WHO comes to the conclusion it agreed to reach

Probe ground rules stipulated in advance China would not be blamed. Imported frozen food or wildlife or undetected previous disease may be to blame.

Do the findings change anything about the politics surrounding COVID's origins?

China has expressed concern that any investigation would be 'politicized,' and said it would only cooperate if it was clear it would not be expected to take blame for the pandemic pic.twitter.com/Z8EUcud23g

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 10, 2021

By ruling out the lab leak and accepting that COVID-19 could have originated outside of China, the WHO team has not crossed any of Beijing’s lines. But the findings are unlikely to satisfy those who believe China is culpable and has covered up evidence pic.twitter.com/YuQobDjsft

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 10, 2021

Yet it’s important to keep returning to Mark Twain’s adage ad nauseam. It’s not what one believes or agrees to be true that’s true but what actually is true. God, or reality if you prefer, gets the last word. WHO didn’t cross the red line but that’s not the point.

The fact that politics can obstruct an investigation into a mega global disaster underscores how intellectually damned we are. If we can fake it there we’ll fake it anywhere.