by R.T. Naylor (2001)
Six years ago, American Lori Berenson was conducting a research project in Peru when the government detained her for high treason. Her inexplicable arrest marked the beginning of a nightmare for the Berenson family that continues today. Declaimed by then President Alberto Fujimori as a threat to national security, Lori was charged as a leader of the Peruvian terrorist group Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA) and tried without due process by hooded military officials. This anonymous tribunal broke four international treaties on legal rights, and even its national constitution, in order to convict Lori-a conviction protested by human rights organizations-and sentence her to life without the possibility of parole. Isolated in a Draconian mountaintop prison with no heat, electricity, or running water and less food than could sustain her, Lori's health swiftly deteriorated. As told by her mother, this is a journal of Lori's harrowing plight and of Rhoda and Mark Berenson's quest to free their daughter. Both parents gave up promising academic careers to lobby full-time for Lori's release, and Rhoda Berenson vividly records the grueling experiences and emotional roller coaster of their several years struggle. She describes the family's unwavering dedication, the anger, the sadness, and the behind-the-scenes negotiations with politicians. Her gripping account, combined with excerpts from Lori's letters, gives the reader an inside view into a world of sensitive politics, military courts, torture, corrupt prison commandants, terrorist insurgency, and police reprisals. The dramatic ordeal of this courageous family sheds harsh light on human rights injustices and offers a moving testament to both a family's love and to its strength of spirit and character.
John T. Rourke
This concise text provides students and instructors with a comprehensive overview of world politics, inviting them in a straightforward and accessible way to explore international relations and its new challenges.
John Baylis, Steve Smith, Patricia Owens
Now in its fifth edition, this title has been fully revised and updated in the light of recent developments in world politics, with new chapters on the changing nature of war, human security, and international ethics.
Svetlana Satchkova
"In this gripping tale of contemporary Russia, a young filmmaker and her friends run afoul of a government that ruthlessly oppresses artists who dare to satirize the regime ... When Maya, a young Russian filmmaker, makes a low-budget horror movie with her friends, it seems like a promising start to a career in indie film. Little does she know that her jokey lo-fi satire will soon attract the attention of the autocratic censors at the highest levels of the Russian police state. What follows is a propulsive narrative of an artist being crushed by state power, and the choices that one makes within a system where free expression is literally illegal. Written with the undeniable voice of a emigre from Putin's Russia, The Undead is a tense, piercing story that serves as a parable, and a warning, about political oppression"--
Khair el-Din Haseeb
"Relations between the Arab world and Iran have rarely left the headlines in the last few years, and remain a vital component of international relations in the Middle East. From early disputes over border issues to the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, and from later antagonisms between Iran and Saudi Arabia to the current negotiations concerning nuclear weaponry, Syria and other factors, Arab-Iranian relations often hold the key to understanding the conflicts that occur throughout the region. But far from concluding that Arabs and Iranians are inevitably trapped in an antagonistic, and often violent, confrontation, this book instead looks also to examples of and prospects for co-operation and development. Through analysis of a variety of aspects which influence Arab-Iranian relations, such as economic ties, public perception of the relationship, gender dimensions and education, this book offers a comprehensive examination of a vital component of international relations and diplomacy in the Middle East."--Bloomsbury Publishing.