Virtually every college campus that I've ever been on has some sort of 'biological research lab', probably a physics lab, a chemistry lab and an engineering lab. It doesn't mean that they are making bioweapons, nerve gas and nukes.

Or are they?

(dun dun DUN!)

quote:

Originally posted by sorenson:
Virtually every college campus that I've ever been on has some sort of 'biological research lab', probably a physics lab, a chemistry lab and an engineering lab. It doesn't mean that they are making bioweapons, nerve gas and nukes.

Your comparative totally fails. The lab on your college campus is well defined and out in the open to all. Its also assumed, given the environment, there is good reason for it to be there. On the other hand, sticking a bio-lab in Ukraine, one of the poorest countries in that part of the world and one that has zero involvement in bio-tech or research, and then shrouding it in secrecy until grilled about it in a Senate hearing, is quite different. I have no idea what was going on in that lab other than the small overview some in this administration have offered indicating that some old pathogens from Russia's early chemical warfare efforts were stored there. Simple reality, you don't park a bio-lab in essentially a third world country unless you want it to be secret and ignored.

You need to ask yourself the $1M question....how many more of these labs exist around the globe and where are they?

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
You need to ask yourself the $1M question....how many more of these labs exist around the globe and where are they?

Cheap labor? Scientists who care about the science? Lower costs to build the facilities? Convenient location?

I guess you could do the same thing in China even. Oh wait, they actually did that! And that worked out well for everyone...

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
They're the same sort of public health research labs that are found in virtually every decent-sized modern country and that the US has helped fund all over the world for ages, mostly to try to reduce the chance that we get blindsided by some new disease that pops up in a country with poor public health infrastructure.

One of the complaints during the Trump administration that was aired in various science journals at the time was that we weren’t supporting foreign science efforts to the degree as had been traditional previously. I do not know all the details of that support, but it should be obvious to even the dimmest that no one would have been bitching about Trump’s policies if they weren’t a change from the status quo. And of course there was great rejoicing in the same circles when the present guy was elected.

We must remember that the average person had never so much as heard of a biological research lab (and a good percentage don’t know what “biological” means even now) prior to learning that COVID-19 was engineered with US help—if not direction—in Wuhan. The only thing that puzzles me about some people’s sudden concerns in recent times about all that is that the “gained function” produced a disease that causes no more than a few sniffles and maybe a sore throat if we reject the alarmist claims of the medical/industrial complex: Hardly what Fauci and gang had in mind for their efforts for some cryptic nefarious reason, or so we’re supposed to believe.

On the other hand, if it was only the countermeasures—as unnecessary as they were from the beginning, and as we’re also supposed to believe—that have resulted in worldwide crises, why don’t the Chinese who invented the disease recognize the fact and stop screwing up everything in their own country? Just this morning there was a WSJ article headlined “A surge in Covid-19 cases led Chinese manufacturing hubs Shenzhen and Changchun to lock down in recent days, halting production at many electronics and auto factories in the latest threat to the world’s battered supply chain.” Wouldn’t those wily Asian masterminds let the disease create havoc in the rest of the world but ignore its insignificant actual effects at home to strengthen their economy even more?

I’m so confused!

How Javelins, NLAWs, Stingers and TB2 Drones Are Being Used In Ukraine.

LINK: https://www.wsj.com/video/seri...trending_now_video_2

Phase II now … Russian and Chinese surrogates acting up. Iran and North Korea flinging missiles to flex … won’t be long, less than 40 days imo.

Auto mechanic shop goes to work converting Russian vehicle mounted machine guns to shoulder fired.

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
Auto mechanic shop goes to work converting Russian vehicle mounted machine guns to shoulder fired.

With an accompanying analysis/explanation by Forgotten Weapons:

(Basically, these are PKT machine guns that are normally mounted inside a vehicle and fired via solenoid by a crew member. These Ukrainian car mechanics are retrofitting them with a shoulder stock, grip, and trigger mechanism in order to repurpose them for infantry use.)

Thanks for the Forgotten Weapons video RogueJSK
Great additional info.

Gain of function research was banned in the U.S. because of the risk. People like Fauci do not like being told they can't do the experiments they want to do, so he funded the research in China.

People need to stop thinking that the CCP is an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-planning entity that controls every aspect of China. It is not. It is damn hard to keep track of 1.4 billion people, and any government staffed by party insiders is not going to be exceedingly competent at much of anything. What they can do is this, deny the problem exists for too long, then pass sweeping edicts and make them happen quickly. But usually they apply blunt instruments instead of surgical tools. And they can control the official media and the overall narrative though social media trolls.

The Wuhan lab was probably doing what it wanted to do with lax oversight by party people that really had no idea what the researchers were up to. I do not think they were trying to create a weapon, just misguidedly doing what Fauci and his ilk wanted to do but couldn't.

