I have a theory about China's handling of COVID. It isn't the kind of thing I could substantiate with a sustained argument. It is more stitched together from a variety of data points mixed with some hunches. It is this: the original release of COVID was an intentional act meant to lay low the world's great powers (especially the US) and otherwise disrupt the prevailing systems. The actions since, including the more recent Shanghai 'lockdown,' are actually a continuation of this action.

The goal, here, is to disrupt supply chains, torpedo the global food supply, etc. They can 'get away' with this because, ostensibly, anyway, these things are the result of efforts to stamp out COVID, and, well, if you are the MSM, your average liberal, your general progressive, etc, their only objection is that we cannot do in their own countries what China can do; sure, your average liberal (maybe) wouldn't be so draconian, but can you really judge? Thus, China has plausible deniability--at least in the eyes of Democrats, libs, progs, and so on. If there was anything genuinely sinister about all of it, you can count on our corrupt and sycophantic MSM to show little interest in uncovering the truth... much like it has little interest in getting to the bottom of the 'lab leak' theory.

Meanwhile, the sanctions against Russia and the chaos in Ukraine have also disrupted crucial chains... eg, that of fertilizer, which Russia was a leading supplier of, not to mention their ability to turn off power to Europe on the slightest whim, or of grain, which the Ukraine was a leading supplier of. And, in reality, Russia, China, and Ukraine straddled the accessibility of many critical commodities. Russia had to have known these sanctions were coming. I doubt, for example, that their shift of the ruble to the gold standard was a hasty move that they hadn't considered before the war.

Russia was made into the left's bogeyman in a scorched earth bid to get rid of Trump, with the (entirely predictable) consequence that Russia would be driven closer to China, which already considers itself at war with the US (and has for a long time). It doesn't strike me as inconceivable that the whole thing was intentional, and the ultimate goal is a body blow to the US and the West, such that they cannot do anything to stop Russia and China from doing whatever they want. Both can deny such a thing by pointing to factors quite distinct from the consequences on the West (Russia can point to Ukraine, where it has genuine interests and China can point to the OBVIOUSLY good goal of 'zero COVID.' If it were known, definitively, that these were premeditated acts of war... not on Ukraine or Shanghai, but the WEST, then obviously, we'd be in a shooting war with China and Russia right now. But, since it is not known, China and Russia can continue on their merry way.

Now, the zinger in all this is that it doesn't need to be intentional at all. All the things I've just described are likely to happen, whether it was intentional or not. The West may be driven into starvation and run down for lack of parts and/or energy here in very short order. This seems to be the case regardless of whether or not my theory has merit. But it does make me wonder.