The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a “doom loop” for the world’s poorest people, as staple food prices soar.

  • flyingsquirrel@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Mainwhile, Russia is actively engaged in the destruction of Ukraine wheat export terminals, and India remains silent.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        This reads like an ironic shitpost. No one can seriously believe that one person saying mean things can rationalize an invasion that’s killing thousands and hurtsling food security for millions.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            I can point you towards many racist political figures throughout history who weren’t fascist. Racist is not the same as fascist. Sure, fascism usually requires creating an in group and an out group, but it’s also a lot more than that and needs to be larger than one person. Even if this person is a fascist, it still doesn’t even mean anything. He doesn’t have the political power to do anything fascist with.

        • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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          1 year ago

          Tbf “Asians are subhuman” is what the nazis used to justify killing millions of Russians, Ukrainians, and other USSR ethnicities. Millions of ukrainian red army soldiers are rolling in their graves.

          • Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago
            1. I can’t find one source for this that doesn’t come back to elrisala.

            2. Even if this story is true, one asshole doesn’t justify the genocide that Russia is committing in Ukraine.

            3. Even if this story is true, it happened long after Russia started their “special military operation” and can’t be used to justify it.

        • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Lemmy.ml and lemmygrad instances are full of tankies. Way I see it it’s only a matter of time before they defederate due to having to deal with sane people since the site blew up or people defederate from them as they’re just bloody annoying.

              • UFO@programming.dev
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                1 year ago

                While true, at which point does defederating make sense? Been wondering this myself. Reality is full of bad actors so we should be capable of countering these threats without purely relying on censorship. OTOH that takes time and energy best spend elsewhere.

                • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  I think it all depends on user levels. At present the activity isn’t that much that mods can’t deal with any arguments the difference in opinion creates. When you get to Reddit user levels that becomes a lot more difficult.

    • Zeroxxx@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      India, Indonesia and the rest of non alignment countries do not need to enter this war set up by the West.

      • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Enter the war, no. Make a simple moral comment on who the agresssors are and that they should stop, years.

      • astral_avocado@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        I agree with you that India doesn’t need to take sides, but I’m pretty sure Russian/West cooperation had been increasingly positive since the cold war ended, right until Putin decided he wanted to be an imperialist again. The West didn’t make him invade a sovereign, non-threatening country.

        • Zeroxxx@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Russia imperalist is akin to someone bombing Iraq, Vietnam and Afghanistan?

          LOL

      • YⓄ乙 @aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        From what I read India and Russia are really old friends, that’s why India isn’t saying anything and they do lot of business.

        • nestEggParrot@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          More than old friends. India is heavily reliant on russian arms. Replacing them would be a slow, expensive process. Considering it is surrounded on two sides by aggressors with regular conflicts, jeopardizing relations with Russia is not an option.

        • sfgifz@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Historical and political reasons too. USA keeps arming Pakistan with modern weapons, and they have a single target to use them on. It would be stupid of India to put all it’s weight behind US if that’s a one-sided affair. In an ideal world everyone would side with what is moral, unfortunately we don’t live in that world.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world’s population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade.

    In its most recent rice outlook, the USDA said India was expected to ship a record 23.0 million tonnes in 2024, exceeding the combined shipments of the next two largest exporters — Thailand and Vietnam.

    The Indian government runs the world’s largest food distribution program, catering to about 800 million people, according to McDonald Pelz business manager Sumit Gupta.

    The Indian government has a policy of maintaining reserves of key commodities, and as it assessed the risk of El Niño, and the rapid pace of rice exports this year, it brought the trade to a close on July 20.

    “This sharp increase in exports can be ascribed to high international prices due to [the] geo-political scenario, El Niño sentiments and extreme climatic conditions in other rice-producing countries,” the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in its statement declaring the ban.

    At a conference in St Petersburg recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged 25,000-50,000 tons of free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea in the coming months.


