'ALLEGED That The United States Had Persuaded Brazil To Deny The Vaccine Approval'
alleged - adjective
Definition of alleged
- accused but not proven or convicted
- an alleged burglar - asserted to be true or to exist
- an alleged miracle
- an alleged conspiracy - questionably true or of a specified kind: supposed, so-called
- bought an alleged antique vase
NYT, Apr 27 - Brazil’s health authority rejected importing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The official Sputnik V Twitter account pushed back on Monday in a series of tweets, in Portuguese, saying that the vaccine’s developers had shared “all the necessary information and documentation” with Anvisa. In another tweet, it said Anvisa’s decision “was of a political nature” and had “nothing to do with access to information or science,” and alleged that the United States had persuaded Brazil to deny approval.
'Alleged' seems to be the wrong word for this:
WaPo, Mar 16 - U.S. officials pushed Brazil to reject Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, according to HHS report
Buried deep in the dry, 72-page annual report of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lay a startling admission: U.S. health officials under President Donald Trump worked to convince Brazil to reject Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
...
Brazil, which has the second-highest coronavirus death toll worldwide, has struggled to obtain adequate vaccine supplies. But the Health Attaché office within HHS’s Office of Global Affairs pushed the country to turn down offers of help from the Russians last year, according to the report.
Source: Department of Health & Human Services - 2020 Annual Report (pg 48) - bigger
Meanwhile the European Medical Agency, the drug regulator for the European Union, is intentionally slow walking its approval of Sputnik V by probing the 'ethical standards of the Sputnik vaccine trials'. No other vaccine trial has been questions in this regard.
This while the slow vaccine roll out and continuing lockdowns are costing EU countries billions of Euros per day.
Posted by b on April 27, 2021 at 7:16 UTC | Permalink
next page »I remember once upon a time if somebody sabotaged and jeopardized the health of a nation deliberately, they would be lined up against the wall end executed, maybe it's time to dust of this old but very effective method.
Posted by: Picador | Apr 27 2021 7:45 utc | 2
I used to be pro-vax before but all this pushing about vax is giving me a second thoughts, especially when you can still catch it after you are vaxxed.
Posted by: Smith | Apr 27 2021 7:46 utc | 3
In the meantime we have VonDerSomewhere complaining about being discriminated, 'cause she's a woman, she said something like if dressing with a suit and tie the sultan would not have ignored her. We have a saying in Spanish, "aunque la mona se vista de seda mona se queda" something like "An ape is an ape, a varlet is a varlet, though they be clad in silk and scarlet", I don't know why but that lady does not inspire me any positive feeling. Plus the VonDer makes her an aristocrat, if that is possible in Germany. Maybe the German speaking patrons can shed some light on the offended lady and her dealings, but it looks like we will not be getting SputnikV any time soon.
Posted by: Paco | Apr 27 2021 8:06 utc | 4
Quote "So there may be a new form of normalcy where masks don’t necessarily have to go away.”
Dr. Leonard A. Mermel, medical director of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, who said making people wear masks all the time was worth it to stop the spread of other viruses aside from COVID-19.
“Within the Lifespan system we are seeing far fewer of all the respiratory viruses than we are used to seeing at this moment in the calendar year… So it’s impressive: the COVID preventative strategies are having an impact on other respiratory viruses, which just makes sense: they spread in a similar fashion,” said Mermel.
“It would not surprise me if that became a recommendation from the CDC,” he said. “It’s a pretty low price to pay to try to reduce the risk to oneself and to particularly loved ones who may be at particular risk of these sorts of infections causing harm,”
Of course "lockdowns" are being used in the same way, (ie in the UK) where they would love to have a third wave. (Wave goodbye as freedom flies). This is not a question of numbers but of policy that hides and tries to ignore .... rebellious attitudes. (The recent massive march in London that you didn't see reported by the BBC (!) Or we can have Bill Gates getting agitated about "patents" being used by anyone else (ie Russia and China) Who might "learn their techniques". This is in spite of Russia offering help to the West with their own research (Was that for the "Oxford" vaccine ?).
*******
"Many hands make light work", but with all of them trying to push the switch in their own direction, we will be lucky if a fuse doesn't blow somewhere
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 27 2021 8:50 utc | 5
The NYT is simply a propaganda organ of the corporate oligarchy. Whenever the US does something bad, it is always "alleged". When opponents of US hegemony are accused of doing something bad, it is never "alleged" - for example, you won't read about the "alleged Douma chemical attack" in the NYT.
Just a small point about English grammar: "alleged burglar", "alleged miracle" and "alleged conspiracy" are all correct, because "alleged" is being used here as an adjective. "Alleged antique vase", on the other hand, is incorrect because what is being alleged is not that the object is a vase; what is being alleged is that the vase is antique. Because it is being used to describe an adjective (antique), it is being used adverbially: therefore the correct usage is "allegedly antique vase".
This reminds me of John Michael Greer's formulation: the "allegedly smart phone". I use it all the time, to imply that intensive users of mobile devices may not be quite as intelligent as is generally believed. Note that what is being is alleged is not that it's a phone, but that it's smart!
Posted by: Gerald Smith | Apr 27 2021 9:00 utc | 6
Thanks, it would be good to see Bolsonaro and the US exposed as contemptuous of he essential interests of their people. Perhaps we shall see a projection of vaccine supplies and death rates if the US had not obstructed Sputnik approval, perhaps from Greenwald: it would be a fine way to end Bolsonaro's regime.
Posted by: Sam F | Apr 27 2021 9:29 utc | 7
mise en garde
With due respect for you, b.
@allThe topic is the malign influence of foreign policy on health issues, not the severity or danger of Covid-19 and vaccines. If you want to discuss that (again and again) go elsewhere.
I will continue to censor comments (and ban commentators) accordingly.
Posted by: b | Apr 27 2021 7:34 utc | 1
How to discuss when the foreign influence on severity and danger of Covid-19 result precisely in malign policy?
Brazil and EU prohibition on Russian alternative vaccine is a malign policy. Bruxelles is more and more a foreign influence on EU countries.
Pfizer and al. will probably to be renewed every 6 months. Russian and Chinese vaccine are announced to be traditional long-term vaccine.
Planned obsolescence of drugs and vaccines, patent term is an incredible challenge.
++++
Perhaps I was clumsy in my expression and I apologize, but it was with respect for all (and your) opinions.
Let's not talk about it anymore but it will remain "un cadavre dans le placard" .
+++
This message contains no disinformation or aggression, so I hope it will not be censored.
+++
Have a good day and continue to submit to our reflection all the inconsistencies of the propaganda that wants to shape our minds and play on our emotions
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 9:32 utc | 8
Thank you b, the use of political and economic pressure to deny medicines is a crime against humanity. It is as simple as that and citizens would be well advised to take these actions to the International Criminal Court regardless of the whining from the USA. EU would be different as it might take it seriously. Might!
The slow walking of both the Sputnik V and the Sinopharm vax after millions of doses is contemptible and people can see through this malign behaviour. I suspect this will transform public attitudes in the long run. For South American countries there will be a hardening of the hate for all things USA.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 9:40 utc | 9
Paco #5
Sultan Erdogan had the right approach recently and set up his petty insult perfectly with only two gilt thrones to sit on leaving the lady to occupy the couch. THAT was a high insult but appropriate imo.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 9:46 utc | 10
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 9:46 utc | 11
Trying to gain simpathy by gender is not the way to go. Regardless of gender and all other identity traits a public servant should be judged by his/her performance, and that lady's performance managing the vaccines for the whole of Europe has been a catastrophe.
Posted by: Paco | Apr 27 2021 10:03 utc | 11
Just checking in to see how much damage your fascist virus regime propaganda has done to your site.
