China. what's the deal? is the title of this blog for several reasons.
As most people know, (unless you have been sleeping under a rock for the last several years) China has become one of the major players on the world stage. As this blog is going to print, the emergence of the 'Corona virus' has largely been blamed on the country.
Place alongside things like the claiming of huge swathes of the 'South China Sea' including the shores off The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.., and includes the building of military installations on Islands which are not under its sovereignty.
Then we have the issue of Taiwan, which to all intents and purposes is an independent nation, if you use the world stage as your benchmark, but is not if you use The UN as your benchmark.
In addition, two things I will put together. The 'education camps' in the north of the country, and the 'infiltration of 'Huawei' into foreign nation's IT and Telecoms networks.
Finally, my personal favourite (not as in 'I like it the most', but the one I find the most intruiging) is 'The Confucious Institute'.
Rather than try to cover all of these issues in one blog, I have decided to cover these topics over several units.
The first, and most important/pressing is the begining of the Coronavirus to the current situation.
Enjoy, and please comment.
Corona Virus/Covid 19.
The last 12 months have been the worst on the planet, maybe apart from World wars, and major disasters, and the cause of this is a 'virus' which, as has been touted around the world, emanated from Wuhan, a city in Southern China.
The coverage implied that the source of the virus was a meat market where a variety of 'exotic' animals were being sold for consumption. These included; bats, snakes, beavers, porcupines, and baby crocodiles, among other animals. Nearly all of these creatures are consumed only in China, so this reinforced the idea that the virus must have come from this place and from animals not usually consumed in the vast majority of countries.
Fast forward several months and we have small smatterings of a new virus which is spreading in China, which at first had an unknown source. This was later found to be Wuhan, but nothing was known about the virus at the time. The Chinese in their infinite wisdom, immediately began to 'deflect' the findings that were creeping out of the country in the usual 'Communist Party' way.
Due to the fact that Chinese people travel to many countries and also live in many countries, the virus was unknowingly being carried to the outer world. All of the countries where Chinese people live, and who regularly commute between the countries and China have been affected, which is basically the majority of western countries, Africa, several countries in South America, and more.
Initially, when the virus broke, there was confusion over the source of the outbreak, and it took time to locate its origin. One of the main
things about this was, as the information emerged there were several journalists and medical professionals from Wuhan, who were telling anyone who would listen, that the source was their city. Some of the medical staff unfortunately died, and several journalists were punished with punishments ranging from prison time to house arrest. Any videos which were posted on Chinese social media were quickly removed and the poster advised (see 'warned') not to repeat their transgression.
There were many who want to provide information regarding the source, purely from a medical perspective, and to contain the virus, but politics prevails, and any news regarding the disease, was quickly shut down.
Beliefs.
There are many theories around the world, and also some from within China itself, that the virus was 'man-made' and developed in laboratories, with the intent to be used to disable countries, and make them reliant on China, which would effectively 'rubber stamp' China's position as 'No 1' and the controlling nation (something to which it has long aspired). Whether this is to be believed is a matter for conjecture, but if you look at some of the projects being launched out of Beijing, then this might not seem so surprising,
(The New Silk Road, the Confucious Project, the debt traps to other countries, and more...)
Delving further into the various claims being touted around by a multitude of countries, the WHO (World Health Organisation), which is officially an 'independent' body, has not taken any real type of leading role in the outbreak of the virus, due largely to the fact that many believe that it is in the palms of China. How true this theory is only a few know, but this is part of the the reason questions are being asked as to why they are not playing a prominent role in a 'world health scare'.
Progression.
As the crisis deepens, I will add more of my thoughts to this article and keep you up to date with progress and more theories and they develop. Watch this space.
This subject has been broached increasingly over recent decades. The amount of money in sport. This includes not only the pay, salary, or whatever it is called, but the sponsorship, advertising, personal appearance add-ons.
about speed, especially when we get to the luxury end of the market. The specs which attract the buyer are; the 0-60 time, the top speed,which often now exceeds 200 mph, and the handling ( how does it handle at high speed). Whole industries and fortunes have been made around these things, and with the addition of sport (Formula 1, Indy 500, etc…) added then the lust for speed becomes an addiction. Some of the performance figures are the indications of how much you will need to ‘shell out’ to buy a vehicle in this range.
The Coronavirus is here. With us every day. All around us. Restricting our lives. Ruining livelihoods, destroying businesses. Uprooting the financial world, and much more. But is it the deadliest plague of modern history, as is being claimed in many quarters?
An intriguing title you might ask. And you would be right. What is the meaning behind it? All will become clear shortly.
