londonsummit2009

In a world in piracy crisis in Somalia is being a profitable business, the only operating in a country destroyed by war: 75 million euro profit in 2008 with 40 ships hijacked. This year, with a fleet of destroyers, frigates and patrol of United States, Russia, India and the EU, Spain has assumed command of the European aircraft-deployed in the waters of the Indian Ocean under a Security Council mandate, the number incidents has increased in three and a half months there have been 60 attacks. (...)

The letters sent by Gordon Brown to the leaders of the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories are of such significance that they appear to need a name of their own. Given the day on which they were sent the title ‘The Maunday Thursday letters’ seems appropriate.

That to Jersey, of which identical copies were sent to Guernsey and the Isle of Man is here.

In 7th grade, I made a solar oven for a science project. I remember leaving it until the last minute, then quickly scavenged the cardboard necessary to create a solar oven. I didn’t really test it out, but the guy in this story did. Not only that. He’s mass producing the $5 oven to help stem the tide of global climate change.

Story Highlights:

Many of you are following news reports of a hijacking that recently occurred aboard the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia. Today comes word that some of the cargo aboard the ship is life-saving food aid en route to Catholic Relief Services programs in Rwanda. According to CRS, this consists of 49 containers holding “860 metric tons of bulgur wheat that are to be used by CRS relief workers for some of the poorest populations in Rwanda.”

As I land home groggy and jetlagged, I learn of India’s new ‘shoegate’ status. A Sikh journalist expresses his anger over a recent political move by throwing his shoe at the Home Minister.

A riveting performance from the First Lady at a girls’ school in North London last week. I’ve posted the full 15 minute speech up here, rather than than 2 minute youtube clip. Hard to imagine that Michelle Obama can keep up this level of emotional intensity for the full term - in a year or two, her speeches will probably have become more routine, less heartfelt. So relish this while you can.

Imagine the world powers declaring the ‘Washington Consensus’ dead while at the same time mightily empowering a key institution involved in the Economic Consensus mantra (which ruled since the early 1990s) — namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF).