Marine tracker image showing over 500 cargo ships stacked at the port of Shanghai.
This is what zero covid policies do to global trade and supply chains.
Currently, 10 percent of container ships worldwide are stuck in congestion and bottlenecks.
The situation for ships waiting to load or discharge is even worse.
Everything from metal ores to grains are stranded. The result will be further inflation this year for everyone along with food scarcity for many countries.
The Naked Emperor’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
I’m reading (of course not sure how true it is) that the Shanghai lockdown might be more related to Xi’s determination to maintain control of China (related to his reign for life) than the CCP Zero Covid Policy. Apparently the “five families” are centralized in Shanghai and that the lockdown may be a show of the control he has over them/the country/the party.
Hi, Beth. That may well be. The only three options are that: the CCP knows that Covid is a bioweapon and how deadly it really is (doubtful after all this time), that they are trying to trigger the US into locking down again in time for the midterms (the US red states won't comply), or, as you mention, it's an internal struggle within the CCP. The latter is more than possible. What I can't believe is that 28m people in Shanghai just let this happen to them.
It's not so long ago that 38m Canadians allowed this to happen to them. Protesters were referred to as yahoos; pastors who kept their churches open were thrown in jail, and businesses destroyed.
Now 6 million of us described as "racist misogynists" by our witless PM who per his own admission on video "admires China's basic dictatorship" , are prisoners of conscience in our own country. Unable to leave.
I think we might still be able to leave. I haven't tried driving across the US border yet, it is likely harder than getting across their southern border.
Should we pretend we are Ukrainians and have friends in Edmonton?
Getting back may be the problem. For the big shooters, chartering an aeroplane is the usual solution, and actually not that expensive for a small hop. Of course for the Trudeau's, taking a government jet is even more economical.
The lockdown in Shanghai is a bit different. People are locked in their tower blocks without food and in some cases water. People are throwing themselves out of windows to commit suicide. Children are being separated from parents and put in quarantine camps. Officials are bludgeoning pets to death (literally). Robot "dogs" are roaming the streets telling everyone to obey. Drones at night are telling people to stop opening their windows and to stop crying or screaming and to control their souls desire for freedom.
I know it is bad in Canada but I don't think it is this bad.
I found out by watching Del Bigtree's Highwire episode 263. There are others reporting it who say they know reliable people in Shanghai who have verified that this is happening. Diplomats in China from many countries have protested the children and babies being separated from parents. There are harrowing videos of many people throwing themselves out of their tower blocks. The ommission by most of our media to report this is truly wicked. https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/china/2022/04/control-your-souls-desire-for-freedom-shanghais-dystopian-covid-regime
As well as my concern for the poor chinese citizens I worry that our governments followed China's lead in the previous lockdowns and they may be considering following their lead again. I just pray that too many have woken up for them to succeed.
The eco-nutters and globalists no doubt loving this. What better way to reduce western consumerism in the short and long term, by causing supply chain choas, and instigating inflation. Wouldn't be surprised if the CCP/WHO/WEF have engineered this economic war against the west, just as they engineered the virus. Shared on twitter. btw I couldn't post on your last essay about the virus having been here in Europe since the fall of 2019, as not a paid subscriber. But it was here in 2019 - we had it in December as did tens if not hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland. Also in England. First validated (front line health worker who got a subsequent antibody test) case I heard about was in December, but suspect many had in Nov, possibly Oct.
Maybe sooner in the States. I saw some articles about a respiratory “outbreak” at a nursing home where several died (Virginia) & Army base (Maryland) in summer 2019.
No problem. I have not looked at the official NRS data for December 2019 but look at this triple map graphic the BBC produced - Western Isles mortality +50% up "before late February" - and mortlaity in Highlands also well above average over thw winter. This confrims my anecdotal evidence - in my job I speak to lots of people all over the Highlands and Islands by telephone, and it was unusual if they or they or someone they knew (family / work colleague) did not have the classic covid symptoms in Dec 2019 / Jan 2020, long before it officially got here. I think the virus was here from November, and it was only when it got nosocomial in the hospitals and care homes in the cities that it really registered in national mortality data. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53233066
Those who think grounding all world wide industry is positive are expressing Self hatred. Is this view due to never suffering themselves or lack of their imagination? I think this is more than just a gen gap but a result of indoctrination by globalists extreme wealth accumulation who bought all control. How does our human instinct to survive get turned upside down. Collapsing our pop. should result from resource limitation naturally as with all eco systems.
