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I don’t know about the ads, but here are their state media reports: They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine: https://www.newsweek.com/chin

I don’t know about the ads, but here are their state media reports: They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine: https://www.newsweek.com/china-peddles-russias-claim-that-us-has-bioweapons-ukraine-1685844 https://www.newsweek.com/china-peddles-russias-claim-that-us... And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and officials: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254330.shtml https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254330.shtml Edit: As pointed out by a commenter, the above article is from GlobalTimes, not CGTN. The actual CGTN article: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-07/Russia-reveals-evidence-of-U-S-funded-bio-program-in-Ukraine-18cUbBlPXhu/index.html https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-07/Russia-reveals-evidenc...

bpodgursky 5y ago
They are probably building up a strategy of blaming COVID-19 on fabricated US/Ukraine bioweapons research (accidental release).
- 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
  There does appear to be a growing body of evidence circumstantially suggesting that COVID-19 is due to American incompetence and gross negligence.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    No, there is not.
    - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
      Unfortunately, there is. Following Go rules, since I no longer have the energy to dig up references for you, let’s just call ko.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - edgyquant 5y ago
        No there isn’t, you’re spreading misinformation in a laughably obvious way.
        9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        Nervously laughable dis-misinformation, perhaps.
        edgyquant 5y ago
        No laughable as in anyone who reads your comments sees that you’re outright lying. You quoted a paragraph about wuhan lab leaks as proof America was somehow responsible for covid. This stuff works on Facebook or Reddit where no one actually reads linked sources or quotes, it doesn’t work here.
  - octopoc 5y ago
    How so? If it leaked from a lab, it is almost certainly from the Wuhan lab. The Wuhan lab was a joint French-Chinese operation. Before COVID-19, EcoHealth (an organization with ties to the Wuhan lab) applied for a grant from DARPA to perform gain-of-function-esque research on COVID[1]. DARPA denied the application. [1] https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-gra...
    - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
      From [1]: Other scientists contacted by The Intercept noted that there is published evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was already engaged in some of the genetic engineering work described in the proposal and that viruses designed in North Carolina could easily be used in China. “The mail is filled with little envelopes with plasmid dried on to filter paper that scientists routinely send each other,” said Jack Nunberg, director of the Montana Biotechnology Center at the University of Montana.
      - octopoc 5y ago
        > the Wuhan Institute of Virology was already engaged in some of the genetic engineering work described in the proposal Sure, but that doesn't point to America it points to China. > “The mail is filled with little envelopes with plasmid dried on to filter paper that scientists routinely send each other,” It seems unlikely the leak happened at the Wuhan post office, but even if it did, how does imply American incompetence?
        9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        > how does imply American incompetence? 1 million dead people kind of makes it seem an “a priori”
        edgyquant 5y ago
        Way to skirt around the fact that nothing points to it having come from America or being due to it. Even if incompetence allowed it to spread it was already global when it reached the US.
thepasswordis 5y ago
https://twitter.com/raczylo/status/1501324063926534148 https://twitter.com/raczylo/status/1501324063926534148 Edit: "The US has an interest in biolabs in Ukraine" - I feel like this is a pretty useless nit to pick. (Sorry for the twitter source. It's a video of Marco Rubio, a US senator, talking to Victoria Nuland) The US is basically warning that Russia plans to release stuff from these labs and blame the Ukrainians for it. Kindof the same thing they were supposedly doing with Chernobyl. If that's Russian propaganda, then the propaganda has gotten to pretty senior levels of the state department. edit: look I'm definitely not some Chinese misinfo spreader. I think that weaponization of social media, weaponization of the news, and weaponization of human emotion is basically the next version of nuclear weapons. That is: a new type of weapon that will (and is) completely change(ing) the war landscape. I think that sort of weapon is in use now, and the use will only increase. You've already seen Russia ban facebook for their citizens, China has their great firewall, and strict control over their citizens social media. It's here. But I think the people who are trying to reach for these claims about bioweapons labs, or "bio labs" or perhaps no labs at all, are the ones spreading misinformation. That ambiguity and division that you are creating by spreading these lies is the problem. This desire to attack people's ability to interpret simple statements, and read the plain meaning of those simple statements is an attack on people's ability to resist this propaganda. Does the US have "bio labs" in Ukraine? Yes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30615313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30615313 Is the US concerned that the materials in these labs could fall into the hands of the Russians? Also yes. These are facts. Acknowledging these facts does not make you a Q anon conspiracy theorist, a Trump supporter, or anything else. These things are just nakedly true. Now once you've acknowledged these things as simply true, you can get to the question of "is this a problem?" - To be clear, in my opinion: no these things are not necessarily a problem. Yes the US runs bio weapons labs in Ukraine. We do it for reasons that people have indicated in some of their comments. These are defensive in nature. There's a question about if human beings generally should be studying this, but that is independent to the question about the US running biolabs (studying weapons...so...bioweapons labs) in Ukraine. You HAVE to acknowledge these truths. It should be obvious that having a good ability to separate truth from fiction is the way to defend against the type of propaganda that I outlined above. Twisting yourselves into knots to not accidentally acknowledge some information which is blatantly true, is how the propaganda is allowed to spread. It is an attack on your sense making ability. Please stop doing this.
