Is this about H1N1 or about an election?
Yesterday - 5:01pm
I really like the seemingly unimportant details they slip in near the end. But the aHEM "unexplained deaths" are also very telling. I guess the threat of H1N1 is working well for proponents of the shock doctrine all over the planet. So sweet.
Ukraine closes all schools, cinemas over swine flu
Fri Oct 30, 12:14 PM
KIEV (AFP) - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday ordered a three-week closure of Ukraine's schools and cinemas in the toughest measures adopted yet to combat the swine flu virus in Europe.
"From today, all the school establishments in Ukraine -- be they private or public -- will be put on three weeks of holiday," she told her cabinet in comments carried on Ukrainian television.
Tymoshenko said the government would also be banning "all public gatherings, every concert and every cinema showing for three weeks."
The government will also introduce "special regimes" to limit the movement of Ukraine's citizens from one region to another for non-urgent purposes, she said. Ukraine has borders with four EU countries.
The prime minister's tough actions came as Ukraine confirmed its first deaths from the A(H1N1) virus, amid a growing panic over several dozen unexplained deaths in the west of the country.
Four people in Ukraine are now confirmed to have died from the virus, the secretary of the country's national security council Raisa Bogatyriova said, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
In the Ternopil region alone in western Ukraine, 30 people have died of unexplained causes in the last days, health ministry spokeswoman Lyudmila Gordon told reporters.
Tymoshenko also threatened to revoke the licenses of pharmacies that failed to stock the appropriate level of anti-flu medicine and masks.
"We can say today that Ukraine has entered into the zone of the swine flu epidemic," Health Minister Vassyl Kniazevich said.
AFP correspondents in Kiev and the western city of Lviv said there had been long queues outside pharmacies in the past days as the population stocked up on anti-flu masks.
Many students whose courses were cancelled in Lviv and Ternopil left the cities, while those who remained were frequently seen wearing masks in public places.
Lemons, a traditional anti-flu remedy, sold out at markets in Lviv while supermarkets were selling them at double price.
There is currently only enough anti-flu medication in Lviv to last three to four days but central authorities have promised to make additional deliveries, said Lviv governor Mykola Kmit.
Tymoshenko will travel to the affected western Ternopil region later Friday to visit the "epicentre" of the epidemic, a government statement said.
The country's politicians, including Tymoshenko, have just started official campaigning for presidential elections scheduled for January 17.
The prime minister on Saturday held a mass outdoor rally in the centre of Kiev attended by tens of thousands of people to mark her party's confirmation of her candidacy in the presidential race.
President Viktor Yushchenko, Tymoshenko's political arch-rival who is also standing in the elections, was due to hold his own rally on Sunday but it is now unclear whether this can go ahead.
Residents of Kiev meanwhile were asking pharmacies for masks and medication but these were not always to be found in stock.
The quoted article is really well written. I like the way it starts by picking at the problem and holds the stronger arguments in reserve until after the distractions have been dismissed.
I'm not sure what you mean about the "unexplained deaths" being telling, though. From what I can tell, we are talking about medical deaths where no one tested for H1N1, which is pretty common globally given how expensive the test is.
I think the article is manipulatively written. Have you ever had a lie told to you by a really good liar who wants to make sure that they're not accused later on of leaving out pertinent bits of information? First they tell you the story. It's solid. It holds up to scrutiny fairly well. But then because they don't want to be said later that you didn't know what was actually going on, they incorporate the real bits of information, the truths that they want aired but ina way that really down plays their importance. So, in this case we get the story abotu H1N1. Everyone's been hearing about that for a few years now. We've been trained to perk up and pay close attention when we here about it. We focus there because we have been told that we need to focus there. Then, they tell us what's actually going on in the Ukraine. They share the most interesting bits of information. But they share them as miscellanea so we don't become annoyed. They insert bits and pieces here and there. People are dying inexplicably in the Ukraine. The article does not say they're dying of H1N1. They leave it to us to assume that this is true because they were talking about H1N1 earlier. People are dying. Somehow they are being killed. The article doesn't say exactly how. They've also said that the leader of the Ukraine has closed the schools and is well on the way to declaring martial law. Why? Oh, the article says it's because she's concerned about viral transmission. But then later on the article also says that there's an election happening. She has shut down the country (because of H1N1) in the middle of an election. She hasn't called off the election. In fact, she had a public appearance related to the election. The article says that her oponent was due to speak, also election related. But then she basically shut the country down...because of H1N1 and now he won't be able to promote his candidacy which may very well cost him the election. But I'm assuming that people will still be able to gather to line up and vote...because she's not calling off the election. She's just making public gatherings now that she has spoken as electoral candidate, against the law. giggles...because of H1N1. Sweet. Now, that's some good politricking. :)
But then I realized that I just dropped a whole load of text into my comments section without any breaks. So I wrote:
Please let me insert paragraphs. That's a lot to take in in one gulp, DV.
