As the new year begins, the price of wheat is setting an all-time high in the United Kingdom. Food riots are spreading across Algeria. Russia is importing grain to sustain its cattle herds until spring grazing begins. India is wrestling with an 18-percent annual food inflation rate, sparking protests. China is looking abroad for potentially…
Month: January 2011
Nile water match
Last fall I was just about to write a bit about Egypt threatening the Nile upstream countries not to increase their use of the river’s water when… I don’t know why I didn’t. A 1929 treaty by the then British colonial rule reserved 80% of the Nile’s entire flow for Egypt and Sudan but May…
US ecowar soundtrack by Woody Guthrie
The 1913 Italian Hall Massacre a tragedy that occurred on December 24, 1913 in Calumet, Michigan. Seventy-three men, women, and children, mostly striking mine workers and their families, were crushed to death in a stampede when someone falsely yelled “fire” at a crowded Christmas party. [Wikipedia] The Ludlow Massacre the violent deaths of 19 people…
World food prices record high but no riots… yet
Here we go again… BBC / Global food prices at ‘record high’, says UN / World food prices at fresh high, says UN. [2:20] “The price of rice – critical for many developing countries – is more stable. One reason, perhaps, why food protests have not been repeated.” “Rising food prices will have an effect…