Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic - eviltoast
  • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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    5 months ago

    Let’s be clear - this was a disgusting move on behalf of the US. Something that happened under Drumpf, specifically pushed by the military state, and against actual diplomats wishes.

    This, yet again, was stupidity pushed by the toxic burning pit of tires that is the military in the US. Backed by a moron Fascist, that was shutdown when Biden came into office (eventually, after it worked for the most part and became less relevant - go figure. Classic opportunistic, ‘we’re the good guy’ democrats)

    This government is rotten and decaying and its death is expedited by war-hungry militaries. As it appears to be, across the world and nations. We have a human problem on our hands and no amount of “we’re the good guys” will ever solve it. Everyone is complicit in this shit and it’s time we fucking own up to our failures and struggles to actually solve the root of our problems. Enough is enough.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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      5 months ago

      eventually, after it worked for the most part and became less relevant

      That’s really the issue though. Would Biden have ended it otherwise? I’m going to hold my nose and vote for the guy, but I’m not so convinced he would have.

      I’m not doing a “both parties are the same” thing, I’m saying there’s a long history of the next president not ending what the previous president did even if they’re from the opposite party and even though what was happening was simply immoral. If anything, Trump was more of an outlier there.

      So I can’t say I’m assured that the Biden administration would have ended it if it was still relevant.

  • SGGeorwell@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    That’s not exactly what happened if you read the article behind the bad headline. They were sowing doubt in the Chinese vaccine specifically in the Philippines, not vaccines in general.

    • TokenBoomer@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      And that makes it okay ✅

      “Why did you do it when people were dying? We were desperate,” said Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, a former adviser to the World Health Organization and Philippines government during the pandemic. “We don’t have our own vaccine capacity,” she noted, and the U.S. propaganda effort “contributed even more salt into the wound.”

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The U.S. military’s anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China’s vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.

      It seems it only started in the Philippines but ya it was mainly aimed at the Chinese vaccine and PPE. It’s more cutt throat shady business than anti-vax stupidity.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I mean the anti vax campaign worked well for Russia, so why not sew doubt in preventive measures during a global health crisis?

  • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    Hey, remember how it’s shitty to do things like this? Us Americans don’t like it when other countries do it to us, right? Maybe let’s all stop with this bullshit, huh?

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    This was bad policy by the USA. The Chinese vaccines weren’t as good (lower efficacy) than others available, but they were much better than nothing. Where there was no availability of better vaccines, this discouraged people from getting any protection. People died because of this stupid program.

    The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.

    Why is there zero surprise this was done by the Trump administration and undone by Biden?

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation.

      Did continue it for a year during the peak of covid.

  • zik@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I wonder how many thousands of people died as a result.

  • naturalgasbad@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    The US disrupting foreign affairs in order to prevent an ally from swaying towards a rival? I’ve never seen this one before /s

  • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    It makes sense now how antivaxxing went from a fringe movement to a cornerstone of right-wing ideology lol