.@SecBlinken on the Nord Stream II pipeline: "The reality is the physical completion of the pipeline is pretty much a done deal." Says we don't want to alienate allies for no gain.
@HouseForeignGOP .@SecBlinken on suspected directed energy attacks on US diplomats: “We do not know what caused these incidents. We do not know who, if anyone, was responsible, state actor or otherwise.” @SenatorCollins doesn't like the "if anyone" part.
.@SecBlinken says its possible COVID19 outbreak was a lab leak in Wuhan and he will consider sanctions put forth by @LindseyGrahamSC. Blinken: “There needs to be accountability for what happened and there needs to be accountability for their failure to cooperate.”
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Biden took an important but limited step toward a genuine investigation into the origins of covid-19... But this is just one aspect of a growing U.S. government and congressional effort to finally try to get to the bottom of how the pandemic started. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
“We are not saying that in 90 days we will have an answer or the answer, we’re saying in 90 days we are going to have an update, and then we will see where we go from there,” a senior administration official told me.
"The U.S. government is thwarting congressional inquiries while passing the buck to the World Health Organization, which is a recipe for delay and probable failure. This neglect further endangers our national security and public health."
Of course everyone shares the “desire” to solve the covid origin question; that’s not the issue. The question is whether the Biden administration is actually going to do what it can to investigate. So far it seems the Biden team is all talk, no action.
Psaki said the Biden admin is "now hopeful the WHO can move into a more transparent Phase 2 investigation." Hope is not a strategy. The Biden administration is passing the buck. The WHO already failed.
Psaki repeatedly ignored the crucial question: At what point does the United States start its own origin investigation instead of calling for someone else to do it, which clearly isn't working?
How can Psaki say the families of the dead deserve answers and then say the United States is leaving it to the WHO to find those answers after 18 months of WHO mess and failure? This is the crucial disconnect of the Biden administration. If you care, take the lead. Now. Please.
Suffice to say, the US intelligence community doesn’t know much at all, there’s a gap, they weren’t watching these labs. That doesn’t mean the lab leak theory is any less plausible. It just means we need a new, independent investigation into the labs.
The question the intelligence community (and the Biden) administration should be able to answer is: what were the sick researchers working on? Was it bat coronaviruses that infect humans? That would be relevant to me. Also, where are they now? Are they OK?
And why is the Biden administration leaving it to tiny leaks from the intelligence community, which only sow confusion. It’s irresponsible. @SecBlinken and @jakejsullivan should declassify and release the Jan 15 statement underlying evidence now, in the interest of public health.
If you are writing a piece defending yourself for being wrong for a year about the lab leak hypothesis by blaming everyone else except yourself for your own wrongness, you haven't learned a thing and you are just engaged in bullshit navel-gazing that literally nobody cares about.
I think a lot of science writers are racing to think "How can i position myself" and "How can I seem reasonable while changing my position" and "Aren't I great for eventually being objective after failing for a year." It's transparent and besides the point.
What all these science journalists won't admit is they got took by their best scientist sources, who misled them, on purpose, to the detriment of science, journalism and our public health. The scientists who got it right were the ones who had no conflicts of interest.
.@arora4people: “It seems like there is no intention to have an election because there’s only one candidate. So they are trying to bypass that and just renew his contract. But Guterres doesn’t deserve a second term.” washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…
By rubber-stamping a second term for Guterres, the U.N. would be bypassing a free and fair democratic process and undermining its own supposed commitment to promote gender equality and youth inclusiveness. washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…