© Bloomberg
This epidemic began in China last year, and it is now also running wild in North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines. But this crisis is certainly not limited to Asia. According
to the Washington Post, so far in 2019 there have also been outbreaks "in Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine."
Overall, cases of African Swine Fever have been documented "in nearly 50 nations", and U.S. pork producers are extremely concerned that it could start spreading here too.
African Swine Fever is extremely contagious, there is no vaccine, and there is no cure. Once it starts spreading in a certain area, there isn't much that can be done
"other than culling herds and loading carcasses into hazardous waste sites". Literally, we are talking about an unstoppable global plague that is an existential threat to our food supply. Of course many of us don't eat pork, but there will also be an immense strain on supplies of beef and chicken as those that eat pork are forced to turn to other alternatives. This is an exceedingly serious situation, and with each month it is just getting worse.
Comment: Again, that is not the root cause.
It's interesting that some at the Pentagon are at least aware that they ought to be preparing for the worst.
As we can see, however, between now and then, they'll be unable to resist the temptation to interfere in others' affairs and put hegemony before national security.