26-Mar-14 World View -- Vietnam, Philippines unite v China

[John]

26-Mar-14 World View -- Vietnam, Philippines unite to confront China in South China Sea


Ebola virus spreading from Guinea to Liberia

** 26-Mar-14 World View -- Vietnam, Philippines unite to confront China in South China Sea
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ ... tm#e140326


Contents:
Arab League holds annual meeting among bitter splits
Vietnam, Philippines unite to confront China in South China Sea
Ebola virus spreading from Guinea to Liberia


Keys:
Generational Dynamics, Arab League, Syria, Egypt, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Muslim Brotherhood,
Vietnam, Philippines, China, South China Sea,
United Nations Arbitral Tribunal, Ebola, Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone

[Evan]

Ebola is a fascinating virus but when its vectors are examined it is quite different than what appears on the face of it. It is true that Ebola and it's closely related Manheim variant is a prodigious killer and wipes out large percentages of affected populaces. And if it ever got loose in a a large population area it could do great damage. The reason it doesn't is because its hosts die out before they can pass it on. i.e. whole villiages are wiped out so quickly no one can travel to the next villiage.

But based upon this very fact, Ebola should fit into the category of viruses that are termed "unsuccessful". This means the virus is too good at killing its host and can never survive long in the world since it kills the host sooner than the host can pass on the virus to the next host. Successful viruses that kill soon mutate to either not kill rapidly or not kill at all so they can be passed on from host to host. An example is the bubonic plague which still can kill but in small numbers nothing like the millions that died in the middle ages.

So the reason Ebola rears its ugly head over and over again is not because of transmission between human to human. Those outbreaks are over and done with rapidly. The reason is because Ebola is exrtemely stable in a different host population which it does not kill. Ebola is endemic in large parts of Africa in the bat population. A bat bite is thus extremely bad news for more than the normal rabies fears. (although rabies remains one of the truly uncurable terrible diseases if not immediately treated). Because of this Ebola is here to stay all through wild central Africa for a long time to come and will evidence itself in short outbursts. Since the bat habitat is not normally close to major cities it may continue to be a rural villiage disease indefinitely.

It is one disease that African medical response teams have become very good at spotting and treating but heaven help us if there is ever an outbreak in a major urban area. An outbreak in a major urban area such as Lagos would be a horrible but brief catastrophe in human lives since in such a large population cachement response efforts would be overwhelmed and the virus would have millions of potential hosts it could reach in its short incubation time.

[John]

> An outbreak in a major urban area such as Lagos would be a
> horrible but brief catastrophe in human lives since in such a
> large population cachement response efforts would be overwhelmed
> and the virus would have millions of potential hosts it could
> reach in its short incubation time.

I understand that it's spread to Conakry, the capital city of Guinea.

[Guest]

And Ebola could always mutate...

[NoOneImportant]

Yahoo headline:

Japan lifts self-imposed arms export ban

http://news.yahoo.com/japan-lifts-self- ... 57462.html

Chief Japanese Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters:

"Under the new principles, we have made the procedure for transfer of defence equipment more transparent. That will contribute to peace and international cooperation from the standpoint of proactive pacifism," Suga said.

"And we will participate in joint development and production of defence equipment,"

And the arms race in Asia starts in earnest. But I guess it's ok, as of course, the Japanese will certainly share with the US any military technology that they might develop, and the industry that will grow to feed the export of Japanese weapons will never be used to field Japanese armies. The world becomes interestinger, and interestinger, see how peaceful the world is with a weak America.

Additionally Stratfor's Geopolitical Weekly is headlined by:

Russsian and the United States Negotiate the Future of Ukraine

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russia-a ... ontent=IMG

The world continues to resemble more, and more the world of pre 9/1/1939. And certainly, this time, we will really have: "peace in our time."

The almost 70 year gap between the end of WWII and now has erased the generational memory of WWII - by death - of those who saw how well it worked out for the world the last time, in the world of pre-1937 - the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the German re-militarization of the Rhineland, which led directly to the events of 1939 Europe, and the start of WWII.

But it's ok as we have free cell phones, and medical care, and soon we'll have free everything... everything that somebody else will work for to assure that we get. All together now: Kumbaya my Lord, Kumbaya.... Sorry, I lost control:D [/sarc off]