Avian Flu, H5N1

Gennady Zyuganov's Dead Duck Society

It seems that Russian Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov has duck deaths in America on the brain. Ignoring the swans that recently brought H5N1 to Poland, Zyuganov also ignores the turkeys and chickens spreading bird flu worldwide.

Tests on two swans confirmed the presence of the disease in Poland. Last week authorities had set up a crisis unit in the city of Torun where the outbreak was detected. A hygiene-security zone was erected over a three-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius.

Zyuganov blames the United States for the spread of avian influenza, or bird flu, in a number of European countries, including Russia.

"The forms of warfare are changing. It's strange that not a single duck has died in America–they are all dying in Russia and European countries. This makes one seriously wonder why," Zyuganov said at a press conference at the main office of Interfax on Tuesday.

This from the same guy who once said during one of his anti-Semitic rants, "The Jewish diaspora, which traditionally controlled the financial life of the continent, began expanding its own market by becoming the bearer of the controlling pocket of shares in the complete industrial-economic system of Western civilization."

Nor is Zyuganov only a self-professed expert of The Dead Duck Society. Qualifying his knowledge of warfare, he boasted to Interfax about his stellar knowledge of war gases–the ones he dealt with during his distinguished service in the Russian Red Army.

Described by Western media as cold and haughty, Zyuganov knows of which he speaks as someone who once served as a high-ranking Communist Party propagandist.

From the old school, Zyuganov longs for the days of communist grandeur in the days of the dacha, and often heaps praise on Stalin and Lenin.

Defending his habit of changing messages, the Communist Party leader wrote in a 1996 Newsweek column: "I am accused of tailoring my rhetoric to suit Russian and Western audiences. That may be true–but to no greater extent than Bill Clinton's speeches to American Legion conventions that differ from what he says at UN sessions."

A group of scientists from Russia made a U.S.-sponsored visit to American influenza labs last March to learn more about tracking emerging flu viruses.

Until August of 2005, when an outbreak of bird flu was discovered in Central Siberia, Russia had been considered free of the virus.

Unlike Zyuganov, Russian researchers, who said the virus was the same one that has caused concern in Southeast Asia, believe the avian flu was carried into Russia by migratory wild birds.