>>15819473

>Rubio: I only have a minute left let me ask you, does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?

>Nuland: Ukraine has biological research facilities which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach

>Rubio: I’m sure you’re aware that the Russian propaganda groups are already putting out there all kinds of information about how they’ve uncovered a plot by the Ukrainians to release biological weapons in the country, and with NATO’s coordination. If there’s a biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine is there any doubt in your mind that 100 percent it would be the Russians that would be behind it?

>Nuland: There is no doubt in my mind, Senator, and it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they’re planning to do themselves.

>>15819535

>>15819515

Is this the heavens?

>>15819382

>Dough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3nWyoQ5CQ

Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World?

>>15819734

>Is Klaus Schwab the Most Dangerous Man in the World?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuval_Noah_Harari

During the COVID-19 pandemic, following former United States President Donald Trump's cut to WHO funding, Harari announced that he and his husband would donate $1 million to the WHO through Sapienship, their social impact company.

https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75

https://www.timesofisrael.com/yuval-harari-pandemic-policy-will-influence-world-politics-economy-for-decades/

>>15819758

>https://www.timesofisrael.com/yuval-harari-pandemic-policy-will-influence-world-politics-economy-for-decades/

Yuval Harari: Pandemic policy will influence world politics, economy for decades

‘Sapiens’ author says current affairs are more important now than ever, as the world undergoes the largest social experiment in modern history

During an early April phone interview, Yuval Noah Harari said he was spending his days at home, with his husband. For other internationally bestselling writers and speakers (and the rest of us, too) that might imply a dip in productivity brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. In Harari’s case, however, his home, located on a small town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is his office — and his husband is his manager.

Work goes on, perhaps better than ever, as the lack of interruption helps Harari follow his eternal mantra: “Focus.”

The author’s books, among them “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” and “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow,” have sold millions of copies all over the world. He is admired by readers of various educational backgrounds who love his way of combining seemingly unrelated disciplines such as history, botanics, microeconomics and artificial intelligence to draw a big picture of humankind. And he does so in short, plain sentences that are easy to digest.

The 44-year-old historian and professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University usually doesn’t care for petty politics, preferring to focus on what he calls “the big picture.” Harari meets heads of state and has had tea with former US president Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but asked about political strategies, he usually demurs. “I am not a political scientist,” he says.

It seems that in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, though, Harari has decided to take another tack. When the United States cut funding to the World Health Organization on April 15, he announced that — along with his husband Itzik Yahav and Sapienship, their

social impact company — he has donated $1 million to the international group.

When an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended parliamentary activity on March 19 ostensibly due to the health crisis — thus freezing the political process following the country’s March 2 elections — Harari’s tweet that Netanyahu was turning Israel into a “dictatorship” stirred an outcry from the prime minister’s supporters. Likewise, the follow-up op-ed in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily titled: “This is an attempted coup.”

In our April 2 conversation, a version of which first appeared in the German weekly DIE ZEIT, The Times of Israel asked the author if he still thinks this terminology was appropriate. Harari explains why he believes that in the days of COVID-19, even as everybody fears for their health and their jobs, it is more important than ever to pay attention to politics.

This interview has been edited.

>>15819758

>https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75

Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

This storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come

Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world.

Many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes. Decisions that in normal times could take years of deliberation are passed in a matter of hours. Immature and even dangerous technologies are pressed into service, because the risks of doing nothing are bigger. Entire countries serve as guinea-pigs in large-scale social experiments. What happens when everybody works from home and communicates only at a distance? What happens when entire schools and universities go online? In normal times, governments, businesses and educational boards would never agree to conduct such experiments. But these aren’t normal times.

In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.

>>15819780

>Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

Under-the-skin surveillance

In order to stop the epidemic, entire populations need to comply with certain guidelines. There are two main ways of achieving this. One method is for the government to monitor people, and punish those who break the rules. Today, for the first time in human history, technology makes it possible to monitor everyone all the time. Fifty years ago, the KGB couldn’t follow 240m Soviet citizens 24 hours a day, nor could the KGB hope to effectively process all the information gathered. The KGB relied on human agents and analysts, and it just couldn’t place a human agent to follow every citizen. But now governments can rely on ubiquitous sensors and powerful algorithms instead of flesh-and-blood spooks.

