Agents of the world’s most influential special services, American CIA and British MI16, suddenly show up in a foreign country town. After several months of their intensive activities, the main subject of their concern turns up as well – a very wealthy and suspicious foreigner. The peaceful and measured life of the town sees radical changes...

Transport yourself to a country beyond the boundaries of civilization, where civil war rages and armed gangs rule the streets. This is a place of absolute poverty and despair, where the outermost provincial city lies in ruins, a desolate and barren city that resembles hell itself. On a frosty winter morning, Apollo is forced to leave his home by his wife, wandering the empty streets of the devastated city, cold and hungry. Seeking solace in his memories, Apollo recounts a series of surreal and diverse episodes, including a great love story, scenes of bizarre funerals, and countless unbelievable stories that could only have occurred in this forsaken city. Amidst the harshness of this day, Apollo experiences two strange encounters that will change his life forever. The first is a chance meeting with a dog, also abandoned and alone on the streets, who will ultimately save Apollo from certain death. Apollo names the dog Angel and they embark on a journey together. The second encounter is even more profound, as Apollo meets Esma, a person living on the margins of society, excluded from family and community. Esma’s story of humiliation, life in a totalitarian empire, and years spent in psychiatric facilities leaves a deep and lasting impression on Apollo, causing him to question everything he once believed. This captivating and haunting tale offers a poignant commentary on the human condition and the power of hope in the midst of darkness. Written with exquisite prose and a deep understanding of the human experience, it is a story that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

This appalling true-life prison writing chronicles the events of years spent in Spanish prisons. It highlights the fact that crime is planned in prison and how prison is the villain's jobcentre.This prison writing in the raw is not for the squeamish or politically correct. The anti-Spanish and anti-French sentiment is solely the author's undiluted emotions at the time of writing in his cell.

This innovative collection offers one of the first analyses of criminologies of the military from an interdisciplinary perspective. While some criminologists have examined the military in relation to the area of war crimes, this collection considers a range of other important but less explored aspects such as private military actors, insurgents, paramilitary groups and the role of military forces in tackling transnational crime. Drawing upon insights from criminology, this book's editors also consider the ways the military institution harbours criminal activity within its ranks and deals with prisoners of war. The contributions, by leading experts in the field, have a broad reach and take a truly global approach to the subject.

This fourth edition of Understanding the World Economy will continue to provide the reader with the clearest guide available to the global economic scene. Since the last edition was published in 2006, enormous changes have taken place. The world economy has been in upheaval with the biggest financial crash and ensuing recession since the 1930s; with a global re-ordering of economic power relations; with widespread demonstrations by those left behind; with divergent views about where Europe is heading; with a growing scarcity of essential resources; with increasing international terrorism and with increasing concerns of environmental degradation and climate change. To embrace such urgent issues, this text is an almost entirely rewritten version of earlier editions. Tony Cleaver takes a long look at the evolution of market systems and how they have liberated peoples on one side of the globe and yet driven others into debt, depression and despair. He analyses causes and consequences, and discusses (and sometimes dismisses) economic theories. Topics covered include: Why crashes occur What causes some countries to grow and others to stagnate Whether the Euro can survive The economic underpinnings of terrorism The dangers of climate change This book takes the student through the major characteristics of the global economy in jargon-free non-technical language. Chapter summary diagrams and a wealth of boxes and tables make this an essential introduction for undergraduates and A-level students, as well as the casual reader.

Postcolonial theory is one of the main frameworks for thinking about the world and acting to change the world. Arising in academia and reshaping humanities and social sciences disciplines, postcolonial theory argues that our ideas about foreigners, ‘the other,’ particularly our negative ideas about them, are determined not by a true will to understand, but rather by our desire to conquer, dominate, and exploit them. According to postcolonial theory, the cause of poverty, tyranny, and misery in the world, and of failed societies around the world, is Euro-American imperialism and colonialism. Previously published as a special issue of Israel Affairs, this work examines and challenges postcolonial theory. In scholarly, research-based papers, the specialist authors examine various facets of postcolonial theory and application. First, the theoretical assumption and formulations of postcolonial theory are scrutinized and found dubious. Second, the deleterious impact on academic disciplines of postcolonial theory is demonstrated. Third, the distorted postcolonial view of history, its obsession with current events to the exclusion of the historical basis of events, is exposed and corrected. Fourth, an examination of Middle Eastern culture challenges the assumption that these societies have been shaped entirely, and victimized, by Western intrusion. Finally, exploring the Arab-Israel conflict, the one-sided case of postcolonial Arabism is explored and found to be faulty.