Looks like it's been destroyed. Good.Bye bye
Posted by: Cameron Moore | Apr 27 2021 10:33 utc | 12
It is no surprise at all that Bolsonaro went along with amerika's demand to block Sputnik V. Bolsonaro's policies are all about creating a Brazil where only wealthy elites matter, since slavery was finally abolished in Brazil (1888 one of the last nations to get rid of the filthy trade) the cruel and indifferent elites have used all sorts of methods to get rid of poor people. From outright genocide of indigenous clans to Rio de Janeiro's law enforcement policy of shooting homeless street kids on sight, many methods to whittle down Brazil's population have been attempted by the scum in control.
Covid-19 would seem like just another opportunity to such low lifes, sure a few really old rich types would die (an issue rendered moot by elites getting access to the jab ahead of all others) but long term Bolsonaro undoubtedly sees Covid as a way of 'thinning out' the poor, so denying access for inexpensive doses from Russia & Cuba is a no brainer.
Amerika's aims are different but they do align with the current Brazil government. amerika is concerned to ensure that Brazilians don't negatively compare the generous offer by Russia to assist with rolling out a Covid antibody enhancer with amerika's selfish refusal to lend assistance to an ally in the midst of a major health emergency.
The amerikans long loathed by the bulk of South & Central america's populations, are really worried that if Brazil uses Sputnik V successfully to reduce the outrageous Covid 19 mortality rate in Brazil, other nations is the region will follow suit and are equally successful in limiting deaths. That would be the final nail in the coffin for yanquis, making any government in bed with amerika loathed by the general population for decades to come, thereby severely reducing amerika's influence once more, in a way that no colour coup would stand a chance of remediating.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Apr 27 2021 10:43 utc | 13
Looks like the Brazilian govt wants to step into the ring and challenge India for the covid death crown.
As they say, better dead than red...
Wish granted.
Posted by: A.L. | Apr 27 2021 11:05 utc | 14
I wonder if the US will pressure (if it hasn't already) India into rejecting the Sputnik vaccine and also the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines even as India records huge daily spikes in new COVID-19 cases, mainly in Maharashtra state.
What is it about Maharashtra state that it's the current epicentre of COVID-19 infection in India? Not even poor states like Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal have had as many infected as Maharashtra has had over the past month.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 27 2021 11:09 utc | 15
Posted by: Jen | Apr 27 2021 11:09 utc | 16
Re India, you know who has tonnes of oxygen just across the border?
Offer turned down.
800 oxygen machines flown in today with another 10,000 next week. Guess where from? But of course it has to be 'donated' under the cover of a local airline....
Hmmm... Where's the QUAD?
Posted by: A.L. | Apr 27 2021 11:17 utc | 16
Paco @ 5:
Ursula von der Leyen married into the von der Leyen family. Her maiden name is Albrecht.
If you want to find some aristocracy in Ursula von der Leyen's ancestry, a great-grandmother on her father's side was Mary Ladson Robertson (1883 - 1960) who was descended from a South Carolinan planter family in the pre-Civil War US. That means that great-grandma's ancestors in the Ladson family must have owned, erm, slaves.
About the Ladsons:
“They played a major role in the British colonization of the Americas and in the slave trade in British North America.”
Well ... that is some aristocracy there.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 27 2021 11:22 utc | 17
Posted by: Smith | Apr 27 2021 7:46 utc | 4
It is better to not be pro-vax or anti-vax, vaccines are not all alike, and people are not all alike. My wife (73) has had Pfizer, she did fine. Having her vaccinated protects me too. I have not been vaccinated, I likely won't unless the disease evolves into something more deadly. In my case, I prefer the odds that way. All of that is actually perfectly OK, and you don't need to take a side, unless you work with the public. Then you may have to think about it. IIRC you are Vietnamese, and Vietnam has done well in the pandemic, so that would go double for you. And the OP (B's original post) here is precisely about not politicizing these issues.
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Regarding "alleged", it is what I would expect of NYT, in any case it's been clear for some time that the Editors there control all the content in order to push their agendas, and the one thing that is true of all their agendas is that they are dumb and goal oriented, not news oriented. As others have pointed out, is is a Reader's Digest smorgasbord of drivel meant to get you in the buying mood and sell you whatever they want.
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Bolsonaro looks like a drunk to me. Or maybe worse a dry drunk, who cannot drink, like W. "Everybody has to believe in something, I believe I will have another beer." Churchill was a drunk. THe United States had lots of drunks in the beginning, the US military only lately has made an issue of it. The General running Centcom (McKenzie?) looks like a drunk too. Drunks do not make doo deciders, and that explains a lot here actually.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 27 2021 12:07 utc | 18
NYT does use "alleged" correctly. In the land of truth, one need merely state one's statement. In the land of lies, one must insert "alleged", so that others know the statement is truth.
There was a Soviet aphorism to this effect.
Posted by: Otter | Apr 27 2021 12:10 utc | 19
Posted by: Jen | Apr 27 2021 11:22 utc | 18
Thanks for the link, it is a lot spicier than what I expected, aristocracy indeed.
Posted by: Paco | Apr 27 2021 12:15 utc | 20
Ad to Jen @18
Mr. Albrecht was not nobody... He was politician and at some point Ministerpräsident (head of a federal state)
She got the job in Brüssel to get her out of the real politics, like her job before.... Secretary of defense
I hate her so much, she is all what's wrong in politics
Posted by: Kartoschka | Apr 27 2021 12:23 utc | 21
Let me just say something, and that is that much more than vaccines, which may or may not be effective, what countries need is adequate health facilities, and by that I mean hospital needs, ambulances, oxygen supplies, etc.
India, for example, is struggling with a (relatively) low *rate* of infection, but which, given the gigantic population, means an extremely high *number* of sick people. This would not have been a problem had there been the health care facilities to cater to them. But the neoliberal capitalist system followed by all Indian regimes since 1991 has meant the wholesale privatisation of health care. Now privatisation means that extra capacity is never created, it would be a loss for the hospital if unused, so in times of emergency those hospitals are always overwhelmed. Add the utter incompetence of fascist regimes like Modi's or Bolsonaro's, where symbols of power (giant statues for instance) take precedence over governance, and you have a recipe for disaster. It doesn't even have to be a disease, any sudden stress will make the system collapse.
I'll absolutely bet you that the Modi regime has also got its orders from America. The other day China tweeted about the oxygen generating equipment of its rushing to India. The Modi regime and its tame media are deafening in their silence on the topic:
https://twitter.com/chinaembsl/status/1386365020292804610?s=21
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Apr 27 2021 12:29 utc | 22
The Head of EMA is a pharma shill
Maschine translation from:
https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2021/die-profite-der-pharmakonzerne-sind-wichtiger-als-ein-schnelles-ende-des-lockdown/
It can only be a coincidence that Emer Cooke, who was appointed head of the EMA in November 2020, was head of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), a European lobbying association for the pharmaceutical industry, in which are among others AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer members. She worked there until 1998 and then switched directly to the EU.
Posted by: Kartoschka | Apr 27 2021 12:33 utc | 23
And since the USA and Israel knew that the BioNTech was better, why didnt Germany buys the patent and make it universal?
The answer seems political, isnt it?
Posted by: Mina | Apr 27 2021 13:42 utc | 24
The goal of Capitalism, as demonstrated time and again by the attempt to unwind monopolistic practices, is to destroy competition. This precisely reflects the foreign policy of the United States. Capitalism, like Empire, is at the end of its history. The last throes. And in its vain attempt to survive, mass murder is simply a bi-product of desperation. Evil is as evil does, and in the USA there is no 'alleged' about it.
Posted by: gottlieb | Apr 27 2021 13:47 utc | 25
@ Bemildred
Yeah, I'm glad I am in Viet Nam. We don't have a race to see who gets vaccinated the most here.
But yes, no more talk about this.
Posted by: Smith | Apr 27 2021 14:37 utc | 26
gottlieb | Apr 27 2021 13:47 utc | 27
So true, and all the while spouting on about free enterprise, the free market, and THE rules based order. Bemildred resurrected the speculation of W's dry drunk behavior patterns; little Georgy's been on my mind also, as the attempt is made once again to rehabilitate the shrub. I have, since the event, felt that the little moron's most lasting contribution to humanity was that under his leadership the US dragged to the ground and kicked to death, what little rules based order humanity was clinging to. Basically he and Deadly Dick gave the world the finger: (I paraphrase) "If you don't like what we're doing, then stop us." And no-one did. Not here, not there, not anywhere.
