Thank you for your honesty.

Would the US have been faster or more effective?

Yeah, look how well the USA did to spread the flu during WWI or their containment of HIV.

And you really think that you live in utter freedom? Outside of China the USA has the greatest population of prisoners in the world, probably the highest number of homeless, most drug and alcohol addicts, mental illness, and world enmity. The Chinese have a culture that extends thousands of years, Americans have slavery, genocide and religious enmity over a few hundreds of years and for the last hundred or so has existed by piracy, creating war and undertaking crimes against humanity.

@FrayedBear look, whatever you think America is we live in freedom with free elections. Do not lecture me about countries, your precious Australia doesn't fare that well either and by far, so spare me of your holier than thou attitude and your ignorance about China. My wife is Chinese and she went to Wuhan in January for chinese new year, she's now stuck there. Not in the city of Wuhan, mind you, but in the building her family lives. They clise buildings dammit. I met my wife in China and contrary to what you may think, I actually know the cities there, as I traveled to the capital of all their provinces. I also got to experience the abuses and corruption of their government. Xi appointed himself president for life, that doesn't happen in America nor your country, so go defend china with your stupid stories read thru articles. I have actually been there for many many years and I will call the bullshit you post as bullshit, because I know and I've been there in all provinces. Have you?

@Mofo1953 Australia sadly has its nose brown from being well located up American arses. It sounds like you have had lots of first hand experience in China. What were you doing there in the first place?

Yes I can appreciate that it must be very upsetting to have a loved one incarcerated because of a pandemic. Thanks to American GI's spreading the 1917 flu around the world I never had a grandmother and my father lost his mother at the age of 8. It would be trite and totally untrue to say that I missed what I had never had. I hope your wife eventually is able to return to you. Sadly many people around the world never returned thanks to US wars and crimes against humanity.
There is nothing holy about pointing out the bleeding obvious.

@FrayedBear i worked for a company that did business in China and all if Asia Pacific, this brought me to your country also and many times too. Governments will do what they are allowed to do if people ever find out, I'm not proud at all for our current despot administration, not healthy to hold grudges, especially when the realities of war intervene. People turn a blind eye to all the few bad things because war is hell. Even Roosevelt, a great POTUS did some nasty shit like encarcerating japanese americans in internment camps. Churchill sank the French armada in France to avoid it falls into Nazi hands. No country is pure my friend.

@Mofo1953 Quite agree but don't allow it to be hidden otherwise it reoccurs and the inhumanity continues - look at the results from having Gadaffi murdered. That was a Clinton wasn't it?

@FrayedBear nope, the air strike was by the french in 2011 and then he was severely beaten and sodomized by his own people. Died while being driven to hospital. [bbc.com]

@Mofo1953 his own people agitated on Clinton's instruction to the CIA because Gadaffi wanted to cease using the US $ for oil trade.

@FrayedBear urban legend, it was the arab spring.

@Mofo1953 [themillenniumreport.com]

@Mofo1953 [m.huffpost.com]

[breitbart.com]

Yup, urban myth!

@FrayedBear you use Breitbart, Syria not Lybia, and some books to prove your point? It's like using the bible to prove that jesus existed. Please. Urban legend.

@Mofo1953 YouTube has the following video of Clinton joking

@Mofo1953 [usatoday.com]

@FrayedBear you are quoting an opinion of Glenn Harlan Reynolds in usatoday, GHR is a notorious right wing Trump supporter, Breitbart contributor and Rush Limbaugh's source of conspiracy theories, the video is a joke, repeated several times, still a joke. Give at least some credible investigative news sources like BBC, Reuters or Asociate Press, Clinton has been investigated by rivals many many times, including a special counsel with unlimited funds, by the republican senate intent on bringing her down, you know what they found in all the millions of dollars spent on investigating her, yep, zero, zilch, nada. Don't waste my time please.

Not understanding your "warm meat" part.
In some ways "westerners" are more easily controlled - look at the beliefs held by many regarding Russians - they saved Britain and USA in WWII.

@FrayedBear "warm meat" is from freshly killed animals and remember the saying about Chinese people. If it swims flies walks or crawls they will eat it.
Americans also think they won the war on their own but what has that got to do with controlling the population ?

@Moravian "If it swims flies walks or crawls they will eat it. " Sounds like Scottish history particularly the long meadows of the land clearances ill-repute when Scots ate seaweed to survive.
Joseph Goebbels maintained that the most believable propaganda arose from the biggest lies

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

Are you familiar with the Red Clydeside history and the propagana and tactics used against the Scottish citizens of Glasgow.

[sath.org.uk]

@FrayedBear You have lost me again I'm afraid. Are you trying to equate the red clydesiders with the Chinese Govt ?. Surely not. Of course I am aware of the red clydesiders and the steps they took against exploitative capitalism. We should be proud of them.
Chinese people are well known for haviing a varied diet including snakes and dogs. Bats ?. possibly.
It was thought at first the virus crossed from snakes to humans but now it is thought more likely to be from bats.
There have been several cases of starving people eating anything they could get for example in the Irish and Scottish potato famine but are the Chinese people starving ?. I don't think so. It is a cultural thing. I would eat snake if offered but dogs?. No

@Moravian here we enjoy kangaroo, emu - the beasts in the national coat of arms. Snake and witchetty grubs taste like chicken. Then there is alligator and buffalo. Early settlers enjoyed mutton bird, possum, puffin, whale, and shark is still sold in the supermarket. Feral goats are shot and sold to America and Muslim countries. In return we buy farmed prawns grown on human faeces. Cross species virus migration has occurred in Australia with hens, horses and possibly koalas.
The mention of Red CLYDESIDE is to point out that for about 80 years information about it was hidden by the British Government outside of Clydeside.
Talking of cultural things I remember trying a London chip shop faggot that had a taste that reminded me of my childhood pet mice and the smell of their droppings. I cannot remember now if I was ill the next day but obviously survived.
Not everyone in China is wealthy and I doubt that they have dole and pensions as you do in Scotland.

@FrayedBear That's certainly a varied diet. Faggots are an English dish and although I have lived and worked in England I always avoided them. I suppose they could be the English equivalent of haggis;
As for eating the animals on our coat of arms. I don't fancy lion and Unicorn meat is difficult to find these days.

@Moravian and you have to be a virgin to see them live? Haggis I only tasted very recently and was very disappointed as I found it tasteless but it was my cooks first attempt. Her Scottish mother in law and Australian Celtic husband were very polite smothering it in tomato ketchup! However why anything predominantly made out of beautiful oats should be vehemently disliked I don't know - particularly when compared to raw tripe & vinegar or faggots reminiscent of mouse droppings it is manna.