theduran--2020-03-17--China knows its global economic dominance just ended [VIDEO]

Here on The Duran , we are blessed to be able to run news and opinion pieces with widely divergent points of view .
For example , this piece submitted by InfoBrics , written by Lucas Leiroz from Rio de Janiero , proposes that the possibility that COVID-19 got its start in the US , and was planted in China as a weapon to assure a US victory in the trade war being waged with China .
My own piece , “ Here is why infection by the coronavirus is so dangerous ” takes the opposite tack , analyzing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if other naturally occurring viruses can also suppress the body ’ s immune system until a late , far-developed stage of the disease ( answer : they do ) .
Whatever side one prefers to believe is one ’ s own business – we are here to provide food for thought , but not necesarily the answer .
However , one thing does seem increasingly clear as this crisis progresses : The era of Chinese-dominated economic globalism is over .
At least , it ought to be .
A spate of newspieces in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hiding in plain sight : that China is the place of manufacture for a great many pharmaceuticals used throughout the world , including the United States .
While the US is the leader in medical technology , manufacture of that technology en masse has for decades been farmed out to China .
When the coronavirus started to ( at least ) appear to abate in China , the government of the People ’ s Republic wasted no time in issuing blame against the US and threats to cut off supplies of many vital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very dangerous , of course , should the Chinese actually choose to do this .
Click here to see the present world map of the COVID-19 spread and you can see why : “ One example of possible backlash from China , said Dr. Oskui is recent newspaper reports emanating from China suggest the Chinese government “ may just flip the switch and stop stop our access to those things.
” “ The United States of America should never be in that position , ” he said .
“ I think we need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked for Pfizer , worked for Merck , work for Amgen , work for Gilead , worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb the U.S. drug companies and say ‘ you know we understand that you have few share obligations to your shareholders but you also have an obligation to your fellow Americans , as American citizens as an American drug companies ’ you need to start making it here just because you can make huge profits abroad we shouldn ’ t be vulnerable to economic and political blackmail and vulnerable to the medical downside of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” China may well have stepped on its own face by making this veiled threat .
While the country ’ s Xinhua party spokesmedia is busy praising the practically “ divine ” leadership of President Xi Jiping through that country ’ s severe crisis , this effort may be a face-saving effort to try to maintain the faith the Chinese people have in their own government .
This is important , especially considering that China ’ s 1.48 billion citizens could , if agitated enough , very easily overthrough the Communist Party in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They have not done this because of the combination of repression by the government on a few dissenters , and the propensity human beings have for “ playing the game ” rather than fighting the gamesters .
I can not opine that a resentful Chinese populace , if incited to revolution , would necessarily replace the present structure with something better .
People are people , revolutions are usually very bloody , and part of the success of Chinese communism lies in the fact that the Chinese people have never championed American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Americans like this form of government , but that does not mean everyone else in the world must .
Russia threw off Communism to replace it with a presidential republic , where the Parliament acts strongly as the legislative reach of the President .
The structure works , at least well enough not to get the leaders thrown out .
China has been the same way .
We therefore can not reliably postulate that any Chinese revolution would necessarily yield a democratic government in the style of the US .
Most likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not necessarily anything wrong with that .
Nevertheless , the possibility that the Chinese power apparatchik is worried about some sort of uprising appears to be a factor involved in the sudden present wave of Chinese nationalism and flag-waving about their leadership , even as large parts of that country remain quarantined .
Where the flag-waving extended its reach into the West , though , may well have been bad play .
Fox News was quick to pick up the threat from China , and it is eminently logical that such a threat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be a truly historic crisis would have the exact opposite of what China wants – and as a matter of fact – desperately needs .
The strongest rhetoric comes from analysts like Laura Ingraham , Tucker Carlson and Steve Hilton who note that China makes most of the base ingredients of pharmaceuticals for the United States , and that threatening to withhold these in a time of crisis is exceedingly dangerous .
But it also outlines very clearly the next policy moves that must be made : To repatriate vital industries back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and computer component manufacture just to name a few .
What is more , the rest of the world is likely to pay attention to this threat as well , whether or not the like the United States or not .
This threat may – and probably should – energize any and all Western nations to rethink their own policies about what gets made where .
China ’ s threat may lead to a sharp uptick in the move to de-globalize , to locate vital industries and concerns to the various homelands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the same situation .
After Communism fell , the initial wave of “ integration ” into the world economy had many Russians buying European and American products , including foodstuffs like cheese .
The Russian agricultural community was producing breads and some other food products , but the local sentiment was ( and still is in many cases ) that Russian-made products are inferior by definition .
There is significant justification for this still across some market sectors .
Russia is also a big Chinese customer .
For example , the popular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Huggies .
There are Japanese brands on offer as well , but the two American labels are considered the best , and they have been manufactured in… you guessed it : China !
Recently , Russian factories have begun producing Huggies , and right away the quality issues became apparent .
( I know this because my wife noted it right away concerning our daughter ’ s needs , and she is Russian . )
The imposition of sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea* started to move the needle on food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ farmers got a significant lift in their efforts to produce what used to only be purchased from Europe .
But now , with China attempting to show her power over the world by making such threats as that with the pharmaceuticals , even Russian authorities have to consider this as well .
One can expect , even with the warm relations presently between the two countries , that there will be some quiet moves to shore up “ Made in Russia ” manufacture of various important items as well .
China is reputed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ technologies , and this allegation has sat on the country for many years .
For a long time , “ It ’ s Chinese ” meant that the item was cheaply made and produced on the backs of slave labor , of poor quality , low cost because it isn ’ t worth much anyway .
Some of that has changed .
While the slave labor component may not have moved much , the Chinese have done excellent work at reverse-engineering , researching and innovating in the technology fields .
Now their high-tech @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s finest , and not because of copying Western tech , but through their own innovative and inventive efforts , more and more .
This is a great thing for China , and it is a great thing for the rest of the world in a competitive market .
However , the manufacturing imbalance created by the gradual advance of “ Chinese globalism ” is a problem that has been thrown now into sharp focus by the arrogance of the Chinese Communist Party itself .
The country already had one huge strike against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is a Communist country with an abhorrent human rights record .
That got a pass for decades because of the goods coming out of their factories , as anyone with an iPhone , a Huawei or Xiaomi phone should acknowledge .
But coronavirus provoked some sharp rethinking : first with the shutdown of these manufacturing facilities , and now with the propagandistic sort of rhetoric now that China seems to think the crisis in their country has passed .
Coronavirus may well go down in history as the final nail in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with this sentiment .
China may become what it rightly ought to be – a competitor in the world , but not the nation that holds the rest of the planet by their economic short hairs .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Here on The Duran, we are blessed to be able to run news and opinion pieces with widely divergent points of view. For example, this piece submitted by InfoBrics, written by Lucas Leiroz from Rio de Janiero, proposes the possibility that COVID-19 got its start in the US, and was planted in China as a weapon to assure a US victory in the trade war being waged with China. My own piece, “Here is why infection by the coronavirus is so dangerous” takes the opposite tack, analyzing the known pathology of the virus to see if other naturally occurring viruses can also suppress the body’s immune system until a late, far-developed stage of the disease (answer: they do). Whatever side one prefers to believe is one’s own business – we are here to provide food for thought, but not neccesarily the answer. However, one thing does seem increasingly clear as this crisis progresses: The era of Chinese-dominated economic globalism is over.
At least, it ought to be.
A spate of newspieces in the United States revealed a startling fact hiding in plain sight: that China is the place of manufacture for a great many pharmaceuticals used throughout the world, including the United States. While the US is the leader in medical technology, manufacture of that technology en masse has for decades been farmed out to China. When the coronavirus started to (at least) appear to abate in China, the government of the People’s Republic wasted no time in issuing blame against the US and threats to cut off supplies of many vital pharmaceuticals to the Americans. This is very dangerous, of course, should the Chinese actually choose to do this. Click here to see the present world map of the COVID-19 spread and you can see why:
“One example of possible backlash from China, said Dr. Oskui is recent newspaper reports emanating from China suggest the Chinese government “may just flip the switch and stop our access to those things.” “The United States of America should never be in that position,” he said. “I think we need to turn to people we know that worked for Pfizer, worked for Merck, work for Amgen, work for Gilead, worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb the U.S. drug companies and say ‘you know we understand that you have few share obligations to your shareholders but you also have an obligation to your fellow Americans, as American citizens as an American drug companies’ you need to start making it here just because you can make huge profits abroad we shouldn’t be vulnerable to economic and political blackmail and vulnerable to the medical downside of these drugs being manufactured off our shores.”
