Dr. Conn Hallinan speaks on 'The Afghan Rubik's Cube'

Peace Action of San Mateo County will present Dr. Conn Hallinan, an analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus. Dr. Hallinan will speak about what he calls "The Afghan Rubik's Cube." He will discuss the complexity of the situation in Afghanistan - historically called and regarded the "graveyard of empires" - to which President Obama is preparing to send 21,000 troops.

Writing for an article on the FPIF web site, Hallinan likens the situation in Afghanistan to "that frustrating puzzle of intersecting blocks that only works when everything fits perfectly. The trick for the Obama administration is to figure out how to solve the puzzle in a timeframe rapidly squeezed by events both internal and external of that war-torn central Asian nation." Whether by its former name of the "global war on terror" or Obama's new label, "Overseas Contingency Operation," Hallinan is one of many who view the basis for this new strategy for Afghanistan with a skeptic's eye. He will share his skepticism and his extensive knowledge of Afghanistan at 7:30 PM on Friday, May 15.

Now retired, Dr. Conn Hallinan is a longtime journalist and academic who ran the journalism program at UC Santa Cruz for 23 years, where he was also a provost. He has a PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley - as well as an award from Project Censored, which annually chooses what it considers to be the 10 most underreported stories of the year. Hallinan's journalism career spanned 40 years. Foreign Policy in Focus is part of the Institute for Policy Studies.

Admission is free. The UU is wheelchair accessible.