Committee on Foreign Relations United St

U.s. Security Implications of International Energy and Climate Policies and Issues Committee on Foreign Relations United St

Publisher Marketing: In 2010, terrible droughts in Russia, in China, and floods in Pakistan decimated wheat harvests and created a global shortage. The price of wheat increased dramatically. The Middle East, home to the world's top nine wheat importers, felt it acutely, especially since the region's farmers struggled with their own parched fields. Much of Syria was gripped with the worst drought it had ever experienced. The price of bread skyrocketed across the region and demands for regime change were not far behind. About 600 miles north of the Syrian border, the ashes of Malaysia Airline Flight 17 blanket a wheat field in pro-Russia separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine. A surface-to-air missile apparently split the plane and snatched nearly 300 lives. But another weapon has already been deployed in the Russian-Ukraine conflict and in wars across the globe-energy. Russia has already shut off the natural gas spigots to Ukraine. That is more than half of Ukraine's gas supply gone. When winter arrives and natural gas demand spikes, this could become another political and humanitarian crisis, bringing suffering to Ukrainian families and challenges to the new government. Because of Europe's reliance on Russian gas, Putin's energy weapon gives him unparalleled leverage to continue his bullying tactics.