Posted by: vinnieoh | Apr 27 2021 15:08 utc | 27
#28 (and b)
Not talking about it is defaulting to the established narrative.
To take a pass at respecting our host’s request. Bolsonaro and Modi are puppets and lapdogs. When their master says jump they ask how high. US expects all their tributaries to behave that way. US cannot understand disrespect to a liege lord. For my part I cannot contrive a display of respect for a Biden or a Blinken or a Fauci.
Talking about it all the time is a problem too. Most are likely too fixed in their positions to entertain further input. Social media is not good at this. Where I live ordinary social discourse is pretty much gone, shouting through masks at ten feet outdoors does not support a conversation
Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 27 2021 15:09 utc | 28
BoJo said "let the bodies pile up rather than have a third lockdown" back in October. Grounding planes did not occur to him, then or now. Neither does it of most EU governments despite the calls from medical practicians.
Strangely enough, it was confirmed by the BBC (which since then seems to have removed the most incriminating article)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9514075/Prime-Minister-siege-fresh-sources-confirm-crass-comment-lockdown-deaths.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-denies-report-that-pm-johnson-said-let-bodies-pile-high-2021-04-26/
If The Hague tribunal was not just for African politicians, a good number of the people in charge would end up there.
Posted by: Mina | Apr 27 2021 15:14 utc | 29
There's a growing controversy in Hungary, where the government -- Hungarian government -- published stats for all the vaccines they've been using.
Sputnik V shows the highest effectiveness and least side effects. Sinopharm -- the second best. Pfizer -- the worst.
(I see hungarytoday.hu has already censored the government table out of the article.)
Immediately, a scandal ensued, with herds of righteous grant-eaters explaining why the government stats are not to be believed. All in all, funny slapstick, I like it.
Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | Apr 27 2021 15:33 utc | 30
@ Matthias | Apr 27 2021 13:15 utc | 25
Thanks!
"The establishment has recruited doctors, rabbis, the media, and the masses to harangue people..."
Brazil was told not to accept Sputnikvaccine. Now is told for hurry.
Cui buono?
“healthcare” providers and analyst Yankees aligned.
Analogy:if EU gas is not directly and efficiently provided [NS2], who keeps his hand on the gas valve? Yanks thanks to any vassal by using "all the lies, corruption, propaganda, manipulation, censorship, bullying,"With Russia and China out of "the market", who keeps is hand on "urgently needed cure"?
Brazilian "President" Bolsonaro is cornered as any illegitimate politician [Ursula Wonder-lying too]. Weak, incompetent, illegitimate politician are easy to promote and control [Peter's + Dilbert's principles].
Will do was he is told. And wrecked. The next one knows who to obey.
+++
We have got in France a reliable medical institution
the IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France
Medical science based on :
Two-millennia fighting against port-imported epidemics, Marseille
Barbieri, R, Colson, P., Raoult, D., Drancourt, M
https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/MS-3.pdf
+++
Crystal clear on "allegedly legitimate information" by a real efficient medical staff
How is built the “legitimate information”
on the Covid crisis
https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/MS-Mucchielli.pdf
++++
All studies with FREE public access, no wall:
The IHU publication and pre-publication site on COVID-19
https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/pre-prints-ihu/
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 15:36 utc | 31
Bemildred | Apr 27 2021 12:07 utc | 19
US RA enlistment 72'-'75. Alcoholism there was widespread throughout all the ranks. 2/3 way through my basic training cycle, our drill sergeant thrown in Louisville's hoosegow for drunk and disorderly. To flesh out the reality of that time I'll repeat his most memorable words, uttered when he returned the night before we "graduated": "What's that funny smell I smell!"
Posted by: vinnieoh | Apr 27 2021 15:37 utc | 32
@ oldhippie
Where I live ordinary social discourse is pretty much gone, shouting through masks at ten feet outdoors does not support a conversationPosted by: oldhippie | Apr 27 2021 15:09 utc | 30
And where I work, for "emergency Covid-19 purposes" we evacuated all building. NBC way.
Unfortunately, with mask. Communication for emergency situation with mask is even not possible.And dangerous.
And I am hearing-impaired after 25 years working as A&P Mechanics
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 15:46 utc | 33
I've noted many times before on health spending in the US being the single biggest problem facing the population: $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion of excess spending costs to Americans per year
The vaccine market worldwide is estimated to be $100 billion, and vaccination-induced protection (such as it is) is likely to require annual renewals.
Never mind the geopolitical shenanigans of the US Deep State, the profits involved would already indicate a high level of "fuckery" so to speak.
But of course, with Russia and China involved - the Deep State is as well thus combining the top 2 problems facing the US population: excess "defense spending" on foreign adventures and excess health care spending.
Sad as it is - nothing should surprise anyone regarding "vaccine diplomacy".
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 15:53 utc | 34
Maybe to have a covid thread can simply allow people who are not interested to skip it?
In this topic as in others, local news from people on the ground are often the sole real info available.
How many trials were there in Brazil, UK and India? (Susan, I was talking of trials). How come they were not then better treated in term of deliveries and logistics? So the governements can allow people to be used as guinea pigs but then block the roll out? And the WHO or other intl institutions have nothing to say or refuse further trials in these countries?
https://abcnews.go.com/International/quiet-heroism-brazils-covid-19-vaccine-trial-volunteers/story?id=74897778
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2021/01/01/india-covid19-vaccine-serum-trial-protocol/
https://www.insider.com/indian-slum-residents-unknowingly-part-of-covid-vaccine-trial-report-2021-2
How legal are these?
Aparently it does not hinder EU companies to continue working with Indian trials
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-gives-nod-to-conduct-trials-of-gennova-s-covid-19-vaccine-11608031317794.html
Posted by: Mina | Apr 27 2021 15:53 utc | 35
@vinnieoh #29
GWB was certainly not a great President, but laying the blame for the US breaking "international norms" is incorrect.
It would be more accurate to say that the US has never paid attention to international norms if inconvenient; the post-World War 1 banksterization of Europe's war debts to the US is an early example.
Another example would be Bill Clinton's unilateral intervention in Yugoslavia.
Or Obama's assistance to France in destroying Libya/Qaddafi.
Or Reagan's antics re: Iran and Afghanistan.
Or Kennedy/LBJ/Nixon and the Vietnam war.
Or Truman and the Korean war.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 15:59 utc | 36
Nice incursion into lexecology and !
During my student days in Bĕijing during La Revo Cul dans la Chine Pop (a.c.a: "The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution"(!),) The very word "alleged" -- or rather its Chinese equivalents got struck out from new editions of Chines-Chinese dictionaries (and no new wordbooks got published except some lists of chinese characters and proverbs). Fortunately, we had brought sets of Chiese-German dictionaries and vocabularies published in East Berlin!
Wee called our (bostly) dear Máoist China "Das Land der Wörterbuchlosigkeit" (land of no word books).
By the way: "Alleged" is much more klear in Scandinavian, Finnish, Iselandic and German:
"påstått/formodet/fræægði/sagiþ/behauptet/vermutet/mistænkt/anglaget/angeklaget usw(´/osb/osv)
Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Apr 27 2021 16:02 utc | 37
SORRY: Mostly Máoist (not 'boastly' Máoists -- those were the Anglo World spies pretending to be red.)
Posted by: Tollef Ås اس طلف | Apr 27 2021 16:06 utc | 38
@vinnieoh #33
The US military's state in the early 1970s was partly due to Vietnam and more significantly due to the general economic malaise of that period.
Not many people seem to remember the Nifty 50 and the epic crash that followed. Or the US exiting the Bretton Woods international trade gold standard. I was too young to remember anything like that then, but have talked to enough people who do remember and have read enough to understand just how debilitating things were in the 1970s.