waffleiron 5y ago
>And here’s CGTN’s article That's GlobalTimes. I know they are both state media, but we are talking CGTN here. > citing Russia media outlets and officials I bet I can find them quoting US or Ukrainian media outlets and officials too. Should media not report what countries fighting a war claim? It's not like Western media consistently gets it right (e.g. deaths on snake island) by reporting only the pro-Ukrainian side. > They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons Why link to Newsweek instead of the actual CGTN post? I am less interested what Western media claims CGTN says than proof of what they actually say.
- hkmaxpro 5y ago
  Indeed I mixed up CGTN and GlobalTimes. But, hey, the CGTN post is very easy to find, given the Newsweek article: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=CGTN+russia+Igor+Konashenkov https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=CGTN+russia+Igor+Konashenkov
- JohnHaugeland 5y ago
  > It's not like Western media consistently gets it right (e.g. deaths on snake island) by reporting only the pro-Ukrainian side. You're acting like an anti-Ukrainian position exists, to be discussed. What position other than pro-victim would you like to see reported on, please? It seems like you're very new here, and the only thing you've discussed is the Russia situation, or trying to make it look like it's reasonable to listen to state media to learn what's happening, by contrasting state propaganda to a disgraced magazine that was sold for a dollar to the daily beast ten years ago, then to religious extremists Russia has invaded another country without provocation, and is shelling civilians, children's schools, hospitals, and grocery lines. What pro-Russian spin would you like to see, specifically, please, new anonymous account? Thanks. ---- An aside: I am of the opinion that if websites like Facebook and Twitter don't get their fake account problem under control, laws will be coming to do it for them, and if those laws are written by politicians, it's going to go really badly for UGC websites
somenameforme 5y ago
The existence of biolabs is completely genuine. You can read more (from a .gov site) here [1]. They seem to have removed the fact-sheets from the site, but you can still access them on archive.org, like here [2]. The fact sheets don't have anything especially seedy on them but do confirm that the labs were funded by the US Department of Defense, and do work with pathogens. Point being you don't need the quotes. There are definitely DoD built biolabs, and a surprisingly large amount of them. [1] - https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defense-threat-reduction-office/biological-threat-reduction-program/ https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defen... [2] - https://web.archive.org/web/20170211022339/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/kiev-ivm-fact-sheet-eng.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170211022339/https://photos.st...
- hkmaxpro 5y ago
  How do your links [1][2] support the claim that Ukraine is developing “biomilitary activities” (as claimed in the title of the Global Times article)? They seem to point to medical research to fight against diseases, rather than “biomilitary activities”.
  - maratc 5y ago
    Genuine question: Why would the US Department of Defence fund "medical research to fight against diseases"?
    - hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
      To defend against biological weapons. The DoD is responsible for defending the US against all kinds of attacks -- conventional, nuclear, chemical, and biological -- even if it doesn't use all of those weapon types itself.
      - waffleiron 5y ago
        > even if it doesn't use all of those weapon types itself. US has changed to a limited interpretation of what a biological weapon is, and considers non-deadly biological agents to not be bioweapons when it comes to treaties banning them. https://web.archive.org/web/20121204112835/http://www.fas.org/programs/bio/resource/original.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121204112835/http://www.fas.or... The US does research into chemical and bio-weapons they do not consider to be lethal: https://web.archive.org/web/20121119043547/http://www.fas.org/programs/bio/chemweapons/nonlethal.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121119043547/http://www.fas.or...
itsoktocry 5y ago
>And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and official There are biolabs in the Ukraine, as confirmed by Nuland in the Senate hearings. Whether they have bio-weapons or medical research, who knows, but you can perhaps understand that the Russians might be concerned? What's really amazing about this story that only days ago it was painted as a Q-anon theory. Turns out it was real. We are neck deep in propaganda from all directions, but most people think it's only coming from the Russian side.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  There's a reason "dual purpose" exists as a term. Most American grade schools have "hacking devices", should we define that to be any computer. And at this point, the Russians have demostrated a clear willingness to lie about anything in pursuit of their geopolitical agenda (see: months of explicit denial of preparing for a Ukrainian invasion, by all levels of their government, in official statements).
  - ashwagary 5y ago
    >And at this point, the Russians have demostrated a clear willingness to lie about anything in pursuit of their geopolitical agenda US history says the DOD, Pentagon, & the CIA are just as willing, if not more.
    - tonguez 5y ago
      Actually, pointing out the hypocrisy is invalid because that means you stand with Putin because Twitter said so. Derp.
  - brabel 5y ago
    Russians lie, but history tells us that so does everyone else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPe5f5dcrGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPe5f5dcrGE (Why Leaders Lie?)
    - ethbr0 5y ago
waffleiron 5y ago
>They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine According to Newsweek, but the CGTN article actually doesn't use "bioweapons".
- hkmaxpro 5y ago
  If you read the Newsweek article carefully, the bioweapon claim is from Igor Konashenkov. CGTN only calls it “military biological program”. So technically not the same, but of course CGTN wants to give the same impression to keep spreading misinformation.
  - waffleiron 5y ago
    > the bioweapon claim is from Igor Konashenkov. Yes, but this comment chain is about CGTN, so when switching let's keep it clear. > course CGTN wants to give the same impression to keep spreading misinformation. That's the least charitable interpretation, yes. However, I see no lies in their article. edit: You specifically said: > They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons They meaning CGTN.
politician 5y ago
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Wuhan.

