69 million page views

They bungled it

Reader comment on item: Asad's Art of the Double Game
in response to reader comment: This is ridiculous

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Apr 5, 2020 at 20:16

Hi Anon,

I think you're being a little over the top here. It's clear that China bungled its response to covid19. Allowing 5 million people-every one potentially contagious-to leave for points around the world merits the word "bungled."

Doctors who tried to warn the world disappearing, one quickly dying of covid19, well, that sounds a bit worse than bungling.

Dr. Pipes is pointing out two dictatorships that created a problem (an intentional criminal act in the case of Assad, probably not intentional in the case of the PRC) then subsequently took advantage of the situation to further their own ends.

I also do not believe that China deliberately sends defective medical equipment to the West. But an observation that defective covid19 diagnostic kits were sent, which is not in dispute, is just that, an observation, not an accusation. Either way the point was public relations.

The Chinese response has been pretty much right out of the Communist playbook. Claiming no person to person spread of covid19 in January (and getting the useless WHO to play along) reminds me of the Soviets claiming to have no idea why radioactivity meters were suddenly going off the charts, east to west, in Europe in 1986. But they never thought to then send nuclear experts to Europe to help with safety at European nuclear power plants. An oversight on their part. The CCP is much better at PR.

BTW, I happen to be reading a biography of Mussolini. His governing style (always be as inconsistent and contradictory as possible) and that of Assad were stunningly close. Like long lost brothers.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Reader comments (4) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
This is ridiculous [209 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
AnonApr 3, 2020 13:37258451
They bungled it [266 words]JeffApr 5, 2020 20:16258451
Substituting Bashar for Hafez to Understand Middle East Inconsistency [212 words]M ToveyJan 14, 2021 19:16258451
Asad's art of double game. [74 words]PrashantJul 27, 2017 01:40240253

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)