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(CNN) -- Imagine if long-term drought were to strike a part of the rural United States, Wyoming say, or Montana.

There would be bank foreclosures as the price of cattle would fall because there was too many of them on the market, families would tragically lose their farms, and grocery lists would be trimmed.

But would people starve, actually waste away until their bodies began to devour themselves?

In Southern Somalia, Djibouti, parts of Ethiopia and in refugee camps in Kenya at the moment, up to 12 million people, basically half a Canada, are facing death.

In Somalia, the people already in crisis number about four million. Mothers, for example, are again making the Sophie's choice of how to share the small resources of remaining food amongst their children.

And the tired old terms to explain it all are again repeated. The cause, we are told, is drought. The "caused by drought" formula is not only lazy journalism. We've heard that song sung so often in the past that it may now make us immune to the famine's claim on us.

Certainly, drought is a trigger of famine. And global warming might be extending the length of droughts. But Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist famously said that no substantial famine has ever occurred in a liberal democracy. I believe Sen is right. Famines occur in places where people are tyrannized over either by governments or, in the case of Southern Somalia, by private armies and militias. They occur in places where even in the lead-up years to famine, farmers are not always able to plant crops with security, without the likelihood that they might be confiscated, or that the village granary will be burned by armies, private and government.

(CNN) -- Word on the cobblestone street is Istria is the "new Tuscany." I disagree. The landscape of this northern part of Croatia is less cultivated. It's less wealthy. And, last I checked, the Renaissance didn't happen here. Plus, "Istria" is still a little-known proper noun and "Tuscany" has moved into adjective territory.

Show me an American suburb and I'll show you a "Tuscan" kitchen, if not an entire foreclosed development named "Tuscan Hills." Earlier this year when Olive Garden -- the strip mall home of endless breadsticks -- wanted to make itself more appealing, it announced it was making over its restaurants in the style of Tuscan farmhouses. Now, I don't know if they serve shark in Tuscany, but the region has certainly jumped it.

That's not going to happen to Istria anytime soon. No, it will continue to hide in plain sight. Right in the middle of Europe. A small peninsula the shape of a crudely drawn heart tucked behind the boot of Italy. Capped by the Alps, bottom dangling in the cartoon blue of the Adriatic sea.

Eventually the tour buses and cookbook authors will arrive en masse, but for now the region is so sparsely populated that sometimes with its raw grandeur and new highways it can feel like an imaginary world in a video game where you build your own civilization.

Turns out civilization has existed in Istria since at least the Bronze Age, when people lived in "gradines," fortified castles built on the tops of hills. Houses and walls from that time are still visible as are the many structures left behind by all those who have ruled this region: The Illyrians, the Romans, the Venetians, the Austro-Hungarians. You name them, and they probably killed people and built churches here.

The Italians controlled the area until 1947 when it was ceded to then-Yugoslavia after the World War II. Now it is part of Croatia.

For the modern invader, Istria comes in two flavors: coastal paradise and rustic hilltop hamlet. Because the region is only about 50 miles wide and 60 miles north to south you can have both in the same day.

(CNN) -- MTV has long since moved away from being a "music channel."

Just as "Video Killed the Radio Star" marked the ending of an era when MTV played its first music video on August 1, 1981 at 12:01 a.m., 30 years later, the success of the network's shows like "The Jersey Shore" have all but eclipsed the video star.

So what's a musician striving to connect with fans and sell records to do?

If you are lucky, you land an appearance on the Video Music Awards.

This Sunday MTV will air the 2011 Video Music Awards (aka the VMAs) live, marking 27 years of a successful annual award show. Last year's VMAs boasted the highest ratings since 2002, bringing in 11.4 million viewers and making it the No. 1 cable telecast of 2010 for the MTV network.

For musicians, the coveted spot has now become the performance slots during the award show. Those selected have been identified as key players within the industry and to be asked has become an honor and acknowledgment of the music that an artist has put out that year.

The musicians and MTV look to secure their audience base not through music videos, but by broadening the guest list, in particular the red carpet, to encompass all those within the MTV lineup from musicians, actors/actresses, celebrities and the reality stars that are the driving force of the network. So don't be surprised when the newest Teen Mom is standing next to the boys from The Buried Life on this year's pink carpet.

Editor's note: As executive vice president of news and production for MTV, Dave Sirulnick oversees MTV's News and Docs department. In 1999 he also took on the role of executive producer of the Video Music Awards and continues to do so annually. Before joining MTV as news producer in 1987, Sirulnick produced segments for CNN.

(CNN) -- In 1984, during the first ever VMAs, I was a 20-year-old Rutgers student.

Watching the show with my roommates from our off-campus apartment, Madonna's wedding gown-clad, iconic performance of "Like a Virgin" made an indelible stamp on me.

I saw what an unexpected, dynamic television performance could do to elevate a show and an artist, and absorbed it all as the VMAs infiltrated pop culture.

I finally made it to the third VMAs, covering the show for CNN. It was a bi-coastal event that year, and I was in New York at The Palladium. Amid a torrential downpour, I stood alongside 40 or so reporters vying to get interviews with artists like Mr. Mister and Pet Shop Boys as publicists tossed swag to keep us happy.

MTV's VJs like "Downtown" Julie Brown and Mark Goodman hosted the show, and Dire Straits took home "Video of the Year" for "Money For Nothing." The cultural impact of the VMAs and the network as a whole was undeniable: MTV was in the middle of transforming the music and entertainment industry. I wanted to be part of that energy, and by 1987, I was.

VMAs have always been a mix of incredible planned performances and unexpected moments. In 2000, we surprised the audience as an army of blond Eminem clones marched into the show as the rapper sang "The Real Slim Shady." In 2003, we reached into our past as Madonna reprised her first VMAs performance. But this time, she was the groom and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were rocking the white wedding dresses. In a surprise moment for all of us, they closed their performance with one of the most memorable kisses in pop culture history.

Another big surprise for our team, much to the chagrin of PETA, came in the form of a meat dress in 2010 as Lady Gaga brought her unique sense of style to the stage.

Sometimes the show is all about timing.

For example, in 1995 we had just started an interview outside the show with Kurt Loder and Madonna while the VMAs were still on-air. Our crew caught sight of Courtney Love walking down the street by herself, headed straight toward us. She started yelling, trying to get our attention, and then began throwing her make-up one piece at a time up at Kurt Loder and Madonna. On camera, Kurt said "Courtney is throwing stuff at us." From inside the production truck, the producers encouraged Courtney to join the interview. Courtney stumbled up the stairs and onto the stage, interrupting Madonna, and the rest is VMA history.

(CNN) -- On Oyu Tolgoi -- "Turquoise Hill" -- the biggest business venture in Mongolia is taking shape.

The copper resources aren't new to locals -- after all, for thousands of years locals dug out copper to melt down into things like arrowheads, CNN's Stan Grant reports.

But the massive Gobi Desert copper and gold mine -- a joint venture with foreign mining conglomerates Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto -- is expected to account for one-third of the nation's total economic output by 2020 and boost the average earnings of Mongolia by 60%.

The numbers are staggering. The development phase runs to nearly $5 billion. The mine is projected to produce to 450,000 tons of copper and more than 300,000 ounces of gold. Developers claim there's enough here to mine for the next 50 years or more.