Briefly Noted: China, Covid

I wanted to quickly mention some articles that don’t deserve to go unnoticed in the understandable hubbub over the Raid at Mar-a-Lago.

First is an article by Doug Macgregor, who is worried about war with China:

Will Biden Stumble into a New World War?

The behavior of policy-makers in D.C. today is eerily similar to that of British leaders at the onset of the First World War.

The analogy to WW1 is an interesting one and worth thinking about. I probably would not have thought that we were sliding into a war with China, but China’s extension of its military exercises is a sign that China is taking this very seriously. Macgregor’s general remarks are well worth considering—not that I expect anyone with influence in DC to do so:

When Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is viewed in the context of Biden's self-evidently thoughtless remark, however, it is clear that the combination is having a negative impact across Asia.

Japan's top government spokesman, Hiroakazu Matsono, expressed a view that is widely shared across Asia when he said, “Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is important not only for the security of Japan but also the world.” When asked if Japan, arguably America’s most important strategic partner in Asia, supports Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Matsuno responded, "We are not in a position to comment." President Yoon of the Republic of Korea (ROK) simply declined to meet with Pelosi. 

These developments should not surprise Americans. The speaker of the House is not a foreign policy voice unless authorized by the president and the secretary of State. In an age when the president’s comments are so often walked back by his spokesmen, this lack of clarity adds to the tension that arises from grandstanding senators and congressmen who bear no responsibility for events beyond America’s borders. Americans should also be leery of politicians who exploit crises overseas to grab headlines at the expense of U.S. national strategic interests. Such behavior is dangerous to the nation.

Sound foreign policy and military strategy must involve more than treating every potential conflict as a great moral cause in which all the values of American civilization are at stake. In other words, don’t engage in empty gestures that could result in an armed conflict for which the U.S. Armed Forces are not prepared.

Macgregor is outspoken in believing that a US war with China would be a major geostrategic blunder, but one which US politicians—who seem to live in the 90s—could easily blunder into:

Beijing expects that the immediate threat to China will come from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and America’s Air Force. Consequently, Beijing invested heavily over the last two decades in the combination of layered air defenses and a vast arsenal of ground-based tactical and intermediate range surface-to-surface precision-guided missiles, rockets, and loitering munitions linked to persistent space and terrestrial-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR-Strike) platforms. 

In a confrontation over Taiwan, the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet would have to operate far from China’s coastline to avoid the PLA’s missile strikes, severely limiting the surface fleet’s ability to influence events ashore inside China. Washington could still blockade China’s Pacific Coast, but to do so, it would have to rely primarily on its nuclear-powered attack submarines in deep water. 

But a blockade would not nullify China’s principal strategic advantage. The depth of its continental position with a friendly, resource-rich Russia to the north suggests that a blockade is unlikely to succeed. Based on the expenditure rates oft munitions and precision-guided weapon systems of all kinds in Ukraine, current U.S. inventories of precision-guided missiles and munitions would be exhausted quickly.

All that said, the suspicion is that the real purpose of Pelosi’s trip was linked to her son’s membership on the boards of major “green” industry corporations with Asian ties. While his interactions with Asian leaders were scrubbed from most US media accounts, they were front and center in Asian coverage. Business as usual—DC corruption and influence peddling isn’t news in America. Most Americans think that, like war, political corruption is something that only happens in the third world.

Next up, Covid. There’s nothing new in Matthew Boose’s article, but it’s useful in reminding us of things we should never, ever, forget. And, of course, it’s not just about Zhou—this Covid Regime was a massive fraud on the American people that could only have been perpetrated with the acquiescence and collusion of virtually the entire medical and scientific establishments:

Never Forget Biden’s Big Lie About COVID Shots

Democrats used an egregious falsehood to divide the country and ostracize innocent people. Shouldn’t political leaders who misbehave like this be punished?

In an ugly and remarkably authoritarian speech almost a year ago, Joe Biden declared that his “patience” was “wearing thin” with a “distinct minority” of Americans who refused the COVID vaccine. Biden’s remarks proved to be the start of a cruel and gratuitous attack on millions of Americans. While Biden has since moved on to other scapegoats, his campaign of hatred against the unvaccinated should not be forgotten.

The “scientific” pretext of Biden’s war on the unvaccinated was like something out of a pre-genocidal radio broadcast. The unvaccinated were likened to filthy plague carriers recklessly and selfishly harming others. Biden and others in his administration declared COVID a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

While Biden’s premise was known to be false from the start, the past year of experience has proven beyond all doubt that the shot is worthless at stopping transmission. …

Alex Berenson very briefly notes some timely news from Denmark, as the inject-your-kids campaign continues in America:

Denmark ends Covid vaccinations for anyone 18 or younger

This announcement is both a statement of the reality that healthy kids are at essentially zero risk from Covid and a vote of no confidence in the long-term risk-benefit profile of the mRNA jabs:

American vaccine fanatics, take note. You are hurting your kids for no reason except your own narcissism and anxiety.