The study of low-intensity conflict (LIC) has been beset by problems of definition. This manuscript represents five studies by members of the Political-Military Affairs Division of the Air Force. Each study views the persistence with the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. These studies analyze LIC environments in Central Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. For each region, history, politics, economics, and ideological currents are emphasized so as to illustrate best the wide variety of LIC phenomena that affect the societies under scrutiny. A final study puts into the perspective of a long-term strategy the implications each contribution draws for U.S. policies. Air University Press. United States Air Force.

Almost all of the wars currently occurring in the world are low-intensity conflicts, several months ago a distinguished Pentagon panel made up of former cabinet members and eminent defense intellectuals published a report titled Discriminate Deterrence. They believe these kinds of conflicts are the wave of the future and that the US military must do more to prepare for them. Military analysts as well as civilian scholars have published and are publishing constantly on the subject. Yet, despite these facts, our senior military leaders are not teaching about these wars; and most of the writing that is being done is essentially limited to our failure in Vietnam.1 This is understandable but hardly sufficient.

Given the Obama administration's recent reset policy put in place with regard to its Russia policy, a closer look into the Kremlin's arms sales practices could prove critical for anyone attempting to decipher Moscow's foreign policy ambitions. In "Shrinking Ground," Stephen Blank examines the alarming strategic patterns of the Russian arms industry in various key markets around the world, including Latin America, India, China, and the Middle East. The report examines how Russia is attempting to mask its slow decline in arms sales through its superpower pretentions and rhetoric.

Environmental Security and Global Stability places environmental security at the center of the new, complex global security debate. By meshing strategic and operational expertise with academic and policy research the work demonstrates the imperative need to move theoretical and moral environmental protection programs from the state of study and rhetoric to the realm of action. The essays highlight-through case study discussions of environmental flash points in Asia, Africa, and Latin America-the clear linkages between environmental degradation, population growth, ethnic tension, economic distress, and political instability. Offering a theoretical framework from which to approach environmental security policy as well as suggesting practical preventative and mitigatory measures for its implementation, this volume is an invaluable resource for scholars and policymakers alike.