With a growing number of reports showing the Pentagon absolutely getting pounded by coronavirus, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley issued a statement warning that US readiness remains intact, and that no nation should test the US.
At a time when coronavirus is creating all sorts of opportunities for cooperation and peace-making, the US military is going in the opposite direction, growling like a wounded beast at a time when it is struggling with the virus.
Obviously a reaction to reports of thousands of US military coronavirus cases, with hundreds on the USS Theodore Roosevelt alone, Milley’s insistence that the US remains ready rings hollow, as a desperate response to ships and bases which are clearly partially or wholly out of action because of the virus.
With the US having such a large military, it isn’t to say that the US is particularly vulnerable right now. Still, offensive capabilities simply must be taxed by 3,366 Defense Department infections. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is in an extended dock because almost 10% of the crew is infected.
Underscoring this reality, the Pentagon has been moving to dial back information sharing on the outbreak within the military, trying to avoid letting potential enemies know which sites are most vulnerable and hit hardest by the virus.
How can someone so monumentally stupid become chairman of the JCS.
It’s a requisite for a top job.
Brown nosed and/or got men under their command killed.
The officer class is loaded with moronic chicken-hawks who’ve never stepped foot on a battlefield.
Just like their Commander in Chief.
Just look at who became president. (And NO, that should not be considered as an endorsement of that she-devil Hillary).
Yes, always make sure to denounce the witch so the Trumpsters can’t use their auto response. 🙂
She is a witch!
Its a prerequisite.
Dunno who’s more paranoid–we or our BFF Israel.
Half our military could die off from the virus and we’d still dwarf the next closest. But the career kiss asses have to justify their jobs.
The only enemy that would attack the US Military right now is the mercenary enemy the CIA created in the middle east. Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot and know you are doing it. This whole thing is one big SCAMDEMIC.
The US needs no evidence or provocation to initiate attacks. It’s not as though infected Syrians and Iraqis are intentionally coughing on them.
Roman Empire anyone? Where is it now? Oh on the ash heap of history! I’m sure there was a MIC in Pax Romana. The loud mouthed generals back then are now but a whisper like this current jerk will be.
Cankles would have had us in new wars by now, speaking of current jerks.
Battle of Carrhae, when Iran was Parthia and Soleimani was Surena. (Whoops; looks like Iran got their Surena killed BEFORE winning… oh well…)
https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=b61XHRfFQmk
Of course, the Roman hawk Crassus (what a fitting name…) had to accompany his doomed troops.
JCSs are appointed and like the SCOTUS reflect the policies and agendas of who ever appoints them. The entire officer corps in the USA is just a leftover from England where commissions were either bought or appointed through politics. Competency has never been a requirement for a commission.
You are wrong.
Which part?
“Competency has never been a requirement for a commission.”
Was it the “never” part? I did three years in the army and there were plenty of commissions handed out to some very obviously incompetent officers.
My OCS class was outstanding and the product of a process that tested each man morally, physically and intellectually. It’s inevitable in such a large organization that there is a difference between leaders but as a process for churning out basic competence and decency the OCS process was outstanding.
Ms. Sandoz knows nothing of any of this but wants to write stuff that’s utter nonsense.
At least not relevant competency; the officer corps probably excels at gaming office and career politics.
Same as Ambassadors.
Well, then. Our “enemies” will have to wait a bit longer to attack us.
Except none of them really have any intention of doing that, it’s the US that does the attacking.
Quite so. It’s stunning to watch this insanity unfold month after month, year after year. Our leaders have exactly zero understanding of our national priorities. Spending one more week in Afghanistan isn’t one of them.
Do we realize that right now, in the entire world, there exists only three nations with a preoccupation with war. Israel, Saudi Arabia and the USA.
Saudi Arabia declared unilateral cease fire in Yemen. Now down to two. As they say, crisis is an opportunity. In Israel never better — cut down Palestinian olive trees, poison wheat fields, settlers out in full force. Just more sad things, among many, many others.
You forgot the Ukraine, Turkey………….When the SARS virus broke out the world united in defeating it. It did that by isolating all cases and by aggressively tracing anyone who had come into contact with them. The fight was successful. The SARS virus no longer exists outside of high security laboratories.
