Arms negotiation and control Books

Book SynopsisThe cold war ended more than two decades ago, and with its end came a reduction in the threat of nuclear weapons - a luxury that we can no longer indulge. In this book, the author argues that we need to pay renewed attention to nuclear weapons and how their presence will transform the way crises develop and escalate.

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Book SynopsisThe true story of the government conspiracy to bring down J. Robert Oppenheimer, America's most famous scientist. On April 12, 1954, the nation was astonished to learn that J. Robert Oppenheimer was facing charges of violating national security. Could the director of the Manhattan Project, the visionary who led the effort to build the atom bomb, really be a traitor? In this riveting book, bestselling author Priscilla J. McMillan draws on newly declassified U.S. government documents and materials from Russia, as well as in-depth interviews, to expose for the first time the conspiracy that destroyed one of America's most illustrious scientists. McMillan recreates the fraught years from 1949 to 1955 when Oppenheimer and a group of liberal scientists tried to head off the cabal of hard-line air force officials, anti-Communist politicians, and rival scientists, including physicist Edward Teller, who were trying to seize control of U.S. policy and build ever more deadly nuclear weapons. Trade ReviewPricilla J. McMillan understands that reality and, without patronizing the reader, writes an engrossing narrative that anyone with any level of background—or lack thereof—on this most important of subjects can follow—New York Journal of BooksTable of ContentsForeward, by Martin J. SherwinPrefaceIntroductionPart One1. David Lilienthal's Vacation2. The Maneuvering Begins3. The Halloween Meeting4. The Secret Debate5. Lost OpportunitiesPart Two6. Fuchs's Betrayal7. Fission versus Fusion8. Teller9. UlamPart Three10. Teller's Choice11. The Second Lab12. A New EraPart Four13. Sailing Close to the Wind14. Strauss Returns15. Two Wild Horses16. The Blank Wall17. Hoover18 . The Hearing Begins19 . Smyth20. Borden21. Ceasar's Wife22. Do We Really Need Scientists?23. Oppenheimer24. We Made It-and We Gave It AwayPostludeAcknowledgmentsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisGives an account of how some citizens actively assist state surveillance by informing on others, such as during the Cold War and the campaign against terrorism. The author provides a study of human informers - people who secretly supply information to a domestic security agency (a spy provides information to a foreign intelligence service).Trade Review"Snitch! is a concise and fluent reminder that, for all the publicity about increasing technical surveillance, informers were not just the first way by which states sought security information but are now re-emphasised as a critical feature of countering terrorism. Through examining famous cases and general aspects of the recruitment and use of informers, Steve Hewitt has provided an excellent survey of their utility for ‘authorities' and the personal and social costs entailed." --Peter Gill, University of LiverpoolFascinating, original and carefully researched, 'Snitch!' is an intelligent and superbly readable book on a subject that could not be more timely. --Richard J. Aldrich, Professor of International Security, University of Warwick"A UK expert on security and intelligence contributes to the little existing scholarship on informers with a survey that provides social and historical context on those who supply information to government agencies on intelligence matters rather than crime. From case studies of famous informers (e.g., Ronald Reagan), informer states, and the use of informers in the current 'war on terror,' Hewitt concludes that snitching is a state activity to be feared because of the existing lack of limitations and transparency." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.‘This important study aims at a ‘broad, international and accessible survey' that places informers in the context of their times and places.' -- Contemporary ReviewReviewed in French in Veille Magazine.Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. "Inherent in the Conditions of Human Society:" The Nature of Informing; 3. Informing History; 4. Famous Informers; 5. Informer States; 6. Informers in the "War on Terror"; 7. Conclusion: Living in the Informer Age.

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Book SynopsisWar With Iran: Political, Military and Economic Consequences provides readers both a history of Iran's relationship with the West and an expert's estimation of what the political, human and financial costs of full-scale war with Iran might be. Authors Geoffrey Kemp and John Allen Gay of the Center for the National Interest utilize their years studying and informing America's foreign policy in the Middle East to bring to life the possible outcomes of an American military intervention in Iran. Such a decision would not only have catastrophic consequences on the Persian Gulf, but would also endanger the whole world's delicate economy by heightening instability in a fragile but resource-rich region. Written for anyone with an interest in the future of American foreign policy, War With Iran explores what every player has at stake in the current crisis by analyzing every tension adjacent to it; from America's staunch support of Israel to Iran's own dogged pursuit of advanced nuclear capabiliTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Prologue Introduction Iran’s Nuclear Program Chapter 1: Positions of Primary Actors Iran Key Opponents to Iran’s Nuclear Program The United States Direct Relations Israel Global Opponents Chapter 2: Choosing to Attack Context for a Strike Surprise Attack War Escalates Response to Nuclear Provocation Merits and Risks of a Strike Expert Voices Political Voices Chapter 3: How an Attack Might Work Targeting An Israeli Strike The Central Route: Overflying Iraq Logistics of an Israeli Strike An American Strike Bunker Busting Iranian Air Defenses Follow-On Strikes Impact on Iran’s Nuclear Program Alternative Means of Destruction Sabotage Commando Raid Chapter 4: Iran’s Retaliation Lebanese Hezbollah Israeli Natural Gas Sites Iraq and Afghanistan General Terrorism The Strait of Hormuz Insurgency in the Gulf The Missile Threat Other Iranian Threats to Oil Chapter 5: Evolving Crisis, Challenging Exit Mass Retaliation Nonretaliation Middle Paths American Response and Cyclical Violence Chapter 6: Regional Oil Gulf Oil: Iran’s Role Oil Prices and Iran’s Economy Chapter 7: Oil and War Recent History Impact of a Military Strike on Iran Impact of an Attack on Iranian Oil Facilities Iran’s Options Against Regional Oil Action in the Strait of Hormuz Attacking Arab Oil Facilities Mobilizing the Saudi Shia Population Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction Iraq and Azerbaijan Chapter 8: Preparing for Oil Disruptions Mitigation Rerouting Oil Flows Excess Capacity Assurance Preparation Expanding Reserves Pipeline Preparation Removal of Bottlenecks Preparing to Reduce Demand Readying the Refinery Network “Pre-Assuring” Investors Chapter 9: Economic Consequences Wider Economic Factors Growth Patterns and Oil Markets Oil Price Increases and Supply Interruption Oil Price Increases and Economic Recovery Threats to the Dollar Alternatives to the Dollar? However Impacts in the Middle East Regional Conflicts American Trade The Impact of the Sanctions Conclusions Chapter 10: Conclusions: The Challenge of Getting Out, the Costs of Staying Home Exit Strategy for War with Iran Internal Political Impacts The Cost of Inaction Conclusions Appendices Bibliography

