I've worked in the food industry for 30 years and long heard lamenting about the declining citrus crop in Florida. But never heard this take on it. It sounds more than plausible.
The first question that comes to mind is whether other citrus growing regions (Brazil, Spain, Italy) are facing similar pestilence. If they are, especially if their standing with CCP is at least neutral if not positive, then it's likely a consequence of globalism. However, if this is mostly affecting US growers, then it's suspicious.
Given the arrests announced this week, the safe assumption is that CCP has definitely deployed biowarfare against us.
On the Ash tree devastation; I’ve always had reservations about describing the death of these ash trees in purely economic terms, dampening the way we interacted with the Ash. Namely the tree was one of the most popular street trees, lining the boulevards of cities. The tree was also a major timber for wood working, commonly used for interior furniture and baseball bats.
For another instance of an American tree being destroyed by a Chinese disease, admittedly this happened in the early 1900s, so likely an instance of self inflicted harm, look into the American Chestnut. It used to be one of the major trees in eastern forests, a major timber producer, and food crop. But the desire for a chestnut tree with a larger nut resulted in New Yorkers shipping in Chinese Chestnut, which was contaminated with chestnut blight. In 3 decades all the Chestnut stands were wiped out, and we’ve been trying to create a resistant variety ever since. The blight only kills the vascular tissue of the tree above the soil, so old roots will still put out new shoots of growth that will die shortly, haunting the forests they used to grow in.
Yes this is a good point, it’s far more than just economic damage. I was just trying to briefly describe the catastrophic scope and scale of what has happened, but you are right that there’s much more
There have been allegations of US agricultural biowarfare against China. This particular reference comes from "Metallicman", a spectacularly unreliable source, but there are other sources for this particular allegation. From Ron Unz in 2020:
" During 2018 a new Avian Flu virus had swept the country, eliminating large portions of China’s poultry industry, and during 2019 the Swine Flu viral epidemic had devastated China’s pig farms, destroying 40% of the nation’s primary domestic source of meat, with widespread claims that the latter disease was being spread by mysterious small drones. My morning newspapers had hardly ignored these important business stories, noting that the sudden collapse of much of China’s domestic food production might prove a huge boon to American farm exports at the height of our trade conflict, but I had never considered the obvious implications "
Excellent piece, thanks. I'm surprised you managed this so fast - just a few days after the news of two Chinese students arrested for carrying pathogens.
Chinese emigres are a very mixed group. Some are over here because of difficulties with the CCP (I know some who left because of religious persecution); they still have well-placed fears about the widespread monitoring posts that China runs in the West. Others are just following their career path and will most likely return to China at some stage. But some (many?) are within the military-command structure of the PLA, and even if they are not motivated by enthusiasm for the party-state, their fear of disobeying risky orders probably outstrips their fear of arrest and imprisonment abroad. Even the middle group can be cajoled or threatened into espionage or sabotage against their host countries.
Since part of the funding trail for violent unrest in the US (whether 2020 or 2025) leads back to China, it's in the interests of the US left to pretend that anyone voicing the least suspicion towards Chinese emigres is motivated by mindless racism. The Chinese have a contemptuous term - 白左 - for our leftists and their woke ideas, but the CCP is more than happy to exploit and nurture this foolishness for their own purposes.
Thanks! Yeah the orange issue has been on my mind for awhile, and when I first saw the arrests I figured it’d be a good avenue for tackling it
And yeah the emigres are a mixed group. I’ve found the ones who move here to escape the CCP are often alright, particularly if Christian converts, but the ones temporarily here as students, etc. are very much on the side of the CCP and PRC, not America
After COVID, it would be naive to think otherwise. On the other hand, just like you brought up, the US is a notoriously aggressive empire and a real threat to the Chinese. The Middle East is always a quick reminder of this, nowadays.
