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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > General
Ever since its employment in the First World War, chemical warfare has always aroused controversy. Governments have responded by pursuing the policies of disarmament and deterrence in the hope of avoiding its recurrence. However, despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol in 1925 which banned the use of poison gas, chemical weapons have been used in subsequent conflicts and most recently in the Gulf War between Iraq and Iran. In this work the policies of disarmament and deterrence will be reassessed within a broad historical and strategic context. It will be argued that poison gas could still be used in a modern European conflict; that the Soviet forces are the best equipped to operate in a contaminated environment; and that weaknesses persist in NATO's anti-chemical defences and in her deterrent. It will be emphasised, too, that the Geneva disarmament talks, which have made some progress in recent years, still face formidable difficulties over the issues of verification and compliance. Above all, it will be claimed that the onset of nuclear parity between the superpowers has eroded the credibility of a deterrent to chemical attack based upon the threat of nuclear release. Accordingly, this book will contend that the United States should modernize her stockpile of chemical weapons to bolster the Western deterrent and to provide more leverage for the negotiations in Geneva.
The close and complex relationship between conflict and communication has been vividly illustrated in work spanning the writings of Homer and Thucydides to blogs bashed out on contemporary battlefields. And in recent decades there has been a huge growth in scholarly and popular interest in the subject. As serious research flourishes as never before, this new two-volume collection from Routledge's acclaimed Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies series has been assembled by the field's leading thinker to meet the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of cross-disciplinary literature. Drawing on disparate, and sometimes less accessible, sources, the two volumes gather together canonical and the very best cutting-edge scholarship to cover a diverse range of key themes, including: the theory and reality of journalistic practice; the effects of conflict communication on the policy process; and the impact of technology on the very nature of war and conflict. The collection also includes a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. War and Conflict Communication is an essential work of reference and will be welcomed as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.
This is the first in a new series of annual omnibus editions which are intended to be of interest to both the specialist and general reader concerned with international relations and security issues. The period in which the essays included in this volume appeared coincided with two of the most remarkable developments of the twentieth century: the collapse of communism as part of the wider intellectual retreat of collectivist ideas and the related and parallel disintegration of the Soviet empire. The results of these vast changes have created a tumultuous atmosphere in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union--and exacerbated economic and ethnic conflicts. These essays provide a unique commentary on the developments and factors which have led to this amazing process of political change and a genuine struggle for pluralism in formerly communist nations. Among the subjects covered in this edition are Gorbachev and perestroika, Soviet foreign policy, openness and freedom of movement, the secret services of Eastern Europe and the USSR, the security implications of the 1992 European Community coalition, French defense policy, British Conservatives and defense, Romania under Ceausescu, and Yugoslavia's worsening internal crisis. This important contribution to the study of the present situation will be valuable to political scientists, those studying international relations and current affairs, and others who want to understand what is happening in Europe.
Landmines, cluster-bombs, chemical pollutants, and other remnants of war continue to cause death to humans and damage to the environment long after the guns have fallen silent. From the jungles of Vietnam to the arctic tundra of Russia, no region has escaped the legacy of warfare. To understand the legacy of modern militarism, this book presents an overview of post-conflict societies, with an emphasis on the human toll exacted by modern warfare.
Decisions about when, where, and why to commit the United States to the use of force, and how to conduct warfare and ultimately end it, are hotly debated not only contemporaneously but also for decades afterward. We are engaged in such a debate today, quite often without a solid grounding in the country's experience of war, both political and military. This book, by a political scientist and a career military officer and historian, is premised on the view that we cannot afford that kind of innocence. Updated and revised with new chapters on the Afghan and Iraq wars, the book systematically examines twelve U.S. wars from the revolution to the present day. For each conflict the authors review underlying issues and events; political objectives; military objectives and strategy; political considerations; military technology and technique; military conduct, and 'the better state of the peace', that is, the ultimate disposition of the original political goals.
