From the desk of Bob Malkas
The articles I write for the Lansing Journal are never intended to advance any personal agenda. My only purpose is to allow readers to think for themselves on issues that personally impact their lives. I present facts and define options for people to consider before they make decisions.
That also should be the goal of our national leaders, and unfortunately that dynamic is not being used. Our nation has been bifurcated, and now decisions are being made by elected officials who do not do their homework or listen to their constituents.
Now, after three years, we are being told that Congress will be conducting hearings to learn the origins of the coronavirus. They now seem to understand that if it happened once, it could happen again: the stage is being set to repeat another national disaster. To be prepared the world should understand the causes for what we have been experiencing for three years, devoid of politics or applying the blame games. The facts behind the virus should be revealed truthfully.
What does not seem to be understood is the work has already been done by qualified journalists and historians. Just one example is Sharri Markson’s book, What really happened at Wuhan. She is an established reporter with unprecedented access to Washington insiders who can take you inside the White House to chart how the United States reacted to this national challenge. The information she applies come from people on the ground in China, the scientific community, and national security officials, and how they interacted with one another as the crisis developed.
The book studies a conundrum facing the world order and proposes a question that must be answered: What is the origin of the virus? Did it come from nature, or is it the result of gain of function research being conducted at a laboratory attached to the Wuhan hospital? Study the facts and decide for yourself. It seems to be an easy question that no one wants to answer. This article will give a synopsis of the chapters in the book which explain the results of Markson’s research.
It was November 22, 2019 — six weeks before China confirmed to the World Health Organization there was a mystery virus in the city of Wuhan. It was becoming apparent that Wuhan was becoming the center of a potential medical emergency. People were falling in the streets from a new virus. Normal world health practices for nations to follow would require that a diagnosis like that should be reported to the World Health Organization. There were people on the ground who wanted to follow the protocol, but that was not done. Directors of the Wuhan hospital were ordered by higher authorities to not acknowledge there was a potential problem unfolding for not only China, but also the whole world. Some brave doctors violated these directives and began to warn colleagues in other parts of the country and the world what was happening. Within moments those postings were removed from the internet.
Markson consulted 40 sources to support her reporting, cited in the notes of her book under “Chapter 2 – Brave Whistleblowers.” The investigators who are now coming to deal with the problem today should just read her book and save the United States the time and funding needed to protect our lives.
Chapter 4 is titled Chaos. It details how in January 2020 some in the medical community tried to spread the word about what was occurring in the streets of Wuhan. Their online posts were kicked off the internet by the Chinese Communist Party. Before anyone challenges Markson’s account of what was happening, they should first consult the notes she used to come to her conclusions.
Chapter Six – The Last Train to Wuhan – reports the experiences of Chen Quishi, a young lawyer who felt it was his responsibility to take the last train to a city that was the epicenter of a developing worldwide pandemic before it was sealed off from the world. He posted video of his experiences that was viewed more than 1.5 million times. His postings gained the attention of authorities. Less than a week after his arrival in Wuhan, he disappeared. Markson uses his postings as her primary source while writing her book.
These chapters answer only one facet of what Markson is trying to prove to the world. There are more facts revealed as she investigates how the United States responded to the spread of Coronavirus-19. If there is community interest, I could continue the story in future articles.
You can do some research on your own. Google “Bob Malkas” and find “Belt and Road Initiative” to learn what is going on in China.
Bob Malkas