China may well have stepped on its own face by making this veiled threat. While the country’s Xinhua party spokesmedia is busy praising the practically “divine” leadership of President Xi Jiping through that country’s severe crisis, this effort may be a face-saving exercise to try to maintain the faith the Chinese people have in their own government. This is important, especially considering that China’s 1.48 billion citizens could, if agitated enough, very easily overthrow the Communist Party in that country and replace with something else. They have not done this because of the combination of repression by the government on a few dissenters, and the propensity human beings have for “playing the game” rather than fighting the gamesters.
I cannot opine that a resentful Chinese populace, if incited to revolution, would necessarily replace the present structure with something better. People are people, revolutions are usually very bloody, and part of the success of Chinese communism lies in the fact that the Chinese people have never championed American style liberal democracy. Maybe a lot of Americans like this form of government, but that does not mean everyone else in the world must. Russia threw off Communism to replace it with a presidential republic, where the Parliament acts strongly as the legislative reach of the President. The structure works, at least well enough not to get the leaders thrown out. China has been the same way. We therefore cannot reliably postulate that any Chinese revolution would necessarily yield a democratic government in the style of the US. Most likely it would not, and there is not necessarily anything wrong with that.
Nevertheless, the possibility that the Chinese power apparatchik is worried about some sort of uprising appears to be a factor involved in the sudden present wave of Chinese nationalism and flag-waving about their leadership, even as large parts of that country remain quarantined.
When the flag-waving extended its reach into the West, though, this may well have been bad play. Fox News was quick to pick up the threat from China, and it is eminently logical that such a threat in the presence of what may well be a truly historic crisis would have the exact opposite of what China wants – and as a matter of fact – desperately needs.
The strongest rhetoric comes from analysts like Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and Steve Hilton who note that China makes most of the base ingredients of pharmaceuticals for the United States, and that threatening to withhold these in a time of crisis is exceedingly dangerous. But it also outlines very clearly the next policy moves that must be made: To repatriate vital industries back to the United States: Pharmaceuticals, steel, and computer component manufacture just to name a few.
What is more, the rest of the world is likely to pay attention to this threat as well, whether or not they like the United States or not. This threat may – and probably should – energize any and all Western nations (really, all nations) to rethink their own policies about what gets made where.
China’s threat may lead to a sharp uptick in the move to de-globalize, to locate vital industries and concerns to the various homelands of the world.
Russia is also in the same situation. After Communism fell, the initial wave of “integration” into the world economy had many Russians buying European and American products, including foodstuffs like cheese. The Russian agricultural community was producing breads and some other food products, but the local sentiment was (and still is in many cases) that Russian-made products are inferior by definition. There is significant justification for this still across some market sectors. Russia is also a big Chinese customer. For example, the popular diaper brands in Russia are Pampers and Huggies. There are Japanese brands on offer as well, but the two American labels are considered the best, and they have been manufactured in… you guessed it: China!
Recently, Russian factories have begun producing Huggies, and right away the quality issues became apparent. (I know this because my wife noted it right away concerning our daughter’s needs, and she is Russian.)
The imposition of sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea* started to move the needle on food manufacture in the country, as local farmers got a significant lift in their efforts to produce what used to only be purchased from Europe. But now, with China attempting to show her power over the world by making such threats as that with the pharmaceuticals, even Russian authorities have to consider this as well. One can expect, even with the warm relations presently between the two countries, that there will be some quiet moves to shore up “Made in Russia” manufacture of various important items as well.
China is reputed for copying and “forging” Western technologies, and this allegation has sat on the country for many years. For a long time, “It’s Chinese” meant that the item was cheaply made and produced on the backs of slave labor, of poor quality, low cost because it isn’t worth much anyway.
Some of that has changed. While the slave labor component may not have moved much, the Chinese have done excellent work at reverse-engineering, researching and innovating in the technology fields. Now their high-tech companies are easily among the world’s finest, and not because of copying Western tech, but through their own innovative and inventive efforts, more and more. This is a great thing for China, and it is a great thing for the rest of the world in a competitive market.
However, the manufacturing imbalance created by the gradual advance of “Chinese globalism” is a problem that has been thrown now into sharp focus by the arrogance of the Chinese Communist Party itself. The country already had one huge strike against it in the world community – that it is a Communist country with an abhorrent human rights record. That got a pass for decades because of the goods coming out of their factories, as anyone with an iPhone, a Huawei or Xiaomi phone should acknowledge. But coronavirus provoked some sharp rethinking: first with the shutdown of these manufacturing facilities, and now with the propagandistic sort of rhetoric now that China seems to think the crisis in their country has passed.
Coronavirus may well go down in history as the final nail in the coffin of globalism. Many people agree with this sentiment. China may become what it rightly ought to be – a competitor in the world, but not the nation that holds the rest of the planet by their economic short hairs.
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theduran--2020-03-17--China’s Coronavirus: A Shocking Update. Did The Virus Originate in the US?

The Western media quickly took the stage and laid out the official narrative for the outbreak of the new coronavirus which appeared to have begun in China , claiming it to have originated with animals at a wet market in Wuhan .
In fact the origin was for a long time unknown but it appears likely now , according to Chinese and Japanese reports , that the virus originated elsewhere , from multiple locations , but began to spread widely only after being introduced to the market .
More to the point , it appears that the virus did not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports in Japanese and other media , may have originated in the US .
Chinese Researchers Conclude the Virus Originated Outside of China After collecting samples of the genome in China , medical researchers first conclusively demonstrated that the virus did not originate at the seafood market but had multiple unidentified sources , after which it was exposed to the seafood market from where it spread everywhere .
( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) According to the Global Times : Chinese medical authorities – and “ intelligence agencies ” – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the origin of the virus , collecting nearly 100 samples of the genome from 12 different countries on 4 continents , identifying all the varieties and mutations .
During this research , they determined the virus outbreak had begun much earlier , probably in November , shortly after the Wuhan Military Games .
They then came to the same independent conclusions as the Japanese researchers – that the virus did not begin in China but was introduced there from the outside .
This of course raises questions as to the actual location @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their analysis through 100 genome samples from 12 countries , they must have had a compelling reason to be searching for the original source outside China .
This would explain why there was such difficulty in locating and identifying a ‘ patient zero ’ .
Japan ’ s Media : The Coronavirus May Have Originated in the US In February of 2020 , the Japanese Asahi news report ( print and TV ) claimed the coronavirus originated in the US , not in China , and that some ( or many ) of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may have in fact have resulted from the coronavirus .
( 5 ) On February 14 , the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) said they will begin to test individuals with influenza-like-illness for the novel coronavirus at public health labs in Los Angeles , San Francisco , Seattle , Chicago , and New York City .
The TV Asahi network presented scientific documentation for their claims , raising the issue that no one would know the cause of death because the US either neglected to test or failed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the questions of natural vs. man-made and accidental vs. deliberate , simply stating that the virus outbreak may first have occurred in the US .
The Western Internet appears to have been scrubbed of this information , but the Chinese media still reference it .
These claims stirred up a hornet ’ s nest not only in Japan but in China , immediately going viral on Chinese social media , especially since the Military World Games were held in Wuhan in October , and it had already been widely discussed that the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – from a foreign source .
Shen Yi , an international relations professor at Shanghai ’ s Fudan University , stated that global virologists “ including the intelligence agencies ” were tracking the origin of the virus .
Also of interest , the Chinese government did not shut the door on this .
The news report stated : In China , that is meaningful .
If the reports were rubbish , the government would clearly state that , and tell people to not spread false rumors .
Taiwan Virologist Suggests the Coronavirus Originated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a TV news program on February,27 , ( click here to access video ( Chinese ) , that presented diagrams and flow charts suggesting the coronavirus originated in the US .
( 6 ) Below is a rough translation , summary and analysis of selected content of that newscast .
( see map below ) The man in the video is a top virologist and pharmacologist who performed a long and detailed search for the source of the virus .
He spends the first part of the video explaining the various haplotypes ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and explains how they are related to each other , how one must have come before another , and how one type derived from another .
He explains this is merely elementary science and nothing to do with geopolitical issues , describing how , just as with numbers in order , 3 must always follow 2 .
One of his main points is that the type infecting Taiwan exists only in Australia and the US and , since Taiwan was not infected by Australians , the infection in Taiwan could have come only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that the geographical location with the greatest diversity of virus strains must be the original source because a single strain can not emerge from nothing .
He demonstrated that only the US has all the five known strains of the virus ( while Wuhan and most of China have only one , as do Taiwan and South Korea , Thailand and Vietnam , Singapore , and England , Belgium and Germany ) , constituting a thesis that the haplotypes in other nations may have originated in the US .
