"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.

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.

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.

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".

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

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).

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.

Following Germany's defeat in World War I, the Germans signed the Versailles Treaty, superficially agreeing to limit their war powers. The Allies envisioned the future German army as a lightly armed border guard and international security force. The Germans had other plans.

As early as 1919, James Corum contends, the tactical foundations were being laid for the Nazi Blitzkrieg. Between 1919 and 1933, German military leaders created and nurtured the Reichswehr, a new military organization built on the wreckage of the old Imperial Army. It was not being groomed for policing purposes.

Focusing on Hans von Seeckt, General Staff Chief and Army Commander, Corum traces the crucial transformations in German military tactical doctrine, organization, and training that laid the foundations for fighting Germany's future wars. In doing so, he restores balance to prior assessment of von Seeckt's influence and demonstrates how the general, along with a few other "visionary" officers--including armor tactician Ernst Volckheim and air tactician Helmut Wilberg--collaborated to develop the core doctrine for what became the Blitzkrieg.

The concepts of mobile war so essential to Germany's strength in World War II, Corum shows, were in place well before the tools became available. As an unforeseen consequence of the Versailles Treaty, the Germans were not saddled with a stockpile of outdated equipment as the Allies were. This, ironically, resulted in an advantage for the Germans, who were able to create doctrine first and design equipment to match it.

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.

In contrast to the Cold War era the new European order is characterised by uncertainty, fluidity and new security challenges including separatism, ethnic conflict and intra-state conflict. This book examines the process of change and its implications for: transatlantic relations, institutional development, regional stability and NATO's rationale. Balkan instability forms a major theme of the work illustrating the challenge for policy-makers. The book concludes with a discussion of NATO enlargement and relations with Russia.

The intensification of the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crises has created new fears that deteriorating security conditions in the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and other regions will lead additional countries to seek their own nuclear arsenals in the years to come. This special issue examines the factors that are likely to shape nuclear weapons proliferation over the next decade. The internationally recognized authors of this issue, many of whom are prominent scholars and others of whom have held influential governmental positions with responsibility for countering nuclear proliferation, bring to light the conditions and events that might drive new countries to pursue nuclear weapons; the indicators and cautionary signs that can provide early warning that a country is interested in building nuclear bombs; and the policy and military measures that can be adopted to prevent or at least dissuade new proliferators. The introductory chapter develops a novel analytical approach focusing on the role of nuclear myths and mythmakers and the subsequent chapters draw on this approach to help analysts better understand and policy makers better manage nuclear proliferation over the next ten years.

From Hayseed to Jet Pilot and Beyond was written after prompting from the author's children, relatives, and friends to write a book about his colorful life experiences. The initial tales recount life on a small Iowa farm in the 30's. Johnny relates how his life was 'forever changed' by World War II with his aspirations of becoming a pilot fulfilled by entering the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program. After the War, he remained in the Air Force as a military pilot, flying over 20 types of planes. With humorous insight he recounts his adventures in many countries and describes his part in making history in the eras of World War II, the Berlin Airlift, NATO, and the Cold War. After retirement from the Air Force, Johnny began a new career as an economic development executive with Northern Natural Gas Company in Omaha. In this position, he called on some of the most senior executives of companies throughout the U.S., promoting the northern plains as a place to do business. Woven in his biography are tales of his many travels, including fascinating, first-hand experiences that occurred while traveling in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and elsewhere.