Italy Must Never Forget...or Forgive, by Eric Striker - The Unz Review

Another 832 people died from coronavirus in Italy today. The country’s fatalities have passed 10,000. Some believe this number is a massive undercount and the number of deaths could be as high as 50,000.

But an equally important story is how the liberal powers, particularly the European Union and NATO, have reacted to Italy’s desperate cries for help.

Israel, a dangerous rogue nation Italian conservatives have been trying to sell as an “alliance” worth deepening, has mobilized to provide emergency support to the devastated city of Milan. The catch? The “solidarity” is only for Jews.

As for NATO ally Turkey, the country’s firms have announced that they have the ability to produce 50 million face masks in a week, which are in chronic short supply in Italy’s hardest hit regions. Yet, in what can only be described as an act of subhumanity, the Turkish government went out of its way to maliciously confiscate 200,000 masks purchased by Italy in early March, with no refund.

The various “human rights” NGOs that serve as subversive tentacles for US/Brussels soft power are also working hard, but again, Italians are an afterthought. Dozens of plutocrat-funded “Italian” organizations are calling for the evacuation of illegal immigrants from “hotspots,” and for them to be released from detention to be spread out across the country. Meanwhile, ordinary Italians in the north and center of the country are prohibited from leaving without special permission – who speaks for them?

France and Germany, two of the European Union’s largest manufacturers, have heavily restricted the export of medical supplies. The economic liberalization EU countries must endure to join the bloc has destroyed Italian economic independence due to Germany and France swamping neighboring markets with exports. Lesson learned. 67% of Italians now believe membership in the European Union is useless.

Reconfiguring the Global Order

On the other hand, China has been exemplary in aiding Italy and Europe as a whole. The white noise being produced by angry Washington neo-liberals and neo-conservatives, who claim China and Russia are using humanitarian aid as propaganda (as opposed to what?), is falling on deaf ears.

While Donald Trump bickers with selfish US capitalists to produce life-saving ventilators, Chinese planners for the last week have been busy ratcheting up production to meet the sudden explosion in demand in Italy and beyond. Chinese ventilator factories are now working 24 hours and 7 days a week in hopes of meeting superhuman manufacturing goals, even though this carries the risk of creating another outbreak.

This is only one piece of a bigger relief effort. Aside from tons of supplies, China has also sent Italy its most heroic doctors, many who originally helped contain the virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese have demonstrated deep respect for Roman civilization, marking every humanitarian aid crate with a quote by Seneca: “We are waves of the same sea, leaves of the same tree, flowers of the same garden.” Various other countries targeted by Washington and its pawns in Brussels for rejecting some or all liberal tenets – Russia, Venezuela, Cuba – have also been generous with Italy, despite being strangled by sanctions themselves.

NATO, Germany and the US have grown defensive and reacted to these gestures by mustering some minor procrastinated support, but no matter what they do next, it’s doubtful they will be able to win back an Italian public growing more self-aware and patriotic beneath the mountains of coffins.

The real rulers of America, like the Jew George Soros, have been working tirelessly to prevent Europe from pursuing its own interests and strengthening relations with China, according to the US government run propaganda outlet Voice of America. While Chinese billionaire turned school teacher Jack Ma has been using his foundation to provide life-or-death coronavirus aid to Europe and Asia, Soros has been using his personal fortune to use the crisis as an opportunity to attack the traditional family. What does Soros have to offer the world other than corrosion of all that is virtuous and good?

When all is said and done, Italy, Serbia, Wisegrad group and others thrown under the bus by the liberal-globalist order should reconsider their geopolitical alliances. To join the “community” of liberal plutocracy, a nation must sacrifice its sovereignty, acquiesce to Jews, accept mass race-replacement and attack its own proud history, while getting nothing in return. Is it worth it?

https://www.unz.com/estriker/italy-must-never-forget-or-forgive/ 

A few recent political developments which should not go unnoticed, by The Saker - The Unz Review (Text only)

The COVID19/SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is, by any measure, an immense planetary crisis which will probably change the world we live in forever. Still, there are other issues which are maybe not quite as dramatic and important, but which deserve not to be forgotten. Here are some of those

