(1) Video: The New Normal(2) Boris Johnson on Tech: Helpful robots, or terminators sent to cull the human race?(3) 5G surveillance & digital currency will lead to Slavery - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(4) Risk with the new types of Vaccines(5) Thymus gland hormone is a remedy for Covid-19(6) Alliance of Rothschild and Pope - F. William Engdahl(7) Stanford researchers develop nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine that doesn’t need cold storage(8) Belarus Exposes the Lockdown Lie(1) Video: The New Normalhttps://brandnewtube.com/watch/the-new-normal-documentary-by-happen-network_17LtiNgcztLfDl9.htmlThe New Normal Documentary by happen.network ==In this video, Joe Biden promises to defend "Automation and Globalization".(2) Boris Johnson on Tech: Helpful robots, or terminators sent to cull the human race?https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2019/09/transcript-boris-johnsons-remarks-un-general-assembly/The transcript of Boris Johnson's remarks at the UN General AssemblyBRUCE STERLING09.26.2019 03:15 AMHTTPS://WWW.GOV.UK/GOVERNMENT/SPEECHES/PM-SPEECH-TO-THE-UN-GENERAL-ASSEMBLY-24-SEPTEMBER-2019Mr President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, faithful late night audience.It is customary for the British Prime Minister to come to this United Nations and pledge to advance our values and defend our rules, the rules of a peaceful world. From protecting freedom of navigation in the GulfTo persevering in the vital task of achieving a two-state solution to the conflict in the Middle East.And of course I am proud to do all of these things.But no-one can ignore a gathering force that is reshaping the future of every member of this Assembly.There has been nothing like it in historyWhen I think of the great scientific revolutions of the past - print, the steam engine, aviation, the atomic age - I think of new tools that we acquired but over which we - the human race - had the advantage,Which we controlled.That is not necessarily the case in the digital age.You may keep secrets from your friends, from your parents, your children, your doctor – even your personal trainer – but it takes real effort to conceal your thoughts from Google.And if that is true today, in future there may be nowhere to hide.Smart cities will pullulate with sensors, all joined together by the "internet of things", bollards communing invisibly with lamp postsSo there is always a parking space for your electric car,so that no bin goes unemptied, no street unswept,and the urban environment is as antiseptic as a Zurich pharmacy.But this technology could also be used to keep every citizen under round-the-clock surveillance.A future Alexa will pretend to take orders.But this Alexa will be watching you,Clucking her tongue and stamping her footIn the future, voice connectivity will be in every room and almost every object:your mattress will monitor your nightmares; your fridge will beep for more cheese,your front door will sweep wide the moment you approach, like some silent butler; your smart meter will go hustling - if its accord - for the cheapest electricity.And every one of them minutely transcribing your every habit in tiny electronic shorthand,Stored not in their chips or their innards - nowhere you can find it,But in some great cloud of data that looms ever more oppressively over the human raceA giant dark thundercloudwaiting to burstAnd we have no control over how or when the precipitation will take placeAnd every day that we tap on our phones or work on our ipads - as I see some of you doing now -We not only leave our indelible spoor in the etherBut we are ourselves becoming a resourceClick by click, tap by tap.Just as the carboniferous period created the indescribable wealth - leaf by decaying leaf - of hydrocarbons.Data is the crude oil of the modern economyAnd we are now in an environment whereWe don’t know who should own these new oil fieldsWe don’t always know who should have the rights or the title to these gushers of cashAnd we don’t know who decides how to use that dataCan these algorithms be trusted with our lives and hopes?Should the machines - and only the machines - decide whether or not we are eligible for a mortgage or insuranceOr what surgery or medicines we should receive?Are we doomed to a cold and heartless future in which computer says yes - or computer says noWith the grim finality of an emperor in the arena?How do you plead with an algorithm? How do you get it to see the extenuating circumstancesAnd how do we know that the machines have not been insidiously programmed to fool us or even to cheat us?We already use all kinds of messaging services that offer instant communication at minimal cost.The same programmes, platforms, could also be designed for real-time censorship of every conversation, with offending words automatically deleted, indeed in some countries this happens today.Digital authoritarianism is not, alas, the stuff of dystopian fantasy but of an emerging reality.The reason I am giving this speech today is that the UK is one of the world’s tech leaders - and I believe governments have been simply caught unawares by the unintended consequences of the internet;A scientific breakthrough more far-reaching in its everyday psychological impact