Billionaire’s book drops as WHO hammers out supranational pandemic treaty
World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the latest book by billionaire and self-styled pandemic ‘expert’ Bill Gates on Friday, declaring himself in full agreement with the software tycoon’s insistence that “we must act on Covid-19’s lessons and innovate so that we can deliver swift, equitable health solutions to prevent the next pandemic.”
Thank you @BillGates for sending a copy of your new book. I fully agree that we must act on #COVID19’s lessons and innovate so that we can deliver swift, equitable health solutions to prevent the next pandemic. @gatesfoundationpic.twitter.com/E69PyBdgB9
The public health official tweeted a photo of himself with the tome, tagging the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder’s public health policy-making vehicle and one of the primary financial benefactors of the WHO.
While Gates is not a certified medical expert – he never finished college, instead dropping out to form Microsoft with a childhood friend – his massive wealth has allowed him to effectively dominate global health policy as the largest private contributor to the global health body, behind only the US government in terms of funding.
The deep-pocketed vaccine evangelist took the stage for a TED Talk in Vancouver on Tuesday to elaborate on the ideas presented in the book, titled “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic,” which calls for a $1 billion global emergency response team operating under the clever acronym GERM – Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization. The group would be comprised of 3,000 doctors, epidemiologists, policy and communications experts, and diplomats operating under the direction of the WHO.
Gates scolded rich countries for taking less action to flood poorer nations with vaccines than he “expected” – and repeatedly demanded over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. He called for developed nations to unite to implement systems that would prevent another pandemic, arguing that “your survival [with Covid-19] depended partly on your income, your race, the neighborhood you lived in.” However, the US, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, also had one of the highest death tolls from the disease, faring noticeably worse than many African nations.
The billionaire philanthropist’s ideas appear to dovetail with the WHO’s own plans for a global pandemic treaty, currently being negotiated in order to “set out the objectives and fundamental principles in order to structure the necessary collective action to fight pandemics.” Heavy on surveillance, vaccinations, and “restoring trust in the international health system,” the agreement would be legally binding under international law, superseding the regulations of individual countries and ensuring all nations act as one in response to future outbreaks.
First devised by European Council president Charles Michel in November 2020, the agreement was outlined in a call for an “international treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness” issued in March 2021 by a group of 25 heads of government and NGOs. Their publication declared that no single government, or even public-private partnership like the WHO, could sufficiently address the problems that would come with future pandemics and called for a treaty “rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization” and backed by existing “International Health Regulations.” It was quickly backed by the G7 and World Health Assembly.
The idea of such an all-powerful entity being drawn up and foisted upon humanity without a public vote has rubbed many the wrong way, and groups like the World Council for Health have scrambled to mount an opposition to the plan, but it’s questionable that any grassroots opposition mounted at the eleventh hour will be able to challenge an effort backed by all 194 members of the WHO. The body plans to confirm its pandemic agreement at the 2024 World Health Assembly.
Senior UN officials, including the Secretary-General, António Guterres, have expressed concern over a spate of violent incidents at the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, an important religious site for both Muslims and Jews.
A World Food Program-backed initiative to deliver millet seeds to vulnerable people is taking root in Odisha, India, where it is helping to ward off hunger and improve livelihoods.
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The 2022 Sony World Photography Award-winners include a photo of a man in Argentina transporting computers on horseback and twin sisters at a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar.
(Image credit: Emre Çakmak, Turkey, Shortlist, Open, Street Photography, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards)
President’s remarks have made it “harder” for American officials to do their job, a report has said
President Joe Biden’s accusation made earlier this week that Moscow was committing “genocide” in Ukraine has raised concerns among officials in the White House and has not been confirmed by US intelligence agencies, NBC News reported on Friday, citing senior government officials.
The claim of genocide “has so far not been corroborated by information collected by US intelligence agencies,” the report said.
The news outlet quoted two State Department officials as saying that Biden’s remarks “made it harder for the agency to credibly do its job,” since it is up to the department to formally determine genocide and other war crimes.
“Genocide includes a goal of destroying an ethnic group or nation and, so far, that is not what we are seeing,” a US intelligence official was quoted as saying. At the same time, NBC added, the intelligence community is concerned that Russia’s actions “could amount to genocide” in the future.
On Tuesday, during a domestic policy speech in Iowa, Biden accused Moscow of “trying to wipe out the idea of even being Ukrainian.” The statement came after Kiev claimed that Russian troops were killing civilians in Bucha and other towns near the Ukrainian capital. Mass graves and bodies with signs of executions were discovered in the area from where the Russian forces retreated in late March.
Moscow denies that its forces were responsible for the deaths of civilians in Bucha, or elsewhere in Ukraine, and accuses Kiev of waging a smear campaign.
Prior to the launch of its offensive, Russia had accused Ukraine of committing “a genocide” against the people of Donbass. This claim was rejected by Ukraine, as well as by the US and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Russia attacked its neighbor in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk Agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
A World Food Program-backed initiative to deliver millet seeds to vulnerable people is taking root in Odisha, India, where it is helping to ward off hunger and improve livelihoods.
