32 sats \ 6 replies \ @TomK OP 2 Aug \ parent \ on: Surging Food Prices Easily Translate Into Unrest in Vulnerable Regions charts_and_numbers
it is indeed an interesting chart for those who want to anticipate geopolitical crises, especially when you think of the Arab Spring which clearly took place in the shadow of food price inflation
I don't quite understand how this index can be a tool for anticipating conflicts. Was it possible to anticipate the war in Ukraine? Or was the rise in grain prices was consequence?
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I don't think this was a predictor for the Ukraine invasion, but the rise in grain prices had begun prior to that.
The war in Ukraine exacerbated a trend that started because of poor EU green energy planning. A colleague of mine, who also happens to be a farmer, was talking about this before the war.
Basically, the EU badly overestimated how much renewable energy capacity they were going to have, which led to a large share of global natural gas being diverted to European energy demand. The alternative use for that natural gas was fertilizer production. Fertilizer prices skyrocketed, but there still wasn't enough to fertilize all the crop land. That led to a price spike that most people are attributing to the war, but was coming either way.
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I think I understand. With the rise in the price of food and especially cereals, the poorer regions will suffer more and this could lead to conflicts. Is that right?
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In these states there is no social system as we know it, which means that the small upper class, which usually keeps power in check with the military, immediately begins to waver when the need is so great that parts of the military change sides because they themselves are affected.
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In these states there is no social system as we know it, which means that the small upper class, which usually keeps power in check with the military, immediately begins to waver when the need is so great that parts of the military change sides because they themselves are affected.
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