Global Security Problems: Fr. Sawicki

Combining a close knowledge of Asia and an ability to tap Chinese-language sources with naval combat experience and expertise in sea-power theory, the authors assess how the rise of Chinese sea power will affect U.S. maritime strategy in Asia. They argue that China has laid the groundwork for a sustained challenge to American primacy in maritime Asia, and to defend this hypothesis they look back to Alfred Thayer Mahan's sea-power theories, now popular with the Chinese. The book considers how strategic thought about the sea shapes Beijing's deliberations and compares China's geostrategic predicament to that of the Kaiser's Germany a century ago. It examines the Chinese navy's operational concepts, tactics, and capabilities and appraises China's missile force. The authors conclude that China now presents a challenge to America's strategic position of such magnitude that Washington must compete in earnest.

Is America in a new Cold War with Russia? How does a new Cold War affect the safety and security of the United States? Does Vladimir Putin really want to destabilize the West? What should Donald Trump and America's allies do? America is in a new Cold War with Russia even more dangerous than the one the world barely survived in the twentieth century. The Soviet Union is gone, but the two nuclear superpowers are again locked in political and military confrontations, now from Ukraine to Syria. All of this is exacerbated by Washington's war-like demonizing of the Kremlin leadership and by Russiagate's unprecedented allegations. US mainstream media accounts are highly selective and seriously misleading. American "disinformation," not only Russian, is a growing peril. In War With Russia?, Stephen F. Cohen--the widely acclaimed historian of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia--gives readers a very different, dissenting narrative of this more dangerous new Cold War from its origins in the 1990s, the actual role of Vladimir Putin, and the 2014 Ukrainian crisis to Donald Trump's election and today's unprecedented Russiagate allegations. Topics include: Distorting Russia US Follies and Media Malpractices 2016 The Obama Administration Escalates Military Confrontation With Russia Was Putin's Syria Withdrawal Really A "Surprise"? Trump vs. Triumphalism Has Washington Gone Rogue? Blaming Brexit on Putin and Voters Washington Warmongers, Moscow Prepares Trump Could End the New Cold War The Real Enemies of US Security Kremlin-Baiting President Trump Neo-McCarthyism Is Now Politically Correct Terrorism and Russiagate Cold-War News Not "Fit to Print" Has NATO Expansion Made Anyone Safer? Why Russians Think America Is Attacking Them How Washington Provoked--and Perhaps Lost--a New Nuclear-Arms Race Russia Endorses Putin, The US and UK Condemn Him (Again) Russophobia Sanction Mania Cohen's views have made him, it is said, "America's most controversial Russia expert." Some say this to denounce him, others to laud him as a bold, highly informed critic of US policies and the dangers they have helped to create. War With Russia? gives readers a chance to decide for themselves who is right: are we living, as Cohen argues, in a time of unprecedented perils at home and abroad?

Just a few years ago, people spoke of the US as a hyperpower - a titan stalking the world stage with more relative power than any empire in history. Yet as early as 1993, newly-appointed CIA director James Woolsey pointed out that although Western powers had "slain a large dragon" by defeatingthe Soviet Union in the Cold War, they now faced a "bewildering variety of poisonous snakes."In The Dragons and the Snakes, the eminent soldier-scholar David Kilcullen asks how, and what, opponents of the West have learned during the last quarter-century of conflict. Applying a combination of evolutionary theory and detailed field observation, he explains what happened to the "snakes" -non-state threats including terrorists and guerrillas - and the "dragons" - state-based competitors such as Russia and China. He explores how enemies learn under conditions of conflict, and examines how Western dominance over a very particular, narrowly-defined form of warfare since the Cold War hascreated a fitness landscape that forces adversaries to adapt in ways that present serious new challenges to America and its allies. Within the world's contemporary conflict zones, Kilcullen argues, state and non-state threats have increasingly come to resemble each other, with states adoptingnon-state techniques and non-state actors now able to access levels of precision and lethal weapon systems once only available to governments.A counterintuitive look at this new, vastly more complex environment, The Dragons and the Snakes will not only reshape our understanding of the West's enemies' capabilities, but will also show how we can respond given the increasing limits on US power.

In 1992, the United States stood at the pinnacle of world power and Americans were confident that a new era of peace and prosperity was at hand. Twenty-five years later, those hopes have been dashed. Relations with Russia and China have deteriorated, the European Union is wobbling, and violent extremism is spreading.The reason for these recurring failures, Stephen M. Walt argues in The Hell of Good Intentions, is the combination of America's still-unmatched power and the foreign policy establishment's stubborn consensus around a strategy of "liberal hegemony." Because the United States is so powerful and secure, it can pursue ambitious foreign policy goals even when they are unnecessary and doomed to fail. Walt exposes the inner workings of the foreign policy elite across the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations and shows how they have been able to avoid accountability, keep discredited ideas and policies in vogue, and maintain influence despite past blunders.Confronting the failures of three different presidents, Walt makes the case for a fresh approach. As the next president grapples with the consequences of America's recent misadventures, The Hell of Good Intentions offers both a compelling diagnosis of our current malaise and a prescription for enduring success.

This edited collection explores the fruitfulness of applying an interpretive approach to the study of global security. The interpretive approach concentrates on unpacking the meanings and beliefs of various policy actors, and, crucially, explains those beliefs by locating them in historical traditions and as responses to dilemmas. Interpretivists thereby seek to highlight the contingency, diversity, and contestability of the narratives, expertise, and beliefs that inform political action. The interpretive approach is widespread in the study of governance and public policy, but arguably it has not yet had much impact on security studies. The book therefore deploys the interpretive approach to explore contemporary issues in international security, combining theoretical engagement with good empirical coverage through a novel set of case studies. Bringing together a fresh mix of world renowned and up-and-coming scholars from across the fields of security studies, political theory and international relations, the chapters explore the beliefs, traditions, and dilemmas that have informed security practice on the one hand, and the academic study of security on the other, as well as the connections between them. All contributors look to situate their work against a broader historical background and long-standing traditions, allowing them to take a critical yet historically informed approach to the material.

Since the 2014 Ebola outbreak many public- and private-sector leaders have seen a need for improved management of global public health emergencies. The effects of the Ebola epidemic go well beyond the three hardest-hit countries and beyond the health sector. Education, child protection, commerce, transportation, and human rights have all suffered. The consequences and lethality of Ebola have increased interest in coordinated global response to infectious threats, many of which could disrupt global health and commerce far more than the recent outbreak. In order to explore the potential for improving international management and response to outbreaks the National Academy of Medicine agreed to manage an international, independent, evidence-based, authoritative, multistakeholder expert commission. As part of this effort, the Institute of Medicine convened four workshops in summer of 2015. This commission report considers the evidence supplied by these workshops and offers conclusions and actionable recommendations to guide policy makers, international funders, civil society organizations, and the private sector.

This Handbook brings together 30 state-of-the-art essays covering the essential aspects of global security research and practice for the 21st century. Embraces a broad definition of security that extends beyond the threat of foreign military attack to cover new risks for violence Offers comprehensive coverage framed around key security concepts, risks, policy tools, and global security actors Discusses pressing contemporary issues including terrorism, disarmament, genocide, sustainability, international peacekeeping, state-building, natural disasters, energy and food security, climate change, and cyber warfare Includes insightful and accessible contributions from around the world aimed at a broad base of scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers