Samantha Power probably a pivotal part of Obama's State Dept.

digster

Good news, for me at least. Samantha Power's back in Obama's transition team and will likely have a place in his State Department come January. I don't know if she has any fans here besides me but I thought I'd throw this up here just in case. Her speciality is genocide/humanitarian intervention, and her book A Problem from Hell details America's role, or lack thereof, in genocide intervention in the past century. She was one of Obama's main foreign policy advisers, and I'm happy to see she's back.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/obama_adviser

NoK

Looks promising...


Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Power said in 2002, that if she were an advisor to the U.S. President she would recommend investing "billions of dollars, not in servicing Israel's military, but actually investing in the new state of Palestine, in investing the billions of dollars it would probably take, also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force [in Palestine], not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence", even though this may alienate "a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Power

digster

She is a strong supporter of intervention, armed and otherwise, to stop genocide occurring throughout the world, typically on the part of the U.N. She feels that too often both the U.S. and the U.N., as well as most other Western nations, have fallen short of their promise of 'never again.' Her book was a real eye-opener to me, although it was certainly a depressing read. She's also a big supporter of a two-state solution.

Anon

digster wrote:

She is a strong supporter of intervention, armed and otherwise, to stop genocide occurring throughout the world, typically on the part of the U.N. She feels that too often both the U.S. and the U.N., as well as most other Western nations, have fallen short of their promise of 'never again.' Her book was a real eye-opener to me, although it was certainly a depressing read. She's also a big supporter of a two-state solution.

I too am a fan of Powers. A problem from hell is really well documented and gives an informed review of all the genocides of the last century and the role the U.S. played in all of them, mostly as a silent witness turning a blind eye when it was happening. Even helping economically those who were commiting it. It's chilling to read what humans are capable of doing to other fellow beings.

She points out that there is a whole range of options, beyond military intervention, in pushing for the end of genocide, mass murder and other grotesque human rights abuses. Targeted international sanctions, boycotts, media shaming, expulsion from international institutions, expulsion of ambassadors... Given the gravity of military intervention and its unintended consequences, Power points out that these other actions should be tried first.

Power got a call from Obama back in 2005, when he'd taken over his seat in the US Senate, after he had just read her book a Problem from Hell. He was the only member of congress in the US Sentate to reach out to Power after he read her book, he contacted her, arranged a meeting and that's how their working relationship came to fruition initially.

digster

Yeah, Obama must have made quite an impression on her. Upon that initial meeting, she stopped her day-to-day work at the Carr Center in Cambridge and went to work for him for free. I also really like her newer book about Sergio Vieira de Mello. Really good work.

She just seems to get the idea that genocide prevention and intervention is not only a moral necessity, but also a boon to our national security. The threats that face the U.S. now don't come from Russia or Great Britain, these massive first-world powers. They come from failed and struggling states, from the rural areas in Pakistan and such. They come from terrorist organizations that thrive on poverty and struggling central governments. She seems to get, and I seem to agree with the notion, that by promoting human rights around the world you not only better the world but enhance your standing within it. By stopping genocide you support stability and self-determination, without some notion of 'implanting' democracy into Iraq by force. By stopping human rights violations you can help yourself, as well. So not only do you have a moralistic reasoning behind stopping genocide, but there is a very rational argument as well. She's an idealistic pragmatist, which is the kind of person I tend to like.