Comment by epolanski
18 hours ago
It would be just easier to not wage war by the way.
Can't think of many countries besides Canada and US that would not starve in NATO if such a necessity arose, and that's because they produce lots of cereals.
All the other countries in NATO are major food importers.
>All the other countries in NATO are major food importers.
All apart from France, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Turkey, Italy and Ireland.
Interestingly the US is borderline now depending on how you measure food imports and exports.
I'm Italian and I don't think you're right.
Italy is not food self-sufficient, it relies heavily on imports of cereals, animal feed, oils, and other.
We add value up the chain (with hams, cheese, etc), but bar fruits and vegetables where we are okay-ish, we cannot feed ourselves. Its been decades that even our own pasta is made out of canadian and us cereals. We simply don't have enough, let alone we don't have good quality cereals.
On top of that, our production is super reliant on imported fertilizers and chemicals. We would borderline starve in case of isolation.
Ireland isn't in NATO.
The us could probably half it’s calories intake and be fine, if not better, from a public health perspective.
The average ribeye steak you serve in your barbecue joint can feed a family of 4 in war time.
Barbecue joints don't usually serve steaks. Tri tip, maybe, but if you're talking barbecue and beef then it's brisket.
And the best way to ensure that no one attacks you it is to make strong army and economy.
Being a major importers of olive oil is probably not such a big deal. The EU is pretty self-sufficient for food, for example - can change a bit the food and agg mix if needed (and some countries have emergency stores as well).
> It would be just easier to not wage war by the way.
Wars do not start by mutual agreement of all belligerents. If anything, usually the opposite.
> It would be just easier to not wage war by the way
Yeah, those pesky Ukrainians waging war for the pleasure of it.
Yes, Russia, NATO countries and its allies (Israel), are the major causes for conflicts in the last decades.
But stop framing it as "defense", we've been almost exclusively the ones attacking, not defending. It's us being the bad guys.