Thursday, June 06, 2013

Opinion - The Susan Power U.N. Nomination: What it Means for Foreign Policy


With President Obama putting the finishing touches on his second term foreign policy team: nominating current U.N. Ambassador for National Security Adviser and State Department official Susan Power to replace Rice in New York, the question I ask this morning is are we ready for an Ambassador Power?

Forget the worst statements Ms. Power's has uttered and her role as foreign policy adviser to President Obama since his earliest Senate days, and can we focus on her policy background, and that alone...

Never have we seen the nomination of someone so dedicated to the issue of genocide and preventing it presented to the U.N. She started her career in the field as an reporter covering the brutal Yugoslavian conflicts of the mid-90's, switched her profession to genocide policy expert and activist, and as adviser swayed a sitting U.S. Senator to speak up on Darfur and assault Gaddafi's brutal regime in Libya.

Her driving force is advancing American humanitarianism, both militarily and non-militarily, to various religious and ethnic hot zones across the globe and thus far she has been rather successful, and as the president's designate to serve as Ambassador to the U.N., her potential for policy success is beyond imagination.

But is this really our foreign policy focus needs to be right now?

With civil war in Syria descending into a potential Assad victory, Iran continuing with its nuclear plans despite international sanctions and condemnation, al-Qaeda jihadism refusing to be silenced, and our bastard child of Afghanistan the elephant in the room right now, I really do not believe Darfur or Rwanda like situations could be considered a priority.

Which is why I oppose the nomination of Ms. Power.... We do not need someone who wants to change the world representing U.S. interests at the divided and often impotent United Nations, but rather someone who is committed to both forcefully inserting U.S. authority into Security Council debates while working to solve today's crises with ally and acquaintance alike.

Not George Clooney and Sean Penn advocating for a remote province located somewhere in the vicinity of hell.

What say you?  

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