Kofi Annan has seen a lot of genocide. He hasn’t been the monster pulling the trigger, or ordering the deaths. But to hear his critics tell it, as head of the United Nations Peacekeepers in 1994 and 1995 he failed to prevent the Rwandan genocide and the massacre at Srebrenica in former Yugoslavia. The 2003 Darfur genocide began during …
syria
The G8 Summit at Camp David: This Time, It’s Important
Not since the oil shocks that first brought the world’s superpowers together in 1974–back then they called themselves the “Library Group” because they met in the White House library–has the G8 had so much substantive …
Obama Announces New Tech Sanctions, But Effect May Be Limited
In marking Holocaust Remembrance Day , President Obama on Monday announced new sanctions targeting governments that use new technologies, such as cell phone and internet tracking, to carry out human rights abuses. The sanctions were aimed mostly at Iran and Syria, who have used new technologies to track dissidents.
“We need to be …
Rick Santorum: ‘I Would Consider’ Air Strikes in Syria
I spoke to Rick Santorum by phone for a few minutes on Monday afternoon as he rode across Ohio on the eve of tomorrow’s Super Tuesday extravaganza. The interview mostly covered ground for a piece you can read in the upcoming …
In the ArenaMideast
Obama on Assad
I’m sorry, but I just don’t get this. I thought it was a bad idea when Obama said that Qaddafi “must go.” (You may have noticed: Qaddafi hasn’t.) And I don’t suspect that the Assads–Syria’s version of the Corleones–are going anywhere soon. To “call” for Assad to go enables Obama’s opponents to say, “Why didn’t he do that a long time …
White House Leans on Regimes in Syria and Yemen
A day before Obama’s address on the Middle East, the White House made two important gestures Wednesday in the ongoing Arab Spring saga. As with much of U.S. policy in the region of late, its not clear how much effect either will have.