The grand betrayal of Tulsi Gabbard

It was pretty clear to most observers that Tulsi Gabbard, being the only real “peace candidate” would never be allowed to get the nomination, nevermind make it into the White House. It was also clear that Tulsi, for all her very real qualities, simply did not have what it takes to take on “The Swamp”. Still, in spite of this all, her candidacy and campaign were like a huge pitcher of cool water in the middle of an immense and dry desert. Her uniqueness amongst all the candidate is what make her betrayal even more painful for those who respected or even supported her. Once it became clear that she would never get the nomination, not only did she not run as an independent (something which Hillary seems to fear a lot), she endorsed Uncle Joe, the clearly senile, totally corrupt and generally repugnant frontman for the Clinton gang. This endorsement of Biden is something which she did not have to do, but she did it.

When the DNC stole the nomination from Sanders, he did not lead a protest or run as an independent, he endorsed Hillary. I always considered him a fraud for this (and many other) reasons. Now Tulsi Gabbard is doing the same thing, which probably is a good indicator that the Democratic Party is evil and corrupt to the core, which is hardly big news, but which is dramatically confirmed by Gabbard’s profoundly immoral decision. Why do I say that? Because Biden is the ultimate “anti-Gabbard”, she should have endorsed either Bernie, or even Trump, but instead she endorsed a morally corrupt warmonger, a total pawn for the MIC.

At the end of the day, she mostly betrayed herself, and that is the saddest aspect of this debacle.

The AngloZionist Empire – as clueless as ever

I have forced myself to listen to the daily COVID19 briefings from the White House and I have to say that Trump’s constant flag-waving and self-worshiping is almost physically painful to watch. The worst parts of these briefings are when Trump, or Pompeo, speak about the US “leadership” as if the entire planet was desperately expecting the US to help. It does not. In fact, most of the planet is disgusted by US action, be it the denial of vitally needed meds to countries like Iran or Venezuela, to the attempts are buying off German vaccines, to the mantric repetition about how great the US private sector is and how Amazon and Walmart will help us weather this crisis.

The truth is that this worldwide pandemic will allow us all to compare how different political systems, countries and cultures have reacted to the threat. In a year or so, we shall all know how free-market capitalism and libertarianism compared with social-democracies, socialist and even communist countries when their population needed protection and assistance.

True, other countries have responded with truly amazing incompetence (including several EU countries), so the inability to protect its citizens is not a purely US problem, it really affects all the countries currently subjugated by the Empire.

Finally, it appears that the China-bashing strategic PSYOP has largely failed. Most fake-news about China was quickly and rapidly debunked, and even the legacy corporate ziomedia could not completely obfuscate the fact that China is, so far, the only country on our planet which defeated COVID19.

Will there be an “ideological lessons learned” once the crisis subsides? I sure hope so!

For the time being, the Empire does what it always does, it plans to deny even more civil rights to its own people which has true patriots like Ron Paul extremely worried. What else is new?

Capitalism with a human face?

Nope, that sure ain’t gonna happen this time around.

Serbia betrayed by Europe (again!) while Russia provides vital aid to Serbia and Italy

Serbia has been betrayed by the Europeans, again. This time around, the Europeans did not bomb Serbian civilians, they simply refused to sell the meds needed to respond to the crisis. President Aleksandar Vucic has now officially declared that the EU solidarity “exists only on paper“. He then openly appealed for China to help, and help China did – the Chinese sent aircraft filled with much needed medical equipment and doctors. Then Russia followed suit and sent 10 heavy transporters filled with gear and specialists.

Even more amazing (and appalling) is the fact that the Empire does not even help its own subjects – in Italy, it was Russia again which organized a major air bridge (over 15 heavy transporters!) and now we see Russian Army units deployed in northern Italy to help the struggling Italians. Check out these short videos reports by the Russian military. You don’t need to understand Russian to see the size of the air-bridge the Russian Aerospace Forces have established or to how grateful the Italian officials are!

