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Fauci ripped over new paper criticizing Trump on coronavirus, promoting natural origin theory: ‘Embarrassment’

Fauci ripped over new paper criticizing Trump on coronavirus, promoting natural origin theory: ‘Embarrassment’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the public face of the federal government’s coronavirus pandemic response, is facing criticism on social media over a manuscript published in a top journal where he maintains his position that the virus originated in nature and cites a debunked claim that President-elect Trump told Americans to inject themselves with bleach to stop the virus. Fauci, along with researcher Gregory Folkers, published a paper in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal this week with the title, “HIV/AIDS and COVID-19: Shared Lessons from Two Pandemics.” Fauci, who faced intense criticism for his handling of the pandemic, was critical of Trump’s handling of the pandemic in the paper. “With COVID-19, the role of political leadership at the highest level — or the lack thereof — was again shown to be critical,” the authors wrote. “As COVID-19 exploded globally and in the United States, President Donald Trump frequently minimized the seriousness of the pandemic, repeatedly claiming that COVID-19 would just ‘go away’ In the first full year of the pandemic (2020, the last year of his presidency) he failed to use his bully pulpit to encourage people to use available ‘low-tech’ tools such as masks/respirators, better ventilation, and physical distancing to reduce the risk of infection.” FAUCI SAYS WEST NILE VIRUS WAS A ‘HARROWING’ EXPERIENCE: ‘AFRAID I WOULD NEVER RECOVER’ “Trump also gave credence to unproven and potentially dangerous substances for COVID-19 prevention and treatment such as bleach injections, the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine and the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. Many of his hundreds of communications during the COVID-19 pandemic were missed opportunities for political leadership in promoting policies and practices to mitigate the impact of a raging pandemic.” The paper also says that “abundant evidence from top evolutionary virologists and leading scientists in other fields strongly suggests that the virus jumped species from an animal reservoir to humans in the Huanan market in Wuhan, China, and then spread throughout China and the rest of the world.”  LAURA INGRAHAM: WE CAN NEVER LET A FAUCI HAPPEN TO THE US AGAIN Several media outlets have fact-checked and debunked the claim that Trump instructed people to inject themselves with bleach including Politifact who called President Biden’s accusation “mostly false.” “Fauci is an embarrassment,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. “Oy vey,” National Review contributor Pradeep Shanker posted on X. “Fauci is out with a new scientific paper on HIV/AIDS & COVID-19 where he falsely claims Trump told people to inject bleach & where he argues COVID-19 has a natural origin (Wuhan lab leak not even mentioned) by citing the same authors who wrote the infamous Proximal Origins paper,” author and journalist Jerry Dunleavy posted on X.  Fox News Digital reached out to the NIH for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Israel doubles down on its critics

Israel doubles down on its critics

Be it ICC arrest warrants or media criticism, Israel is pushing back hard. Faced with an arrest warrant from the ICC, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and much of the Israeli media – reflexively dismissed the move as anti-Semitic. While the walls appear to be closing in on Netanyahu, he is a survivor. He knows how to muddy the waters. His government is also going after one of the few Israeli news outlets critical of the war on Gaza – Haaretz. Contributors:Omer Bartov – Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown UniversityDiana Buttu – Human Rights Lawyer & AnalystDana Mills – Writer, +972 Magazine & Local CallOri Goldberg – Academic & Political Commentator On our radar Following a deadly crackdown on political dissent in Pakistan, citizens experienced a new type of internet shutdown. Ryan Kohls reports on the Chinese-built internet “firewall”, that gives authorities greater control over what they can restrict – right down to specific features of applications. Three months after a student uprising ousted Bangladesh’s authoritarian prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, many news organisations that once toed the line under her administration have begun speaking truth to power. However, as for any transition, challenges remain. The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on Bangladesh’s newly opened media space and the prospect of lasting change. Featuring: Kamal Ahmed – Head, Media Reform CommissionFaisal Mahmud – Editor, Bangla OutlookZyma Islam – Journalist, The Daily Star Adblock test (Why?)

