By Michael C. Ruppert on 30 April 2009 in From the Wilderness -
Image above: Victom of "Spanish Flu" being removed from their homes by the Red Cross and entering quarantine in Saint Louis during 1918. From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/health/17flu.html?fta=y
It is pretty clear now that we're going for the full ride with swine flu. This is not like SARS. It is bigger and much more ominous. There are good reasons to separate the ice cream from the bull shit right now -- the things that should be focused on from the things that distract, lead into blind alleys or induce panic. I had an epiphany today about why the W.H.O. and all governments are so concerned... It is not just the "unknown" nature of the bug but the fact that this is just more evidence that there are too many humans on this planet. It's so simple.
With almost seven billion people, more of us are coming into contact with more of us... at a faster rate than ever; thanks to oil-powered transportation and population growth. It couldn't be more obvious. We're popcorn. We're also running out of energy, water, minerals, seafood and arable land... you name it.
Now compound that with the fact that the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 -- which killed between 20 and 40 million people -- was/is a variant of H1N1 Swine Flu and there's reason for one's ears to pick up. If it killed that many, that fast, in 1918 how many could it kill now and how fast with airplanes, cars, trucks and ships? And this epidemic/nascent pandemic is behaving more like Spanish flu that swine flu. It likes to kill young adults with healthy immune systems. Plus we have an H5N1 Avian flu genetic component thrown in. The W.H.O.'s reaction in escalating to a Level Five warning today was appropriate... and very welcome for me.
I was very impressed by by the statement of W.H.O. Director General Dr. Margaret Chan as she sounded the alarm. In part she said...
"Above all, this is an opportunity for global solidarity as we look for responses and solutions that benefit all countries, all of humanity. After all, it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."
All of humanity is under threat anyway. We have known that for a while now. Are her sentiments not what we believe here in Peak Oil/Sustainability? I can promise you that this is what I call for at the end of "A Presidential Energy Policy": a true species-wide dialogue. -- This is what must happen if our species is to survive the dieoff... a dieoff which few can still argue can't possibly happen.
To be fair, I do not know if this Swine/Spanish flu is going to kill billions or not. We all hope not. But it would be maladaptive and dumb to just rule out the possibility wouldn't it?
Now I must choose my words very carefully. -- I also cannot ignore the brilliant work done by many at FTW into the very mysterious cluster of murders, suicides and accidental deaths of 14 world-class microbiologists in a very short period right after 9-11. All of them were working on viral disease projects which FTW firmly established were consistent with the pursuit of a gene-specific bioweapon (e.g. race-specific).
Our stories were "picked up" by the The Toronto Star (although the editor had to write me an apology email for not citing FTW) and The New York Times wrote a 7,500-word monstrosity trying explain that all these dead scientists were really an accident. Perhaps the most famous of these bizarre deaths was that of Dr. Don Wiley in Memphis. Wiley was la-creme-de-la-creme of microbiologists and I have saved an academic abstract showing that he was specializing in swine flu and DNA recombination. Same with the very famous "suicide" (murder) of Dr. David Kelly in the UK that happened around the time the British government dug up victims of the 1918 Spanish flu to get the DNA so that an extinct disease could be brought back to life.
I must emphasize that all this proves nothing except for the fact that the current outbreak bears watching closely. Personally, I believe that it is our job to do everything possible to prove that there is no possible biowarfare involvement here; not to mention a gene-specific one. The fastest way to rule that out is to see Caucasians falling right along with people of color. No one has yet explained why the U.S. cases have resulted in only one fatality (a 23 month-old Mexican boy) although I have heard the question asked many times on the air. "How come no one's dying in America? They have Tamiflu in Mexico."
There's yet another distinct reason why this is catastrophic. I have been pretty clear that protectionism was both an inevitable and imminent stage of collapse. This outbreak has opened the door for a protectionist panic. If the pandemic takes center stage then all bets are off. Russia has already banned all American meat products. China is pondering similar restrictions. Forget the science... this kind of reaction (logical or otherwise) has been a part of human nature since we became human. Fear is the most-powerful control mechanism this un-evolved species has ever discovered. NAFTA is dead, just like globalization. And my message to Americans who want to ban food imports from Mexico... be careful what you pray for.
There can be no jumping to conclusions and I caution against it. There are only some very very good questions. Having written and edited many stories on biowarfare and pandemics at FTW -- as well as putting a chapter on the subject in "Crossing the Rubicon" -- I can tell you that this is serious.
Dr. Chan was quite right. All of humanity is threatened... and so I add is all of the humanity inside us.
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