The correlation between food insecurity and political insecurity is never more true than the recent news out of Egypt. NPR reported on the role of food prices in the tumult:

Political unrest has broken out in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab countries. Social media and governmental policies are getting most of the credit for spurring the turmoil, but there's another factor at play.

Many of the people protesting are also angry about dramatic price hikes for basic foodstuffs, such as rice, cereals, cooking oil and sugar.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says its global food price index is at a record high, above even where it stood during the last food crisis three years ago. In early 2008, rising prices caused riots in dozens of countries -- several of which are now seeing uprisings once again.

 

More than a hundred protester deaths have been reported and today  President Obama told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that he should not run for another term in elections in the fall, effectively withdrawing American support for its closest Arab ally.

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