I have to say that the Serbs have been fantastically naive to trust the very same people who bombed them, in total illegality, for 78 days, murdering scores of innocent civilians (including those murdered in the TV stantion). For example, the Serbs could have considered how the EU has been lying to Turkey, for decades. But no, the Serbian elites now seem to think that they will be able to fill their pockets with lucrative contracts with the EU.

Hopefully, what these events have demonstrated shall not be forgotten when the next elections take place in Serbia.

That also goes for Italy.

And, finally,

The situation in northern Syria and Iraq

The situation in northern Syria and Iraq has developed pretty much as expected. So far, the Turks have been unable to re-take full control of the M4 highway. As a result of that failure, the joint Russian-Turkish patrols have not been able to move along the full length of the highway as spelled out in the agreement between Russia and Turkey. Clearly, Turkey lacks either the will, or the capability, or both, to remove the Takfiri forces from the M4 highway. So far, the Russians and Syrians have very kindly agreed to wait a little longer, but the recent visit of Russian Defense Minister Shoigu to Damascus clearly shows that big decisions are being worked on:

As for Iraq, the various Shia militias are doing exactly what everybody had predicted, they are executing limited but very disruptive strikes against US forces in Iraq. Here is a good infographic by the Institute for the Study of War which sums it up very nicely:

What we have here is a small trickle of attacks which do not yield any major victory to the Iraqi forces, but which over time will tremendously demoralize US forces. Finally, such “death by a thousand cuts” strategy also will severely limit the operational capabilities of the US forces in Iraq: when you are mostly busy protecting yourself, you have less time to murder locals.

Still, sooner or later the Shias will have to step up their attacks because forcing the occupation forces to hunker down and actually kicking them out of your country are two very different propositions. These small strikes are very useful, not only because they demoralize the enemy, but because by forcing him to stay inside fortified “secure” areas only makes them better targets for a bigger missile strike.

This is a very sound strategy against which the US forces have no good option, other than throwing in the towel and leaving, which they will have to do anyway (except that they call it “declare victory and leave”, but its the exact same thing).

https://www.unz.com/tsaker/a-few-recent-political-developments-which-should-not-go-unnoticed/ 

MoA - It Is A Time Of Crisis And U.S. Foreign Policy Is Becoming Unhinged (Text only)

The Trump administration is reacting to the pandemic stress by lashing out at perceived internal and external enemies. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leading the external onslaught.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an "immediate global ceasefire" to focus on fighting Covid-19. He has appealed for the "waiving of sanctions that can undermine countries' capacity to respond to the pandemic."

But Washington is not listening.

Requests from Venezuela and Iran for emergency IMF loans to buy medical supplies were blocked by U.S. interventions.

Just a month ago Pompeo announced an increase of sanctions against Iran. The sanctions block money transfers. They make it impossible for Iran to import the medical equipment it urgently needs to counter the epidemic.

While the U.S. renewed the sanction waiver which allows Iraq to import electricity and gas from Iran the waiver is now limited to only 30 days. One third of Iraq's electricity depends on those imports from Iran and, if the waiver is not renewed, its hospitals will go dark just when the epidemic will reach its zenith.

Parts of the Trump administration are even pressing for a wider war against alleged Iranian proxy forces in Iraq:

The Pentagon has ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of American combat in Iraq, issuing a directive last week to prepare a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group that has threatened more attacks against American troops.

But the United States’ top commander in Iraq has warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran.
...
Some top officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Robert C. O’Brien, the national security adviser, have been pushing for aggressive new action against Iran and its proxy forces — and see an opportunity to try to destroy Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq as leaders in Iran are distracted by the pandemic crisis in their country.

Military leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been wary of a sharp military escalation, warning it could further destabilize the Middle East at a time when President Trump has said he hopes to reduce the number of American troops in the region.

The plan is lunatic. One can not "destroy" Kataib Hezbollah and other Iraqi Shia groups which Iran helped to build during the war against ISIS. These groups are part of political parties with deep roots in the Iraqi society.

France, Italy and the Czech Republic have started to withdraw from Iraq. Denmark is also leaving and the UK is removing 50% of its force. There are less than 5,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and a war on Kataib Hezbollah could mobilize hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to fight against the U.S. occupation. Such a war would also involve Iran and the U.S. would certainly lose it.

The U.S. has currently two aircraft carrier groups in the Arab sea to threaten Iran. But those ships are of no use right now. They are 'cruise ships with guns'. Nuclear powered five billion dollar petri dishes for novel coronavirus outbreaks. Two U.S. carrier groups in the Pacific are already out of action because they have larger outbreaks on board. It is only a question of time until the other carriers follow.

It is not only Iraq and Iran the U.S. is aiming at. The U.S. State Department cut its contributions to health care in Yemen just in time of the highest need:

Officials with the United States Agency for International Development said the decision to halt funding, reported earlier by The Washington Post, included exceptions for “critical, lifesaving activities, including treatment of malnutrition as well as water, sanitation and hygiene programs aimed at keeping people healthy and staving off disease.”

But humanitarian officials said the agency’s exceptions did not provide for continued funding of basic health care programs, which are heavily reliant on foreign aid, and did not seem to take into account what might occur when the coronavirus begins to spread.

Not happy with only messing up the Middle East the State Department also renewed its assault on Venezuela. On Thursday the Justice Department announced charges of 'Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Crimes' against President Nicolas Maduro and 14 former or current officials. It put up a $15 million reward for Maduro's arrest.

It alleges that Maduro worked with Columbian cartels to smuggle cocaine through Venezuela.

But here is a map of smuggling routes from U.S. ally Columbia where most of the cocaine is produced. It was shown during a Congress hearing. Whatever is smuggled through Venezuela is a tiny share compared to the huge stream that comes through the Pacific.

Whoever wrote and signed of the indictment also made a huge mistake. The charges included Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, a former General in the Venezuelan armed forces, and put a $10 million reward on his head.

Alcalá Cordones is no friend of Maduro. He retired in 2013 when Maduro was elected after Hugo Chávez had died. Alcalá Cordones fled to Colombia from where he supported the U.S. chosen clown Juan Guaidó as self proclaimed president of Venezuela.

After the Justice Department indictment against him he came out and revealed that he was involved in coup plans in support of Juan Guaidó:

Alcalá is implicated in a recent plot to attack the Maduro government. On March 24, Colombian authorities seized a truck full of weapons and military equipment, including 26 assault rifles, worth $500,000. Venezuelan intelligence services linked the weapons to three camps in Colombia where paramilitary groups of Venezuelan deserters and U.S. mercenaries are training to carry out attacks against Venezuela. According to Venezuela’s Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez, these groups were planning to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to attack military units and plant bombs. He also linked the groups to Alcalá.

These allegations proved to be correct, as Alcalá, in a video he posted online hours after the indictments, admitted that the weapons were under his command. He further admitted that the weapons were purchased with funds given to him by Juan Guaidó, with whom he allegedly signed a contract.  Additionally, Alcala claimed that the operation was planned by U.S. advisors, with whom he supposedly met at least seven times. Aclalá also alleged that Leopoldo López, the founder of Guaidó’s party Voluntad Popular who was sprung from house arrest during Guaidó’s April 30 attempted insurrection, had full knowledge of the terror plot.

As a result of these videos, Venezuela’s Attorney General has opened an investigation into Juan Guaidó for an attempted coup.

The U.S. blew it by accusing the one man that was willing to help its chosen clown and by not informing him before the indictment came out. That man then freaked out and blew the whistle. This is now threatening the whole opposition plan the U.S. concocted with Guaidó and the men behind him.

On Friday Alcalá Cordones decided it was unsafe for him to stay in Colombia. He 'called up' the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and gave himself up. He was extradited to New York and will now become a 'witness' against Maduro who he has publicly opposed in the first place. 

This chaos was certainly created by Elliott Abrams, the neoconservative U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela. Abrams has a talent for messing things up.

