“We may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.” -- ROBERT OPPENHEIMER Scorpion King: America’s Suicidal Embrace of Nuclear Weapons from FDR to Trump is a history of America’s corrosive affair with nuclear weapons, and the failed efforts to curb this radioactive ardor through arms control. The book’s title refers to the allusion by Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the American atomic bomb, to dueling scorpions when discussing the deadly nuclear rivalry between the US and Soviet Union, and signals the dangers inherent in the resumption of the perilous US drive for nuclear supremacy. Providing a vivid and gripping A-Z history of America’s deceptive use of arms control as a means of actually furthering its quest for nuclear dominance, Ritter sheds light on a contradictory US agenda little understood by the lay reader, while providing sufficient detail and context to engage the specialist. Originally published by Nation Books in 2010 under the title Dangerous Ground, this new version has been streamlined and significantly expanded to account for the failed arms control policies of the Obama administration, and the rejection of arms control as a policy during the first term of the Trump administration. The Trump administration has pulled out of one landmark arms control treaty, the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, and is threatening to let another, the 2010 New START treaty, expire. The terrifying Cuban missile crisis of 1962 demonstrated the apocalyptic folly of nuclear arsenals operating without limitation, and led to reciprocal constraints that moderated the nuclear ambitions of both the US and Soviet Union Those constraints, for the most part, no longer exist. The next missile crisis could prove terminal for humanity. Scorpion King is a book that can, and should, occupy the shelves of academic libraries, diplomats and military professionals, as well as make the reading lists of concerned citizens, given the dangerous state of US and Russian relations, now hovering on the cusp of a new and increasingly hazardous nuclear arms race. It provides a road map showing how we collectively returned to the nuclear cliff edge, and shines light on the possibility of an exit from a seemingly endless dark tunnel. Providing context for the forthcoming 2020 Review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Scorpion King is must reading for an imperilled world.
Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika is the definitive history of the implementation of the INF Treaty signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in all its complexities, and the lengths both sides went to “trust, but verify” this successful and unique historic disarmament process. It demonstrates how two nations fundamentally at odds with one another could come together and rid the world of weapons which threatened international peace and security and, indeed, all of humanity. Those engaged were pioneers in what was to be the new frontier of superpower arms control—on-site inspection—that would define compliance verification for future treaties and agreements to come. Their work represents not just a guide to but the standard upon which all future on-site inspections will be based and judged. Ritter traces in great detail the formation of the On-Site Inspection Agency, who was involved, and how a technologically advanced compliance verification system was installed outside the gates of one of the most sensitive military industrial facilities in the remote Soviet city of Votkinsk, nestled in the foothills of the Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. He draws upon his own personal history— occasionally hilarious, occasionally fraught with peril— as well as the recollections of the other inspectors and personnel involved, and an extensive archive of reports and memoranda relating to the work of OSIA to tell the story of how OSIA was created, and the first three years of inspection operations at the Votkinsk portal monitoring facility. The Votkinsk Portal, circa December 1988, was the wild, wild East of arms control, a place where the inspectors and inspected alike were writing the rules of the game as it played out before them. This treaty implementation did not occur in a geopolitical vacuum. Ritter captures, on a human level, the historic changes taking place inside the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev due to the new policies of perestroika and glasnost that gripped the Soviet Union during this time, and their real and meaningful impact on the lives of the Soviet people, and the economic functioning of the Soviet nation. Much of it was for the worse. The INF treaty was not only born of these new policies, but also helped trigger meaningful changes inside the Soviet Union due to the economic and political implications brought on by the cessation of missile production in a factory town whose lifeblood was missile production.
The Iran nuclear deal was a crowning moment of international diplomacy, allowing the world to step away from the edge of a self-created abyss. Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from this agreement threatens to return the world to that precipice. Dealbreaker recounts how this deal was made, why it was broken, and what the consequences of that action could be. When the United States made the decision in the 1980s to deny Iran access to nuclear technology, Iran was forced to turn to the black market to get the material, technology and know-how required to meet its need for nuclear power generation, inclusive of the ability to indigenously produce nuclear fuel. The revelation of Iran’s secret nuclear program in 2002 set in motion a battle of wills between the Iranians, who viewed nuclear power as their inherent right, and the rest of the world, who feared the proliferation implications of allowing Iran access to technology that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. The United States and its ally, Israel, pulled no punches, using diplomatic pressure to impose crippling economic sanctions, and covert activities to sow disinformation, sabotage equipment and murder Iranian nuclear scientists in an effort to stop the Iranian nuclear program from going forward. Iran prevailed, confronting the United States with the choice of either going to war, or accepting the reality of an Iranian nuclear program. The Iranian nuclear deal was the result. But the deal had an Achilles heel—the disinformation campaign waged by the United States and Israel to paint the Iranian program as military in nature left a residue of uncertainty and fear that the detractors of the deal used to attack it as little more than a sham. Donald Trump decried the Iranian nuclear deal as a “failed agreement” and promised to tear it up if he were elected President. Trump prevailed in the election, and ended up being as good as his word, pulling America out of the Iranian nuclear deal on May 12, 2018. Dealbreaker explores the nuances of the Iranian nuclear program, exposing the duplicity and hypocrisy of American diplomacy, supported by Israel and abetted by Europe, that led to the need for the Iranian nuclear deal and eventually caused the demise of an agreement that was simultaneously “the deal of the century” and fatally flawed.