Korea and Taiwan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than China , perhaps more infective but much less deadly , which would account for a death rate only 1/3 that of China .
Neither Iran nor Italy were included in the above tests , but both countries have now deciphered the locally prevalent genome and have declared them of different varieties from those in China , which means they did not originate in China but were of necessity introduced from another source .
It is worth noting that the variety in Italy has approximately the same fatality rate as that of China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nations , while the haplotype in Iran appears to be the deadliest with a fatality rate of between 10 % and 25 % .
( 7 ) ( 8 ) ( 9 ) Due to the enormous amount of Western media coverage focused on China , much of the world believes the coronavirus spread to all other nations from China , but this now appears to have been proven wrong .
With about 50 nations scattered throughout the world having identified at least one case at the time of writing , it would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from each of those nations to determine their location of origin and the worldwide sources and patterns of spread .
The Virologist further stated that the US has recently had more than 200 “ pulmonary fibrosis ” cases that resulted in death due to patients ’ inability to breathe , but whose conditions and symptoms could not be explained by pulmonary fibrosis .
He said he wrote articles informing the US health authorities to consider seriously those deaths as resulting from the coronavirus , but they responded by blaming the deaths on e-cigarettes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Taiwanese doctor then stated the virus outbreak began earlier than assumed , saying , “ We must look to September of 2019 ” .
He stated the case in September of 2019 where some Japanese traveled to Hawaii and returned home infected , people who had never been to China .
This was two months prior to the infections in China and just after the CDC suddenly and totally shut down the Fort Detrick bio-weapons lab claiming the facilities were insufficient to prevent loss of pathogens .
( 10 ) ( 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases very carefully ( as did the Japanese virologists who came to the same conclusion ) ..
This might indicate the coronavirus had already spread in the US but where the symptoms were being officially attributed to other diseases , and thus possibly masked .
The prominent Chinese news website Huanqiu related one case in the US where a woman ’ s relative was told by physicians he died of the flu , but where the death certificate listed the coronavirus as the cause of death .
On February 26 , ABC News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman recently told the media that her sister died on from coronavirus infection .
Montrose , Colorado resident Almeta Stone said , “ They ( the medical staff ) kept us informed that it was the flu , and when I got the death certificate , there was a coronavirus in the cause of death.
” ( 12 ) We can not ascertain the number of such cases in the US but since the CDC apparently has no reliable test kits and is conducting little or no testing for the virus , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years ( during the trade war ) China has suffered several pandemics : • February 15 , 2018 : H7N4 bird flu .
Sickened at least 1,600 people in China and killed more than 600 .
Many chickens killed .
China needs to purchase US poultry products .
• June , 2018 : H7N9 bird flu .
Many chickens killed .
China needs to purchase US poultry products .
• August , 2018 : outbreak of African swine flu .
Same strain as Russia , from Georgia .
Millions of pigs killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ products .
• May 24 , 2019 : massive infestation of armyworms in 14 province-level regions in China , which destroy most food crops .
Quickly spread to more than 8,500 hectares of China ’ s grain production .
They produce astonishing numbers of eggs .
China needs to purchase US agricultural products – corn , soybeans .
• January , 2020 : China is hit by a “ highly pathogenic ” strain of bird flu in Hunan province .
Many chickens died , many others killed .
China needs to purchase US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that bad luck happens in threes , not sixes .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
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Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman .
He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms , and owned an international import-export business .
He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai ’ s Fudan University , presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West .
He can be contacted at : [ email protected ] .
He is a frequent contributor to Global Research .
( 9 ) Coronavirus has Mutated , Iran attacked by a Different Strain from Wuhan

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Western media quickly took the stage and laid out the official narrative for the outbreak of the new coronavirus which appeared to have begun in China, claiming it to have originated with animals at a wet market in Wuhan.
In fact the origin was for a long time unknown but it appears likely now, according to Chinese and Japanese reports, that the virus originated elsewhere, from multiple locations, but began to spread widely only after being introduced to the market.
More to the point, 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.
Chinese Researchers Conclude the Virus Originated Outside of China
After collecting samples of the genome in China, medical researchers first conclusively demonstrated that the virus did not originate at the seafood market but had multiple unidentified sources, after which it was exposed to the seafood market from where it spread everywhere. (1) (2) (3)
According to the Global Times:
A new study by Chinese researchers indicates the novel coronavirus may have begun human-to-human transmission in late November from a place other than the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.
The study published on ChinaXiv, a Chinese open repository for scientific researchers, reveals the new coronavirus was introduced to the seafood market from another location(s), and then spread rapidly from the market due to the large number of close contacts. The findings were the result of analyses of the genome data, sources of infection, and the route of spread of variations of the novel coronavirus collected throughout China.
The study believes that patient(s) zero transmitted the virus to workers or sellers at the Huanan seafood market, the crowded market easily facilitating further transmission of the virus to buyers, which caused a wider spread in early December 2019. (Global Times, February 22, 2020, emphasis added (2)
Chinese medical authorities – and “intelligence agencies” – then conducted a rapid and wide-ranging search for the origin of the virus, collecting nearly 100 samples of the genome from 12 different countries on 4 continents, identifying all the varieties and mutations. During this research, they determined the virus outbreak had begun much earlier, probably in November, shortly after the Wuhan Military Games.
They then came to the same independent conclusions as the Japanese researchers – that the virus did not begin in China but was introduced there from the outside.
China’s top respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan said on January 27
“Though the COVID-19 was first discovered in China, it does not mean that it originated from China” “But that is Chinese for “it originated someplace else, in another country”. (4)
This of course raises questions as to the actual location of origin. If the authorities pursued their analysis through 100 genome samples from 12 countries, they must have had a compelling reason to be searching for the original source outside China. This would explain why there was such difficulty in locating and identifying a ‘patient zero’.
Japan’s Media: The Coronavirus May Have Originated in the US
In February of 2020, the Japanese Asahi news report (print and TV) claimed the coronavirus originated in the US, not in China, and that some (or many) of the 14,000 American deaths attributed to influenza may have in fact have resulted from the coronavirus. (5)
A report from a Japanese TV station disclosing a suspicion that some of those Americans may have unknowningly contracted the coronavirus has gone viral on Chinese social media, stoking fears and speculations in China that the novel coronavirus may have originated in the US.
The report, by TV Asahi Corporation of Japan, suggested that the US government may have failed to grasp how rampant the virus has gone on US soil.
However, it is unknown whether Americans who have already died of the influenza had contracted the coronavirus, as reported by TV Asahi. (People’s Daily, English, February 23, 2020, emphasis added)
On February 14, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they will begin to test individuals with influenza-like-illness for the novel coronavirus at public health labs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City.
The TV Asahi network presented scientific documentation for their claims, raising the issue that no one would know the cause of death because the US either neglected to test or failed to release the results. Japan avoided the questions of natural vs. man-made and accidental vs. deliberate, simply stating that the virus outbreak may first have occurred in the US. The Western Internet appears to have been scrubbed of this information, but the Chinese media still reference it.
These claims stirred up a hornet’s nest not only in Japan but in China, immediately going viral on Chinese social media, especially since the Military World Games were held in Wuhan in October, and it had already been widely discussed that the virus could have been transmitted at that time – from a foreign source.
“Perhaps the US delegates brought the coronavirus to Wuhan, and some mutation occurred to the virus, making it more deadly and contagious, and causing a widespread outbreak this year.” (People’s Daily, February 23, 2020) (1)
Shen Yi, an international relations professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, stated that global virologists “including the intelligence agencies” were tracking the origin of the virus.
Also of interest, the Chinese government did not shut the door on this. The news report stated:
“Netizens are encouraged to actively partake in discussions, but preferably in a rational fashion.”
In China, that is meaningful. If the reports were rubbish, the government would clearly state that, and tell people to not spread false rumors.
Taiwan Virologist Suggests the Coronavirus Originated in the US
Then, Taiwan ran a TV news program on February,27,(click here to access video (Chinese), that presented diagrams and flow charts suggesting the coronavirus originated in the US. (6)
Below is a rough translation, summary and analysis of selected content of that newscast. (see map below)
The man in the video is a top virologist and pharmacologist who performed a long and detailed search for the source of the virus. He spends the first part of the video explaining the various haplotypes (varieties, if you will), and explains how they are related to each other, how one must have come before another, and how one type derived from another. He explains this is merely elementary science and nothing to do with geopolitical issues, describing how, just as with numbers in order, 3 must always follow 2.
click map to enlarge
One of his main points is that the type infecting Taiwan exists only in Australia and the US and, since Taiwan was not infected by Australians, the infection in Taiwan could have come only from the US.
