David Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post, will discuss his book, The Good Soldiers, which provides his account of the war dubbed “the surge,”  as experienced on the ground. He details the successes, struggles and psychological traumas of soldiers on the front lines, while underscoring the cognitive dissonance between the violent reality taking place on the ground and the abstract policy debates back in Washington.       

WikiLeaks is a multi-jurisdictional service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public. Many on the right and the left of the political spectrum have criticized Wikileaks’ as endangering US interests. Meanwhile, others have argued that there really were no major new leads that have come from these reports. The question remains: does a whistleblower website like Wikileaks serve a valuable function in a democracy by providing concerned citizens with a confidential outlet to publish otherwise sensitive material?      

Bay Area local and expert on IMF policies, Rick Rowden, returns to San Francisco to discuss the controversial economic policies that are attached as conditions on the loans given by the IMF to developing countries. He will explore how such policies impact the economies of developing countries, and the financing which is desperately needed for public health services and the fight against HIV/AIDS. He will also discuss how civil society advocates in many countries are calling for alternative economic policies.