Scott Ritter is the straight-talking former marine officer who the CIA wants to silence. After the 1991 Gulf War, Ritter helped lead the UN weapons inspections of Iraq, and found himself at the center of a dangerous game between the Iraqi and United States regimes. As Ritter reveals in this explosive book, Washington was only interested in disarmament as a tool for its own agenda. Operating in a fog of espionage and counter-espionage, Ritter and his team were determined to find out the truth about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The CIA was equally determined to stop them. For the truth, we now know, is that Iraq was playing a deadly bluffing game, and actually had no WMD. But to have revealed this would have derailed America's drive for regime change. "Iraq Confidential" charts the disillusionment of a staunch patriot who came to realize that his own government sought to undermine effective arms control in the Middle East. Ritter shows us a world of deceit and betrayal, in which nothing is as it seems. A host of characters from Mossad, MI6 and the CIA pepper this powerful narrative, which contains revelations that will permanently affect the ongoing debates about Iraq.
In Dangerous Ground, Scott Ritter, one of the world's leading experts on arms control, tells a bold and revisionist account of the inseparable histories of the post-World War II American presidency and nuclear weapons. Unpacking sixty years of nuclear history, Ritter shows that nuclear weapons have become such a fixture that they define present-day America on economic, military, political, and moral grounds. And despite fears of global nuclear proliferation, the greatest threat to international stability, Ritter argues, is the US's addiction to nuclear weapons. Even in light of Barack Obama's historic speech in April 2009—which called for the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons— America continues to guard a significant and dangerous nuclear stockpile. The notion that we are more secure with nuclear weapons is deeply entrenched in the American psyche—and virulently protected by forces in the US establishment. As long as this paradigm persists, Ritter suggests, there will be no fundamental US policy change, and as such, no change in global nuclear proliferation.
As the United States heads toward confrontation with Iraq, former U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter updates his book about his experiences in Iraq to explain why he believes Saddam Hussein does not pose a threat to the U.S. and why we should not invade Iraq.
Scott Ritter is the straight-talking former marine officer who the CIA wants to silence. After the 1991 Gulf War, Ritter helped lead the UN weapons inspections of Iraq, and found himself at the center of a dangerous game between the Iraqi and United States regimes. As Ritter reveals in this explosive book, Washington was only interested in disarmament as a tool for its own agenda. Operating in a fog of espionage and counter-espionage, Ritter and his team were determined to find out the truth about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The CIA was equally determined to stop them. For the truth, we now know, is that Iraq was playing a deadly bluffing game, and actually had no WMD. But to have revealed this would have derailed America's drive for regime change. Iraq Confidential charts the disillusionment of a staunch patriot who came to realize that his own government sought to undermine effective arms control in the Middle East. Ritter shows us a world of deceit and betrayal, in which nothing is as it seems. A host of characters from Mossad, MI6 and the CIA pepper this powerful narrative, which contains revelations that will permanently affect the ongoing debates about Iraq.
The definitive debunking of the arguments for a war on Iraq - by the former weapons inspector who is currently a major voice throughout the international media and knows from the inside what the risks really are - both of not going to war and going to war. During the seven years that UN weapons inspections took place in Iraq (until they were banned in 1998), Scott Ritter and other inspectors confirmed that Saddam Hussein's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programme had effectively been destroyed. This undermines Bush and Blair's premise for waging war on Iraq. If the weapons aren't there what is the war about? Ritter and Pitt explore the White House (and No. 10 Downing Street's) premises for war, and show the complete lack of any plausible link between Hussein and al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden, like Bush, has also called for the death of Saddam Hussein. Ritter and Pitt show why a forced 'regime change' is absurd and won't lead to democracy in a nation divided for centuries. And they have a bleak forecast of the possible consequences for American and British troops if there is a ground war.
