NST Editorial:
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US President Donald Trump flanked by US Vice President Mike Pence and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci (R), speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on April 16, 2020, in Washington, DC AFP |
Covid-19 is killing people by the thousands at a time and all American President Donald Trump can do is to cut off funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO).
To do this during a global pandemic is a crime, to say the least.
The Guardian of the United Kingdom calls this behaviour Trumpian recklessness. We agree. Covid-19 is vicious in the United States, with deaths at press time reported to be more than 34,000. This is way above that of any country, including the world’s hotspots Italy and Spain.
China, which is at the taunt-end of Trump, has just 10 per cent of the US death toll. The reason is simple: Trump cannot bear very much reality. Despite WHO warning the US of the serious threats posed by Covid-19, Trump chose to ignore the experts. Now that his folly is public, Trump is scapegoating WHO.
Americans’ common foe may turn out to be Trump, not Covid-19. The sooner the Americans realise that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, is not a reality show, the better for them.
Trump needs to listen more to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, a rare voice of truth.
The Trump-WHO spat may not be about the failings of the international organisation at all. Perhaps WHO was a wee bit more China-friendly than he wanted it to be. But then again, what could WHO do but be China-friendly.
After all, the virus started in China and WHO could not just force its way into a sovereign country. Perhaps the US, which does this all the time, expects WHO to do the same. Trump has a serious China problem. He insists on calling SARS-CoV-2 a Wuhan virus. Long before Covid-19 shook the world, Trump was waging a tariff war in earnest with China, though with an on-again, off-again regularity. To “Make America Great Again”, there isn’t a need to make China “ungreat”. Both can be great if they work on their flaws.
The problem is, for Trump, everything is a zero-sum game. Even geopolitics. And we haven’t even said anything on technology, the 5G Huawei made-in-China headache that so terrifies Trump.
Happily, there are some sane heads around. Judging by media reports, Trump is rightly isolated by the virtual G7 summit (of which the US is the chair) held on Thursday. This is a man the leaders of the European Union and G7, a grouping of seven leading economies of the world, have watched threaten the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and now WHO of fund freeze. And in the most inopportune time.
WHO’s data puts its 2018-2019 budget at US$4.4 billion, though it can do with more. Shaving off 14.67 per cent of this is the unkindest cut of all. Little wonder some have called Trump’s fund freeze a “crime against humanity”. They are not wrong. Fortunately, Europe is on a fund drive to fill the gap. So is the UN. The hope is private foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will hurry to help. According to WHO’s data, the latter is already contributing 9.76 per cent, next highest after the US. China’s contribution is a surprise 0.21 per cent.
Even struggling Pakistan contributes 0.36 per cent to the world health body. A world in crisis needs compassion and collaboration. Not Trumpian recklessness.
To do this during a global pandemic is a crime, to say the least.
The Guardian of the United Kingdom calls this behaviour Trumpian recklessness. We agree. Covid-19 is vicious in the United States, with deaths at press time reported to be more than 34,000. This is way above that of any country, including the world’s hotspots Italy and Spain.
China, which is at the taunt-end of Trump, has just 10 per cent of the US death toll. The reason is simple: Trump cannot bear very much reality. Despite WHO warning the US of the serious threats posed by Covid-19, Trump chose to ignore the experts. Now that his folly is public, Trump is scapegoating WHO.
Americans’ common foe may turn out to be Trump, not Covid-19. The sooner the Americans realise that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, is not a reality show, the better for them.
Trump needs to listen more to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, a rare voice of truth.
The Trump-WHO spat may not be about the failings of the international organisation at all. Perhaps WHO was a wee bit more China-friendly than he wanted it to be. But then again, what could WHO do but be China-friendly.
After all, the virus started in China and WHO could not just force its way into a sovereign country. Perhaps the US, which does this all the time, expects WHO to do the same. Trump has a serious China problem. He insists on calling SARS-CoV-2 a Wuhan virus. Long before Covid-19 shook the world, Trump was waging a tariff war in earnest with China, though with an on-again, off-again regularity. To “Make America Great Again”, there isn’t a need to make China “ungreat”. Both can be great if they work on their flaws.
The problem is, for Trump, everything is a zero-sum game. Even geopolitics. And we haven’t even said anything on technology, the 5G Huawei made-in-China headache that so terrifies Trump.
Happily, there are some sane heads around. Judging by media reports, Trump is rightly isolated by the virtual G7 summit (of which the US is the chair) held on Thursday. This is a man the leaders of the European Union and G7, a grouping of seven leading economies of the world, have watched threaten the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and now WHO of fund freeze. And in the most inopportune time.
WHO’s data puts its 2018-2019 budget at US$4.4 billion, though it can do with more. Shaving off 14.67 per cent of this is the unkindest cut of all. Little wonder some have called Trump’s fund freeze a “crime against humanity”. They are not wrong. Fortunately, Europe is on a fund drive to fill the gap. So is the UN. The hope is private foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will hurry to help. According to WHO’s data, the latter is already contributing 9.76 per cent, next highest after the US. China’s contribution is a surprise 0.21 per cent.
