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Katrina vanden Heuvel
5/26/2010

The author makes a case against the war in Afghanistan, calling President Obama’s approach “fundamentally flawed” and far too costly in lives and money. The numbers from last month’s Pentagon report indicate that the counterinsurgency, intended to win over the Afghan people, has not been successful. Vanden Heuvel supports an alternative strategy of gradual troop withdrawal and diplomacy, but the president has asked for $32 billion for the troop surge in Afghanistan. As the Senate votes on this bill next week, perhaps it will demonstrate the growing opposition in Congress and among American citizens to “a flawed strategy and a failed war.”

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation and writes a weekly column for The Post.

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Roger Cohen
5/18/2010

Cohen looks at the struggles over the past 15 years of a microbrewery established in the West Bank. Today the company is on the rebound and business is good due to the political situation. Cohen says the business is a barometer of the stronger economy and the institutions of statehood being built by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. If the six percent economic growth is to continue, the West Bank must wean itself off international aid and become self-sustaining, and logistics and infrastructure must improve, along with peace. Cohen says, “Israel won’t do better than Fayyad.”

Cohen is a New York Times columnist.

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