WHO is in Denial?

Below is today's World Health Organization (WHO) update on the Mexican Swine Flu outbreak:

The current situation regarding the outbreak of swine influenza A(H1N1) is evolving rapidly. As of 27 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), with no deaths. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus, including seven deaths. Canada has reported six cases, with no deaths, while Spain has reported one case, with no deaths.
Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.
WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.
There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness (emphasis added, WHO, April 27, 2009).

WHO's report of seven confirmed deaths due to H1N1 in Mexico belies the total of 103 suspected deaths, reported today by the Associated Press, most of which were apparently not laboratory confirmed. It is understandable that WHO might wish to avoid the kind of international panic that might come as a result of reporting the 1,600 suspected cases of Mexican swine flu, but as can be seen from the above update, WHO has failed to report that a greater danger may exist at all. Suspending travel, while economically devastating during the current downturn, would at least prevent the potential for the disease to spread further than it already has.
Rumors exist that the Mexican Government knew of the swine flu, and didn't report on it because of the threat to tourist revenues from spring break. Whether true or not, the hard line taken by WHO, insisting on only reporting confirmed cases and confirmed deaths is one thing; it is quite another to advise "no restriction of regular travel," and it smacks of putting business interests ahead of general health. With the global economy reeling, it is, perhaps, a drastic step to urge people to stay put as the tourist season begins. But if we're caught between a potentially lethal global pandemic and a temporary worsening of the economy, isn't the choice academic?

Prime Minister Olmert Threatens Gaza with the "Israeli Iron Fist."

Iron fist? To paraphrase the line from a popular motion picture, I have heard that expression, but never before from Israel. One would think that such a term, referring to the uncompromising way that Hitler dealt with domestic dissent, would be anathema in Israeli rhetoric. But as Niccolo Machiavelli pointed out, conscience runs counter to the aims of rulers, and the State of Israel is no exception. At the State level conscience breaks down and all that was evil when it was done to us becomes necessary when dealing with an occupied people, especially one that has a sense of its own statehood. Hence, their efforts at resistance and punitive attacks on the occupying people are called "terrorism," because "resistance" is reserved for those polities that the West is sympathetic to.

The experimentation of Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) on Gazans and use of white phosphorus is reminiscent of the Hitlerian Guernica massacre, in which a Basque village was used to test the Nazi blitzkrieg (lightning war). These were the sorts of things that the Bushies accused Saddam Hussein of to justify invading a nation (something that nations allegedly never do in the 21st century).

DIME was developed by the U.S. Air Force in 2006. It is a small, powerfull explosive that explodes with such force that it rips the flesh from the body, but allegedly leaves no shrapnel, only particle metals. The Internet Edition of Dawn quoted one Norweigian medic as saying, “We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations . . . without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons,”

White phosphorus was developed as an obscurant to prevent enemies from using guided missile systems or tracking troop movements. White phosphorus can burn away human flesh, all the way to the bone. Al Jazeera English has reported that, according to Human Rights watch, white phosphorus is only legal if "all feasible precautions [are taken] to avoid civilian injury and loss of life." Humanitarian Rights watch has said that it believes Israel violated this tenet of international law, because Gaza is such a densely populated area. According to the Los Angeles Times, the "obscurant" destroyed a UN refugee school and more than twenty homes. "Dozens" were injured and one woman was killed; her son watched her die as the home she was in was struck by a projectile and burst into flames.

Israel is using U.S.weaponry to slaughter civilians with full U.S. backing. This isn't the fault of the Jews as the anti-Semites would have you believe, nor does it wash the blood from the hands of Hamas: their guilt for continuing rocket fire into southern Israel amid the rising deaths of Palestinian civilians is monolith. But to excuse Israel's war crimes, far in excess of the cumulative acts of terror committed previously by Hamas, because it has committed these atrocities under the guise of "fighting terrorism"is to say that we will not hold Israel and the United States to the same standard that the United States imposed on Germany at Nuremberg in 1945. But rather than expressing outrage (whether at me or at U.S. complicity in war crimes) write your senators and congressperson and demand the massacre of Gazans be stopped at once. Then paste the text of one of them as a comment.

I leave you with the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller:

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Just Because you're Paranoid (Part II)

Who in his right mind would broker a highly-publicized arms deal that is so obviously an about-face from our 17-year long policy of diplomacy with Russia?

Following their PR disaster in Georgia, Russia is finally ready to pull back their forces. This all comes on the heels of Condoleeza Rice's diplomatic mission to Poland and the Czech Republic, in which she secured Poland's agreement to host American intercepter missiles, as well as other American arms. Russia has warned the United States that such a step will retard Washington's relationship with Moscow.

While Western press sources have reported that the Georgian army was equipped and trained by the United States, there has been no report about the weapons and training provided by Israel. Though Tel Aviv has denied direct government sponsorship of the Georgian Military, it has admitted to approval by the Ministry of Defense for private businesses to sell arms and provide training to the Georgian military. This makes Syria's offer to buy Russian arms and sponsor Russian defense missiles particularly tempting for Moscow. And Syria isn't alone. Venezuela is also courting Russia for arms and Putin would like nothing better than a prime Western-hemisphere real estate upon which to station defense missiles: welcome to the Cuban Missile Crises, Part Deux.

It is, sadly, deja vu all over again.

That George Walker Bush's presidency has been characterized by his patent unwilling-ness to learn from history should come as news to no one who has read William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; we have been able to do little more than stand on the sidelines, shaking our heads, as the Bushies led us down the same, horrifying path of extreme nationalistism that Hitler took Germany. What no one needs book reference to understand is the idea that, with the Presidential elections rapidly approaching, America now runs the risk of repeating the Cuban Missile Crisis - this time with George W. Bush and (arguably) Vladimir Putin at the helm instead of Kennedy and Khruzchev.

It is important to remember that, while Kennedy is remembered a hero in the U.S. because of his actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was a nail in the coffin of Khruzchev's political carreer. Agreeing to pull the missiles out of Cuba, only to find out later that the missiles America pulled out of Turkey were obsolete, made a fool of Russia. While it is clear that America under George Walker Bush seems incapable of learning from its history, isn't it too much to hope that Vladimir Putin, former KGB chief, did not learn from the fall of Nikita Khruzchev?

It is unthinkable that, with the clock ticking on his Presidency, George W. Bush would begin an escalation against a newly-elected Dmitri Medvedev and a politically-entrenched Putin. Does he really mean to place the new American President in the type of position that Kennedy was in, or is this simply the latest move in the Bush "Permanent Campain," having seized on means for the GOP - or himself - to stay in power?

Yes, I'm afraid I am raising the phantom of a Bush dictatorship. It is not the first time in our history that a leader has used a crisis, such as the one that appears to be eminent with Russia, to stay in power. And though it is possible that the purpose of this escalation with Russia is to strengthen John McCain's appeal, it is unlikely that McCain's inability to manage the press has been lost on Mr. Bush. Senator McCain often becomes flustered when asked difficult questions by the press (e.g. how many houses he has, which side of an issue he is on, etc.). As foolish as Bush has been throughout his tenure in the White House, would he honestly put THE BUTTON the hands of someone who needs "to consult [his] staff" to find out how many houses he owns?

The escalation toward a new arms-race with Russia, therefore, is evidence of one of two things: either Bush aims to be the first American dictator or he's even dumber than we thought.