FOOD CRISIS

Think about things that have started wars in which we were involved.

What we call the French and Indian War was a part of the Seven Years War between Great Britain and France. The English defeated the French and took control of the Eastern part of what was to become the United States. This was a war for control of territory.

The American Revolutionary War was fought between the peoples of America and Great Britain. It was fought for independence.

The American Civil War was fought between the United States of America (Union) and the Confederate States of America (South). For the South, it was a fight for independence, mostly over the issue of slavery. For the Union, it was a civil rebellion which had to be put down. It was a war for power and control.

The Spanish-American War was fought between the United States and Spain. Our excuse for entering the war was Spain's involvement in the independence process in Cuba. In reality, the U.S. wanted and secured the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico and the Pacific islands of the Philippines and Guam. The U.S. took control of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba at this time. This was a war for control of territory.

World War I was fought between the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, U.S., Russia etc) and the Central Powers (Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire). The Russians felt the war was fought over Economic Imperialism - the fight for markets. This led to it becoming a communistic state. The U.S. felt that the war was caused by trade barriers which frustrated many country's ability to market its products. Most of the participants had slightly different reasons for entering the war. This war was fought for economic reasons.

World War II was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy etc.) and the Allied Powers (United Kingdom, France, U.S.A., Soviet Union, etc.) It was fought to put down territorial imperialism by Germany but it had its roots in economic interests.

The Korean War was fought between the two independent governments in Korea. The Northern government was supported by the Soviet Union and the Southern government was supported by the U.S. It was a war fought for control of territory.

The Vietnam War was fought between (North Vietnam) the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (with its allies of China, Soviet Union and North Korea) and (South Vietnam) the Republic of Vietnam (with its allies of the U.S.A., South Korea, Taiwan, etc). It was fought for control of the territory. The U.S. feared that if south Vietnam was taken over by the communists other countries in South Asia would also follow (the domino theory).

The Persian Gulf War was fought between the U.S. with its allies and Iraq. It was fought to free Kuwait from Iraq's territorial imperialism.

The War on Terrorism between the U.S. and radical Muslims began in Afghanistan and is currently in progress on other fronts.

The Iraq War was fought between the U.S. with its allies and Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's Baath government, eradicate weapons of mass destruction and stifle al-Qaeda support.

The next war will be fought for food. We have so much we are burning it for fuel in our automobiles. Many places have so little they are starving and rioting. There will come a point when they will not put up with this silliness. Check out this factoid. It takes about 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol. It also takes about 400 pounds of corn to keep a person alive for a year.