The Algerian government is suddenly very concerned that their poor people get enough to eat: Algeria steps up grain imports, eyes Tunisia ‘virus’.
ALGIERS/PARIS (Reuters) – Algeria confirmed it bought almost a million tons of wheat on Wednesday and ordered an urgent speeding up of grain imports, a move seen heading off unrest over food prices as protests swept north Africa.
1 |
darthstar Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:21:43am |
“Feed the little fuckers so they’ll quit bitching” is not exactly what I’d call a sound domestic policy.
| 2 |
BishopX Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:23:03am |
re: #1 darthstar
The last major riots in Egypt before the current ones were over the price of bread…It looks like Algeria is preparing for the last revolution.
| 3 |
lawhawk Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:25:08am |
Not quite the Let ‘em Eat Cake, but damned close. Food costs and horrid economic conditions led to Tunisia sending Ben Ali packing (and they’re now trying to get Interpol to arrest and assist in extraditing him back to Tunisia to face charges of looting the Tunisian treasury). That’s led to similar protests in Egypt, where half the population gets by on less than $2 a day. Algeria’s simply trying to head off an inevitable protest for nearly identical conditions.
It may buy the Algerian regime some time, but until they do something about the lack of economic opportunities and political access, the regime will not address the core problems.
| 4 |
Feline Fearless Leader Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:25:47am |
I wonder if they’re seeing if Barnum&Bailey is available for an extended tour as well…
| 5 |
Feline Fearless Leader Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:34:35am |
re: #1 darthstar
“Feed the little fuckers so they’ll quit bitching” is not exactly what I’d call a sound domestic policy.
It’s more sound than ignoring it until they gather outside the palace with weapons and take you down.
However, I think your point was more that it’s not a very responsible domestic policy and indicates a government whose primary concern is not the welfare of their citizens.
| 6 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:36:06am |
The quite-good Alternet article on this:
[Link: www.alternet.org…]
23% of Algeria is below the poverty line. The poverty line for Algeria, that is.
| 7 |
Mad Prophet Ludwig Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:36:29am |
AGW will hit the poorest first.
We have a global economy. Crop failures in Russia and China means that they take care of their own first and others simply won’t have.
Spread of contagion will damage crops too. That will hit the poorest nations first as well.
AGW is real and it is killing people now.
As usual, there is a set of “real Americans” who simply could care less. After all, those dying aren’t white, aren’t wealthy and aren’t Christian.
Of course the heatwave in Europe that killed 71,000 in ‘03 killed Europeans, but then again they weren’t wealthy either.
For the record, the GOP is evil and literally murderous.
| 8 |
Tumulus11 Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:38:07am |
‘International grain markets, however, reacted to the Algerian news by pushing higher with U.S. wheat up more than 1 percent to its highest since August 2008 …’
. Would you like political freedom with your order?
| 10 |
darthstar Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:50:53am |
re: #5 oaktree
However, I think your point was more that it’s not a very responsible domestic policy and indicates a government whose primary concern is not the welfare of their citizens.
Exactly. Their primary concern is keeping the wolves away from the door for another few months so they can stay in power…then lather, rinse, repeat…
| 11 |
albusteve Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:51:38am |
north of the Sahara…
deep fresh water wells and desalination will be forced online by
circumstance…the cost will be prohibitive unless military spending is slashed…energy to drive the pumps and valves will have to come from somewhere….small, compact nukes are the solution
| 12 |
albusteve Wed, Jan 26, 2011 9:52:47am |
re: #10 darthstar
Exactly. Their primary concern is keeping the wolves away from the door for another few months so they can stay in power…then lather, rinse, repeat…
yup, and the people know it….the pressure builds until something blows
| 13 |
butterick Wed, Jan 26, 2011 10:19:55am |
re: #7 LudwigVanQuixote
AGW will hit the poorest first.
