Two immediate takeaways: There are both people intent on doing you harm and people who accidentally do you harm.
Irish Potato Famine of 1846-
In 1840s Ireland, the oomycete (a fungus-like eukaryote) called Phytophthora infestans spread as a potato blight that caused a countrywide famine. * A million people died as the famine was exacerbated by laws requiring other foods that might have mitigated mass starvation to be sent to England. As the famine deaths mounted, Irish emigrated, and in rough numbers Ireland lost about a quarter of its population. Could such a famine occur in the US?
“No,” you say. “The government will protect us. The world’s food supply is interlocked. We will have Chilean bass and Mexican avocados, tomatoes, and strawberries, Guatemalan bananas and melons, Thai rice, Canadian wheat, potatoes, ham, and maple syrup, faraway New Zealand’s dairy products, and other foods we import. There would have to be a collapse of many agricultural systems for famine to occur.”
But what if we humans are intent on self destruction? Why otherwise would we have had a Chinese lab releasing a dangerous pathogen?
“An error,” you say. “Not an intentional release. You are a conspiracy theorist. Why would a lab under control of the Chinese military purposefully release the pathogen?”
Suspicions Aside, Nevertheless…
Maybe so, but the intent to study the pathogen under less than the most secure facility and under the watch of an adversarial military regime makes me, if not you, suspect that evil was afoot. But if you say, “No, it was an accidental release,” I’ll counter with, “Destructive stupidity gone wild. Is your memory too short to relive those days of imposed in-home captivity and economic shutdowns? You realize that there are still masked paranoid people walking around in stores, people still too frightened to breathe in public?”
What’s Next?
And now another potential release of a serious threat to life. The NY Post’s headline reads “Chinese researcher in alleged plot to smuggle crop-killing fungus into US will remain in custody while seeking private counsel.” ** Crop-killing fungus! Obviously, this plant pathogen could threaten the lives of millions.
A Chinese plot? Was COVID a Chinese plot? What is the motive of Yunqing Jian, 33, a researcher at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend 34-year-old Zunyong Liu who was caught trying to enter the country with samples of Fusarium graminearum, the fungus? Was she trying to save mankind or destroy it through famine? What might have happened intentionally or accidentally had the smuggling operation not been stopped?
What’s to be gained? COVID killed an unknown number of Chinese plus seven million worldwide. Even if Jian’s intention was to counter the fungus by developing a species specific fungicide, she and her boyfriend tried to bring it into the country in a suitcase. Sure! No suitcase has ever been lost or stolen in an airport. Can anyone say, “Sam Brinton”? *** And, of course, no vehicle has ever been in an accident that has released toxins into the environment just as you never spilled a drink. Can anyone say, “East Palestine, Ohio train wreck”?
Crop failures beget famine as history has shown. So, what’s the purpose of smuggling a crop-killing fungus into the United States? But let’s give Jian some breathing room. Maybe she was legitimately interested in developing counter measures to the fungus. (Or maybe she is an agent of an adversarial government, the same government that has allegedly provided cartels with fentanyl)
Whatever her intention, Jian was willing to jeopardize the food supply of millions, and since many US agricultural products are shipped overseas, those millions could be Asians, even Chinese. As we learned with COVID, bird flu, and other epidemics, once a pathogen gets into the environment, it is difficult to stop its spread. It’s a lesson that should be learned: if COVID was an intentional release, it backfired on the researchers. If it was an accidental release…
*https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-finally-pinpoint-the-pathogen-that-caused-the-irish-potato-famine-71084770/
**https://nypost.com/2025/06/05/us-news/chinese-researcher-in-alleged-plot-to-smuggle-crop-killing-fungus-into-us-will-remain-in-custody-while-seeking-private-counsel/
***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton Brinton stole luggage more than once according to Wikipedia.
Irish Potato Famine of 1846-
In 1840s Ireland, the oomycete (a fungus-like eukaryote) called Phytophthora infestans spread as a potato blight that caused a countrywide famine. * A million people died as the famine was exacerbated by laws requiring other foods that might have mitigated mass starvation to be sent to England. As the famine deaths mounted, Irish emigrated, and in rough numbers Ireland lost about a quarter of its population. Could such a famine occur in the US?
“No,” you say. “The government will protect us. The world’s food supply is interlocked. We will have Chilean bass and Mexican avocados, tomatoes, and strawberries, Guatemalan bananas and melons, Thai rice, Canadian wheat, potatoes, ham, and maple syrup, faraway New Zealand’s dairy products, and other foods we import. There would have to be a collapse of many agricultural systems for famine to occur.”
But what if we humans are intent on self destruction? Why otherwise would we have had a Chinese lab releasing a dangerous pathogen?
“An error,” you say. “Not an intentional release. You are a conspiracy theorist. Why would a lab under control of the Chinese military purposefully release the pathogen?”
Suspicions Aside, Nevertheless…
Maybe so, but the intent to study the pathogen under less than the most secure facility and under the watch of an adversarial military regime makes me, if not you, suspect that evil was afoot. But if you say, “No, it was an accidental release,” I’ll counter with, “Destructive stupidity gone wild. Is your memory too short to relive those days of imposed in-home captivity and economic shutdowns? You realize that there are still masked paranoid people walking around in stores, people still too frightened to breathe in public?”
What’s Next?
And now another potential release of a serious threat to life. The NY Post’s headline reads “Chinese researcher in alleged plot to smuggle crop-killing fungus into US will remain in custody while seeking private counsel.” ** Crop-killing fungus! Obviously, this plant pathogen could threaten the lives of millions.
A Chinese plot? Was COVID a Chinese plot? What is the motive of Yunqing Jian, 33, a researcher at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend 34-year-old Zunyong Liu who was caught trying to enter the country with samples of Fusarium graminearum, the fungus? Was she trying to save mankind or destroy it through famine? What might have happened intentionally or accidentally had the smuggling operation not been stopped?
What’s to be gained? COVID killed an unknown number of Chinese plus seven million worldwide. Even if Jian’s intention was to counter the fungus by developing a species specific fungicide, she and her boyfriend tried to bring it into the country in a suitcase. Sure! No suitcase has ever been lost or stolen in an airport. Can anyone say, “Sam Brinton”? *** And, of course, no vehicle has ever been in an accident that has released toxins into the environment just as you never spilled a drink. Can anyone say, “East Palestine, Ohio train wreck”?
Crop failures beget famine as history has shown. So, what’s the purpose of smuggling a crop-killing fungus into the United States? But let’s give Jian some breathing room. Maybe she was legitimately interested in developing counter measures to the fungus. (Or maybe she is an agent of an adversarial government, the same government that has allegedly provided cartels with fentanyl)
Whatever her intention, Jian was willing to jeopardize the food supply of millions, and since many US agricultural products are shipped overseas, those millions could be Asians, even Chinese. As we learned with COVID, bird flu, and other epidemics, once a pathogen gets into the environment, it is difficult to stop its spread. It’s a lesson that should be learned: if COVID was an intentional release, it backfired on the researchers. If it was an accidental release…
*https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-finally-pinpoint-the-pathogen-that-caused-the-irish-potato-famine-71084770/
**https://nypost.com/2025/06/05/us-news/chinese-researcher-in-alleged-plot-to-smuggle-crop-killing-fungus-into-us-will-remain-in-custody-while-seeking-private-counsel/
***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton Brinton stole luggage more than once according to Wikipedia.
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