Russia has halted a wartime deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain. It’s a blow to global food security

Russia halted a breakthrough wartime deal on Monday that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative until its demands to get its own food and fertilizer to the world are met. While Russia has complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its agricultural exports, it has shipped record amounts of wheat.

“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said.

“No, the context is that Ukraine cannot win on the battlefield so their cohorts in the U.S. are resorting to terrorism, attacking a civilian target, just like the pipeline.”

Except they have won repeatedly on the battlefield, both defensively or offensively. Harkiv is now in Ukrainian hands. Bakhmut remains in play, despite Russia squandering thousands of men for months.

“so their cohorts in the U.S. are resorting to terrorism, attacking a civilian target, just like the pipeline.”

This is what you call “proof”? A bunch of conjecture? Perhaps you don’t know what proof or context are.

“As for the grain shipments, at the going prices the destination countries can afford to pay, it has to go by sea and it will only go if Russia says so.”

Russia can’t even hold onto its flag ship Moskvo. But quite aside from that, Saudi Arabia can afford to pay top dollar for wheat, rye and sunflower seeds, whether by sea, rail or road. So can Israel. Africa, some countries receive foreign aid paid for by more prosperous countries, but it comes from Ukraine.

But talk is cheap. Show me the market stats of Ukrainian grain sales for the past three years, not Putin’s media statements. I don’t know how to break this to you, but Putin lies. In fact, he’s an expert liar. The KGB taught him well. It’s called Maskirovka, and it’s a Russian art form.

Show me hard proof, not your conjectures and suppositions.

--- "I was merely pointing out the ignorance of the original comment. Or would you opine that being the second largest exporter of food (behind the USA) isn't 'feeding the world'?"

I don't grasp the tenor of your remark. Ignorance is a matter of definition and degree. Statements of sourced material is not to "opine."

Opining, as I see it, is tlozo's unsupported statement about Ukraine's wheat production. He made good in writing me, "Mea Culpa- my error. You are right. Ukraine supplies 10% of the worlds wheat and up to 16% of the world's corn exports." Good on him for that.

As to your source, it's claims are little odd, one must say. It's all a matter of "it's all a matter of..." in terms of what and how one counts things.

From the article you cited..."

"The Dutch farm ministry, as of Jan. 21, 2021, put total agricultural exports at €95.6 billion ($116.2 billion), a rise of 1% on 2019, mainly because of increased re-exports of agricultural products of foreign origin."

Additionally, if feeding the world means Germany, the article also states, "The biggest export customer is Germany, which takes 26% of the Netherlands agricultural exports. Neighboring Germany, Belgium, the UK and France together account for 54% of the total."

So half the world -- according to the details of the article -- is "Germany, Belgium, the UK and France together account[ing] for 54% of the total."

One finds, seeming to support your source: "Surprisingly, in second place, the Netherlands is a relatively small country. Their agricultural exports are made up of 3 parts. $61 billion worth of agricultural products, $9 billion in agricultural material, knowledge and tech as well as around $24 billion worth or re-exports which brings in $94 billion."

So a third of the Netherlands' productivity is form the latter two categories.

Source: https://humboldt.global/top-agricultural-exporters/

From World Atlas ---
1 United States 72,682,349.79
2 Germany 34,628,800.73
3 United Kingdom 29,540,218.71
4 China 25,152,286.27
5 France 24,114,557.76
6 Netherlands 23,271,570.93
7 Japan 21,870,881.77
8 Canada 21,803,448.88
9 Belgium 15,742,034.88
10 Italy 13,890,507.81
Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-american-food-giant-the-largest-exporter-of-food-in-the-world.html

Additionally:

Which Countries Produce the Most Food?
China, India, the United States, and Brazil are the world's top agricultural producers, in that order.

Which Country Is the Largest Exporter of Food?
The United States is the largest exporter of food, accounting for more than 10% of total global exports in 2020

Other sources: https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/WLD/Year/2020/TradeFlow/Export/Partner/by-country/Product/16-24_FoodProd

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/agricultural-exports-by-country

Bottom line is that all depends on a variety of data models. "Feeding the world" is many nations' productivity, and by some measures -- mostly monetary, and because Netherlands produces for export while such as Indonesia, China and India consume most of theirs internally -- there is no surprise that the stats are as they are.

Feeding the world.... Lots of hands are busy with this. Best wishes.

“Ever heard of sanctions?“

______________________

Lindsey Graham, is that you?
Have you ever looked at the ramifications of America last foreign policy?
Perhaps you need to stop supporting Democrats trying to destroy the USA:

Sanctions against Russia could hurt the US dollar as countries like Iran and China seek alternative currencies for trade: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
Huileng Tan
Updated April 17, 2023

“”There is a risk when we use financial sanctions that are linked to the role of the dollar that over time it could undermine the hegemony of the dollar,” Yellen told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview. But the US only uses the dollar as a tool “judiciously,” she added.

“It is a very effective tool. Of course, it does create a desire on the part of China, of Russia, of Iran to find an alternative,” Yelled said.””

https://news.yahoo.com/sanctions-against-russia-could-hurt-092317937.html

And:

The U.S. dollar ‘will die’ with BRICS new currency, warns Robert Kiyosaki
Anna Golubova

Monday July 17, 2023 17:11

Excerpt:
“ The end of the U.S. dollar is near, said the best-selling author of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ Robert Kiyosaki, citing an upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa as a trigger.

Kiyosaki is projecting that the BRICS group, comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, will announce their new gold-backed digital currency during its summit on August 22-24, and it will have dire consequences for the U.S. dollar.

“August 22, 2023, in Johannesburg, South Africa, BRICS nations announce gold backed crypto. US $ will die,” Kiyosaki tweeted last week. “Trillions of US $ rush home. Inflation through the roof.””

https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-07-17/The-U-S-dollar-will-die-with-BRICS-new-currency-warns-Robert-Kiyosaki.html

And:

The BRICS Currency Project Picks Up Speed – Analysis
July 18, 2023 0 Comments
By MISES

By Thorsten Polleit

Excerpt:

“ On Friday, July 7, 2023, news broke in the financial market media that the “BRICS” (that is, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) will implement their plan to create a new international currency for trading and financial transactions, and that this new currency will be “gold backed.”

Most recently, on June 2, 2023, the foreign ministers of the BRICS—as well as representatives from more than twelve countries—met in Cape Town, South Africa (interestingly at the “Cape of Good Hope”). Among other things, it was emphasized that they wanted to create an international trading currency. Undoubtedly, this is an undertaking that could have consequences of epic proportions.

After all, the BRICS countries represent about 3.2 billion people, approximately 40 percent of the world’s population, with a combined economic output nearly the size of the economy of the United States of America. And there are also many other countries (such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Algeria, Argentina, and Kazakhstan) that might want to join the BRICS club.

The goal of the BRICS countries is to reduce their economic and political dependence on the US dollar, challenging “US dollar imperialism.” To this end, they want to create a new international currency for commercial and financial transactions, replacing the US dollar as the means of transaction unit.

The reason is obvious. The US administration has on many occasions used the greenback as a “geopolitical weapon” and engaged in a kind of “financial warfare”: Washington sanctions enemy countries by denying them access to the US dollar capital market, but above all, it shuts them off from the international US dollar-centric payment system.

The freezing of Russia’s currency reserves (the equivalent of almost six hundred billion US dollars is currently at stake) has set off alarm bells in many non-Western countries. It has reminded a number of them that holding US dollars comes with a political risk. This, in turn, has prompted many to restructure their international foreign reserves: holding fewer US dollars, switching to other (smaller) currencies, but above all, buying more gold.”

https://www.eurasiareview.com/18072023-the-brics-currency-project-picks-up-speed-analysis/#google_vignette

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