Category: GeoPolitics
Opinion: The great ideological struggle of the 21st Century
An interview with Chandran Nair, author of Consumptionomics: Asia’s role in reshaping capitalism and saving the planet. In the interview, Chandran discusses why the battle of ideas in Asia will define our future.
Opinion: The Global Farmland Rush
OVER the last decade, as populations have grown, capital has flowed across borders and crop yields have leveled off, food-importing nations and private investors have been securing land abroad to use for agriculture. Poor governments have embraced these deals.
Banking on the Hungry Poor
Market speculation in basic food commodities is illegal under Islamic Law. This is a market control mechanism to safeguard the poor, to keep basic food prices always within the reach of all members of the society. Speculation creates starvation.
UK: Government to review non-stun slaughter
“The position of the government is absolutely clear. We would prefer to see all animals stunned before slaughter but we do respect the right for people to eat meat which is prepared in a way that reflects their religious beliefs and we will continue to allow religious slaughter.”
International donors pledge $4bn for Yemen
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia is providing the bulk of the funds, promising $3.25bn to help the goverment improve infrastructure and security. Aid agencies have warned that Yemen is on the brink of food crisis.
France: Halal market grows despite political polemics
Some French politicians have seized on the spread of halal food to win votes. Producers selling their wares at Paris’s annual Paris Halal Expo are much more convinced it will bring something else: profit.
France: Muslims Ease Cultural Tensions With French-Halal Food
Like many French Muslims, Kamil Saidi, who owns the restaurant, says he was disgusted by the recent political kerfuffle over halal, triggered by far right candidate Marine Le Pen’s charge that non-Muslims in Paris were unwittingly eating animals slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.
The real Hunger Games – food commodity speculation
Speculation in food commodities by banks and hedge funds has risen from $65bn to $126bn (£41bn to £79bn) in the past five years, helping to push prices to 30-year highs and causing sharp price fluctuations that have little to do with the actual supply of food
Europe: Swiss concerned with potential backlash in Muslim markets
Switzerland’s economy minister said on Wednesday that the Swiss government is concerned with a possible boycott of Swiss products overseas because xenophobic tendencies have found more ground in the wealthy European country.