But when the SARS-CoV-2 evolved there was no united response. One has to wonder why? China did its very best to defeat the virus. It won the fight against the virus within its country but other countries did not join in the effort to eradicate it. SARS-CoV-2 is more contagious than SARS and we will never know if an eradication attempt could have been successful.
The SARS-CoV-1 only existed in high security laboratories. ie it was eradicated but released again either by accident or on purpose. Now we should be asking who released it……….how and why?
Conspiracy theory alert.
This sort of huffing and puffing is as good as announcing, “We are weak now, and vulnerable.”
Just shut up and try to look competent. Fix the Teddy Roosevelt fiasco, for a start.
Probably the ol’ invitation to attack trick. Some panicky officers may think they need a war to protect their career tracks.
With a margin call on U.S. overt imperialism, the conventional forces are looking at Vietnam ending redux, where the government ran out of money to fund ops.
In two months the Roosevelt may be our only available carrier.
The Joint Chief is lying to save face…!
Nothing exposes the racism, hypocrisy, arrogance and selfishness of capitalism and its backers like a major threat or catastrophe. US oligarchy and the American people are unhinged from reality. Denying Medicines to Iran and Venezuela Is a Crime Against Humanity.
This worldwide pandemic will allow us all to compare how different political systems, countries and cultures reacted to the threat. In a year or so, we shall all know how free-market capitalism compares with social-democracies or socialist countries.
The Trump administration is reacting to the pandemic by lashing out at perceived internal and external enemies. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leading the external onslaught.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate global ceasefire” to focus on fighting Covid-19. He has appealed for the “waiving of sanctions that can undermine countries’ capacity to respond to the pandemic.”
But Washington is not listening. The US has become unhinged at a time of world crisis.
Huh?
All political systems are trying to mimic the Communist Party of China.
The main difference, China imposed lockdowns to contain a public panic, while the West imposed lockdowns to foster panic.
There’s no competition at all. Just a little pushback from Sweden, which is not using coercive government force to back ‘social distancing’.
We just blame China, we just hate them so much……..but not racist at all.
Coronavirus Cases: 524,242, Deaths: 20,233………And counting. I would at least look at the 100,000-200,000 predicted dead in the USA and at least wonder wtf is going on. Especially considering the US is the Corona capital of the world.
A haplotype is a group of genes within an organism that was inherited together from a single parent. There have been 5 separate haplotypes identified around the world in Covid19. The only country where these 5 haplotypes are present is the USA.
This means that the virus marker can prove where the virus came from. China/Japan is saying the US.
late last year at Fort Detrick they released an official statement “Research is currently on hold,” because the center did not have “sufficient systems in place to decontaminate wastewater” from its highest-security labs.
Which means there was a leak. Was this ground zero………….And is this why the US is the Corona capital of the world?
The U.S. is the coronavirus capital of the world because the U.S. was likely the ultimate target of COVID-19.
China was just played as the ‘dumb giant’ to get the ball rolling. Their reaction was perfectly predictable, especially having been under ‘drone siege’ by spreaders of African Swine Flu.
Chinese communities are set up such that many communities can in fact self-isolate in an emergency. They have always been concerned with invasion threats and destabilization games. The Chinese were conditioned to a biowarfare response, a pretext obviously lacking in the rest of the world.
The Chinese biowarfare playbook is surely not a great secret to any major intel agency hoping to trigger a ‘social cytokine storm’ in China.
The main difference between the Chinese lockdown and the Western lockdowns, is that China locked down to contain the spread of panic.
The U.S./West locked down to create a social panic, justifying surveillance state extremism.
China obviously was a cluster breakout and the US is the real deal…………..
If Americans stick their head up your arse far enough they can see Russia……oooops i mean Iran…..oops i mean China. Same racist bigotry was used against Russia, Muslims etc etc etc
And Saddam Hussein had WMD’s and was throwing babies out of incubators blah blah blah Just how dumb are the American people?
Do you think they know the world hates their guts?
Dumb enough to post the nonsense right above your post.
You’re intensely anti-American, it seems, which blinds you to the fact that the U.S. is not the only Western imperial player on the global chessboard..
However, France helped China build that BSL-4 lab, not the U.S.. Also, the Wuhan lab only opened in 2018; one year is NOT enough time to weaponize a virus.
https://gnews.org/119075/
Cui Bono? France is the last European imperial power with any potency and the prime benefactor of any conflict between the U.S. and China.