The basic logic is that the geographical location with the greatest diversity of virus strains must be the original source because a single strain cannot emerge from nothing. He demonstrated that only the US has all the five known strains of the virus (while Wuhan and most of China have only one, as do Taiwan and South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, Singapore, and England, Belgium and Germany), constituting a thesis that the haplotypes in other nations may have originated in the US.
Korea and Taiwan have a different haplotype of the virus than China, perhaps more infective but much less deadly, which would account for a death rate only 1/3 that of China.
Neither Iran nor Italy were included in the above tests, but both countries have now deciphered the locally prevalent genome and have declared them of different varieties from those in China, which means they did not originate in China but were of necessity introduced from another source. It is worth noting that the variety in Italy has approximately the same fatality rate as that of China, three times as great as other nations, while the haplotype in Iran appears to be the deadliest with a fatality rate of between 10% and 25%. (7) (8) (9)
Due to the enormous amount of Western media coverage focused on China, much of the world believes the coronavirus spread to all other nations from China, but this now appears to have been proven wrong. With about 50 nations scattered throughout the world having identified at least one case at the time of writing, it would be very interesting to examine virus samples from each of those nations to determine their location of origin and the worldwide sources and patterns of spread.
The Virologist further stated that the US has recently had more than 200 “pulmonary fibrosis” cases that resulted in death due to patients’ inability to breathe, but whose conditions and symptoms could not be explained by pulmonary fibrosis. He said he wrote articles informing the US health authorities to consider seriously those deaths as resulting from the coronavirus, but they responded by blaming the deaths on e-cigarettes, then silenced further discussion. …
The Taiwanese doctor then stated the virus outbreak began earlier than assumed, saying, “We must look to September of 2019”.
He stated the case in September of 2019 where some Japanese traveled to Hawaii and returned home infected, people who had never been to China. This was two months prior to the infections in China and just after the CDC suddenly and totally shut down the Fort Detrick bio-weapons lab claiming the facilities were insufficient to prevent loss of pathogens. (10) (11)
He said he personally investigated those cases very carefully (as did the Japanese virologists who came to the same conclusion).. This might indicate the coronavirus had already spread in the US but where the symptoms were being officially attributed to other diseases, and thus possibly masked.
The prominent Chinese news website Huanqiu related one case in the US where a woman’s relative was told by physicians he died of the flu, but where the death certificate listed the coronavirus as the cause of death. On February 26, ABC News affiliate KJCT8 News Network reported that a woman recently told the media that her sister died on from coronavirus infection. Montrose, Colorado resident Almeta Stone said, “They (the medical staff) kept us informed that it was the flu, and when I got the death certificate, there was a coronavirus in the cause of death.” (12)
We cannot ascertain the number of such cases in the US but since the CDC apparently has no reliable test kits and is conducting little or no testing for the virus, there may be others.
***
Just for information
In the past two years (during the trade war) China has suffered several pandemics:
February 15, 2018: H7N4 bird flu . Sickened at least 1,600 people in China and killed more than 600. Many chickens killed. China needs to purchase US poultry products.
. Sickened at least 1,600 people in China and killed more than 600. Many chickens killed. China needs to purchase US poultry products. June, 2018: H7N9 bird flu . Many chickens killed. China needs to purchase US poultry products.
. Many chickens killed. China needs to purchase US poultry products. August, 2018: outbreak of African swine flu . Same strain as Russia, from Georgia. Millions of pigs killed. China needs to purchase US pork products.
. Same strain as Russia, from Georgia. Millions of pigs killed. China needs to purchase US pork products. May 24, 2019: massive infestation of armyworms in 14 province-level regions in China, which destroy most food crops. Quickly spread to more than 8,500 hectares of China’s grain production. They produce astonishing numbers of eggs. China needs to purchase US agricultural products – corn, soybeans.
December, 2019: Coronavirus appearance puts China’s economy on hold.
January, 2020: China is hit by a “highly pathogenic” strain of bird flu in Hunan province. Many chickens died, many others killed. China needs to purchase US poultry products.
The standard adage is that bad luck happens in threes, not sixes.
***
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Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Notes
(9) Coronavirus has Mutated, Iran attacked by a Different Strain from Wuhan
The original source of this article is Global Research Copyright © Larry Romanoff , Global Research, 2020
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theduran--2020-03-17--China Nearly Conquered Coronavirus Epidemic in 50 Days

According to https : //www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/ , which obtains its information from only the most reliable sources , here are the main statistics regarding coronavirus-19 cases in China : That ’ s 0 to 50K in 20 days , and in only 16 more days there was a stable total of 80K cases reached , or 80,000 Chinese who had been hit by the coronavirus-19 infection .
This governmental performance will be compared with that of other countries and show the relative effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the various governments around the world in protecting their people from this sudden and extremely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This will be the most reliable existing single global statistical indicator of how good and how bad the various countries ’ governments are , regarding the national security , or the protection of the lives and welfare , of their citizens .
This is not a military measure of that , but it might be a more trustworthy measure , because coronavirus-19 is possibly an even bigger threat to the lives and welfare of the world ’ s peoples than a global nuclear war , WW III , would be ; and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such threats in the present era of a highly globalized economy .
On Monday , March 16th , Zero Hedge bannered “ ‘ Half Of America Will Get Sick ’ : Here Is What Goldman Told 1,500 Clients In Its Emergency Sunday Conference Call ” and reported that they said “ Peak-virus is expected over the next eight weeks , declining thereafter.
” That ’ s about 60 days to achieve what China achieved in about 50 days .
However , China was able to achieve that only because it is a much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and society , than exists in the United States .
Perhaps Goldman Sachs simply does not want to panic their client-base .
Of course , by the time those 60 days will have passed , we will have a much clearer idea of what the true situation has been .
Furthermore : “ 50 % of Americans will contract the virus ( 150m people ) .
” So : that “ peak-virus ” occurring in 60 days would be compared to 80,000 cases within 50 days in China .
It would be maxing-out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or .006 % of the Chinese population , but at 50 % of the population , or 165,000,000 out of America ’ s 330,000,000 population .
Really ?
It would be 8,333 times higher a percentage of Americans who will get hit than of Chinese who did ?
And , according to Goldman , communicating to their 1,500 clients , “ S & P 500 will see a negative growth rate of -15 % to -20 % for 2020 overall.
” A very bad year , but the S & P declined -28.48 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1931 , -38.64 % in 1937 , and -38.64 % in 1917 — that century ’ s four worst years .
Goldman doesn ’ t expect 2020 to be anywhere near that bad .
( Or , at least , this is what they are telling their clients .
The way they calculated that would be interesting to see . )
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records , 1910-2010 , and of CHRIST ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christianity .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/, which obtains its information from only the most reliable sources, here are the main statistics regarding coronavirus-19 cases in China:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/
as of today, March 17th:
WORLD / COUNTRIES / CHINA
Last updated: March 17, 2020, 14:20 GMT
China
Coronavirus Cases: 80,881
Deaths: 3,226
Recovered: 68,715
ACTIVE CASES
8,940 Currently Infected Patients
5,714 (64%) in Mild Condition
3,226 (36%) Serious or Critical
Total Coronavirus Cases in China:
Jan 22 near 0
Feb 11 50K
Feb 12 60K
Feb 15 70K
Feb 27 80K
Mar 13 80K
That’s 0 to 50K in 20 days, and in only 16 more days there was a stable total of 80K cases reached, or 80,000 Chinese who had been hit by the coronavirus-19 infection.
This governmental performance will be compared with that of other countries and show the relative effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the various governments around the world in protecting their people from this sudden and extremely dire threat to their safety and security. This will be the most reliable existing single global statistical indicator of how good and how bad the various countries’ governments are, regarding the national security, or the protection of the lives and welfare, of their citizens. This is not a military measure of that, but it might be a more trustworthy measure, because coronavirus-19 is possibly an even bigger threat to the lives and welfare of the world’s peoples than a global nuclear war, WW III, would be; and it is surely one of the biggest such threats in the present era of a highly globalized economy.
On Monday, March 16th, Zero Hedge bannered “‘Half Of America Will Get Sick’: Here Is What Goldman Told 1,500 Clients In Its Emergency Sunday Conference Call” and reported that they said “Peak-virus is expected over the next eight weeks, declining thereafter.” That’s about 60 days to achieve what China achieved in about 50 days. However, China was able to achieve that only because it is a much more mutually cooperative society, culture, and society, than exists in the United States. Perhaps Goldman Sachs simply does not want to panic their client-base. Of course, by the time those 60 days will have passed, we will have a much clearer idea of what the true situation has been.
