What is your basis for this statement - “made by someone who almost certainly didn’t have direct knowledge of the situation.” I will fully admit that I had no prior clue who John Norris was or even who Strobe Talbot was. That said, just reading the Chomsky link NBZ shared he described Norris’s view as a “very authoritative comment on that from the highest level of Clinton administration,” so unless you have some good reason for your statement dismissing Norris out of hand as a “nobody”, I’m sticking to my original position on your posts.
Again, if you want to argue with the substance of what Micro posted from Norris, feel free, but if you’re going to allege Micro is positing in bad faith by googling for contrarian POVs and posting the opinion of a “nobody,” posts like that are going to be scrutinized and potentially moderated.
Finally, your subsequent post challenging Micro to name the person who currently holds the position is trolling - whether you can name the current holder of the position is pretty irrelevant to the importance of that position (I’m pretty sure I couldn’t name a single Deputy Secretary of State, but that doesn’t mean Talbott should be dismissed as a nobody regarding Kosovo).
Posting this in the About Moderation in case others mods or posters feel I’m off base here. If that is the consensus, I’ll reconsider my view on this type of posting.