Despite the beliefs of this article’s author, all of these crises are short term. Just as he noted in his article, these disasters in other places around the world have been a boon to American farmers. Had things turned out differently, it would be American farmers suffering and Russian farmers benefiting.

The point the author misses is that it is the global economy which keeps these disasters from becoming catastrophic. Right now there is unrest due to higher food prices, but at least there is food. Before the advent of global trade, these regions would have existed in virtual isolation. Rather than unrest over high food prices, the specter of famine would have stalked the land.

This hysteria in Russia is much like the hysteria that gripped the US in the aftermath of Katrina. A more sober reflection over Katrina would show that far from heralding the advent of more and more powerful hurricanes, the subsequent hurricane years have been relatively quiet. It should also be noted that no hypothesis based on modeling, no matter how accurate or inaccurate cannot be considered fact until and unless corroborated by observable data. Right now, observable data don’t seem to be following the various computer models by “climate change” scientists.