Friday, April 03, 2020
Headlines for April 3, 2020
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for April 3, 2020
*As Virus Spreads, China and Russia See Openings for Disinformation
Subhead: The two powers amplify discredited conspiracy theories and sow division as they look to undermine the United States.
“China and Russia have both seized on the novel coronavirus to wage disinformation campaigns that seek to sow doubts about the United States’ handling of the crisis and deflect attention from their own struggles with the pandemic, according to American intelligence officials and diplomats.”
This is completely insane. No one in the world needs to do anything to “undermine the U.S. handling of the crisis” other to state the simple facts.
“Kremlin-aligned websites aimed at Western audiences have trafficked in conspiracy theories to spread fear in Europe and political division in the United States, the officials said, noting that Russia’s diplomats and state-run news media have arguably been more restrained.”
So it’s not ”Russia” at all, but “Kremlin-aligned websites”!
“In a highly coordinated campaign, Chinese officials and institutions have spread talking points centered on two narratives: that the United States is to blame for the origins of the virus and that the Communist Party has successfully contained the virus after a hard-fought campaign, affirming the superiority of its system.”
The single piece of evidence they cite against China is this tweet: “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected?” tweeted Lijian Zhao, a spokesman at the Foreign Ministry’s Information Department. “What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
That does not say the U.S. is “to blame” for Coronavirus, it merely raises the possibility that it might be.
*Amid COVID-19 outbreak, China shifts to use "Russian-style" disinformation tactics
“Some of the most engaged content included criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the outbreak.” Pretty sure that’s not “disinformation”! And they never do say what “Russian-style” disinformation tactics are exactly. Is it just using Twitter to support your country’s viewpoint? Because I’m pretty sure that’s also “American-style” disinformation tactics.
*The coronavirus gives Russia and China another opportunity to spread their disinformation
More complete insanity. Russia’s priority is to “sow the seeds of panic & distrust.” How? By saying “a US soldier deployed in Lithuania had been hospitalized with COVID-19, & the PM of Slovakia was infected & passed it to others at a summit.” Panicked yet? They really hope people don’t think too deeply about what they’re saying and just read the headline. Add they never explain how panic & distrust among Americans does anything whatsoever to benefit Russia, Russians, or Putin himself.
Meanwhile there is panic…caused by reality, like this headline: “Nurses Die, Doctors Fall Sick and Panic Rises on Virus Front Lines”
*Trump called Russia’s coronavirus aid to U.S. ‘very nice.’ Putin may use it as a propaganda coup.
They won’t even wait until they can say “Putin is using it as a propaganda coup”, he just “may” do so.
Wuhan's death toll could be astronomically higher than the Chinese government has reported, some residents say
“Some residents” include one resident named Zhang and another named Mao, plus a truck driver who says he delivered 5000 urns to a single funeral home. But according to SCMP (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3077644/funeral-parlour-report-fans-fears-over-wuhan-death-toll ), there were 56,007 cremations in Wuhan during the last quarter of 2019, nearly 3 per cent more than that recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 and about 4 per cent above that in the same period of 2017. So roughly 18,000/month, or 600/day. There are seven funeral homes there are, so if the 5,000 figure is true, so even if they only deliver urns once/month, and 5000 were delivered to each of the seven, that would be something. But this is one unconfirmed report from an unnamed truck driver. Right now that is massive speculation and nothing more.
"There’s no indication that the data out of China in terms of their infection rate and their death rate was falsified in any way" says Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu, criticizing those who are "feeding into conspiracy theories" about China and WHO.
*North Korea Claims No Coronavirus Cases. Can It Be Trusted?
“Last month, Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that hires anonymous informants inside the North, reported the deaths of 200 soldiers, as well as 23 others, who were suspected of contracting the coronavirus. But Kang Mi-jin, a North Korean defector-turned journalist in Seoul, said that no matter how hard they searched, her contacts in the North could not find a death officially ascribed to the coronavirus.”
*US sends warships to Caribbean to stop illegal drugs
No, they sent warships to threaten Venezuela. How do we know for sure? A) You don’t need destroyers to stop drug runners. And B) The pretext was coronavirus. Here’s Trump announcing this move: “As governments and nations focus on the coronavirus there is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists and other malign actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain,” said Trump. “We must not let that happen.” But an AP article (not the BBC one) admitted “the enhanced operation has been many months in the making,” i.e., long before the pandemic started.
*US inaction is hurting the chance for peace in Libya
Irony alert!
*Trump administration to finalize weaker mileage standards, dealing a blow to Obama-era climate policy
How about “dealing a blow to efforts to stop climate change”?
*Rich Europeans Flee Virus for 2nd Homes, Spreading Fear and Fury
Subhead: In France and the rest of Europe, the affluent decamp cities to spend their confinement in vacation homes, widening class divides.
Of course exactly the same is true in the US, but there’s no hint of that in the article.
*Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing coronavirus device
OMG!
