Posted on 11/01/2019 1:27:55 PM PDT by Red Badger
Karma
Forget the billions spent on China’s massive military build-up, the ongoing attempt to make the Chinese Communist Party the most powerful and feared force on the planet. The yellow peril is being decimated by tiny foes, one of them microscopic. All the chest-thumping and saber-rattling, and it finally comes down to a stand-off with a lowly bug that happens to hate communists. Boy, they didn’t see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF)
With a mortality rate near 100%, ASF has swept through China’s hog industry, decimating their primary source of protein. Best estimates put losses at 30-35% of China’s 700 million swine population, and it’s still spreading across China and into neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
As usual, Communist Party leaders deny there is an epidemic, but with a 35% reduction in protein available, and an even larger decimation possible in the future, the agriculture problem is serious—on its way to critical. This year China has already destroyed as many pigs as are raised annually in the United States. So what? Eat beans!
Trending: The ROMNEY-RYAN Deep State Impeachment Plan
Well, enter the second plague: meet the Fall Armyworm. It can travel over sixty miles in a day (300 in its lifetime) and lay over a thousand eggs before it dies. It has no natural enemies and is extremely expensive to eradicate, especially for a nation of poor farmers.
The Fall Armyworm has been responsible for devastating China’s other sources of protein (and income). Crops of soybeans, wheat, corn, and rice, among others have been destroyed by this malicious pest. With the huge protein losses due to the swine epidemic, these other crops were critical in making up the difference.
China had stopped importing bean crops from the US after the tariffs were imposed—something they may have to reconsider. The US and China were numbers one and two in corn exporting until the Fall Armyworm arrived, this misfortune for China could turn into a boon for US corn producers. China is coming to the trade table with their hands out
The loss of export revenue brought about by the Fall Armyworm’s devastation couldn’t have come at a worse time for China, with President Trump’s hardline on trade, and tariff pressures. With China weakened by this twin assault on their agriculture industry, and with a faltering economy, we can expect that President Trump’s team will take full advantage as they hammer out a final trade agreement.
Any other president we’ve seen would have managed to turn this silk purse into a sow’s ear.
MAGA
David Brockett is a Vietnam Veteran and former Marine aviator. He has worked in the field of mental health as a counselor and hospital administrator. After retirement, he volunteered with the US Forest Service as a wilderness ranger and horse packer. He writes fiction and historical fiction, as well as articles on politics, religion, gun-rights and current events. In his free time, he volunteers with veteran’s groups and community projects. He and his wife divide their time between their home state of Texas and Idaho.
Bend the knee China. Bend the knee.
Say goodbye to your favorite Smithfield hams...
The swine flu problem I believe has impacted other countries too.
Did Dennis Rodman visit China recently?
***Boy, they didn’t see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF) ***
They should have seen it coming! The US tried to get Mexico to stop pork trade with Cuba because ASF was endemic to that communist island. The fear was Mexico’s herds would be infected, and soon the US herds. And that was about FIFTY YEARS AGO!
Uh, David. Look up the correct meaning of "decimated". It means to destroy every tenth one, or 10%, not 30-35%.
How much Chinese money will find its way into the impeachment vote and Senate trial, I wonder? How many millions per Senator would assure they vote to convict?
“Did Dennis Rodman visit China recently”?
Rodman has always looked nasty. He’s gross in my book.
I said goodbye to Smithfield the second China bought them.
I’m not going to pay China for US raised meat.
Why do I suspect that some Chinese “students” and/or tourists are already being prepped to smuggle African Swine Fever viruses and the Fall Army Worms into the US?
The Chinese desperately want D J Trump out of the White House.
Genuine Smithfield hams [are those] cut from the carcasses of peanut-fed hogs, raised in the peanut-belt of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the State of North Carolina, and which are cured, treated, smoked, and processed in the town of Smithfield, in the Commonwealth of Virginia. None are imported from China.
*** Fall Armyworm...It can travel over sixty miles in a day***
Say what? Even the Kennedys back in the 1960s could only manage 40 miles a day walking! Remember, they were wanting people to get out and walk more back then.
Oh stop it. The term is now widely recognized to mean far more than 10%; such as “almost all”!
***Chinese “students” and/or tourists ***
Remember, a few years back, when some of the “animal rights” people went to Hoof and Mouth disease infected herds in England and tried to bring it back here to infect American herds?
They got caught before they could spread the disease around.
“mortality rate near 100%”
dec·i·mate (dĕs′ə-māt′) tr.v. dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing, dec·i·mates
1. To destroy or kill a large part of (a group of people or organisms)
2. Usage Problem
a. To inflict great destruction or damage on: The storm decimated the region.
b. To reduce markedly in amount: a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund.
3. To select by lot and kill one in every ten of (a group of soldiers).
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/decimate
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.