Via Monthly Review Online, a look at how the UAE and most of the other oil-rich Arab Gulf states are involved in a ‘new scramble for Africa’, inserting themselves in the continent’s politics, buying up land, purchasing port concessions, and entrenching themselves as major trade partners with African countries: Conflict has torn Sudan apart. Recent […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Financial Times, commentary on how President Trump – with his Greenland obsession – is reviving a national tradition: expansion via land grabs: Perhaps Donald Trump really has suddenly given up on Greenland, but his obsession with the place has been long-term and telling. Sanewashers — the people who try to rationalise everything […]
Read more »Via Al Akhbar, commentary on the Gulf’s growing control over Sudan’s agricultural sector: Sudan, once envisioned as the Arab world’s breadbasket, now faces one of the gravest famines of the century. The IPC Special Snapshot for September 2025 to May 2026 confirms famine in El Fasher and Kadugli, warning that catastrophic hunger is spreading and affecting more […]
Read more »Via the Washington Post, a look at how China weaponized soybeans to squeeze U.S. farmers — and spite Trump: The start of the harvest in September is usually when China, the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, puts in a flurry of orders to the farms of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana. This year, however, Chinese […]
Read more »Via Arabian Gulf Business Insight, a look at how the Gulf powers have bet big on Africa in the global food security race: In September, Qatar unveiled plans for a staggering $100 billion investment push into Africa. Agriculture, infrastructure and energy were placed at the heart of the venture. Stakeholders called it a “milestone” not […]
Read more »Via The Washington Post, a report that the Trump administration will use executive action and work with state officials to ban sales of farmland nationwide to buyers linked to China and other foreign adversaries: U.S. Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will move to ban sales of farmland nationwide […]
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