America and Much of the Developed World Is on the Fast Track to Food Shortages: “Holodomor”

The atrocities of world history are taking form again, in some of the exact same regions of the world. From 1932-1933, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union committed mass genocide in Ukraine by starving the population and imprisoning and killing dissenters. The Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933 was known as the Holodomor, which means to “inflict death” through “starvation.” Approximately 13.9 million people were starved to death during that time.

At the time, Stalin captured individually-owned and operated farms and replaced them with state-run collectives. Farmers who resisted were labeled “kulaks” and marked as “enemies of the state.” When the Soviets failed to maintain their target harvest, Stalin ordered the grain to be confiscated. The Soviets deployed secret police and internal passports to crack down on Ukrainians who were hoarding food or trying to escape.

Today, the war in Ukraine threatens crops and commodities that many parts of the world depend on. With the addition of further economic, banking and energy sanctions, much of the developed world is on pace to experience food shortages that they’ve never seen before — a man-made, modern day Holodomor.

Global instability and the fallout from wartime economic sanctions affects us all

In Ukraine today, farms are being overrun, crops are not being planted, families are fleeing across the border, and men are being conscripted to fight off the Russian invasion. The breadbasket of the world is being ransacked once again.

Walmarts have placed a limit on overall cart quantities. Some areas it is 156 item others it is 176 items. It sounds like a lot, but if one considers a cardboard tray of canned items being 12-24 items per tray, it isn’t much.

For the last month or so at my local Aldi’s canned vegetable choices have been green beans or peas. No corn, no carrots, no mushrooms, no other basic veg. Beans have all been some version of baked bean or black bean. Shelves are stocked full, look full until you observe closer the selection is slim. Yesterday the pasta and soups were basically ransacked. Butter was limited to 6 (on sale for $1.97 Lb). Pork roasts were picked through at $1.99 LB. Which was fine by me as I live alone and like a smaller roast. Chicken selection was thin. Saddest part...man in front of me at checkout was embarrassed horribly, as he did not have enough money for his order. Instead of putting things back, he just walked out. Cashier had to call a manager to void items and well...all the people in line waiting.

I shopped the Family Dollar yesterday as they had a few items on sale and with coupons. One of the items I needed, laundry detergent, the container was noticeably smaller. All the laundry containers were smaller. The scarcity shortage is affecting more than just food.

No one is really saying how bad this is going to get. I think that is the one thing that is worrisome. The near silence from anyone in authority. I have been putting things back and getting the garden ready for spring planting. But weekly shopping is getting to be traumatic for me between lack and price.

And sitting back and realizing this is a global event or huge magnitude, it is an amazing thought. This is not just a country in Africa experiencing it. There are events happening all around the globe affecting crops. Drought out west, China’s own wheat crop failure, soy from South America. Every major crop is failing this spring. And that does not even account for what has yet to get planted and needs fertilizer.

We are cresting the financial debt cycle and it looks like there is more than just a recession on the horizon. Things are going to come to a grinding and deadly halt. There are a lot of young people who are in for a very rude awakening.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.