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A thread on the election of China's handpicked Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus (the first non-physician to ever lead the organization, FWIW), and how he came to lead the organization tasked with out global health. (Spoiler: he was supported by many current armchair QBs)
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The procedure for choosing the Director General changed in 2016. "Previously, the WHO’s leaders were selected by the executive board, and merely ratified by the Assembly five months later." http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2016/05/secret-vote-on-who-bodes-ill-for-future-of-global-health/
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In the 2017 vote, the leader was chosen by a secret-ballot vote, in which even the smallest countries (33k+ citizens) had the same voting power as countries like India. Who does that benefit? China, upon whom many developing countries now rely financially.
The two major candidates were Tedros and Dr. David Nabarro of the UK. When campaigning began in 2016, "Barack Obama’s administration backed Tedros, admiring his track record as minister of health." The Trump administration later opposed him. https://www.cfr.org/blog/tedros-taiwan-and-trump-what-they-tell-us-about-chinas-growing-clout-global-health
But Tedros's "track record as minister of health" in Ethiopia included accusations that he covered up cholera epidemics due to politics. In fact, WHO officials "complained privately that Ethiopian officials are not telling the truth about these outbreaks" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/health/candidate-who-director-general-ethiopia-cholera-outbreaks.html
Even after the Trump administration took charge, Foreign Policy noted that Tedros had received the endorsement of "many former Obama administration officials." https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/22/whos-going-to-be-the-next-leader-of-who/
When Tedros took charge, one of his first acts was to make Robert Mugabe a "Global Health Ambassador." Even Justin Trudeau called it a "bad April Fool's Joke." A WaPo column said "some speculate that Tedros’s decision" was "a pay-off to China." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/10/25/another-week-another-scandal-at-the-united-nations/
Tedros's WHO also released a press release after he took charge, touting a "New Vision for a Strengthened Partnership Between WHO and China." A year later, another one: "Expanding the Strategic Partnership Between WHO and China."
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/21-08-2017-new-vision-and-strengthened-partnership-for-who-and-china https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/18-07-2018-building-from-strength-expanding-the-strategic-partnership-between-who-and-china
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/21-08-2017-new-vision-and-strengthened-partnership-for-who-and-china https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/18-07-2018-building-from-strength-expanding-the-strategic-partnership-between-who-and-china
Overwhelming evidence shows that the WHO covered up the pandemic for China, costing thousands of lives. China's preferred candidate was a crucial reason for that.
So, for the Monday-morning QBs in the Obama sphere, do you admit you completely botched this crucial decision?
So, for the Monday-morning QBs in the Obama sphere, do you admit you completely botched this crucial decision?
Furthermore, given that you promoted the guy who helped enable this pandemic, why the hell should we take your "we would have done xyz to prevent this" prehysterics seriously?
