Blair's wars

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Weilian Bulumu zhu

"As Madeline Albright once said, 'The United States is good. We try to do our best everywhere'. So - as the first chapter in this book asks - Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States? Some suggest it is envy or ingratitude. Maybe it is simply pure evil? Surely it can have no connection with the 40 foreign governments the US has attempted to overthrow since 1945? Or the crushing of over 30 freedom movements around the world, killing millions and destroying the hope of millions more? This well documented book, updated in response to the unfolding 'War Against Terrorism', tells a more believable story about US imperialism than you will obtain from CNN. "Rogue State" and its author came to sudden international attention when Osama Bin Laden quoted the book publicly in January 2006, propelling the book to the top of the bestseller charts in a matter of hours. This book is a revised and updated version of the edition, Bin Laden referred to in his address."--Publisher's description.

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Henry Trofimenko

The book analyses national interests of Russia as they are indicated by the current policies of the Russian government and formulated in public and not so public discussions in high echelons of government. The author not only sums up and critically reviews those interests in general, but gives detailed analysis of specific interests of Russia in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. A large chapter is devoted to the review of converging and diverging interests of the USA and Russia. The main value of the book is in its philosophical aspect.

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Brian Buckley

"Canada's Early Nuclear Policy fills a longstanding gap in postwar history and political analysis. The decision - unique among pioneer atomic powers - not to acquire a nuclear arsenal ensured that Canada could offer crucial insights into the challenges of the new era. With interdisciplinary acumen Brian Buckley shows how today's paramount issues emerged, tracing Canada's place in the development of the international agenda."--BOOK JACKET.

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Jonathan C. Valdez

In this timely book Jonathan Valdez explores the role of ideology in the maintenance and subsequent collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. He begins by examining how to define ideology, proposing that it should not be viewed as any specific body of thought but as the interpretation of a body of thought for a political purpose. Valdez then looks at how Marxism-Leninism was used to legitimize Soviet influence. He shows how it was interpreted to rationalize policy actions, to communicate Soviet intent and policy desires to East European elites, and to explain change in socialist systems. Valdez argues that the use of the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism to perform various functions ultimately brought about a change in the basic assumptions of the theory itself. This resulted in the abandonment of the previous insistence on a universal model of socialism and of the idea that the international interests of the socialist bloc must take precedence over individual national interest. Soviet influence in Eastern Europe rested on little else than these ideological principles and consequently stood little chance of surviving their re-interpretation. Finally Valdez assesses the re-interpretation of the fundamental principles of Soviet-East European relations by reformist scholars in the Soviet Union, and the response by conservative members of the party apparatus. . By focusing upon both the political debates between the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the political uses of ideology within that relationship, Jonathan Valdez makes an important and innovative contribution to the study of Soviet external relations. Internationalism and the ideology of Soviet influence will be widely read by students and specialists of Soviet and East European studies, international relations and political science.