gearhog

Lab Leak. Report from US Senate Committee. https://www.help.senate.gov/ranking/newsroom/press/senate-help-committee-minority-oversight-staff-releases-interim-report-analyzing-origins-of-covid-19-pandemic An Analysis of the Origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic Interim Report Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions Minority Oversight Staff October 2022 Substantial evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of a research-related incident associated with a laboratory in Wuhan, China. A research-related incident is consistent with the early epidemiology showing rapid spread of the virus exclusively in Wuhan with the earliest calls for assistance being located in the same district as the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s (WIV) original campus in central Wuhan. The WIV is an epicenter of advanced coronavirus research, where researchers have collected samples of and experimented on high-risk coronaviruses. This report describes a pattern of persistent biosafety problems at the WIV as indicated by a series of patents and procurements relevant to the biocontainment of a highly-pathogenic virus, like SARS-CoV-2. Also outlined in this report are a series of management and training concerns at the WIV further indicating biosafety problems and an unsafe work environment for laboratory personnel. The research-related incident hypothesis also explains the low genetic diversity of the earliest known SARS-CoV-2 human infections and the failure to identify an intermediate host and any animal infections pre-dating human COVID-19 cases. This investigation’s interim report concludes that SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting COVID-19 global pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident associated with coronavirus research in Wuhan, China. PDF: https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf

The 2022 National Defense Strategy was released today: https://www.defense.gov/National-Defense-Strategy/ While the content isn't surprising, the escalation in language, tone, and specifics from 2018 National Defense Strategy is. https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf The trend line continues to reinforce the Thucydides Trap theory.

Hope he is ok. https://twitter.com/388fw/status/1582893659044708352?s=20&t=MTVQd_0vTp_NncTjHMj3aw

That was my point in the first reply. Sanctions are not etched in stone. As the political winds shift (and they are), sanctions can easily be lifted. The German government, and likely other EU nations, were feeling immense pressure to ease restrictions from the populace. However, permanent physical destruction completely eliminates that option. There's now nothing to protest. In addition, the brand new Baltic Pipe that I posted about on the first page, was a huge beneficiary of the sabotage. It was opened on the same day Nordstream was destroyed. It crosses over the Nordstream and delivers natural gas exactly to where? Sweden. That's not to say that they did it. I realize the article doesn't prove anything, but it adds new information. I believe a report could easily be prepared that doesn't reveal sources and methods, but strangely, they want to withhold all findings. All I want to know is who is intentionally being deceptive. Be it Russia, EU nations acting in concert, or NATO, this was pretty shady operation of consequence.

Just a few minutes ago. How difficult is it to say "Russia did it?" Thought I'd share and watch the belief perseverance taken to the absurd. https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-nordstream-germany-sweden/sweden-blocks-joint-investigation-on-pipeline-leaks-spiegel-idINL8N31F2B7

Enjoy your Sunday.

Nicely written. Best counter-argument here. I don't necessarily agree with the probabilities you're assigning to the unknowns, but you're making some good points. I'll have to digest it a little.

On a serious note, you should check out the financials and board members for CSIS. Try to look in the mirror and say "There is no bias or conflict of interest here" with a straight face.

That wasn't interesting to you? I agree it was likely fake and I made no claims to it's authenticity. I just said it was making the rounds in German media and thought it contained some interesting concepts. Because I knew it couldn't be verified, I immediately followed it up with an actual RAND report to similar effect from the RAND website which you conveniently forgot to mention. Monkeypox? Oh, yeah... I remember that. Thanks, you just gave me a thought: Isn't it incredibly fascinating how the entire thing simply vanished into thin air, with a day or two, after the official narrative was called into question and subsequently ridiculed and mocked by countless people across social media and forums like this? Obviously, all those people hated America. I'm going to go ahead and take a little bit of credit for that. You're welcome. I take it you somehow escaped infection. As for the rest of your attempted insult, I have no idea what you're wasting keystrokes on. Quick question: would you mind pointing me in the direction of an original thought you've had here that isn't just repeating an official narrative? No? Then don't forget to tilt your head back and relax your throat for the next WH press briefing. 😄 Please don't take this post personally. I just had a couple beers with dinner and I think you're hilarious. All in fun.

How is it some of you still cannot distinguish between a criticism of an entire country and a tiny portion of it's leadership? That's a bad question, because I know you can, and you are intentionally being disingenuous by conflating the two. It's similar to how real propaganda actually works. If someone were to be "amplifying" Russian propaganda, then Russia would have been the originator of said propaganda. After reading your post, I honestly went looking for Russia's claims the the US had sabotaged the pipeline. I found two things: - A Russian official said that any claim they had sabotaged their own pipeline was "stupid". - Russia asked Biden to clarify who actually destroyed the Nordstream 2. Maybe you can find something more propagandaish. Aside from my initial sarcasm, my other posts regarding this topic were just factual reports by Western media. Put them side by side, and it doesn't take any logical gymnastics to form a reasonable hypothesis that maybe it wasn't Russia. Do you honestly think what we're experiencing is "great international tension" and not a war? What did we just spend another $12 Billion United States Dollars on yet again today? Diplomacy? Consider that I, and others, are giving you a mere hypothesis substantiated with factual information from Western sources, but yet you're not able to provide anything other than effectively crossing your arms, shaking your head, and saying "Nuh-uhh, you just hate your country."