Furthermore: “50% of Americans will contract the virus (150m people).” So: that “peak-virus” occurring in 60 days would be compared to 80,000 cases within 50 days in China. It would be maxing-out not at 80,000 out of 1,400,000,000 Chinese or .006% of the Chinese population, but at 50% of the population, or 165,000,000 out of America’s 330,000,000 population. Really? It would be 8,333 times higher a percentage of Americans who will get hit than of Chinese who did?
And, according to Goldman, communicating to their 1,500 clients, “S&P 500 will see a negative growth rate of -15% to -20% for 2020 overall.” A very bad year, but the S&P declined -28.48% in 1930, -47.04% in 1931, -38.64% in 1937, and -38.64% in 1917 — that century’s four worst years. Goldman doesn’t expect 2020 to be anywhere near that bad. (Or, at least, this is what they are telling their clients. The way they calculated that would be interesting to see.)
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-03-17--Crowdstrike walks back role in Russiagate (Video)

The Duran ’ s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss how neocon cyber security firm Crowdstrike , and their PR handlers , are now distancing themselves from Russia ’ s link to Wikileaks and the DNC email “ hacking ” hoax .
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute .
The Duran Audio Podcast : Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes .
For more than three years of the mainstream media ( MSM ) promoted the biggest fraud in US history – that the Russians hacked the DNC ’ s emails and gave the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaked the emails before the 2016 election .
Now , suddenly the firm at the center of this fraud , Crowdstrike , is taking a step back from their previous actions related to the entire sham .
For years now the FBI and Mueller investigation claimed that Russia hacked the DNC during the lead up to the 2016 election .
This is central to the Russia-Collusion narrative .
Roger Stone tried to obtain information in his trial that the Mueller team had evidence that Russia gave the emails they hacked from the DNC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judge , Amy Berman Jackson , wouldn ’ t let him bring this up in his case , even though his charges were based on the entire scam .
President Trump indicated that he knew Crowdstrike was at the center of the Russia collusion scam when he made his infamous phone call with the Ukraine ’ s new President Zelinsky .
The President reportedly said the following : The President was interested in Crowdstrike , not the Bidens .
The Bidens only came up after the President had the discussion above , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader Zelinsky .
Clearly if you read the call transcript you can see that the President ’ s request was regarding Crowdstrike and the Bidens only came up after their corrupt actions were mentioned by the Ukrainian leader .
This must have hit a nerve , because just a couple weeks ago , on February 16 , 2020 , 60 Minutes had a report authored by Scott Pelley , regarding Crowdstrike ’ s claims that Russia hacked the DNC in 2016 .
Pelley and 60 Minutes made an effort to clear Crowdstrike ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far left media outlet suggested The Gateway Pundit ( TGP ) pushed conspiracy theories and flashed an image of a 2017 TGP report .
60 Minutes went on to push the discredited Trump-Russia conspiracy .
Pelley , from 60 Minutes , used former anti-Trump Ambassador Bill Taylor , from the sham impeachment fiasco , as his expert witness on the Ukraine .
Taylor claims he knew of no connection between Crowdstrike and the Ukraine .
Pelley then shared the following in his report [ emphasis added ] : Robert Johnston dealt directly with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DNC hack for CrowdStrike , a leading cyber security company hired by the Democrats .
He told us the FBI didn ’ t physically examine the DNC servers because CrowdStrike gave the bureau copies of the data from the servers .
“ If there is a server or a computer system of any kind that ’ s involved in the incident you can take an exact bit for bit digital copy of what ’ s on that system .
Now that digital copy is just as good as having the real thing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as you know , the FBI got what it needed and what it wanted ?
” Pelley asked Johnston .
“ Exactly and evidence of that is you don ’ t hear the FBI complaining , ” Johnston said .
He ’ s right .
A former senior government official , familiar with the investigation , told us the FBI would have preferred to work alongside CrowdStrike ’ s investigators , but the Democratic National Committee decided to give the bureau digital copies of its servers instead .
The official told us this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even typical in FBI investigations .
But this was not accurate and it was pathetic for 60 Minutes to spread the ridiculous Crowdstrike statements .
We reported that Crowdstike is related to the Ukraine and this is through Ukrainian billionaire and longtime contributor to the Clinton Foundation Victor Pinchuk .
We also know Crowdstrike is connected to James Clapper and the Atlantic Group : We also know that in July 2015 Google invested $ 100 million into Crowdstrike – There are many holes with the ‘ Russia hacked the DNC emails ’ claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posted here at TGP .
Several individuals previously shared they have sources who claim that the DNC servers were never examined by Crowdstrike : It was also uncovered in the Roger Stone case that CrowdStrike gave the US government three “ draft reports ” on the so-called hack by Russia which were full of redactions and the FBI just took their word for it .
It was also reported that the DOJ never received the unredacted copies of Crowdstrike ’ s reports : Former NSA whistleblower Bill Binney previously reported he has evidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ copied most likely on to a flashdrive or something similar .
Binney has proof for his assertion but Crowdstrike and the DNC to date have provided no support that it was Russia who hacked the DNC .
Binney also claims that the Mueller gang wouldn ’ t even look at his data because they knew it would show something different than what they presented in their final bogus report ( i.e .
Mueller ’ s dossier as referred to by Devin Nunes ) .
Cyber expert Yaacov Apelbaum says the 60 Minutes and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posted a report in January 2019 , with information basically proving that the DNC was not hacked by the Russians .
Apelbaum ’ s first argument is this – A second point by Apelbaum is – Above are pictures of the individuals the FBI says were working on both the DNC/HRC email hacking and the Olympic doping projects .
The same guys were working on both projects which is all but impossible .
( Do we really know if they ’ re even real people or even real Russians ? )
Next Apelbaum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the ‘ hacker ’ named Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian – After providing a couple more examples of why the Russian story doesn ’ t stick , Apelbaum closes with this – Most importantly , we know that WikiLeaks has stated numerous times that Russia did not provide them with the emails they leaked in 2016 and Julian Assange has stated that WikiLeaks had nothing to do with Russia .
But of course the Mueller gang never interviewed WikiLeaks or Julian Assange in an effort to determine how they received the Clinton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could not risk WikiLeaks saying the emails were not received from Russia which would destroy their Russia hacked the DNC fairy tale .
Yesterday we discovered that Crowdstrike has reportedly obtained a PR firm to help backtrack their bogus claims .
In the article ‘ Editor ’ s Notes ’ were added in places where the LA Times piece reported fake news .
One of the editor ’ s notes concerned the MSM trope that “ Russian intelligence operatives stole and released thousands of internal emails and other documents in an effort to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
” The Editor ’ s note was as follows : A few days later , this past Tuesday , Personal Liberty reportedly received an email from John Eddy , Executive Vice President of the PR firm Goldin .
The email follows : My firm works with CrowdStrike and we read your article titled “ Trump seeks to boost Sanders and foment discord among Democrats ” ( https : //personalliberty.com/trump-seeks-to-boost-sanders-and-foment-discord-among-democrats/ [ personalliberty.com ] ) .
We need to request important updates to the article .
The article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ access to the emails and the conclusion that they were stolen and released by ‘ Russian intelligence operatives ’ was made by the DNC-hired cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike , which has ties to Ukrainian oligarchs and the Council on Foreign Relations.
” This is incorrect .
CrowdStrike ’ s founders have no connections to Ukraine .
The company also provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI that they requested , and the conclusions have been fully supported by the US Intelligence community ( https : //www.crowdstrike.com/blog/bears-midst-intrusion-democratic-national-committee/ ) .
Additionally , CrowdStrike was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the suspected breach of its servers , and did not do any investigations around the release of the information .
Could you please update the article for accuracy to clarify that CrowdStrike does not have ties to Ukraine , and that the company was hired by the DNC to investigate the hack of the servers ?
Note the phrase from Crowdstrike ’ s PR firm , stating that Crowdstrike “ did not do any investigations around the release of the information .
”

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss how neocon cyber security firm Crowdstrike, and their PR handlers, are now distancing themselves from Russia’s link to Wikileaks and the DNC email “hacking” hoax.
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https://soundcloud.com/user-901836666/crowdstrike-walks-back-role-in-russiagate
Via The Gateway Pundit…
For more than three years of the mainstream media (MSM) promoted the biggest fraud in US history – that the Russians hacked the DNC’s emails and gave the emails they hacked to WikiLeaks who then leaked the emails before the 2016 election.
Now, suddenly the firm at the center of this fraud, Crowdstrike, is taking a step back from their previous actions related to the entire sham.
