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Yazata
Mar 21, 2020 01:55 AM
(This post was last modified: Mar 21, 2020 01:59 AM by Yazata.)
Assuming that we are talking about the coronavirus, I can see one obvious lesson in two forms. (Lessons that the mainstream media is almost guaranteed to ignore.)
The lesson is the downside of the "globalization" that both parties have been pushing relentlessly for some 30 years now. The lesson is how 'globalization' creates vulnerabilities.
1. There's the problem of open borders. The coronavirus originated in China and hitched a ride here on travelers from China and other places seeded by visitors from China. That points up the value of having some control over who enters the country in times of crisis. Even the arch-open-borders EU is waking up to the continuing importance of borders, with even Germany and France closing their borders, though much too late to stop coronavirus as events in Italy illustrate.
2. And there's the problem of cheering on America's deindustrialization while depending instead for vital commodities on over-extended global supply chains running through countries that are not our friends. Events as we speak illustrate our dangerous dependence on China for drugs and medical equipment.
Think about it -- The US didn't win World War II because we had better soldiers. German and Japanese soldiers were very good. We won because we flooded the world with ships, tanks and planes. So... what happens if we get in a war with China (the new rising superpower) when they have all the industries and factories?
Combined it's a recipe for disaster. Hopefully the coronavirus crisis casts some long-needed light on it.