It's not so much that there is a shortage of food around the world - it's that there's an imbalance of supply and demand around the globe as food-rich nations exert pressure on food-poor nations. With their own citizens facing the prospect of the first full-on global food crisis since World War II, countries such as Vietnam, China, Kazakhstan, Egypt and India are shutting down exports of food items to other nations.

This raises the inevitable question: With the global economy more interconnected than ever before, could some countries conceivably use food as a diplomatic bargaining chip? For example, is it out of the reach of possibility that Western objections to anti-Democratic behavior by the Chinese government could lead to a permanent clamp-down on food exports from China to certain nations? Certainly, the Wall Street Journal has already raised the prospect of beggar-thy-neighbor policies spiraling out of control across the globe. (Armchair historians will recognize the term "beggar-thy-neighbor policy" from the good old days of the 1930's)

Anyway, voices within the blogosphere are starting to take notice of the global food crisis. In recent days, A-list blogs such as The Huffington Post, Gothamist and Treehugger have all commented on the new rice rationing policies at Costco and Sam's Club. This is a story with legs.