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Posts Tagged ‘Food Crisis’

NASA Issues 2012 Warning and Possible End of The World as we know it.

February 2, 2011 16 comments

I had a POST on this about 2 weeks ago that goes in-depth on this issue.   Hopefully it will become more mainstream now.

MORE EVIDENCE OF PHOTON BELT: Astrophysicist Alexia Demetriev says our solar system is entering an interstellar energy cloud

In light of recent news, the following information is paramount. On July 14, 2010 we learned that our sun is passing through an interstellar energy cloud which excites/energizes the sun.  NASA, along with The National Academy of Science and other world renowned scientist are so concerned about this up and coming solar maximum in late 2012, that way back in March 10, 2006 NASA issued a solar storm warning (in writing) for 2012. What NASA omitted in their 2006 solar storm warning is what prompted NASA in the first place to issue a 2012 solar storm warning four years in advance?  Then in 2010, NASA again warns the general population of a pending solar storm, telling the population to get ready for a once in a lifetime solar storm. Despite that news agencies and websites like this one are beginning to cover this developing story, no high government official has yet to stick his or her neck out to make an official announcement about the catastrophic implications as to allow the global population to begin preparing.

The following scientific data revealed by Alexei Dmitriev further supports NASA’s original 2012 solar storm warning issued back in March of 2006. Read more…

Cheap food may be a thing of the past

February 2, 2011 1 comment
Vincent Kessler  /  Reuters

U.S. grain prices should stay unrelentingly high this year, according to a Reuters poll, the latest sign that the era of cheap food has come to an end.

U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat prices — which surged by as much has 50 percent last year and hit their highest levels since mid-2008 — will dip by at most 5 percent by the end of 2011, according to the poll of 16 analysts.

The forecasts suggest no quick relief for nations bedeviled by record high food costs that have stoked civil unrest. It means any extreme weather event in a grains-producing part of the world could send prices soaring further.

The expectations may also strengthen importers’ resolve to build bigger inventories after a year in which stocks of corn and soybeans in the United States — the world’s top exporter — dwindled to their lowest level in decades.

Story: Global food chain stretched to the limit Read more…

Hundreds of Russians protest against Putin

February 2, 2011 Comments off

MOSCOW (AP) — About 500 people demonstrated in a central Moscow square on Monday to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his “rule of thieves.”

The rally took place peacefully, but police detained a separate group of 20 opposition activists nearby. About 60 protesters also were detained in St. Petersburg, one of a number of other cities where demonstrations were held.

Prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was arrested and jailed for 15 days following a similar demonstration a month ago, kept up his assault on Russia’s longtime leader as he addressed the protesters on Moscow’s Triumph Square.

He compared Putin to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, who is facing mass unrest after 30 years in power.

“Please, someone tell me how our Read more…

Sudanese Student dies in Sudan clash

February 1, 2011 Comments off
Sudanese riot police patrol the streets of Khartoum [AFP]

A student who was beaten by police during violent anti-government demonstrations in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, has died of his wounds in Omdurman hospital, protesters have said.

“Mohammed Abdulrahman, from Ahlia University, died last night in Omdurman hospital as a result of his … wounds after he was beaten by police,” said an activist who took part in Sunday’s protests.

“This morning (Monday) both Ahlia University and the Islamic University of Omdurman have been closed by a government decision,” said the activist, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two other students said Abdulrahman had fallen during the clashes and was taken to the hospital, where medics informed them that he had died early on Monday.

“Medical sources confirmed to us that the student died yesterday from his injuries inflicted by security forces,” said Yasir Arman, the top official in the north of south Sudan’s main party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Arman condemned the use of force and said the students were trying to hold peaceful demonstrations.

The Omdurman hospital morgue declined to Read more…

Thousands protest in Jordan for third week

February 1, 2011 Comments off

Suha Philip Ma’ayeh

AMMAN // For the third consecutive on Friday, Jordanians poured into the streets after noon prayers to protest against soaring prices and call for a change in government.

The Islamist led opposition, professional associations and leftist activists marched yesterday from Al Huesseini Mosque to the capital’s center. They held banners that read “Corruption and normalisation are two faces of the same coin,” called for a “national unity government” and called for the prime minister Samir Rifai to step down.

Police estimated 3,500 people took part in the protest, one of several demonstrations held this month despite two recent government aid packages to mitigate the impact of soaring prices. The measures included a 20-dinar (Dh100) monthly salary increase for state workers and in pension, while the previous aid package increased subsidies for some commodities, including fuel and food staples such as rice and sugar.

Another 2,500 people also took to the streets in six other cities across the country after the noon prayers yesterday. Those protests also called for Mr Rifai’s ouster. Read more…

Planned Food Shortage In The US

January 31, 2011 Comments off

“Most people have the idea that food in our grocery stores just magically appears; maybe it just pops up out of the floors or drops down from secret store rooms in the ceilings.”