than any other invention since GutenbergAnd when you consider how long it took for books to come into widespread circulationThe arrival of the internet is far bigger than printIt is bigger than the atomic age -But it is like nuclear power in that it is capable of both good and harm - but of course it is not aloneAs new technologies seem to race towards us from the far horizonWe strain our eyes as they come, to make out whether they are for good or bad - friends or foes?AI - what will it mean?Helpful robots washing and caring for an ageing population?or pink eyed terminators sent back from the future to cull the human race?What will synthetic biology stand for - restoring our livers and our eyes with miracle regeneration of the tissues, like some fantastic hangover cure?Or will it bring terrifying limbless chickens to our tables.Will nanotechnology help us to beat disease, or will it leave tiny robots to replicate in the crevices of our cells?It is a trope as old as literature that any scientific advance is punished by the GodsWhen Prometheus brought fire to mankindIn a tube of fennel, as you may remember, that Zeus punished him by chaining him to a tartarean crag while his liver was pecked out by an eagleAnd every time his liver regrew the eagle came back and pecked it againAnd this went on for ever - a bit like the experience of Brexit in the UK, if some of our parliamentarians had their way.In fact it was standard poetic practice to curse the protos heuretes - the person responsible for any scientific or technical breakthroughIf only they had never invented the ship, then Jason would never have sailed to Colchis and all sorts of disasters would never have happenedAnd it is a deep human instinct to be wary of any kind of technical progressIn 1829 they thought the human frame would not withstand the speeds attained by Stephenson’s rocketAnd there are today people today who are actually still anti-science.A whole movement called the anti-Vaxxers, who refuse to acknowledge the evidence that vaccinations have eradicated smallpoxAnd who by their prejudices are actually endangering the very children they want to protectAnd I totally reject this anti-scientific pessimism.I am profoundly optimistic about the ability of new technology to serve as a liberator and remake the world wondrously and benignly,indeed in countless respects technology isalready doing just that.Today, nanotechnology - as I mentioned earlier - is revolutionising medicine by designing robots a fraction of the size of a red blood cell,capable of swimming through our bodies, dispensing medicine and attacking malignant cells like some Star Wars armadaNeural interface technology is producing a new generation of cochlear implants,allowing the gift of hearing to people who would not otherwise be able to hear the voices of their children.A London technology company has worked out how to help the blind to navigate more freely with nothing more than an app on their smartphones -New technologies, produced in Britain, helping the deaf to hear and the blind to see.And we used to think that printing was something you did to run off a boarding cardNow a British company has used 3D printing to make an engine capable of blasting a rocket into space.In African countries, millions of people without bank accounts can now transfer money using a simple app;they can buy solar energy and leap in one transaction from no electricity to green power.And new advances are making renewable energy ever cheaper, aiding our common struggle against climate change.Our understanding of the natural world is being transformed by genome sequencing.The discovery of the very essence of life itselfThe secret genetic code that animates the spirit of every living being.And allows medical breakthroughs the like of which we have never known.Treatments tailored to the precise genetic makeup of the individual.So far, we have discovered the secrets of less than 0.3 percent of complex life on the planet,Think what we will achieve when – and it is a matter of when – we understand 1 or 2 percent, let alone 5 or 10 percent.But how we design the emerging technologies behind these breakthroughs – and what values inform their design –will shape the future of humanity. That is my point to you tonight my friends, my Excellencies -At stake is whether we bequeath an Orwellian world, designed for censorship, repression and control,or a world of emancipation, debate and learning, where technology threatens famine and disease, but not our freedoms.Seven decades ago, this General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with no dissenting voices,uniting humanity for the first and perhaps only time behind one set of principles.And our declaration - our joint declaration - upholds "freedom of opinion and expression",the "privacy" of "home or correspondence,"and the right to "seek…and impart information and ideas".Unless we ensure that new technology reflects this spirit, I fear that our declaration will mean nothing and no longer hold.So the mission of the United Kingdom and all who share our values must be to ensure that emerging technologies are designed from the outset for freedom, openness and pluralism,with the right safeguards in place to protect our peoples.Month by month, vital decisions are