U.S. foreign policy during the crisis has been abysmal. The U.S. angered China, the biggest producer of urgently needed masks and drugs, by calling the virus  "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus", a practice that stopped only after a phone call between Trump and Xi Jinping. It angered Germany when it tried to buy exclusive rights for a potential vaccine that is being developed there. Requests for support by multiple European allies were left unanswered while China and Russia mobilized to help over 80 countries. Meanwhile Pompeo chastised Italy for accepting Cuban drugs and doctors.

There will be a large cost to pay for this when the pandemic is over. The U.S. has exposed itself as unreliable ally, as war mongering moron that does not shrink from damaging its own best interest and as incapable of helping its own citizens.

China on the other hand has defeated the epidemic at home and now helps defeating it wherever it can. This is going to be its century. 

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/03/in-a-time-of-crisis-us-foreign-policy-gets-worse.html#more 

The US and Britain Are Now Getting a Tragic Sample of the Weapons They Unleashed Against Iran - By Eric S. Margolis

The world is getting sick from the spreading COVID-19 virus.  North Americans and Europeans are now as horrified as Chinese by the invisible killer that has put their hospitals under siege.

They are also getting a grim foretaste of what biological warfare would be like.  Those not cowering in terror in their homes would likely be amazed to learn that some of their governments are still churning out highly toxic chemical and biological agents in hidden factories.

But surely our lily white democracies don’t stoop to making poison gas and germs?

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Back in 1990-91, I was based in Baghdad covering the first of the Gulf Wars.  The US was threatening to attack Iraq for daring to invade oil-rich Kuwait, which used to be part of Iraq until ‘detached’ by the British Empire.  At the same time, the eight-year Iran-Iraq War had just ended in a bloody stalemate.  The US and Britain had pressed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to invade Iran, seize its oil wealthy and overthrow the Islamic government in Tehran.

Facing a US-British invasion, Saddam Hussein ordered all foreigners in Iraq rounded up and confined to tourist hotels.  Among the foreigners, I discovered four British scientific technicians who had been sent, or ‘seconded,’ to a newly built biowarfare chemical complex south of Baghdad at Salman Pak.  They were then trucked to Baghdad as hostages against a US attack.

I managed to slip into the compound that held them and talked for hours over mugs of tea.  The British tech team told me they had been secretly sent to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq by Britain’s Ministry of Defense and Britain’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service to help Iraq’s military develop and deploy biological weapons for use against numerically superior Iranian forces on the Central Front, Al-Faw Peninsula, and again Kurdish rebels in the north.

The bio weapons included Anthrax, botulism, Q fever and tularemia that attacks the eyes, throat, skin and lymph nodes.  Salman Pak also produced quantities of nerve and mustard gasses used against Iranian infantry formations.

Most raw materials for the germ and gas came from Europe.  Feeder stocks for the germ/poison gas weapons came from the main UC chemical warfare plans at Ft. Detrick, Maryland.

A popular joke among western journalists in Baghdad went, ‘of course Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. We have the delivery receipts.’

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The times Iraq deployed its chemical/bio weapons against Iran, the results were nightmarish: blinded soldiers choking to death, unable to unable to breathe; soldiers with their skin peeling off; dead mothers holding babies in their arms.  Many of these attacks were targeted by US satellites positioned over Iraq.  US Air Force officers worked closely with their military counterparts Iraq.

To this day, there remain tens of thousands of maimed, blinded, crippled Iraqi soldiers.  It was Iraq’s version of World War I, cheerfully financed by the US, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.  Iraq’s once thriving economy is mostly in ruins.  US and British bombing even destroyed most of Iraq’s sewage systems, water reserves, hospitals and bridges. Contaminated water alone killed 500,000 Iraqi children, according to the UN, a price ‘worth paying’ said US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The moral of this terrible story, and the current worldwide epidemic, is to immediately ban all chemical and biological weapons everywhere.  Destroy all chem/bio warfare plants everywhere, including the US, Russa, China, India and Israel.

The COVID-19 virus is merely a taste of what a real biological war would be like.  Many around the world who bear us ill cannot help but take notice how the world’s richest, mightiest nation can be brought to its knees by some invisible bugs.

When President Trump fulminates against China over COVID-19, he should be advised that the anthrax and other germ weapons used against Iraq in 1990 originated at Fort Detrick, just 50 miles NW of the White House, a mere one hour drive if traffic is not too heavy.

