Ukraine's Phantom Swine Flu - Finally an explanation!

G'day ATS, I was going to post this in the super-massive Ukranian Flu thread but I believe no one would read it as that one is sooo large! I just thought I'd put this in a new one to inform you all of this possible explanation to what for a while looked like the real thing!

I guess a little background is in order in case any of you have been living under a rock (i.e. not a member of ATS, bad bad people) and don't know what I'm talking about!

On the 30th October member asen_y2k posted the thread Number of victims to unknown virus growing! State of emergency to be imposed in Ukraine? in the Breaking News Forum regarding reports of a possible mutated form of H1N1 in the Lviv Region of the Ukraine.

Go to that thread for the story, and to check out what ensued.

I will tell you however that the thread has "Replies: 4799 Flags: (403)" which will tell you all you need to know about the situation.

I checked out the last page and it seems to me that the general consensus was that there probably wasn't a killer virus, and the media blew it out of proportion.

I found this from the 30th of November and it may go some way to explaining the entire crisis!

Ukraine's Phantom Swine Flu

The global swine flu outbreak has become something of a political football in every country where the pandemic has spread, but Ukraine's response to the virus has achieved a new level of blatant politicization. According to a campaign advisor to Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian prime minister and presidential candidate purposely inflated fears of an ongoing swine-flu epidemic to aid her presidential run.

"We had to create a phantom and then have a white knight riding in to save the day," Taras Berezovets, a senior campaign advisor for Tymoshenko's BYuT bloc, told me in a Kiev restaurant, confirming widespread suspicions among Ukrainian journalists.

Since October, Ukraine has been in the grips of a full-blown panic over swine flu, complete with quarantines, school closures, runs on pharmacies. The Ukrainian health system, already badly dilapidated, was caught off guard and almost 400 people died of the flu in just three weeks.

Tymoshenko flew into action, organizing a delivery of the antiviral drug Tamiflu — and the requisite press conference — at the Kiev airport in the early morning hours of Nov. 2. She quarantined nine regions of the country, closed all schools and universities, and petitioned the president for $125 million in emergency funds to fight what seemed to be "the plague of the 21st-century plague," as one Ukrainian put it. Incidentally, she also banned all mass gatherings and political rallies — after she had already had hers.

So it seems this was all about the election in February.

I find the fact that Tymoshenko banned political rallies after she had hers very telling. I'd imagine that November to January are bitter months in the Ukraine weather wise, so what with the ban, the adverse weather and Tymoshenko's decisive actions during this crisis, I'm sure she'll win the election.

I'm not saying that the Ukraine didn't get exposed to swine flu, or that they didn't have fatalities. However it seems very likely that the exaggeration by the Ukrainian Government and Politicians was simply a ploy to present Tymoshenko as a saviour.

It would explain a few things which are odd:

-Why we haven't heard ANYTHING since Early November

-Why the UN said the Ukrainian strain wasn't any worse than normal H1N1

-Why the Ukrainian strain didn't spread as predicted

-Why there was so much confusion and many conflicting reports

Apologies to all those who think I should have just posted this in the ATS Big thread given above.

I just thought that this theory would reach more people this way!

All the best ATS, Kiwifoot!

Thats an interesting theory indeed, I can't help but be charmed by Yulia Tymoshenko but she certainly is as shrewd as any polician can be!

Here's another report: www.time.com

The fact that she is now a bitter rival of Viktor Yushchenko, her former partner in the Orange Revolution raises an eyebrow while the fact that she banned rallies after having her own policial rallies raises my other!

I like her personal stance on the swine flu vaccine however!

“I am not vaccinated. I am protecting myself like everybody, with lemon, onion, garlic, everything that is needed. I think the best way is simply to protect your health through well-known means."
Yulia Tymoshenko

[edit on 2-1-2010 by freeradical]

That seems plausable. i always wondered though why it was so briefly depicted in MSM, but ATS added to the topic more than anything else did.

Originally posted by freeradical

I like her personal stance on the swine flu vaccine however!


“I am not vaccinated. I am protecting myself like everybody, with lemon, onion, garlic, everything that is needed. I think the best way is simply to protect your health through well-known means."
Yulia Tymoshenko

I find that very odd, she must have known the whole thing was bogus. She would have pushed the vaccine otherwise, and only refused it knowing full well that it was she who created this "superflu" myth!

Thanks for the info, kiwifoot!


[edit on 3-1-2010 by kiwifoot]

Originally posted by elfulanozutan0
That seems plausable. i always wondered though why it was so briefly depicted in MSM, but ATS added to the topic more than anything else did.

Throughout the entire story, the sources were very dubious, the only MSM reports tended to say that WHO observers were headed out to investigate.

AS we know they found that the virus there was no different from anywhere else, maybe the general health and occurrence of TB in the Ukraine population made things worse but the virus was no more so than the "normal" swine flu.

It does kind of fit what happened, that's why I thought I'd post it!

Fabulous post, kiwifoot.

"We had to create a phantom and then have a white knight riding in to save the day," Taras Berezovets, a senior campaign advisor for Tymoshenko's BYuT bloc, told me in a Kiev restaurant, confirming widespread suspicions among Ukrainian journalists.

Assuming this report is accurate it puts a whole new light on the situation. There were some murmurings in this direction early on, but it all seemed a little too cynical at the time, did it not?

What bugs me though, is that this doesn't seem to explain the reports from multiple sources that people were dying with symptoms akin to hemorrhagic flu. There still appear to be some loose ends here.

reply to post by kiwifoot


Actually many figure that out thanks to the information gathered and the Global research site in the net.

They exposed the geopolitical make over of the Ukraine pandemic.

But as usual only a few took it as fact while many kept pushing the theory of a monster mutation that was going to kill us all.

reply to post by pause4thought


No Worries mate, I agree that the reliability of the source is the key here.

The content was sourced from "Foreign Policy", going from their main site it seems established, plus it looks like they publish a Magazine:

Foreign Policy

As for the haemorrhagic flu, I feel that the reports were sketchy at best, sort of friend of a friend etc.

If they were from Medical sources, they were close to the government which explains the reports.

I think the most valid argument for this is the fact that it didn't lead everywhere, I mean this haemorrhagic flu died out, didn't spread and we heard no more, I believe it had to be fake!

All the best mate, Kiwifoot!