Climate, Drought, Security, and Syria

[greenman3610]

Last month I touched on the impacts of climate extremes on vulnerable populations. This new video expands on that. Not many of the commenters you hear talking about climate impacts on the Middle East, and the current refugee crisis, trace climate pressures much past the past decade’s drought in Syria.
Here, Kerry Emanuel of MIT pulls at more threads, the Russian heat wave of 2010, and the subsequent food pressure that flared in riots just before the “Arab Spring” revolts broke out across North Africa. History teaches us that circumstances outside politics, religion, and oil, can also have an impact on events.

[polly7]

1. An important video, thank you, greenman3610. nt.

[leveymg]

2. This is deflection from the fact that the Arab Spring was serial regime change.

Last edited Tue Nov 10, 2015, 11:39 AM - Edit history (2)

It's not exactly news that food prices and population have a lot to do with creating an environment in which popular "mobilization potential" peaks. Goldstone is the seminal researcher on the subject, and has been writing on the subject since the 1980s.

The CIA is all about applied social science. That isn't exactly news, either.

[polly7]

4. I agree with this .... very true, also. nt.

[jamzrockz]

3. How convenient that this negative effect

of climate change hit hardest in countries where the US wanted to conduct a regime change. I mean, you cannot make this thing up. This is the same sort of people that think Boko Haram also came about because of climate change. Completely clueless people if you asked me.