Is global warming hysteria responsible for Egypt’s revolution?
Track me on this one:
1. With help from Al Gore, Hollywood, and the entire Leftist panoply, global warming fears reach hysterical levels.
2. As part of their apocalyptic battle against rising seas and dying polar bears, warmists declare ethanol is one of the answers (never mind that it turns out that it takes 1.5 gallons of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of ethanol).
3. Did I mention that ethanol comes from corn? In the old days, people used to eat corn. Now they drive it.
4. To satisfy the panic-stricken need for drivable corn, food crops are diverted into fuel production.
5. The cost of staples rises substantially around the world.
5. In 2008, food riots break out, including riots in Egypt. (Here are three links supporting the ethanol/riot connection, one from a free market site, one from a technology site, and one from an organic food site.)
6. Although food riots haven’t been in the headlines lately, what do you bet that, with ethanol production still causing producers to divert food crops into the energy market, marginal economic societies such as Egypt continue to feel the effects of food shortages?
7. Voila — riot conditions. For history aficionados, remember that, in the 1790s, the French had suffered aristocratic depredations for centuries; it was the food shortages that triggered revolt (a la “Let them eat cake,” not that Marie Antoinette actually said that). The same pattern showed up in Russia, with rising discontent reaching a fever pitch with WWI shortages.
In other word, what’s happening in Egypt is Al Gore’s fault. (And yes, I’m being snarky, but it’s not a completely unreasonable supposition.)
Cross-posted at Right Wing News