There's a reason why the "French Connection", "Serpico" and no doubt numerous other examples of economics induced corruption happened then.
Which is what makes today's situation in the US so interesting. Comparatively, things are nowhere near as bad now as then.
The 1970s era problems were largely due to the impact of a relatively "hard" currency converted to fiat whereas the problems now are largely due to the increasing misuse of the US dollar exorbitant privilege/reserve status and bad US economic policy. Instead of a relative "shock" therapy as was seen in the 1970s and 1980s (Volcker's play), we have had frog boiling for 20+ years: flat to declining living standards much less real wages for the 80%+.
Will it be different this time? Or are we just early in the cycle?
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 16:08 utc | 39
thanks b... your link to the usa dept of health and human services 2020 annual report says it all... alleged my ass! it is the usa foreign poliicy and screw any diplomacy, compassion or anything that resembles humanity, as that ain't coming from the us of a.... ditto a number of posters commentary here too.. thanks..
https://www.moonofalabama.org/11i/hhs.jpg
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2021 16:10 utc | 40
Brazil is a vassal state. The "comprador" class bathes in American Culture. The very discreet Judeo-Maçonic brotherhood rules the country in all its aspects. The Brazilian is very "modest": he/she does not want to be somebody just to be anybody.
Posted by: nietzsche1510 | Apr 27 2021 16:11 utc | 41
Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Apr 27 2021 16:02 utc | 38
Thank you for the anecdote. :-)
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 27 2021 16:32 utc | 42
The basic problem with having billionaires and "first families" is they are always on the lookout for more, and they always want to look in your wallet, not their own. Greedy and needy people do not suddenly reform when they have money. Trump is not all that different from the rest of them. If we let them run our foreign policy, this we have now is what we will get.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 27 2021 16:38 utc | 43
.....and then we have this.
There was an industrial accident, a gas leak last year. in Visakhapatnam Those dead are now "Covid dead" who are "dropping in the streets" as per New York Post.
https://twitter.com/MHilltobe/status/1386757719860912134?s=20
Do not ever believe anything the media tells you.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Apr 27 2021 16:43 utc | 44
So Russia wants to sell their vaccine at lower cost than mRNA vaccines, gives it away for free for some nations, and allows nations to set up local manufacturing of the vaccine. (India is planning on making several hundred million does of Sputnik V.) And in return, what does Russia want? Diplomatic influence and friendship. How evil.
Here is an example of Pfizer practicing vaccine diplomacy.
Held to ransom’: Pfizer demands governments gamble with state assets to secure vaccine deal
So American pharma/government version of vaccine diplomacy is to ravage the assets of a country. And if that is not possible, pressure the country to accept mass deaths due to lack of a highly effective vaccine (which is cheaper).
As for the Europeans, their obedience and Russia Phobia will cause their own self immolation. As I have said, these sorts of actions will lead many countries living in medical dystopias while other countries move ahead due to healthier populations.
For Star Trek Voyager fans, one of their earlier and best episodes was encountering a race of people permanently wrecked by a "phage" that they end up having to steal organs from other races.
Posted by: Erelis | Apr 27 2021 16:46 utc | 45
Some malign influence of foreign policy on health issues,[no cash=no drug=no "vaccine" =....]
Saudi Arabia announces ban on fruits, vegetables from Lebanon due to drug smuggling
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/04/23/Saudi-Arabia-to-prohibit-Lebanese-fruits-vegetables-shipments-due-to-drug-smuggling
And the drug is?
Captagon. "Quelle coincidence !"
Cui buono ?
Not Hezbollah.
NOT Lebanon healtcare system
Not the bodies in the pile
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 16:55 utc | 46
Down South @43: "...the measures taken by Western governments have ... everything to do with forcing down social and economic changes that the populations of these countries would never have accepted..."
This is the part that I do not understand. Western populations have been accepting neoliberalization of policy and declining living standards for decades with only a few minor protests to deal with. The elites don't need to use a pandemic, real or otherwise, to keep their boot on the population's neck. The shredded remnants of the Labor Movement were showing no sign of coming back to life and the shrinking Middle Class has shown no willingness to do anything so long as they remain somewhere in society's middle.
The capitalist economies in the West have taken real and painful damage from the pandemic even if that damage has been disguised by switching the dollar printing presses into high gear. Giving capitalists wheelbarrows loaded with cash is weak compensation for them having to shutter their productive enterprises. They are capitalists because they want to command, and sitting back collecting welfare that they can play games with on the equity markets will not satisfy.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 27 2021 17:02 utc | 47
James @ 41
Thank you for drawing our attention to that. I read the top post much too quickly.
Why on earth does a domestic agency even have an Office for Global Affairs? To the extent they ever leave the office that must cause continuous friction with State Department.
Reading through that report what is mostly seen is an intensely self-involved bureaucracy. Out here in the hinterlands none of those myriad programs exist. It is all of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats.
Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 27 2021 17:23 utc | 48
Sputnik V has so far passed not a single independent detailed review, neither in the USA, nor Brazil, nor the EU and China doesn't seem to be interested either. It is registered in Russia and numerous customers approved it on emergency grounds despite the unavailability of additional detailed data.
Most notably Sputnik V also didn't finish the WHO procedures that would enable it to participate in COVAX. Why not? It's a customer with huge demand, the procedure is in accordance to internationally established standards and with the WHO it is conducted by a neutral institution (according to Trump: an institution controlled by China). So what's the reason that "the worlds best Covid-19 vaccine" doesn't take part?
Posted by: m | Apr 27 2021 17:31 utc | 49
Here we go again. The empire and their minions will reject any cures, for anything, that doesn't funnel the profits into an empire approved channel.
Some, do not want a solution for Covid-19, because it's politically advantageous to NOT have a cure.
Only the "exceptional" nation must be allowed to succeed.
Posted by: vetinLA | Apr 27 2021 17:39 utc | 50
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 16:08 utc | 41
The Vietnam war was conducted in largely the same manner as the post-9/11 war on terror. Money was spent like water and no thought was given to consequences. That is HOW we got broke in the 70s. One of the major motivations in the military "elites" in all the 9/11 debacle was to show that they were not wrong in Vietnam. Of course that did not work out.
"Biden" to give him credit, seems to understand in some way that we are going to need real reform here to dig out of this hole. That doesn't mean he will be able to pull it off.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 27 2021 17:41 utc | 51
Stonebird @ 6 “Within the Lifespan system we are seeing far fewer of all the respiratory viruses than we are used to seeing at this moment in the calendar year… So it’s impressive: the COVID preventative strategies are having an impact on other respiratory viruses, which just makes sense: they spread in a similar fashion,” said Mermel.
The point is " prevention of [stopping] the infection as a safety measure, far exceeds, treating a patient who has been infected with a pathogen vectored by a virus that cause disease in the infected patient.
Filtration of air and the cleaning of air filters needs to be improved.. .but also many, many sewer and water systems are suspect for as a source of virus that can infect and cause disease in mankind
Improve the filtration of air, water and recycled sewer systems ,even mandate mask, . but please do not infect people with bio engineered mRNA scripts labeled vaccines please.
Posted by: snake | Apr 27 2021 18:01 utc | 52
I'll absolutely bet you that the Modi regime has also got its orders from America.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Apr 27 2021 12:29 utc | 23
It is not totally clear with Bolsonaro, and even less clear with Modi. Both inherited ideologies older then USA that put low value on unwashed masses, so they do not have to be prompted to screw domestic hoi polloi. In the case of Brasil, humoring the request about Russian and Chinese vaccines that comes without the supplies of alternatives, it is practically cost-free favor. Modi likes a mix of Neo-liberalism with Indian flavor, but he still cultivates Russian cooperation in weapon production -- switching to purely Western would cost too much. Similarly, Brazilian agribusiness prospered when Trump picked a trade war with China, American soy production declined by many million tons, and Brazilian+Argentinian rose by the same amount. When the local elite could suffer serious losses, or loose a particularly lucrative opportunities, these guys may have nerves of steel and the skin of rhinoceros.