Buy local? Ok! I will do that!  Wait…..this says product of China, product of Brazil, product of Mexico, product of Egypt, Guatemala, Argentina ………where is the stuff produced in the US?  How am I supposed to buy local to support my local economy when there is nothing here that was produced locally or even in the United States?  And this stuff over here?  It just says “distributed by” a company in the US and I have no idea where the heck it came from.

In what I see as a sick joke mouthed by sick individuals in our government, the call has gone out to “buy local!  Know your farmer!”  I know the farmers in this area but they are being regulated and pressured out of business with the passage of the fake food safety bill in the senate.  Read more…

Economic Warning Signs

January 30, 2011 1 comment

Do you see all of the warning signs that are flashing all around you?  These days it seems like there is more bad economic news in a single week than there used to be in an entire month.  2011 is already shaping up to be a very dark year for the world economy.  The price of food is shooting through the roof and we have already seen violent food riots in countries like Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.  World financial markets are becoming increasingly unstable as the sovereign debt crisis continues to get worse.  Meanwhile, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits is up, foreclosures are up and poverty continues to spread like a plague throughout the United States.  What we are starting to see around the globe is a lot like the “stagflation” of the 1970s.  All of the crazy money printing that has been going on is overheating prices for agricultural commodities and precious metals, but all of this new money is not doing much to help the average man or woman on the street. Read more…

South Africa: Floods kill 120 and destroy crops

January 29, 2011 Comments off

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South Africa is reeling from unusually heavy rainfall that has caused flooding in many parts of the country, wiping out crops in what is the continent’s main breadbasket.

More than 120 people have been killed in the thunderstorms and flooding since mid-December, and some 20,000 people are in need of assistance. The South African government has declared disaster areas in eight of its nine provinces.

And it’s not over yet. Above-average rainfall is forecast for South Africa and neighboring countries for the next few months.

Much of southern Africa is now on flood alert, including Mozambique, where at least 13 people have died from floods and thousands have fled their homes for higher ground. Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia are also on alert for flooding.

While this is the annual rainy season in southern Africa, the heavier than usual rainfall has been blamed on La Nina, the weather pattern behind the severe flooding in other southern hemisphere countries including Australia, Brazil and the Philippines.

In South Africa, the government has put the flood damage at $211 million, but this is an early estimate and expected to rise. At least Read more…

Spike in world food prices: It’s more than bad weather

January 21, 2011 Comments off

A global index for food prices, as measured by the UN, reached a record high last month. This on the heels of a food crisis in 2007-08. The weather isn’t the only culprit — or solution.

Of all the world headlines that Sen. Richard Lugar could have highlighted this week – the visit of China’s president in Washington, for instance, or the revolt in Arab Tunisia – the most burning issue for him was … alfalfa.

The plant, used for animal feed, was the surprising topic of the senator’s opening remarks at a Monitor breakfast with reporters Jan. 18. Alfalfa holds a special interest for this active Indiana farmer who is also the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Alfalfa, he notes, is one example of why world food prices have risen so sharply – the second such rise in just over two years.

Last month the global food price index reached a record high, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization, a United Nations body. It surpassed the levels of the last food crisis in 2007-2008, when rising prices caused riots in more than 30 countries.

The human misery from unaffordable – or unavailable – food isn’t as widespread this time, because the price of rice – a staple for more than 3 billion people – is relatively stable. Also, Africa and Asia have seen some good harvests, helping feed local populations. Read more…

Why Are Commodity Prices Rising? Let Me Count the Ways

January 18, 2011 Comments off

Our overview of 2011 ‘What Ifs’ concentrated on the concepts of bifurcation and biflation. Those themes are already playing out just a couple of weeks into the New Year. Inflation in all types of commodities has ramped up even further, leaving countries like China, India, Brazil, Thailand and South Korea to deal with more than their fair share of these inflationary forces. Meanwhile, easy monetary policy in the U.S. and Europe just adds fuel to the inflation fire.

The United Nations food agency (FAO) kicked off 2011 by announcing that December of 2010 saw food prices eclipse the record levels hit during the 2008 food crisis, which triggered riots in Egypt, Cameroon, and Haiti at the time. The current spike in food prices has already caused violent food riots in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen, and Jordan.

Food Inflation by the Numbers

Food inflation has already hit double digits in China, India and Brazil. It’s not hard to see why when you look at how some of the major soft commodities have performed over the last 12 months:

  • Corn: + 69%
  • Wheat: + 47%
  • Soy Beans: + 44%
  • Sugar: + 15%
  • Coffee: + 65%
  • Cotton: + 105%

(Trailing 12-month price moves as of January 12, 2011)

While these price spikes are causing food and clothing prices to rise, those effects will undoubtedly be exacerbated by the simultaneous rise in energy and raw materials we have seen:

  • Oil: + 15% over 12 months and + 30% since the August, 2010 low
  • Copper: + 30%

Overall, you can see the rise in commodity prices in the CRB Index, up about 30% since August of 2010, but well off the parabolic peak of 2008: Read more…