Just finished watching this and it’s one of the best miniseries I’ve seen. It did such an incredible job of portraying the oppressiveness of the Soviet state and its impact on its citizens. I found it a bit soul crushing seeing the parallels to what’s currently happening in the US when ideology comes first.
It truly is a brilliant show, in a depressing sort of way.
WHO is still asking Russia for more details, including what actually caused the lab worker’s death and reports of a second pneumonia case.
https://twitee.co/DrTedros/status/2107591815863968121
So I guess we’re still at the “not enough information” stage.
the people in wuhan said the same thing just before things expanded out of control
I still remember reading reddit threads about what looked like mass incineration of human remains and the speculations thereabout.
wasnt that for ebola in africa?
It was definitely some random scary bullshit on the internet that co-mingled the two. But so much of the hype in the early days of COVID ended up being FUD used by the administration to justify draconian anti-immigration policies. We had FOX News screaming about Leprosy and “Mexican Flu” being transmitted by Migrant Caravans decades before that. Any disease outbreak became an excuse to hyper-police people entering the US at the borders.
Part of the problem with all this disease discourse is that it’s routinely anti-foreigner agitprop. This goes straight back to The Spanish Flu, which originated from a Haskell County, Kansas pig farm and got spread across Europe by WW1-era US soldiers. It became major weapon of the 20th century reactionary right to ban Italian Immigrants way back then. Now we see disease scares used to freeze out everyone from Taiwan to Brazil to Afganistan. If anyone is sick anywhere, it’s an excuse to ban migrants everywhere.
No, but it did involve George Clooney’s satellites for darfur. This was around new years and we’ll before anyone even thought about viruses.
They had some sort of images of lots of dirt that got moved and some sort of chemical spectrum analysis from… somewhere idk, but the ne of the chemicals was something that occurs when bodies are burned.
The general thought was that it was anti Chinese conspiracy kind of building off the Uyghur, but it was in a different place, or a new ethnic realignment of similar ilk.
Funnily enough, this isn’t even the worst leak of a disease from a lab in Russia. That honor (probably) going to the Sverdlovsk anthrax leak in 1979 which killed at least 68 people.
2019: The Sequel - 7 Years Later ☣️
sigh
I’ll get the 400 tons of sand and boron.
I think I’ve seen this before.
Maybe they’ll do the same thing as China. Leaving their international airports functional while locking down their cities, intentionally infecting as many places as possible. And then legit Xi goes on air to scold other nations telling them they need to learn how to do international cooperation.
Everything was closed in Wuhan except outbound international flights.
People keep saying that the Fediverse is too hard to use because you need to be techy and understand instances and stuff. But here you are, happily using Lemmy without a brain.
Leaving their international airports functional while locking down their cities, intentionally infecting as many places as possible.
Are we still doing Wuhan Lab Leak Theory? Wasn’t that debunked ages ago as some Trumpie lie pushed to deflect our own abysmal COVID response?
Are we still doing Wuhan Lab Leak Theory? Wasn’t that debunked ages ago
There was an attempt at debunking the lab leak theory early on with a nature article saying we do not believe any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible. Then there was a rejected DARPA research proposal detailing exactly how the laboratory-based scenario is possible.
Lab origin has not been proven but there is no natural zoonotic path to Wuhan. Lab encouraged gain of function with in species reproduction seems most likely.
Half the US intelligence agencies support the lab origin theory.
This has nothing to do with lab leak theory. This is what China actually did. They think in terms of comparison with other countries and they didn’t want to be the only country with covid, regardless of the origin.