being taken in academic committees, company boardrooms and industry standards groups.They are writing the rulebooks of the future, making ethical judgements, choosing what will or will not be rendered possible.Together, we need to ensure that new advances reflect our values by design.There is excellent work being done in the EU, the Commonwealth, and of course the UN,which has a vital role in ensuring that no country is excluded from the wondrous benefits of this technology, and the industrial revolution it is bringing about.But we must be still more ambitious.We need to find the right balance between freedom and control; between innovation and regulation; between private enterprise and government oversight.We must insist that the ethical judgements inherent in the design of new technology are transparent to all.And we must make our voices heard more loudly in the standards bodies that write the rules.Above all, we need to agree a common set of global principles to shape the norms and standards that will guide the development of emerging technology.So - here’s the good news - I invite you next year to a summit in London, a wonderful city, where by the way it is not raining 94 per cent of the time, and where at one stage - when I was Mayor of London - we discovered that we had more Michelin starred restaurants even than Paris. The French somehow rapidly recovered - by a process that I wasn’t quite sure was entirely fair. But we still have by far, in the UK, by far the biggest tech sector - fintech, biotech, meditech, nanotech, green tech - every kind of tech - in London - the biggest tech sector anywhere in Europe, perhaps half a million people working in tech alone.I hope you will come there, where we will seek to assemble the broadest possible coalition to take forward this vital taskBuilding on all that the UK can contribute to this mission as a global leader in ethical and responsible technology.If we master this challenge – and I have no doubt that we can – then we will not only safeguard our ideals,we will surmount the limits that once constrained humanity and conquer the perils that once ended so many lives.Together, we can vanquish killer diseases, eliminate famine,protect the environment and transform our cities.Success will depend, now as ever, on freedom, openness and pluralism,the formula that not only emancipates the human spirit, but releases the boundless ingenuity and inventiveness of mankind,and which, above all, the United Kingdom will strive to preserve and advance.Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your kind attention.Published 25 September 2019(3) 5G surveillance & digital currency will lead to Slavery - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.https://www.abscondo.com/abscondo/2020/08/robert-f-kennedy-transcript-of-the-historic-speech-in-berlin-on-august-28th-2020-text-quotes.htmlRobert F. Kennedy - transcript of the historic speech in Berlin on August 28th, 2020"Back at home, in the United States, the newspapers are saying that I came here today to speak to about 5,000 Nazis. Tomorrow, they are going to report that, yes, I was here, that I spoke to maybe 3,000 to 5,000 Nazis.But I look at this crowd and I see the opposite of Nazism. I see people who love democracy—people who want open government, people who want leaders who are not going to lie to them, people who want leaders who will not make up arbitrary rules and regulations to orchestrate the obedience of the population.We want health officials who don’t have financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical industry—who are working for us. We want officials who care about our children’s health, and not about pharmaceutical profits or government control.I look in this crowd, I see all the flags of Europe. I see people of every color, I see people from every nation, every religion—all caring about human dignity, about children’s health, about love of freedom—this is the opposite of Nazism.The governments love pandemics. They love pandemics for the same reason they love war. It gives them the ability to impose controls on the population that the population would otherwise never accept—creating institutions and mechanisms for orchestrating and imposing obedience.I will tell you something: it is a mystery to me, how all these big, important people like Bill Gates and Tony Fauci were planning and thinking about this pandemic for decades—planning it so that we would all be safe when the pandemic finally came. And yet, now that it is here, they don’t seem to know what they are talking about.They cannot tell you what the case fatality rate for COVID is, that’s basic. They cannot give us a PCR test that actually works. They don’t have—they have to change the definition of COVID on the death certificates, constantly, to make it look more and more dangerous. The one thing they are good at is pumping up fear.75 years ago, Hermann Göring testified at the Nuremberg Trials. He was asked, "How did you make the German people go along with all this?" And he said, "It’s not anything to do with Nazism. It has to do with human nature. You can do this in a Nazi regime. You can do it in a Socialist regime. You can do it in a Communist regime. You can do it in a monarchy or a democracy. The only thing the government needs to make people into slaves is fear."50 years ago, my uncle John Kennedy came to this city because Berlin was the frontline against global totalitarianism. And today again, Berlin is the frontline against global totalitarianism. He proudly said to the people of Germany, "Ich bin ein Berliner." All of us who are here today can proudly say once again, "Ich bin ein Berliner." We are the frontline against totalitarianism.And to say one more thing: they have done a very good job of not protecting public health, but they have done a very good job using the quarantine to bring 5G in and are in the process to shifting us all to a digital currency—which is the beginning of slavery. Because if they control your bank account, they control your behavior. And we all see these advertisements on television, saying 5G is a great thing coming to you, it’s gonna change your lives and make all your lives better. It sounds very convincing, I have to say. As I look at those ads and I think, that’s great, I can hardly wait until it gets here. Because I will be able to download a video game in 6 seconds instead of 16 seconds. Is that why they are spending $5 trillion on 5G?No, it’s not for you and me. It’s for Bill Gates, it’s for Zuckerberg. Bill Gates says that his satellite fleet will be able to look at every square inch of the planet 24 hours a day. That’s only the beginning. He hopes to be able to follow you through all of your smart devices, facial recognition, GPS. You think that Alexa is working for you? She isn’t working for you. She’s working for Bill Gates, spying on you.And the pandemic is a crisis of convenience—for the elites who are dictating these policies. It gives them the ability to obliterate the middle class, to destroy the institutions of democracy, to shift all of our wealth, from all of us, to a handful of billionaires to make themselves rich by impoverishing the rest of us. And the only thing that’s between them and our children is this crowd who has come to Berlin.We are going to show them! We are going to demand our democracy back! Thank you very much for fighting!"(4) Risk with the new types of VaccinesSubject: What is the risk with the new types of vaccines ?From: JP Desmoulins <jean-pierre.desmoulins@orange.fr>Hi PeterChristian Vélot, a french researcher on mollecular biology, explains why the new ARN or ADN vaccines can produce a new variant of the SARS COV 2, potentially much more dangerous than the original brand.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73-oxZsSWQ0&feature=youtu.beVideo in french, subtitled in english. I found the english subtitles very clean, obviously rewritten by an human with a good knowledge of english grammar and vocabulary, and not in the loosy machine style of automatic translations.A must see video. Raises the question of using the chinese vaccines or some others, currently under test, made with proved technologies, instead of innovations potentially deadly on a huge scale.(5) Thymus gland hormone is a remedy for Covid-19From: JUDY schuchmann <judyschuchmann1@gmail.com>https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/01/no_author/when-no-one-was-looking-dietary-supplements-cured-cancer-covid-19/Thymus Gland Hormone Demonstrably Raises T-Cell Counts, Slashes Deaths by 272% Among Severely-Ill COVID-19 Patients Without Side Effects; Also Could Be Cancer Cure; Can Be Mimicked With Zinc PillsIn an astounding study the public has not heard about, the subcutaneous (under the skin) injection of just 1.6 milligrams of a thymus gland hormone (thymosin alpha-1) for seven days among patients with severe deathbed COVID-19 coronavirus disease dramatically increases T-cell counts and slashes the mortality rate by 272% (from 30% to 11%) without side effects.This astonishing study, which emanates from Wuhan, China, the initial epicenter for the COVID-19 pandemic, indicates a life-saving remedy for severe COVID-19 coronavirus infections is at hand. The report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, is a landmark study because of its demonstrable effect even among the most severely ill patients facing imminent death.In a parallel study published in the journal International Immunopharmacology, short-term thymus gland hormone treatment (5 or more days) dramatically reduced survival at the 28-day point but not 60-day mortality, presumably because treatment was not continued.In recent times it has become evident that T-cells (white blood cells produced in the thymus gland) are superior to antibodies in providing long-term immunity against infectious disease. T-memory cells not only activate antibodies but are able to "completely suppress viral replication or completely eradicate the virus."(6) Alliance of Rothschild and Pope - F. William Engdahlhttps://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2020-12-08/the-council-for-inclusive-capitalism-with-the-vatican-a-new-alliance-of-global-business-leaders-launches-today-kifinm13The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican, A New Alliance Of Global Business Leaders, Launches TodayDecember 8, 2020, 12:01 AM ESTPR NewswireNEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2020THE COUNCIL ANSWERS THE CHALLENGE BY POPE FRANCIS   TO APPLY PRINCIPLES OF MORALITY TO BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT PRACTICESORGANIZATIONS COMMIT TO CONCRETE ACTION TO CREATE A MORE EQUITABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND TRUSTED ECONOMIC SYSTEMNEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --  The Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican ("the Council"), a historic new partnership between some of the world's largest investment and business leaders and the Vatican, launched today. It signifies the urgency of joining moral and market imperatives to reform capitalism into a powerful force for the good of humanity. Under the moral guidance of His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson, who leads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Vatican, and inspired by the moral imperative of all faiths, the Council invites companies of all sizes to harness the potential of the private sector to build a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable economic foundation for the world.The Council is led by a core group of global leaders, known as Guardians for Inclusive Capitalism, who meet annually with Pope Francis and Cardinal Turkson. These leaders represent more than $10.5 trillion in assets under management, companies with over $2.1 trillion of market capitalization, and 200 million workers in over 163 countries. The organization challenges business and investment leaders of all sizes to embrace the Council's guiding principles and make public commitments to act on them. These collective actions are intended to lead to systemic change by making capitalism a greater force for inclusivity and sustainability. Watch a video of the Guardians discussing the Council's mission here .Speaking to the Guardians, Pope Francis said, "An economic system that is fair, trustworthy, and capable of addressing the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet is urgently needed. You have taken up the challenge by seeking ways to make capitalism become a more inclusive instrument for integral human wellbeing."The Guardians have already committed to hundreds of measurable actions, and Council members will make ongoing commitments to continue to advance inclusive capitalism. They will be accountable for their public commitments and invite businesses around the world to join.  View the full list of actions being taken here ."Capitalism has created enormous global prosperity, but it has also left too many people behind, led to degradation of our planet, and is not widely trusted in society," said Lynn Forester de Rothschild , Founder of the Council and Managing Partner of Inclusive Capital Partners. "This Council will follow the warning from Pope Francis to listen to 'the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor' and answer society's demands for a more equitable and sustainable model of growth."(7) Stanford researchers develop nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine that doesn’t need cold storagehttps://www.rt.com/news/511701-stanford-single-dose-covid-vaccine/Stanford researchers developing single-dose nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine that doesn’t need cold storage6 Jan, 2021 19:19Researchers have successfully tested a nanoparticle Covid-19 vaccine which, as yet, doesn’t appear to have any of the side effects or distribution issues plaguing the current generation of vaccines in use.The scientists at the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim were already working on vaccines for the likes of Ebola, HIV and pandemic influenza when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and they quickly channeled all of their efforts into fighting the new scourge.The team has already produced and tested a promising new vaccine which could provide the solution to many of the issues frustrating global vaccination efforts."Our goal is to make a single-shot vaccine that does not require a cold-chain for storage or transport. If we’re successful at doing it well, it should be cheap too," said Kim, a professor of biochemistry at the university."The target population for our vaccine is low- and middle-income countries."The nanoparticles themselves are riddled with the same proteins that give the coronavirus the 'crown' from which its name is derived, and which allow it to enter and infect human cells, hijacking the cellular machinery inside to self-replicate more of the virus.Nanoparticle vaccines are often just as effective as their virus-based counterparts, while encountering fewer of the drawbacks.For example, nanoparticle vaccines can be produced faster, don't require the extensive cold storage supply chain for delivery to immunization centers, are less likely to produce side effects, and can be produced at a lower cost, if all goes to plan.Early results from vaccine tests on mice indicate that Stanford's nanoparticle inoculation may grant immunity after just one dose.The researchers are hopeful that the final form of the vaccine could be stored at room temperature and may even be distributed in powder form which, if achievable, would be vastly more straightforward to deliver across the globe.Many of the current generation of vaccines, such as those produced by Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna, must be stored at temperatures ranging from eight to -70 degrees Celsius (46 to -94 degrees Fahrenheit), necessitating advanced cold storage infrastructure in order to disseminate, effectively cutting off disadvantaged or far-flung sections of the Earth from the vaccine."