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Book SynopsisWe are constantly being told that globalisation is good for the economy and good for us, but it’s actually the opposite, argues bestselling author Jeff Rubin in this provocative, timely book. In the pre-coronavirus world, governments and economists bragged that GDP was growing and unemployment was down. But even then, real wages had been stagnant for decades, union membership had collapsed, and full-time employment no longer guaranteed you could pay the bills. When we emerge from the virus, it would be nice to think that living in a country that’s getting richer means that you’re getting richer too, but that’s not the way it works anymore. Falling tariffs, low interest rates, global deregulation, and tax policies that benefit only the rich have all had the same effect: the erosion of the ‘expendable’ middle class. The result, growing global inequality, is a problem of our own making. And solving it won’t be easy if we draw on the same ideas about capital and labour, right and left, that led us to this cliff. Articulating a vision that, remarkably, dovetails with the ideas of both Naomi Klein and Donald Trump, The Expendables is an exhilaratingly fresh perspective that is at once humane and irascible, fearless and rigorous. Trade Review‘A forensic study of globalisation … rigorous.’ -- David Kernek * Irish Examiner *‘[A] snappily written work.’ -- Fiona Capp * The Age *‘Rubin … leverages his firm grasp of geopolitics and economics to offer not only a primer on macroeconomics, but also on how globalisation — that is, the process of opening up international markets — has routed the middle class and propped up the elite.’ * Winnipeg Free Press *‘The latest from the author of Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller continues his disruptive ways in this analysis of how the collapse of union membership and the near obsolescence of full-time employment is squeezing out the middle class … [Rubin] is a fiercely independent thinker.’ * NOW *Praise for Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: ‘Rubin’s argument is powerful.’ —Newsweek ‘One of the year’s best.’—Financial TimesPraise for The Big Flatline: ‘[Rubin] states unequivocally that the reason economists and politicians have failed to reverse the current recession is that they are relying on outmoded world views … Clearly written and smartly argued.’ * Kirkus Reviews *Praise for The Carbon Bubble: ‘Jeff Rubin at his finest. Thought-provoking. Meticulously researched. Intelligent without pretension. I highly, highly recommend it!’ -- Michael Hlinka * CBC Radio *

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Book SynopsisA timely, provocative exposé of America’s political and business leadership’s deep ties to China: a network of people who believe they are doing the right thing — at a profound and often hidden cost to American and Western interests. The past few years have seen a shift in the relations between China and the United States, from enthusiastic economic partners, to wary frenemies, to open rivals. Americans have been slow to wake up to the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party. Why did this happen? And what can be done about it? In America Second, Isaac Stone Fish traces the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in America. He shows how America’s leaders initially welcomed China’s entry into the US economy, believing that trade and engagement would lead to a more democratic China. And he explains how — despite the fact that this belief has proved misguided — many of the country’s businesspeople and politicians have become too dependent on China to challenge it. America Second exposes a deep web of Chinese influence in America, built quietly over the years through prominent figures such as former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Disney chairman Bob Iger, and members of the Bush political dynasty. And it shows how to fight that influence — without being paranoid, xenophobic, or racist. This is an authoritative and important story, not only of corruption but of misplaced intentions, with serious implications for the future of the United States, as well as for the world at large.Trade Review‘Isaac Stone Fish’s candour and self-reflection drives his cautionary tale about the perils of self-censorship, rationalisation, and accommodation. He has built a powerful case against sacrificing the truth in pursuit of success in China.’ -- Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition‘This fascinating book concludes that the best lobbyists for the Chinese Communist Party in the US have not been its propagandists, or even PR agents hired to do its bidding, but self-justifying American businessmen drawn to China by the promise of its vast markets. What’s most troubling is that, given the thoroughness of Stone Fish’s research, it’s not easy to argue with his conclusion.’ -- Orville Schell, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society‘Fish’s book … raises the very important topic of why we continue to trust many of America’s grandest foreign policy figures (people like Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright) on China, when they and many others have been paid rich salaries by the Party (or companies associated with it) for consulting work in their private lives. It’s a thorny and important question, tackled in a non-xenophobic way by a veteran foreign correspondent in China.’ -- Rana Foroohar * Financial Times *‘Here is what the movers, shakers, and China “experts” (and Henry Kissinger) would rather you not know about their backs and forths with the Communist Party of China over the past fifty years. America second? Quite. And what is first? Principle, truth, and empathy or hypocrisy, manoeuvre, and greed? No book shows the answer more clearly.’ -- Perry Link, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Princeton University‘The lures of money and access have turned US political and business leaders into covert supporters of Chinese interests, according to this stinging exposé … Written in tart prose that pulls no punches, Fish’s persuasive investigation reveals a morass of corruption and sycophancy that has worrisome geopolitical implications. Readers will be alarmed.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Stone Fish delivers a scorching denunciation of US leaders who serve Chinese interests … Whether in academia or business, China has exerted so much influence, Stone Fish concludes, that American elites exercise strict self-censorship when it comes to criticising China — a dictator’s dream, if an exercise in self-serving cowardice. An eye-opening look at the behind-the-scenes sway China holds over so much of the US economy.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Fish … lays out a damning narrative of how American corporations, sports leagues, universities, media, politicians, and diplomats, among others — citing names and incidents — have kowtowed to the Communist Party to protect their own interests while vainly, perhaps cynically, expressing the hope that, in the process, China might somehow democratise … Fish ends with a strong pushback against the demonisation of Chinese Americans, and of mainland Chinese; his beef here is always with the Communist Party.’ * Booklist *‘Fish here digs deeply into the ties between China and US political and business leadership. His argument: these leaders applauded when China expanded into the global market, seeing it as a democratising force within that country, then became so entrenched in that belief — and in the connections they have built in China — that they have not stood up to China on key political, social, and human rights issues. That may now be changing.’ -- Barbara Hoffert * Library Journal *‘A tale of corruption, cultural misunderstanding, and ultimately, a warning unfolds in this comprehensive exposé.’ * Happy Mag *

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Book SynopsisAs the plight of refugees around the world looms large as one of the central problems facing the international political community at the beginning of the 21st century, the situations facing displaced persons in Africa are both acute manifestations of this global trend, and unique in their particularities.As the powerful nations of the world are mobilised to tackle domestic conflicts and their ensuing refugee problems in the Balkans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, African societies have typically been abandoned by the international community to resolving their own conflicts through their own means. The authors of this volume examine both causes and effects of displacement in terms of both local and global politics, environmental risks, socio-economic costs, and policy and identity issues. Combined, these papers provide a powerful if not comprehensive overview of the variety and complexity of circumstances concerning displaced persons.

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Book SynopsisThroughout twenty-seven years of military occupation, US public affairs activities aimed to persuade the local Okinawan public that the US administration of Okinawa should be maintained. The US maintains military bases around the globe while advocating democratic ideals, including freedom of the press. Yet, while declaring the occupation of Okinawa necessary for the defence of democracy, the US military administration vigorously repressed freedoms of speech, assembly, the media, and self-determination. This landmark study explores and uncovers the labyrinthine manipulations and mechanisms established to continue to defend the hard deployment of military forces through the soft power techniques of public relations.This research, first published in Japanese, received the 43rd Iha Fuyu Okinawa Study Award.Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I: Congressional Oversight in Foreign Lands 1 Congressional Oversight 2 Civil Affairs: From Military Government to Public Affairs 3 U.S. Occupation Policy Defined in JCS 1231 4 United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands, Wartime Directive Revived 5 Quest for Legitimacy: Army-Congressional Relations Part II: U.S. Foreign Information Policy for Okinawa 6 U.S. Foreign Information Policy 7 Civil Information and Education Programs 1945-1957 8 Public Affairs Department, USCAR: 1957-1972 9 U.S.?Japan's Operation Friendship Conclusion Appendix Notes Bibliography Name Index Policy Index Subject Index

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Book Synopsis“The ideas which go to form a nation, as opposed to a mere crowd of human animals have usually been accepted under the pressure of a common tribulation, and under a common necessity of resistance to external force.” —Sir Halford Mackinder at the Royal Geographical Society, 1904The Geographical Pivot of History was a paper submitted by Sir Halford John Mackinder in 1904 to the Royal Geographical Society in London. Mackinder had won earlier attention with his concept of geography as a bridge between the natural sciences and the humanities. In this paper, Mackinder  advanced his so-called Heartland Theory, whereby the interior Asia and eastern Europe (“the Heartland”) had become the strategic center of the world as a result of the relative decline of sea power against land power and of the economic and industrial development of southern Siberia.Mackinder’s Heartland Theory has been considered the founding moment of geopolitics, the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. Mackinder’s theories are further described in his book, Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919), also from Cosimo Classics.

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