“The Cold War has been over for two decades, and many of this article’s current readers have never lived under the shadow of nuclear annihilation. Nevertheless, a nuclear attack is still a very real threat. Global politics are certainly no more stable than they were in the Cold War, and human nature has changed none in the last two decades. “The most persistent sound which reverberates through man’s history”, as one wrote, “is the beating of war drums”. For as long as nuclear weapons exist in the armories of human beings, there will always be the danger that they will be used.” Link@wikihow.com

“The current global food system, which was designed by US-based agribusiness conglomerates like Cargill, Monsanto and ADM and forced into place by the US government and its allies at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, has planted the seeds of disaster by pressuring farmers here and abroad to produce cash crops for export and alternative fuels rather than grow healthy food for local consumption and regional stability. The only smart short-term response is to throw money at the problem. Rising food prices may not be causing riots in the United States, but food banks here are struggling to meet demand as joblessness grows.” TWFC@commondreams.org

“With the benefit of hindsight, few now doubt that the housing bubble that induced most of the recent growth of the U.S. economy was bound to burst or that a general financial crisis and a global economic slowdown were to be the unavoidable results. Warning signs were evident for years to all of those not taken in by the new financial alchemy of high-risk debt management, and not blinded, as was much of the corporate world, by huge speculative profits.”

Article@The Monthly Review

“The food industry is being squeezed from all sides. Last year prices for milk, eggs, corn, wheat, oils and almost all other edible commodities climbed to unprecedented levels. They are still rising, although at a slower pace. The prices of electricity and fuel are also on the increase, which makes processing and distribution more expensive. And passing on higher costs is not easy when customers too are feeling the pinch, as unemployment rises, the value of their homes falls, and inflation erodes their purchasing power.”

Link@economist.com

“The last time I drew attention to the hazards of making diesel fuel from vegetable oils, I received as much abuse as I have ever been sent for my stance on the Iraq war. The biodiesel missionaries, I discovered, are as vociferous in their denial as the executives of Exxon. I am now prepared to admit that my previous column was wrong. But they’re not going to like it. I was wrong because I underestimated the fuel’s destructive impact.” George Monbiot

The Looming Food Crisis@The Guardian
Global Food Crisis Emerging@Green Horizon
Mexicans Stage Tortilla Protest@ BBC News