Financial Times

Poppy Crop Destruction Drives Farmers Towards Taliban

FINANCIAL TIMES 04/12/08 By Michael Shank Sir, With reference to your report, “US seeks Afghan heroin action” (April 5/6): the American proclivity for short-term, high-visibility gains precludes, yet again, sound strategy. Aerial spraying does not constitute an effective poppy eradication programme. Critically, this counter-narcotics strategy ignores the demand side. If […]

Afghan Domestic Opinion Neglected in Ashdown Plan

FINANCIAL TIMES 02/15/08 By Michael Shank Sir, Paddy Ashdown still does not get it. His three-pronged policy prescription for Afghanistan (“A strategy to save Afghanistan”, February 13), while meritorious on many levels, nowhere implies consultation with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai. This approach, unfortunately, is consistent with years of interventionist neglect […]

Overdue Wisdom in Afghanistan

FINANCIAL TIMES 01/17/08 By Michael Shank Sir, At long last, US strategy in Afghanistan is wising up (“From poppies to pomegranates”, January 14). Putting crop eradication on the back burner, a move aided by concern from the government in Kabul, the US is pursuing ways in which high-value produce can […]

Putting Iran on Annapolis Guest List Less of a Risk than Not

FINANCIAL TIMES 11/30/07 By Michael Shank Sir, Saudi Arabia and Syria hardly constitute a coalition of the craven (“Iran looms large over Arab ‘coalition of the frightened’ “, November 28). The appearance of these and other Arab states at the Annapolis peace summit is anything but an exhibition of anxiety […]

Steer Concerned Celebrities Instead of Stifling Them

FINANCIAL TIMES 11/01/07 By Michael Shank Sir, Gideon Rachman (“The aid crusade and Bono’s brigade”, October 30) has it right: it is better to have rock stars roiling for debt relief than resorting to hotel room romping. Yet Mr Rachman sides with the cynics on celebrity campaigning by taking issue […]

Wal-Mart is Walking the Walk on Sustainability

FINANCIAL TIMES 09/12/07 By Michael Shank Sir, With reference to “Soft soap? Why the greening of Wal-Mart may hinder the way to a sustainable world” (September 10): it should be a soft sell for the unconverted. Preaching with no less flair than a southern Baptist preacher, Arkansas’ Wal-Mart is leading […]