To get to the stage COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is today as a bioweapon, would have taken an advanced Western power well over five years of research, development, and testing to make sure the virus(es) were effective and predictable, and more research and testing to develop reliable release mechanisms, whether aerosol drones or house cats..
There is no way China could have developed SARS-CoV-2. They would have needed a lot of help, or acquired an already weaponized virus from elsewhere, not to mention find and/or develop release technologies. China is not a biowarfare power.
The American strain of COVID-19 is similar to the Italian version, and perhaps a bit stronger than the Chinese version prevalent in Asia.
The origin of the American strain of COVID-19 is probably America, but whether or not the Americans released it on themselves let alone China is not only far from certain, but highly unlikely as China doing the same to herself or America.
They were both benefactors of the global economy they created, regardless of any dispute over who was tops. France and Europe, on the other hand, were becoming a mere rump of Eurasia, crowded out by natural geopolitical giants.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/covid-19-two-major-waves-of-global-infection-towards-global-contamination/5707588
Your post seems to assume that COVID-19 is either “weaponized” or is characteristic of what a “weaponized” virus would look like. So far as I can tell, it is to a “weaponized” virus what a Daisy BB gun is to a 155mm howitzer.
I’m neutral on the weaponization idea.
There are two weaponization possibilities; it was a franken or natural virus tweaked up just a bit, and/or, its a natural virus given a little help to spread.
In the contest of responding to the poster, I’m assuming that if SARS-CoV-2 was weaponized as the poster seems to.
However, weaponization was not done so far above the background pathogen level. The intention was to wreak havoc primarily as part of a propaganda weapon, and not as a purely biological weapon. For that, COVID-19 is perfect, with some added belles and whistles like culling the aged and sick but sparing children..
On the other hand, a new cold or flu variant coming out of China is a predictable event. Perhaps not precisely predictable, but something happens every decade, and its a media decision as to how big a deal to make of it.
Planning a propaganda campaign around a predictable natural event is not impossible either. Even ancient civilizations could use something like an eclipse to justify the state voodoo.
Hence use of the term ‘hybrid-hoax’ to describe the COVID-19 event; real event, real danger, greatly exaggerated for undesirable outcomes.
Same as 9/11; buildings did come down, and people were killed, but the narrative war and government solutions did far more lasting damage to society.
No, the West didn’t impose lockdowns to foster panic, they imposed lockdowns to save lives. Too bad you don’t get that part. And Sweden is rethinking their strategy as their death toll rises.
You must mean the flawed science of flattening the curve.
Flattening the curve was never meant to prevent infection, only delay them so underfunded, understaffed, overcrowded hospitals could catch up. This is likely where you think lives are being saved.
Not so.
“In contrast to a steep rise of coronavirus infections, a more gradual uptick of cases will see the same number of people get infected, but without overburdening the health-care system at any one time.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-what-does-flattening-the-curve-mean-and-why-it-matters.html
Neither the underlying problems of both underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded hospitals, nor the problem of people getting infected with COVID-19, is resolved. People will still be infected and die of COVID-19, just not as visibly as when there are lots of them infected and dying at once.
Ideally, hospitals should not be at 100%-plus capacity to be called ‘efficient’. They are efficient at 80%-90% capacity, the remaining unused capacity being reserved as reserve or surge capacity.
People vulnerable to dying of colds and flus, while not doomed, may often die regardless of medical intervention because their immune/recovery system cannot keep them alive.
It will not matter if they get sick at the top of a steep curve or down a shallow line.
There are antiviral drugs, but they have to be taken within 2-4 days to be effective, if at all. Nutrition helps; vitamins C, D, and zinc+copper supplementation.
The only way to know, when the worst happens, is to plug them into life support and hope for the best. If you are lucky, the hospital will try ‘experimental’ therapies like intravenous vitamin C.
https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/three-iv-vitamin-c-research-studies-approved-for-treating-covid-19/
However, the benefits of vitamin C have been known since a New Zealand 60 Minutes episode.
“Vitamin C: The Miracle Swine Flu Cure (60 Minutes) “Living Proof””, NZ 60 Minutes, Aug. 2012.
https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=VrhkoFcOMII
This continues to be denied by Globalist Deep-statists even today. Australia seems particuarly bad, of the Five Eyes, even worse than Canada.