In the small town where I live here in Europe the local Agenda21 group holds regular activity days (e.g. zero plastic days, energy saving ideas days, etc.). They have no idea that they are working towards their own slavery. I'll have to translate "You'll own nothing and be happy" into the local dialect.
I met a virologist that works in a University town that said he believes he got COVID in October 2019, and related it to Chinese students returning for the fall semester. Anecdata...
and this didn't happen overnight. the reports were coming in. at the same time the reports of covid deaths etc. being much, much less than feared. at the same time as reports of effective medications from such as Dr Kory et al. at the same time as chart comparisons showing measures, lockdowns, masks etc. doing no good whatever. at the same time as collateralglobal was predicting massive injury and death around the globe from the measures.
and our coprocephalic leaders in Aus. decided to continue with the measures. and forget all else.
and now the election is coming up and they want us to vote them in for another four years.
and you know what? they'll almost certainly get in.
Anyone remember the Coronavirus Act has a provision whereby food producers were obliged by the government to cooperate and report statistics of stock when asked ? 🤔🇬🇧🙀
This isn’t possibly about The VID anymore, although that’s what they want us to believe. This is sheer totalitarian oppression. The People In Charge don’t care one tiny whit about anyone or anything, as long as they get to remain in charge.
This is about instituting mass chaos and starvation and suffering for the sake of their own self-promotion and self-preservation.
Either that, or a preparation for "we told you, these global problems can only be solved by global governance"
*whispers* "... even though it seems was never a problem before, and came just as suddenly and coincidentally [manic giggle] as the turning of the former SciFi-only* scenario of "global virus 'pandemic' for years turned into reality, just at the right time. And not quite on its own as it seems, ... " ** - Klaus et al
* The one other example that was actually somewhat devastating often used is the "Spanish Flu" 1918, which seems to have had a pattern of spreed very mysterious for a virus, reports of only recipients of the experimental vax of the day being affected, and transmission experiments with respiratory tract secretions from soldiers to others turning out negative etc... The other widely known plagues were probably bacterial like black death, where some level of nutrition beyond moldy grain, and not dumping feces on the street, might help.
Sometimes you gotta take some harsh medicine. Of course the tragedy began long ago when the IMF and World Bank criminal gangs destroyed local economies and hogtied leaders of poor countries to debts they could never repay. And I could never understand why American supermarkets carried NZ lamb. Kiwi fruit, sure. But lamb?
Now I can't understand why I'm eating radishes from Canada.
Hear hear! The field of political science could benefit much from the voice of reason from real people like you, rather than the pampered pets producing yet another refridgerator-worthy report for their corporate masters.
No, I'm not sarcastic. Real people with real life experience are sorely needed in that field and in finance/economics, as it is pretty much a closed off environment where dogma is taught as truth and profit is taken as a moral good.
Sweden is currently suffering brown-outs and soon-to-come rationing of electricity due to corporate and state mismanagement because of thirty years implementation of neoliberal economic theory, NPM and plain stupidity and greed. Thirty years of it not working and taxes being used to pad the logarithmically mounting corruption and inefficiency all Chicago and Austrian theory of economics always cause.
But as profits for the power companies and thus the state's taxes and fees on electricity (about 50% of your bill, but only for private households and smaller mom&pop style businesses, Fakebook and the like gets the juice for 'free' and in return monitor and report on politicial debate and dissenters to the socialist democrat party and the minister of justice, nick-named "the Evil Dwarf") are up up up year after year everything must be going great.
F*ck Milton Friedman, Hayek, Mises, Rothbard and the rest of the looney tunes that didn't know sh*t about economy! Hang their ilk from a weather balloon! And bar anyone from econ and pol sci who hasn't first raised a family of four on a single income and has celebrated their fiftieth birthday!