The researchers were sloppy, cut corners and their experiment escaped. Then the CCP ignored it for a while and tried to silence those calling the alarm. Then they "cleaned up" the wet market without taking any samples from animals onsite. Then they "cleaned up" the lab and probably destroyed everything to make sure that nothing would every be found. Not just records about this specific virus - everything. Why leave any chances? They did not carefully investigate, they did not reconstruct the events, or determine a root cause. Burn it all down so there is no chance anything incriminating will ever be found, whatever it might be.

China told the world they got things under control by hard quarantining Wuhan, and then greater Hubei. Since then they have been playing whack-a-mole every time a hot spot pops up, blamed the U.S. for "bringing COVID into China", blamed travelers coming into China for creating each hotspot, and now blaming Hong Kong for the outbreak in Shenzen. Yep, those independent minded HK'ers didn't wear masks and ruined it for EVERYONE!

The overriding message of the CCP is that it is everyone else's fault, and the methods they are using for containment are effective and essential. They are using this to convince the Chinese people of the superiority of their system over the western system of individual rights and freedoms. And you know, their "success" in Wuhan convinced the western world to try the same methods, only to fail. Perhaps I should say it empowered our politicians to use the same methods, and primed the weak minded to accept it.

The CCP has a vested interest in "proving" their methods work - to their own people and to the rest of the world. COVID workers dress in full body hazmat-ish suits. Entire cities are tested multiple times - Dalian (coastal city near Korea) tested 8 million people 5 times each during the last outbreak. And even if their methods don't really work, appearances must be kept up and "face" saved. If you don't understand "face" then it's difficult to see how their actions make sense.

How do I know? Because I know and am in direct communication with people in Wuhan, Shanghai, Beijing, Dalian, Xi'An, Shenzen, and many other places since this whole thing started. A friend in Shenzen just told me the "blame HK" story today.

The labs in Ukraine were probably doing similar things - research Fauci and his ilk wanted to do but were not legally permitted to in the U.S for whatever misguided reason they wanted to do it. Not bioweapons. But it does mean that bombs or missiles that cause a containment breach could let something out.

Interesting analysis

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
Gain of function research was banned in the U.S. because of the risk. People like Fauci do not like being told they can't do the experiments they want to do, so he funded the research in China.

This is WILDLY inaccurate.

Gain of function research has never been banned in the US.

In 2014, the NIH announced they would pause funding gain of function research on SARS, MERS, and influenza. On THREE VIRUSES. And even for those three, nothing was banned, the NIH just said they wouldn’t pay for it.

Note that none of that says “in the US.” The NIH funds research all over the world and paused all NIH funding on this very, very specific topic. WHERE the research happens is totally irrelevant in this context.

The pause was to develop new safety guidelines for research with potentially dangerous pathogens.

https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/...in-function-research

In 2017 they finished the guidelines, the funding pause was lifted, and you could go back to requesting NIH funding for gain of function research on SARS, MERS, and influenza.

https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/...in-function-research

And I am not buying much of the rest of his story either.

If we should know anything. Especially now. Do not under estimate your enemies, period.

Maybe we keep the Covid stuff in the Covid thread?

Anyway, back on topic, it looks like Zelensky dropped the Ukraine version of the Kuwait dead babies in the hospital video this morning. Looks like Congress lapped it up. Fine, let them vote on getting more involved in Ukraine and bear some of the responsibility.

Maladat - Ok I accept the correction.

Point is, Fauci was funding GOF research in Wuhan via a 3rd party and has repeatedly denied it during Congressional testimony. The he tried to bury any suggestion of the lab leak theory, and used his control of funding to arm twist the experts that told him it looked like a lab leak. This gave China time to destroy the evidence.

More or less - I never funded GOF research in Wuhan, and even if I did, it wasn't really GOF.

So, it stands to reason he was doing the same thing in Ukraine. Maybe maybe not. But at this point in history, often when the left screams "conspiracy theory" it laters turns out that the claims were actually true to some extent.

In Rural Russia, Locals Blame the West for Conflict in Ukraine, Back Putin
‘I support everything that is for victory and for Putin,’ one villager said.

TORZHOK, Russia—More than a hundred cars, many festooned with Russian flags and plastered with stickers proclaiming “For Russia! For Victory!” converged on the main square of this small town in a show of support of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

“We support our army. We support our government. We are united behind our state,” said Dmitry Serov, 35, a driving instructor and Torzhok native who was one of the organizers of the weekend rally.

Those sentiments are widely shared among Russians across the country who believe Moscow’s military action in Ukraine is justified, that the West is to blame for provoking the conflict and that the Russian people are being unfairly targeted with international Mr. Putin has said that the military operation is necessary to cleanse Ukraine of anti-Russian nationalists he says have corrupted the country’s leadership with the help of the U.S., and to defend Russians whose culture, language and very existence is under attack.