Biowarfare is truly horrendous. Even nukes only impact a large city at a time. Bioweapons cross sea to sea and often over seas. I guess the Chinese leaders simply don't care. Perhaps they embrace an attitude of prosperty thru extreme hardship.
This is an eye-opener. Thank you for your diligence. I am sure this is a topic that will go over most peoples heads, or will be marked as conspiracy, but it’s important and should be discussed as a viable possibility. Unfortunately, I think as long as people have citrus in their grocery stores, they won’t care. The wake-up call will come when it is already too late.
This is probably true. I have found it strikes home with some people since the really good oranges just aren’t available anymore. But you are right that most will just write it off, for now
Read "An Ignorance Based Worldview" by Wendel Berry. Florida has cursed itself. It is not China. They wrecked the psyllids/mosquito balance and wrecked a bird food supply and have given cancer to your food web.
It's a waste of time to complain about 'China' engaging in 'full spectrum war' when the US lets the Chinese - and every one else - come and go and buy land and businesses in the name of 'international commerce'.
The problem isn't 'China'.
The problem is 'Diversity is Our Strength'.
West Nile Virus came over in stagnant water in tires shipped into the US.
Foreign enemies matter though we have traitors at home. Further, helping people understand the cost of being an open society, such as the demolition of a treasured industry, is a great way to push against globalization
First, don't be insulting. Not everything is "dumb" just because you don't immediately see the point of it.
On to your question: Apart from the $3 billion cost in the present that our host mentions, it has long-term value to the CCP as an experimental exercise to learn from.
The CCP has no interest in the destruction of the US economy at present, since they still urgently need to trade with the US (as the tariffs skirmish underlined). But in the future, if war, or substantial hostlities were to break out, then the CCP does indeed have an interest in doing exactly this. The exercises in sabotage at the present have a cumulative value that will be cashed out if the time comes for massive sabotage.
At a very simple level, compared to this, the Nazis sent "tourists" over to Norway before the planned invasion. These respectable looking single gentlemen were trained saboteurs who waited until it was time to make their move; the German invasion went very smoothly indeed because of their efforts.
This comment about testing the tactic is a great point as well. It could be argued that the orange blight was a test for the wheat blight they just tried releasing
It will be interesting to see bird population decline, and other problems in whole ecosystem as a result of those horrific Mosquito experimental approvals, and then see Florida blame it "China" instead of the bad guys that very obviously did. Psyllids are most common source of blood for new mosquitos and psyllids spread the citrus disease. You worked your mosquito populations, have lost your oranges, and probably have undiscovered issues brewing in your bird populations. When the Robin population declined you will have less seed dispersals, and that is just one bird. Basically, you gave your ecosystem a Bill Gates funded cancer and now you see some greenish scabs and are blaming China instead of figuring out how to fix it
Maybe it was not China. Mosquitos eat the blood of psyllid nymphs. Perhaps Bill Gates and the billions of GMO mosquitos wrecked the ability to suppress the psyllids population.. Wendel Berry and others warned about this in ecosystems decades ago when talking about mistakes in trying to control the ecology of wetlands.. The systems are too complex to try and control something like that. By allowing the modifying of untold told billions of mosquitos, Florida destroyed its Orange crop potential. The geniuses proably never thought what would happen to all the creatures that ate mosquitos or that mosquitos ate if they shifted the populations of billions and billions of genetically modified versions of them. Bill Gates and his cronies destroyed your psyllids nymph eater populations and now the psyllids nymphs destroyed your oranges. Robins and other birds are next. Birds eat tons of mosquitos.
I've worked in the food industry for 30 years and long heard lamenting about the declining citrus crop in Florida. But never heard this take on it. It sounds more than plausible.
The first question that comes to mind is whether other citrus growing regions (Brazil, Spain, Italy) are facing similar pestilence. If they are, especially if their standing with CCP is at least neutral if not positive, then it's likely a consequence of globalism. However, if this is mostly affecting US growers, then it's suspicious.