For years now the FBI and Mueller investigation claimed that Russia hacked the DNC during the lead up to the 2016 election. This is central to the Russia-Collusion narrative. Roger Stone tried to obtain information in his trial that the Mueller team had evidence that Russia gave the emails they hacked from the DNC to WikiLeaks but corrupt Obama Appointed DC judge, Amy Berman Jackson, wouldn’t let him bring this up in his case, even though his charges were based on the entire scam.
President Trump indicated that he knew Crowdstrike was at the center of the Russia collusion scam when he made his infamous phone call with the Ukraine’s new President Zelinsky. The President reportedly said the following:
The President was interested in Crowdstrike, not the Bidens. The Bidens only came up after the President had the discussion above, and the Bidens were brought up by Ukrainian leader Zelinsky.
Clearly if you read the call transcript you can see that the President’s request was regarding Crowdstrike and the Bidens only came up after their corrupt actions were mentioned by the Ukrainian leader.
This must have hit a nerve, because just a couple weeks ago, on February 16, 2020, 60 Minutes had a report authored by Scott Pelley, regarding Crowdstrike’s claims that Russia hacked the DNC in 2016. Pelley and 60 Minutes made an effort to clear Crowdstrike’s name in their piece where the far left media outlet suggested The Gateway Pundit (TGP) pushed conspiracy theories and flashed an image of a 2017 TGP report.
60 Minutes went on to push the discredited Trump-Russia conspiracy.
Pelley, from 60 Minutes, used former anti-Trump Ambassador Bill Taylor, from the sham impeachment fiasco, as his expert witness on the Ukraine. Taylor claims he knew of no connection between Crowdstrike and the Ukraine. Pelley then shared the following in his report [emphasis added]:
Robert Johnston dealt directly with the FBI as an investigator of the DNC hack for CrowdStrike, a leading cyber security company hired by the Democrats. He told us the FBI didn’t physically examine the DNC servers because CrowdStrike gave the bureau copies of the data from the servers. “If there is a server or a computer system of any kind that’s involved in the incident you can take an exact bit for bit digital copy of what’s on that system. Now that digital copy is just as good as having the real thing,” Johnston said. “As far as you know, the FBI got what it needed and what it wanted?” Pelley asked Johnston. “Exactly and evidence of that is you don’t hear the FBI complaining,” Johnston said. He’s right. A former senior government official, familiar with the investigation, told us the FBI would have preferred to work alongside CrowdStrike’s investigators, but the Democratic National Committee decided to give the bureau digital copies of its servers instead. The official told us this was “acceptable,” in fact even typical in FBI investigations.
But this was not accurate and it was pathetic for 60 Minutes to spread the ridiculous Crowdstrike statements.
Who Is Crowdstrike?
We reported that Crowdstike is related to the Ukraine and this is through Ukrainian billionaire and longtime contributor to the Clinton Foundation Victor Pinchuk. We also know Crowdstrike is connected to James Clapper and the Atlantic Group:
Pinchuk serves on the International Advisory Board of a Washington-based think tank called the Atlantic Council. This group is “connected to Ukrainian interests through its “Ukraine in Europe Initiative,” which is designed to galvanize international support for an independent Ukraine within secure borders whose people will determine their own future.” Also serving on the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council is James Clapper, who served as Obama’s Director of National Intelligence. Funnily enough, Bongino discovered that the Chief Technology Officer of “the only company that investigated the hacking of the DNC’s servers and quickly determined it was the Russians, is a nonresident senior fellow in cybersecurity” at the Atlantic Council. His name is Dmitri Alperovitch (owner of CrowdStrike).”
We also know that in July 2015 Google invested $100 million into Crowdstrike –
Google Capital, the two-year-old growth equity arm of search giant Google (GOOG), announced its first security investment on Monday morning. The fund has pumped $100 million into cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. It was joined by cloud computing company Rackspace (RAX), which is a customer, and the firm’s existing investors Accel and Warburg Pincus. The new infusion represents a Series C round for the Irvine, Calif.-based company, bringing its total funding raised to date to $156 million.
Holes in Crowdstike’s Claims —
There are many holes with the ‘Russia hacked the DNC emails’ claim, much of what has already been posted here at TGP.
Several individuals previously shared they have sources who claim that the DNC servers were never examined by Crowdstrike:
After speaking w/ my @FBI sources & a @nytimes reporter with direct knowledge of the handling of the @DNC server it's true – there was no direct examination or physically custody of the DNC server – an "image" (i.e. copy) of the server was examined only: https://t.co/yDJKCYmUQC — Tony Shaffer (@T_S_P_O_O_K_Y) May 12, 2019
It was also uncovered in the Roger Stone case that CrowdStrike gave the US government three “draft reports” on the so-called hack by Russia which were full of redactions and the FBI just took their word for it. It was also reported that the DOJ never received the unredacted copies of Crowdstrike’s reports:
The DNC's lawyer provided the Crowdstrike reports to the Govt. He said the redacted parts weren't relevant to the investigation. The FBI never looked into it. Full DOJ response here: https://t.co/4LdwvWZzef pic.twitter.com/81cQTgfk7V — Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) June 15, 2019
Former NSA whistleblower Bill Binney previously reported he has evidence the DNC emails were not hacked but copied most likely on to a flashdrive or something similar.
NSA Whistleblower and longtime intelligence analyst Bill Binney on continuation of #RussiaGate fever: "The problem with the Mueller Report & the Rosenstein indictment is it's based on lies." FULL INTERVIEW: https://t.co/qiTOpvNd2q pic.twitter.com/tDSSSg0j0H — Status Coup (@StatusCoup) June 3, 2019
(Binney is brilliant. See the documentary on Binney entitled: “A Good American” – it will astound you.)
Binney has proof for his assertion but Crowdstrike and the DNC to date have provided no support that it was Russia who hacked the DNC.
Binney also claims that the Mueller gang wouldn’t even look at his data because they knew it would show something different than what they presented in their final bogus report (i.e. Mueller’s dossier as referred to by Devin Nunes).
Apelbaum’s Argument
Cyber expert Yaacov Apelbaum says the 60 Minutes and Crowdstrike claims are completely false:
If Crowdstrike gave the FBI any data it was drive images (we don’t even know which ones). This did not include memory dumps, network pocket captures, firewall activity, etc. This additional data is crucial and should have been examined in real-time by the FBI. If indeed any drive images were given to the FBI, these would have been contaminated because they continued to use these drives for weeks after the alleged hack. Crowd Strike was completely wrong (most likely intentionally) about the Russian hack of the Ukrainian Artillery allegation. And we know for a fact that they used the same forensic techniques to reach that conclusion as they did on the DNC hack.
Apelbaum posted a report in January 2019, with information basically proving that the DNC was not hacked by the Russians. Apelbaum’s first argument is this –
According to the WaPo (using CrowdStrike, DOJ, and their other usual hush-hush government sources in the know), the attack was perpetrated by a Russian unit lead by Lieutenant Captain Nikolay Kozachek who allegedly crafted a malware called X-Agent and used it to get into the network and install keystroke loggers on several PCs. This allowed them to see what the employees were typing and take screenshots of the employees’ computer. This is pretty detailed information, but if this was the case, then how did the DOJ learn all of these ‘details’ and use them in the indictments without the FBI ever forensically evaluating the DNC/HRC computers? And since when does the DOJ, an organization that only speaks the language of indictments use hearsay and 3rd parties like the British national Matt Tait (a former GCHQ collector and a connoisseur of all things related to Russian collusion), CrowdStrike, or any other evidence lacking chain of custody certification as a primary source for prosecution?
A second point by Apelbaum is –
… that three of the Russian GRU officers on the DOJ “Wanted by the FBI” list were allegedly working concurrently on multiple non-related projects like interfering with the 2016 United States elections (both HRC and DNC) while at the same time they were also allegedly hacking anti-doping agencies (Images 2-3).
Above are pictures of the individuals the FBI says were working on both the DNC/HRC email hacking and the Olympic doping projects.
The same guys were working on both projects which is all but impossible. (Do we really know if they’re even real people or even real Russians?)
Apelbaum argues –
The fact that the three had multiple concurrent high impact and high visibility project assignments is odd because this is not how typical offensive cyber intelligence teams operate. These units tend to be compartmentalized, they are assigned to a specific mission, and the taskforce stays together for the entire duration of the project.
