The Wuhan flu may be a bio-weapon, the latest theory goes — but not one that might have somehow escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Instead, the claim is that the disease was created in American “bio-terrorism” labs and designed as an “ethnic weapon” that targets the genome of Iranians and Chinese, according to news outlet MEMRI.
The assertions were made on Iranian television by a doctor and a documentarian bent on assigning blame to others, when many in the Muslim world resist health practices that may help them avoid infection. As MEMRI reports:
On March 10, 2020, Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh hosted a discussion about the possibility that COVID-19 is a biological weapon on this show on Ofogh TV (Iran). The discussion was preceded by an animation that explained that the assumption is that COVID-19 is a synthetic virus that was designed as a bioterrorism agent in secret American laboratories as part of America’s economic conflict with China. During the show, Iranian documentarian Hamed Ezzatizadeh said that his research has led him to the conclusion that the coronavirus is being used as a weapon, even though it is not clear whether it was produced as such or whether it is a naturally occurring virus. He wondered why China and Iran, which he explained are America’s economic and ideological enemies, respectively, are two of the countries hit hardest by the virus, and he questioned why Hong Kong and the many poor countries with undeveloped public health systems that are between Iran and China, such as Tibet, Mongolia, and Afghanistan, have not been as affected by the virus as Iran has been. Dr. Ali Karami, a lecturer in medicine, said that as a result of the Iranian Genome Project, which he said was performed at Stanford University in violation of international conventions and with funding from Baha’i sources, the Americans and the Zionists have completely sequenced the genome of Iranians, and he suggested that the Americans have used this information in order to develop “ethnic weapons” that are most effective against certain ethnic groups. He said that Israel has been using these kinds of weapons to target Palestinians for a long time, and that this would explain why Iran, China, and South Korea are among the countries most affected by the coronavirus. Dr. Karami also claimed that Italy has been hit hard by the virus because Italians are genetically similar to Iranians. The other guest, Ezzatizadeh, pointed out that a similar campaign of ethnic bioterrorism had been used to annihilate the Native American population in the United States .
Americans should perhaps be flattered by how highly they’re estimated. We must be brilliant indeed if we could formulate a bio-weapon that targets both Chinese, who are Asian, and Iranians — who are Caucasian like most Americans — while leaving our citizens untouched. Moreover, it somehow exempts Hong Kongers, who are also Asian and Chinese. Boy, am I proud to be a Yank!
Except, of course, we’re now also greatly affected, which illustrates how the Iranian accusation hasn’t exactly aged well. In fact, overreaction or not, the Wuhan flu shutdown threatens to plunge us into a recession/depression and possibly drive President Trump from office. It also was reported just yesterday that Hong Kong now fears a Wuhan virus “third wave.”
Then while refuting craziness may seem a bit crazy itself, a few more points:
• One might expect poor nations/regions such as Tibet, Mongolia, and Afghanistan, which have limited international travel, to be hit less severely by the Wuhan flu.
• Italy has been greatly affected because until recently it had direct flights from Wuhan, has approximately 100,000 Chinese working in its factories, and is an aging society.
• Iran also has close ties with China. Not only are the two nations trading partners, but last year Iran lifted visa restrictions on China in order to attract more of Beijing’s tourists.
• American Indians were decimated by diseases such as smallpox (which originally came from Asia and previously ravaged European lands) that were mainly spread unintentionally. Note here that germ theory wasn’t even proposed, let alone proven, until 40 years after Christopher Columbus’s death.
In reality, what may explain Iran’s woes isn’t American antipathy, but Muslim attitudes. Just consider the following headlines from just the last few days:
“Iran: Muslim clerics still prompting multitudes to visit Islamic shrines amid coronavirus surge.”
“Iranian Shias lick, kiss shrines in defiance of coronavirus outbreak.” (The Americans made ’em do it, I tell ya’!)
“Germany: Muslims mock the “kuffar” for washing their hands and wearing masks to ward off coronavirus.”
“India: 12 Muslims found hiding in mosques to avoid coronavirus restrictions.”
“India: Muslim protester refuses to disperse, says ‘corona means Qur’an’ and won’t harm Muslims.”
“Islamic State calls on Allah to increase coronavirus torment against idolatrous nations.”
“Switzerland: Brother of Muslim “reformer” accused of many rapes says fornication and adultery created coronavirus” (not the Americans?).
Then there’s this from Pakistan: A “Muslim leader says coronavirus is [the] wrath of Allah on non-Muslim nations that have persecuted Muslims.” Either that, or Allah has switched sides is now working in an American bio-lab — one or the other.
Photo: SeventyFour / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Selwyn Duke (@SelwynDuke) has written for The New American for more than a decade. He has also written for The Hill, Observer, The American Conservative, WorldNetDaily, American Thinker, and many other print and online publications. In addition, he has contributed to college textbooks published by Gale-Cengage Learning, has appeared on television, and is a frequent guest on radio.