In their battle against the coronavirus epidemic several governments have already deployed the new surveillance tools. The most notable case is China. By closely monitoring people’s smartphones, making use of hundreds of millions of face-recognising cameras, and obliging people to check and report their body temperature and medical condition, the Chinese authorities can not only quickly identify suspected coronavirus carriers, but also track their movements and identify anyone they came into contact with. A range of mobile apps warn citizens about their proximity to infected patients.

This kind of technology is not limited to east Asia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel recently authorised the Israel Security Agency to deploy surveillance technology normally reserved for battling terrorists to track coronavirus patients. When the relevant parliamentary subcommittee refused to authorise the measure, Netanyahu rammed it through with an “emergency decree”.

You might argue that there is nothing new about all this. In recent years both governments and corporations have been using ever more sophisticated technologies to track, monitor and manipulate people. Yet if we are not careful, the epidemic might nevertheless mark an important watershed in the history of surveillance. Not only because it might normalise the deployment of mass surveillance tools in countries that have so far rejected them, but even more so because it signifies a dramatic transition from “over the skin” to “under the skin” surveillance.

Hitherto, when your finger touched the screen of your smartphone and clicked on a link, the government wanted to know what exactly your finger was clicking on. But with coronavirus, the focus of interest shifts. Now the government wants to know the temperature of your finger and the blood-pressure under its skin.

>>15819786

>Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

The emergency pudding

One of the problems we face in working out where we stand on surveillance is that none of us know exactly how we are being surveilled, and what the coming years might bring. Surveillance technology is developing at breakneck speed, and what seemed science-fiction 10 years ago is today old news. As a thought experiment, consider a hypothetical government that demands that every citizen wears a biometric bracelet that monitors body temperature and heart-rate 24 hours a day. The resulting data is hoarded and analysed by government algorithms. The algorithms will know that you are sick even before you know it, and they will also know where you have been, and who you have met. The chains of infection could be drastically shortened, and even cut altogether. Such a system could arguably stop the epidemic in its tracks within days. Sounds wonderful, right?

The downside is, of course, that this would give legitimacy to a terrifying new surveillance system. If you know, for example, that I clicked on a Fox News link rather than a CNN link, that can teach you something about my political views and perhaps even my personality. But if you can monitor what happens to my body temperature, blood pressure and heart-rate as I watch the video clip, you can learn what makes me laugh, what makes me cry, and what makes me really, really angry.

It is crucial to remember that anger, joy, boredom and love are biological phenomena just like fever and a cough. The same technology that identifies coughs could also identify laughs. If corporations and governments start harvesting our biometric data en masse, they can get to know us far better than we know ourselves, and they can then not just predict our feelings but also manipulate our feelings and sell us anything they want — be it a product or a politician. Biometric monitoring would make Cambridge Analytica’s data hacking tactics look like something from the Stone Age. Imagine North Korea in 2030, when every citizen has to wear a biometric bracelet 24 hours a day. If you listen to a speech by the Great Leader and the bracelet picks up the tell-tale signs of anger, you are done for.

You could, of course, make the case for biometric surveillance as a temporary measure taken during a state of emergency. It would go away once the emergency is over. But temporary measures have a nasty habit of outlasting emergencies, especially as there is always a new emergency lurking on the horizon. My home country of Israel, for example, declared a state of emergency during its 1948 War of Independence, which justified a range of temporary measures from press censorship and land confiscation to special regulations for making pudding (I kid you not). The War of Independence has long been won, but Israel never declared the emergency over, and has failed to abolish many of the “temporary” measures of 1948 (the emergency pudding decree was mercifully abolished in 2011).

Even when infections from coronavirus are down to zero, some data-hungry governments could argue they needed to keep the biometric surveillance systems in place because they fear a second wave of coronavirus, or because there is a new Ebola strain evolving in central Africa, or because . . . you get the idea. A big battle has been raging in recent years over our privacy. The coronavirus crisis could be the battle’s tipping point. For when people are given a choice between privacy and health, they will usually choose health.

>>15819795

>Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

The soap police

Asking people to choose between privacy and health is, in fact, the very root of the problem. Because this is a false choice. We can and should enjoy both privacy and health. We can choose to protect our health and stop the coronavirus epidemic not by instituting totalitarian surveillance regimes, but rather by empowering citizens. In recent weeks, some of the most successful efforts to contain the coronavirus epidemic were orchestrated by South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. While these countries have made some use of tracking applications, they have relied far more on extensive testing, on honest reporting, and on the willing co-operation of a well-informed public.

