New U.S. Envoy to U.N. Grilled on First Day-By Refugee Students.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power faced some tough questions during her first day on the job on Monday, but they did not come from other U.N. Security Council envoys - instead she was grilled by refugee students in New York City.
At the International Rescue Committee's Refugee Youth Summer Academy in downtown Manhattan, students asked Power questions ranging from how did she meet President Barack Obama to would she send troops to Afghanistan and her thoughts on communism. . .
But when she attends her first meeting of the 15-member body on Tuesday, she will meet with a Security Council deadlocked over how to try to end the two-year civil war in Syria that has sent more than 1.8 million people fleeing to other countries.
Russia, an ally and arms supplier of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and China have three times blocked action against Assad's government supported by the remaining veto powers - the United States, Britain and France.
During her Senate confirmation hearing in Washington last month, Power, 42, described the inaction of the Security Council on Syria as "a disgrace that history will judge harshly."
An outspoken rights defender, Power is using her first week on the job to flag her activism. On Friday she will chat online with rights advocates and on Saturday she will address a summit organized by Invisible Children, a group best known for a viral video urging the arrest of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/08/05/us/politics/05reuters-un-usa-power.html?hp