Next Apelbaum questions the Mueller gang’s assertion that the ‘hacker’ named Guccifer 2.0 was a Russian –
Any evidence that Guccifer 2.0 is Russian should be evaluated while keeping these points in mind:
He used a Russian VPN service to cloak his IP address, but did not use TOR. Using a proxy to conduct cyber operations is a SOP [Standard Operating Procedure] in all intelligence and LEA [Law Enforcement Agency] agencies. [i.e. Russia would have masked their VPN service]
He used the AOL email service that captured and forwarded his IP address and the same AOL email to contact various media outlets on the same day of the attack. This is so overt and amateurish that its unlikely to be a mistake and seems like a deliberate attempt to leave traceable breadcrumbs.
He named his Office User account Феликс Эдмундович (Felix Dzerzhinsky), after the founder of the Soviet Secret Police. Devices and accounts used in offensive cyberspace operations use random names to prevent tractability and identification. Why would anyone in the GRU use this pseudonym (beside the obvious reason) is beyond comprehension.
He copied the original Trump opposition research document and pasted it into a new .dotm template (with an editing time of about 2 minutes). This resulted in a change of the “Last Modified by” field from “Warren Flood” to “Феликс Эдмундович” and the creation of additional Russian metadata in the document. Why waste the time and effort doing this?
About 4 hours after creating the ‘Russian’ version of the document, he exported it to a PDF using LibreOffice 4.2 (in the process he lost/removed about 20 of the original pages). This was most likely done to show additional ‘Russian fingerprints’ in the form of broken hyperlink error messages in Russian (Images 4 and 5). Why bother with re-formatting and converting the source documents? Why not just get the raw data out in the original format ASAP?
Apelbaum next discusses Guccifer 2.0 –
In June 21, 2016, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai from Vice Motherboard interviewed a person who identified himself as “Guccifer 2.0”. During their on-line chat session, the individual claimed that he was Romanian (see transcript of the interview below). His poor Romanian language skills were later used to unmask his Russian identify. …I’m not a scientific linguist nor do I even know where to find one if my life depended on it, but I’m certain that you can’t reliably determine nationality based on someone impersonating another language or from the use of fake metadata in files. This elaborate theory also has the obvious flaw of assuming that the Russian intelligence services are dumb enough to show up to an interview posing as Romanians without actually being able to read and write flaunt Romanian.
After providing a couple more examples of why the Russian story doesn’t stick, Apelbaum closes with this –
The bottom line is that if we want to go beyond the speculative trivia, the pseudo science, and the bombastic unverified claims, we have to ask the real tough questions, mainly: is Guccifer 2.0 even the real attacker and how did he circumvent all of the logs during several weeks of repeated visits while downloading close to 2 GB of data?
WikiLeaks
Most importantly, we know that WikiLeaks has stated numerous times that Russia did not provide them with the emails they leaked in 2016 and Julian Assange has stated that WikiLeaks had nothing to do with Russia.
But of course the Mueller gang never interviewed WikiLeaks or Julian Assange in an effort to determine how they received the Clinton emails. Of course the Mueller team could not risk WikiLeaks saying the emails were not received from Russia which would destroy their Russia hacked the DNC fairy tale.
Crowdstrike’s New Efforts to Save Face
Yesterday we discovered that Crowdstrike has reportedly obtained a PR firm to help backtrack their bogus claims.
A week ago Personal Liberty ran a wire story originally published in the Los Angeles Times.
In the article ‘Editor’s Notes’ were added in places where the LA Times piece reported fake news. One of the editor’s notes concerned the MSM trope that “Russian intelligence operatives stole and released thousands of internal emails and other documents in an effort to boost Trump’s chances, according to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.”
The Editor’s note was as follows:
This is fake news. While it’s oft-repeated by the propagandists in the MSM legacy corporate media, there is no evidence that the emails were stolen and released by “Russian intelligence operatives.” The emails were released by WikiLeaks and an entity called Guccifer 2.0. WikiLeaks denies it got them from any Russians, and Julian Assange has hinted that they were stolen by murdered DNC operative Seth Rich. The FBI was denied access to the emails and the conclusion that they were stolen and released by “Russian intelligence operatives” was made by the DNC-hired cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which has ties to Ukrainian oligarchs and the Council on Foreign Relations. –BL
A few days later, this past Tuesday, Personal Liberty reportedly received an email from John Eddy, Executive Vice President of the PR firm Goldin. The email follows:
My firm works with CrowdStrike and we read your article titled “Trump seeks to boost Sanders and foment discord among Democrats” (https://personalliberty.com/trump-seeks-to-boost-sanders-and-foment-discord-among-democrats/ [personalliberty.com]). We need to request important updates to the article. The article states that the “FBI was denied access to the emails and the conclusion that they were stolen and released by ‘Russian intelligence operatives’ was made by the DNC-hired cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which has ties to Ukrainian oligarchs and the Council on Foreign Relations.” This is incorrect. CrowdStrike’s founders have no connections to Ukraine. The company also provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI that they requested, and the conclusions have been fully supported by the US Intelligence community (https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/bears-midst-intrusion-democratic-national-committee/). Additionally, CrowdStrike was hired by the DNC to respond to the suspected breach of its servers, and did not do any investigations around the release of the information. Could you please update the article for accuracy to clarify that CrowdStrike does not have ties to Ukraine, and that the company was hired by the DNC to investigate the hack of the servers?
Note the phrase from Crowdstrike’s PR firm, stating that Crowdstrike “did not do any investigations around the release of the information.”
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theduran--2020-03-18--Coronavirus: The Plot Thickens

Coronavirus: The Plot Thickens

: Though the first cases of H1N1 swine flu were reported in California and Texas in late March , 2009 , subsequent genetic analysis suggests that it began six months before it was first detected , in September , 2008 , at the start of the ‘ flu season .
The CDC admits , below , that earlier Covid-19 cases went undetected , too May , 2018 : The President Fires the entire US Pandemic Response Team and does not replace it .
An outbreak of severe vaping-associated lung illness is exclusively confined to the United States , despite the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outside the US .
: The CDC halts research at Fort Detrick , citing “ national security reasons ” for not releasing information about its decision .
: Chinese researcher escorted from infectious disease lab amid RCMP investigation .
Public Health Agency of Canada describes it as a possible ‘ policy breach , ’ no risk to Canadian public .
The first Chinese to discover or warn about the Covid-19 outbreak ?
: First Vaping Death Reported by Health Officials “ Amid the lack of information , investigators scrambled to find shared links @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earlier this week that many patients , most of whom were adolescents or young adults , had described difficulty breathing , chest pain , vomiting and fatigue , ” the precise symptoms of Covid-19 infection .
At a peak of international tension and the ‘ flu season in the northern hemisphere , on the eve of China ’ s biggest travel season , 300 American military servicemen visit Wuhan for the International Military Games .
.
A Chinese medical researcher is arrested in Boston trying to take biological samples back to China .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Medical Center , confessed to taking material from a lab in Boston .
FBI Special Agent Kara Spice found 21 wrapped vials containing a “ brown liquid ” that appeared to be “ biological material ” ( samples of post-mortem lung tissue look like ‘ brown liquid ’ ) .
Zheng ’ s roommate , also a researcher , told FBI agents that two labmates of Zheng had succeeded in getting specimens to China .
China , presumably , now went on high alert .
Infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja , M.D.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Center for Health Security , agrees , “ We are on track to have a season like the 2017-2018 season , ” when 80,000 Americans died of flu complications .
: Malaysia ’ s Assistant to the Prime Minister , Matthias Chang , speculates that the US is waging biological warfare on China .
: Harvard Chemistry Professor Arrested , Handcuffed , And Accused Of Lying About Ties To China .
Charles Lieber , Chair of Harvard ’ s Department of Chemical Biology , led a Chinese research group focusing on the use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists found genomic evidence that the seafood market in Wuhan was not the source of the novel coronavirus .
Their genetic data suggests the virus was introduced from elsewhere and had already circulated widely among humans in Wuhan before December 2019 , probably beginning in mid- to late November .
February 27 , 2020 : On Taiwan TV a prominent virologist explained flow charts suggesting that the coronavirus originated in the US .
: Question : How did the virus come to the United States ?
Answer : “ The first known patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ traveling in other countries or after exposure to someone who had been to China or one of the other affected areas .
But now , a few cases here can not be traced to these risk factors .
This is concerning because it suggests the illness may be spreading across communities for which the source of infection is unknown , which we call community spread/transmission .
Dr. Emily Landon , spokesperson , U Chicago School of Medicine .
: HHS staffers often weren ’ t informed about coronavirus developments because they didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was told that the matters were classified “ because it had to do with China.
” : White House classifies coronavirus deliberations .
The meetings at HHS were held in a secure area called a “ Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility , ” or SCIF , usually reserved for intelligence and military operations .
