Browsing PBH By Articles

On The Consequences Of Palestinian Statehood In The UN

The Article: Defusing Palestinian Statehood Bid at the UN by Hussein Ibish in the Atlantic.

The Text: For most of 2011, Palestinian leaders have been privately and publicly speculating about potential statehood initiatives at the UN General Assembly meeting in September. The PLO may present some plan in effect asking the UN to recognize Palestine as an independent state, which wouldn’t make it so, but it would put Israel and the U.S. in a very awkward position. These ideas have been opposed by both Israel and the United States, which have described them as “unilateral,” and met with a mixed response among European states. To date no clear plan or strategy has been put forward but language of a draft resolution could be unveiled as early as Thursday.

In recent months, Palestinians have floated a number of ideas about what they might try to do at the UN meeting and what they hope to achieve. As President Mahmoud Abbas keeps insisting, it seems Palestinians would prefer to resume negotiations with clear terms of reference. With neither negotiations nor clear terms thus far forthcoming, however, and with time quickly running out, a UN initiative of some sort looks increasingly likely. The political and diplomatic results will depend on what, exactly, the Palestinians propose.

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CNN Asks The Important Questions: Are The Smurfs Fascists?

Oh CNN, just when I think you can’t sink any lower… you go and do something completely embarrassing like this. Notice the image above. Yes, the first article in the World news section of the front page of CNN is “Are the Smurfs crypto-fascists?” And yes, this isn’t the Onion and the article is very real:

Let’s have a quick recap of why this is absurd, embarrassing, and a stinging indictment of CNN’s continued ineptitude:

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Economic Russian Roulette In the American Political System

The Article: Rational Irrationality: G.D.P. Shocker: U.S. on Verge of Double-Dip Recession by John Cassidy of the New Yorker.

The Text: Amid all the absurd posturing over raising the debt ceiling comes some real news—and it’s very bad. According to new government figures, the economy has hardly grown at all in 2011. The recovery that began in early 2009 is now officially stalled. Some economists will quibble, but I think it is fair to say that the dreaded double-dip recession is at hand.

However it is labelled, the economic relapse is sure to have a big impact on politics. In the immediate term, it will increase pressure on Congress to raise the debt ceiling so the U.S. government can move on to more important issues, such as creating jobs. There is now the alarming prospect of the unemployment rate heading back to double figures over the next few months. It hardly needs saying that this would create problems for President Obama, who has staked his credibility on the economic recovery that began in mid-2009.

When healthy, the American economy grows at an annual rate of close to three per cent. The Commerce Department’s latest report on the gross domestic product (pdf) shows that between April and June, it expanded at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent, and between January and March it grew at an annual rate of just 0.4 per cent. The first-quarter figure is particularly stunning. Previously, the Commerce Department had estimated growth in the period at 1.9 per cent. What is to prevent a similar downward revision to the second-quarter figures? Nobody can say.

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StumbleThru The PBH Network

Great news, you can now Stumble the PBH Network of sites! For those of you unfamiliar, StumbleUpon is the premier discovery and recommendation system for web content. StumbleThru the PBH Network will now allow you to access recommended content from across our network of sites that fit your interests.

How does it work? It’s simple: just click the ‘Stumble the PBH Network’ button on the top or side of every page on our sites and you’ll be taken to a new page of PBH Network content:

If you need further assistance, feel free to email us or drop a note on our Facebook page. Thanks to StumbleUpon for helping us implement such a great feature and happy Stumbling everybody!

Will Urban Agriculture Answer Our Demographic Question?

The Article: Can Urban Agriculture Feed a Hungry World? by Fabian Kretschmer and Malte E. Kollenberg in Der Spiegel.

The Text: Agricultural researchers believe that building indoor farms in the middle of cities could help solve the world’s hunger problem. Experts say that vertical farming could feed up to 10 billion people and make agriculture independent of the weather and the need for land. There’s only one snag: The urban farms need huge amounts of energy.

One day, Choi Kyu Hong might find himself in a vegetable garden on the 65th floor of a skyscraper. But, so far, his dream of picking fresh vegetables some 200 meters (655 feet) up has only been realized in hundreds of architectural designs.

In real life, the agricultural scientist remains far below such dizzying heights, conducting his work in a nondescript three-story building in the South Korean city of Suwon. The only thing that makes the squat structure stand out is the solar panels on its roof, which provide power for the prototype of a farm Choi is working on. If he and his colleagues succeed, their efforts may change the future of urban farming — and how the world gets its food.

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