USA tried to pay Germans so coronavirus cure vaccine would be exclusive to USA
businessinsider.com
businessinsider.com
There'll be plenty of time after the crisis to bring out the guillotines.
This needs to be achieved by the EU leveraging as much cash as it can from other countries with an agreement to distribute the vaccine by some WHO index of need. In this way, you outbid the US by showing collaboration works.
We can't waver on global health priorities, but let the USA admin shout its way into darkness alone and not drag in global cooperation with it.
Agree with the rest, but sanctions don't hurt the people who actually came up with this shitty idea. It ends up hurting the normal guy on the road, who will probably not endorse the idea in the first place.
What law was broken? Its like saying HBO breaks a law by having their shows exclusive to their subscriber base.
(Though this would all probably swept aside as soon as somebody reverse engineers the vaccine.)
The normal day folks like us bear the biggest (by a large margin) brunt of the sanctions whereas the rich and ruling class go about their day merrily. Sure they'll encounter some inconvenience like not being able to travel to certain countries or being able to expand their businesses as much as they wish to, but they live in secluded districts with 24-hour electricity while us plebes get 12 hour electricity every day (This is just to mention the least annoying effect of artificial scarcity created by sanctions; the government couldn't get parts nor get training on technical know-how to fix/upgrade the hydro generators because of the sanctions).
A lot of people starves and the education system suffer, which sets the entire generation backward by at least 3 decades (while the rich and ruling class send their kids to international schools and then at institutions in nearby neighboring countries; some even went as far as faking their children's identities and sent them to places like Australia, Canada and even US to study).
Sanctions aren't that effective and they only hurt (and kill) the people at the bottom of the society.
Having the mot bags of rice, or the largest cattle herd only makes one feel rich if they don’t know about the existence of other luxuries. Sooner or later, someone will think I’d we simply off the king, we could have power AND an end to sanctions.
The quickest and most effective way to transform an authoritarian country for the better is to let the rich, the poor and the middle class have a taste of what quality living (to some extent, the capitalism) is like. Then their children will get proper education and things will automatically change for the better in a generation at most. I have seen that with the children of the rich and military/ruling class people in my home country; these younger generations are the ones who, using their parents' accumulated enormous wealth and influence, to make changes (some bad, some pretty decent) to copy what they've tasted in other, more developed countries.
> Americans are not individually responsible for our governments actions any more than a German is responsible for the historical actions of theirs.
It is funny when it comes to Iran, your politicians use the exact opposite logic.
>Agree with the rest, but sanctions don't hurt the people who actually came up with this shitty idea. It ends up hurting the normal guy on the road, who will probably not endorse the idea in the first place.
When you say this in the response of sanctioning the USA, but don't say that when sanctioning other countries, that does only one meaning. You don't care about ordinary people from other countries (although you claim you do). Which makes you a hypocrite.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/30/trump...
Weaponizing vaccine development in the middle of a public health crisis must violate some German law or another.
Publishing the emails, calls, and efforts Trump made to secure an exclusive virus would just play into his hands and provide a huge boost to his political campaign. As past scandals have shown, there is no such thing as bad press for him.
So deny him the press and the coverage and let this blow over quietly until Nov 4. And then go nuts publishing all the details.
"As an American citizen" - buddy we are not known for our intelligence or our honor so I don't know what relevance you think that has.
And yes there is such a thing as bad press before an election. That's why politicians go to huge lengthsto bury stories before elections.
Speaking as an American citizen, that cracks me up.
What do you think are going to be the actual repercussions, in the US, of learning that the US president is trying to secure exclusive US control of a vaccine for COVID19 for priority distribution in the US?
They aren't going to be any. Indeed, to his base, stuff like this is exactly why they voted for him. (If Trump had succeeded in securing that vaccine solely for the US, he would win in November in a landslide.) And that's pretty much the extent of the calculations that went on in his head when he attempted this stunt.
It's a good thing he failed. But let's be responsible about disclosure and time it so that he can't derive any political benefit from it.
[edit: too many "any"]
His actions on this matter won't change anyone's mind already opposed to him, but it might get a few supporters off the couch in November.
He can always be exposed again November 5th. As the impeachment demonstrates, the threat of exposure is far more damaging to Trump than the exposure itself.
G'Kar: To the Narn Homeword, of course. You came with ships, and guns, and mass drivers. You plucked asteroids out of near orbit and sent them plunging down onto our cities, killing men and women and children. Onto the sick and the infirm and the innocent.
Londo Molari: It was not my idea. I didn't even know. It was Refa. It was not my fault. I said ...
G'Kar: You said nothing. You said Nothing. You said NOTHING. Nothing.
Londo Molari: Leave me alone.
G'Kar: No. Look at me.
Londo Molari: I can't.
G'Kar: LOOK AT ME.
G'Kar: Do you remember this place?
Londo Molari: Yes.
