Posted on 03/23/2023 1:53:23 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
😂👍
One of the reasons they got rid of Khrushchev, was because of his disastrous ‘Virgin Lands’ program to try to grow crops in the frozen tundra. Shortages were so bad, there were even shortages of vodka in Russia, and that will get rid of someone faster than anything.
Grain (wheat, barley, etc.) is a commodity, for the most part, granting there are specialized varieties necessary for certain culinary specialties. But for the most part they are treated as commodities.
Commodities in current conditions of international trade are effectively global pools, from which any country can purchase their needs and desires as it suits them, and suits their means. Both Europe and Africa draw from the same pools.
Europe (lets say the EU) actually has a very positive trade balance in foodstuffs. Indeed, the EU is the worlds second largest exporter of wheat. Europe/the EU feeds itself, and more. But lets say that some part of Europe may need to import grains from Russia or Ukraine (lets say Greece, which does that, out of convenience).
Greece takes, from the pool, Russian/Ukrainian grain, but that leaves more US/Canadian/Australian/French wheat available to other buyers. The pool adjusts and the ships travel accordingly.
So on that level Putins statements are absurd.
Meanwhile US activists block GMO grain to African countries like Kenya.
You are taking the (later) Soviet/US leftist academic position on the Terror Famine.
Robert Conquest burned down that party line decades ago.
https://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Sorrow-Soviet-Collectivization-Terror-Famine/dp/0195051807
the big new thing in agriculture in russia is green houses.
they bought a couple billion worth of greenhouses. their ambition a couple years back was to be an exporter of vegetables and stuff. probably the uke war has stopped that. but they have plenty enough vegetables.
sometime in the next decade or two the price of electricity generated by small nuclear power plants will go do to .01 cent @kwh.
Then there will be a huge revolution in agriculture. the russians will be able to run greenhouses powered by mini nukes all the way up to the arctic circle on any kind of land at all.
the habitable size of russia will expand 100 fold. they will have enough food to support populations 100 times the current population. the next couple hundred years of so will be smooth sailing—in terms of the country feeding itself if it ever gets around to expanding its population.
Robert Conquest May dupe you whatever he wants but I have my own ancestors who lived those times. None died of hunger in 1930s or even 1940s during the War. But indeed someone died because of diseases before the War because the sanitary conditions were then poor and were not vaccinated.
Also there were a climate problems during 1930s. In US were a mass drought and poor harvest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl
Something like this happened in Soviets’ Union at same times.
The real point here is that the grain deal originally was agreed specifically to release grain for Africa but not elsewhere. The EU president Michel travelled to the UN, accused Putin in racism and called “Putin’s plan” to starve Africa. A year later it turned out that only a couple percent went to Africa, the majority to Spain and China where it was fed to the pigs (LOL).
At the same time, the part of the deal was that the Russian grain and fertilizer shipments are allowed by the EU, and we hear regular news that such African-bound cargoes are detained in Europe for various reasons.
Putin does a good job popularizing the story in Africa, and the Africans are chasing the French with machetes (not without Kadyrov and Wagner help).
On the end of the day, Putin is a savior, but the EU is a bunch of racist liars.
Your 1 million figure for the Holodomor is just BS. In Ukraine alone, low end estimates of the death toll by starvation are around 3 million. Russia itself cosigned a statement in 2003 with the following preamble:
In the former Soviet Union millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime. The Great Famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor), took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people. In this regard, we note activities in observance of the seventieth anniversary of this Famine, in particular organized by the Government of Ukraine. Honouring the seventieth anniversary of the Ukrainian tragedy, we also commemorate the memory of millions of Russians, Kazakhs and representatives of other nationalities who died of starvation in the Volga River region, Northern Caucasus, Kazakhstan and in other parts of the former Soviet Union, as a result of civil war and forced collectivisation, leaving deep scars in the consciousness of future generations
Which has nothing to do with this war... 90 years later.
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