    I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Can we please not have silly jokes on a serious topic like global hunger?

      This is one thing I don’t want from reddit

      • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Some of us can only deal with existential horror by laughing and the absurdity of it all.

      • SeedyOne@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        It may sound silly but it’s put succinctly and there’s an element of grim truth to it.

        Additionally, do we have to compare everything to Reddit? It’s the Internet, people are going to cope how they cope.

          • Solar Bear@slrpnk.net
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            1 year ago

            Bad taste is when people draw attention away from the actual issues and towards making sure the language is sufficiently inoffensive and mild enough for their delicate sensibilities. This is one of the worst traits that the Fediverse has developed.

      • Anissem@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        If I don’t laugh about the world I’ll just start crying. It’s sadly the defense mechanism I’ve developed. I use humor to avoid uncomfortable moments in all aspects of my life.

        • TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com
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          1 year ago

          I agree, humor is a valid coping mechanism. It’s not like a serious conversation on Lemmy is going to solve world hunger, your joke was fine in my opinion.

          • Anissem@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            I’ve had a lot of trauma in my life and have become a very pessimistic and dark person. Everyone has their cross to bear and I wear mine with a fake smile.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          It’s not sadly the defence mechanism you developed, but luckily.

          Because face it some defence mechanism is needed, and the vast majority of them are absolutely harmful. Fuck the ruffled feathers those are the exact kind of people who say “I’d rather ignore it”, “I’d rather deny it’s happening”, “I’d rather say that it’s bad everywhere”, “I’d rather say it’s because of the Jews”, “I’d rather sit here and unproductively wallow in pity”, or whatever. You are a human, and as such you have the birth right to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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        1 year ago

        I’m sorry if this disturbs you but free humour is one of the extremely important aspects of the internet that Lemmy needs to support. When you know who you are talking to you can avoid subjects that may hurt the other person but on the public internet this is not possible. The alternative to never dare making any joke because of the risk to hurt someone is dystopian.
        Top comment isn’t even a joke, it’s a movie reference that supports the idea that this is a serious topic.

    • Parsnip8904@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Because they’re really different. People who don’t eat rice as a staple aren’t aware how much varieties there are and how different they taste. There are three specific varieties used just in my own house for lunch, breakfast dishes and dinner respectively.

      Japanese or Thai rice are totally different in taste, consistency and texture.

      It would be like trying to bake using whole wheat flour instead of refined flour.

    • YⓄ乙 @aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      I think its the quality and people only want to consume high quality rice… I tried Thai jasmine and Indian basmati. Can confirm Indian Basmati is really good when compared to jasmine rice.

      • coleandfries@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Asian guy here. I use jasmine for Asian dishes, Basmati for Indian and middle eastern dishes, and generic American long grain for Mexican and Cajun dishes. Pairing the right variety of rice with the right cuisine is a simple choice that can really improve the dish.

    • Spzi@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s culling the wrong demographic. Removing poor people is the least efficient. Removing the poorest will have the least effect possible.

      These comments always make me wonder wether it’s a lack of education, bad taste or racism.

      • CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Can people like you maybe read a little further down the thread, like i literally explained in detail why that comment is completely ridiculous and i don’t understand how someone could take it as a serious comment.

        Its literally a joke.

  • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’ve always wanted all countries to ban staple food and water exports. If you can’t grow your own food and have your own water, you don’t need to have people living there.

    • NuPNuA@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      So what happens to all the refugees that do already live there who then need to be relocated, will your nation take them all?

    • Doxatek@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      A bit valid. Just rough for the people already living there that may not have chosen it

      • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Could do a phased approach over a decade or so, rather then all at once. But the other thing is that places (like saudi arabia) that shouldn’t have near the population they do, are able to pay much more for food then somalia and so food growers in somalia would rather produce food to sell rather then feed their own people. So you basically shift the starvation to the food producers rather than the food buyers.