If a person doesn’t blindly and dutifully fall in line with the official government narrative (one that continuously demonstrates it’s ability to screw up), they’re parroting Russian propaganda. Every troublesome domestic issue isn’t a real issue or concern, but the evil machinations of a foreign propaganda arm that permeates every facet of our society, but can’t win a battle in its own backyard or even convince its own citizens to fight the West. sounds reasonable. Those are awfully convenient positions to take as they allow for no critical thinking, no dissent, no questions. A familiar tactic of late. Who is falling into whose trap?

Moose, I did not. You’re conflating “my country” with those making decisions for it. I’m also said I simply don’t know. To be clear, I don’t think our current leadership would directly commit such an act. They just to fund such things. Again, I love my country, enough to acknowledge when the probability of our leadership leading it astray is high.

Brother, I get it. I'm not rooting for Russia and Putin. They're absolutely shitty. But I never was in danger of living under a Russian totalitarian state. What I am concerned about is truth, deception, righteousness, and minimizing the loss of life. I love my country and I truly appreciate the service of everyone who wants to defend it. But what enemies are we sworn to defend it against? It is uncomfortable to consider that my side, the good guys, could possibly be involved in making poor decisions that result in a worse end state. But I also can't turn a blind eye to the fact our current leadership has fucked up nearly every issue it's faced with. This current leadership engages in relentless propaganda and deceit surrounding the pandemic, the economy, our justice system, democracy, AFGHANISTAN?. I don't want to believe that we or our allies would risk escalating conflict and plunging millions of european citizens into insecurity and a dramatically reduced standard of living for an unpopular agenda, but the trends indicate otherwise. I simply don't know... but the probability certainly isn't zero.

https://www.verywellmind.com/denial-as-a-defense-mechanism-5114461 😆

On the day prior to the Nordstream2 attack and opening of the Baltic Pipe line, a large protest was formed by German citizens to pressure the German government to reopen Nordstream 2. There were several reports that members of the German government were considering caving to citizen demands to lower energy costs and strike a deal with Russia and reopen it. That would have been undesireable. https://news.yahoo.com/germans-call-nord-stream-2-050655816.html?fr=sychp_catchall Video: https://twitter.com/dohelu/status/1575118767176155139?s=20&t=EVGK_oNrRPwInUud01r_Eg

Also, on that same day the Polish and Danes celebrated the opening of the new pipline, Poland's representative to the European Parliament tweeted "Thank You, USA" with a picture of the ruptured Russian pipeline. But Russia did it to themselves. LOL https://twitter.com/radeksikorski/status/1574800653724966915?s=20&t=EVGK_oNrRPwInUud01r_Eg

Timing is everything. Does it get any clearer? Polish and Danish Prime Ministers held a public ceremony to open the Baltic Pipe line on the same day Nordstream 2 was destroyed. From the article: "Leaders from Poland, Norway and Denmark have attended a ceremony to mark the opening of the new Baltic Pipe, a key stage in the drive to wean Poland and Europe off Russian gas. The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Norwegian shelf via Denmark and through the Baltic Sea to Poland. It is the centrepiece of a Polish strategy to diversify away from Russia that began years before Moscow’s February invasion of Ukraine triggered a global energy crisis. The flows from Norway along with supplies via liquefied gas terminals are central to Poland's plan. The country was cut off from Russian gas supplies in April, allegedly for refusing to pay in roubles. "The era of Russian domination in the field of gas is coming to an end, the era that was marked by blackmail, threats and extortion," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the inauguration at Budno in western Poland. Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Aasland said it was "an important step on the important road to Europe's independence from Russian energy". "We must do everything we can to eliminate energy as an instrument of Russian power," added Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. "Together we will defeat Putin." https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/27/baltic-pipe-norway-poland-gas-pipeline-opens-in-key-move-to-cut-dependency-on-russia

I recently sold an easement through my property for a natural gas pipeline. The guy I dealt with says they had purchased futures contracts in 2020 through 2025. Contracts beyond that now cost 400% more.

Russia blew up it's own $11 Billion dollar Nordstream 2 pipeline investment so that it could blame the US for sabotaging it while permanently (forever) severing Europe's ability to purchase energy from Russia through it. They used stealth submarines just off the coast of NATO member countries during a war, covertly planted explosives, then detonated them. By blaming the US and NATO, Russia believes they will garner enough domestic and international support to turn the tide in Ukraine. It's actually a brilliant strategic plan. https://seapowermagazine.org/baltops-22-a-perfect-opportunity-for-research-and-resting-new-technology/

The leak is One Thousand Yards Wide on the surface of the Baltic Sea:

That's kinda bold, isn't it?

How likely is it we created a Ukrainian conflict to harm both Russia and Europe to position ourselves as #1 or #2 into the future? I'm just reading these RAND reports. Were the authors just good guessers? Luck? It seems like more of a script than research. Good read all the way through, but this page and the page after are significant. From 2019: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3063.html

Making the rounds in German media: an Interesting read from a leaked RAND report from JANUARY 2022. Germany is getting too big for its breeches. They may abandon NATO and the EU in favor of an Old Europe alliance. Solution: Plunge Europe into a financial crisis, crash the Euro, and cause massive outflows of skilled labor and finance as people sell the euro to buy dollars and yuan. This would pull the USA out of a looming recession. https://t.co/Ox9qckkjEV

I have a junior and freshman in college. They would both join (against my recommendations) in a heartbeat if there was no vax requirement. Keep it in place as far as I'm concerned.