I think there’s just not enough information to say with confidence one way or the other. Biden commissioned a report that was inconclusive, in part because of non-cooperation from the Chinese government. From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assessment_on_COVID-19_Origins
Updated Assessment on COVID-19 Origins is a report of the United States Intelligence Community regarding the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was commissioned on May 26, 2021, by President Joe Biden and submitted on August 24.[1]
Biden initially ordered his intelligence services to “redouble efforts” to investigate the virus’s origin.[2] The report, which was released on August 27, noted that the Intelligence Community did not reach a unanimous conclusion on the origin of the virus, with four agencies determining that the index case was likely a result of natural exposure, with another agency considering it as the result of a laboratory incident, although the community overall agreed that it was not linked to biological warfare. The community concluded that a conclusive investigation would require cooperation with the Chinese government.[1][3] Analysts considered that the investigation proved incapable of reaching a definitive conclusion on the origins of COVID-19, and the report was criticized by Chinese officials.
Biden commissioned a report that was inconclusive, in part because of non-cooperation from the Chinese government.
The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines – China’s Sinovac inoculation.
Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation.
If true, that does not address the point that the necessary facts aren’t known, and therefore one can’t conclusively know whether the source of the virus is natural transmission or a lab leak.
China continues to withhold data from the WHO regarding the outbreak in Wuhan. That in itself is not proof, but now, seven years into the pandemic, I personally find it suspicious. The other indicators supporting the lab-origin theory are well known. Aside from the incompetence of the Trump I administration, it seems that some intelligence agencies still subscribe to this theory.
For those who need to know more:
Local media have reported that the institute has subsequently been locked down, with staff forced to sleep on the floor and on chairs. “They’ve been isolating everybody since Friday – more than 60 people,” one relative, Roman, told the news portal Siberia.Realities.
He said family members were allowed to drop off food at a checkpoint while tests were carried out inside the building. Similar quarantine restrictions have been placed on several other hospitals in and around the city.
At least this time around they seem to be treating it seriously instead of trying to cover it up to save face I guess?
They do both “nothing to see here” while trying their
worstbest to contain it.My money is on them shipping infected people to the front lines while saying they are just in quarantine.
A few weeks later “oh noes they all ded frum virus” meanwhile they just spread it to all their own troops while claiming it’s just a flu and everyone is fine.
who are these people?
3.6
RoentgenPPM, not great, not terribleEvery lie that is told incurs a debt to the truth. A debt that shall one day be repaid.
Any information to the contrary, or is it just more propagandist hype?
Russia is hiding all the plague victims? Seriously?
Mostly hype. Plague isn’t that virulent with modern precautions and antibiotics, and Russia’s response has been to swiftly quarantine hundreds of people. Plague occurs naturally on occasion, and is largely a known threat.
Most of the hype has been speculation around this case being a bioweapon combined with distrust in Russian institutions generally.
I’m not one to trust Russia generally, but I don’t see much evidence that this is more than a nothing burger blown out of proportion by growing anti-Russia sentiment due to their invasion of Ukraine.
Authoritarian regimes are a breeding ground for shitty cover-ups
I mean. You could have just linked Chernobyl.
I don’t doubt that there would be some degree of cover-up if there was an escalating situation. I just don’t see any reason why it would be escalating.
Because it might be a bio weapon that they can’t control and it’s stronger than what you’re thinking?
What are you talking about? Where? Who?
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-lab-worker-death-fact-check/a-79560752
Gross, don’t link dw. Basically muscovite propaganda now.
He’s a Kremlin shill btw. Essentially pushing the the idea that Russia is nothing but a victim of the west, instead of a victim of the kleptocracy under Putin.
German state media is Russian propaganda?
Don’t talk while you’re chewing crayons.
I think Ukraine itself is a symptom of a bigger contagion, virulent capitalist greed that will kill us all.
I’m surprised to not see DR Congo on the list.
Yeah, it ought to be in there between China and Iran, just based on mineral wealth. Makes the whole list suspect, tbh. Went to check the sources on Statista, but they want me to register before they’ll show me, so fuck that.
Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug.
DRC has much of one of the things listed, rare earth minerals.
Yeah I knew it was mostly rare earth metals and some amount of oil. I was just surprised to not see them on the list because it seems to be focused on USD value of natural resources.