Centralised monitoring and harsh punishments aren’t the only way to make people comply with beneficial guidelines. When people are told the scientific facts, and when people trust public authorities to tell them these facts, citizens can do the right thing even without a Big Brother watching over their shoulders. A self-motivated and well-informed population is usually far more powerful and effective than a policed, ignorant population.

Consider, for example, washing your hands with soap. This has been one of the greatest advances ever in human hygiene. This simple action saves millions of lives every year. While we take it for granted, it was only in the 19th century that scientists discovered the importance of washing hands with soap. Previously, even doctors and nurses proceeded from one surgical operation to the next without washing their hands. Today billions of people daily wash their hands, not because they are afraid of the soap police, but rather because they understand the facts. I wash my hands with soap because I have heard of viruses and bacteria, I understand that these tiny organisms cause diseases, and I know that soap can remove them.

But to achieve such a level of compliance and co-operation, you need trust. People need to trust science, to trust public authorities, and to trust the media. Over the past few years, irresponsible politicians have deliberately undermined trust in science, in public authorities and in the media. Now these same irresponsible politicians might be tempted to take the high road to authoritarianism, arguing that you just cannot trust the public to do the right thing.

Normally, trust that has been eroded for years cannot be rebuilt overnight. But these are not normal times. In a moment of crisis, minds too can change quickly. You can have bitter arguments with your siblings for years, but when some emergency occurs, you suddenly discover a hidden reservoir of trust and amity, and you rush to help one another. Instead of building a surveillance regime, it is not too late to rebuild people’s trust in science, in public authorities and in the media. We should definitely make use of new technologies too, but these technologies should empower citizens. I am all in favour of monitoring my body temperature and blood pressure, but that data should not be used to create an all-powerful government. Rather, that data should enable me to make more informed personal choices, and also to hold government accountable for its decisions.

If I could track my own medical condition 24 hours a day, I would learn not only whether I have become a health hazard to other people, but also which habits contribute to my health. And if I could access and analyse reliable statistics on the spread of coronavirus, I would be able to judge whether the government is telling me the truth and whether it is adopting the right policies to combat the epidemic. Whenever people talk about surveillance, remember that the same surveillance technology can usually be used not only by governments to monitor individuals — but also by individuals to monitor governments.

The coronavirus epidemic is thus a major test of citizenship. In the days ahead, each one of us should choose to trust scientific data and healthcare experts over unfounded conspiracy theories and self-serving politicians. If we fail to make the right choice, we might find ourselves signing away our most precious freedoms, thinking that this is the only way to safeguard our health.

>>15819797

>Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

We need a global plan

The second important choice we confront is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Both the epidemic itself and the resulting economic crisis are global problems. They can be solved effectively only by global co-operation.

First and foremost, in order to defeat the virus we need to share information globally. That’s the big advantage of humans over viruses. A coronavirus in China and a coronavirus in the US cannot swap tips about how to infect humans. But China can teach the US many valuable lessons about coronavirus and how to deal with it. What an Italian doctor discovers in Milan in the early morning might well save lives in Tehran by evening. When the UK government hesitates between several policies, it can get advice from the Koreans who have already faced a similar dilemma a month ago. But for this to happen, we need a spirit of global co-operation and trust.

Countries should be willing to share information openly and humbly seek advice, and should be able to trust the data and the insights they receive. We also need a global effort to produce and distribute medical equipment, most notably testing kits and respiratory machines. Instead of every country trying to do it locally and hoarding whatever equipment it can get, a co-ordinated global effort could greatly accelerate production and make sure life-saving equipment is distributed more fairly. Just as countries nationalise key industries during a war, the human war against coronavirus may require us to “humanise” the crucial production lines. A rich country with few coronavirus cases should be willing to send precious equipment to a poorer country with many cases, trusting that if and when it subsequently needs help, other countries will come to its assistance.

We might consider a similar global effort to pool medical personnel. Countries currently less affected could send medical staff to the worst-hit regions of the world, both in order to help them in their hour of need, and in order to gain valuable experience. If later on the focus of the epidemic shifts, help could start flowing in the opposite direction.