Similarly with Germany. Their propagandist and diplomats can join a yapping chorus whenever required, but the have a red line at North Stream.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 27 2021 18:04 utc | 53
The United States has very little ground to stand on when it comes to complaining about voluntary consent. In its campaign to destroy its enemies, it has waived voluntary consent for experimental drugs and experiments made with drugs used for nefarious purposes (MK-ULTRA). More recently, it mandated the use of an old anthrax vaccine in the military, a vaccine that combatted cutaneous anthrax, not the inhalational anthrax the military now wanted to use it for. The courts agreed the use was experimental and informed consent had been violated. The vaccinations were enjoined (though they crept back in later under "emergency use" guidelines). Read the whole tale to get some context on this subject: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/informed-consent-military-anthrax-vaccination-case/2007-10
WaPo, Mar 16 - U.S. officials pushed Brazil to reject Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, according to HHS report
The fact that US officials brag about their achievements in their reports does not mean that they are fully correct, so perhaps "allegedly" can be still applied.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 27 2021 18:09 utc | 55
If your power is shaky you might want a poorer and weakened population.
If Lula wins and Indonesia continues on its current path the majority of global population opposed to the Hegemon will be so great it will be impossible to sustain its power.
Posted by: Babyl-on | Apr 27 2021 18:14 utc | 56
Conveniently the “ Saudi Broadcaster 'Leaks' Quotes From Iran's FM Talks ” was leaked JUST IN TIME to HIDE this more important story became public. Keep the people distracted, confused and in the dark that is how they work.
Posted by: It’s 1984 | Apr 27 2021 18:17 utc | 57
@ 49 oldhippie... thanks and thanks also for your posts here and on the other threads including the comment on your epidemiologist friends viewpoint...
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2021 18:53 utc | 58
I find it fascinating how when the story is about the empire's evil deeds the imperial apologists insist upon full courtroom-style parsing of the terms and demanding unassailable evidence for every last detail, but when the story is about the empire's victims then a certain "flexibility" is expected. As a story like "Assad allegedly gassed civilians!" reverberates through the Mockingbird mass media echo chamber the "allegedly" progressively loses prominence until all that is left is "Assad gassed civilians!". Meanwhile with a story like "US allegedly bombs school children" the "allegedly" takes from and center stage. "That's just an allegation! America is innocent until proven guilty! That means America is innocent!" The fact that nobody else is dropping JDAMs where the kids were blown up is just circumstantial evidence that we are supposed to ignore like it is a court case or some such.
Vague allegations are enough for Americans to launch wars that kill millions, but calling references to their own crimes "allegations" gives them the wiggle room to deny the evidence even when their noses are rubbed in it.
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 27 2021 19:00 utc | 59
April 20, 2021
3:45 PM EDT
Americas
Argentina produces Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in regional first
Reuters
Doses of the Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are pictured at the Tecnopolis Park, in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
An Argentine firm has produced test batches of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the first in Latin America, with aims to scale up manufacturing of the drug by mid-year as the wider region grapples with a new surge in infections.
Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF and Laboratorios Richmond (RICH.BA)said on Tuesday that the Argentina pharmaceutical company had carried out the test production and that the batches would be sent to Russia's Gamaleya Institute for quality inspection.
"We estimate that, if the process is positive, scale production would begin in June 2021," Richmond said in a statement, adding it aimed to have the vaccine ready "in the shortest possible time for the country and the region."
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 27 2021 19:09 utc | 60
Argentina produces Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in regional first
Good strategy--
"Notice how no one is producing any of the mRNA vaccines?
Not all vaccine ideas work – we’re already seeing that with the current coronavirus, and if you’d like to talk to some folks about that, then I suggest you call up GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi and ask them what happened to their initial candidate, and while you’re at it, call up Merck and ask them what happened to their two. Note that I have just named three of the largest, most experienced drug companies on the planet, all of whom have come up short. So no, we did not “have the vaccine” in February."
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 27 2021 19:16 utc | 61
Note:
It is amazing Moderna and Pfizer pulled this off.
And with a 95% effectiveness rate.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 27 2021 19:20 utc | 62
Another pattern of propaganda disguised as journalism:
Xi Jinping tries to reassure China’s private firms of their place in nation’s economic development, by Cissy Zhou
Reading the headline one gets the impression the private sector in China was angry with Xi Jinping, who, desperate to apologize and make amends, made an apology discourse reinforcing the compromise of the CPC with capitalism.
But that's not the case. The occasion was a routine visit by Xi Jinping to the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, when he inspected a local food-processing centre. This is the quoted part (we aren't given the full transcript):
“We encourage the development of private businesses. When they encounter difficulties, the [Chinese Communist] Party and the state will support them. And when confusion arises, guidance will be offered, with the hope that they can develop boldly and with confidence"
Xi is probably talking about the many local private enterprises erected with local government funds and incentives that not uncommonly go bust because they usually have excess enthusiasm but lack economic fundamentals - and, even when they do have the fundamentals, most go bust simply because that's how capitalism works. He probably highlighted the fact that it is not a motive to be ashamed if local private businesses go bust or pass through early difficulties, as it is a normal fact of private business, and that those private businesses that have the fundamentals will have good will and help from the government.
Since the center is probably private and the government has an incentive to develop the region, the simplest explanation to Xi's speech is that the theme of the visit was the relation between the Government and private businesses. Guangxi also has an economic zone in the Beibu Gulf, so, if this center is there, it would make even more sense for Xi to legitimize the presence of private enterprise there, making the theme all the more all-encompassing.
But that's not Ms. Zhou's conclusion. Instead, she makes a quantum leap to the crack downs of the wannabe private monopolies in China:
Xi’s message came at a time when the party has ramped up control over the countries’ millions of private firms, in an effort to exert greater state influence over economic development. But this has triggered anxiety and concerns among many business owners in the private sector.
That's the fourth paragraph of the article. The entire article has 15 paragraphs. Only the first three talk about Xi's visit to the food-processing center in Guangxi. She then inexplicably makes a quantum leap to a litany of how the CPC has been unjustly persecuting the Chinese capitalists; it's essentially a retrospective of the crack downs the CPC has been doing over the Chinese capitalists. Not satisfied with the propaganda, she finishes with a warning to the CPC:
With Washington increasingly restricting Chinese firms’ access to US-made technology on national security grounds, and as the world’s two biggest economies clash over a range of issues such as trade, human rights and Taiwan, Beijing is ramping up efforts to build greater self-reliance in core technologies, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence.But analysts have said that China’s deep integration in global technology supply chains will make it difficult for the country to develop all of the tech it needs from scratch.
This is a lesson we all should take and have it ingrained in our minds: journalists are not scientists. They don't make - and aren't allowed to make - hypotheses. Journalists don't think: they should merely publish cold hard facts. The true journalistic article would be just the first three tiny paragraphs, which would merely make on small note; the pressure for deadlines, the propaganda warfare against China and the journalist's greed for a rapid advancement in her career transformed a meaningless side note worthy of the Rodong Sinmun into a giant and stinky piece of fake news.
If Ms. Zhou wants to make a Ph.D. in contemporary History, she should go back to college and try to enter a doctorate program.
@m 50
So it didn't pass in the USA? I'm just asking funny questions, but in what universe would it pass the ideological test? So no wonder they did not try.
It didn't pass EMA? Funny question: DID THE DIRECTOR OF EMA WORKED FOR PFIZER, JONSON&JONSON, ASTRA-ZANEKA?
it didn't pass Brazil? Funny question: did you read the reasoning? It's stupid beyond....
The Chinese have their own 3 vaxx
I'm not sure about your statement in respect of the WHO scheme. I don't know how they source their vaxxs.
But I guess I made my point. Sputnik V is under attack since they registered it. Even the 2 lancet studies are ignored.
