Farea Al-Muslimi writes: If Yemenis want to save whatever and whomever remains in Yemen, they must adopt a new political and economic equation — a kind of Yemeni Noah’s Ark — leading to an intelligent, technical and economic Marshall Plan extending to 2025, during which time a state could be built. The plan should be similar to the one adopted for Germany after World War II in being an intelligent, nontraditional mechanism that intersects but remains unrelated to the plans of state institutions. In other words, it should employ permanent components, not piecemeal, expedient measures and committees.

A workable plan would embody a unified and genuine will to instill stability in Yemen and restore the conflict there to the previously espoused mechanism, which was based on fair political and economic competition as well as shared interests without the threat of force. That Yemen is wracked by great institutional and social destitution actually facilitates the adoption of state-building projects, as societies and institutions are less resistant to change in desperate times. A sustainable peace plan for Yemen cannot succeed, however, without the adoption of an economic and developmental Marshall Plan capable of enduring irrespective of the faction in power while remaining largely unaffected by the prevailing security conditions.

Yemen faces many challenges related to economic development, but it also has great potential. For example, why not transform the beautiful island of Socotra into a world-class international maritime trade route stop and tourist destination? It is far removed from the events in the rest of Yemen and would give the entire country a glimmer of hope of things to come when peace prevails. Why can’t Socotra become another Hong Kong or Hawaii? It possesses all the elements to transform it into a maritime or tourist attraction, with its location and unique, pristine environment. Knowing that Aden’s ports competed with Liverpool’s and New York’s in the 1950s, why not transform Aden into another Dubai or Singapore?

US spies and Sony executives are speculating that North Korea hacked Sony to retalizate for a film opening in February 2015 in which the leader of North Korea is targeted for assassination.

Hacking doesn’t cost much; all it takes is some technical skill, readily available hardware and access to venues where hackers trade bits of code and information about vulnerabilities. The entry barriers are low; it’s possible to do billions of dollars of damage with an investment of tens of thousands.

That’s why it’s impossible to know whether it was a rogue government or a bunch of high-school students that brought down Sony’s network, distributed its unreleased films online and published its internal documents. We should ask ourselves how much of our vital information should be online at all. For North Korea, the answer is none, which gives it the advantage.

The US turned to water in the latest eelctions.   By an average of 65 percent of the vote, measures to protect the water supply in America were passed by citizens.  Nineteen states approved water conservation funding.  Twenty-seven state and local ballot measures will dedicate more than $20 billion to open space, water protection, parks, and trails.

At the same time, despite a 4 percent increase in population, public water supply withdrawals declined.  Power-plant conversions to more efficient systems and environmental protection are among the reasons cited.  Persistent drought has an impact on domestic use.

The EU member states are meeting to pick a new President and Foreign Minister.  Frederica Mogherini the possible pick to be Foreign MInister, is thought by some to be too close to Russia.  If Donald Tusk, President of Poland, is chosen as President, this may assuage fears.  Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, made comments about the gender balance of the next Commission: “if there are fewer women elected to Commission than the current nine, there is a risk of receiving not enough support in the European Parliament.” Schulz also said he is a “Mogherini-fan”. “I know her very well and she is experienced enough for the job [of High Representative].”  Biography

Update:  Tusk and Mogherini Get the EU Jobs:

Donald Tusk is to leave the prime ministership of Poland to become president of the European Council in succession to Herman Van Rompuy.  His appointment balances the choice of Federica Mogherini, Italy’s foreign minister, as the European Union’s high representative for foreign policy. The decisions were announced by Van Rompuy, who said that they had “the full support of all” members of the European Council.

“You have the full endorsement of the European Council and this full endorsement was very important to me,” said Van Rompuy, adding that he had spoken several times to each government leader “to make sure we made the right choice”.