Global co-operation is vitally needed on the economic front too. Given the global nature of the economy and of supply chains, if each government does its own thing in complete disregard of the others, the result will be chaos and a deepening crisis. We need a global plan of action, and we need it fast.

>>15819801

>Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus

Another requirement is reaching a global agreement on travel. Suspending all international travel for months will cause tremendous hardships, and hamper the war against coronavirus. Countries need to co-operate in order to allow at least a trickle of essential travellers to continue crossing borders: scientists, doctors, journalists, politicians, businesspeople. This can be done by reaching a global agreement on the pre-screening of travellers by their home country. If you know that only carefully screened travellers were allowed on a plane, you would be more willing to accept them into your country.

Unfortunately, at present countries hardly do any of these things. A collective paralysis has gripped the international community. There seem to be no adults in the room. One would have expected to see already weeks ago an emergency meeting of global leaders to come up with a common plan of action. The G7 leaders managed to organise a videoconference only this week, and it did not result in any such plan.

In previous global crises — such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2014 Ebola epidemic — the US assumed the role of global leader. But the current US administration has abdicated the job of leader. It has made it very clear that it cares about the greatness of America far more than about the future of humanity.

This administration has abandoned even its closest allies. When it banned all travel from the EU, it didn’t bother to give the EU so much as an advance notice — let alone consult with the EU about that drastic measure. It has scandalised Germany by allegedly offering $1bn to a German pharmaceutical company to buy monopoly rights to a new Covid-19 vaccine. Even if the current administration eventually changes tack and comes up with a global plan of action, few would follow a leader who never takes responsibility, who never admits mistakes, and who routinely takes all the credit for himself while leaving all the blame to others.

If the void left by the US isn’t filled by other countries, not only will it be much harder to stop the current epidemic, but its legacy will continue to poison international relations for years to come. Yet every crisis is also an opportunity. We must hope that the current epidemic will help humankind realise the acute danger posed by global disunity.

Humanity needs to make a choice. Will we travel down the route of disunity, or will we adopt the path of global solidarity? If we choose disunity, this will not only prolong the crisis, but will probably result in even worse catastrophes in the future. If we choose global solidarity, it will be a victory not only against the coronavirus, but against all future epidemics and crises that might assail humankind in the 21st century.

Yuval Noah Harari is author of ‘Sapiens’, ‘Homo Deus’ and ‘21 Lessons for the 21st Century’

Copyright © Yuval Noah Harari 2020

>>15819765

>Harari’s home, located on a small town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is his office — and his husband is his manager.

>The 44-year-old historian and professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University usually doesn’t care for petty politics, preferring to focus on what he calls “the big picture.” Harari meets heads of state and has had tea with former US president Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but asked about political strategies, he usually demurs. “I am not a political scientist,” he says.

>It seems that in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, though, Harari has decided to take another tack. When the United States cut funding to the World Health Organization on April 15, he announced that — along with his husband Itzik Yahav and Sapienship, their social impact company — he has donated $1 million to the international group.

https://www.sapienship.co/

>>15819819

>When the United States cut funding to the World Health Organization on April 15, he announced that — along with his husband Itzik Yahav and Sapienship, their social impact company — he has donated $1 million to the international group.

<https://www.sapienship.co/about#founder

Itzik Yahav

President

Itzik is the co-founder and head of YNH’s global initiatives. He was the initial agent and personal manager who spread the books worldwide, and has been Yuval’s spouse since 2001. His background is in art and production.

Cares about: The environment; animal welfare; managing disruptive technology.

Wonders: What should we teach our children to prepare them for the future?

>>15819830

>Wonders: What should we teach our children to prepare them for the future?

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Yuval-Noah-Harari-Historically-nudity-killed-few-zealotry-millions-592368

Yuval Noah Harari: Historically, nudity killed few, zealotry millions

Ahead of the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, celebrated Israeli author rejected criticism of the event in an interview with the Army Radio.

Ahead of Friday’s Tel Aviv Pride Parade, celebrated author Prof. Yuval Noah Harari rejected criticism of the event for its excesses and extravagance on Thursday.