Posted by: Kartoschka | Apr 27 2021 19:37 utc | 64
Hmm.....Two previous attempt at posting this message went into never-never land. Here is a third trial:
I remember a year ago MOV was heavy on discussions regarding which vaccine being superior. Ole vk stated definitively that he picked Sputnik V #1, Sinopharm #2, and would leave the rest alone. Well, these Hungarian statistics are bearing out your foresight! Atta Boy :-)
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Apr 27 2021 20:01 utc | 65
Already we have people doing exactly what b said not to do in the very first comment.
Anyway, I don't speak Portuguese so I had to find an English language article at the Graun, but because it's almost certain that Bolsonaro's government intentionally allowed the virus to spread, the Brazilian parliament is opening an inquiry into it. However, it looks politically motivated rather than out of genuine concern for public safety. Previously a Brazilian university conducted a 'study' and determined that the spread there was, in fact, intended and encouraged by the President.
Posted by: K_C_ | Apr 27 2021 20:17 utc | 66
Kudos to b.
b's coverage of vaccine competition in an age of 'great power competition' is noteworthy.
moa's previous coverage:
- March 2021: U.S. And Its Five Eye Partners Use 'Persuasion', Sabotage And Disinformation To Gain Vaccine Supremacy
- November 2020: The Vaccine Competition Will Be Ruthless
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2021 20:19 utc | 67
The fast rollout in US and UK, coupled with their greedy seizure of vaccines wherever they can find them, with the added bonus of them pushing Europe to only rely on Anglo vaccines and not to bother with Sputnik stinks of economic warfare designed to make sure that couple of countries can kickstart their economies as soon as possible while EU suffers as long and as much as possible without being able to open up again.
Not that any European mainstream media would tell you this, these fuckheads are all paid and bought by the US.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 27 2021 20:25 utc | 68
Jeff Kaye | Apr 27 2021 18:06 utc | 55
Try this. Completely corrupt and the chain leads to sanofi and then to Gates, The way that one well placed Lobbyist-Military revolving doorman, can keep a profitable scam going for many years.
https://alethonews.com/?s=anthrax+sanofi
Title; A Killer Enterprise: How One of Big Pharma’s Most Corrupt Companies Plans to Corner the Covid-19 Cure Market. from 9 April 2020. Whitney Webb and Raul Diego.
Additions;
They have also acquired other vaccine monopolies, including the U.S.’ only licensed smallpox vaccine through their purchase of Sanofi”.
Sanofi: Their entire stock of HydroxyChloroquine in France was bought by the King of Morocco. Follow on with french corruption by the then Minister of "Santé, Buzyn and Husband Yves Lévy. INSERM, born in Morocco.
In fact Sanofi has pulled out of "making" vaccines but I don't doubt they are still making money.
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 27 2021 20:43 utc | 69
BioNtech, which developed Pfizer's vaccine, is a German company.
However, Pfizer is marketing and distributing it.
Headquarters in NYC.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 27 2021 20:45 utc | 70
off-guardian?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news_website
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 27 2021 20:51 utc | 71
NY Times today endorsed Navalny as Russia's "true leader". So that makes two Guaido's - can't wait for the trifecta.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/opinion/navalny-putin-russia.html
Posted by: jayc | Apr 27 2021 21:06 utc | 72
clueless joe, you made a perfect summary.
the desired outcome from the EU seems a (very) minimum wage for all the «non essentials»...but to stay home with a 6 pack or a tv or both...
no more unions, demos..
and if they legalize cannabis on top of that, uk canada morocco will applaud loudly.
Posted by: Mina | Apr 27 2021 21:12 utc | 73
Thanks for shining a light on this, b. It's been going on for a while, as noted in a previous thread and by Alan Macleod at MintPressNews.
The esteemed medical journal Lancet has OK'd the Russian vaccine, but that matters little to the Evil Empire.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Apr 27 2021 21:31 utc | 74
@ farm ecologist | Apr 27 2021 21:35 utc | 77
About me:
Not a bot, not a denier
Human being with my own brain.
Just don't like to be manipulate.
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 21:54 utc | 75
@m #50:
Most notably Sputnik V also didn't finish the WHO procedures that would enable it to participate in COVAX. Why not?
Because it takes time.
The next phase of the study of the Sputnik V vaccine at the WHO and the EMA is expected on May 10 (TASS, Konstantin Pribytkov, April 22, 2021)
The start of the next stage of the study of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V by the World Health Organization (WHO) in conjunction with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected on May 10. This was reported to TASS on Thursday by the official representative of the WHO headquarters in Geneva Tarik Yasharevich.“A WHO Expert Group—the Technical Advisory Group—will evaluate this candidate vaccine for inclusion in the list of recommended drugs for emergency use following completion of inspections,” he said, adding that the WHO is now “receiving information” about the Sputnik V vaccine from its manufacturer, the N.F. Gamaleya Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
“The good clinical practice inspection is being carried out in April by a joint WHO and EMA team, and the good manufacturing practice on-site inspection is expected to take place from May 10 to the first week of June,” the official explained, stressing that “these the dates have been agreed with the manufacturer.”
…
Sputnik V is currently registered in 61 countries with a total population of over 3 billion people. The effectiveness of the vaccine is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on the incidence of coronavirus among Russians vaccinated with both components of the drug from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
The Foreign Ministry explains when the WHO may approve Sputnik V (RIA Novosti, Elizaveta Isakova, April 22, 2021)
The Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V may receive approval from the World Health Organization within a few weeks after the completion of the WHO mission scheduled for May, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told reporters on Thursday following a meeting in Geneva with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.“We talked with him about the possibility of such a decision immediately after the completion of the work of two missions, one of which is already in Russia, and the other is arriving in May. Therefore, if all this is done quickly, I think that we can talk about terms that are measured not in months, but in weeks,” he said.
According to Vershinin, after these visits and exchange of views and data with specialists who provide WHO representatives with all the necessary information, the Sputnik V vaccine will be included in the list of vaccines approved by the Organization for use in emergency situations.
“This, of course, will be a serious confirmation of the correctness, necessity and effectiveness of our vaccine. You know that we have already concluded agreements with over 60 countries, and with dozens of other countries we have agreed on the local production of our vaccine. I think that after we will carry out such a specification with the WHO, the demand for our vaccine will be very significant in the world,” the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation emphasized.
He added that the work with the WHO is being carried out in parallel with the increase in the production of the Russian vaccine, and within a month the capacity will allow producing tens of millions of doses of Sputnik V.
The effectiveness of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on 3.8 million vaccinated Russians, which is higher than the data previously published by the medical journal The Lancet (91.6%), the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Gamaleya National Research Center have reported earlier.
Posted by: S | Apr 27 2021 21:55 utc | 76
jayc #73
NY Times today endorsed Navalny as Russia's "true leader". So that makes two Guaido's - can't wait for the trifecta.
EU president: Simeon Mogilevitch (already in place)
Australia PM: Pauline Hanson
France: Tintin
UK: Albert Ladysmith Steptoe
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 22:03 utc | 77
Chicken or the egg?
Also on Monday the Czech government said it would eliminate Russia's Rosatom from a multi-billion-euro tender to build a new nuclear plant unit and would no longer consider buying Sputnik V vaccines.
The move followed a decision by Czech authorities to expel 18 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Prague over suspicions that Russian intelligence was involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in October and December 2014.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9489051/Czech-diplomats-expelled-Moscow-land-Prague-tit-tat-expulsions-espionage-row.html
Was pressure put on the Czech government to reject Sputnik V vaccines (as well as the Rosatom bid offer)
and the Czech government went looking for a pretext?
Or
Did the Czech government "discover" evidence that implicated Russia in the 2014 ammo dump explosions?
Which came first?
Posted by: librul | Apr 27 2021 22:05 utc | 78
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 21:48 utc | 78
Thanks for those links.
I am aware that 1) numerous "lockdowns" around the globe have not stopped the pandemic and 2) temporary limitations on personal freedom have a nasty tendency of becoming permanent, so I can understand peoples' skepticism.