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The Best of Eric S. Margolis

Eric S. Margolis [send him mail] is the author of War at the Top of the World and the new book, American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World. See his website.

Copyright © Eric Margolis

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/eric-margolis/the-us-and-britain-are-now-getting-a-tragic-sample-of-the-weapons-it-unleshed-against-iran/ 

Breakthrough! It's Now Legal to Use Hydroxychloroquine to Treat COVID-19. - Gary North - March 28, 2020

I  authorize you to forward this article or post it.

On March 26, I ran an article on Vladimir Zelenko, a Hasidic Jewish physician who was treating his patients with a drug used for malaria, but which is not approved by the FDA for use with COVID-19: hydroxychloroquine. He did a YouTube video on his success with 500 patients.

I said this was illegal, and that he could be shut down by the authorities. My article is here:

https://www.garynorth.com/public/20689.cfm

That video is now removed.

What I did not know on March 26 was this story, which has received almost no media coverage. On Monday, March 23, the state of New York made the use of hydroxychloroquine illegal to use to treat COVID-19. It is long out of trademark protection. But it has not been tested by the FDA for use with COVID-19.

On the morning of March 24, the local authorities did shut him down, as I thought I was warning against, but which had already taken place. Then an astounding thing happened. On the afternoon of March 24, the Jewish site, Forward, published an article on Dr. Zelenko's incredible experience. You can read it here.

In his video, he ended with much praise for President Trump. Here, I speculate. People must have forwarded the video to Mike Pence, who intervened. Anyway, somebody with a lot of political clout intervened.

On Tuesday afternoon, Pence announced to Fox News that the FDA has now authorized the use of the drug to treat COVID-19. This is unprecedented. The FDA ran no tests. Any drug company can now issue this drug to be used to treat COVID-19.

This means that physicians and hospitals can use it.

Have you read anything about this? No.

Why isn't this fact all over the Web?

Why haven't the mainstream media have found out whether this makes the drug legal, as Pence announced?

Why don't physicians know this? Why are hospitals ignoring this?

The country is being shut down, yet there appears to be a treatment which defeats this disease?

In a crisis, physicians should try anything that causes no harm.

There is dead silence on this -- as silent as the dead victims.

The media need to pursue this story. So do physicians. It is great news, if true.

It is a fluke that I found out about this at about 4 AM this morning. [Note: I don't believe in flukes.]

https://www.garynorth.com/public/20699.cfm

How Grandmother’s Gargling Remedy Could Help Abate The Coronavirus - By Dr. Bradley F. Bale and Dr. David J. Vigerust

Theoretically, the remedy your grandma gave you when you had a sore throat could be used as a proactive step to help kill Covid-19.

Many elders remember being told as youngsters to gargle with saltwater to avoid getting a cold or sore throat. Well, guess what? Grandma may not have known why this was a good idea scientifically, but that doesn’t make it any less effective.

We also know about the cleaning power of bleach and are using it to sanitize surfaces amid the coronavirus. Have you ever wondered why this works? A certain chemical, hypochlorous acid (HOCL), in the bleach kills pathogens, including fungus, bacterium, and virus. Obviously, it is not safe to inhale or ingest bleach. However, we do have an easy and safe alternative.

Cells lining the nose and throat can produce HOCL when they are bathed with chloride. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this exposure is using sodium chloride, better known as salt or saline. The more chloride presented to the cells, the more HOCL they generate.

The process was clearly presented in 2018 by Dr. Sandeep Ramalingam and his colleagues, who said, “Antiviral innate immune response in non-myeloid cells is augmented by chloride ions via an increase in intracellular hypochlorous acid levels.” Your white blood cells also produce HOCL, which plays a critical role in the initial immune response to a variety of infections, including COVID-19.

By cleansing your sinuses and breathing passages with hypertonic saline, you augment the natural killing mechanisms of your immune system. Theoretically, regular daily hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargle (HSNIG) could be a proactive step to kill the coronavirus.

