Million Hit By Illness Worse Than Swine Flu In Ukraine

A deadly plague could sweep across Europe, doctors fear, after an outbreak of a virus in Ukraine plunged the country and its neighbors into a state of panic.

A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. The death toll has reached 189 and more than 1 million people have been infected, most of them in the nine regions of Western Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has called in the World Health Organisation and a team of nine specialists are carrying out tests in Kiev and Lviv to identify the virus. Samples have been sent to London for analysis.

President Yushchenko said: “People are dying. The epidemic is killing doctors. This is absolutely inconceivable in the 21st Century.”

In a TV interview, the President added: “Unlike similar epidemics in other countries, three causes of serious viral infections came together simultaneously in Ukraine – two seasonal flus and the Californian flu

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Russia Uses It’s Most Effective Weapon – Gas Monopoly

Cold War Redux is off to an early start this year. Gazprom, Russia’s state within a state natural gas monopoly, shut the taps to Ukraine this morning after talks broke down over 2009 delivery prices.

When Russia cut supplies to Ukraine two years ago in a similar pricing dispute, it caused tremendous consternation in European capitals. Western Europe depends heavily on energy supplies from Russia — and Ukraine is a key transit route for gas. Forget nukes. Russia has found that energy can be a much more effective weapon.

Bloomberg has an excellent roundup of the situation. The takeaway? “The repeat of an energy standoff between the former Soviet neighbors risks further souring Russia’s ties with the West, months after its war with U.S. ally Georgia,” the article notes.

Gleb Pavlovsky, Russia’s Karl Rove, blamed the Ukrainians for trying to start an “artificial crisis” that would worsen relations between Russia and the European Union. “Ukraine deliberately creates the crisis, blackmailing Russia,” he told Interfax.

Nonetheless, Russia is in a somewhat weaker position than it was two years ago. European supplies have diversified, and the once-mighty Gazprom is reeling from a drop in global energy prices.

via Wired.com.

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