US approves $385m arms sale to Taiwan

US approves 5m arms sale to Taiwan

Deal includes spare parts for fighter jets and radar systems as President Lai heads to Pacific, with stops in US. The United States has signed off on $385m in new weapons sales to Taiwan, the latest sign of deepening military ties that have unsettled China. The US expects to begin delivering the military equipment, including spare parts for fighter jets and radar systems, in 2025, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement on Friday. The sale approved by the US Department of State will ensure Taiwan can “meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness” of its F-16 fleet, said the DSCA. On Saturday, Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te set off for a trip to the Pacific, with planned stopovers in the US that have prompted fury from China. China claims the self-ruled democracy as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal of unification. It has long opposed US arms sales to Taiwan. While heading on Saturday to Pacific allies Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, Lai will make stops in the US state of Hawaii and territory of Guam on his first foreign trip since taking office in May. In a speech shortly before takeoff, Lai said the tour “ushered in a new era of values-based democracy” and he thanked the US government for “helping to make this trip a smooth one”. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it opposes Taiwan’s leaders “scurrying” to the US, which despite lacking formal diplomatic ties is the island’s biggest arms supplier and backer. The US should “handle the Taiwan issue with utmost caution, unequivocally oppose Taiwan independence, and support the peaceful reunification of China”, said ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. The State Department responded that it sees “no justification for a private, routine, and unofficial transit to be used as a pretext for provocation”. ‘Consolidate our security partnership’ This is the 18th arms deal announced during the tenure of US President Joe Biden, according to Taiwan, which has increasingly sought to broaden military ties with its ally. Last month, the US approved a $2bn arms sale package for Taiwan, including advanced surface-to-air missile systems and radar. The Ministry of National Defense in Taipei “expressed gratitude” to the US for the weapons support and said it was determined to strengthen its defences in the face of China’s military pressure. “Taiwan and the United States will continue to consolidate our security partnership,” it said. China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent years with near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships around the island. On Saturday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said 18 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels as well as two balloons were detected in the 24 hours to 6am (22:00 GMT Friday). Adblock test (Why?)

Syrian army announces temporary withdrawal from Aleppo after rebel assault

Syrian army announces temporary withdrawal from Aleppo after rebel assault

Military says dozens of soldiers killed in attacks in northwest and it was regrouping to launch a ‘counterattack’. Syria’s military has announced a “temporary troop withdrawal” in the northwestern city of Aleppo, where rebel groups launched a surprise offensive on government-held positions for the first time in years. The military said on Saturday that dozens of its soldiers had been killed or wounded in fierce battles with “armed terrorist organisations” in the governorates of Aleppo and Idlib over the previous few days and that it was now regrouping, redeploying troops to strengthen its defence lines as it prepared a “counterattack”. It said that rebel groups had launched “a broad attack from multiple axes on the Aleppo and Idlib fronts”, reporting clashes “over a strip exceeding 100km (60 miles)”. The statement marked the military’s first public acknowledgement that opposition fighters led by the Hay’et Tahrir al-Shams (HTS) group had entered “large parts of neighbourhoods” of Aleppo in the lightning attack that began earlier this week. On Saturday, a witness in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that rebel fighters were “combing” the city in search of soldiers. “Last night they had some prisoners of war, regime soldiers, but they took very good care of them and moved them out immediately so they wouldn’t be in any danger,” the witness said. Fighters fire at Syrian army troops in Rashidin district on the outskirts of Aleppo, on November 29, 2024 [Bakr Alkasem/AFP] People in Aleppo were “confused because they hadn’t been following the news” and some “were “really happy that they could now go back to their homes that they had had to flee years ago”, according to the witness. The rebel assault is the most intense fighting seen in northwestern Syria since 2020, when Russia and Turkiye agreed to a deal to de-escalate the conflict, government forces seizing areas previously controlled by opposition fighters. HTS-led fighters carried out a surprise sweep through government-held towns and reached Aleppo nearly a decade after having been forced out of the city, opening the way for civilians to return to their homes. The military had earlier claimed it repelled the major offensive, saying it had inflicted heavy losses on the rebels, who reported they had seized control of dozens of towns and villages in Aleppo and Idlib. Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport and cancelled all flights on Saturday, according to three military sources cited by the Reuters news agency. The rebels also captured the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the Idlib governorate, which Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar said was “symbolically … extremely important”. Syrian opposition fighters gather around a fire to keep themselves warm at Saadallah al-Jabiri Square in the city of Aleppo, on November 30, 2024 [Mahmoud Hasano/Reuters] Upheaval James Dorsey, a specialist in Middle East politics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told Al Jazeera that opposition fighters launched their offensive now to take advantage of the current upheaval in the region. Al Jazeer’s Serdar explained that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was caught off guard by the swift rebel operation, attributing their rapid advance to Hezbollah and Iran being distracted by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Now the question is: will the regime or Russia or Iran let HTS have full control of the second-largest city in Syria, or are they going to hit back?” asked Serdar. While there are still skirmishes in southern Aleppo, the central and northwestern parts of the city, never before captured by the rebels, are now fully under their control, said Serdar. “That this happened in just four days is unbelievable.” HTS has become the strongest opposition group in northwestern Syria, controlling much of Idlib province near the Turkish border. It is considered a “terrorist” organisation by Syria, the United States and Russia. On Friday, Syrian state television said Russia was providing Syria’s military with air support. Adblock test (Why?)