A World Health Crisis? – So Ramp Up Confrontation and Deploy Nuclear Bombers by Brian Cloughley!
(2020-05-12 at 10:52:11 )

A World Health Crisis? – So Ramp Up Confrontation and Deploy Nuclear Bombers by Brian Cloughley!

The Pentagon is excelling itself in its enthusiastic march to war. There are countless thousands suffering from the effects of the Covid-19 virus, including hundreds of members of the United States armed services, while the worlds despots are relishing their freedom to persecute minorities, and the poor and downtrodden are dying in hideous misery because of starvation and lack of medical care. But the propaganda war against China continues, concurrent with ramping up of anti-China confrontation by Washington,D.C. in its ongoing deployment of nuclear attack warships and bombers to the Western Pacific and the South China Sea.

The propaganda campaign is intriguing, and although amateur and absurd in content and dissemination its message is believed by many of the millions at whom it is directed. The focus of the latest barbs is aimed at convincing the western world that China is responsible for the spread of Covid-19 - what the President of the United States and his Secretary of State refer to as the "China virus" - and it is not surprising that the major outlet for the latest Goebbels gambols is News Corp [sic; chaired by the egregious Rupert Murdoch] whose Australian Saturday Telegraph headlined on 4 May that "China deliberately suppressed or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus outbreak in an -assault on international transparency-- that cost tens of thousands of lives, according to a dossier prepared by concerned Western governments on the COVID-19 contagion. The 15-page research document, obtained by The Saturday Telegraph, lays the foundation for the case of negligence being mounted against China."

The report was given much cover by Fox News in the United States (owned and directed by Rupert Murdoch) which noted that "A research dossier compiled by the so-called -Five Eyes- intelligence alliance, that reportedly concludes China intentionally hid or destroyed evidence of the coronavirus pandemic, is consistent with United States findings about the origins of the outbreak so far, senior United States officials told Fox News on Saturday [ May 2]." The reporter who produced the Telegraph story, -National Political Editor- Sharri Markson, declared on Fox News next day that "It is very clear from this 15-page dossier that has been prepared by concerned western governments that China deliberately covered up evidence of the virus early on in a pure case of negligence.. this directly contributed to thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people getting sick and dying."

It was utter nonsense, of course, and was therefore seized upon by the United Kingdoms gutter tabloid the Daily Mail which informed its millions of readers that "Bombshell -Five Eyes- Western intelligence dossier claims China lied about coronavirus." To give them their due, the majority of the United Kingdom media declined to spread such garbage, but the stink has lingered in spite of the revelation on 7 May that "Australia has determined the report is not a Five Eyes intelligence document. It is not believed to include original intelligence from human sources or electronic intercepts." Of course not. But that does not matter to the propaganda-meisters who scored a victory over truth and decency.

And even supposedly respectable organisations are not averse to slanting information when there is an opportunity. As pointed out by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, "United States Strategic Command, the branch of the United States military responsible for the nations nuclear weapons, recently released an imperially misleading infographic on Twitter. The graphic is confused - not only about when to use bold typeface, but also about the facts." The graphic claims that "Russia, China, North Korea and Iran pursue new nuclear weapons and delivery systems to threaten the world" while, as the Bulletin points out "there is no mention of Russias dramatic reductions [in numbers of nuclear weapons], which have outpaced those of the United States. Since 1990, the Russian stockpile has declined from roughly 37,000 warheads to 4,310 - an 88 percent decrease." But the head of United States Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, tweeted on 3 May that "The threats we face today and in the future are real, and have not changed during the pandemic. While we continue to seek and provide for a safe and secure world, others continue to act provocatively and irresponsibly."

Perhaps nobody told Admiral Richard that the United States has 3,800 nuclear weapons while China has 300. And while his Command is alleging provocation and irresponsibility by China he should bear in mind the report on 30 April that "The United States military continued its weeklong show of force in the South China Sea with a sortie over the contested waters by two Air Force bombers. The B-1B Lancers from the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., flew a 32-hour round trip to conduct operations over the sea as part of a joint bomber task force by the United States Indo-Pacific Command and United States Strategic Command."

Not only this, but in the waters of the South China Sea "The guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill sailed near the Spratlys on Wednesday as part of its so-called freedom-of-navigation operations" and "on Tuesday, the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry sailed near the Paracel Islands." Provocation, anybody?

The Pentagons 2019 Report to Congress about Chinas "Military and Security Developments" notes that the Chinese navys "latest surface and subsurface platforms enable combat operations beyond the reach of Chinas land-based defences. In particular, Chinas aircraft carrier and planned follow-on carriers, once operational, will extend air defence coverage beyond the range of coastal and shipboard missile systems and will enable task group operations at increasingly longer ranges." But nobody can believe that China will "follow-on" in the foreseeable future to the extent that it will have anything like the eleven nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed aircraft carriers that the United States Navy deploys all over the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a world crisis that should have resulted in all nations getting together and cooperating in every possible way to control the spread of the virus, combat its physical and economic consequences, and produce and administer an immunity vaccine.

Instead, the priority of the Donald Trump Washington,D.C. has been to denigrate China in every way possible. The exchange between Secretary of State Pompeo and Martha Raddatz on ABC television made this clear, when he was asked "Do you believe coronavirus was man-made?" to which he replied that "the best experts seem to think so." Martha Raddatz was not going to let him get away with that and pointed out that "the Director of National Intelligence says the consensus is it was not." Mr. Pompeos lame but most revelatory counter to her line of questioning was "What is important is the Communist Party could have prevented this."

And to further challenge the Communist Party, the Pentagons aggressive operations around Chinas shores include the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group along with "the amphibious assault ship USS America, smaller than the Reagan but carrying F-35B Lightning II stealth strike fighters" and the USS Nimitz Strike Group is about to leave San Diego for an undisclosed Indo-Pacific mission.

The health crisis affected the United States fleet, and there will be yet more instances of virus infection, but the Chief of Naval operations, Admiral Gilday declared that in spite of the world health emergency the United States navy has "a duty to ensure we are ready to respond. We cannot simply take a knee or keep everyone in port until this enemy is defeated. We are Americas away team. The uncertainty caused by [the coronavirus] makes our mission of protecting America at sea more important than ever. That is why the United States Navy continues to operate forward every day."

So now we know. Forget the world health crisis. Concentrate on confronting China. The "away team" is considered to be Washington,D.C.s route to a peaceful and prosperous future.

Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.