Arriving in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Thursday morning, Samantha Powers offered “a blunt and simple” message: “the US is watching.” Her presence there probably doesn’t mean much to the citizens of a country reeling from violent revolution, counter-revolution, and brutal attacks by machete-wielding militias; CAR leaders have been calling for increased international attention to the conflict for weeks now, with little effect. Powers’ trip, the New York Times reports, raises the question: “What, exactly, is the United States willing to do to stop Christians and Muslims here from killing one another, and how much is it willing to spend?” The answer, it seems, is “not much.”