HHS has SCIFs because theoretically it would play a major role in biowarfare or chemical attacks .
: CDC director Robert Redfield admits to a House Oversight Committee that some Americans who were diagnosed as dying from influenza tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Lijian Zhao demands US authorities reveal what they ’ re hiding about the origins of Covid-19 .
“ When did patient zero begin in the US ?
How many people are infected ?
What are the names of the hospitals ?
It might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan .
Be transparent !
Make your data public !
The US owes us an explanation !
” After its experience with the SARS outbreak in Guangdong Province in 2002 , China implemented a rapid response protocol for infectious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ministry to assemble professional and managerial help from across the country , established an emergency response coordinating team , prepared funding and authorization for supplies , equipment and emergency health care facilities , anticipating that existing hospitals would be overwhelmed .
Chinese researchers in the USA informed China ’ s Health Ministry of a novel Coronavirus outbreak there , triggering a readiness alert nationwide .
The WHO describes what happened next , “ In the face of a previously unknown virus , China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious , agile , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic.
” : Jixian Zhang detects four anomalous pneumonia infections in Wuhan and reports them to the provincial CDC the next day .
The provincial authorities immediately inform the national CDC which prepares to implement the pandemic response protocols .
China ’ s national CDC notifies the WHO , which reports Zhang ’ s discovery to the world .
WHO reports Zhang ’ s discovery to the world .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ confirms it five days later .
President Xi tells officials that the country is on a ‘ war footing ’ : China makes the first 2019-nCov test kits available .
: China extends Spring Festival holiday to contain the outbreak .
: First patients moved into new 1,000 bed intensive care hospital .
: Shipments to foreign JIT customers upgraded : government subsidizes upgrades from sea to rail delivery and from rail to air delivery .
: Government organizes and subsidizes bus , rail and air transport for two hundred million migrant workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ninety percent of businesses expected to resume full operations .
All Apple stores open .
: Researchers have greatly advanced their understanding of viral evolution since H1N1 a decade ago and finding patient zero is now more science than art .
Recently , a team of Chinese researchers claimed to demonstrate that Covid-19 was born in September , 2019 .
The British researchers who had discovered the earlier H1N1 date are not convinced .
: For those wishing to follow this unfolding event : • China ’ s New Coronavirus – An Examination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s Coronavirus – How the Western Media Spin the News by Larry Romanoff • COVID-19 : Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US by Larry Romanoff

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by Godfree Roberts…
September 2008 : Though the first cases of H1N1 swine flu were reported in California and Texas in late March, 2009, subsequent genetic analysis suggests that it began six months before it was first detected, in September, 2008, at the start of the ‘flu season. The CDC admits, below, that earlier Covid-19 cases went undetected, too
May, 2018: The President Fires the entire US Pandemic Response Team and does not replace it.
April, 2019: An outbreak of severe vaping-associated lung illness is exclusively confined to the United States, despite the fact that the majority of vapers live outside the US.
July 3, 2019 : The CDC halts research at Fort Detrick, citing “national security reasons” for not releasing information about its decision.
Jul 14, 2019 : Chinese researcher escorted from infectious disease lab amid RCMP investigation. Public Health Agency of Canada describes it as a possible ‘policy breach,’ no risk to Canadian public. The first Chinese to discover or warn about the Covid-19 outbreak?
August, 2019 : First Vaping Death Reported by Health Officials “Amid the lack of information, investigators scrambled to find shared links to the respiratory problems. Officials said earlier this week that many patients, most of whom were adolescents or young adults, had described difficulty breathing, chest pain, vomiting and fatigue,” the precise symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
October 27, 2019 At a peak of international tension and the ‘flu season in the northern hemisphere, on the eve of China’s biggest travel season, 300 American military servicemen visit Wuhan for the International Military Games.
December, 2019 . A Chinese medical researcher is arrested in Boston trying to take biological samples back to China. Zheng Zaosong, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, confessed to taking material from a lab in Boston. FBI Special Agent Kara Spice found 21 wrapped vials containing a “brown liquid” that appeared to be “biological material” (samples of post-mortem lung tissue look like ‘brown liquid’). Zheng’s roommate, also a researcher, told FBI agents that two labmates of Zheng had succeeded in getting specimens to China. China, presumably, now went on high alert.
Jan 6, 2020 Infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, agrees, “We are on track to have a season like the 2017-2018 season,” when 80,000 Americans died of flu complications.
January 5, 202o : Malaysia’s Assistant to the Prime Minister, Matthias Chang, speculates that the US is waging biological warfare on China.
January 28, 2020 : Harvard Chemistry Professor Arrested, Handcuffed, And Accused Of Lying About Ties To China. Charles Lieber, Chair of Harvard’s Department of Chemical Biology, led a Chinese research group focusing on the use of nanotechnology to identify viruses.
February 23, 2020. Chinese scientists found genomic evidence that the seafood market in Wuhan was not the source of the novel coronavirus. Their genetic data suggests the virus was introduced from elsewhere and had already circulated widely among humans in Wuhan before December 2019, probably beginning in mid- to late November.
February 27, 2020: On Taiwan TV a prominent virologist explained flow charts suggesting that the coronavirus originated in the US.
March 6, 2020 : Question: How did the virus come to the United States? Answer: “The first known patients in the U.S. contracted the virus while traveling in other countries or after exposure to someone who had been to China or one of the other affected areas. But now, a few cases here cannot be traced to these risk factors. This is concerning because it suggests the illness may be spreading across communities for which the source of infection is unknown, which we call community spread/transmission. Dr. Emily Landon, spokesperson, U Chicago School of Medicine.
March 9, 2020 : HHS staffers often weren’t informed about coronavirus developments because they didn’t have adequate clearance. He said he was told that the matters were classified “because it had to do with China.”
March 11, 2020 : White House classifies coronavirus deliberations. The meetings at HHS were held in a secure area called a “Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility,” or SCIF, usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. HHS has SCIFs because theoretically it would play a major role in biowarfare or chemical attacks.
March 12, 2020 : CDC director Robert Redfield admits to a House Oversight Committee that some Americans who were diagnosed as dying from influenza tested positive for Covid-19 posthumously.
Mar 13, 2020: Chinese FM’s Lijian Zhao demands US authorities reveal what they’re hiding about the origins of Covid-19. “When did patient zero begin in the US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make your data public! The US owes us an explanation!”
China Timeline to Mar. 15, 2020
November, 2002: After its experience with the SARS outbreak in Guangdong Province in 2002, China implemented a rapid response protocol for infectious diseases. The protocol empowered the Health Ministry to assemble professional and managerial help from across the country, established an emergency response coordinating team, prepared funding and authorization for supplies, equipment and emergency health care facilities, anticipating that existing hospitals would be overwhelmed.
July-December 2019 : Chinese researchers in the USA informed China’s Health Ministry of a novel Coronavirus outbreak there, triggering a readiness alert nationwide. The WHO describes what happened next, “In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history…China’s bold approach to contain the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of a rapidly escalating and deadly epidemic.”
Dec 26, 2019 : Jixian Zhang detects four anomalous pneumonia infections in Wuhan and reports them to the provincial CDC the next day. The provincial authorities immediately inform the national CDC which prepares to implement the pandemic response protocols.
December 30, 2019: China’s national CDC notifies the WHO, which reports Zhang’s discovery to the world.
December 31, 2019: WHO reports Zhang’s discovery to the world.
January 7, 2020: China identifies the virus as 2019-nCov and confirms it five days later. President Xi tells officials that the country is on a ‘war footing’
January 13, 2020 : China makes the first 2019-nCov test kits available.
January 25, 2020 : Construction begins on a 1,000 bed intensive care hospital in Wuhan.
January 26, 2020 : China extends Spring Festival holiday to contain the outbreak.
February 5, 2020 : First patients moved into new 1,000 bed intensive care hospital.
March 4, 2020 : February rail freight loadings rise 4.5% YOY.
March 5, 2020 : Shipments to foreign JIT customers upgraded: government subsidizes upgrades from sea to rail delivery and from rail to air delivery.
March 10, 2020 : Government organizes and subsidizes bus, rail and air transport for two hundred million migrant workers to return to urban jobs.
March 16, 2020 : Ninety percent of businesses expected to resume full operations. All Apple stores open.
***
Postscript : Researchers have greatly advanced their understanding of viral evolution since H1N1 a decade ago and finding patient zero is now more science than art. Recently, a team of Chinese researchers claimed to demonstrate that Covid-19 was born in September, 2019. The British researchers who had discovered the earlier H1N1 date are not convinced.
Further Reading : For those wishing to follow this unfolding event:
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