By
Anthony Faiola
updated 11:00 p.m. HT, Fri., Feb. 29, 2008
This is just another Bio-fuel alert – as a response to the
Global Warming Hoax – The US and EU are have already caused soaring food prices
of the most basic food items for the poor and needy world wide. But the
legislation that has now been passed by both the US in its energy bill and the
EU in their own legislation to divert even greater quantities of corn into
creating biofuel will cause beginning this summer a world wise artificial famine. An artificial
famine through soaring food prices of all basic agricultural staples to make up
for the loss of 20-25 percent of the
Already in dozens of
countries from
This will cause the
specter of the sword of Islam to rise around the world and topple democracies
as the masses starve.
Just yesterday I read and
article that said that the giant Yangzi River in China is running red because
of toxic pollution.
Revelation 6:6 And
I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a
penny, (A
days wages) and three measures of
barley (Poor
peoples food and animal feed) for a
penny; (A
days wages) and see thou hurt not the
oil and the wine.
Over a year ago the word
of the Lord was given here to Christians to begin to stockpile food necessities
little by little. (A bag of this and a number ten can of that.)
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government's humanitarian
relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the
world's poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and
the U.S.
Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number
of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials
at the agency said.
USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in
prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has
generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce
emergency operations. That deficit is projected to rise to $200 million by
year's end. Prices have skyrocketed as more grains go to biofuel
production or are consumed by such fast-emerging markets as China
and India.
Officials said they were reviewing all of the
agency's emergency programs -- which target almost 40 countries and zones
including Ethiopia,
Iraq,
Somalia,
Honduras
and Sudan's
Darfur
region -- to decide how and where the cuts will be made.
Setting priorities
"We're in the process now of going country by country and analyzing the
commodity price increase on each country," said
Jeff Borns, director of USAID's
Food for Peace, the organization's food aid arm. "Then we're going to have
to prioritize."
The reductions, international relief agencies say,
will seriously complicate already strained efforts to combat global hunger,
particularly in Africa,
Central
Asia and Latin
America. Poor countries in those regions are struggling to cope with
record food price surges, which have made it difficult for aid groups to sustain
their operations in some countries.
The cuts will likely have a direct impact on major
USAID partners, including aid groups and the United
Nations World
Food Program, the largest international provider, which counts on
The U.N. program is confronting similar price
pressures. It announced this month that it was facing a $505 million shortfall
due to soaring food and fuel costs, and would cut distribution if it did not
receive new funds. Meanwhile, need is increasing. Afghanistan,
for instance, recently put in an emergency request for $77 million to cope with
skyrocketing prices that have put key staples out of reach for more and more
Afghans.
"Look at what's happened to wheat prices alone
-- they shot up 25 percent in one day last week," said Josette
Sheeran, executive director of the World Food
Program. "This is really the first emergency we've faced without a
drought, war, natural disaster. We will have to cut the amount of people being
served or the amount of food being served if we do not get more funds."
Agencies express alarm
Groups that work with USAID, several of which have been informed of the
shortfall over the past two weeks, are alarmed. Emergency aid is earmarked only
for countries in desperate need as a result of natural disasters, civil strife
or other humanitarian crises. Although the
USAID officials would not speculate on which
countries might be picked for cuts, though aid workers said it was unlikely
that those with the greatest need -- such as
The Bush administration's 2008
USAID budget request calls for $1.2 billion in food aid with a supplemental
$350 million to cover assistance in Darfur and critical situations in southern
Africa, Kenya
and other hot spots.
USAID officials said the administration, facing a
tight budget year, was not planning to request funds to cover the projected
$200 million shortfall from the price increases. USAID purchases grains in the
same domestic commodities market as the
Aid groups said they would press USAID and the Bush
administration to pursue more funds from Congress to cover the shortfall.
Several are concerned that the cuts come at a time when the Senate is
considering a farm bill that would make it much harder for USAID to tap into
non-emergency food in the event of a catastrophic event such as the 2004 Asian
tsunami.
Frank Orzechowski, an
adviser for Catholic Relief Services, said his organization has calculated that
"The biggest concern is that there are going
to be more people being pushed into food insecurity in poor countries because
they don't have the purchasing power to cover higher costs, and we will be less
rather than more prepared to cope with that. Higher commodity
prices is not a situation that the
Although it may take several months before the cuts
are felt, higher food prices already have begun to erode the non-emergency aid
and development programs sponsored by USAID in partnership with CARE, Catholic
Relief Services, World
Vision and others. In the case of one Asian nation, CARE said USAID had
provided 10 percent less non-emergency food aid than expected, citing higher
prices.
In Liberia,
Catholic Relief Services funds its developmental programs -- including health
worker training and technical assistance to farmers -- by selling wheat or rice
provided by USAID at market prices. But, Catholic Relief was unable to find
buyers for those grains in January because market prices have jumped so high
that local buyers have switched to cheaper foods. The aid group is scrambling
to find alternate sources before its funding runs out in April.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23418142/