Sri Lanka, 'Obama's first problem from hell,' ICP says

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 11:49 GMT]
Inner City Press journalists, in a web discussion, say that the imminent "blood bath" of Tamil civilians in the "safe zone" in Mullaiththeevu coast as the first "problem from hell" for Obama administration, and ask why the world has not heard yet any voice on Sri Lanka from Samantha Power, author of a well acclaimed book on genocide and the senior director of Multi-lateral Affairs at the U.S's National Security Council (NSC) where she will have a direct hand in formulating U.S. policy on the United Nations, G-8, and other global forums.

Mathew Lee refers to the placards held by Tamil protesters in front of the US's UN mission in New York of the impending genocide, and speculates that UN officials are unlikely to have a security council meeting even if Sri Lanka kills more than 10,000 civilians in the "blood bath" which is likely to occur soon.

"In "A Problem From Hell" Power describes how government is not well structured to respond effectively to humanitarian crises. Part of the problem, she shows, is that individuals in government sometimes react to these crises in politically expedient ways that do not do much to address or reverse ongoing genocide or mass atrocity. This is less a critique of specific individuals than it is a condemnation of American foreign policy making more generally.

"Now that she is embedded in the U.S. foreign policy making apparatus the big question on my mind is whether or not she falls victim to the very processes she criticizes so ably in her book," says Mark Goldberg, the interviewer in his website.

The $2b loan the Sri Lanka Goverment is asking is to replenish the $1.6b spent on war and to support the internment camps, the ICP says referring to open statements by Sri Lanka officials, and questions if US is likely to use its effective veto power to stop the loan. The journalists point to a similar threat used by the US to force Indonesia to organize the independence vote for East Timor.

External Links:

UNDISPATCH:		Samantha Power to the NSC
ICP:		Obama’s first “problem from Hell”