"A military situation at its worst can inspire fighting men to perform at their best." 
- Marguerite Higgins, War in Korea: The Report of a Woman Combat Correspondent

"In Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea....The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war." 
-President Harry Truman

"East Asia has prospered since the end of the Vietnam War, and Northeast Asia has prospered since the end of the Korean War in a way that seems unimaginable when you think of the history of the first half of the century." 
- William C. Kirby  

In January we met with a friend from Taiwan who does political and economic risk analysis and he shared that China actually dejected the first case as early as October.  But even if the earliest case was November it still shows how irresponsibly China acted.

New data reveals coronavirus patient zero might be from mid-November

For context, the outbreak was only first brought to the attention of the World Health Organization at the end of December.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF    
MARCH 15, 2020 05:42
Medical workers in protective suits attend to novel coronavirus patients inside an isolated ward at a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 6, 2020. Picture taken February 6, 2020 (photo credit: CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS)
Medical workers in protective suits attend to novel coronavirus patients inside an isolated ward at a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 6, 2020. Picture taken February 6, 2020
(photo credit: CHINA DAILY VIA REUTERS)
Newly reviewed data from the Chinese government reveals that patient zero of the  coronavirus outbreak may have been infected earlier than previously believed, The South China Morning Post reported.According to the data, which has not yet been made public, the COVID-19 virus was likely first contracted by a 55-year-old man from China's Hubei Province on November 17, 2019.

For context, the outbreak was only first brought to the attention of the World Health Organization at the end of December.However, this data is far from conclusive, as increasing reviews of the data from the Chinese government keep placing the beginning of the outbreak further and further back.Since November 17, one to five new cases were reported on a daily basis, slowly increasing as time went on. On December 15, 27 cases were confirmed. By December 20, that number had jumped to 60. The year 2019 ended with 266 cases, and ended the first day of 2020 with over 380. While the first nine cases were reported in November, it is unknown if any of them are patient zero.However, it is possible that there could have been earlier cases."The findings might indicate that the coronavirus started circulating weeks before the first cases were officially diagnosed and reported," wrote Business Insider's Holly Secon.

However, time running out to find patient zero, as the increasing number of infections means its harder to identify the source of it all.The coronavirus outbreak first rose to international attention at the end of 2019, with the epicenter of the outbreak being the city of  Wuhan in China's Hubei Province. Since then, it has spread across the world, infecting well over 100,000 people and killing thousands.

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Personal Email: d[email protected]
Phone: 202-573-8647
Web Site:  www.fdd.org
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
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FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.


If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."