[We] think it is a solid starting point for what could be a single-dose vaccine regimen that doesn’t rely on using a virus to generate protective antibodies following vaccination," says lead author Abigail Powell.(8) Belarus Exposes the Lockdown Liehttps://off-guardian.org/2020/12/19/how-belarus-exposes-the-lockdown-lie/Dec 19, 2020  255How Belarus Exposes the Lockdown LieRachel AllenMost European governments instituted the shutdown of economies, restrictions on freedom of movement and other policies known as lockdown. This was allegedly in response to the spread of Sars-Cov-2, a dangerous respiratory virus that originated in Wuhan, China.Few countries rejected this approach; Sweden is the most well known of these. However, a more interesting case of dissent from the official narrative is Belarus and its leader Aleksandr Lukashenka.This article will outline Lukashenka’s approach to the alleged pandemic, followed by an analysis of death figures and how the Belarussian case exposes the lies of lockdown advocates.THE BELARUSSIAN APPROACH TO COVID 19The alleged pandemic broke out in Europe in March 2020, and most European governments followed the severe strategy of imposing lockdowns. Lukashenka’s response was much more limited. A Belarussian press release from the 25th March talks about the quarantines set up for people who enter Belarus:Quarantine stations were set up at all the points of entry. Screening measures include temperature checks. This system of control really works, [healthcare minister] Vladimir Karanik noted. This helped identify symptoms of a viral infection in more than 250 people, however the absolute majority of them had influenza, parainfluenza, and adenovirus. If a person tests positive for coronavirus, healthcare workers put their contacts under medical observation. "Such a targeted approach helps curb the spread of the virus," the minister said."Lukashenka also advocated staying at home if one has symptoms of the virus. He also famously made some comments – reported widely in the Western media – giving health advice:I am teetotal, but in recent times I say jokingly, that it is necessary to not only wash hands with vodka, but probably that [consuming] 40-50 grams of a measure of clean spirit a day – [can] "poison" [in commas in original text] this virus. But not at work." He then says that "Today, go to the sauna. But if [you go] two-three times a week that is even healthier. The Chinese have told us that this virus cannot withstand temperatures of 60 degrees".Overall, the Belarussian approach has been the least authoritarian in Europe. Belarussian football went ahead as normal and fans were allowed to continue attending games. Theatres, cafes and other social events continued and there was no shutdown of the economy. Victory Day Parades also went ahead on the 9th May despite being cancelled in countries such as Russia. Neither did Lukashenka delay scheduled elections, unlike Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.Western media treated Lukashenka’s approach as a laughable curiosity (in cases where they did not ignore it entirely). They mocked Lukashenka’s comments about vodka and saunas, using this was a way to avoid asking any deeper questions.According to the official narrative, Belarus should have been a zone of death, destruction and disaster. Neil Ferguson’s modelling – one of the key pieces of propaganda used to put Britain in lockdown – predicted that left unchecked Covid 19 would kill between 54,090 and 71,616 Belarussians.So what are the facts?COVID DEATHS AND BELARUSThe population of Belarus is around 9.5million. Of this population, as of December 12, 2020, a total of 1,263 deaths are recorded as being from Covid 19. It appears the first death in Belarus attributed to this disease was Mar 31, with between 2 and 11 deaths recorded each day up until Dec.12.It goes without saying that 1,263 deaths out of a population of 9.5m is minuscule and hardly indicative of a deadly pandemic sweeping the country. But critics of the Belarussian approach may claim that Lukashenka is hiding the reality of Covid 19 deaths in the country.The most logical way to examine this question is to look at whether there are any excess deaths in Belarus in general over this period, and if so, how many. Of course, just because there were excess deaths would not prove that the deaths were caused – or otherwise – by hidden cases of Covid 19. But a relatively low number of excess deaths would reveal that the claim that Lukashenka is hiding mass deaths from Covid 19 is not plausible.According to the data, there were some excess deaths in Belarus in the second quarter of 2020 (April, May and June). 