The Science Speaks for Itself

Evidence suggests HSNIG is effective with other respiratory viruses. In a 2019 studypublished in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, Ramalingam and his colleagues studied 61 people who had developed a common cold. Interestingly, 31 percent of these colds were caused by one of the common coronaviruses.

Half of the people used HSNIG, and the other half did not. The hypertonic saline users had milder symptoms, and the duration of their colds was significantly blunted. More importantly, saline significantly reduced the spread of the virus to others by 35 percent. This is an important finding in the context of trying to contain the spreading of the virus.

A somewhat similar study was performed in 400 children 6-10 years old who developed colds and influenza. One-third of the children were treated with conventional medications while the other two-thirds used nasal saline spray.

After 12 weeks of observation, the children who used nasal saline regularly had quicker resolution of infection and less reappearance of illness. These studies indicate HSNIG can generate adequate levels of HOCL to mitigate the severity and duration of respiratory infections, and the HOCL levels are likely high enough to significantly reduce spreading the infections to others.

Recent evidence in COVID-19 biology indicates there is significant reproduction of the virus in the nose and throat during the first five days of symptoms. The research also indicates these newly produced viruses are highly infectious.

Additionally, we now know that patients can be highly infectious even in the absence of symptoms. Therefore, HSNIG might provide an opportunity to curtail the spread by killing these viruses during the initial asymptomatic incubation stage as well as the first five symptomatic days.

Thousands of people likely have occult COVID-19 infection, which means they can unknowingly infect others. Empirically, use of HSNIG by everyone, regardless of symptoms, could assist in stopping the pandemic. This prophylactic use of HSNIG is supported by a study in 46 adults followed for one year, which showed that using saline nasal rinse daily significantly reduced the incidence of upper respiratory infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says, “There is no evidence that regularly rinsing the nose with saline has protected people from infection with the new coronavirus.” The WHO is correct in that there have been no double-blind prospective trials of people with the virus using HSNIG, and it is not referencing the saline solution concentration mentioned in the previous studies.

However, studies have shown this technique does inhibit all common cold viruses, including the coronavirus (HCoV 229E). It is reasonable to believe HOCL will kill the coronavirus. Waiting for a definitive randomized trial to show this safe, simple, inexpensive therapy is effective for the coronavirus seems overly cautious in light of the science and danger from the ongoing pandemic.

Our country is taking bold actions to curtail the spread of COVID-19. In light of the tremendous transmission rate of the virus, it is our recommendation that everyone practice HSNIG.

While this hypothesis needs to be confirmed, we do not see a downside to implementing this very safe self-care approach now, in addition to the current measures of social distancing and personal hygiene. Within two weeks, grandma may be smiling as she watches her remedy dramatically reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Homemade Hypertonic Saline Solution

Ingredients:

·         4 cups of freshly boiled water (rolling boil for 3 minutes to purify)

·         2 tablespoons of sea salt or table salt (non-iodized salt preferred but not critical)

How to make:

·         Wash your hands thoroughly.

·         Choose a clean container or flask.

·         Add the salt. Pour the freshly boiled water into the container and mix thoroughly until salt completely dissolves.

·         Close the container with an airtight lid and store in the refrigerator.

·         Make a fresh batch every 24 hours.

·         To make a smaller batch, use 1 cup of water with 1 tablespoon of salt.

How to use: Go to this website for complete instructions on how to perform nasal irrigation and gargling.

Frequency of use:

·         If you have symptoms or a confirmed case of COVID-19, repeat the usage up to every two hours during the first few days as symptoms are present.

·         If you are asymptomatic and do not have known COVID-19, repeat the usage every four to six hours as a preventative measure.

·         At the time of publishing this article, we recommend all people in the United States do this hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargle.

·         We recommend continuation at least until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control no longer considers COVID-19 a serious threat in this country.

Dr. Bale is a professor at Texas Tech University and a specialist in prevention medicine. Dr. Vigerust is the president and chief scientific officer of ZDX Health, an infectious disease-focused health care company.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/27/how-grandmothers-gargling-remedy-could-help-abate-the-wuhan-virus/#disqus_thread