So I started inserting paragraph breaks and then realized there was more I wanted to say. So this is what my original comment morphed into:
I think the article is manipulatively written.
'Sides, at this point in the history of journalism it really isn't about how well written an article is. Journalism schools are filled with people who can string sentences together in a coherent fashion.
What ends up being of more interest to me is what they do with their skills. And the people who are hired by mainstream distributors of the confabulations we refer to as "the news" have been hired to weave some really fascinating bits of creative non-fiction. :)
DV, have you ever had a lie told to you by a really good liar who wants to make sure that they're not accused later on of leaving out pertinent bits of information?It's like the old magician's slight of hand in a way. There are places where the action is happening. This is where they don't want you to look. Then there are places where it's okay to look, where it would be better for you to look. So they're waving their hands over there, pointing in that direction, asking you to pay attention over THERE.
And, if the article is well written enough, most of us do.
So there's the diversion - H1N1 and then there's the action - what's going on in the Ukraine electoral process.
So first they give us the story about H1N1. We pay attention to the news. We've been educating ourselves about H1N1 with the "news" they've been offering. So what they tell us in this article seems solid and well written. It holds up to scrutiny fairly well.
But then because they don't want it to be said later that they didn't actually tell us what's going on in the Ukraine, they give us a little taste. Just a little taste...but it's not front and center...because of H1N1.
So these skilled writer/spin doctors incorporate real bits of information, the truths that they want aired but in a way that really downplays their importance. We get the story about H1N1...because that's the real news....because we all think that's the real news...because they've told us that's the real news..
Magicians hand waving over there we look in the direction of the epidemic so that when they start incorporating info about the leadership campaign in the Ukraine, it's of little or no interest to us...because they've told us by the placement of the information in the story that this is of little or no importance.
So they share the most interesting bits of information..ones that should be of interest to people concerned about human rights and democracy. But they share them in such a way that makes them secondary to a story about H1N1. The real news about potential human rights violations are constructed as a political side effect of H1N1. Miscellanea.
What do I understand from reading the article?
People are dying inexplicably in the Ukraine.
The article does not actually say they're dying of H1N1. They leave it to us to assume that this is true because they were talking about H1N1 earlier on in the piece.
DV, people are dying in the Ukraine during an electoral campaign. Somehow they are being killed. The article doesn't say exactly how.
I also know that the leader of the Ukraine has decided to make it really difficult for people to gather, especially students.
DV, what do students often do in times of election if something smells like a rat? Besides disease, what else might students be spreading during the time immediately before an election?
But the article tells us that the leader of the Ukraine has closed the schools and is well on the way to declaring martial law...not because she's scared of losing the election, not because she's worried that if the people gather together they will revolt, not because she's worried that her opponent, if allowed to speak, will mobilize the country against her.
Nope. She's pretty much instituting martial law...because of H1N1.
Her opponent has not had a chance to address the masses and probably won't get to...because of H1N1.
hmmm...I wonder who those people are...the ones who have inexplicably died...we are led to believe, of....H1N1. giggles...gee, I wonder who they were and what their political affiliations were. Guess we'll never know...because of H1N1. lmao
Funny how the election hasn't been called off...because of H1N1.
I wonder if her opponent will inexplicably die...because of H1N1.
Which will of course directly lead to her winning...because of H1N1.
DV, y'know what I think is happening? I mean...given the fact that we're not often offered news from the Ukraine...because no one in north amerikkka gives a fuck about what happens in the Ukraine, really. :)
I think that H1N1 related martial law is being given a test drive in the media. I think that our rulers are paying close attention to how we receive the logic of shutting a whole country down and forbidding gatherings and suspending the "rights" of a whole people...because of H1N1.
I think they're checking to see if a well written article or two or three will be enough to justify doing the same thing closer to home.
And y'know what I think? I think they're probably really happy with the end result. No one is crying foul. No one is freaking out. There are no mass demonstrations around the world crying out about what's happening in the Ukraine. All is quiet and peaceful...except in the Ukraine...where people are inexplicably dying during the time of an election and no one gets to see what's actually happening to them because people are huddled in their homes terrified...of H1N1.
Holy shit! Is that ever sweet. :)
Now, that's some good politricking. :)
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