Even struggling Pakistan contributes 0.36 per cent to the world health body. A world in crisis needs compassion and collaboration. Not Trumpian recklessness.
There r some latest news pointing to the FACT that Wuhan is not the location where the SARS-CoV-2 first started to appear.
ReplyDeleteUSS Tennessee (SSBN-734) is a United States Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine that has been in commission since 1988.
There is a recently leaked military report stating that there r at least 8 sailors onboard of that submarine, confirmed to be infested with covid-19.
Nuclear submarine spends most of its time under the depth of the ocean w/o any outside interactions. That duty cycle is long & the only human-to-human contacts r between the shipmates in confined space.
So, if those sailers r been confirmed to be covid-19 positive, then WHEN & WHERE r they been infested?
It also points to the glaring FACT that covid-19 COULD has an earlier origin & date.
Dr Foster postulated between mid September to early December 2019. This could be an underestimate due to a low sampling size of 244 used.
Many studies, especially news media, have pointed finger for SARS-CoV-2 originated from the bat. The most quoted reason been
a) Coronavirus is a common virus found in bats of all species
b) Based on the alignment of 44 SARS-CoV-2 genomes and the BatCoV RaTG13 sequence, there is 96.2‰ matching rate.
However, virologist Prof Andrew Rambaut of U Edinburgh has disputed this oft-quoted 'scientific' fact.
Even with the matching in BatCoV RaTG13, there r still more than 1100 DNA/RNA sequences that r not matched to SARS-CoV-2!
There r MORE genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone!
Hence, all the bat origin postulations r just cases of finding what one wants to find!
yes find whatever that suit u, here is another one.
Delete"A theory put forward by French professor Luc Montagnier — award-winning co-discoverer of the AIDS virus but also mocked by some colleagues for some outrageous theories — has sparked a scientific firestorm.
According to the Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, a man used to controversy, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is the result of an attempt to manufacture a vaccine against the AIDS virus, Agence France Presse reported.
Montagnier says the presence of elements of HIV in the genome of the new virus and even elements of the “germ of malaria” are highly suspect, the report said. Interviewed on the French CNews channel, he said the characteristics of the new coronavirus could not have arisen naturally.
The “industrial” accident was said to have taken place in the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, he added."
Good one, mfer! This theory isn't new!
DeleteFits very well with some of the clinical findings from multitudes of the current covid-19 biopsy reports of the victims.
SARS only attacks lung tissues & causing severe acute respiratory syndromes (that's how the naming arises) that results in death.
SARS-CoV-2 besides causing lung fibrosis, also attacks other organs resulting in massive overreacting T-cells mutiny. The victim often is been killed by his/her own mutiny T-cells.
(Wakakakakaka… don't expect a c&p mfer would understand these. But, as mentioned many times before, this IS NOT for yr f*cked mind!)
Normally, mutiny T-cells is a common reaction of the HIV drug treatments.
As Prof Luc Montagnier mentioned the presence of elements of HIV in the genome of the new virus and even elements of the “germ of malaria” are highly suspected. (Remember Trump keeps promoting hydroxycholoroquine - a effective malaria drug?)
Thus his postulation that SARS-CoV-2 is lab incubated!
Prof Andrew Tambaut of U Edinburgh disagrees. His studies of the virus structure indicates that the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein is the most variable part of the coronavirus genome.
While the analyses above suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may bind human ACE2 with high affinity, computational analyses predict that the interaction is not idea and that the RBD sequence is different from those shown in SARS-CoV to be optimal for receptor binding.
Thus, the high-affinity binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human ACE2 is most likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise. This is strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not the product of purposeful manipulation.
In simple human parlay, that affinity process WOULDN'T be a normal lab scientist thinking! It has to be a long period of natural evolutions adaptation.
But virus is virus. It doesn't work according to human reasoning, especially based on the lab processing ability.
This part:
"The “industrial” accident was said to have taken place in the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, he added.""
Was NEVER in Prof Luc Montagnier's postulation.
Lab incubated, YES.
From Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, NO.
U r just twisting & add yr own fabrication about Wuhan B4 lab into a simple statement to propagate yr LIES!
This is a very typical 台毒 morons fake news tactic.
U do c&p in total from yr helicopter godmother's propaganda outfit!
This NST report is misleading. Bordering on fake news. They quote the amount INVOICED by WHO to each country ie the share owed to WHO by country.
ReplyDeleteEg Pakistan was INVOICED 2,573,980 (0.36%) in 2018-2019. But they paid zilch, as do many poor countries. They still owe WHO.
And since KT is so interested in Africa (but not 1MDB), Kenya has paid up but not Botswana ha ha ha...
The US, on the other hand have paid their share up till 2019. As has China. Even Malaysia pun dah bayar assessment.
No!!!
DeleteThe US still owes an accumulative outstanding assessment of US$200+M as of end of 2019.
US is the largest contributor in name. But a definite lousy paymaster who refuses to act as what his mouth say. The situation has been deteriorated even more when Trump becomes the potus!
WHO is currently sustaining her operations based on on-time assessments from countries like China & EU etc & philanthropic contributions where Bill & Melinda foundation contributed as the 2nd biggest fund contributor after natos US.