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Coronavirus COVID-19: “Made in China” or “Made in America”? by Prof Michel Chossudovsky
200 American military personnel participating in the CISM Military World Games (Wuhan China, Okt.2019)
"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”."
More recent articles on the subject by Chossudovsky.
American Nazi Party marchers in 1937
According to the paper die Welt, Trump is trying to poach German scientists working on an experimental vaccine against a global health threat. Such a vaccine would be “only for the United States,” a source close to the German government told Die Welt, though Berlin would reportedly is looking to make offers of its own to biotech firm CureVac, based in the German state of Thuringia.
Who is the second biggest shareholder of CureVac? The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of course.
CDC Shuts Down US Military’s Deadly Diseases Lab Over Safety Concerns (2019)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ordered temporary closure of a research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland due to safety concerns. The lab handles some of the most dangerous pathogens and toxins in the world. The decision comes after an inspection in June found that the research lab failed to run sufficient systems that should decontaminate wastewater from the facility. The CDC suspended all research, including projects of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
US Intel Agencies Played Unsettling Role in Classified and “9/11-like” Coronavirus Response Plan (Mintpress)
As coronavirus panic grips the world, concern over government overreach is growing given the involvement of US intelligence agencies in classified meetings for planning the U.S.’ coronavirus response.
Inside Jared Kushner’s coronavirus research: a wide net on a giant Facebook group (politico)
The president’s son-in-law and senior adviser takes a leading role in a variety of Trump challenges, this time responding to the escalating coronavirus outbreak. “In his role as a senior adviser to the president, Jared Kushner is, of course involved in the coronavirus response, but he is not in charge of coronavirus research," a White House official said.
Mike Pompeo slams ICC plan to probe U.S. officials for war crimes (washingtontimes)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday slammed the International Criminal Court as an “unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body,” after the organization said its may soon open cases against American troops for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The Hague-based ICC announced that it would allow prosecutors to open an investigation targeting not only current and former U.S. military, CIA and diplomatic personnel, but also the Taliban, and Afghan government forces for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the nearly two-decade long conflict.
Americans preparing for the pandemic... (via)
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London’s Trees Are Saving the City Billions (citylab)
#Comment: Why is the "saving money" perspective used so frequently when talking about nature ("nature based services" etc.)? Do these foolish people really not comprehended, that the notion that "Nature = Money" is at the very core of the problem they pretend to address?
#Regenerative #Urban #Infrastructure #Economics #ClimateChange
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Roads made out of recycled plastic
Scotland-based MacRebur company creates pellets out of recycled plastic waste and lays roads that are 60% stronger and expected to last about ten times longer than asphalt roads. One kilometer stretch of road uses the equivalent of about 684,000 plastic bottles or 1.8m single-use plastic bags.
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Smartphones are covered with 10 times the amount of bacteria found on a toilet seat (2012)
Cellphones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. "When's the last time you cleaned your cellphone?"asked Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. While toilets tend to get cleaned frequently, because people associate the bathroom with germs, cellphones and other commonly handled objects - like remote controls - are often left out of the cleaning routine. Cellphones pick up germs all the time, Gerba said. "I see people talk on their phone on toilets."
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Bill Gates Leaves Microsoft and Berkshire Board (cnbc) - Yet another addition to the giant list of high level corporate executives which have all mysteriously resigned in recent weeks.
Microsoft announced on Friday that Bill Gates is leaving the board. CNBC reports: "I have made the decision to step down from both of the public boards on which I serve -- Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway -- to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change," Gates said on LinkedIn. "The leadership at the Berkshire companies and Microsoft has never been stronger, so the time is right to take this step."