“As a historian, I can say that nudity has killed very few people throughout history; religious extremism has killed millions. Therefore, let’s solve this problem first, and then I am committed to facing the problem of people who participate in the Pride Parade shirtless,” he said in an interview with Army Radio.

Harari’s international bestsellers, including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2014), Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018), have been translated into more than 50 languages and have sold more than 20 million copies.

The author, who teaches history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Army Radio that being gay has influenced his worldview, including the way he looks at history and science.

“When I was a child, I would hear a lot of stories about the fact that the world is divided into boys and girls – and boys like girls, and girls like boys. It took me many years to understand that this is just a story that people found. The reality is completely different,” he explained.

“I learned many things about human suffering that I would not have known otherwise,” he added, emphasizing that as a non-believer, he still thought, “Even if there is a God, it is certain that he does not punish anyone for love.”

Last summer, Harari came under fire for refusing to participate in an event at the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.

In an interview, the Kiryat Ata-born historian rejected the accusations of supporting a boycott against Israel.

“I am very proud to be Israeli, and in all the countries where I am published – including Muslim countries such as Iran, Turkey or the United Arab Emirates – I am presented as an Israeli scholar,” he noted.

“However, I do not want to appear as a representative of a body whose policy advocates restricting freedom of expression,” he explained. “I do make a distinction between the country and the government. I am very proud of the country and I am happy to represent it at any opportunity.”

>>15819901

>https://twitter.com/bobpockrass/status/1501267021585125380

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/local/westbound-lanes-on-interstate-20-gregg-county-shut-down-due-to-wreck/501-19fe28a0-bcb2-4392-9223-248378505625

The 2004 Volvo traveled into the center median, hit the concrete barrier and caught fire.

>>15819998

>Q fever

>>15820003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_fever#Biological_warfare

C. burnetii is currently ranked as a "category B" bioterrorism agent by the CDC. It can be contagious, and is very stable in aerosols in a wide range of temperatures. Q fever microorganisms may survive on surfaces up to 60 days. It is considered a good agent in part because its ID50 (number of bacilli needed to infect 50% of individuals) is considered to be one, making it the lowest known.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC154366/

The 1,995,275-bp genome of Coxiella burnetii, Nine Mile phase I RSA493, a highly virulent zoonotic pathogen and category B bioterrorism agent, was sequenced by the random shotgun method. This bacterium is an obligate intracellular acidophile that is highly adapted for life within the eukaryotic phagolysosome. Genome analysis revealed many genes with potential roles in adhesion, invasion, intracellular trafficking, host-cell modulation, and detoxification. A previously uncharacterized 13-member family of ankyrin repeat-containing proteins is implicated in the pathogenesis of this organism. Although the lifestyle and parasitic strategies of C. burnetii resemble that of Rickettsiae and Chlamydiae, their genome architectures differ considerably in terms of presence of mobile elements, extent of genome reduction, metabolic capabilities, and transporter profiles. The presence of 83 pseudogenes displays an ongoing process of gene degradation. Unlike other obligate intracellular bacteria, 32 insertion sequences are found dispersed in the chromosome, indicating some plasticity in the C. burnetii genome. These analyses suggest that the obligate intracellular lifestyle of C. burnetii may be a relatively recent innovation.

>>15819893

>Its objectives don’t include occupation of Ukraine, destruction of its statehood, or the toppling of the current government. It’s not directed against the civilian population.

>>15820062

>I wouldn't be surprised if Q team is seeding content here for anons to grab and post

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_reset

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/vindman-ukraine-fighter-jet-hang-up-pretty-absurd-134925893990

Vindman: Ukraine fighter jet hang-up 'pretty absurd'

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (ret.), formerly a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, makes the argument that providing fighter jets to Ukraine is necessary to prevent humanitarian catastrophe at the hands of Russia's brutality, and expresses concern that coordination of the aid is happening awkwardly and in public.

>>15820118

>Vindman: Ukraine fighter jet hang-up 'pretty absurd'

"..we've managed to get 17000 missiles.."

Vindman

>>15820122

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-c8Biqwy4E

When Ukraine Needed U.S. Backing, All They Got Was Donald Trump's Corruption

Ali Velshi looks at how Donald Trump's personal abuse of the U.S. relationship with Ukraine contributed to Ukraine's vulnerability to Russian aggression, and talks with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (ret.), formerly a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified in Donald Trump's first impeachment.