On the other hand, the only societies that have avoided catastrophe are the ones who implemented restrictions on movement and association in an effective way (a lockdown where big stores are open but "reduced" to 50% capacity is not a recipe for success). A few months ago many people were harping about how Sweden had "beaten" COVID through voluntary measures, but those folks are pretty quiet now that per capita infections there are approaching 10% of the population.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Apr 27 2021 22:33 utc | 79
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Apr 27 2021 20:51 utc | 72
A quick browse of that fake news site seems to say that you can only trust outlets like the NYT,and sources like Hillary Clintom.
Posted by: arby | Apr 27 2021 22:41 utc | 80
@Jen
What is it about Maharashtra state that it's the current epicentre of COVID-19 infection in India?
The Maharashtra state insisted on late treatment with Remdesivir rather than early treatment with Ziverdo? https://covexit.com/did-you-hear-about-the-ziverdo-therapy-for-covid-19/
Posted by: cirsium | Apr 27 2021 22:46 utc | 81
Gruff @ 48
Good questions. I ask myself the same.
Remember George Carlin’s quips - “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it”. Do not expect to understand the entire motivation of club members. Their lives are very different. “They do not care about you at all. At all. At all At all.” Nothing they do has any reference to concern about you or I or our welfare. We are not even a trifle. Unions? The staff can handle that.
Your owners take a long view. A very long view. Try entering these two simple common names into your search bar. Thomas Stanley. Edward Stanley. If your search engine is anything like mine first hit on each will be the individuals I am thinking of. They are separated by four centuries. What are the chances of that? Thomas Stanley took the crown off the head of Richard at Bosworth Field, 1485, put that crown on the head of Henry VII. Thereby creating the House of Tudor. Many accounts would have it that Henry was Thomas’ illegitimate son. Otherwise hard to explain why a family in service would be so elevated, or why the nobility collectively would accept such. You might have to dig a bit harder on Edward. He managed the accession of Victoria and then picked her husband for her. Saxe-Coburgs were his relatives. Thus he created the House of Windsor. He was Victoria’s PM several times, always treated that post as a lark. One family does this twice, who do you think is the master and who the servant? It is a simple matter to trace the Stanleys back to pre-Roman Britain. Direct descent, no hopping around and all on published internet genealogies. All on pages edited curated and supervised by same families, no investigators or theorists involved.
Can you think on millennial scales? I sure can’t. I know a gentleman who can recite his lineage as far as the Sung Dynasty. He is honored when he visits China. Yes, it affects his perspective. He says he is from good family, there are older families he must defer to.
Obama is a Stanley. There is never new blood in any prominent position. Biden is a Walker, just as both Bushes were Walkers.
I have no idea what the Great Reset might be about. Something is definitely happening. But we are not in the club. What we know about the club is very limited. Their motivation is not little piles of money. They have all of that. Not all they want, they have all of it.
Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 27 2021 22:47 utc | 82
NYT headline:
Russian Hackers Trying to Steal Coronavirus Vaccine Research, Intelligence Agencies Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/us/politics/vaccine-hacking-russia.html
If you, like me, don't have an account at the NYT and want to read the article you can
copy and paste the above link at web.archive.org (top search box). It is interesting to see the
evolution of the article. You can read the first iteration from July 16, 2020 and also
a later one, for example, March 10, 2021.
The March 10th version has something new added.
The NYT author/editor tried out some new verbiage. I don't think it ever caught on and became standard fare at the NYT or elsewhere.
I found it an interesting and savory snack.
Attributing such attacks, however, is imprecise, an ambiguity that Moscow takes advantage of in denying responsibility, as it did Thursday.
The above was a brand new paragraph added some time later to the article.
Also, the editors apparently believed that the first three paragraphs of the article
could use more punch:(July 16, 2020 version)
WASHINGTON — Russian hackers are attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research, the U.S., British and Canadian governments said Thursday, opening a dangerous new front in the cyberwars and intelligence battles between Moscow and the West.The National Security Agency said APT29, the hacking group known as Cozy Bear which is associated with Russian intelligence, has been taking advantage of the chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic and targeting health care organizations seeking to steal intelligence on vaccines.
The Russian hackers have been targeting British, Canadian and American organizations researching vaccines against Covid-19. The hackers have been using spear-phishing and malware to try to get access to the research.
Updated Dec 14, 2020 version:
WASHINGTON — Russian hackers are attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research, the American, British and Canadian governments said Thursday, accusing the Kremlin of opening a new front in its spy battles with the West amid the worldwide competition to contain the pandemic.The National Security Agency said that a hacking group implicated in the 2016 break-ins into Democratic Party servers has been trying to steal intelligence on vaccines from universities, companies and other health care organizations. The group, associated with Russian intelligence and known as both APT29 and Cozy Bear, has sought to exploit the chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
American intelligence officials said the Russians were aiming to steal research to develop their own vaccine more quickly, not to sabotage other countries’ efforts. There was likely little immediate damage to global public health, cybersecurity experts said.
Posted by: librul | Apr 27 2021 22:51 utc | 83
The Chinese Government has released an extraofficial take on this:
US needs to be more sincere in its vaccine exports: Global Times editorial
S #80
Thank you, so I deduce that the Ukraine military attack on the Luhansk, Donbass will occur on the same or just before the May date of the WHO decision on Sputnik V. That decision seems, from the link you provide, to be mid to late May.
The ventusky satellite forecast weather report for the Donbass indicates showers today, a few fine days following then showers even rain in a week. Mud glorious mud.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 23:05 utc | 85
@Bemildred #52
The Nixon abrogation was not just due to the Vietnam war, it was also due to the spending of the LBJ Great Society.
As for Biden: I am far from convinced he is anything but a spokesmodel repeating whatever is put on his teleprompter.
We will see in September whether his already once delayed withdrawal actually occurs.
Personally, I give it a 5% chance at best.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 23:26 utc | 86
@librul #86:
Attributing such attacks, however, is imprecise, an ambiguity that Moscow takes advantage of in denying responsibility, as it did Thursday.
Moscow “takes advantage” of the simple truth that there is zero real evidence of these attacks having been carried out by Russia to “deny responsibility” that was falsely attributed to it by the propagandists of the Western MSM (i.e., by the CIA). Russia is weaponizing truth again!
Posted by: S | Apr 27 2021 23:31 utc | 87
Are the western pharmaceutical corporations still being frumpy that not only did Russia have the nerve to not collaborate with their bioengineering of dangerous microorganisms, but then had the gall to develop a safe and effective vaccine which actually happens to be a vaccine (as opposed to some sort of horseshit which will at its very best not stop the sniffles)?
Paco @ 21, Kartoschka @ 22:
Yes in that link I posted @ 18, there is indeed a lot of spice about Ursula von der Leyen's American ancestors being prominent in the North American slave trade. And that is just the Ladson family side.
There's a lot of spice on the Albrecht family side of Missy Uschi as well at that link.
... [The] Von der Leyen family into which [Ursula von der Leyen] married is a notable Mennonite family from the Lower Rhineland which settled in Krefeld in the 1600s and built up a major textile business there.By 1763, the family employed half of Krefeld’s population of just over 6,000 in their factories and they became major players in the commercial life of Germany which was gradually industrialising under Prussian hegemony. In its heyday, the business delivered silk to most European courts and aristocratic dynasties.
In 1828, the von der Leyen family had the dubious distinction of “hosting” what Karl Marx called the first workers’ uprising in German history when the silk weavers at their factories rose up in protest against wage cuts ...
And get this ... while living in London in the late 1970s and studying at the London School of Economics - because she had to wait out an extortion threat to her father that would involve her being kidnapped - our dear Missy Uschi lived under the pseudonym of Rose Ladson in an apparent homage to her grandmother and her slave-owning ancestors.
Once Uschi moves back to Germany she switches to medical studies and gets a degree as a physician. As a physician, Missy Uschi Albrecht meets and marries another physician Heiko von der Leyen. There seems to be not much information about Missy Uschi's achievements as a physician or as an economics graduate.