Pentagon 'Wishes To Reconsider' $10 Billion JEDI Contract Given To Microsoft (CNN)
The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday said it wishes to re-evaluate its decision to award the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar cloud contract with Microsoft, signaling a potential victory for Amazon in its protest of the award. The department "wishes to reconsider its award decision in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS," it said in a court filing, referring to Amazon Web Services. The agency said it does not anticipate needing to discuss the matter with either AWS or Microsoft. The contract -- called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI -- involves providing cloud storage of sensitive military data and technology, such as artificial intelligence, to the Department of Defense, and could result in revenue of up to $10 billion over 10 years. Amazon Web Services lost the contract to Microsoft's Azure cloud business in October, a decision that surprised many industry experts given Amazon's leadership in the industry. Amazon filed a suit with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims contesting the decision, arguing that it was politically motivated by President Donald Trump's dislike of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post, which Bezos owns.
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Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets (nytimes)
The European Union announced an ambitious plan on Wednesday that would require manufacturers of electronic products, from smartphones to tumble driers, to offer more repairs, upgrades and ways to reuse existing goods, instead of encouraging consumers to buy new ones. The “right to repair,” part of a wide-ranging policy package known as the Green Deal that was introduced this month, is the latest example of the European Union’s ambitions to promote more sustainable economic growth and to prevent waste.
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'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries (national geographic)
On the fourth floor of the Museum of the Bible is the most prized possessions: fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient texts that include the oldest known surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible. But now, independent researchers funded by the Museum of the Bible announced that all 16 of the museum’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments are modern forgeries that duped outside collectors, the museum’s founder, and some of the world’s leading biblical scholars.
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Different Times, Different People - The tricks of psychopaths are timeless.
Pig Dicator, From Animal Farm "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself." - Joseph Goebbels
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." - Hermann Goring
The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear. - Heinrich Himmler
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The AI system directs doctors to those areas of the patient’s lungs that require special attention by circling them in different colours. Photo: Handout The AI system on the Tianhe-1 computer can go through hundreds of images generated by computed tomography (CT) and gave a diagnosis in about 10 seconds, according to the National Supercomputer Centre in Tianjin, which hosts the machine. The accuracy of the analysis was higher than 80 per cent “and increasing steadily every day”. China has offered free use of the machine around the world, but US Centres for Disease Control says it does not recommend using scans to diagnose Covid-19.
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Vladislav Surkov: Russia's Putin dismisses secretive adviser (BBC)
The secretive strategist was known as the grey cardinal in Russia due to his perceived influence on the president behind the scenes. Surkov was widely seen as an aide who helped Mr Putin cement his hold on power.
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UK accounting regulator urges break up of Big Four firms KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, EY (The Guardian, 2018. Alt: The Irishtimes, 2019)
The UK audit regulator has outlined the plan to breakup the Big Four accounting firms in letters sent to the leaders of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. In what would amount to a far-reaching shake-up of the accounting industry, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) issued guidelines for the big four to separate their audit and consulting operations in Britain.
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Scoop: State-owned think tank floats China-led WHO alternative (axios)
In China, state-sponsored think tanks can double as diplomatic back channels, allowing leaders a low-risk means to float new ideas and explore how they might be perceived. Carice Witte, the founder and executive director of SIGNAL, told Axios the idea of a Beijing-led WHO alternative is "very interesting in the context of China's aim to reshape global governance, including setting up parallel institutions.
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“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” ― Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching
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Climate change is only half the problem. We’re destroying the Earth’s layer of life
Along with the climate crisis, the disappearance of non-human life is our most pressing problem. To fully understand how big the problem is, we need to think of this loss in terms of biomass instead of the number of species.
We cannot live on a dead planet. But it’s unknown how much non-human life we really need for Homo sapiens to survive. If people can manage in martian base camps with tanks of tilapia and a few green plants, a great deal more can be destroyed before our planet becomes truly unliveable.
But is that a life still worth living?
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Coronavirus has disrupted supply chains for nearly 75% of U.S. companies (axios)
- Manufacturers in China report operating at 50% capacity with 56% of normal staff.
- More than 44% of respondents said they did not have a plan in place to address supply disruption from China.
- Six in 10 (62%) respondents are experiencing delays in receiving orders from China.
- More than half (53%) are having difficulty getting supply chain information from China.
#Comment: It is high time for the global community to take alternative, resilient bioregional supply chains much more serious. Scale out, not Scale up.
