Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has asked the international community for help with an, as of yet, unidentified virus that is spreading throughout the country at an alarming pace. The Interfax News Agency Reports:

A total of 633,877 Ukrainians nationwide have registered with health authorities as suffering from the flu, though some have recovered since the disease’s late October outbreak, Mytnik said.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday gave a total of currently infected at some 470,000.

The particularly virulent A/H1N1 flu strain, or swine flu, was likely responsible for a significant proportion of the infections, based on laboratory testing thus far, Mytnik said, speaking at a Kiev press conference.

Since the beginning of the flu outbreak, Ukraine’s Health Ministry had sent 31 samples from persons infected with flu to a British laboratory to be checked for the presence of swine flu, of which 15 tested positive.

Though the swine flu is suspected, it has not been confirmed by the international community or the Ukrainian Health Ministry.

Ukraine Martial Law Declared?

President Yushchenko, in an address to citizens on November 4, 2009 may have declared a state of martial law in the Ukraine:

We must change the system. We must change the entire system of government in Ukraine.

But now, in this moment there is no time for waiting or remonstrance.

National Security and Defense Council should become the center of decision-making.

Failure to comply with its orders will immediately result in application to the law enforcement authorities.

I remind all the responsible persons and draw attention to all of my orders, made in Lviv four days ago. In three days the deadline for compliance with these orders expires.

With my decree I put Minister of Health and Chief Sanitary Inspector of Ukraine into the Council for National Security and Defense.

Mr. Yushchenko address to Ukranian citizens is worthy of reading in its entirety. It seems that whatever the pathogen is, it is much more serious than what we are seeing with regards to the H1N1 swine flu in the United States, or the media is simply blowing it out of proportion. Of noteworthy mention is that in his address, Mr. Yushchenko does specifically identify two strains of seasonal flu and A/H1N1 as the culprits.

Pneumonic Plague?

There is suspicion that this may actually be a different pathogen, not H1N1, with some observers suggesting it may be a return of the pheumonic plague, a bacterial infection that can be 100% deadly if not treated quickly. Kavkaz.com is reporting Ukraine: Influenza or Pneumonic Plague? The situation is getting worse and worse:

Ukrainian News Agency “Fraza” reported that, according to informed sources, “it has been confirmed 100 % Pneumonic Plague in Ukraine”.

The Agency asserts that “the head physician of the medical institutions has sent out an informal disposal – not to sow panic, to refute the information about the plague, and to speak only of swine influenza”.

It is also required to distribute masks at health facilities with 8 levels of protection and anti-plague protection costumes. There is also an informal order not to allow any visitors to see the patients.

Although Kavkaz suggests that it has been 100% confirmed by informed, but unnamed sources, no official confirmation has been provided to the general public, probably because pandemonium would ensue if this were the case. The rapid pace at which this ‘flu’ is spreading and the official mortality rate is certainly raising alarms, however. Pneumonic plague was confirmed in north-western China earlier this year, and the Chinese government sealed of an entire town to prevent spread of the infection. No official numbers of deaths were released by China, so determining how dangerous and wide-spread the virus was is difficult.

If the pathogen in the Ukraine is, in fact, pneumonic plague, the mortality rate should be much higher that the reports we are getting, as it is likely that antibiotic medicines to treat the bacteria are not in ample supply. At this point, pneumonic plague remains a speculative assessment.

Bio-Weapon?

In mid-August of 2009, The Huffington Post reports that “A man suspected of making threats against the White House was pulled from his car Thursday after an hours-long standoff in the parking lot of the Federal Building in West Los Angeles.”

Alternative news around the web has a different story about the man who was suspected of making threats against the White House, now identified as Joseph Moshe. According to Conspiracy Planet, Moshe is a bio-scientist who supposedly worked (or may still) for the Israeli spy agency known as Mossad. Reports suggest that the Federal Building in LA where Moshe was arrested was just a few blocks away from the Israeli embassy, which is where Mr. Moshe was reportedly headed seeking safety from arrest. For those who are not familiar with Moshe’s arrest, here is a video available on Youtube showing Moshe being taken into custody after a standoff with police that included tear gas and pepper spray being deployed in his vehicle. Moshe was unphased by the police assault, suggesting he has had prior training and exposure to the gases, typical of training for organization like the Mossad and CIA.

This is where the plot thickens. Mainstream reports suggest that Moshe made threats to the White House, however, this discussion that includes Alex Tudor, a radio show host, who took a call from Joseph Moshe, brings to light that Mr. Moshe called to warn people that  Baxter International of the Ukraine has developed a bio-weapon that is being toted as a swine flu vaccine. According to Tudor, Moshe had called his radio show in August, a full two months before this virus began spreading in Ukraine.

David Rothscum, in an article at Rense.com titled Has Baxter Released A BioWeapon in Ukraine? provides a basic overview of the ‘conspiracy’ side of the Ukrainian virus and several reference links to follow:

Although anyone can make a doomsday claim and we should never believe anyone (and it must be said that the Truth movement handled this well, the message was spread without being proclaimed as gospel) the amazing part about Moshe’s claim was the location where Moshe said the biological weapon was being produced.

Moshe claimed that Baxter’s laboratory in the Ukraine out of all places was creating this biological weapon. All of this came out in the beginning of August, which is more than 2 months before the situation that is currently unfolding. For Moshe to correctly name the country where a new epidemic would be unleashed, requires either inside information, or an incredible coincidence as anyone with a basic knowledge of statistics can confirm for himself.

At this point, we leave it to the reader to decide what they believe – the official, or the unofficial story. Whatever the case may be, the unfolding of events given Mr. Moshe’s original warning in August, is quite interesting to say the least.

Hat tip to What Really Happened for keeping the public informed about the various reports coming out of Ukraine.