Axes Grinding Encore

So, Robert Strauss, the former PC Cameroon Country Director, has written another article in a well-respected and dignified publication, this time Foreign Affairs, criticizing Peace Corps, an organization for which he had worked for years upon years.  I do believe he's correct in some of his views, but knowing Robert Strauss (he was my country director through February 2007) and his reputation, his articles come off as bitter.  He was not a friend of PCVs or PC Cameroon employees.  A notorious anecdote involves him calling all the Yaounde PC staff before his departure to a meeting where he upbraided the Cameroonian staff in a closed meeting.  (Luckily, Cameroonians don't have any qualms with gossiping, so PCVs are privy to some things, especially, asshole things that a guy no one liked said before he left.)  Also, he was also infamously known to go looking for reasons to administratively separate (PCese for "fire") volunteers.  My own personal interaction with him was minimal, and I thought that he came off as somewhat distant despite his exceptionally good storytelling and poise during training sessions in front of large groups.  Furthermore, I still can't figure out how he is connected enough to get articles in the New York Times and Foreign Affairs.