the Russian Embassy in Washington won a rare and therefore particularly sweet victory over the “slandering Russia” by the American media. Defeated on both wings was Bloomberg, that the newly “famous” headline: “Experts want to know why the coronavirus killed more Russians.” In the same spirit, the restless, the Americans reported that in Russia on 1000 persons of the population accounts for only 3.8 hospital beds, and here in the West is 8.2. But, despite the notorious optimization of our health the Premiership to Medvedev, the real numbers were opposite.
Watchful Russian diplomats noticed it and forced the Americans to fix it. Change? Not just a trifle, but supermeal. But many of these supermalloy add up to one very important phenomenon on a global scale. Along with the battle with the actual COVID-19 main political pole of attraction on the planet are still associated with the coronavirus in an information war. From who will win this war, to a very large extent will depend on the future balance of power in the world.
In another recent, but already hazy unreality zocoronline times, the prestige of one of the two powers of world significance depended on the power of its economy, strength of its army and the attractiveness of its culture. None of these indicators, of course, not lost its relevance. But all of these usual criteria was suddenly pushed to the side a daring new “alien.”
As one or the other power to cope with the epidemic kovid-19? And the degree of responsibility of this power because the world was immersed in coronavirus nightmare? If you start from these criteria, two major contenders for global leadership — America and China — has found itself in an equally vulnerable position. Accustomed always to be themselves-the USA is now the world record holder in terms of deaths and scale of the epidemic. And over China hung a black cloud of accusations: in an effort to protect its prestige, the PRC has not taken timely decision to close its external borders and thus exported outside its purely domestic problem.
the mortality rate in the United States from COVID-19 speak for themselves (or, rather, against the reputation of America as the most advanced country in the world). And China is working against what Americans call track record: track record, past experience, behavior in similar (but not such large-scale) situations.
recently Bought a Russian version published in 2005 in the United States books of Mike Davis’s “the Monster at the gate: the global threat of avian flu”, at first I very long laughed bitterly, finding it the following passage about a mysterious disease that has engulfed some provinces of China in 2003: “Working day and night for��months, the laboratories of Hong Kong and Shenzhen were able to detect coronavirus. And although epidemiologists breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was not the pandemic strain of influenza, they were stunned by the fact that one of the representatives of the family of viruses, the symptoms of which were diarrhoea and respiratory condition, was such a ruthless killer.”
Epidemiologists “breathed a sigh of relief, finding coronavirus” — if to look from 2020, these words cause a strong shock. But not less powerful the shock, I called and a description of how the Chinese government reacted to the appearance on its territory in the fashion industry 17 years ago: “After the press Secretary of the Ministry of health of China told reporters that “any further information will be censored by the propaganda Department of the Communist party”, objective coverage of the situation with the epidemic became almost impossible.
April 16, world health organization took the unprecedented step openly accusing the Chinese government of lying and “hiding true information” about the epidemic, the health Minister publicly stated that the epidemic brought under control and no danger of coming to China not in danger.
And yet, in the country there were people who openly opposed the official line of the Ministry. Jian Yanyong, a retired military doctor, sent an e-mail in which he accused the Minister of health in outright lies. His story was published in Time magazine and “caused, in Beijing, a real political earthquake.”
it Turns out that the nightmare that has become our reality in 2020, could be implemented even earlier — in 2003. And if Chinese officials did not show about the virus a special honesty and openness, 17 years ago, how can we trust them now?
I deliberately did not get up in this information war, neither the Chinese nor the American side. Just stating: strong in trumps in this battle there is the one and the other. But the price of victory it is at all prohibitive. Faced with the collapse of their traditional way of life, a person most wants to know: who is to blame? Imagine what would happen if such a culprit, along with “a side dish of credible evidence” will be presented by America world on a silver platter. I really do not believe that the United States will work to implement this trick. But the Americans will be very hard to do it.
Where this new form of struggle for world leadership of Russia leaves? Partly in the rather comfortable position of a person who is not required to participate in the fight, and can observe it from the sidelines. Of course, geopolitical realities are such that the sympathies of the Russian state by far are one hundred��Onet Beijing, not Washington. However, we must not be required to carry for China the chestnuts out of the fire. Let the Chinese do it themselves.
our country has its own war and its own fight with virus, its densely interwoven with this fight the information battle. And repelling foreign “to the slanderers of Russia” — only one of the components of this battle. Another component of the battle — the so-called internal front. And on this front the most important is to be honest to himself and to each other. The Russian Embassy in Washington immediately responded to quite a secondary material Agency “Bloomberg”.
But, for example, Russian Internet edition of “the Media” recently published a study, the results of which read: at war with COVID-19 medics killed in Russia many times more often than in other countries. I’d like to see a detailed and Frank account of the authorities about how this plan is actually.
the Prestige of the Russian state will strengthen that’s for sure no less than victory over the “Bloomberg”. I do not want anyone specifically to hint, but the Russians definitely deserve to be spoken to as adults, able to realize and accept even the sad and humiliating facts. Sergei Sobyanin to talk to people in this style turns out. Regarding some other major Russian officials have such confidence yet.