Decisions about when, where, and why to commit the United States to the use of force, and how to conduct warfare and ultimately end it, are hotly debated not only contemporaneously but also for decades afterward. We are engaged in such a debate today, quite often without a solid grounding in the country's experience of war, both political and military. This book, by a political scientist and a career military officer and historian, is premised on the view that we cannot afford that kind of innocence. Updated and revised with new chapters on the Afghan and Iraq wars, the book systematically examines twelve U.S. wars from the revolution to the present day. For each conflict the authors review underlying issues and events; political objectives; military objectives and strategy; political considerations; military technology and technique; military conduct, and 'the better state of the peace', that is, the ultimate disposition of the original political goals.
"Israel and Syria: The Military Balance and Prospects of War" provides a detailed and current picture of the military capabilities of Israel and Syria, reflecting the changes and lessons of the Israel-Hezbollah War in 2006 and other recent conflicts. It offers extensive analysis, supported by tables and charts, on the trends in military spending, arms imports and technology transfers, military manpower, weapons, and orders of battle. By going beyond military balance analysis, Cordesman examines the probable nature and results of a future war and how the readiness, capability, tactics, and technology on each side would shape its outcome. "Israel and Syria: The Military Balance and Prospects of War" shows how a dangerous new conflict between both nations would cripple all strides in strategic gains and Israeli-Syrian diplomacy. On the other hand, peace negotiations would offer a safer, more productive relationship. Israel and Syria need to consider the true nature of their military balance and the undermining effect to both nations as well as the costs and risks of any future conflict. Although Syria does retain important options in terms of asymmetric and proxy conflicts, it would fail in its attempt to recapture the Golan. While Israel would almost certainly win a future war, it cannot make gains from acquiring more Syrian territory and a new war would create major problems with its neighbors and in dealing with the Palestinians. The risk of a new Israeli-Syrian conflict is so serious that both sides need to understand the true nature of their military balance, and the costs and risks of any future conflict. "Israel and Syria: The Military Balance and Prospects of War" shows how dangerous a new conflict could be, that neither side can make lasting strategic gains from a future conflict, and that peace negotiations offer a far safer and more productive option. It provides a detailed and current picture of the military capabilities of Israel and Syria, reflecting the changes and lessons of the Israel-Hezbollah War in 2006 and other recent conflicts. "Israel and Syria: The Military Balance and Prospects of War" provides extensive analysis, supported by tables and charts, on the trends in military spending, arms imports and technology transfers, military manpower, weapons, and orders of battle. By going beyond military balance analysis, Cordesman examines the probable nature and results of a future war and how the readiness, capability, tactics, and technology on each side would shape its outcome.
This work is about how the allied coalition and the governement of Iraq attempted to influence, utilize and manipulate the ways in which the Gulf War was presented by the media to the outside world between mid January and early March 1991. It is only in part about the media coverage of the conflict per se since the book concentrates on the point at which the policy and the presentation, the war and the media, came together on both sides to form propaganda. It also embraces, as far as it is possible to do so, a preliminary examination of psychological warfare method employed during the war.
This is a story of one courageous American warrior who volunteers to go into combat after a four-year break. Joseph Monforte Jr has been on a soul-searching journey driven by fate and circumstance. He has endured a tough path to walk during his journey. From an uncertain childhood, to an honorable career in the military. He has faced the odds and crushed the obstacles that have stood in his way. Determined to shed his demons and test his character he finds himself in Iraq, fighting the War on Terror. Near death experiences and bloody battles have opened his eyes to a new world. Along his combat experience he sheds those demons but finds new ones. Joseph Monforte Jr had to fight to make his dreams come alive. An experience that leaves his journey fulfilled. Returning from combat, he finds himself divorced, wounded, broke, and alone. In the wake of all these tribulations a new life was found. Fate has proven his dreams time and time again. Who would have thought combat would heal his heart, soul, and mind? This is a true tail of glory and the hells to be seen before it's found. In search of glory
Sharing Security is a unique and comprehensive study of a key yet often neglected feature of modern international society. It begins by assessing how political theory can contribute to an understanding of international burdensharing. It then analyses in turn why some Western states contribute more than others to common defences, the European Union budget and overseas development aid. It highlights the particular burdensharing problems involved in global regimes, focusing on the UN's continuing financial crisis and the costs of combating global warming. It argues that today's burdensharing disparities continue to be shaped by the particular character of the international settlement at the end of the Second World War.
