I do hope the Obama administration takes some action on Darfur, and takes a more active role in combating genocide. The Albright commission writes: "Genocide is not the inevitable result of 'ancient hatreds' or irrational leaders. It requires planning and is carried out systematically. There are ways to recognize its signs and symptoms, and viable options to prevent it at every turn if we are committed and prepared." And, we might add, in the modern era it is always perpetrated by states. The Post piece points out that "Most modern U.S. presidents have had to confront some mass violence against civilians, from the killing fields in Cambodia during the administrations of Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter to the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Rwanda during the Bill Clinton years to the Janjaweed militia attacks on villages in Darfur during the Bush tenure." I would add Chechnya, actually as clear a case as Rwanda or Cambodia.