Given the arrests announced this week, the safe assumption is that CCP has definitely deployed biowarfare against us.
Yeah, so it does cause trouble in Brazil, though to a lesser degree than in America, and it got there well after it arrived here
Not definitive, but highly suspicious.
Yes
If GMO oranges could replace the diseased ones maybe China can be conveniently blamed while the alnswers might be closer to home ... Follow the money
Yeah, that would be a concern except that no GMO solution was waiting in the wings. It’s been two decades and nothing effective has been released, yet
Thank you for the clarification
On the Ash tree devastation; I’ve always had reservations about describing the death of these ash trees in purely economic terms, dampening the way we interacted with the Ash. Namely the tree was one of the most popular street trees, lining the boulevards of cities. The tree was also a major timber for wood working, commonly used for interior furniture and baseball bats.
For another instance of an American tree being destroyed by a Chinese disease, admittedly this happened in the early 1900s, so likely an instance of self inflicted harm, look into the American Chestnut. It used to be one of the major trees in eastern forests, a major timber producer, and food crop. But the desire for a chestnut tree with a larger nut resulted in New Yorkers shipping in Chinese Chestnut, which was contaminated with chestnut blight. In 3 decades all the Chestnut stands were wiped out, and we’ve been trying to create a resistant variety ever since. The blight only kills the vascular tissue of the tree above the soil, so old roots will still put out new shoots of growth that will die shortly, haunting the forests they used to grow in.
Yes this is a good point, it’s far more than just economic damage. I was just trying to briefly describe the catastrophic scope and scale of what has happened, but you are right that there’s much more
Any acre of land that is owned by China should be confiscated
There have been allegations of US agricultural biowarfare against China. This particular reference comes from "Metallicman", a spectacularly unreliable source, but there are other sources for this particular allegation. From Ron Unz in 2020:
" During 2018 a new Avian Flu virus had swept the country, eliminating large portions of China’s poultry industry, and during 2019 the Swine Flu viral epidemic had devastated China’s pig farms, destroying 40% of the nation’s primary domestic source of meat, with widespread claims that the latter disease was being spread by mysterious small drones. My morning newspapers had hardly ignored these important business stories, noting that the sudden collapse of much of China’s domestic food production might prove a huge boon to American farm exports at the height of our trade conflict, but I had never considered the obvious implications "
Very interesting, thanks
Excellent piece, thanks. I'm surprised you managed this so fast - just a few days after the news of two Chinese students arrested for carrying pathogens.
Chinese emigres are a very mixed group. Some are over here because of difficulties with the CCP (I know some who left because of religious persecution); they still have well-placed fears about the widespread monitoring posts that China runs in the West. Others are just following their career path and will most likely return to China at some stage. But some (many?) are within the military-command structure of the PLA, and even if they are not motivated by enthusiasm for the party-state, their fear of disobeying risky orders probably outstrips their fear of arrest and imprisonment abroad. Even the middle group can be cajoled or threatened into espionage or sabotage against their host countries.
Since part of the funding trail for violent unrest in the US (whether 2020 or 2025) leads back to China, it's in the interests of the US left to pretend that anyone voicing the least suspicion towards Chinese emigres is motivated by mindless racism. The Chinese have a contemptuous term - 白左 - for our leftists and their woke ideas, but the CCP is more than happy to exploit and nurture this foolishness for their own purposes.
Thanks! Yeah the orange issue has been on my mind for awhile, and when I first saw the arrests I figured it’d be a good avenue for tackling it
And yeah the emigres are a mixed group. I’ve found the ones who move here to escape the CCP are often alright, particularly if Christian converts, but the ones temporarily here as students, etc. are very much on the side of the CCP and PRC, not America
After COVID, it would be naive to think otherwise. On the other hand, just like you brought up, the US is a notoriously aggressive empire and a real threat to the Chinese. The Middle East is always a quick reminder of this, nowadays.