To say that Missy Uschi seems always to have ridden on others' coat-tails and to have been a dilettante all her life, and being kicked upstairs to Brussels when she couldn't hack being German Minister of Defence seems to be an understatement.
Posted by: Jen | Apr 28 2021 0:31 utc | 90
Hello, as a Brazilian and a regular reader of the blog I would like to comment on the recent publication about my country. First of all I am against president Bolsonaro and his gang, second I am in favor of confronting the pandemic by a scientific approach. It is known that the U.S. government pressured the Brazilian government not to buy the Sputnik V vaccine, but the Brazilian regulatory agency responsible for releasing vaccines in the country (ANVISA) is beyond the control of the genocidal president, although he has appointed some military personnel to the board of this agency, they, the military, have done an exemplary technical job, being praised by the scientific community of the country (mostly against Bolsonaro), which incidentally praised the decision of ANVISA not to approve the import, because the whole imbroglio is that those responsible for trying to bring the Russian vaccine to Brazil actually failed to send important documentation about the production process of Sputnik V, the regulatory agency said it may approve the use of it in the future, provided they bring the missing documentation. I personally trust Anvisa. Thank you B for the great work you do here on the blog.
https://exame.com/brasil/portas-nao-estao-fechadas-para-sputnik-v-diz-gerente-da-anvisa/
Posted by: Fábio Marinho | Apr 28 2021 0:40 utc | 91
Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 27 2021 21:48 utc | 78
Thanks for the links.
I am aware that lockdowns have not stopped the pandemic, and that temporary restrictions on liberty have an annoying tendency to outlast their usefulness. Therefore skepticism is not an unreasonable reaction.
On the other hand, all countries where the infection has been kept to a minimum did that by implementing effective restrictions on human movement and interactions. Half-assed measures, such as keeping big box stores open with "reduced" capacities, may only prolong the agony. Voluntary measures are no solution, either - recall how this approach was heralded not too long ago in Sweden, a country where by now nearly one person out of every ten has been infected.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Apr 28 2021 0:56 utc | 92
[A list of presumably funny leaders that could be imposed on other countries] Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 27 2021 22:03 utc | 81
Yet, finding more ridiculous leaders that our [I live in USA] two last presidents requires some work and head scratching. "X is funny, but is he really more funny?"
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 28 2021 1:00 utc | 93
I found the prospect of traveling to Russia to get vaccinated quite appealing. On the Sputnik V Twitter account, from April 1st, they announced that there will be a programme available starting in July, to travel to Russia and stay for the three week period, to get vaccinated. A vaccine vacation. I’m seriously considering traveling to see the Altai Kari, and get vaccinated, all in one go. I just checked flights from the US yesterday and they were around 1000 USD. Just thought I’d pass this information along.
Posted by: Skuppers | Apr 28 2021 1:32 utc | 94
@ Posted by: Fábio Marinho | Apr 28 2021 0:40 utc | 94
With Bolsonaro the thing gets more macabre because some rumors say he has a traditionalist cum fervent anti-communist ideology that doesn't look at the destruction of Brazil - including a drastic diminution of its population - as a bad thing. What we see as pure and irrational destruction, Bolsonaro may be seeing as some kind of "purification" of the nation - to the conservative golden era of the Coffee with Milk Republic, reverting an entropy that sure walks towards socialism in Brazil.
However, as with Brazil as with all the other Third World countries, the logic is the same: there's no way the mRNA vaccines will proper in their domestic markets. They require a too expensive storage system and of transportation to ever be viable in those countries at a mass scale (i.e. the scale necessary for Big Pharma to profit from the vaccine technology). That rules out the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines out of the bat.
My guess is Bolsonaro is in cahoots with AstraZeneca, or, for that matter, with any other non-mRNA Big Pharma from the USA or from a country of the USA's liking. He surely is a fervent Americanophile, as is the Brazilian Armed Forces (and, for that matter, the entire Brazilian right-wing specter). He's probably delaying the whole thing to buy the most time possible for the Western laboratories to catch up with production and thus take over the Brazilian market.
By the way, your statement that the Brazilian Armed Forces are being exemplary on handling of the pandemic, and that they're being commended by the scientific community for that, is fake news. UOL is a far-right tabloid in Brazil, and they probably hand-picked some right-winger doctors and researchers (which are the majority in the Brazilian medical community) to do their bidding. It is also false that Gamaleya didn't give the necessary documents and information to Anvisa; in fact, they immediately replied that Anvisa never asked to visit their facilities.
Posted by: Fábio Marinho | Apr 28 2021 0:40 utc | 94
Thanks for the post to provide some insight. I looked up the American CDC website on the approval process for a vaccine (link below). The short of it is that the CDC does an inspection of the manufacturing facility and will want results of vaccine quality testing. And from what I can gather there must be testing of every batch. But beyond that there seems to be no requirement that the maker of the vaccine submit any details of the production process. I can only guess this would be proprietary information.
It seems to me that the maker of Sputnik V is more than willing and accommodating to organizations running the approval process. The EU EMA lied that they never received an application for Sputnik V approval. Looks like the documentation was then re-submitted reading reports. For a potentially big market like Brazil, I doubt if the Russian makers were suddenly lazy about giving the Brazilian authorities the needed documentation.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/basics/test-approve.html
Posted by: Erelis | Apr 28 2021 2:05 utc | 97
Gosh!
Comment #99 on a story about the corrupt West and no mention of bribes or pay-offs? I recommend a quick review of Andrew Feinstein's doco The Shadow World. It's about wall-to-wall corruption in the Arms Supply Industry.
In the 1950s Love made the World go 'round. Now it's Bribes, bribes and more bribes.
There's an amusingly defensive retort from Bandar Bush in Shadow World...
"We Saudis didn't INVENT corruption!"
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 28 2021 2:22 utc | 98
@Bemildred #52
The Nixon abrogation was not just due to the Vietnam war, it was also due to the spending of the LBJ Great Society.
As for Biden: I am far from convinced he is anything but a spokesmodel repeating whatever is put on his teleprompter.
We will see in September whether his already once delayed withdrawal actually occurs.
Personally, I give it a 5% chance at best.
Posted by: c1ue | Apr 27 2021 23:26 utc | 89
Which was done so LBJ hould keep his war. They started dismantling our social safety net as soon as they gave up on that war. THe social safety net is not what broke us, the military spending is. We scared the piss out of them in the 60s, they have been out to get us ever since. The US government is just like the British, it takes no responsibility for its citizens unless forced, and no more. Biden has always been a war hawk and a fixer, I find it interesting that he apparently sees the need for change, but for sure skepticism is warranted.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 28 2021 2:29 utc | 99
@ Posted by: Erelis | Apr 28 2021 2:05 utc | 100
That's the official rules.
Extraofficially, an "authorized" producer in Maryland screws up a 20 million doses batch.
Extraofficially, another "authorized" producer in the USA mixed the ingredients of J&J and AstraZeneca (the episode was used to kick out AstraZeneca from that factory; it is now only J&J).
Those CDCs around the world are mere façade for Big Pharma. They're the SEC of the medical industry. They enforce their rules only when it suits the interests of the corporations that are backing them up.
Both sources linked by @ Posted by: Fábio Marinho | Apr 28 2021 0:40 utc | 94 are not reliable: UOL is the Brazilian recycler of the NYT (many times literally, with the name of the journalist and the original source stated; many times with outright stenography through their team of "journalists": many UOL op-eds are almost verbatim of another NYT op-ed from some days ago or even the day before); Exame is a magazine which also became a website directed to the Brazilian bourgeois/upper middle class right-wing, some kind of poor-man's Economist (the Brazilian version of the "Economist" is the newspaper Valor).
The comments to this entry are closed.
@all
The topic is the malign influence of foreign policy on health issues, not the severity or danger of Covid-19 and vaccines. If you want to discuss that (again and again) go elsewhere.
I will continue to censor comments (and ban commentators) accordingly.
Posted by: b | Apr 27 2021 7:34 utc | 1