Canada: Still Closed To Business; US Navy Grows; Coronavirus -- Is South Korea Next? -- February 22, 2020

On February 13, 2020, I noted that Canada was (again) closed to / for business. It appears things have gotten worse, if that's even possible. This was supposed to have been over by now, but it continues. From The WSJ (and if it's in the WSJ, you know it's a huge story and you know it's true):

TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY, Ontario—A small cluster of flags and windswept tents sits near railroad tracks east of Toronto, where protesters are preventing trains from passing through a key commercial corridor, threatening Canada’s already fragile economy.

Activists from the Mohawk community here say their encampment was set up to show support for a group of indigenous leaders on the other side of the country, in British Columbia, who are trying to stop construction of a natural-gas pipeline. The makeshift blockade, which has caused widespread supply-chain and passenger disruption in busy Ontario, is the latest sign of how indigenous groups in Canada are stepping up their civil disobedience amid long-simmering grievances with government leaders.

“We’re going to stand up and stand our ground,” said Andrew Brant, a teacher in Tyendinaga who is protesting alongside those at the encampment. He said the group wants the Canadian government to meet with hereditary leaders, who are unelected but seen as responsible for traditional land and who oppose the pipeline.

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US Military

MAGA

I was completely unaware of this. Again, another big deal on so many levels. Thank you, Mr Trump. US Navy will acquire thirteen F-35s to support amphibious operations.

And, oh, by the way, who is going to appreciate this the most: the US Marines. The US Navy gets them there, but it's the US Marines that do the actual assault. At least that's the meme.

From the source (one will need to google it):

Launching a massive, fast-paced air assault from the sea, providing close-air support for amphibious assault forces, and bringing forward-operating surveillance and networking technology to maritime warfare are all part of the changing operational calculus introduced by adding F-35s to maritime attack.

With the goal of refining and preparing for these kinds of emerging maritime combat tactics, a high-tech U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship recently completed a deployment mission armed with as many as 13 F-35s.

The Navy’s USS America, a first-in-class new generation amphib, traveled the seas armed with 13 F-35s, senior Navy officials said. This brings an unprecedented measure of air attack and surveillance possibilities, including the option to provide stealth air support to amphibious assaults.

Amphibs could offer a smaller, more mobile type of aircraft carrier power projection capability, Vice Adm. Rich Brown, commander, Naval Surfaces Forces, told an audience Jan. 14 at the 32nd Annual Surface Navy Association Symposium.

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Coronavirus Update 

The coronavirus is tracked at the link at the top of the sidebar to the right.

Or you can go to this link directly. Observations:

• the Chinese are still using the Iowa-DNC tabulating software to count cases
• this is what really, really spooked the markets: South Korea looks ready to get hit, and hit hard, by the virus;
• the "overall growth factor" continues to trend down;
• total deaths, changes in total, now at 5% -- a record low; and half of what it was only one week ago (10% then);
• daily deaths, change in daily, not at a negative 7 percent; in the past twelve days:
• five days with an increase day-over-day;
• one day: no change, day-over-day;
• six days with a negative percent, day-over-day

And now this from the New York media:

At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future.

A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue.

Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swathes of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs.

But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive entitled:

“Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.”

Read that again. It sure sounds like China has a problem keeping dangerous pathogens in test tubes where they belong, doesn’t it? And just how many “microbiology labs” are there in China that handle “advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus”?