LETTERS: Swine Flu Infecting Politics

Published On Thursday, November 05, 2009 12:59 AM
By IVAN KATCHANOVSKI
Crimson Staff Writer

Swine Flu Infecting Politics



To the editors:



I commend your paper for exposing a panic-causing politicization of a flu outbreak in Ukraine and its negative effect on the election campaign [Tough on Swine Flu, Nov. 2]. The government-imposed ban on political and other mass gatherings, closing of schools and universities for three weeks, a deliberate inflation of a potential health risks and the severity of the flu spread, and a policy to make every Ukrainian wear masks are just recent illustrations of a populist and opportunist character of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

In addition to an unwarranted credit for saving Ukraine from the disease, the flu scare creates additional opportunities for personal appropriation of large-scale emergency funding by government officials. Corruption reached epidemic proportions in Ukraine.

However, your editorial fails to note that President Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych, a leading presidential candidate from the Party of Regions, are not less eager than Tymoshenko to embrace such undemocratic policies and exploit the flu and public fear for their advantage during the presidential campaign. President Yushchenko declared a flu outbreak a threat to national security and requested help from NATO. Yushchenko might use it as a pretext to impose a state of emergency and postpone the elections because he is badly lagging in the polls. Viktor Yanukovych called for extending a quarantine to all regions of Ukraine, even though the flu outbreak is currently limited to Western regions. Inna Bohoslovska, another presidential candidate and until recently a leading member of the Party of Regions, in a popular program broadcast by a television channel, which is owned by an associate of Yanukovych, stated without any scientific evidence that Ukraine is experiencing an epidemic of pneumonic plague. Since the first round of the presidential elections is two and a half months away, one has to wonder what kind of other methods the presidential contenders would employ to gain the power.

All political... 'People shouldn't gather' (LoL)... State of emergency - Suspend elections...

elitist trash opportunits use whatever they have available...

Epidemics are in plenty - currently!!