Moscow’s state media, including influential television broadcasts, the main source of news for most Russians, daily reinforce the Kremlin’s stance. And it is widely embraced in places like Torzhok and the villages nearby, far from big city Moscow and St. Petersburg.

READ LIVE UPDATES ON RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE
Russian forces are bombarding Ukrainian cities and the government in Kyiv says thousands of civilians have been killed. More than three million people have fled the conflict, seeking refuge in neighboring countries. Russia’s Defense Ministry says it doesn’t target civilian infrastructure, only military objectives.

“We had no alternative for self-defense, for ensuring Russia’s security, to this special military operation,” Mr. Putin said in televised remarks Wednesday. “Our fellows—soldiers and officers—are displaying courage and heroism and are doing all they can to avoid civilian losses in Ukrainian cities.”



Keep up with major developments in Ukraine, plus today’s headlines, news in context and good reads, free in your inbox every day.


Mr. Putin has promised Russians that the government will help them withstand economic difficulties from international sanctions imposed since the start of the conflict—something he has said would be an “unconditional priority” for his government.

A Russian law enacted last week makes it a crime to refer to Russia’s military moves in Ukraine as an invasion or war. Mr. Putin uses the term “special military operation.” The law forbids citing Russian casualty figures from any source other than the country’s Defense Ministry. People convicted of violating the law can be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Mr. Serov, a member of the Russian Night Wolves motorcycle club, whose bikers led a convoy of cars into Torzhok from the nearby farming village Mirny, said Russian troops were trying to end the suffering of fellow Russians in Ukraine.

He said the Night Wolves have sent medicine, clothes and children’s toys to Russian residents of Donbas. On the eve of the Russian move into Ukraine, Mr. Putin recognized the independence of two Russian-controlled statelets carved out of Ukrainian territory in the Donbas area after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.

“We’re not indifferent to what’s happening,” Mr. Serov said. “So, you shouldn’t think we are barbarians who are carrying sticks and beating everyone. We are just like you.”

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
How will support from Russian citizens have an impact on the war in Ukraine? Join the conversation below.

Lyudmila Vizhulina, who stood on the sidewalk with neighbors and co-workers waiting for the convoy to depart Mirny, said it was a mystery to her why there is fighting. “Why does Ukraine hate us so? We are all Slavic people,” she said.

“Russians have always been for peace,” she said. “The warmongering is coming from the West. They don’t want Russia to be a strong state.”

Ms. Vizhulina said Mr. Putin has built Russia into a strong and stable place since he came to power more than 20 years ago. The 60-year-old, who looks after children at a community club in the village, listed some of her village’s attributes, including a kindergarten, a high school, a football field and a clinic.
Dmitry Peskov, a 48-year-old tractor driver at Mirny’s collective farm—a holdover from the Soviet era—pulled his daughter toward the front of a crowd that gathered near a military memorial so they could listen to participants in the rally make declarations in support of Mr. Putin and Russia’s actions.

“I support everything that is for victory and for Putin,” he said. “He loves our people and people love him. Because of him, I have my job, my tractor.”

In the region of Tver, where the village of Mirny and town of Torzhok are located, government statistics show that 75% of residents voted for Mr. Putin in the 2018 presidential election and more than 70% supported 2020 amendments to the constitution that allow him to stay in power until 2036.

When the drivers from Mirny arrived in Torzhok, they joined with others and positioned themselves to form the letter Z that has come to symbolize support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine. The town’s acting Mayor Sergei Kulagin was there to greet them.

“The people wanted this and we are a people power,” he said

Mr. Kulagin played down the impact of Western companies’ withdrawing from Russia.

“It’s in the West that everything is getting worse,” he said, echoing the narrative of Russian state media. “Here, our production and manufacturing is strengthening. Support for families is increasing. And we are Russians. It means we become more united and difficulties make us even tougher.”

The average monthly salary in Torzhok, a town of some 43,000 people, is 40,000 rubles. That is currently equivalent to about $390.

To cushion any impact on Russians of international sanctions, Mr. Putin has announced a new allowance for low-income families with children aged 8 to 16. Other state subsidies are already being offered to pregnant women and single-headed households, while pensions and social benefits are on tap to rise.
At the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum just off Torzhok’s main square, guide Tatyana Morozova, recounted how the town stood less than 20 miles from the front line during World War II, was heavily bombed, but was never taken by the Germans.

Ms. Morozova said most people support the Russian government’s military operations in Ukraine, because the goal, she believes, is to bring peace.

Outside, near the square, Sergei Ivanov unfurled a large blue flag honoring the Union of Paratroopers of Russia. “It’s difficult for our Russian brothers now,” Mr. Ivanov, 28, said. “They are defending us and we support them and our president and the important decision he made.”

link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/i...ck-putin-11647541758

Lara Logan on a truth-bombing mission in this interview discussing Ukraine as posted on Bitchute.

The above article shows just how brainwashed people can be by media. We have ample proof of it in the US as well.