I used to be a little confused, reading that "mealie meal" was a traditional South African village food. There had to be something before the introduction of corn (maize). Why was that supplanted?
Of course not everything was paradise in the before times and hunger and malnutrition were the commonplace in poor countries. But every brilliant idea from the international "improvement" crowd has been a monstrous waste of resources. Remember "golden rice?"
Wow! I could not dis-agree more with your last paragraph, but I wouldn't change a word of your so-well-expressed sentiment!! You are a good writer, M. Rickard.
Kiwi fruit was previously known as chinese gooseberry. It got a name change as part of a marketing ploy here in NZ where it is was developed as a brand. I'm glad you are enjoying the lamb as it's too dear here for me to buy!
Why any legitimately managed corporation would NOT be pulling out of China at this point (if not in 2020), is beyond me! Especially all pharma, tech and critical-industry companies.
Quoth the Raven had a good take on this as well which I linked on Monday. I'd say this is a good way to take down the economy under the pretense of Covid!!!
I am rather overwhelmed by the many bigoted and conspiratory comments posted by readers. I just joined 'stack today and was hoping to read thoughtful comments by an informed, thoughtful reader community. I am quite disappointed in visiting my first article. Yes, globalization has revealed some significant unintended consequences and downsides, with a race to the lowest production costs (and salaries!). But OMG to state that Xi is using the lockdown to murder a couple of powerful people? Or some plot by globalists to disrupt global supply chain -- which would be the OPPOSITE of their interests! I will be a thinking person who avoids reading the site's comments.
Commie's will do anything and everything to stay in power including turning shanghai into a 25 million inmate prison. Over Omicron infections, bad head cold Omicron, really?
All this is war gamed by AI. One side initiates the move while the other uses it to their own advantage. There are no unintended consequences. The lockdown creates multiple shocks:
confidence in CCP dwindling
Global supply chain/ inflation
Hurts Biden regime support
Provides cover for other operations
Remember Russia just cleaned up Kazakhstan and is now cleaning Ukraine. China cleaned Hong Kong and is now cleaning Shanghai. Taiwan next.
I'm talking about Big Data quantum AI supercomputing War Gaming systems using more electricity than the Los Vegas strip. There are only a few such systems. Google/ CIA DeepMind in China and NSA's Vesuvius in Utah.
It's almost like they are doing this on purpose, ain't it?
Probably using this to provide an excuse for their real estate bubble imploding their economy
Yes, this would be my guess.
China is falling apart. Chinese DO NOT like to lose face.
China’s trying to save face.
Bingo.
I’m reading (of course not sure how true it is) that the Shanghai lockdown might be more related to Xi’s determination to maintain control of China (related to his reign for life) than the CCP Zero Covid Policy. Apparently the “five families” are centralized in Shanghai and that the lockdown may be a show of the control he has over them/the country/the party.
Hi, Beth. That may well be. The only three options are that: the CCP knows that Covid is a bioweapon and how deadly it really is (doubtful after all this time), that they are trying to trigger the US into locking down again in time for the midterms (the US red states won't comply), or, as you mention, it's an internal struggle within the CCP. The latter is more than possible. What I can't believe is that 28m people in Shanghai just let this happen to them.
It's not so long ago that 38m Canadians allowed this to happen to them. Protesters were referred to as yahoos; pastors who kept their churches open were thrown in jail, and businesses destroyed.
Now 6 million of us described as "racist misogynists" by our witless PM who per his own admission on video "admires China's basic dictatorship" , are prisoners of conscience in our own country. Unable to leave.
So sad. I cheered the truckers there for hours but not sure what was accomplished. Hopefully some will unite and fight. Trudy is a WEF tool.
Where are the Western so-called leaders who are speaking out about this?
https://www.americaoutloud.com/the-shanghai-covid-lockdown-epitomizes-xi-jinpings-cruelty/
Apparently they are chicken. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is vocal, but even Rand Paul doesn’t get anything done.
You might enjoy this Florida attorney’s views: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/-coffee-and-covid-thursday-april-2f0
I think we might still be able to leave. I haven't tried driving across the US border yet, it is likely harder than getting across their southern border.
