Urban farming fantasies (survivalism gets hip)

by | Jul 16, 2009 | Climate and resource scarcity, Economics and development, North America

Yesterday, I visited Brooklyn’s Rooftop Farms, one of the best ideas to come to fruition (literally) in recession-era New York.  It’s, er, a farm on a rooftop – with a view:

I was so impressed/delighted by this that I turned to the excellent inhabitat.com, a design and architecture blog with a bit of a thing for urban farms.  I liked the recent proposal for a “vertical farm” on a bridge over the Thames…

…and the “Plantagon”, a “geodesic globe farm of the future”:

Solving food scarcity was never so aesthetically pleasing!

So is Tony Blair running for President of Europe?

by | Jul 16, 2009 | Europe and Central Asia, UK

The British media are having a field day this morning about the idea of Tony Blair as President of the European Union, following remarks yesterday by Glenys Kinnock, the Minister for Europe, who said that “the UK government is supporting Tony Blair’s candidature for president of the council.”

But Charlemagne, the Economist’s European columnist, thinks everyone’s getting a bit ahead of themselves.  While he missed the press briefing in Strasbourg at which Kinnock’s remarks were made, he’s spoken to a lot of his colleagues who were there, and the gist is that

Lady Kinnock, who is a very new minister, after years as an MEP, basically messed up. She was asked about Tony Blair as a possible candidate for the new presidential job, and bafflingly, this question took her by surprise. She meant to be enthusiastic, but went too far. So when she said that:

“The UK government is supporting Tony Blair’s candidature for president of the council”

that did not mean that there is a Blair candidacy, and the British government is working behind the scenes to lobby for him. What she meant was, if Tony Blair were to become the candidate, then logically enough the Labour government would lobby for him.

I do not think I am being spun here. I am told that senior British officials believed, to quote one source, that Lady Kinnock “fucked up” in the way she phrased this, and that makes sense to me … it is not something anyone wanted to rush into now. For one thing, frontrunners almost never get the big jobs in Europe. For another, it is hard to see why Mr Blair would want to put himself forwards for a job he was not very likely to get, interrupting his well-paid semi-retirement with a blast of global humiliation. Then there is the question of whether Britain would like a strong, high-profile figure to be the first holder of the post.

Er…

by | Jul 16, 2009 | North America

We will be doing this quadrennial review, which will be, we hope, a tool to provide us with both short-term and long-term blueprints for how to advance our foreign policy objectives and our values and interests. This will provide us with a comprehensive assessment for organizational reform and improvements to our policy, strategy, and planning processes.

– Hillary Clinton, announcing the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review last week

More than 230 years ago, Thomas Paine said, “We have it within our power to start the world over again.” Today, in a new and very different era, we are called upon to use that power. I believe we have the right strategy, the right priorities, the right policies, we have the right President, and we have the American people, diverse, committed, and open to the future.

– Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday

Ladies’ Ban

by | Jul 15, 2009 | Africa, Conflict and security, Global system, Off topic

It’s the 15th Non-Aligned First Ladies Summit this week!  (You knew that.) And guess which smooth-talker had this to say:

I participated this morning in the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. It was very important; I regard this Summit as even more important. I thank you for your leadership in enhancing the role of women in crisis management and I count on your continued engagement.

Yep, Ban Ki-moon is in the building!

I firmly believe that protecting women does not mean deciding what is right for them and then imposing it. Protecting women means letting them negotiate and respecting their decisions.

I can send numerous male mediators and peacekeepers to a war-ravaged country and encourage the leaders there to involve women in negotiations. But it is more effective when I staff my missions with many capable women, or choose a woman as my top envoy. That is what I did in Liberia. I also recently appointed another in the Central African Republic. I am very proud of them. They are demonstrating excellent leadership.

Has the SG employed Chris De Burgh as a speechwriter?