Governments Hoard Food Stockpiles in Anticipation of Public Uprisings

Authoritarian Governments Start Stockpiling Food to Fight Public Anger

Authoritarian governments across the world are aggressively stockpiling food as a buffer against soaring food costs which they fear may stoke popular discontent.

January 28, 2011

Telegraph - Commodities traders have warned they are seeing the first signs of panic buying from states concerned about the political implications of rising prices for staple crops. However, the tactic risks simply further pushing up prices, analysts have warned, pushing a spiral of food inflation.

Governments in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa have recently made large food purchases on the open market in the wake of unrest in Tunisia which deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Resentment at food shortages and high prices, as well as repression and corruption, drove the popular uprising which swept away his government.

Youths reportedly chanted "bring us sugar!" in the demonstrations which toppled his regime.

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economics professor who predicted the financial crisis, this week told the World Economic Forum in Davos that high prices were "leading to riots, demonstrations and political instability."

"It's really something that can topple regimes, as we have seen in the Middle East," he said.

Algeria purchased 800,000 tonnes of milling wheat on Wednesday and Saudi Arabia has said it will purchase enough wheat for a 12 month reserve.

Egypt, which has seen several days of unrest in part provoked by high food prices, is expected to follow.

Bangladesh has tripled its rice import target and Indonesia this week bought 820,000 tonnes of Thai rice.

Jim Gerlach, of commodity brokerage A/C Trading, said:

"Sovereign nations are beginning to stockpile food to prevent unrest." "You artificially stimulate much higher demand when nations start to increase stockpiles."

"This is only the start of the panic buying," said Ker Chung Yang, commodities analyst at Singapore-based Phillip Futures. "I expect we'll have more countries coming in and buying grain."

Prices have not hit the peaks seen in 2008 when inflation caused a food price crisis, but economists have warned they still have the power to topple regimes.

Hamza Alkholi, chairman and chief executive of the Saudi Alkholi Group, a holding company investing in industrials and real estate, said protest would not stop in North Africa.

"It will spread in many countries because of high unemployment and increasing food prices," he warned.

Governments Hoard Food Stockpiles in Anticipation of Public Uprisings

February 1, 2011

NaturalNews - Economic failures, government corruption, banking system fraud -- these and many other factors have together contributed to the escalating turmoil that the world currently faces. The costs associated with everything from energy and fuel to food and health care have soared in recent years because of manipulation of the fiat monetary system, and actual shortages of resources. And according to reports, nervous governments are now starting to stockpile massive food stocks to offset what they believe is a coming wave of civil unrest over the continued rising costs of basic essentials.

Though not typically a course of action in the U.S., protests and even aggressive riots are rather common in many countries around the world, particularly those with blatantly authoritarian governments. When the noose gets a little bit too tight, the people of these nations often quickly push back and demand changes. The current situation in Egypt, for example, is a perfect illustration of what people are willing to do when they are pushed too far by their tyrannical overlords.

But the unrest is beginning to spread worldwide. As food prices continue to rise, and commodities traders warn about "panic buying" over fears of massive price increases, desperate populations are starting to take it to the streets, much like they did in 2008 when food prices skyrocketed (http://www.naturalnews.com/023277_r...). But it appears as though the world is headed for another, and this time possibly worse, food crisis in the very near future.

The U.K. Telegraph reports that various countries in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, are buying up rice, wheat, and other grains by the hundreds of thousands of tons. In some cases, they are buying enough to last up to a year.

These efforts, which presumably are to offset the disruption caused by major shortages, are actually creating shortages of their own, however. They are also further driving up prices, which is causing average citizens to panic.

"It's really something that can topple regimes, as we have seen in the Middle East," explained Nouriel Roubini, a New York University (NYU) economics professor that predicted the 2008 financial crisis, to listeners at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He added that something as isolated as high food prices can cause "riots, demonstrations and political instability."

According to some experts in the industry, the wave of panic buying has only begun. Once one country takes the first move in initiating panic buying, many others follow suit, which makes the situation perpetually worse.

"This is only the start of the panic buying," said Ker Chung Yang, a commodities analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore. "I expect we'll have more countries coming in and buying grain."

According to the same report, Algeria has already purchased 800,000 tons of wheat, while Saudi Arabia has stockpiled 12 months worth of wheat. Bangladesh has reportedly tripled its rice imports, and Indonesia has purchased 820,000 tons of Thai rice. Ironically, all this buying activity is creating even worse shortages that will raise prices for other countries who import these commodities.

Food shortages are coming to the West

NaturalNews recently covered a report released by the National Inflation Association that warns of massive food inflation coming to the West in the very near future. And the report identifies the Federal Reserve's practice of printing fiat money and manipulating the money supply at will as one of the primary causes of the coming food crisis. The practice of creating money backed by nothing only leads to rapid inflation, as it devalues the overall worth of money through dilution (http://www.naturalnews.com/030309_f...).

Then there is the problem of actual food shortages. Changing weather patterns, unseasonable warm and cold spells, droughts, floods, and other erratic climate conditions in various growing regions have destroyed many crops and significantly reduced yields over the years (http://www.naturalnews.com/026453_d...). Combined with the countless diversified agricultural systems that have been replaced by genetically-modified (GM), monoculture varieties -- many of which have failed to deliver upon their promised yields -- the entire global food system is destined for failure (http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_M...).

Self-reliance is truly the key to solving the food crisis. Dependance on an unsustainable system of industrialized agriculture that depletes soil, eliminates crop diversity, and contaminates the environment with harmful pesticides and other toxins will only lead to disaster. Such a system is controlled by a few powerful elite, such as multinational biotechnology giants like Monsanto, whose only goal is profits and control. The end result is a centralized power that controls the food supply for its own gain.

Instead, it is time for a food reformation based on local, community-based agricultural systems -- and even simple backyard gardens -- which will greatly improve Americans' food independence and decouple them from the corrupt, centralized food system on which they largely rely.

A return to an honest money system, where the dollar is backed by something of value like gold or silver rather than nothing like it currently is, is also necessary to bring about real, positive change. When the value of a dollar is no longer controlled by the money masters who print it at will, but instead by the value it actually holds as a real currency, is the day Americans will begin to understand the true meaning of freedom and liberty.

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