Quote (Thor123422 @ 30 May 2020 06:39)
and like I said, they aren't perfect. but unless you're going to replace them with something then "4-6 weeks late" turns into never and you're fucked even harder.
Not like that 4-6 weeks would have mattered anyway. The countries that actually got on it (except maybe Italy) handled it well, and everybody else had their fingers up their asses (USA, UK) and wouldn't have responded even if the call had been 6 weeks earlier.
Nobody's perfect, and mistakes are forgivable. However, the failure of the WHO in this case was not a mistake, it was indicative of a huge, structural flaw. The WHO seems to feel more obliged to Chinese interests than to its actual mission of protecting global public health. As long as this structural flaw in the WHO isnt cured, relying on them is a danger.
You're right about Trump pissing away the time he was given though. He sat there doing nothing instead of preparing the country for what was obviously coming, and he deserves to be blasted for his inaction. It's perhaps the biggest mistake of his presidency, and at the time, I criticized him plenty for this failure to act.