“No evidence to support intravenous high-dose vitamin C in the management of COVID-19”
https://www.tga.gov.au/alert/no-evidence-support-intravenous-high-dose-vitamin-c-management-covid-19
Lockdowns are another manifestation of the bureaucratic game of covering ass mated to kicking the can (down the road).
Politicians and political bureaucrats can dodge the question of why there is no reserve capacity in the health care system, overlooking entirely the question of why ‘hallway medicine’ and underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded hospitals exist in the first place.
Flattening the curve hides embarrassing scenes of overcrowding and death down the curve, but ultimately does not prevent them if the underlying conditions are not resolved.
COVID-19 can only be tamed with natural herd immunity, after which it will likely burn out naturally as some experts predict. Flattening the curve is more likely to very much delay of not outright deny COVID-19 extermination.
https://ratical.org/PerspectivesOnPandemic-II.html
Why does the SA keep pretending it is in existential danger, when unfortunately its greed and threats and sanctions on others mean it is not? If “national security” had any meaning, the USA would look after its population, not make enemies all across the globe and try to fight them all, calling it “defense”.
Karma.
Hypocrisy.
It’s unbelievable that in the midst of a pandemic the US not only refuses to lift sanctions on countries, but also threatens the countries who are supplying the needed goods.
The US controlled International Monetary Fund also refuses to provide loans to the US sanctioned countries.
Cruelty at its best
Hell, the IMF is going to make a killing helping emerging economies ‘recover’ from COVID-19 shutdown.
COVID-19 is the perfect economic weapon, a hybrid hoax that combines real threat with real exaggeration to create fear and panic while hurting only people, not productive infrastructure.
“while hurting only people, not productive infrastructure”
Sounds like the neutron(?)bomb.
That certainly was how that POS was “advertised.”
Yeah, with the added benefit of sparing potentially valuable living commodities like children. Seasonal colds and flus will still endanger them, though.
“COVID-19 spares children but they play a crucial role in its spread – What can be done?” – By Angela Betsaida B. Laguipo, News-Medical .net, Mar. 12 2020
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200312/COVID-19-spares-children-but-they-play-a-crucial-role-in-its-spread-What-can-be-done.aspx
In a sense, lockdowns potentially weaponize children as COVID-19 carriers against the elderly; the virus remains endemic with sporadic outbreaks among bubbles of low herd immunity, including children, long after lockdowns end. Of course, this happens with colds and flus.
That’s the great danger of the continued lockdown under the pretext of ‘flattening the curve’; the curve just keeps on going.
No natural herd immunity means COVID-19 outbreaks could linger for years. Kids held back from school, may catch COVID-19 down the flattened curve, and infect grandparents. If they never catch COVID-19, they grow into immuno- compromised adults against COVID-19.
The longer this curve is flattened, the more likely it is, that new mutations will arise as well. A vaccine developed for this year’s COVID-19, could be useless against a future, even next year’s, COVID-19.
There are reports of released COVID-19 patients re-testing postive. This is feared to be re-infection (which puts into question not only herd immunity but also vaccines), but may also be mutated new strains.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-southkorea-idUSKCN21S15X
There are already three confirmed strains of COVID-19, each at least as lethal as the other, which is perhaps odd if evolution should favor pathogens with milder new mutations that generally will not kill off its hosts.
“Researchers Identify Three Separate Strains of COVID-19” – TechnicalPolitics, 27 February 2020.
https://www.technicalpolitics.com/articles/researchers-explore-variant-strains-of-covid-19-fifty-countries-and-territories-have-now-reported-coronavirus-cases/
But be prepared, because WE are going to find any excuse possible to justify OUR attack on you when you are at your weakest….and just to be sure, here are some immoral sanctions that should rightly be considered war crimes and acts of war. Happy Easter.
We are destroying ourselves with our Plannedemic lockdowns and economic destruction. The world could not ask for a better blow to America than the one Trump and fascist Faucci have delivered.
So you’d rather there was no lockdown so millions of Americans could be exposed to COVID-19 and many would die?
Millions of Americans were exposed to COVID-19 before teh lockdown, and many have died despite the lockdowns.
It is a near certainty that more people will end up dying from the lockdown than will die from COVID-19, or than would have died from COVID-19 without the lockdowns.
