The Secret History

Ron Unz maintains that the Coronavirus that was discovered in Wuhan in 2019 was an American bioweapon, and it was first applied on the Persian government, and quite effectively, as many of its members died (I remember one sweating in the middle of a press conference and dying the next day). Then it extended to become a pandemia. Revealingly, the Chinese government imposed an immediate countrywide quarantine and Israel imported the Pfizer vaccine and immunized the whole population. Japan closed down all incoming ships and air traffic. The North Korean dictator disappeared and later he was discovered hiding in a remote location.  These vigilant governments reacted immediately and in force. Europe acted confused, England and the Scandinavians hoped that herd immunity will save them.

Unz suggested the zoonosis that decimated China's poultry and then swine industries were American attacks. He also says that the current Russia - American tension is an obvious hoax and the issue is the NordStream gas pipe to Germany. I don't know and did not form any opinion. 

  

TOWER

 I was among the very first investors in Tower Semiconductors many years ago. The company needed more capital and every three months or so they diluted the stock and I needed to buy and pay more. After two three years I lost my optimism and sold it. Then it appeared that they were starting to move and they bought Jazz and I entered again. The company never paid dividends so I slowly sold this hopeless stock. Pic. Russel Ellwanger, the American Mormor manager, persisted and kept on building this Tower miracle.  Ofer who founded the business lost faith in it and sold his shares to insurance companies. Now after 17 years TOWER caught me with a few stocks that after merging with Intel are worth a lot. The same is with Bezeq and the Bazan the Haifa refinery, I buy and sell after a bad spell, but I should hold them through the dark times till the bourse rises again.  

Body Weight Management

 I am very fat. Prof. Baron on youtube said that losing weight lowers blood pressure 20-30 mmHg, so I decided to try. This morning almost fainted and could not work. My last long fast was ten years ago, ate every two days and lost 15 kg. But now I am much frailer. 

Krach!

 The world bourses are falling. TASE is 3% down and some stocks are under -10%. The speculators fear the Fed's rising interest rates, Europeans (and America that is indebted 100% of GNP) fear the correspondingly higher debt burden. I have no such fears but I don't like these oscillations. 

To the left, is a graph comparing 1927 and today. I am uncertain this superposition is valid or not. 

Sax Rohmer: "The hand that held my arm was bony and clawish; I could detect the presence of incredibly long finger nails--nails long as those of some buried vampire of the black ages! Choking down a cry of horror, I opened my eyes... and looked into the face of my guide. It was Dr. Fu-Manchu!"

The Opium Wars

The Manchu emperor sent his best to confront the English invasion, a direct descendant of Ghengis Khan who had passed the exams (special exams for sons of princes) and assigned him thousands of troops. They knew that the goal was Ningbo, so the Mongol prince built tall walls to stop the invaders. He was convinced that the English could not run nor climb the wall because of their heavy woolen uniforms so that if they fell they could not get up again. The Brits climbed easily the wall and planted their flag. The Chinese ran away and the Brits (Irish, Scots, Hindus, etc.) found an empty city. That was 160 years ago, one wonders if the Chinese have developed better martial skills in the meanwhile. Foto: The battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korea, Chinese prisoners, 1950. 

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir took place in November and December 1950 in North Korea when 25,000 American Army soldiers and Marines were surrounded by 150,000 Chinese forces.

In “The Battle of Chosin Reservoir: Surrounded, Not Defeated,” a symposium, these brave men share what it was like to fight against overwhelming odds in extreme temperatures (as low as 40 degrees below zero) and the struggle to bring out their dead and wounded.

Jews in China

 During the Tang dynasty. Very nice piece. 

Gary Chambers, the Senator from Louisiana

Gary - smoking marijuana - may be Louisiana's next Senator. Chambers said it is "long past due that politicians stop pretending to be better or different than the people they represent." What will the meritocratic mandarins on the other side of the Pacific Ocean think?