That and energy prices are combining to create a pretty hungry and murderous 21st century. But of course this perspective will be seen as Malthusian by the ultra right kook fringe, because Jebus made enough of everything for everybody, and Jews and HAARP are to blame for any perceived climate or scarcity problems.
| 14 |
HappyWarrior Wed, Jan 26, 2011 10:20:26am |
Well you know the saying about revolutions and devouring their own children. this is it right here. The GOP has no problem using the TP and vice versa but it always was a marriage of convience. It does amuse me that the Minnesota Tea Party is attacking Bachmann though. I think she did this whole stunt to raise her profile not just in Minnesota but the whole nation but if somehow she was ever nominated for a high office like Senate or president, she’d be slaughtered so fast.
| 15 |
HappyWarrior Wed, Jan 26, 2011 10:23:22am |
re: #14 HappyWarrior
Well you know the saying about revolutions and devouring their own children. this is it right here. The GOP has no problem using the TP and vice versa but it always was a marriage of convience. It does amuse me that the Minnesota Tea Party is attacking Bachmann though. I think she did this whole stunt to raise her profile not just in Minnesota but the whole nation but if somehow she was ever nominated for a high office like Senate or president, she’d be slaughtered so fast.
oops meant to be this in the thing about Bachmann.
| 16 |
Interesting Times Wed, Jan 26, 2011 10:33:46am |
re: #7 LudwigVanQuixote
For the record, the GOP is evil and literally murderous.
Did you see this study, or news about it?
| 17 |
Mad Prophet Ludwig Wed, Jan 26, 2011 10:36:02am |
re: #16 publicityStunted
Did you see this study, or news about it?
That was a great post
I would add a little about sulfur dioxide though.
| 18 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Wed, Jan 26, 2011 11:08:14am |
A retweet I just read from Sandmonkey:
It is not rubber bullets, they r using metal pellets. My friend has 20 pellets in his back, he was just trying 2 shield an old man
| 19 |
lostlakehiker Wed, Jan 26, 2011 11:14:18am |
re: #7 LudwigVanQuixote
AGW will hit the poorest first.
We have a global economy. Crop failures in Russia and China means that they take care of their own first and others simply won’t have.
Spread of contagion will damage crops too. That will hit the poorest nations first as well.
AGW is real and it is killing people now.
As usual, there is a set of “real Americans” who simply could care less. After all, those dying aren’t white, aren’t wealthy and aren’t Christian.
Of course the heatwave in Europe that killed 71,000 in ‘03 killed Europeans, but then again they weren’t wealthy either.
For the record, the GOP is evil and literally murderous.
The GOP is far from the only cause of AGW. Europe has talked a good game with respect to carbon emissions, but over the past decade, their emissions went right on up. China is a big producer and consumer of coal. And in the U.S., the last two years were ones in which Democrats held every lever of power at the national level. Nothing much was done about AGW.
For a very sophisticated look at how groups of people arrive at decisions, and the likely implications of this for such efforts as the Kyoto Accords and the Copenhagen summit, read Bruce Bueno di Mosquito’s book “The predictioneer’s game”. His conclusion is that we shall have to have a technological fix, because without it, the tragedy of the commons will play itself out. Republicans or no Republicans.
Our fate lies in the hands of the people designing and building successive generations of wind, solar, and nuclear energy facilities. When these can beat coal at its own game, the crisis will have been solved. [Oil and natural gas are secondary problems, because less CO2 is emitted per unit of energy obtained, and because supplies are limited.]
Public policy must therefore focus on advancing the state of the art in green energy. Republicans are mistaken about AGW and the need for green energy, but winning them over to the task of solving this problem and developing this energy will be easier if one steers clear of demonization. Haven’t we had enough of that recently?
| 20 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Wed, Jan 26, 2011 11:19:33am |
re: #19 lostlakehiker
The GOP is far from the only cause of AGW.
Good thing nobody said it was.
Public policy must therefore focus on advancing the state of the art in green energy. Republicans are mistaken about AGW and the need for green energy, but winning them over to the task of solving this problem and developing this energy will be easier if one steers clear of demonization. Haven’t we had enough of that recently?
How so? How will it be easier? How will it be possible at all, in the face of all the anti-AGW and anti-science propaganda pushed by the GOP and their media allies?
You seem to be taking the position that the GOP is honestly confused about AGW. Do you think that’s the case?
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