4 ms·

The case for a leak of a virus engineered in a Wuhan lab

16 points by Flatcircle 5y ago

lettergram 5y ago
The lab promoted the idea: Wuhan discussing "synthetically derived viruses": https://web.archive.org/web/20200212011902/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/News/Events/201512/t20151204_157114.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200212011902/http://english.wh... 2017 conference at (Wuhan Institute of a virology) with gain of function research being top priority: http://english.whiov.cas.cn/Exchange2016/International_Conferences2017/201712/t20171215_187977.html http://english.whiov.cas.cn/Exchange2016/International_Confe... Ecohealth Alliance partnership: https://web.archive.org/web/20210323171425/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/International_Cooperation2016/Partnerships/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210323171425/http://english.wh... US Gov from state department: http://web.archive.org/web/20210116001621/https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/ http://web.archive.org/web/20210116001621/https://www.state.... EcoHealth Alliance Peter Daszak discussing gene editing in coronaviruses in december 2019 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Y843FFJvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Y843FFJvI
- phyalow 5y ago
  Exactly. I am not into conspiracies, but I highly recommend this video from early 2020 which details how one of the Chinese researchers at WIV, Huang Yan Ling disappeared in late 2019 and how subsequently her internet presence was memory holed [1] by Chinese censors (all verifiable with the links in the video description and wayback). https://youtu.be/bpQFCcSI0pU https://youtu.be/bpQFCcSI0pU This to me is one of the smoking guns. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole
ryanjmo 5y ago
Something like this has made sense to me the whole time. What do you all think?
londons_explore 5y ago
It is notable that if this was indeed a 'lab leak', the denials and misdirection by China have been incredibly effective. Imagine the chain of events if they had just admitted "Yeah we made this virus, whoops". The US probably would have demanded China pay for all the virus response. That's $16 Trillion, but originally looked much smaller - China may have agreed to pay. Upon such a debt not being paid, the threat of war probably would have been used. The outcome probably would have been either a massive debt crippling China's economy for 50+ years, or a real on-the-ground war between nuclear states. The world would be a very different place today.

16 points by Flatcircle 5y ago

The lab promoted the idea: Wuhan discussing "synthetically derived viruses": https://web.archive.org/web/20200212011902/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/News/Events/201512/t20151204_157114.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200212011902/http://english.wh... 2017 conference at (Wuhan Institute of a virology) with gain of function research being top priority: http://english.whiov.cas.cn/Exchange2016/International_Conferences2017/201712/t20171215_187977.html http://english.whiov.cas.cn/Exchange2016/International_Confe... Ecohealth Alliance partnership: https://web.archive.org/web/20210323171425/http://english.whiov.cas.cn/International_Cooperation2016/Partnerships/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210323171425/http://english.wh... US Gov from state department: http://web.archive.org/web/20210116001621/https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-activity-at-the-wuhan-institute-of-virology/ http://web.archive.org/web/20210116001621/https://www.state.... EcoHealth Alliance Peter Daszak discussing gene editing in coronaviruses in december 2019 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Y843FFJvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Y843FFJvI

phyalow 5y ago
Exactly. I am not into conspiracies, but I highly recommend this video from early 2020 which details how one of the Chinese researchers at WIV, Huang Yan Ling disappeared in late 2019 and how subsequently her internet presence was memory holed [1] by Chinese censors (all verifiable with the links in the video description and wayback). https://youtu.be/bpQFCcSI0pU https://youtu.be/bpQFCcSI0pU This to me is one of the smoking guns. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole

ryanjmo 5y ago

Something like this has made sense to me the whole time. What do you all think?

londons_explore 5y ago

It is notable that if this was indeed a 'lab leak', the denials and misdirection by China have been incredibly effective. Imagine the chain of events if they had just admitted "Yeah we made this virus, whoops". The US probably would have demanded China pay for all the virus response. That's $16 Trillion, but originally looked much smaller - China may have agreed to pay. Upon such a debt not being paid, the threat of war probably would have been used. The outcome probably would have been either a massive debt crippling China's economy for 50+ years, or a real on-the-ground war between nuclear states. The world would be a very different place today.