Describing the fate of South Africa's drive, which began in 1949, to associate itself with Britain, France, Portugal and Belgium in an African defence pact, this book describes how South Africa had to settle for an entente rather than an alliance, and how even this had been greatly emasculated by 1960. In light of this case, the book considers the argument that ententes have the advantages of alliances without their disadvantages and concludes that this is exaggerated. There is also discussion of the background to the "fourth" secret Simonstown Agreement. Other books by the author include "The Politics of the South Africa Run: European Shipping and Pretoria", "Return to the UN" and "International Politics".
At the height of the Vietnam War, American society was so severely fragmented that it seemed that Americans may never again share common concerns. The media and other commentators represented the impact of the war through a variety of rhetorical devices, most notably the emotionally charged metaphor of "the wound that will not heal." References in various contexts to veterans' attempts to find a "voice," and to bring the war "home" were also common. Gradually, an assured and resilient American self-image and powerful impressions of cultural collectivity transformed the Vietnam war into a device for maintaining national unity. Today, the war is portrayed as a healed wound, the once "silenced" veteran has found a voice, and the American home has accommodated the effects of Vietnam. The scar has healed, binding Americans into a union that denies the divisions, diversities, and differences exposed by the war. In this way, America is now "over" Vietnam. In The Scar That Binds, Keith Beattie examines the central metaphors of the Vietnam war and their manifestations in American culture and life. Blending history and cultural criticism in a lucid style, this provocative book discusses an ideology of unity that has emerged through widespread rhetorical and cultural references to the war. A critique of this ideology reveals three dominant themes structured in a range of texts: the "wound," "the voice" of the Vietnam veteran, and "home." The analysis of each theme draws on a range of sources, including film, memoir, poetry, written and oral history, journalism, and political speeches. In contrast to studies concerned with representations of the war as a combat experience, The Scar That Binds opens and examines an unexplored critical space through a focus on the effects of the Vietnam War on American culture. The result is a highly original and compelling interpretation of the development of an ideology of unity in our culture.
Exploring the contemporary sources, scope and intensity of nationality conflicts in the context of a disintegrating Soviet Empire, the authors address themselves to the resurgence of ethnicity and nationalism within the former Soviet imperium, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria and China, and the consquences of perestroika and glasnost. Kumar Rupesinghe has also written "Conflict Resolution in Uganda" and "Ethnic Conflicts and Human Rights". Olga Vorkunova is also the author of "Konflikti v 'Tretem Mire' i Zapad" (conflict in the "Third World" and the West) and "Skandinavia i Mezhdunarodnie Konflikti" (Scandinavia and international conflict).
Being nearly ten years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, Bernard G. Bowyer soon became fascinated with everything about World War II. When the U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal in 1942, Bowyer suddenly knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life: become a United States Marine. Bowyer enlisted at the age of seventeen and soon began a lifetime adventure. Over twenty-one years, he served at several stateside duty stations, including South Carolina, California, and Virginia, and multiple overseas assignments, including Africa, Japan, and Australia. He served a tour in Vietnam from 1967-1968 where he also was involved in the Tet offensive. With hard work and determination Bowyer worked his way through the ranks and retired as a captain in 1970. He subsequently became affiliated with the Marine Corps League, a veteran's organization which enabled him to maintain the camaraderie he experienced when on active duty. Full of vivid details of Bowyer's experiences in battle, his relationship with comrades, and his staunch patriotism, Duty, Honor, and Privilege is the powerful, true story of one man's fulfillment of a childhood dream to become one of the few-and one of the proud.
This study demonstrates that the Six Day War, which transformed the Middle East, split the left and gave birth to Neo-conservatism, was an unintended consequence of the Vietnam War. In 1967 Moscow created a Middle Eastern crisis in response to Washington's escalation in Vietnam. America's Asian focus had left her Atlantic vulnerable to Soviet penetration. Israel refused to plant her flag in Saigon, American rabbis led the peace movement and the President threatened to withdraw his support from Israel. The Palestinians embarked on a Vietnamism-inspired "people's war," and Moscow interpreted Israeli retaliation as support for US policy in Vietnam. This Six Day War turned Israel into a Soviet nuclear target and transformed some liberals into Neo-conservatives.
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