Diaries

Wash Post anonymous source says Greece threatened militarily during negotiations

Submitted by joe shikspack on Mon, 07/13/2015 - 6:53pm

I found this nugget (which I retitled) inside a Wapo article:

Report: Greek leader threatened with military hostilities

Greece’s dire financial straits meant it had scant leverage to push back against some of its creditors’ most onerous demands. ...

The moves are fostering a deep sense of resentment among Tsipras’s allies and a conviction that Europeans sought to humiliate him. During a pivotal meeting with Merkel, French President François Hollande and European Council President Donald Tusk, Tsipras at one point received a thinly veiled threat that if he walked away and left the euro, Greece risked going it alone geopolitically, too.

According to two officials in Brussels with knowledge of the exchange, the specter was raised of aggression from Turkey — a neighboring nation viewed in Greece as a historic antagonist.

Open Thread 07-12-15

Submitted by JtC on Sun, 07/12/2015 - 8:15am

Good morning 99percenters!
Morning news dump and music by Poco.

International Scientists Issue Call for Climate Action Now: 'Commit to Our Common Future'
'Window for economically feasible solutions' is closing, statement says

Time is running out to deal with the "defining challenge of the 21st century," a group of leading scientists said Friday at the close of a climate conference, and added that this must be the year of bold action like taxing carbon to rein in greenhouse gases.

The following is republished under a CC No Derivatives license

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 07/11/2015 - 5:32pm

Primed for battle: helping plants fight off pathogens by enhancing their immune systems

Jeannette Rapicavoli, University of California, Riverside

Civilization as it is known today could not have evolved, nor can it survive, without an adequate food supply. – Norman Borlaug

Climate Help in the 2030s?

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 07/11/2015 - 8:44am

The "Little Ice Age" and its included climactic minima is often partially attributed to an extreme solar minimum. In particular,

During the period 1645--1715, in the middle of the Little Ice Age, there was a period of low solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum. The Spörer Minimum has also been identified with a significant cooling period between 1460 and 1550.[69] Other indicators of low solar activity during this period are levels of the isotopes carbon-14 and beryllium-10.[70]

Little Ice Age

Now, a new model of solar behavior which is producing shockingly accurate predictions with respect to the sun's 11 year activity cycle predicts an extreme decrease in solar activity during the 2030s.

Solar activity predicted to fall 60% in 2030s, to 'mini ice age' levels: Sun driven by double dynamo -- ScienceDaily

continued below the break

Pages