bpodgursky 5y ago

They are probably building up a strategy of blaming COVID-19 on fabricated US/Ukraine bioweapons research (accidental release).

9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
There does appear to be a growing body of evidence circumstantially suggesting that COVID-19 is due to American incompetence and gross negligence.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  No, there is not.
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
    Unfortunately, there is. Following Go rules, since I no longer have the energy to dig up references for you, let’s just call ko.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - edgyquant 5y ago
      No there isn’t, you’re spreading misinformation in a laughably obvious way.
      - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        Nervously laughable dis-misinformation, perhaps.
        edgyquant 5y ago
        No laughable as in anyone who reads your comments sees that you’re outright lying. You quoted a paragraph about wuhan lab leaks as proof America was somehow responsible for covid. This stuff works on Facebook or Reddit where no one actually reads linked sources or quotes, it doesn’t work here.
- octopoc 5y ago
  How so? If it leaked from a lab, it is almost certainly from the Wuhan lab. The Wuhan lab was a joint French-Chinese operation. Before COVID-19, EcoHealth (an organization with ties to the Wuhan lab) applied for a grant from DARPA to perform gain-of-function-esque research on COVID[1]. DARPA denied the application. [1] https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-gra...
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
    From [1]: Other scientists contacted by The Intercept noted that there is published evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was already engaged in some of the genetic engineering work described in the proposal and that viruses designed in North Carolina could easily be used in China. “The mail is filled with little envelopes with plasmid dried on to filter paper that scientists routinely send each other,” said Jack Nunberg, director of the Montana Biotechnology Center at the University of Montana.
    - octopoc 5y ago
      > the Wuhan Institute of Virology was already engaged in some of the genetic engineering work described in the proposal Sure, but that doesn't point to America it points to China. > “The mail is filled with little envelopes with plasmid dried on to filter paper that scientists routinely send each other,” It seems unlikely the leak happened at the Wuhan post office, but even if it did, how does imply American incompetence?
      - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        > how does imply American incompetence? 1 million dead people kind of makes it seem an “a priori”
        edgyquant 5y ago
        Way to skirt around the fact that nothing points to it having come from America or being due to it. Even if incompetence allowed it to spread it was already global when it reached the US.

