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Islamist Party Backs Out of Negotiations

nytimes.com - by David D. Kirkpatrick - July 8, 2013

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Chapter 4. Food or Fuel? - Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

earth-policy.org

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?

by Lester R. Brown

At the time of the Arab oil export embargo in the 1970s, the importing countries were beginning to ask themselves if there were alternatives to oil. In a number of countries, particularly the United States, several in Europe, and Brazil, the idea of growing crops to produce fuel for cars was appealing. The modern biofuels industry was launched. 1

This was the beginning of what would become one of the great tragedies of history.

Chapter 4. Food or Fuel?
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep/fpepch4

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity
http://www.earth-policy.org/books/fpep

( ALSO SEE - http://resiliencesystem.org/chapter-5-eroding-soils-darkening-our-future-full-planet-empty-plates-new-geopolitics-food-scarcity )

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Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?

thinkprogress.org - by Joe Romm - June 30, 2013

(SEE LINKS BELOW FOR 2004 STUDY, 2005 STUDY, AND 2013 CRYOSAT ARTICLE)

Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“).

It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a brutal, record-breaking drought. Is this just an amazing coincidence — or were the scientists right and what would that mean for the future? I ask the authors.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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China’s Next Chapter: The Infrastructure and Environmental Challenge

mckinsey.com - June 2013

McKinsey’s Jonathan Woetzel explores China’s huge infrastructure program and the country’s plans to build sustainable urban clusters for hundreds of millions of its people.

“It’s safe to say that China has had the single-biggest buildout of infrastructure in the history of mankind,” says McKinsey’s Jonathan Woetzel. “And clearly still more to go.” Indeed, despite the progress resulting from hundreds of billions of dollars in investment over the past 15 years, the efficiency of China’s infrastructure still lags behind that of developed countries by decades.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Floods Highlight Need to Make Europe’s Cities More Resilient

A view of Dresden on the morning of 5 June, before the Elbe had crested. Flickr/tigion

sei-international.org - by Marion Davis - June 7, 2013

The floods now devastating Central Europe, and severe floods in Norway last month, are part of a pattern of increasingly frequent disasters that require new approaches to risk management. 

As of June 6, the floods in Austria, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic had killed at least 16 people, and damages were so severe that some said they could exceed the more than €21.1 billion cost of the historic 2002 floods in the region.

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Egypt in Turmoil as Defiant Morsi Stands Firm Over Coup Threat

Scenes of jubilation in Cairo's Tahrir Square after Egypt's army issues an ultimatum to President Mohamed Morsi to resolve the country's political crisis. The announcement is made on state television by the head of Egypt's armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Helicopters fly over the square with huge Egyptian flags hanging below them. Pro-Morsi supporters hold a counter-demonstration at Cairo's university

President retains US backing and refuses to bow down to two-day ultimatum from the head of the nation's armed forces

guardian.co.uk - by Patrick Kingsley - July 1, 2013

Egypt was thrown into fresh turmoil on Monday when President Mohamed Morsi's aides indicated he would not give in to the threat of a military coup just hours after the army gave him two days to placate the millions who have taken to the streets calling for his departure.

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Egypt Military Intervention: General Says Army Will Intervene If Crisis Not Resolved In 48 Hours

            

SEPTEMBER 25: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on September 25, 2012 in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

huffingtonpost.com - By HAMZA HENDAWI, SARAH EL DEEB and MAGGIE MICHAEL - July 1, 2013

CAIRO — Egypt's military issued a "last-chance" ultimatum Monday to President Mohammed Morsi, giving him 48 hours to meet the demands of millions of protesters in the streets seeking the ouster of the Islamist leader or the generals will intervene and impose their own plan for the country.

The military's statement, read on state TV, put enormous pressure on Morsi to step down and sent giant crowds opposing the president in Cairo and other cities into delirious celebrations of singing, dancing and fireworks. But the ultimatum raised worries on both sides the military could outright take over, as it did after the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

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Predicting the Next Financial Collapse

      

J. Kyle Bass, a Dallas-based investor, forecasted the mortgage bubble and the European collapse. But what happens if his third prediction comes true?

texasmonthly.com - by Paul McDonnold - May 7, 2013

J. Kyle Bass has a knack for forecasting economic trouble. Back in 2006 the Dallas-based investor observed that there was a seemingly unstoppable market for sub-prime mortgages. But research convinced him the market was wildly overvalued, that it was a quasi-pyramid scheme built on low interest rates, inflated home prices and bundles of shaky loans made to people who couldn’t really afford the payments.

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