More than a year and a half after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the way in which its causative virus first emanated remains unclear. While new viruses appearing within humans usually derive from animal viruses, a series of exceptional coincidences in Wuhan, China prior to and during the onset of the pandemic strongly support the laboratory leak theory.
The integration of intelligence and science will be the key to uncovering the genomic origin and direct source of the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the Fact Sheet issued by the US Department of State and recent elaborations by closely involved US officials clearly illustrate that such integration is vital. Intelligence is critical, as China continues to refuse to provide complete information for an inquiry into the possibility of an unnatural contagion scenario.
The WHO’s China-led international investigation into the origins of COVID-19 did not trace either its genomic derivation or the initial contraction of the virus that generated the pandemic. This could be because it did not look for an unnatural scenario or because a natural scenario did not in fact occur. China appears to have essentially dictated the proceedings of the investigation, the findings of which are deeply suspect.
There has been a notable shift in thinking on the genomic origin and direct source of the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic. While the possibility of a natural contagion has not been ruled out, the alternative of an unnatural if primarily accidental contagion has gathered momentum, and with good reason.
The vast, uninterrupted territory that contains North Korea, China, Pakistan, and Iran has greater geostrategic importance today than ever before. Of the two outermost countries of that territory, an anonymous senior US administration official recently said that “Iran and North Korea have resumed cooperation in the framework of a project on long-range missiles that includes the transfer of core components.”
The questions of the true genomic origin as well as the direct source of the initial SARS-CoV-2 strain that infected Patient Zero in China, an event that ultimately unleashed COVID-19 on the world to devastating effect, are hotly debated and highly consequential. Both science and intelligence will contribute to uncovering the evidence needed to answer these questions conclusively.
In July 2019, a rare event occurred in Canada. Suspected of espionage for China, a group of Chinese virologists was forcibly evicted from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, where they had been running parts of the Special Pathogen Program of Canada’s public health agency. One of the procedures conducted by the team was the infection of monkeys with the most lethal viruses found on Earth. Four months prior to the Chinese team’s eviction, a shipment containing two exceptionally virulent viruses—Ebola and Nipah—was sent from the NML to China. When the shipment was traced, it was held to be improper and a “possible policy breach.”
North Korea has found itself at a nuclear crossroads more than once, but the Trump-Pompeo-Bolton triumvirate significantly alters the current dynamic. The primary external forces acting on Pyongyang’s nuclear decision-making are China, Iran, and the US. The Americans could well prove effective against an aggressively antagonistic Iran.
Israel’s difficulties with Gaza have long historical antecedents. Philistia, an ancient geographical area that contained modern-day Gaza in its southern portion, was a trouble spot for the inhabitants of the Land of Israel as long ago as the time of Judges.
Waves of infectious diseases struck Israel and other countries in 2018, causing considerable concern. Broadly speaking, infectious diseases have the potential to regain much of their power as a factor limiting the size and expansion of human populations.