>The only thing we gain by admitting to lab leak is the truth but is the truth (that we've pretty much deduced at this point) worth worsening relations not only politically but gives anti-Chinese factions in the west more evidence as a prelude to war?
IMO yes, not because it might give anti-China warhawks a casus belli, but in spite of that.
Since the start of this whole ordeal, instead of taking a step back and do some serious introspection about the risks of their research conduct, these misguided virologists and their institutions have doubled down on GoF research. And if that was indeed the ultimate cause triggering the cascade of events leading to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, which I personally think is the most probable scenario given all the circumstantial and genetic evidence we have, then it is absolutely worth it to prevent another lab leak. The next one might not be as mild as this one.
I wonder which would realistically be worse... full blown war with China or a real, Black Plague/Spanish Flu (I know, not Spanish) level pandemic? Not disagreeing with you, genuinely just interested in the thought experiment. I guess maybe there's a line after which the level of "bad" is kind of irrelevant anyways.
IMO yes, not because it might give anti-China warhawks a casus belli, but in spite of that.
Since the start of this whole ordeal, instead of taking a step back and do some serious introspection about the risks of their research conduct, these misguided virologists and their institutions have doubled down on GoF research. And if that was indeed the ultimate cause triggering the cascade of events leading to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, which I personally think is the most probable scenario given all the circumstantial and genetic evidence we have, then it is absolutely worth it to prevent another lab leak. The next one might not be as mild as this one.