W.H.O. (are you), WHO WHO

[Speaker to Animals]

WHO literally just makes recommendations and distributes resources to poor countries. That's their job. The responsibility for mitigating the pandemic in America fell on the Administration and the CDC.

Which, of course, is just as stupid as mistakenly assuming the UN can deal with it.

The correct response was for states to ramp up testing and have all the resources pre-stockpiled as part of a fat tail risk mitigation strategy. They failed at the the stockpiling, so they are accountable there. The problem with testing was that the administration (mainly through the CDC and the FDC) went well out of their way to block states from testing, and even intimidated private researchers into not testing. That is really why so many Americans are dying right now. The person who carries the most responsibility for the fuck-all testing debacle is Trump (buck stops here, bucko).

WHO is just a useless UN PR group. Blaming them is like blaming Willie Nelson for not raising enough money to save the farms.

[heydaralon]

Can we JUST blame China?

Both the WHO and Trump were acting on bad information from a country that is resistant to oversight from independent observers like the WHO, and was actively suppressing information.

I think Trump was justified in trying to avoid taking steps that would bring the economy grinding to a halt, and was right to leave it to local municipal and state governments to determine the threat from COVID and act independently to mitigate that threat.

That being said, withholding funds (especially the relatively small check compared to the current stimulus package) from the World Health Organization during an ongoing World Health Crises seems petty and short-sighted.

Do you think the WHO has been completely honest with the public?

I personally do not. I did not give them much thought before this all started, but my opinion of them has plummeted.

I don't think they were intentionally misleading the public.

As a counterfactual, if they had pulled the "oh shit" lever faster and crashed the global economy but COVID turned out to be nothing to sweat my faith in them wouldn't be improved.

I imagine the thing the public is most misinformed about is how much power the WHO actually has in a place like China, but that misinformation isn't coming from the WHO.

It seems like they are taking a lot of what China says at face value though, which is absurd.

I don't know the workaround for a relatively impotent virtue signalling organization when they get intel from a country that has a history for lying through its teeth about everything.

To be honest, I have a fairly low opinion of the UN anyway, so this really par the course.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

And, not for nothing, but doing shit to placate President Xi in order to gain better access to China is exactly what the WHO should be doing, even if it is a bit cloying.

[Zlaxer]

That being said, withholding funds (especially the relatively small check compared to the current stimulus package) from the World Health Organization during an ongoing World Health Crises seems petty and short-sighted.

Is it? We fund the WHO based on principal - WHO is a mouthpiece for PRC - explain why we should keep funding?

[heydaralon]

WHO literally just makes recommendations and distributes resources to poor countries. That's their job. The responsibility for mitigating the pandemic in America fell on the Administration and the CDC.

Which, of course, is just as stupid as mistakenly assuming the UN can deal with it.

The correct response was for states to ramp up testing and have all the resources pre-stockpiled as part of a fat tail risk mitigation strategy. They failed at the the stockpiling, so they are accountable there. The problem with testing was that the administration (mainly through the CDC and the FDC) went well out of their way to block states from testing, and even intimidated private researchers into not testing. That is really why so many Americans are dying right now.

WHO is just a useless UN PR group. Blaming them is like blaming Willie Nelson for not raising enough money to save the farms.

Its hilarious how useless the UN is. They serve no purpose. Like, the only time in history the UN ever actually used force and sent offensive troops in was during the Korean war. And that was a one off, because the Soviets abstained from voting. That will never happen again. I'm trying to think of a UN success story, and the Korean Stalemate (which was mainly an American and British effort) is just about the only one. They are a clown show.

[Montegriffo]

I told you to watch how Monte responds. TDS will eventually be a diagnosed psychiatric condition.

Calling someone deranged every time they point to what they see as errors, lies or deflections, sure that's how to have a grown-up conversation about world events.
If you just want a circle-jerking, Trump fellating, echo chamber I'll stick to chatting with Smitty and talking about food.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Do you think the WHO has been completely honest with the public?

I personally do not. I did not give them much thought before this all started, but my opinion of them has plummeted.

I don't think they were intentionally misleading the public.

As a counterfactual, if they had pulled the "oh shit" lever faster and crashed the global economy but COVID turned out to be nothing to sweat my faith in them wouldn't be improved.

I imagine the thing the public is most misinformed about is how much power the WHO actually has in a place like China, but that misinformation isn't coming from the WHO.

It seems like they are taking a lot of what China says at face value though, which is absurd.

I don't know the workaround for a relatively impotent virtue signalling organization when they get intel from a country that has a history for lying through its teeth about everything.

To be honest, I have a fairly low opinion of the UN anyway, so this really par the course.

They may have failed to anticipate just how ready China was ready to endanger the world with their secrecy, but I don't think "impotent virtue signaling" is what they do. It is an information sharing and recommendation organization, with some resources for threat mitigation. Get bad information and bad recommendations will follow.

Either way, just like with the UN, I don't think anybody wants a global organization with actual authority of sovereign nations. They are tools for diplomacy and information sharing, but for them to function, countries must participate in good faith.

[heydaralon]

I don't think they were intentionally misleading the public.

As a counterfactual, if they had pulled the "oh shit" lever faster and crashed the global economy but COVID turned out to be nothing to sweat my faith in them wouldn't be improved.

I imagine the thing the public is most misinformed about is how much power the WHO actually has in a place like China, but that misinformation isn't coming from the WHO.

It seems like they are taking a lot of what China says at face value though, which is absurd.

I don't know the workaround for a relatively impotent virtue signalling organization when they get intel from a country that has a history for lying through its teeth about everything.

To be honest, I have a fairly low opinion of the UN anyway, so this really par the course.

They may have failed to anticipate just how ready China was ready to endanger the world with their secrecy, but I don't think "impotent virtue signaling" is what they do. It is an information sharing and recommendation organization, with some resources for threat mitigation. Get bad information and bad recommendations will follow.

Either way, just like with the UN, I don't think anybody wants a global organization with actual authority of sovereign nations. They are tools for diplomacy and information sharing, but for them to function, countries must participate in good faith.

I agree with you 100% on that.

As far as info sharing, since China is not doing so honestly, it kind of makes them double useless.

In fact, any time there is a major human rights violation or serious problem, the regimes always hide it and lie.
North Korea, Sudan, Rwanda, Indonesia, Iran, Israel the list goes on.

To me it is all silliness. No country doing fucked up shit is going to be honest with the UN, because it is not in their interest to do so. And since just about every single crisis that has occured in UN history either involved a security council member or someone allied with a security council member their response is always pisspoor or nonexistent. So its like, whats the point, man?

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

That being said, withholding funds (especially the relatively small check compared to the current stimulus package) from the World Health Organization during an ongoing World Health Crises seems petty and short-sighted.

Is it? We fund the WHO based on principal - WHO is a mouthpiece for PRC - explain why we should keep funding?

We don't fund them based on principal, we fund them because it is advantageous for us to have a non-governmental entity working to mitigate public health risks in parts of the world that can't afford to fund public health.

"Mouthpiece for PRC" sounds a little hyperbolic.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

To me it is all silliness. No country doing fucked up shit is going to be honest with the UN, because it is not in their interest to do so. And since just about every single crisis that has occured in UN history either involved a security council member or someone allied with a security council member their response is always pisspoor or nonexistent. So its like, whats the point, man?

I don't know what to say. If you think that organizations dedicated to being a platform for international diplomacy and information sharing are pointless, then there isn't anything I can say that is going to convince you otherwise.

However, saying that they are useless BECAUSE bad agents will hide their bad agency is like saying police and justice systems are pointless because criminals will always lie about their crimes.