Afghanistan: A Special Issue
The essays in our forum call into question many of the myths and faulty assumptions about the best course of US policy in Afghanistan.
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Priya Satia on drone attacks, Manan Ahmed on Pakistan paranoia, Bob Moser on Virgina's 2010 gubernatorial race
Articles
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High Cost, Low Odds
Stephen M. Walt : Staying in Afghanistan will cost many more American soldiers' lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. Is it worth it?
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The 'Safe Haven' Myth
John Mueller : If we leave Afghanistan, Al Qaeda will be in no position to re-establish a base there.
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The Ethnic Split
Selig S. Harrison : The tenacity of the Taliban insurgency is rooted in opposition to a foreign occupation that is particularly distasteful to the Pashtuns.
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Attack of the Drones
Priya Satia : Airstrikes, manned or unmanned, regulated or not, cannot build a better Afghan future.
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Paranoia Over Pakistan
Manan Ahmed : Is Pakistan really in danger of falling into the hands of the Taliban?
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The Best Wall of Defense
Mosharraf Zaidi : The most dependable guarantor of Pakistani stability isn't a troop buildup in Afghanistan; it's Pakistan's emerging middle class.
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How to Get Out
Robert Dreyfuss : Elements of a responsible withdrawal.
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Remember the Women?
Ann Jones : Women belong at the center of the debate over the Afghan war, not on the margins.
Letters
Editorials & Comment
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Obama's Fateful Choice
: US Afghanistan policy should not be held hostage to the president's past rhetoric.
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Crafting Health Reform
J. Lester Feder : Healthcare reform is looking less like a fantasy and more like a probability--but we need to keep a close watch on affordability, financing and the public option.
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Dem Doldrums in Gotham
Theodore Hamm : Whatever his party label, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's firmest loyalties are to Wall Street. Why is his Democratic opponent unwilling to forcefully challenge him on economic issues?
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Devil in the Old Dominion
Bob Moser : Everyone is looking to Virginia's off-year gubernatorial contest as a Middle American barometer for 2010.
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Noted.
: A how-to for taking action on Afghanistan.
Reviews
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art
A Makeshift World
Barry Schwabsky : For the photographer Thomas Demand, Germany is like any other country because it is haunted by history.
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book
A City Unbottled
Joy Connolly : In The Fires of Vesuvius, Mary Beard unearths the seedier realities of the Roman social and political experience.
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book
At Least, At Most
Charles Taylor : With his plain, weather-beaten prose, Don Carpenter was a good enough novelist not to have to prove it.
Columns
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DIARY OF A MAD LAW PROFESSOR
Nobel Peace Sparks War
Patricia J. Williams : It's peculiar, the vocabulary that makes a liability out of the Nobel Prize.
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THE LIBERAL MEDIA
Just Don't Call It 'Journalism'
Eric Alterman : By refusing to acknowledge Fox News's avowed partisanship, its MSM defenders diminish the work of honest journalists who try to play fair.
Crossword
Web
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Pentagon Investigating Iraq Electrocution Death
Jeremy Scahill : Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Carol Shea-Porter argue that since Adam Hermanson died while working on a Defense Department contract, the DoD is obliged to investigate.
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Joe Lieberman and the Opt-Out Revolution
Lindsay Beyerstein : Progressives rejoiced when Sen. Harry Reid announced that the Senate healthcare bill would include a public option. But the jubilation was short-lived.
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Judge Real in Alex Sanchez Case Is Surreal
Tom Hayden : The evidence against Alex Sanchez is quite refutable, but that assumes a fair trial. And that's not possible in Judge Real's courtroom.
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TruthDig
Lieberman Twists the Knife
Robert Scheer : The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any healthcare reform bill that has a public option--even the version with the "trigger" compromise accepted by Sen. Olympia Snowe.
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A 'Coal' Building on Campus?
The Rachel Maddow Show : The Nation's sports editor Dave Zirin argues that corporate naming rights on college campuses are a bad idea.
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Slide Show: Showdown in Chicago
At the annual American Bankers Association conference in Chicago, protesters faced off against the bankers who refused to extend them credit even after getting bailed out.
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Welcome to 2025: American Pre-eminence Ends Fifteen Years Early
Michael T. Klare : The American intelligence community has missed the boat on how quickly the US has fallen from "sole superpower" status.
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Republican = Conservative = Fox?
MSNBC : The Nation's John Nichols talks to Hardball's Chris Matthews about President Obama's decision to marginalize Fox News.
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Reid to Back 'Opt-Out' Public Option
MSNBC : Sen. Harry Reid will introduce a healthcare reform bill including an "opt-out" public option--grounds for disappointment, says Ari Melber.
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Honduras's 'Bloodless Coup': What You're Not Seeing on TV
Avi Lewis : In Honduras, people are dying while the world looks the other way. Real international pressure--especially from the US--is the only force that could stop that now.
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Putting Caste on Notice
Barbara Crossette : Navi Pillay is the first UN human rights commissioner to take on caste discrimination.
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The Future of the Public Option
The Rachel Maddow Show : Chris Hayes, The Nation's Washington editor, clears up some of the confusion regarding the future of the public optio
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Climate Activists Hit the Streets
Nathaniel Herz : Turnout for 350.org's International Climate Day of Action was high in New York City--and in some of the developing nations most vulnerable to effects of global warming.
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Ehren Watada: Free at Last
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith : After three years of trying to convict Lt. Ehren Watada for refusing to deploy to Iraq, the Army has allowed him to resign.
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The Goal of Going Rouge
Entertainment Tonight : Nation editors Betsy Reed and Richard Kim's Going Rouge is not out to confuse, but to inform.
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The Tide Is Turning on Healthcare Reform
Peter Dreier : In the past month, momentum on healthcare reform has unmistakably shifted as progressives have taken to the streets, the Internet and the halls of Congress to push for a bold plan.
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As Rumors Fly, a Call for a United Front on Healthcare in the House
Raul Grijalva : There has been a lot of guessing recently about what the final House version of healthcare reform will look like. It's time for some clarity.
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The Down Side of Thinking Positive
GRIT TV : Nation contributor Barbara Ehrenreich presents Bright Sided, her new book about the negative aspect of positive thinking.
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The Big Kids Play With Corked Bats
Helen Rosenthal : What if campaign finance reform took a page from baseball's playbook?
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Olbermann on Going Rouge
Countdown : Keith Olbermann weighs in on the Sarah Palin "companion" book Going Rouge, edited by Nation staffers Betsy Reed and Richard Kim.
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Judge Refuses to Dismiss War Crimes Case Against Blackwater
Jeremy Scahill : A federal judge sends the lawyers for Iraqi victims of Blackwater back to the drawing board, while rejecting Blackwater's plea to toss out the case.
Cover photograph by Getty Images, design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels
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