives are
banned, it will affect the Facebook advertising revenue paradigm. SO FIGHT
CENSORSHIP BY SHARE – SHARE – SHARE!!! Facebook notified me in
pop-up on 1/20/20: “You're temporarily restricted from joining and posting to
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****************************
Why Chinese Communism Could Be the Final Casualty of the
Coronavirus
Xi Jinping-left Gen. Sec. CCP - Angélica Rivera de Peña / CC BY-SA
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
By Doug Bandow
February 22, 2020
The Maoist
totalitarian state is being reborn in China under Xi Jinping, who is constructing a personality
cult akin to that which surrounded the late “Great Helmsman.” Xi is determined
to strengthen his and the Chinese Communist Party’s authority. However, the
response of the Chinese government to the COVID-19 virus has undermined the CCP’s
credibility—and ultimately may threaten the party’s hold on power.
Despite the modern world’s many extraordinary medical
miracles, the potential of a pandemic, an easily transmitted disease with a
high fatality rate, continues to worry medical
professionals. Most people have heard of the Black Death, when bubonic plague
killed between 75 and 200 million people in Eurasia in the mid-1300s. A century
ago the Spanish Flu infected a half billion people and killed between 20 and 50 million worldwide, more than the
number of deaths in World War I.
The worst pandemic in recent years was Ebola between 2014
and 2016: there were about 28,600 cases and 11,300 deaths, an average 40 death
rate, though the fatality rate of specific outbreaks ranged between 25 percent
and 90 percent. SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, infected almost 8,100
and killed roughly 800 people in 2002 to 2003.
SARS is particularly relevant because it also was a coronavirus
that originated in a Chinese “wet market”
that featured the sale of live and wild animals. Beijing’s response to that
health crisis was heavily criticized. In 2004 a report
from an Institute of Medicine forum accused the Chinese government of a “fatal
period of hesitation regarding information sharing and action.” The regime was
more concerned about presenting an atmosphere of calm and stability during a
leadership transition than preventing the spread of a disease of unknown
potency and transmissibility.
Luckily, SARS fell short of past pandemics. However, the
Chinese government is making similar mistakes in its response to what is now
being called COVID-19. The latter appears to be much less deadly than SARS,
though apparently more easily spread. As of mid-February, the number infected
exceeds 73,000, with some 1,900 deaths, assuming Beijing’s
statistics are accurate. Some doctors and outside researchers estimated that 100,000 or more Chinese actually
have been infected.
Nevertheless, the Xi government’s obvious concern belies its
official confidence. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan denounced “quarantine deserters,”
indicating that people were evading the government’s harsh control measures.
The regime just announced that anyone returning to Beijing from elsewhere in
the People’s Republic of China must report to local authorities and self-quarantine
for two weeks. Obviously, a pandemic in the nation’s capital would have
significant political and economic implications.
Handling a medical crisis of this nature will never be easy,
irrespective of the form of government. The PRC faced an additional challenge
because the epidemic hit amid the Lunar New Year, during which tens of millions
of Chinese traditionally travel. Many of those on the move are migrant workers,
who leave the countryside to work in cities. The circumstances could hardly
have been worse.
Nevertheless, the government’s response has fallen short of
that necessary to slow if not stop the disease’s spread. Initial blame rested
with the Wuhan provincial government. Wet markets continue to operate, despite
the evident risk of transmission of diseases from animals to people, the
genesis of both SARS and COVID-19.
Moreover, as the disease first emerged, the province was
reluctant to acknowledge reality. Officials failed to admit person-to-person
transmission and sponsored a Lunar New Year public potluck dinner with more
than 10,000 families intended to set a world record.
“Having a big event like this at a time of an epidemic
amounts to a lack of basic common sense,” observed Shanghai physician Li
Xinzhou.
The province also failed to report a single infection during
the first half of January, which coincided with a local party congress, so as
not to discourage attendance.
Beijing decided to lock down the entire city of 11 million.
But the Xi government gave advance notice that it was closing the airport and
train station, enabling a flood of people to escape while the door was still
open. Five million Wuhan residents ended up elsewhere in China and beyond.
Even with much of its population missing, the city lacked
the essentials to combat the epidemic. The lack of beds caused hospitals to
send patients home to self-quarantine without professional care. That the
authorities had not stockpiled masks, hand-sanitizer, and more to respond to an
unexpected pandemic was perhaps understandable. But refusing to acknowledge let
alone confront the swiftly swelling tsunamic of infections made it impossible
to catch up.
Although Wuhan’s CCP leadership deserved censure—and the
party chief since has been removed—the increasing centralization of power
orchestrated by Xi discouraged local leaders from taking responsibility. That
is a natural and predictable consequence of shifting power upward to the
national leadership. Xu Zhangrun, a law professor who last year lost his
position at Tsinghua University for criticizing Xi, argued that the monopoly of power
“has served to enable a dangerous ‘systematic impotence’ at every level.”
