In this commentary on his Edu/Pol blog, veteran US progressive campaigner Mike Klonsky takes issue with the extraordinary hypocrisy of Western news reporting on the Covid situation in China. Since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, the media has, successively: 1) accused China of hatching Covid in a Wuhan lab; 2) attacked China’s dynamic Zero Covid for being authoritarian and/or ineffective; 3) cried copious quantities of crocodile tears over the recent loosening of restrictions, predicting this shift in strategy could result in millions of deaths.
As Mike points out: “The common thread running through all these media stories is that the imperialist mind in the west knows what’s best for China’s health and wealth and has that country’s best interests at heart.”
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, has stated that the US stands ready to help China in its hour of need. Meanwhile, “US missile cruisers and nuclear submarines, sail into the South China Sea and the White House proclaims that China is enemy number one.” Not to mention the fact that the US is hardly in a great position to be advising other countries on how to manage the pandemic, given that over 300 people a day are still dying from Covid in the US.
Mike concludes with the apt proverb: “Physician, heal thyself.”
Whether it’s about the war in Ukraine or the cold war targeting China, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish authentic news reports from the cold war propaganda produced daily by western intelligence agencies and willingly regurgitated by compliant reporters and news agencies.
Case in point: The continuing misleading and contradictory stories about China’s battles with Covid. They began, of course with Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that Covid was hatched in a Chinese lab. DT even coined the racist term Kung-flu as an anti-immigration dog whistle.
Then, with Biden, came the next two years, of continuous churn about China’s so-called Zero-Covid strategy which was mocked in the west, but was apparently successful in keeping that country virtually Covid-free while the virus was killing more than a million people here at home.
Not only was Zero-Covid supposedly to blame for China’s and Wall Street’s economic woes, but we were told that the recent anti-lockdown street protests (not unlike those in the west) could even lead to the downfall of China’s President Xi. Instead, the protests actually led to a shift away from Zero-Covid and towards a loosening of many government restrictions.
Latest phase
The latest phase in the propaganda war has wild predictions of Covid sweeping across China possibly killing millions of its citizens.
The common thread running through all these media stories is that the imperialist mind in the west knows what’s best for China’s health and wealth and has that country’s best interests at heart. A tired, old story.
Almost laughable is this we’re-here-to-help story in Reuters:
U.S. ready to help China on COVID-19 surge if Beijing asks – White House
WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – The United States is prepared to help China deal with a surge of COVID-19 infections if Beijing requests assistance, the White House said on Wednesday.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that China has not requested help at this stage.
“We have made that point that we are prepared to help in any way they might find acceptable. That was true back when the pandemic was raging, and that is true today,” Kirby told reporters.
This, as US missile cruisers and nuclear submarines, sail into the South China Sea and the White House proclaims that China is enemy number one.
The topper
There’s a problem with claiming to help others when you can’t even help yourself.
Arianna Johnson at Forbes reports that in the face of Covid, the flu and RSV epidemics, there’s a shortage of drugs for Children in the US.
The Washington Post is telling parents who can’t find meds for their kids to give them lukewarm baths, and lightweight clothes, keep them hydrated and run a fan.
Physician, heal thyself.
