Xi Jinping’s surprising decision to ease “zero-COVID” restrictions may appease Chinese protestors, but it’s also likely to lead to millions of deaths in the coming weeks. By doing away with strict testing protocols and the country’s social monitoring app, China has created a perfect storm for widespread contagion. If one million Americans died of COVID-19, imagine what could happen in China, with its much older, much larger and much less vaccinated population. From there, a domino effect: As more people fall sick, there will be far fewer employees to do the work. The brakes will be slammed on production and as Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan explains, that will reverberate around the world.

Excerpted from Peter’s Dec. 14 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:

A COVID situation is brewing in China and an outbreak of grand proportions is imminent. Unfortunately, the Chinese medical and political systems are wildly unprepared for what’s about to happen. To give you some perspective, imagine three years of exposure condensed into three weeks, close to no natural immunity and vaccinations that aren’t worth diddly … it isn’t hard to picture how this will play out. The impacts will spill out of China, but not in the form of COVID. Chinese manufacturing capabilities are already in the danger zone, and the fat lady won’t be singing anytime soon.