35,858 died in Belarus during this period, 5606 higher than in 2019. Examining the data, we can see that the vast majority of these excess deaths were in June, with virtually none in April and a small excess in May.This figure is rather small compared with the predictions of doom and destruction put forward by the likes of Neil Ferguson.BELARUS VS ENGLAND AND WALESA comparison with another country that did pursue lockdowns gives further evidence that the scaremongering predictions regarding the consequences of not locking down are unfounded.This analysis was performed by taking the number of excess deaths for Belarus and then calculating the same figures for England and Wales from the weekly death data from 2019 and 2020. Belarus had 5605 excess deaths in April, May and June 2020 from a population of 9.5 million. England and Wales had 54,798 excess deaths in the same period from a population of 59.5 million.The population of England and Wales is 6.26 times larger than that of Belarus, so dividing the 54,798 figure by 6.26 gives a result of 8754. If Belarus had the same excess death rate as England and Wales another 3,149 deaths in Belarus would have been observed. Or to phrase this data another way, if England and Wales had the same excess death rate as Belarus, there would have been 19,711 fewer deaths over the period.The BMJ’s article on Belarus: Saving the Case for Lockdowns?This evidence looks damning for lockdown supporters. However, there is one attempt to explain the low Belarus death rate despite the fact that there was no lockdown there, printed in the British Medical Journal. The article puts forward four reasons why Belarus has a low death rate, some of which offer comparative data with the UK.The first reason given in the article is that Belarus has a much higher amount of beds per capita – 11 per 1000 as opposed to the UK’s 2.5 per 1000.Health services generally strike a balance between having enough beds available to deal with a crisis, and not so many that money is being wasted on unnecessary beds. The argument can be made that the NHS gets the balance wrong and leans towards having too few beds per capita. For example, the UK had a large number of flu cases in the 2017-2018 season with hospitals having high bed occupancy rates.However, bed occupancy in the UK significantly decreased due to the lockdowns and NHS policy of discharging as many patients as possible. On the 13th April, a few weeks into lockdown, acute beds were 40% unoccupied. This hardly suggests a health service that would have been totally overwhelmed had it not locked down (for comparison, NHS beds are usually 90% full). It may actually have been the case that the lockdown cost lives by cancelling treatment, expelling people from hospitals and promoting a fear based message that discouraged people from seeking treatment.Another main argument of the article is that Belarus has a small number of elderly people in care homes (it has 203 per 100,000, as opposed to the UK 854 per 100,000). It is true that a respiratory pathogen will find it easier to spread in an environment like a care home because of the close proximity of vulnerable individuals. It is also true that the UK had a large number of care home deaths during this period.However, the UK government policy towards care homes likely contributed at least some of the excess deaths caused during this period. People in care homes were routinely denied hospital treatment and were unable to get access to GPs. The lack of visits by family caused many elderly patients to mentally give up and their condition deteriorated. Any deaths that resulted from this, therefore, cannot be attributed to a virus but government policy.The argument also fails as a motivation for lockdowns. If the majority of deaths are in the fairly contained environment such as a care home, locking down the whole society, such as closing shops and sports events, is going to have no effect on transmission within that environment.Two other reasons given in the article – the better Belarussian testing system, and the lack of interest in Belarus as a travel destination – also do not have any bearings on whether lockdowns are an effective strategy.There is no evidence of people with a positive test but no symptoms being infectious. It follows that testing more people isn’t going to lead to fewer deaths, so this cannot explain the low Belarus death rate without a lockdown. Belarus did carry out quarantine measures, whereas the UK continued to allow flights into the country.The piece argues that it is easier for Belarus (than the UK) to close its borders because it is not a major travel destination, which is true, but it can’t seriously be argued that setting up quarantine measures costs more than shutting down the entire country. Once any hypothetical virus is also present in a country in significant numbers quarantine also becomes irrelevant.CONCLUSIONThe Belarussian case is a significant problem for those individuals who argue that lockdowns were necessary to prevent mass deaths from the deadly Covid 19 pandemic. The limited measures taken in Belarus meant a lower death rate than lockdown supporting England and Wales. There are also no clear arguments as to why Belarus is so unique it could go without lockdowns while other countries had them.Given the cost to the economy and mental wellbeing of imposing lockdowns, as well as the draconian restrictions on basic liberties, these facts strongly suggest that leaders that did impose lockdowns have a case to answer from their citizens.Rachel Allen is an independent writer and activist living in the UK. Her work can be found at her website Cassandra’s Box