Biowarfare is truly horrendous. Even nukes only impact a large city at a time. Bioweapons cross sea to sea and often over seas. I guess the Chinese leaders simply don't care. Perhaps they embrace an attitude of prosperty thru extreme hardship.
Yes, biowarfare is utterly terrifying to me
This is an eye-opener. Thank you for your diligence. I am sure this is a topic that will go over most peoples heads, or will be marked as conspiracy, but it’s important and should be discussed as a viable possibility. Unfortunately, I think as long as people have citrus in their grocery stores, they won’t care. The wake-up call will come when it is already too late.
This is probably true. I have found it strikes home with some people since the really good oranges just aren’t available anymore. But you are right that most will just write it off, for now
Read "An Ignorance Based Worldview" by Wendel Berry. Florida has cursed itself. It is not China. They wrecked the psyllids/mosquito balance and wrecked a bird food supply and have given cancer to your food web.
It's a waste of time to complain about 'China' engaging in 'full spectrum war' when the US lets the Chinese - and every one else - come and go and buy land and businesses in the name of 'international commerce'.
The problem isn't 'China'.
The problem is 'Diversity is Our Strength'.
West Nile Virus came over in stagnant water in tires shipped into the US.
Foreign enemies matter though we have traitors at home. Further, helping people understand the cost of being an open society, such as the demolition of a treasured industry, is a great way to push against globalization
This is dumb.
What would be the point of sabotaging citrus fruits?
$3 billion in economic damage
First, don't be insulting. Not everything is "dumb" just because you don't immediately see the point of it.
On to your question: Apart from the $3 billion cost in the present that our host mentions, it has long-term value to the CCP as an experimental exercise to learn from.
The CCP has no interest in the destruction of the US economy at present, since they still urgently need to trade with the US (as the tariffs skirmish underlined). But in the future, if war, or substantial hostlities were to break out, then the CCP does indeed have an interest in doing exactly this. The exercises in sabotage at the present have a cumulative value that will be cashed out if the time comes for massive sabotage.
At a very simple level, compared to this, the Nazis sent "tourists" over to Norway before the planned invasion. These respectable looking single gentlemen were trained saboteurs who waited until it was time to make their move; the German invasion went very smoothly indeed because of their efforts.
This comment about testing the tactic is a great point as well. It could be argued that the orange blight was a test for the wheat blight they just tried releasing
That’s ultimately 3 billion dollars less that Americans will spend on buying Chinese crap tho
It will be interesting to see bird population decline, and other problems in whole ecosystem as a result of those horrific Mosquito experimental approvals, and then see Florida blame it "China" instead of the bad guys that very obviously did. Psyllids are most common source of blood for new mosquitos and psyllids spread the citrus disease. You worked your mosquito populations, have lost your oranges, and probably have undiscovered issues brewing in your bird populations. When the Robin population declined you will have less seed dispersals, and that is just one bird. Basically, you gave your ecosystem a Bill Gates funded cancer and now you see some greenish scabs and are blaming China instead of figuring out how to fix it
Maybe it was not China. Mosquitos eat the blood of psyllid nymphs. Perhaps Bill Gates and the billions of GMO mosquitos wrecked the ability to suppress the psyllids population.. Wendel Berry and others warned about this in ecosystems decades ago when talking about mistakes in trying to control the ecology of wetlands.. The systems are too complex to try and control something like that. By allowing the modifying of untold told billions of mosquitos, Florida destroyed its Orange crop potential. The geniuses proably never thought what would happen to all the creatures that ate mosquitos or that mosquitos ate if they shifted the populations of billions and billions of genetically modified versions of them. Bill Gates and his cronies destroyed your psyllids nymph eater populations and now the psyllids nymphs destroyed your oranges. Robins and other birds are next. Birds eat tons of mosquitos.
About as likely as America attacking Ireland with the potato blight and causing the famine of 1845.
Suddenly that becomes an interesting thought!