thepasswordis 5y ago

https://twitter.com/raczylo/status/1501324063926534148 https://twitter.com/raczylo/status/1501324063926534148 Edit: "The US has an interest in biolabs in Ukraine" - I feel like this is a pretty useless nit to pick. (Sorry for the twitter source. It's a video of Marco Rubio, a US senator, talking to Victoria Nuland) The US is basically warning that Russia plans to release stuff from these labs and blame the Ukrainians for it. Kindof the same thing they were supposedly doing with Chernobyl. If that's Russian propaganda, then the propaganda has gotten to pretty senior levels of the state department. edit: look I'm definitely not some Chinese misinfo spreader. I think that weaponization of social media, weaponization of the news, and weaponization of human emotion is basically the next version of nuclear weapons. That is: a new type of weapon that will (and is) completely change(ing) the war landscape. I think that sort of weapon is in use now, and the use will only increase. You've already seen Russia ban facebook for their citizens, China has their great firewall, and strict control over their citizens social media. It's here. But I think the people who are trying to reach for these claims about bioweapons labs, or "bio labs" or perhaps no labs at all, are the ones spreading misinformation. That ambiguity and division that you are creating by spreading these lies is the problem. This desire to attack people's ability to interpret simple statements, and read the plain meaning of those simple statements is an attack on people's ability to resist this propaganda. Does the US have "bio labs" in Ukraine? Yes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30615313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30615313 Is the US concerned that the materials in these labs could fall into the hands of the Russians? Also yes. These are facts. Acknowledging these facts does not make you a Q anon conspiracy theorist, a Trump supporter, or anything else. These things are just nakedly true. Now once you've acknowledged these things as simply true, you can get to the question of "is this a problem?" - To be clear, in my opinion: no these things are not necessarily a problem. Yes the US runs bio weapons labs in Ukraine. We do it for reasons that people have indicated in some of their comments. These are defensive in nature. There's a question about if human beings generally should be studying this, but that is independent to the question about the US running biolabs (studying weapons...so...bioweapons labs) in Ukraine. You HAVE to acknowledge these truths. It should be obvious that having a good ability to separate truth from fiction is the way to defend against the type of propaganda that I outlined above. Twisting yourselves into knots to not accidentally acknowledge some information which is blatantly true, is how the propaganda is allowed to spread. It is an attack on your sense making ability. Please stop doing this.

waffleiron 5y ago

>And here’s CGTN’s article That's GlobalTimes. I know they are both state media, but we are talking CGTN here. > citing Russia media outlets and officials I bet I can find them quoting US or Ukrainian media outlets and officials too. Should media not report what countries fighting a war claim? It's not like Western media consistently gets it right (e.g. deaths on snake island) by reporting only the pro-Ukrainian side. > They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons Why link to Newsweek instead of the actual CGTN post? I am less interested what Western media claims CGTN says than proof of what they actually say.

hkmaxpro 5y ago
Indeed I mixed up CGTN and GlobalTimes. But, hey, the CGTN post is very easy to find, given the Newsweek article: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=CGTN+russia+Igor+Konashenkov https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=CGTN+russia+Igor+Konashenkov
JohnHaugeland 5y ago
> It's not like Western media consistently gets it right (e.g. deaths on snake island) by reporting only the pro-Ukrainian side. You're acting like an anti-Ukrainian position exists, to be discussed. What position other than pro-victim would you like to see reported on, please? It seems like you're very new here, and the only thing you've discussed is the Russia situation, or trying to make it look like it's reasonable to listen to state media to learn what's happening, by contrasting state propaganda to a disgraced magazine that was sold for a dollar to the daily beast ten years ago, then to religious extremists Russia has invaded another country without provocation, and is shelling civilians, children's schools, hospitals, and grocery lines. What pro-Russian spin would you like to see, specifically, please, new anonymous account? Thanks. ---- An aside: I am of the opinion that if websites like Facebook and Twitter don't get their fake account problem under control, laws will be coming to do it for them, and if those laws are written by politicians, it's going to go really badly for UGC websites

