Gil Roth03.01.07
I was planning on writing about the parallels between Microsoft Vista (allegedly the last of the major operating systems) and Lipitor (allegedly the last of the mega-mega blockbusters), but decided that
a) I've given Pfizer enough guff lately, and
b) Pfizer didn't have a competitor to rip off, like Microsoft did with Mac OS X, so the comparison might fall a little short.
(Also, there are supposedly nine different choices when a user wants to turn off MS Vista - two shortcuts and a shutdown menu with seven options - and I can't think of anything Pfizer does that's even remotely that silly.)
Instead, I want to write about Russia, geopolitics, the networked world, and the secret police state. While these are all subjects I take time to read about and contemplate in my alleged free time, there is a healthcare issue tied into it. See, as I was writing my article on vaccine manufacturing for this month's issue, news broke about an avian flu outbreak among poultry in a several villages near Moscow. And when it comes to vaccines, bird flu obviously draws most of the general public's attention.
A few years ago, I wrote about my problems with autocratic states and how they handle crises: generally, they're loath to admit that anything's amiss. China stonewalled talk about SARS for weeks, and the Soviet Union tried to pretend Chernobyl simply didn't happen (the Swedes and the Finns were the first to report high radiation levels).
In contrast, Russia's much more open about this outbreak. Sure, it's still capable of using its security apparatus to close off villages and block inquiries into the affected areas, but at least it admitted the problem promptly. Score one for the interconnected world!
But what interests me about this outbreak is that it comes so shortly after President Putin gave a saber-rattling speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy. Putin took that occasion to criticize the "unipolar world" and complain that America's position as "one master, one sovereign" was leading to a world where "we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyperuse of force - military force - in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." (Presumably, he was not referring to his army's demolition of Chechnya, nor to his country's unique methods of disposing of radioactive materials like polonium.) Putin also found time to complain about the establishment of NATO bases on Russia's western border, and the U.S. plan for a missile shield in eastern Europe.
Taken as a single theme, his speech referred to a menace from the west. Reflecting his KGB roots, his vision of security seems based on covert operations, a cowered press, arms races, and mutual assured destruction. That world is out of date, as last week's outbreak should remind him. He has far less to fear from an invasion by the west than he does a virus from the east.
While Putin railed against bases in former Soviet satellites, Moscow's security was compromised by birds.
It reminds me of another instance where Russian bluster was shown up. About a year after their nuclear meltdown, a 19-year-old kid named Mathias Rust piloted a Cessna all the way from Germany into Moscow's Red Square.
This isn't the Andropov era. How Russia responds to outbreaks of avian flu, and how it addresses its other health crises - life expectancy rates are still shockingly lower than any other member of the G8 - is important to the rest of our well-being. That's a major part of how we define "security" in this era.
Russian health authorities announced plans to vaccinate one million birds against the flu, and they're keeping more than 5,000 people under observation for signs of infection. With any luck, we'll go another season without seeing H5N1 mutate into a form that easily infects humans. And if it does, there's a good chance it'll be weak enough not to wreak havoc.
I hope we can say the same about Russia's foreign policy.
a) I've given Pfizer enough guff lately, and
b) Pfizer didn't have a competitor to rip off, like Microsoft did with Mac OS X, so the comparison might fall a little short.
(Also, there are supposedly nine different choices when a user wants to turn off MS Vista - two shortcuts and a shutdown menu with seven options - and I can't think of anything Pfizer does that's even remotely that silly.)
Instead, I want to write about Russia, geopolitics, the networked world, and the secret police state. While these are all subjects I take time to read about and contemplate in my alleged free time, there is a healthcare issue tied into it. See, as I was writing my article on vaccine manufacturing for this month's issue, news broke about an avian flu outbreak among poultry in a several villages near Moscow. And when it comes to vaccines, bird flu obviously draws most of the general public's attention.
A few years ago, I wrote about my problems with autocratic states and how they handle crises: generally, they're loath to admit that anything's amiss. China stonewalled talk about SARS for weeks, and the Soviet Union tried to pretend Chernobyl simply didn't happen (the Swedes and the Finns were the first to report high radiation levels).
In contrast, Russia's much more open about this outbreak. Sure, it's still capable of using its security apparatus to close off villages and block inquiries into the affected areas, but at least it admitted the problem promptly. Score one for the interconnected world!
But what interests me about this outbreak is that it comes so shortly after President Putin gave a saber-rattling speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy. Putin took that occasion to criticize the "unipolar world" and complain that America's position as "one master, one sovereign" was leading to a world where "we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyperuse of force - military force - in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." (Presumably, he was not referring to his army's demolition of Chechnya, nor to his country's unique methods of disposing of radioactive materials like polonium.) Putin also found time to complain about the establishment of NATO bases on Russia's western border, and the U.S. plan for a missile shield in eastern Europe.
Taken as a single theme, his speech referred to a menace from the west. Reflecting his KGB roots, his vision of security seems based on covert operations, a cowered press, arms races, and mutual assured destruction. That world is out of date, as last week's outbreak should remind him. He has far less to fear from an invasion by the west than he does a virus from the east.
While Putin railed against bases in former Soviet satellites, Moscow's security was compromised by birds.
It reminds me of another instance where Russian bluster was shown up. About a year after their nuclear meltdown, a 19-year-old kid named Mathias Rust piloted a Cessna all the way from Germany into Moscow's Red Square.
This isn't the Andropov era. How Russia responds to outbreaks of avian flu, and how it addresses its other health crises - life expectancy rates are still shockingly lower than any other member of the G8 - is important to the rest of our well-being. That's a major part of how we define "security" in this era.
Russian health authorities announced plans to vaccinate one million birds against the flu, and they're keeping more than 5,000 people under observation for signs of infection. With any luck, we'll go another season without seeing H5N1 mutate into a form that easily infects humans. And if it does, there's a good chance it'll be weak enough not to wreak havoc.
I hope we can say the same about Russia's foreign policy.