That's why I think the drug problem's worse.

Shabu is a name related to a kind of soup and the sound it makes as it cooks, as well as a regional term for meth. (They don't call it a cook for nothing.) Not such a stretch to consider that its production, distribution, and sale would gain a profit from a neighbor and smaller rival while weakening their population and their ties to a larger rival - though of course I won't discount the active participation of that population in their own addiction. (And I can't shake this feeling of deja vu.)

Also, recent news in the feed reads that medical exports are the means by which one government would exert leverage on another, considering the latter's near-total reliance on the former as a source. Oddly reassuring that this sort of news has been covered and considered by both sides of this particular conflict over the past few years, but especially important now, I think.

I wonder if that government realizes that the current news feed gives additional weight to the speculation that the disease going round is more profitable to the country in which it started than to the country it accuses of spreading it? (Note that I still differentiate between the government and its people - selling its food, clothing, even entertainment that depicts its history, is not the same as supporting a government that's a threat to other countries it's tied to as well as its own citizens.)

Seeking peace is one thing, appeasement is another, and both are historically ineffective on a government that will not be appeased. 谢谢 for the reminder.

Make a choice - go on back to those card games** (gender? race? credit? tarot?) because <screech> everything's fine and cancel whoever says otherwise </screech>, or snap out of it and get stronger. Gardening, knitting, pickled eggs, and sauerkraut may not be much, but demanding sweeping policy change isn't the only way to get something done, and it doesn't take much mining to find those who are already doing more than shouting and holding up signs.

Another thought - there was a wealthy family penalized for profiting off opioid sales. How difficult would it be for them, as part of that penalty, to use their existing resources to increase domestic production and reduce reliance on a self-declared enemy that would use its medical exports to drown a rival? (Or maybe we're too busy with pretty, pricey things and huff puff passing?)

** Meanwhile, a gathering of heads of health-based companies come together to respond to the current problem, and the commentary focuses on card games and screeches about incompetence. It's as if the coverage on this issue is doing its best to emphasize that "clown" is the key word connecting East and West right now.