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Book SynopsisDrawing on his knowledge of the comparative history of warfare and arms control across preliterate, ancient, medieval, and modern polities, Richard Dean Burns focuses longitudinally on such perennial arms control issues as negotiation, verification, and compliance. Although he does not, for example, allege that war elephants and nuclear weapons are of equal destructive potential, he does discern instructive similarities between Carthage in 202 BCE and Iraq in 1991 AD. Arms control and disarmament measures have been pursued and adopted throughout the history and prehistory of human warfare: sometimes as protocols recognizing evolving humanitarian taboos; sometimes as terms imposed by the victors on the vanquished; and sometimes as accords negotiated between rivals fearful of mutual destruction. Arms control measures ramped up in significance and urgency at the dawn of the 20th century by the introduction of rapid-fire weapons, aircraft, chemical agents, and submarines, and again at mid-Trade ReviewThis is a concise, comprehensive, and scholarly work. Burns (emer., history, California State Univ., Los Angeles) traces arms control efforts back to the Punic Wars, and in some cases beyond. The most common types of efforts have been imposed on the vanquished by the victors. However, the Treaty of Versailles established a multilateral body to enforce its terms, the League of Nations, but it was easily subverted. The problems with arms control agreements are trying to distinguish between offensive and defensive weaponry, state sovereignty, technological change, and verification. One of the more interesting parts of the book deals with chemical weapons. Again, the origins go back to antiquity in attempts to control or outlaw such weapons as Greek fire, the poisoning of wells, and other chemical and biological agents. There have been many diplomatic attempts, all of which the author includes, to outlaw such weapons. But, they are still available and used. More successful have been attempts to control nuclear weapons, perhaps because these attempts have largely been bilateral. This is an excellent reference book and should be acquired by academic libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections. * CHOICE *Burns chronicles the progression of arms negotiations, allowing readers to visualize the intricacy of arms control and grasp the difficulties of finding common ground in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Whether the world's diplomatic efforts will be successful remains to be seen. Still, a major contribution. … Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Written for anyone interested in arms control and disarmament issues as well as military history, this book reviews the historic means and techniques for arms control such as demilitarization, regulation of arms manufacturing, stabilizing international environments and the outlawing of war. A section also reviews nuclear weaponry before and after the Cold War and the emergence of biological and bacterial delivery systems. * Reference and Research Book News *Richard Dean Burns’s The Evolution of Arms Control is at once a timely and significant contribution to the literature of the subject, written in plain English by one of America’s leading historian of arms control and disarmament. This thoughtful book will provide both generalists and specialists a better understanding of the multidimensionality of the most important issue of our age. All politicians and their advisers should give this work a careful read as they consider how their policies will enhance or inhibit the development of a more stable, secure world. -- Joseph M. Siracusa, Deputy Dean of Global Studies, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology UniversityWith President Obama and former Secretaries of State George Schultz and Henry Kissinger calling for ‘A World Without Nuclear Weapons,’ arms control is in the news more than in decades. What will happen? With its well-documented facts and chronologies, Richard Dean Burns’s highly readable history of arms control will help the reader navigate the difficult waters of international diplomacy and gain new insight into where the Obama administration may succeed. -- Hon. Philip E. Coyle III, Senior Advisor, World Security Institute; Former Assistant Secretary of DefenseTable of ContentsPreface Introduction Part I. Means and Techniques: A Historical Typology 1. Arms Limitations and/or Reductions 2. Demilitarization, Denuclearization, and Neutralization 3. Regulating Use/Outlawing Weapons and War 4. Customs and the Law of War 6. Stabilizing the International Environment Part II. Comments on Arms Control Processes: Negotiations, Verification, and Compliance 7. Arms Control Negotiations 8. The Verification Process 9. Compliance and Noncompliance 10. Reflections –On Nuclear Weaponry: The Cold War and After Appendix (Chronological listing of treaties and agreements) Notes Glossary Essential Resources Index

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Book Synopsis"A much needed wake-up call that China assumes that it is open season on Americans."—Victor Davis Hanson"There is a Red Storm rising in the East—and America is already under assault from the Chinese Communist Party."—Lou Dobbs“THE EAST IS RISING AND THE WEST IS DECLINING” —Xi Jinping, 2020Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, chairman of the Central Military Commission and the president of the People''s Republic of China,  wants to shape the world in China’s image,  and in his conception of the world there is no place for the United States or even the current international order. Noted China analyst Gordon G. Chang warns that Xi Jinping believes he must destroy America to accomplish his objectives. And that Xi already h

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Book SynopsisBrings together the views of leading thinkers - in science, medicine, international and constitutional law, law enforcement, intelligence, and crisis management - on all diverse aspects of the threat of biological and chemical weapons.

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