It sounds terrible and monstrous when put this baldly, but it's really about the same thing Sweden did. Here in the US do you remember the Lt. Governor of Texas saying that the elderly should be willing to sacrifice their lives to save the economy for their grandchildren's future.

Neither Europe or America prioritized saving the elderly. Both of them threw their over 65 populations under the bus at the start of Covid. Both of them are totally cool with the fact that even if those over 65 get vaccinated. They will risk death every year that a new strain of Covid comes around.

What's interesting about this is the timing. Why now?

Maybe it is just Xi, "facing the inevitable" but I find that unconvincing. Because no one is factoring in the Climate Crisis, all of the commentary on this seems somewhat delusional to me.

Xi and Putin are not fucking around. They are taking INSANE levels of risk and doing highly destabilizing things. They are openly interfering in US politics!

That's an act of war BTW under a strict interpretation of international law.

The massive risks they are taking and the frenzied pace of diplomacy going on, tells you that things are "happening" behind the curtain. A lot of my analysis on how bad things are, is built around how the people who have the best information are acting.