The announcement came two and a half hours into an EU summit that was convened specifically to discuss the appointments – after Van Rompuy deemed the matter not ripe for decision at an earlier summit on 16 July. Agreement on Tusk and Mogherini was apparently painless, and the greater work of the summit may prove to be discussion of how to respond to Russia’s incursions into Ukraine.

Tusk, who has been prime minister since 2007, will take up his EU post on 1 December for a two-and-a-half year term. Mogherini will take up her post – which also includes a vice-presidency of the European Commission – when the new Commission to be led by Jean-Claude Juncker takes up office, which is scheduled to be on 1 November for a five-year term.

At a press conference at which Van Rompuy presented the two anointed EU leaders to the television cameras, Tusk addressed directly questions about whether he has the linguistic skills necessary for the Council presidency, announcing (in English) that for the moment he would answer questions in Polish, but in December he would speak in English. “Nothing is good enough for Europe – including my English. I will polish my English. I will be ready in December – 100%.”

Mogherini was questioned about the charges that she lacked experience and that her candidacy had been supported by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. She rejected the first charge, responding that she was the foreign minister of a G7 country and that she had been involved in European and foreign affairs for 20 years. She stressed her experience of parliamentary institutions and of politics.

On alleged sympathy towards Russia, she said that her first trip abroad after Italy took on the presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers had been to Kiev. After two days there, she had gone on to Moscow. She had been trying, she said, “to co-ordinate efforts to facilitate a form of dialogue”. Tusk said he was confident that he and Mogherini would work well together. “I am very serene about our co-operation,” he said.

Van Rompuy, in his opening remarks, had identified three challenges that the new leaders of the EU would have to address: the EU’s stagnant economic performance; the Ukraine-Russia crisis; and “Britain’s place in Europe”.

Tusk picked up this reference to the UK, saying that he had discussed with Prime Minister David Cameron his ideas for reform of the EU.

“No reasonable person can imagine the EU without the UK and I cannot imagine it myself,” he said. He also stressed that he did not want divisions to open up between the eurozone and the rest of the EU. As well as being president of the European Council, Tusk will be president of the euro summit – the meetings of government leaders  of the eurozone – a post that was given formal recognition by the 2012 fiscal compact treaty. Such eurozone summits are to happen twice a year and some meetings may be attended by all countries that are signatories to the fiscal compact treaty (currently 25 member states). That Tusk comes from a country that does not belong to the eurozone was not a barrier to his taking the euro summit presidency, despite some earlier objections from France.

The European Commission today (18 August) announced that it will provide support for European food producers who have been affected by Russia’s ban on imports of agricultural products.

A total of €125 million will be available to producers, allowing the removal of some surplus products from the market, which are then distributed free, with farmers being compensated. The aim is to keep prices relatively stable. The measures will apply until the end of November.

Russia announced an import ban on food products from the EU and the US on 7 August in response to the sanctions imposed on it because of its actions in Ukraine. Since then, many producers have been faced with a surplus and have seen prices fall dramatically.

Dacian Cioloș, the European commissioner for agriculture, said that the money, which is made available through emergency measures as part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will reduce the overall supply of several fruits and vegetables. “Acting early will provide an efficient support to the price paid to producers on the internal market, help the market adjust and be cost-effective,” he said.

Farmers’ group Copa-Cogeca, which had written to Cioloș calling for a quick and effective response, welcomed today’s “swift action”.

Distribution of the money will take place through producers’ organisations, but will be available for producers that are not members of such organisations. The following products are affected: tomatoes, carrots, white cabbage, peppers, cauliflowers, cucumbers, gherkins, mushrooms, apples, pears, red fruits, grapes, and kiwi fruit.

An estimation of the volume of food concerned could not be given, the Commission said. According to a Commission spokesperson it depends on the prices per product and the evolution of the market.

Russia is the EU’s largest export market for food and agricultural products, and exports of the goods banned by Russia represent about 7% of EU exports. Agriculture ministers from the EU’s member states will meet on September 5th to discuss the food ban.