G'Kar: I was tortured in this place. I as whipped. Emperor Cartasia wanted to hear me scream.
Londo Molari: Yes, and if you did not scream, the 40th stroke of the whip would kill you. And your people would be slaves forever. Yes.
G'Kar: You remember.
Londo Molari: Yes.
G'Kar: You were there.
Londo Molari: Yes!
G'Kar: And you said ...nothing.
Emperor Cartasia: Thirty four. Thirty five. Thirty six.
G'Kar: Nothing.
Emperor Cartasia: Thirty seven. Thirty eight.
G'Kar: Nothing!
Emperor Cartasia: Thirty nine.
G'Kar: AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
G'Kar: One word, Molarri. One word was all that was required of you.
Londo Molari: It would not have mattered. It wouldn't have changed anything. It would not have stopped.
G'Kar: You're wrong, Mollari. Whether it was me or my world, whether it was a total stranger, or your worst enemy.
YOU WERE A WITNESS!
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY'D STOP!
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY'D LISTEN!
YOU HAD AN OBLIGATION TO SPEAK OUT!!!
Londo Molari: I couldn't.
G'Kar: And that's why you don't deserve to be Emperor. And that's why you don't deserve to live.
I'm saying they shouldn't release the details right now because right now those details are great for Trump.
Irresponsible disclosure is just as bad as non-disclosure.
You're perpetuating the myth that Trump is invincible, that "there is no such thing as bad press for him", and echoing his enablers who are whining that "now is not the time for finger pointing and talking about the past, there will be a time for that later", at the same time that Trump himself is doing nothing but finger pointing and talking about the past.
If finger pointing and talking about the past is so ineffective and off-limits, then why is Trump doing it so much, why are his allies breathlessly admonishing everyone else not to do it, and why do you think at the same time that Trump is so invincible?
As for paragraph two, it's not a myth. It's been the last 4 years of reality. One more minor scandal won't make a difference compared to the things he's already gotten away with, and in this respect we disagree on whether it's actually a scandal for him (which you believe) or it's pandering to his base (which I believe).
It's not about making the past off-limits, it's about taking away a campaign point from Trump. What Trump tried to do is not a scandal to him. It is not a bad thing to his supporters. THEY WANT HIM TO DO STUFF LIKE THIS. And publicizing that is just giving him free publicity that will make his supporters more motivated to show up to re-elect him in November. Is that what you want?
I mean, there's been almost 5 years of bad press for him (discounting everything before late 2015) and it hasn't really affected how the GOP treat him (like a king) or how his base seem him (like a saviour king.)
> Trump is invincible
Until the media and the GOP start doing a better job, yeah, he pretty much is, unfortunately.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/coronavirus-germany-tries-to...
This I don't understand. I don't have a right to nutritious food - I have to work to get that. Where do these rights come from?
Many, many people would disagree with that statement. Who says you don't have a right to nutritious food?
To be clear I’m not saying i think we should keep good food from people - of course not. But many many people are rightfully dubious of positive rights.
There are other options than this false dichotomy. We could all chip in, relative to our means, to ensure a baseline of healthy food is available to all. I neither serve food nor labor in the fields, and yet I'm pretty sure I could be part of a solution that ensures everyone gets basic healthy food even if they cannot/do not work.
You can do more labor or less labor. You can do more valuable labor or less valuable labor. You are not forced to labor, but you are required to give up a portion of what you choose to undertake.
The British philosopher, and socialist, Bertrand Russell visited Russia just a few years after the revolution and summarized his thoughts regarding the bolsheviks in his "The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism"[0], 1920, in which he basically summarizes his thoughts like this:
"I am compelled to reject Bolshevism for two reasons: First, because the price mankind must pay to achieve Communism by Bolshevik methods is too terrible; and secondly because, even after paying the price, I do not believe the result would be what the Bolsheviks profess to desire."
It's an interesting historical document of a turbulent time, and not socialist theory heavy, so recommended reading for the curious. It's also an example of how socialism is a broad topic, both then and now, not just another word for Bolshevism.
Health ministry seems to confirm it. Calling Fake News on an article without any evidence comes across as needlessly partisan.
> The U.S. government has spoken with many (more than 25) companies that claim they can help with a vaccine. Most of these companies already received seed funding from U.S. investors... any solution found would be shared with the world
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-german...
The only official agreement is that “We confirm the report in the WELT am Sonntag,” quote, but it's not clear what exactly they confirmed. From referenced article, it seem to be only “The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe.” and “In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac,”.
I understand how the presidential election work in the USA. But people always have a choice.
It's designed that way so that bigger states with more people don't have cart blanche and smaller states with fewer people don't get just trampled underfoot.
You can debate if it's really a good thing that we have a system in place to try to balance out such things, but asserting that the electoral college doesn't work because Trump won with fewer votes basically says "I don't actually understand the thing."
It works exactly as it was designed to work.
I'm permanently distrustful when I start to hear this word. I think this was a result of being an engineer in Silicon Valley from the late 90s through 2010 or so. The large Silicon Valley employers (the ones lobbying congress about a shortage of engineers) were clearly involved in an absolutely loathsome no-poach collusion to suppress wages.
This doesn't mean I automatically reject the possibility of bad faith when I read stories about "poaching". For example I do agree that USC crossed a line and acted reprehensibly when it "poached" UCSD's Alzheimer's research lab. But I still want to know how much the UCSD scientists were getting paid relative to the housing market nearby (in this case, La Jolla, CA). This info is almost never included in the articles (just like the press is willing to report about how a tech CEO is experiencing hiring difficulties without once mentioning the salary offered).
This article suggests something more akin to the USC/UCSD scenario, where it's more than merely hiring away talent. I'd just like a little more information about what they mean by "poached". What were the working conditions and salaries for the German scientists getting "poached"? Are these scientists superstars? You know what large law firms, investment banks, tech companies (post-collusion), and sports teams pay superstars to keep them from being "poached"?
The word "poached" implies that engineers and scientists, among others, are not truly free agents, but are owned in some way by their employers - and this worms its way into policy (for example, in how H1B visas are actually controlled by the employer, not bestowed directly onto the employee and/or would-be immigrant). I reject this.
Responding to the report, a U.S. official said: “This story is wildly overplayed. The U.S. government has spoken with many (more than 25) companies that claim they can help with a vaccine. Most of these companies already received seed funding from U.S. investors.”
“We will continue to talk to any company that claims to be able to help. And any solution found would be shared with the world,” the U.S. official added.
A German Health Ministry spokeswoman, confirming a quote in the newspaper, said: “The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe.”
Welt am Sonntag quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”
Viral pandemics don't respect frontiers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/not-for-sale-a...
The German interior minister refused to comment but also refused to deny the reports and said it would be discussed in the German government crisis committee -- if it's a made up allegation, a denial would be a cheap and easy way of defusing it. Ergo, there's fire beneath the smoke.
This is fun to do with buddies over email. Get any newspaper. Cut out the stories and cut off the headlines. Now try to match them. You will often ask yourself questions like “how did they get this from that?” I like to blend stories from different sources, including known misinformation, and seeing what happens.
Without doping the story with the headlines sensationalism, the mainstream news is actually pretty tame.
> "As a consequence, the company is in contact with especially CEPI and many other organizations and authorities worldwide, however abstains from commenting on speculations and rejects allegations about offers for acquisition of the company or its technology."
https://www.curevac.com/news/curevac-focuses-on-the-developm...
Hold my vaccine vial...
that's questionable
If you trace back to the owners of the parent companies of the media outlets printing stories like this, you are left with a handful of individuals with a very clear anti-Trump agenda. They push stories like this to divide the populace, because a divided populace is easier to control and steer towards the media's own agenda. Need to think for yourselves rather than let the media tell you what to think!
How would you explain Trump's "America First" when the solution isn't coming from the US. I hope he gets what he asked for, having to admit that the possible solution is coming from a ally.
( I'm not talking about Americans in general fyi. I hope the vaccine will be available to all)
* USA acquires a Vaccine * USA Gov. gives the vaccine to some big pharma corp. * Big pharma will patent the vaccine * The world will be sued by big pharma if it come up with a vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine would definitely fall into that category. So unless there's something unique about the process of making the vaccine that is difficult to replicate, an "exclusive US patent" means nothing.
If you abuse it you lose it.
Since I got a few downvotes, I figured I should support this statement with a reference. What's more "America First" than making sure only America gets a vaccine?
https://www.promiseskept.com/about/
While serving in office, President Trump has continuously delivered for the American people to put America First both at home and abroad.
America developing a vaccine first and sharing it with the world for free would be more "America First."
That such an idea sounds laughable shows the effects of 20 years of neoliberal wankery mushing the brains of Americans.
America First is a different concept, and would be more like developing a vaccine and making sure Americans are vaccinated before anyone in other countries. But in this case we may not be the first to develop it so we want to buy it for ourselves.
Imagine the reaction from Trump's base if he could tell them that "he" secured a vaccine that will only be available to Americans.
To be clear, I'd much rather see America (or any country) develop a vaccine and share it to the world free of royalties, but at least in America, that's not the political climate we live in.
On April 12, 1955, the day the Salk vaccine was declared “safe, effective and potent,” legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Morrow interviewed its creator and asked who owned the patent. “Well, the people, I would say,” said Salk in light of the millions of charitable donations raised by the March of Dimes that funded the vaccine’s research and field testing. “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” Lawyers for the foundation had investigated the possibility of patenting the vaccine but did not pursue it, in part because of Salk’s reluct
I am loving how this epidemic is exposing all of our system's flaws.
Edit: the old CEO was American, he was replaced with a German founder. So that narrows it down.