Socotra House LLC relies on an extensive network of alert readers to report on the disparate reports from around the globe. China insiders claimed the top Counterintellignce officer in the PRC was the “Source” identified by the Defense Intelligence Agency as an authority on the origin of the COVID virus. His name- “Dong Jingwei-” was floated as proof of dissension in the Chinese hierarchy. If that was true, Dong would have been the highest ranking such defector in the hundred year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Rumors swirled that Chinese officials had demanded Dong’s return at the frosty-toned Alaska diplomatic meeting between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Ji and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Then, this week, Chinese authorities released pictures from a 23 June senior-level internal conference in Shanghai showing Dong as “present.” That evidence was intended to squelch rumors of conflict in the Chinese leadership.

Naturally, It instead provoked accusations the Chinese had “photoshopped” the image. Since a short video of Dong talking about some current event would have provided demonstrable “proof of life,” the controversy continued. There are claims there is a continuing “No Defection Oath” being circulated in PRC government circles. The Writers Group is somnolent on the matter, partly due to lack of decent coffee at the Bunkhouse and failure to be included on electronic distribution for the oath. Or anything, for that matter. Instead, the section moved the matter of Dong’s defection from the “things we are pretty sure about” bin and back into the “We dunno” category. In keeping with new journalistic tradition, we only know that sometimes reliable US government sources claim there are other unidentified sources.

Then they began talking about concepts for lunch.

The only clear agreement, aside from the absence of a preference for Chinese today, but perhaps tomorrow. Aside from dining issues, it appears there are opposing narratives in play. One is that it is business as usual.

The other is that there is something happening in the Chinese leadership, and we don’t know what it is. Confident in at least that assessment, they held a moment of silence for a government official for whom controversy was no stranger. Word had passed that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had passed of natural causes at the age of 88. It provoked a lot of memories in the crowd. Some pleasant. Some not so.

But the general consensus was that to have lived a life like his, and to have passed amid family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico, was about as good as it gets. No matter how many narratives he leaves behind.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
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