Nevertheless it is an interesting chart, so thank you.
It puts U.S. foreign policy in perspective.
The thawing Arctic is opening access to even more, which is why Trump wants Canada and Greenland.
Is he a medical doctor or what is his PhD in?
Just like Dr Pepper, it’s not a real doctor because there’s no period after “DR”
I mean it is, but Russia was giving up its resources for pennies ever since the 90s, this framing is a bit weird.
I think if that was true then there’d be no adversarial relationship with Russia, like attention to Venezuela disappeared overnight with them folding to Trump.
The Arctic thawing is opening up access to a vast trove of natural resources. The fabled Northwest Passage is about to finally become a reality. This is why Trump wants Canada and Greenland. There’s only three nations, and Denmark has already folded.
Russia has changed quite a bit since Putin took leadership, and for the better. Like it or not, it’s why Russians like him.
Russia has changed quite a bit since Putin took leadership, and for the better
Well yeah compared to the borderline failed state that was 90s Russia, that’s not a difficult task, accomplished by getting the other billionaires to keep 1% of the wealth they’re extracting in the country.
This is why Trump wants
Trump is literally senile. There might be people in his administration who feel that way, but the administration’s policy is so demented I don’t think we can attribute clear motivations to anything.
I dunno. He got Venezuela and Greenland. I didn’t think either would work, but here we are.
Do you think a Dem administration would let go of either if they took power? I don’t think so.
The last days of humanity will be a violent struggle over dwindling resources to feed billionaires’ greed.
Hi Mr. Local Area Man. Funny of you to show up in yet another thread claiming that Russia is being preyed upon by the west again.
🙄 as if, huh
Hey man, I’m just saying, maybe Putin shouldn’t have orchestrated apartment bombings, sold former soviet assets to oligarchs, own several luxurious properties throughout your country, had political dissidents and opponents assassinated (inside and outside of Russia) took extreme efforts to install pro-Putin leaders in other countries, make all displays of LGBTQ pride and education illegal, control the entire media system, and not relinquish power ever.
Let’s say your wildest accusations against this foreign Emuel Goldstein boogieman were true. You’re saying that the West wouldn’t want to destroy Russia and take all their shit? As if. Everything you accuse Russia of doing is true for America or the dictatorships we foster. We’re currently arming over 80% of all dictatorships. The only difference is that they’re willingly giving us their natural resources.
Weird how no one talks about Venezuela anymore. That propaganda sure dried up quick after they turned over their oil fields to corporations.
Like I said the last time we spent a week in a thread going back and forth, I can do this forever. You know I can.
You already established you aren’t American, and CERTAINLY aren’t culturally progressive. You claim it, every single time, say “we’re doing x.” “We do x.” You don’t even realize you’re on a European instance do you?
I didn’t claim Russia was doing SHIT this time. I merely responded that you claim Russia is a victim of the west.
Putin, and his Kremlin are the problem for Russians. Vladamir Putin, specifically.
The rest of the world worries about Russians because of what Putin has done to them to enrich himself.
The rest of the world?
And even then, that’s just Western oligarchs dictating policies we have no say in.
What happens when you ask the people who the biggest threat is?
You’re a minority within a minority, lapping up lies from the Epstein Billionaire Class.
And that’s the part I find funny. You simply cannot comprehend, or allow, that because I dissent from not just the current regime, but most administrations of the U.S., that I must be eating up the propaganda.
Its not even odd to you is it? The U.S.A currently has a very pro-Putin regime. Yet the U.S.A is doing exactly what you are pointing out.
I mean, fuck, the Trump family has made significant money IN Russia. The Kremlin, the sole authority in Russia could stop that cash in an instant. Why don’t they?
But I mention the cruelty of Putin, and you get all bent out of shape. Putin is a victim of western propaganda.
Do you need a list I have of 64 people who the Kremlin successfully assassinated? Or just the ones within Russia?
I dont like the sound of it
