HNewsWire- As a consequence of the collapse of Russian and Ukrainian food exports, commodities prices have reached daily record highs, and food prices have far surpassed levels observed in the historic 2011...

...as well as Russia's impending fertilizer trade embargo...

With commodity costs hitting daily record highs, and food prices far surpassing levels seen in the historic 2011 as a result of the collapse of Russian and Ukrainian food exports...

... an increasingly loud question on geopolitical strategists' lips is when, not if, global food protests will re-emerge and begin toppling unstable - or perhaps stable - governments around the world in a re-enactment of the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011, when widespread public outrage began as a result of rising food prices.
Iraqis march at Nasiriya's al-Haboubi Square to protest increasing food costs.

According to Al Jazeera, demonstrations erupted in Iraq's poor south on Wednesday in response to an increase in food prices that authorities blamed on the violence in Ukraine. Here, over the last week, the price of cooking oils and wheat has soared in local markets as government officials have attempted to quell rising outrage with a variety of pronouncements and initiatives.

Today, public outrage over these exorbitant charges erupted, and more than 500 protestors gathered in a key area in the southern city of Nasiriya – a hotspot of anti-corruption riots that shook the nation in 2019.

"Price increases are strangling us, whether it's bread or other basic goods," retired teacher Hassan Kazem told AFP. "We're just scraping by."
During a rally in Nasiriya to protest increasing food prices, an Iraqi holds a sign that says in Arabic, 'When you rebel for pride, you won't stop until you accomplish your aim.'

The Iraqi government outlined steps to combat the rise in international pricing on Tuesday. These included a monthly stipend of around $70 for retirees with incomes of less than one million dinars (almost $700) and government workers with salaries of less than 500,000 dinars ($343). The authorities also declared a two-month suspension of customs charges on food, essential consumer items, and building supplies.

The crisis in Ukraine, according to local commerce ministry official Mohamed Hanoun, is to blame for the surge in cooking-oil costs. Indeed, as we reported last week, a staggering 70% of Egypt's wheat comes from Ukraine and Russia, shipments that have now been suspended indefinitely.

The interior ministry reported the arrest of 31 persons suspected of "increasing food commodity prices and exploiting civilians." On Wednesday, a demonstrator in Nasiriya criticized the "greed of businessmen who manipulate pricing."

"There is a significant worldwide issue because Ukraine has a large part of [the global market for cooking] oils," he said. A protester was critically hurt in a violent rally in the central province of Babil on Tuesday, according to a security source.

While some may dismiss this as just another third-world protest, remember that the 2011 Arab Spring had a similar inauspicious start until Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010 and died a few weeks later, launching a cascade of uprisings across the MENA region, many of which led to bloody revolutions and unprecedented geopolitical upheaval.

And, while it may be seen as entering the realm of conspiracy theories, a wave of violence may also have the blessing of the WEF nomenklatura: after all, a big part of the "Great Reset" is the efficient depopulation of vast swaths of the globe, and a second Arab Spring would be just what the billionaire overclass ordered.