Osama bin Laden is dead but al-Qa'ida remains the CIA's 'number one threat'. With branches in strategic hotspots from Yemen and Somalia to North Africa and an increasing influence among 'home grown jihadis' in the West, journalist and al-Qa'ida expert Abdel Bari Atwan investigates how the organisation has survived all attempts to destroy it. Al-Qa'ida after bin Laden has expanded its reach by cementing new alliances and exploiting the opportunities regional turmoil affords. The Arab Spring has opened new battlegrounds for jihadists, particularly in Libya, the Sahel, Syria and Egypt. As the extremist zeal for a global caliphate shows no sign of abating, Atwan profiles the next generation of foot soldiers and leaders and explores the new methods they embrace in the pursuit of jihad in a digital age.

This book scrutinizes how contemporary practices of security have come to rely on many different translations of security, risk, and danger. Institutions of national security policies are currently undergoing radical conceptual and organisational changes, and this book presents a novel approach for how to study and politically address the new situation. Complex and uncertain threat environments, such as terrorism, climate change, and the global financial crisis, have paved the way for new forms of security governance that have profoundly transformed the ways in which threats are handled today. Crucially, there is a decentralisation of the management of security, which is increasingly handled by a broad set of societal actors that previously were not considered powerful in the conduct of security affairs. This transformation of security knowledge and management changes the meaning of traditional concepts and practices, and calls for investigation into the many meanings of security implied when contemporary societies manage radical dangers, risks, and threats. It is necessary to study both what these meanings are and how they developed from the security practices of the past. Addressing this knowledge gap, the book asks how different ideas about threats, risk, and dangers meet in the current practices of security, broadly understood, and with what political consequences. This book will be of interest to students of critical security studies, anthropology, risk studies, science and technology studies and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at: https://www.routledge.com/Translations-of-Security-A-Framework-for-the-Study-of-Unwanted-Futures/Berling-Gad-Petersen-Waever/p/book/9781032007090 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

In recent years, Australian literature has experienced a revival of interest both domestically and internationally. The increasing prominence of work by writers like Christos Tsiolkas, heightened through television and film adaptation, as well as the award of major international prizes to writers like Richard Flanagan, and the development of new, high-profile prizes like the Stella Prize, have all reinvigorated interest in Australian literature both at home and abroad. This Companion emerges as a part of that reinvigoration, considering anew the history and development of Australian literature and its key themes, as well as tracing the transition of the field through those critical debates. It considers works of Australian literature on their own terms, as well as positioning them in their critical and historical context and their ethical and interactive position in the public and private spheres. With an emphasis on literature’s responsibilities, this book claims Australian literary studies as a field uniquely positioned to expose the ways in which literature engages with, produces and is produced by its context, provoking a critical re-evaluation of the concept of the relationship between national literatures, cultures, and histories, and the social function of literary texts.

Through years of Taliban oppression, during the US-led invasion and the current insurgency, women in Afghanistan have played a hugely symbolic role. This book looks at how women have fought repression and challenged stereotypes, both within Afghanistan and in diasporas in Iran, Pakistan, the US and the UK. Looking at issues from violence under the Taliban and the impact of 9/11 to the role of NGOs and the growth in the opium economy, Rostami-Povey gets behind the media hype and presents a vibrant and diverse picture of these women's lives. The future of women's rights in Afghanistan, she argues, depends not only on overcoming local male domination, but also on challenging imperial domination and blurring the growing divide between the West and the Muslim world. Ultimately, these global dynamics may pose a greater threat to the freedom and autonomy of women in Afghanistan and throughout the world.