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A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

economist.com

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Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#21
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean that remaining primitive hunters-gatherers, as now observed in certain places near Amazon river, would be more of a success?

yes according to modern media sentiment. Never once have I watched a movie that argued for the antithesis of the "Avatar" respect nature mantra. I mean even without the warmongering factories are never portrayed in a positive light unless they're Willy Wonka's.

I wouldn't figure what society you'd be happy in based on media depictions. They're selling you whatever you'll buy. They sold the Jetsons back in the day.

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#22

The agricultural revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

Our brains were certainly larger on an individual level, but those individuals could never surpass a few tens of thousands, spread globally, the farther the better!

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#23
post #2

The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles.

> The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles. That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them. The truth is Putin'…

The problem is that Russia has a sea blockade not allowing Ukrainian ships with grain to leave ports. That's where the missiles could help. (in the same time Russia sells stolen from Ukraine grain itself).

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#24
post #2

The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles.

> The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles. That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them. The truth is Putin'…

> That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them.

According to western media.

> The truth is Putin's Kremlin is to blame for this wide-spread shortage

Yeah that would be easy, however it's not as cut and dry (it rarely is). You could as easily blame Zelenskyy for killing thousands of east Ukrainians prior. And then their is the coup d'état in 2014 as well and the constant provocations of the NATO in general. So I am not so sure that Putin's Kremlin alone is to blame.

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#25
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s true of course, but from my understanding the main problem at the moment is exporting the grain, not production of said grain.

No, growing is definitely going to be an issue, as is storing it because Russia has been targeting Grain silos, too. The transportation aspect is a critical issue, too, but one would like to think that as Russia is being pushed back to the border that the center and West will be able to transport to Poland/Romania to enter EU markets by the time harvest occurs in the Fall. The main issue is that Russia keeps attackin…

Transportation is the bigger issue.

Ukrainian grain exports used to be tens of millions of tonnes per year. That's something like a million semitrucks or a million railway cars. You can't build that kind of capacity in a few months, especially not in the middle of an all-out war.

As long as Russia can operate submarines in the Black Sea, it can blockade Ukrainian ports. No foreign cargo ship will approach the ports, and no foreign insurer will insure such ships.

Ukraine also depended on Russian energy. If Europe wants to phase out Russian energy imports, it can't supply enough fuel to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine has better uses for the fuel it can get than exporting low-value bulk goods. Like keeping its military operational, which also needs the trucks that could export grain.

Ukraine uses the Soviet 1520 mm rail gauge, while its western neighbors use the 1435 mm gauge. That creates a huge bottleneck for rail transport. Not to mention that Russia has been targeting Ukrainian railway infrastructure.

There are not that many major roads from Ukraine to the west, and some of them are unusable. The border between Moldova and Ukraine is largely controlled by Russian-backed separatists, while Russia has been bombing the bridges on the only road south of Moldova repeatedly.

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles. That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them. The truth is Putin'…

> That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them. According to western media. > The truth is Putin's Kremlin is to blame for this wide-spread shortage…

> According to western media.

Wow, that's a new level of denial. Take a look, this happened yesterday [0].

This is a "culture hall", pretty far away from the front lines, where kids used to learn to play music. More than ten injured including children.

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnU_3ljHMQ

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#29
post #2

The war wouldn’t be such a problem if Ukraine received proper anti-ship missiles.

Why is that?

The theory is that the Ukranians would use those missiles to clear the Black Sea blockade and then they would be able to resume shipping grain, grain-precursors, and other goods as they did before the war. There's more to the situation than that, so it's impossible to say if that would be enough, unfortunately, but that's the theory.

Re: A world grain shortage puts tens of millions at risk

#30
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's very difficult to say, actually; the Moskova was sunk with them after all, but the bigger issue is the abhorrent and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations by the Russians. Fields with farmers and homes and hospitals with civilians are not of military importance. And yet, Russia keeps shooting them. According to western media. > The truth is Putin's Kremlin is to blame for this wide-spread shortage…

> According to western media. Wow, that's a new level of denial. Take a look, this happened yesterday [0]. This is a "culture hall", pretty far away from the front lines, where kids used to learn to play music. More than ten injured including children. [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnU_3ljHMQ

It’s a barely noteworthy Russian propaganda line tbh.
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