A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on.
To be clear, the sandpit is for regular commenters to pursue points that distract from regular discussion, including conspiracy-theoretic takes on the issues at hand. It’s not meant as a forum for visiting conspiracy theorists, or trolls posing as such.
John Quiggin 
China come of age. She is a superpower. Actually, in non-nuclear terms she is a great superpower which is already two to four times more powerful than the USA. China’s economy in GDP PPP terms is already significantly larger than the USA’s. China’s manufacturing capacity is double that of the USA. China’s demographic power is over four times greater than the USA’s.
China already has the capacity to win a war across the Taiwan Strait. US war games show conclusively and repeatedly that the USA would lose that war in conventional terms. The gap is getting worse by the year. The US cannot defend Taiwan and China will likely attack Taiwan before this decade is out. The US will calculate that it will lose that war badly (by conventional war) and it is not worth having a nuclear Armageddon to save Taiwan. The US will capitulate (very likely) and retreat back from that theater. This will actually be the logical thing to do for the USA’s national interest and overall global interest. The US can no longer dominate or even match China. That game is over.
There’s growing circumstantial evidence that Covid 19 may have originated in a lab (the Wuhan lab to be specific) after all.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/24/gottlieb-says-theres-growing-circumstantial-evidence-that-covid-may-have-originated-in-a-lab.html
What can the world do about this if is true? The answer militarily is nothing. China has risen and is unstoppable in all ways… unless. The only possibility is a complete boycott of China by the entire democratic world. This would mean the absolute cessation of all trade with China. But of course we will likely keep sending coal and iron ore to China and enable it to finish the destruction of the biosphere, which we the West started. Should we enable this destruction by continuing to enable China or should we try to stop China putting the coup de grace on the destruction of the world? China has shown completely and absolutely it cannot be trusted any more than Nazi Germany could be trusted before WW2. Totalitarian China is covering up about COVID-19. If they have nothing to cover up why are they not been transparent?
China’s overall behavior already amounts to multiple aggressive acts of war, biological war, cyber war, grey war and expansionism against the rest of the world. Do we tolerate it or try to do something? It’s a very tough question. Either choice looks likely to lead to human extinction.
virulent bioweapons and virulent biocides are and have been a reality for us for time out of mind.
the scenario set out above is not an impossibility.
neither is it an inevitability.
intensity of contagion awareness is, in my life time at an all time personal and social high.
the patchy governmental responses shown worldwide looks to have exposed realtime which systems are actually as they say they are.
it helps to get a clearer picture of where we stand.
for what it’s worth.
(might even have a source other than the ones currently in focus?)