Jude Blanchette of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies argued that: “Xi’s leadership style
has effectively instilled a ‘wait and see’ attitude within the bureaucracy,”
which “is leading to slow and hesitant responses from government officials as
they wait for pronouncements from Beijing before taking action.”
Obviously, the slower the government’s reaction, the less
effective its response. Indeed, Wuhan’s Mayor Zhou Xianwang refused to accept blame, telling
China’s CCTV: “As a local government official, after I get this kind of information
[regarding human-to-human transmission] I still have to wait for authorization
before I can release it.”
In taking control, the central government seemed uncertain
whether to advertise Xi’s role. Having placed him at the “core” of the party
and affirmed his omniscience and omnipotence, it was not easy to limit his
responsibility for handling COVID-19. Nevertheless, for a time Xi disappeared
from public view. Speculation on the reason ranged from protecting Xi from
infection to insulating him from blame. Some compared the episode to 2012, when
the then-vice president similarly vanished, apparently to confront party
challenges centered around provincial chief and politburo member Bo Xilai, who
was ousted and imprisoned.
Instead, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who has been
marginalized by Xi, was
sent to Wuhan to show Beijing’s concern. Apparently,
Li was seen as expendable—though there was no word on whether he was
quarantined on his return. Li also was publicly placed in charge of the CCP’s
“leading small group” on the epidemic. Most LSGs operate without public
attention and at least half are chaired by Xi, presumably to tighten his
control of the party and policy apparatus. But not for COVID-19.
[Posted by CGTN {Youtube info banner: CGTN is
funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government. Wikipedia}
1.18M subscribers - Jan 27, 2020
On January 27, Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang, head of the leading group of the CPC Central Committee on the
prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, inspected and guided
the efforts to handle the outbreak.]
Finally, after much speculation, the president and party
general secretary ventured onto Beijing’s streets,
with facemask, to highlight the regime’s concern. Xi was said to be “personally
leading and directing” efforts to control the virus, and people were told to
“rally around the party with Xi Jinping at the core.” Said to be in “personal
command,” he issued “important directions” on the issue. He was in full
apparatchik-speak: “We should fight bravely” and “resolutely contain the spread
of the epidemic, and resolutely win the people’s war, an all-out war, a
resistance war to prevent and control the epidemic.”
Still, the regime was quick to blame the US and other
Western nations for banning visitors who had been to the PRC. The Foreign
Ministry accused America of having “unceasingly manufactured and spread panic.”
Yet Hong Kong and Russia tightened travel restrictions before America did so.
Official Chinese media complained about the lack of American
aid, after refusing US offers. At the time the US was preparing a shipment of
materials in short supply. Beijing long refused access to foreign scientists
and refused to furnish the virus to other nations’ laboratories. The Xi regime
defended itself by citing flu deaths in America, even though far more Chinese
die of that infection.
In any case, despite its best efforts, Beijing could not
offload blame for such obvious failings as lack of beds and medical equipment.
Indeed, the Xi government’s attacks on Washington occurred with the backdrop of
increasingly coercive measures being applied in China. For instance, there
currently are more than 80 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as several provinces, under some
form of lock-down/quarantine/isolation—more than 45 million people.
The regime’s mistakes appear to have damaged its reputation
for competence. Nevertheless, so long as the number of infections and deaths do
not race wildly out of control, and economic activity soon resumes without a
new rush of infections, the consequences of such inefficiency might have only
limited political impact. However, these are major hedges. The economy was
slowing even before the epidemic and the new restrictions imposed in Beijing
suggest that relief remains weeks and perhaps months away.
A soft landing also presumes that the Xi government’s
existing figures can be trusted. Lack of transparency and honesty may be the
regime’s greatest weakness in fighting COVID-19. The CCP previously gained a
reputation for covering up the party’s role in disasters, such as earthquakes
and train accidents. The regime also lost credibility attempting to limit the
political fall-out during the SARS crisis.
Current skepticism exploded after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, an
ophthalmologist who sounded the alarm when he observed the rise in suspicious
infections. He was detained by the police and accused of spreading “false
information.” He and seven other doctors were threatened with arrest and forced
to admit that they had “severely disrupted the social order.” He then treated
patients, catching the virus and dying at age 34. The government sought to
defuse public hostility by claiming that he was still alive and being treated
even after his death.
Li’s death set off a social media explosion. In the hours
after his death, millions of comments poured in through Weibo, the Chinese
Twitter, and other social media platforms. Before he died Li told an interviewer: “A healthy
society should not have just one voice.” Many posts declared “I want freedom of
speech,” which the government removed as quickly as possible. Even some Chinese
inclined to trust the government went online to express their anger over his
treatment.
