[ggm]

And people wonder why non-Americans sometimes hate the American political system..

This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay.

So Pompeo puts out something akin to gasoline on the fire of china-US relations as a "parting gift" to the Biden administration.

Folks, don't get sucked in. Threat analysis says this is not helpful, or even very informed.

Were the CCP unhelpful? Sure! Is this PR warfare helpful? Shit no!

[incrudible]

Something can be both propaganda and factually accurate at the same time. There is no such thing as a neutral source. When it comes to China, if it's not the CCP party line then it's probably relayed through Falun Gong affiliated media.

> This is a farrago of rumour and hearsay.

I disagree. I can see two unsupported claims here:

"The U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses."

"Despite the WIV presenting itself as a civilian institution, the United States has determined that the WIV has collaborated on publications and secret projects with China’s military."

These may be true or not, but the evidence is not presented.

All other points raised are either opinion or facts that have been known to the public for a long time.

[Gibbon1]

One of the first articles on covid I saw was from the Chicago School of Economics crowing about how covid was going to set China back into the 1970's. It was dismaying because it foretold how certain political factions in the US were going to respond to the threat.

[ern]

There are two possibilities: that Pompey/Trump want to sabotage Biden as you suspect; or that they don’t want this intel suppressed. Regardless, the timing of the release is unlikely to be a coincidence. Sadly, the deep cleavages in US politics are going to make most people view this through partisan eyes.

I am not inclined to dismiss this entirely though:

1) There were concerns about Gain of Function research long before Covid-19. I recall it was discussed on HN even (but can’t find the exact link)

2) There have been outbreaks of SARS linked to labs.

3) China has been secretive and uncooperative with investigations and has turned its wrath against an erstwhile partner (Australia) after that country’s government called for an investigation into the origin of the virus (maybe a coincidence as well though).

I am not inclined to unquestioningly believe the same government that lied/erred terribly on WMDs in Iraq, but I also don’t think we can unquestioningly dismiss the idea that the virus escaped from a lab that was doing experiments that would be expected to produce a virus of this sort, rather than a random mutation that just happened to be in a market in the same city.

[ggm]

Why do you think there is a virology lab looking at zoonotic diseases in Wuhan? Is it not likely that a high prevalence of zoonotic disease there, historically, has led to specific interest? Why is the Durham county hospital causing all this coal miners black lung disease!

Why does the Liverpool school of tropical hygiene and medicine cause this huge spike in non indigenous malaria!

Seriously: the wuhan virology lab is there, because the problem is there.

[peytn]

I’m not so sure because Wuhan is on an alluvial plain and thus probably doesn’t have too many bats relative to other places. The han in Wuhan is the same as the Han people, so it’s a safe bet that Wuhan is a hub for culture and education. So, and I’m guessing here, a likely reason that Wuhan was chosen for SARS work is because it’s an academic hub that isn’t Shanghai or Beijing.

[mhh__]

Why would Biden suppress this? Anyone who thinks Joe Biden is in bed with China needs to seriously adjust their priors and get off the Trump koolaid IV

[T-A]

A less conspiratorial take on the timing is that it's due to this:

https://time.com/5929647/who-china-pandemic-origins-covid19-...

[throwawaysea]

After repeatedly denying access to the WHO team, they were finally allowed in over a year later. That doesn’t seem suspicious at all...