Tuesday, August 19, 2008

SP in The New York Times

Commemorating the 5th anniversary of the bombing of the Canal Hotel - known as the "UN's 9/11" - Power turns a critical eye on the current state of security for humanitarian and civilian aid workers. With the recent killings of IRC workers in Afghanistan, aid workers are continually finding themselves targets of violent militant groups that equate them with government and armed forces.

Power writes, "We cannot return to a pre-8/19 world any more than we can return to a pre-9/11 one. Neither the blue flag nor the red cross is enough to protect humanitarians in an age of terror. But five years after August 19 we owe it to those who died — and to those whom humanitarians have saved — to do far more to protect the protectors."

Monday, August 18, 2008

Time Column 08.25.08

In "A Question of Honor", the role of dignity in foreign affairs is mused, while taking a critical look at the reign of Vladimir Putin. Power charts the perceived diplomatic slights of Putin's term, the consequences of those perceptions, and the danger of using aggression to restore honor.