Samantha Power to NSC

Posted By Laura Rozen Friday, January 30, 2009 - 3:25 AM Share

Harvard's Samantha Power will join the NSC as senior director for multilateral affairs, the AP reports.

(2)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

GDOCTOROW

12:46 PM ET

January 31, 2009

bad news

Samantha Powers' return to the inner circle of Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers was entirely predictable, given their soul-mate relationship more than a year before the election campaign got underway and the President's predilection for her principled approach to foreign policy.

"Principled" may sound complimentary, but I do not intend to extend a bouquet. The last thing this country needs is a continuation of a foreign policy running counter to our strategic interests while pursuing ideological objectives on the order of furthering democracy, defending human rights, or even preventing genocide. At its best this represents a reversion to President Jimmy Carter's ineffectual policies; at its worst, it is President George W. Bush's meddling and hectoring policies of American bullying worldwide.

One would imagine that the current financial and economic meltdown would encourage the US to get down off its soapbox and look to its own needs. Samantha Powers' appointment, coming on top of the President's own majestic statement of purpose on January 22nd during the appointment ceremony for his new super-envoys ("We did not ask for this burden..but we will bear it" - the code words of US imperialism) suggest that this administration is off to a very bad start in the only area that a President can truly dominate, foreign affairs.

DEVILANDDEVELOPMENT

5:43 PM ET

February 20, 2009

humanitarian inverventionism

Here's a liberal critique of humanitarian interventionists:

http://devilanddevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-burned-village-in-order-to-save-it.html