While we are talking about national priority, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. Wait, yes, closed. It remains closed since Sunday. Washington and Tehran begin a second round of peace talks in Islamabad in which, rather than opening the Strait of Hormuz, they seem to be discussing who has it blocked the most.
The price of energy, in suspense. How bad could it get? We are watching, between attacks and reproaches exchanged between Iran and the US, how the stock markets rise and fall and how fuel prices rise, only rise. But this is going to get worse. The never-ending tensions in the Strait of Hormuz are causing another consequence that we barely talk about. Hunger. Very hungry.
Hundreds of millions of people will be affected by famine if this conflict does not end soon and oil remains above $100. The dimensions of a global food catastrophe also depend on the negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Since 35% of the essential fertilizers for agriculture pass through the Strait of Hormuz, its scarcity could cause cereal production in Africa to fall by half. And that means hunger, very hungry. Reserves can be released from oil, but there are none from fertilizers.
It is true that it is not new. It is not new that it is the poorest countries that pay the most for global instability. But the current chaos is especially cruel. It is a global humanitarian crisis in slow motion. The increasingly expensive fuel and lack of food will suffocate the most vulnerable African countries that were beginning to move forward. They will not be able to plant without fertilizers or import food with this price of fuel. Less food and more instability… more conflicts. And, therefore, more people fleeing hunger and chaos where they can find a future. As anyone would do.
And meanwhile, here, discussing the national priority. When what reduces immigration is not the national priority, but the international priority. And do you know what increases it? What increases mass immigration? Hunger and wars.
Moral?
Let’s look for some
solution for this famine
