The wise and knowledgeable of our times may debunk Marx for saying the poor suffer because of the rich. But global warming proves, on a much wider scale, how true it is. The poor countries are suffering the ill effects of climate change caused mainly by the rich countries. We will come to this later. For now, let's shift focus to the A(H1N1) flu virus.

India was spared the wrath of two recent epidemics - SARS and bird flu. But H1N1 seems to be different. The international community raised hell over SARS and the bird flu, most of the Western countries issued advisories against traveling to affected places (read China), blamed Beijing for concealing facts and not taking enough preventive and control measures.

Well, China is the only major country where the H1N1 virus has not killed anybody, largely because of its almost foolproof preventive measures. What does it get in return from the West? Criticism: Beijing is being unnecessarily cautious, causing undue harassment to international travelers and sending some people unduly into quarantine. Why the double standards? Is it because SARS and the bird flu started from Asia and the H1N1 virus strain was first detected in North America (though the first 2009 case was detected in Mexico)?