somenameforme 5y ago

The existence of biolabs is completely genuine. You can read more (from a .gov site) here [1]. They seem to have removed the fact-sheets from the site, but you can still access them on archive.org, like here [2]. The fact sheets don't have anything especially seedy on them but do confirm that the labs were funded by the US Department of Defense, and do work with pathogens. Point being you don't need the quotes. There are definitely DoD built biolabs, and a surprisingly large amount of them. [1] - https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defense-threat-reduction-office/biological-threat-reduction-program/ https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defen... [2] - https://web.archive.org/web/20170211022339/https://photos.state.gov/libraries/ukraine/895/pdf/kiev-ivm-fact-sheet-eng.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170211022339/https://photos.st...

hkmaxpro 5y ago
How do your links [1][2] support the claim that Ukraine is developing “biomilitary activities” (as claimed in the title of the Global Times article)? They seem to point to medical research to fight against diseases, rather than “biomilitary activities”.
- maratc 5y ago
  Genuine question: Why would the US Department of Defence fund "medical research to fight against diseases"?
  - hn_go_brrrrr 5y ago
    To defend against biological weapons. The DoD is responsible for defending the US against all kinds of attacks -- conventional, nuclear, chemical, and biological -- even if it doesn't use all of those weapon types itself.
    - waffleiron 5y ago
      > even if it doesn't use all of those weapon types itself. US has changed to a limited interpretation of what a biological weapon is, and considers non-deadly biological agents to not be bioweapons when it comes to treaties banning them. https://web.archive.org/web/20121204112835/http://www.fas.org/programs/bio/resource/original.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121204112835/http://www.fas.or... The US does research into chemical and bio-weapons they do not consider to be lethal: https://web.archive.org/web/20121119043547/http://www.fas.org/programs/bio/chemweapons/nonlethal.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121119043547/http://www.fas.or...

itsoktocry 5y ago

>And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and official There are biolabs in the Ukraine, as confirmed by Nuland in the Senate hearings. Whether they have bio-weapons or medical research, who knows, but you can perhaps understand that the Russians might be concerned? What's really amazing about this story that only days ago it was painted as a Q-anon theory. Turns out it was real. We are neck deep in propaganda from all directions, but most people think it's only coming from the Russian side.

ethbr0 5y ago
There's a reason "dual purpose" exists as a term. Most American grade schools have "hacking devices", should we define that to be any computer. And at this point, the Russians have demostrated a clear willingness to lie about anything in pursuit of their geopolitical agenda (see: months of explicit denial of preparing for a Ukrainian invasion, by all levels of their government, in official statements).
- ashwagary 5y ago
  >And at this point, the Russians have demostrated a clear willingness to lie about anything in pursuit of their geopolitical agenda US history says the DOD, Pentagon, & the CIA are just as willing, if not more.
  - tonguez 5y ago
    Actually, pointing out the hypocrisy is invalid because that means you stand with Putin because Twitter said so. Derp.
- brabel 5y ago
  Russians lie, but history tells us that so does everyone else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPe5f5dcrGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPe5f5dcrGE (Why Leaders Lie?)
  - ethbr0 5y ago

waffleiron 5y ago

>They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine According to Newsweek, but the CGTN article actually doesn't use "bioweapons".

hkmaxpro 5y ago
If you read the Newsweek article carefully, the bioweapon claim is from Igor Konashenkov. CGTN only calls it “military biological program”. So technically not the same, but of course CGTN wants to give the same impression to keep spreading misinformation.
- waffleiron 5y ago
  > the bioweapon claim is from Igor Konashenkov. Yes, but this comment chain is about CGTN, so when switching let's keep it clear. > course CGTN wants to give the same impression to keep spreading misinformation. That's the least charitable interpretation, yes. However, I see no lies in their article. edit: You specifically said: > They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons They meaning CGTN.

politician 5y ago

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Wuhan.