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Ordinarily, ProPublica has a sterling record [1], but something about the way that story was unfolding forced me to read the whole thing, and do some research o

Ordinarily, ProPublica has a sterling record [1], but something about the way that story was unfolding forced me to read the whole thing, and do some research of my own. There is the 2022 Senate Minority Oversite Staff interim report [2] which was preceded by a House Minority Staff report [3] and another paper on Wuhan products is [4]. For me, I choose to remain skeptical; given the politics behind the ProPublica piece, while I have faith the authors did their best, I'm not yet ready to light any cigars. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProPublica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProPublica [2] https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis_of_the_origins_of_covid-19_102722.pdf https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/report_an_analysis... [3] https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ORIGINS-OF-COVID-19-REPORT.pdf https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021... [4] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350485858_Wuhan_Institute_of_Biological_Products_Co https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350485858_Wuhan_Ins...

dmix 4y ago
If Xi was involved from nearly day 1 then you have to assume the Chinese intel agencies were also involved since Nov 2019. Meaning there was total and thorough information control. Including potentially which hospital cases became public to researchers and when. > … we sent key documents to experts on CCP communications. They told us that the WIV dispatches did indeed signal that the institute faced an acute safety emergency in November 2019; that officials at the highest levels of the Chinese government weighed in; and that urgent action was taken in an effort to address ongoing safety issues. The documents do not make clear who was responsible for the crisis, which laboratory it affected specifically or what the exact nature of the biosafety emergency was. > …[we] separately got three experts on CCP communications to review the WIV meeting summary. All agreed that it appeared to be urgent, nonroutine and related to some sort of biosafety emergency. Two also agreed that it appeared Xi himself had issued a pishi. > A former senior U.S. intelligence official said that, while the pishi [link, AT] in the dispatch is not necessarily a smoking gun, he reads it as saying that “there is some issue related to lab security, which doesn’t come up very often, that needed to be seen by Xi Jinping.” He added, “Something signed off on by the General Secretary (Xi) and Premier (Li) is high priority.” Of course controlling all information is always difficult, especially when early reports are going to be vague flu-like symptoms. But given the information environment in such a situation it’s difficult to trust any raw information after that point if a) the lab did in fact have a serious bio safety incident and b) the highest echelons of the Chinese gov were involved well before reports start surfacing in the food market.
topspin 4y ago
> Ordinarily, ProPublica has a sterling record Don't forget Vanity Fair while you're throwing stuff under the bus. They were involved in this as well.

dmix 4y ago

If Xi was involved from nearly day 1 then you have to assume the Chinese intel agencies were also involved since Nov 2019. Meaning there was total and thorough information control. Including potentially which hospital cases became public to researchers and when. > … we sent key documents to experts on CCP communications. They told us that the WIV dispatches did indeed signal that the institute faced an acute safety emergency in November 2019; that officials at the highest levels of the Chinese government weighed in; and that urgent action was taken in an effort to address ongoing safety issues. The documents do not make clear who was responsible for the crisis, which laboratory it affected specifically or what the exact nature of the biosafety emergency was. > …[we] separately got three experts on CCP communications to review the WIV meeting summary. All agreed that it appeared to be urgent, nonroutine and related to some sort of biosafety emergency. Two also agreed that it appeared Xi himself had issued a pishi. > A former senior U.S. intelligence official said that, while the pishi [link, AT] in the dispatch is not necessarily a smoking gun, he reads it as saying that “there is some issue related to lab security, which doesn’t come up very often, that needed to be seen by Xi Jinping.” He added, “Something signed off on by the General Secretary (Xi) and Premier (Li) is high priority.” Of course controlling all information is always difficult, especially when early reports are going to be vague flu-like symptoms. But given the information environment in such a situation it’s difficult to trust any raw information after that point if a) the lab did in fact have a serious bio safety incident and b) the highest echelons of the Chinese gov were involved well before reports start surfacing in the food market.

topspin 4y ago

> Ordinarily, ProPublica has a sterling record Don't forget Vanity Fair while you're throwing stuff under the bus. They were involved in this as well.