Tony Donaldson
With the tsunami of disinformation spewing out of Trump in recent days, the article by Herman Tiu Laurel entitled “Covid as Equalizer and Unifier: A Filipino Sage” provides a more balanced analysis of the current situation than the information put out by the US government (see ………………… https://thuppahis.com/2020/03/21/covid-as-equalizer-and-unifier-a-filipiino-sage/)
Contrary to the lies disseminating out of the White House, the truth is China informed WHO of the new coronavirus in early January and shared its genetic code with the world. The US and Trump had access to this data but didn’t take it seriously and chose NOT to act and were supported by a mindless right-wing media in this absurd Tower of Babel now unfolding in the US.
WHO were given immediate access to China to assess the situation for themselves on the ground. Since then, WHO have been providing the world with daily updates about the virus. What rock has Trump been under to have missed it for the past two months?
Singapore and Taiwan had access to the same information and acted fast and wisely with exceptional results, but Trump was more concerned with the stock exchange, which is not the economy, but the playpen of the very wealthy, Trump is in power to make money for them, not to help the people.
The US government have been aware of the situation for over two months but played down the issue and did nothing. Trump only came clean a week ago, going from saying “there would be zero cases of the coronavirus in USA in a few days” to declaring a national emergency. In a few weeks, the US went from about 18 cases to over 184,000 – which reveals the sheer failure of nerve of the US government and its appalling leadership in the initial phase of this global pandemic.
Having made a major blunder, Trump needed someone to blame, to distract attention away from his own mistakes and that is why he is blaming China with ludicrous claims, using the same propaganda methods developed by the Nazis and Goebbels, i.e., if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it is true.
The quick response of Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong indicates the world had access to information from early January. Sadly, the US and many Western countries, including Australia, were too complacent and chose to not act decisively until it was too late. That is not the fault of China, but those countries.
This is a time for the world to work together for humanity, not for the stock exchange and the wealthy few.
