Analyze this: A week long protest, riot and looting in Haiti due to spiraling food prices led to the ouster of the Prime Minister and announcement of $10 million feeding program by the World Bank during an emergency meeting in Washington in April. The 9000 strong UN peace keeping force is still in dilemma to face the ‘hungry mob’ in Haiti. Approximately 10,000 workers clashed with police near the capital in Bangladesh over the rising food price. At least dozens of people, including 20 police officials, were injured in the violence in Dhaka. In Egypt, the revolt over food is mounting.

The renowned war veteran of Vietnam, General Vo Nguyen Giap has recently called for a novel kind of war on poverty. Can the warmongers accept this realistic call? While the strong argument for the war is maintenance of peace thereby sustaining livelihoods, the truth is however, somewhat different. The pledges for poverty reduction by half by the countries have gone awry as financial assistance is diverted to war. The amount of aid given by developed countries to poorer nations has fallen by half since the 1960s, risking the lives of millions of children.