War by Biology !

 There is something very worrying about this coronavirus.  It delivers a reminder of just how out of control it has become and the sheer impossibility of getting civilian populations to take the extreme measures necessary to control outbreaks.

We know that military research is ongoing in many countries to develop biological weapons and we remember the days during the second world war when the people of Britain carried gas masks because there was the expectation that Nazi Germany could duplicate the use of poison gas used in the first world war and dtrop it from the air to cause mass death in British cities.

That didn't happen, but late in that second world war the Japanese had a plan to introduce Bubonic plague onto the west coast of America and this was only thwarted when the newly invented atomic bombs brought that war to an end.

Since then, biological weapons have been a threat in the hands of dictators who have made minor use of them to control their enemies.  All the major powers have carried out bioliogical weapon research and there is every indication that some promising weapon stocks are held in military reserves in case a future war goes badly.

This coronavirus is aptly demonstrating the damage a pandemic can do to the economy of countries which it invades and that lesson will not be lost on the war planners.  In a surprise attack, the aggressor could sit tight behind their own closed borders in the sure knowledge that the point of origin can not be determined with accurate certainty.

In the Middle Ages Bubonic plague spread across Europe, carried by the fleas that infest rats.  It was called the " Black death " and the people who survived gained immunity, but millions died and it set industrial progress back by many decades.  It transferred between many countries by way of slow sailing ships and in todays air age what took weeks would be achieved in a matter of hours.

There is a lesson to be learned from this coronavirus.  We live in a rebellious age and in every society there are people who refuse to abide by the measures put in place to stop the spread of the disease.We have an active element who refuse to wear a mask to inhhibit the spread of this disease and in doing so cause the contagion to gain new ground.

When borders are closed, there are many who seek ways to avoid the control points.  Infected people who have been ordered to remain isolated continue to lead a mobile lifestyle and vastly increase the lifetime of the pandemic.

It is though the coronvirus originated in the wet markets of Wuhan, China where bush animals are   slaughtered for human consumption.  The point of crossover was probably bats, but weapons laboratories in many countries have probably originated powerful new diseases which deliver a wider death rate spectrum.

Petrhaps the learning curve from avoiding the coronavirus may be what we need to shield us from the wars of the future !