Should we pretend we are Ukrainians and have friends in Edmonton?
Getting back may be the problem. For the big shooters, chartering an aeroplane is the usual solution, and actually not that expensive for a small hop. Of course for the Trudeau's, taking a government jet is even more economical.
if and when I mange to leave I will never be back.
"Should we pretend we are Ukrainians and have friends in Edmonton?"
Priceless! But be careful who (whom?) you mimic; I hear Ukrainians may institute a draft...
The lockdown in Shanghai is a bit different. People are locked in their tower blocks without food and in some cases water. People are throwing themselves out of windows to commit suicide. Children are being separated from parents and put in quarantine camps. Officials are bludgeoning pets to death (literally). Robot "dogs" are roaming the streets telling everyone to obey. Drones at night are telling people to stop opening their windows and to stop crying or screaming and to control their souls desire for freedom.
I know it is bad in Canada but I don't think it is this bad.
No definitely not. Have they gone completely crazy in Shanghai? No idea it was that bad.
I found out by watching Del Bigtree's Highwire episode 263. There are others reporting it who say they know reliable people in Shanghai who have verified that this is happening. Diplomats in China from many countries have protested the children and babies being separated from parents. There are harrowing videos of many people throwing themselves out of their tower blocks. The ommission by most of our media to report this is truly wicked. https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/china/2022/04/control-your-souls-desire-for-freedom-shanghais-dystopian-covid-regime
As well as my concern for the poor chinese citizens I worry that our governments followed China's lead in the previous lockdowns and they may be considering following their lead again. I just pray that too many have woken up for them to succeed.
After the spinelessness we’ve seen over the past two years? Lying down and playing comrade is a favorite pastime at this point!
"You have to understand, it's not like this because people are idiots. It’s like this because someone wants it this way."
"You think?"
Nooo, surely not! They only have our best interests at heart and want us "to be happy". Oh, and own nothing....
The eco-nutters and globalists no doubt loving this. What better way to reduce western consumerism in the short and long term, by causing supply chain choas, and instigating inflation. Wouldn't be surprised if the CCP/WHO/WEF have engineered this economic war against the west, just as they engineered the virus. Shared on twitter. btw I couldn't post on your last essay about the virus having been here in Europe since the fall of 2019, as not a paid subscriber. But it was here in 2019 - we had it in December as did tens if not hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland. Also in England. First validated (front line health worker who got a subsequent antibody test) case I heard about was in December, but suspect many had in Nov, possibly Oct.
Thanks for sharing! I saw some Scottish data which made me think it was showing in Dec 2019. I'll have to dig it out.
Maybe sooner in the States. I saw some articles about a respiratory “outbreak” at a nursing home where several died (Virginia) & Army base (Maryland) in summer 2019.
No problem. I have not looked at the official NRS data for December 2019 but look at this triple map graphic the BBC produced - Western Isles mortality +50% up "before late February" - and mortlaity in Highlands also well above average over thw winter. This confrims my anecdotal evidence - in my job I speak to lots of people all over the Highlands and Islands by telephone, and it was unusual if they or they or someone they knew (family / work colleague) did not have the classic covid symptoms in Dec 2019 / Jan 2020, long before it officially got here. I think the virus was here from November, and it was only when it got nosocomial in the hospitals and care homes in the cities that it really registered in national mortality data. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53233066
Those who think grounding all world wide industry is positive are expressing Self hatred. Is this view due to never suffering themselves or lack of their imagination? I think this is more than just a gen gap but a result of indoctrination by globalists extreme wealth accumulation who bought all control. How does our human instinct to survive get turned upside down. Collapsing our pop. should result from resource limitation naturally as with all eco systems.
In the small town where I live here in Europe the local Agenda21 group holds regular activity days (e.g. zero plastic days, energy saving ideas days, etc.). They have no idea that they are working towards their own slavery. I'll have to translate "You'll own nothing and be happy" into the local dialect.
I met a virologist that works in a University town that said he believes he got COVID in October 2019, and related it to Chinese students returning for the fall semester. Anecdata...
