How did Obama do on his first humanitarian crisis?
[ Foreign Policy ]
UN Dispatch’s Mark Goldberg wrote for The New Republic yesterday that Sri Lanka — the first humanitarian crisis to unfold entirely under the new administration — has been handled more or less well. His point is an excellent one: the United States has pushed to delay an IMF loan to the country until certain conditions are met. “With this move, the Obama administration has, literally, put its money where its mouth is,” Goldberg writes. All true, and a good start. As Goldberg admits, it’s just that: a start. Still, several points are left dangling.