Alas, Li was not alone in being silenced. Numerous ad hoc
bloggers and citizen journalists plied Wuhan’s streets and hospitals, filing
reports and posting videos. These activists reported nonexistent test kits and full hospital beds, people turned
away by hospitals, underreported hospital deaths, uncounted deaths of
undiagnosed patients, and increased cremations. These suggested that infection
and death rates are higher than officially stated.
In late January the government relaxed control of private
reporting, but that ended quickly as Beijing took control of the disease
narrative and especially infection statistics. Accounts of doctors, video
bloggers, and ad hoc reporters were deleted. Some bloggers, such as lawyer Chen Qiushi, welder Fang
Bin, and human rights activist Hu Jia, were detained. The latter two were later
released, but the former officially remains in government quarantine.
The regime also distributed
its new media line: “Sources of articles must be strictly regulated,
independent reporting is strictly prohibited, and the use of nonregulated
article sources, particularly self-media, is strictly prohibited.” Social media
providers were told they were under “special supervision.” Moreover, the regime
sent a legion of official journalists to Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province
to “report” on the virus. Cheng Yizhong, a newspaper editor fired for reporting on SARS, nearly
two decades ago, opined: “All Chinese are suffering the bitterness of CCP
monopoly over papers, resources and truth.”
This self-serving censorship has highlighted the more
fundamental problem of tyranny. Chen Guangcheng, a lawyer and human rights
activist who escaped to the US, wrote: “The Chinese Communist Party
has once again proved that authoritarianism is dangerous—not just for human
rights but also for public health.” He charged that the CCP “has succeeded in
turning a public health crisis into a health rights catastrophe.”
Similar was the judgment of fired law professor
Xu Zhangrun: “The coronavirus epidemic has revealed the rotten core of Chinese
governance, the fragile and vacuous heart of the jittering edifice of state has
thereby shown up as never before.” The result, he added, is to abandon “the
people over which it holds sway to suffer the vicissitudes of a cruel fate. It
is a system that turns every natural disaster into an even greater man-made
catastrophe.”
Ominously, Zhangrun has not been heard from since his
article appeared.
A successful conclusion to the epidemic—if infections and
deaths soon plateau and start to fall—might minimize memories of the Xi
government’s inadequate preparation and slow response. However, economic losses
already are huge, in the tens of billions of dollars. And there appears to be
no early end to the crisis.
Zhong Nanshan, an 83-year-old epidemiologist respected for
his role in combatting the SARS epidemic, predicted that COVID-19 infections
would peak this month and end by April. However, he admitted: “We don’t know why
it’s so contagious, so that’s a big problem.” The government’s failure to level
with people at risk, share information with health care professionals to enable
them to respond effectively, and justify to all the tough measures required may
not be easily forgotten.
Some observers compare the pandemic
to the impact of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, when
Moscow lied to its own citizens and foreign nations with equal enthusiasm.
However, that blow was delivered to a regime already in a state of advanced
decay. The PRC does not look as vulnerable. Nevertheless, Beijing’s reputation
and prestige have suffered.
Xi and the CCP justify an increasingly authoritarian, even
totalitarian regime on the basis of caring for the Chinese people. The COVID-19
crisis has exposed that claim to be a lie. Popular skepticism toward other
self-serving government claims will rise in the future.
Similar failure in a future crisis, with regime credibility
already damaged, could force political change today considered to be
unthinkable. Ironically, Mao likely would understand the
regime’s peril: “A potentially revolutionary situation exists in any country
where the government consistently fails in its obligation to ensure at least a
minimally decent standard of life for the great majority of its citizens.”
Although he was speaking of people at a “subsistence level,”
the principle has broader effect. Which ultimately could be the PRC’s undoing.
VIDEO: Coronavirus
outbreak: China's president Xi makes first public appearance as virus death
toll climbs
[Posted by Global News
1.11M subscribers - Feb 10, 2020
… MORE TO READ]
Doug Bandow
is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author of a number of books on
economics and politics. He writes regularly on military non-interventionism.
++++++++++++++++++++
BLOG EDITOR: I’ve apparently
been placed in restricted Facebook Jail! The restriction was relegated after
criticizing Democrats for supporting abortion in one post and criticizing
Virginia Dems for gun-grabbing legislation and levying protester restrictions.
Rather than capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I
choose to post and share until the Leftist censors ban me completely.
Conservatives are a huge portion of Facebook. If more or all Conservatives are
banned, it will affect the Facebook advertising revenue paradigm. SO FIGHT
CENSORSHIP BY SHARE – SHARE – SHARE!!! Facebook notified me in
pop-up on 1/20/20: “You're temporarily restricted from joining and posting to
groups that you do not manage until April 18 at 7:04 PM.”
________________________
Coronavirus: Nature or
Bio-Accident
A Threat to Chinese Communist
Regime?
By John R. Houk
© February 25, 2020
__________________________
Why Chinese Communism
Could Be the Final Casualty of the Coronavirus
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except for material
where copyright is reserved by a party other than FEE.
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