My brother is a public school teacher, and he swears he had the vid in late November, 2019, in San Diego, CA.
and this didn't happen overnight. the reports were coming in. at the same time the reports of covid deaths etc. being much, much less than feared. at the same time as reports of effective medications from such as Dr Kory et al. at the same time as chart comparisons showing measures, lockdowns, masks etc. doing no good whatever. at the same time as collateralglobal was predicting massive injury and death around the globe from the measures.
and our coprocephalic leaders in Aus. decided to continue with the measures. and forget all else.
and now the election is coming up and they want us to vote them in for another four years.
and you know what? they'll almost certainly get in.
that's the world we live in.
Anyone remember the Coronavirus Act has a provision whereby food producers were obliged by the government to cooperate and report statistics of stock when asked ? 🤔🇬🇧🙀
This is why we should manufacture our own stuff. We should not be dependent upon China for this much.
This isn’t possibly about The VID anymore, although that’s what they want us to believe. This is sheer totalitarian oppression. The People In Charge don’t care one tiny whit about anyone or anything, as long as they get to remain in charge.
This is about instituting mass chaos and starvation and suffering for the sake of their own self-promotion and self-preservation.
It looks like they are doubling down and taking everything they can while they can still grab it.
Are you sure that's not the picture for cells being attacked by snake venom?
Trade war.
Either that, or a preparation for "we told you, these global problems can only be solved by global governance"
*whispers* "... even though it seems was never a problem before, and came just as suddenly and coincidentally [manic giggle] as the turning of the former SciFi-only* scenario of "global virus 'pandemic' for years turned into reality, just at the right time. And not quite on its own as it seems, ... " ** - Klaus et al
* The one other example that was actually somewhat devastating often used is the "Spanish Flu" 1918, which seems to have had a pattern of spreed very mysterious for a virus, reports of only recipients of the experimental vax of the day being affected, and transmission experiments with respiratory tract secretions from soldiers to others turning out negative etc... The other widely known plagues were probably bacterial like black death, where some level of nutrition beyond moldy grain, and not dumping feces on the street, might help.
** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUVEFkjqiEE&t=95s
That, and/or China's central bank needs an excuse to keep their interest rates low to avoid a crash in their stock and derivatives markets.
It's probably a little of both.
Sometimes you gotta take some harsh medicine. Of course the tragedy began long ago when the IMF and World Bank criminal gangs destroyed local economies and hogtied leaders of poor countries to debts they could never repay. And I could never understand why American supermarkets carried NZ lamb. Kiwi fruit, sure. But lamb?
Now I can't understand why I'm eating radishes from Canada.
Hear hear! The field of political science could benefit much from the voice of reason from real people like you, rather than the pampered pets producing yet another refridgerator-worthy report for their corporate masters.
No, I'm not sarcastic. Real people with real life experience are sorely needed in that field and in finance/economics, as it is pretty much a closed off environment where dogma is taught as truth and profit is taken as a moral good.
Sweden is currently suffering brown-outs and soon-to-come rationing of electricity due to corporate and state mismanagement because of thirty years implementation of neoliberal economic theory, NPM and plain stupidity and greed. Thirty years of it not working and taxes being used to pad the logarithmically mounting corruption and inefficiency all Chicago and Austrian theory of economics always cause.
But as profits for the power companies and thus the state's taxes and fees on electricity (about 50% of your bill, but only for private households and smaller mom&pop style businesses, Fakebook and the like gets the juice for 'free' and in return monitor and report on politicial debate and dissenters to the socialist democrat party and the minister of justice, nick-named "the Evil Dwarf") are up up up year after year everything must be going great.
F*ck Milton Friedman, Hayek, Mises, Rothbard and the rest of the looney tunes that didn't know sh*t about economy! Hang their ilk from a weather balloon! And bar anyone from econ and pol sci who hasn't first raised a family of four on a single income and has celebrated their fiftieth birthday!
I used to be a little confused, reading that "mealie meal" was a traditional South African village food. There had to be something before the introduction of corn (maize). Why was that supplanted?