Last time I checked, harvests in Florida and California were about to be left rotting in the fields because the workers who pick the crops aren’t being allowed into the US to do so. And as of yesterday, Smithfield announced it was shutting down the largest pork processing facility in the US and that we should expect nationwide meat shortages in stores within 2-4 weeks.
People who die don’t care if they died from COVID-19 or from starvation.
“expect nationwide meat shortages in stores within 2-4 weeks”
Meat shortages wouldn’t kill anyone by themselves. They’d make people more healthy.
Yes, but accompanied by the loss of the entire spring Florida and California vegetable crops, what they’ll make people is more dead.
True. That is why I included “by themselves”. But even then it would probably kill some since the meat would have to be replaced with another protein source and there’d be a shortage of whatever that might be. Although I would still argue that a meatless diet is more healthy.
… Gen. Milley seems to have failed to notice, the U.S. economy just got shut down and many Americans are deprived of their rights to do anything but stay home under de facto house arrest and starve.
The US. was attacked by a cold virus hybrid hoax and the entire military-industrial-intelligence complex was notably useless in combating economic treason by panic pushers.
Even the U.S. hospital ships in New York Harbour, are mostly unused.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-navys-hospital-ships-have-treated-fewer-than-20-patients.html
New York health administrators need to keep the illusion of a crisis going, so apparently must be are refusing to send non-conronavirus cases to the ships. Of course, coronavirus patients, they’ll send, and blame the military for ‘poor support’.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/04/coronavirus-patients-spend-night-on-navy-hospital-ship-meant-for-non-infected-new-york-patients.html
Try to educate yourself about COVID-19 before you post such nonsense.
I have.
COVID-19 is the biggest scam since 9/11.
“Coronavirus expert says he knows when the virus ‘will burn itself out,’ according to leaked analysis” – Mark Puleo, AccuWeather, Feb. 11, 2020.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/health-wellness/coronavirus-expert-says-the-virus-will-burn-itself-out-in-about-6-months/679415
Another epidemiologist, Dr. Knut Wittkowski, predicted SARS-CoV-2 could be exterminated if lockdowns were to be lifted.
“Perspectives on the Pandemic II: A Conversation with Dr. Knut Wittkowski” – John Kirby, Libby Handros and Lee Davis, The Press & The Public Project, New York City, April 1&2, 2020.
https://ratical.org/PerspectivesOnPandemic-II.html
The accuweather link may have been taken down…. but nonetheless a Professor John Nichols of Hong Kong University, an epidemiologist, said that COVID-19 should burn out within six months (August) due to spring/summer weather.
There was no need to shut down the economy, and, COVID-19 is declining because its springtime, heading onto summer, not because lockdowns work.
“due to spring/summer weather”
Damn, we’re screwed. 12 inches of snow fell here yesterday and it supposed to be 20 degrees below normal for the next 5 days. I welcome the virus to put me out of my misery.
The added humidity works against the virus, though.
Enough humidity deforms the outer surface, making it harder for the viral receptors to match and lock with the body’s own receptors and infect.
Humidity also prevents clouds from breath from traveling far; dragging them to the ground at three feet rather than six to eight when the air is dry and cold.
Its the added UV rads from the sunlight moreseo than heat that kills coronaviruses.
Odds are, you’ll have to wait for something else to kill you. Ancient Chinese pensioners can survive the thing
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11107818/chinese-pensioner-101-recovers-coronavirus-after-98-woman-beat-disease/
Well 80% of CV victims get off with minimal symptoms so in the event of an actual war we would have plenty of military available. Older (re upper echelons) suffer worse but that would be a refreshing change, plus we have way way too many generals in any case.
“Older (re upper echelons)”
But they have to come in contact with someone with the virus. Generals are nowhere near “large gatherings” during war so they’d be able to take all the precautions. So, regrettably, they would probably be spared. Plus they’d get excellent care if, per chance, one of them peons came in contact and infected them.
Yup… Maybe they’ll order out for a Chipolte or something, though.
“COVID-19 Drives Command Teams Charged With Homeland Defense Into Cheyenne Mountain Bunker” – Joseph Trevithick, TheDrive, March 27, 2020.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32777/covid-19-drives-command-teams-charged-with-homeland-defense-into-cheyenne-mountain-bunker
More stick-waving by Uncle Sam.
Very helpful information. For those that may have thought of attacking, such information may help guide their decision making.
Might as well just tell them where to hit us you freakin idiots.