Prof. Samantha Power on the role of UN and humanitarian personnel in conflict zones, and the dangers they are exposed to - regarding the work environment or, lately, targeted attacks against them (the attack on the UN office in Baghdad in 2003 -- can you believe it's been FIVE years already?? -- was the probably the most spectacular such attack, and a bit of a personal trauma to Power).
(where this photo is extracted from.)
Article is here.
And if you're curious about Samantha Power, know that she is -- almost surely -- the first Harvard professor to get a feature article in Men's Vogue (where this photo is extracted from.)
(where this photo is extracted from.)
Article is here.
And if you're curious about Samantha Power, know that she is -- almost surely -- the first Harvard professor to get a feature article in Men's Vogue (where this photo is extracted from.)
(Thanks babe. :)
10 comments:
Hi!
I've read the article, and her book on Sergio, which was excellent. Why do you say it was a personal trauma to her, though? That I haven't heard before.
It's the Sergio effect. They were friends, and she really put him on a pedestal. To her - in my opinion, given the way she spoke of him - he was Mr. UN, in everything good, honourable and altruistic it stands for.
His death had, I believe, a very strong disillusioning effect on her: even the good guys die, I think.
She actually felt so strong about it she wrote a book!
I can't wait to read the book!! Especially -- and that's my two-cents of bragging -- I was one of SP's army of research assistants on this book!! (okay, yeah, it wasn'was nothing major and I essentially translated a few articles for her, but still. :)
I thought you were going to post about Prof Power when she called Sen. Clinton a "monster" and had to leave Obama's campaign! She was the talk of all major news media. Anyways, that is the past, I guess.
The book is an excellent work, of course. I think that examining his life may have removed any further illusions she had about it, perhaps. She's very open about his faults, especially with the ladies. Ultimately she points to him as an example of a huge learning curve, as someone who has gone and done a lot of what other nations need to do; get involved, get their hands dirty and forget about 'National Interests'.
Vertigo: well, if she said it, she must be right.
:)
Walls: khalass, you got me excited about the book. I'll go out and look for it - and will get back to you once i'm done with it!
Meanwhile, in case someone out there hasn't read it yet, allow me to recommend her "A problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide"..
Mohamed, I think love is leaving you blind! ;)
I've seen her speak twice, and the second time was the day before she announced her resignation from the campaign. She spoke for over an hour to us all, and was clear, calm and rational, all the while clearly passionate about creating change in foreign policy.
She recently got married, did you hear?
Yes. Snif. I heard. Snif snif.
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/07/cass_sunstein_samantha_power_wedding.php
(Vertigo, does this answer your comment?)
More seriously, if we have Samantha Power anywhere near the Obama foreign policy, we will have the most interventionist USA since WW2.
You would and you wouldn't. It would be an administration that aims to assist rather than create military conquests. There would be an altering in attitude and understanding in the administration, which currently only gets involved on the basis of national interest. Powers' first book argues for an engagement on the basis of treaties the US had already signed up to, just wouldn't avoid its stated obligations.
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