Of course not everything was paradise in the before times and hunger and malnutrition were the commonplace in poor countries. But every brilliant idea from the international "improvement" crowd has been a monstrous waste of resources. Remember "golden rice?"
Wow! I could not dis-agree more with your last paragraph, but I wouldn't change a word of your so-well-expressed sentiment!! You are a good writer, M. Rickard.
Kiwi fruit was previously known as chinese gooseberry. It got a name change as part of a marketing ploy here in NZ where it is was developed as a brand. I'm glad you are enjoying the lamb as it's too dear here for me to buy!
Haven't been able to afford lamb since I moved away from my NY neighborhood with plenty of Afghan and Guyanese immigrants.
Thanks for the info on the branding!
This whole Covid War may not have started off as an intentional depopulation event, but it is one now.
It was always intended for that. They were going to wait a few years, but Trump's win pushed up their timeline.
So much so that I think their gig is up. Oh, would that I am right, and we have won by up-ending their agenda!!
Watch out for the ratchet effect. They push, get pushed back and relent, then come back harder next time.
And hopefully by that time we've opened a few more eyes, making next time harder for them.
Why any legitimately managed corporation would NOT be pulling out of China at this point (if not in 2020), is beyond me! Especially all pharma, tech and critical-industry companies.
It's still happening with the gift of "Zero-Covid" shutdowns.
Who doesn't love a command economy? Central planning is pure joy and history proves it so.
Saw this picture the other day, linking your post today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
Quoth the Raven had a good take on this as well which I linked on Monday. I'd say this is a good way to take down the economy under the pretense of Covid!!!
I am rather overwhelmed by the many bigoted and conspiratory comments posted by readers. I just joined 'stack today and was hoping to read thoughtful comments by an informed, thoughtful reader community. I am quite disappointed in visiting my first article. Yes, globalization has revealed some significant unintended consequences and downsides, with a race to the lowest production costs (and salaries!). But OMG to state that Xi is using the lockdown to murder a couple of powerful people? Or some plot by globalists to disrupt global supply chain -- which would be the OPPOSITE of their interests! I will be a thinking person who avoids reading the site's comments.
It would be better if you debated with the people who comment as to why they are wrong. That is what I am looking for.
Well, just keep reading, then! (You haven't got to the GOOD stuff yet.)
I wonder if this will effect the fentanyl crisis! Ha! Nothing will stand in that one’s way.
Probably a coincidence and not related...?
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/several-very-large-food-processing-plants-in-the-us-have-blown-up-burned-down-in-the-past-few-days/
What?!
Also: from a retired CIA agent:
https://andmagazine.substack.com/p/the-starving-time?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo2OTg4NDk5OSwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTI2MTY2NTUsIl8iOiJpOXpmZSIsImlhdCI6MTY1MDU2ODE4NywiZXhwIjoxNjUwNTcxNzg3LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNzQ2NTgwIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.JYXQRt_t8N1PV9m57_FV64n9ckJRv2xfgTJLq2XxY9U&s=r
Who is the retired CIA agent? What background do we have for them?
Commie's will do anything and everything to stay in power including turning shanghai into a 25 million inmate prison. Over Omicron infections, bad head cold Omicron, really?
All this is war gamed by AI. One side initiates the move while the other uses it to their own advantage. There are no unintended consequences. The lockdown creates multiple shocks:
confidence in CCP dwindling
Global supply chain/ inflation
Hurts Biden regime support
Provides cover for other operations
Remember Russia just cleaned up Kazakhstan and is now cleaning Ukraine. China cleaned Hong Kong and is now cleaning Shanghai. Taiwan next.
Modern States are, in a way, today's AI. They act as if on auto-pilot to grab ALL power and control.
I'm talking about Big Data quantum AI supercomputing War Gaming systems using more electricity than the Los Vegas strip. There are only a few such systems. Google/ CIA DeepMind in China and NSA's Vesuvius in Utah.
In that case, I hope our AI beats their AI before it comes for me. I figure I have a little more time that way.
By the way things are playing out I'd wager our military's AI hacked the CIA's AI.
This is exactly the picture I was thinking I would like to see before I even sat down at the computer!
You are amazing, M. naked!!