The CCP's response is hard to fathom. Zero tolerance for Covid seems impossible to achieve - so why are they doubling down?

Possible answer: they're prepping

Disentanglement from the world in readiness for sanctions when they invade Taiwan. Pulling up the drawbridges.

Well, shit. I hadn't considered that that could be the reason, but you make a good point. I have been completely perplexed by their zero tolerance stance which they must realize is entirely impossible to achieve.

Well, you can maintain zero tolerance, but they'll never wipe out covid, and they know that, so what do they hope to achieve with zero tolerance? That has been what I've been wondering. Why are they doing it? Prepping might indeed be the answer.

There's a flip side of sorts as well. Because zero tolerance will ultimately lead to massive civil unrest, and because covid will eventually catch up with China and overrun it's health care system just as it did in other countries, albeit for a limited time, this may lead to China moving on Taiwan in order to deflect that civil unrest and to justify the straight jacket approach.

Either way you look at it, what's happening is not good. Either they stop the zero approach, lose face, and allow covid to take its natural course, which it will regardless, or they maintain this insanity which will have its breaking point. Perhaps its at that breaking point that a move on Taiwan would materialize. Let's hope not.

One thing i'm sure as hell about is that the West is not ready for what that disentanglement will look like - but maybe the CCP management is - or is getting ready for it. Who can keep their population under control the best when the shit hits the supply-chain fan?

This is why so many American have been stocking up on guns and ammo. It's not going to be pretty in the US.

It's not gonna be like Russia sanctions where the price of oil goes up, but not much else impact abroad - coz there's no where near the volume of trade with the West that China has. We're talking shelves emptying of everyday items overnight.

The US has no shortage of financial services and nail salons. That's about it.

That's if it's only a sanction war response like Ukraine. If it's shooting war then the internet and electricity are likely going out for extended periods.

I'm getting a little more concerned about this at some point going nuclear. It could happen in a heartbeat. Or we could see all sorts of old and new crazy weapons put to use, including chemical, biological, microwave... you name it. Cyber attacks will likely be the first to go full scale, and that might be all it takes to take everything off line, or worse.

Best place to be? I'd think where you are isn't bad. You at least have land and chickens. I used to think a small island would suck at such a time, now I'm rethinking that. The worst place would probably be some impersonal, large US metropolis or maybe, worse yet, the impoverished US semi-rural areas where everybody is armed to the teeth and hungry. Yikes.