Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Power to the UN

Congratulations to Samantha Power, author of "A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide", who's been tapped as our next UN Ambassador. I can scarcely think of anyone better qualified.

Incidentally, I'm already hearing chatter from the unhinged-right that Power has supported invaded Israel. I happen to know precisely where this myth comes from (since I regrettably lost a friendship over my admittedly quite intemperate reaction to it the first time it popped up during the 2008 primary campaign): a 2002 interview where Power was asked a "thought experiment" about how she would respond to Israel/Palestine "if one party or another [starts] looking like they might be moving toward genocide?" In that hypothetical situation, she stated we would need to support (among other things) "what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence."

Needless to say, supporting military intervention in a thought experiment regarding a genocide (and the question doesn't specify who is committing it) is a far cry from an ongoing desire to invade Israel.
Samantha Power Gets Nod as U.N. Amb

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