In Dangerous Ground, Scott Ritter, one of the world's leading experts on arms control, tells a bold and revisionist account of the inseparable histories of the post-World War II American presidency and nuclear weapons. Unpacking sixty years of nuclear history, Ritter shows that nuclear weapons have become such a fixture that they define present-day America on economic, military, political, and moral grounds. And despite fears of global nuclear proliferation, the greatest threat to international stability, Ritter argues, is the US's addiction to nuclear weapons. Even in light of Barack Obama's historic speech in April 2009 - which called for the eventual abolition of nuclear weapons - America continues to guard a significant and dangerous nuclear stockpile. The notion that we are more secure with nuclear weapons is deeply entrenched in the American psyche - and virulently protected by forces in the US establishment. As long as this paradigm persists, Ritter suggests, there will be no fundamental US policy change, and as such, no change in global nuclear proliferation.
Historical geology courses require clear, practical examinations of pertinent concepts and procedures. The authors of Interpreting Earth History provide full-color, stand-alone exercises that identify and augment the critical features that make the identification of geologic formations possible. The Ninth Edition continues a legacy of exceptional coverage, providing the flexibility and scope necessary to engage students with geological data from a variety of sources and scales to explain geological patterns. Students will become more proficient in their ability to see and recognize geological patterns as well as the compositional and textural attributes of rocks and fossils. This classroom-tested laboratory manual has been updated and now includes an exercise that addresses the concept of climate change from the perspective of deep time.
The Eighth Edition of Interpreting Earth History continues a legacy of authoritative coverage, providing the flexibility and scope necessary to engage students with geological data from a variety of sources and scales. The authors carefully review the subjects covered in current historical geology courses and have tailored each stand-alone assignment to offer a clear, straightforward examination of pertinent topics. The content of this classroom-tested laboratory manual has been expanded and enhanced to include exercises on the Precambrian history of the Canadian Shield as well as an understanding of the stratigraphic, structural, and depositional history of North America during the Phanerozoic Eon. Now in full color, students will become more proficient in their ability to see and recognize geological patterns as well as the compositional and textural attributes of rocks and fossils.
If they held a contest to see who was the most bullied kid in the school, James could take home the trophy. Every day, the kids at school call him names, taunt him and often beat him up - usually because of whatever strange thing his weird Aunt Matty (who he lives with) has done lately. Things look up for a few days when a new boy and his family move in next door, but his bliss is short lived as even stranger-than-normal events begin to take place at his house: Like strange voices and eerie nighttime intruders. Just when it seems like he might break, a wizard calls on James in the middle of the night, telling him of his late father's unfinished business and insisting that he come with him to a land full of magic, strange creatures and dragons to finish where his father left off. There are only two problems: He can't get to this land, and his father may have been killed for his involvement with these people. That complicates things, because our world has been scheduled for elimination - and only James possesses the ability to stop that from happening. Can James become the leader that the father-he-never-knew had been, and stop the world from coming to an abrupt end, or will he decide that humanity isn't worth the bother?
Are there any human rights that apply to all women and all men in all cultures at all times? Can we ground human rights in an abstract rationality possessed by every human being? Or, as some philosophers have claimed, are attempts to ground human rights doomed to failure? Do human rights in any case need such grounding? "On Human Rights, " the second book in the Oxford Amnesty Lecture Series, presents the opinions of seven distinguished contributors who approach the problem of universal human rights from a variety of perspectives using a wealth of contemporary and historical material. The essays make a significant contribution to the theory and practice of human rights . They grapple with the hard questions that confront anyone concerned with responding appropriately to the numerous violations of human rights that surround us.
The knights haven't gone away." That's what Knightsbridge had said. "We don't walk around in suits of armor anymore, and you'd never know us from any other person you meet on the street, but we are there."James - a boy who was orphaned at a young age with little knowledge of his family, has recently discovered that he is supposed to be one of the knights who watch over our world and secretly help mankind. But being the most bullied kid in his school, James seems to be an unlikely candidate to fill the position that his family has held with the knights for a thousand years. He's also had some trouble getting to the Realm - the secret and magical world full of wizards, dragons and strange creatures where these knights meet. That's why the head wizard had made his membership in the Knights Council conditional: Either he finishes his first year studies near the top of his class - with studies in jousting, quests, Tae Kwon Do and adventuring - or he forfeits the centuries-old family seat.At first, that challenge made little difference to James. He had no intention of joining these 'knights,' but now that he's had a taste of adventure, flying with dragons and exploring caves and deserts - there's no way he's letting his position slip away. 'Enigmatic cavern' picks up right where 'The Skirik's Lair' left off: with the world scheduled for destruction in a few years time! Now it's up to James, Nassir and Katrina to start fitting pieces of the world's greatest mystery together, and find their way to a place that might not even exist, on the most dangerous island in the world. They will need to hit the ground running as they race to make up lost time and face incredible challenges if they want to save James' family position - and their lives!
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