Geopolitik

A study of war in Ukraine in the context of Western hostility to Russia.

This edited book takes a critical look at the geopolitics of the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It scrutinizes some of the perennial issues shaping the regional security agenda, as well as the emerging geopolitical trends in the wake of a decade of turmoil triggered by the demands for political and economic reforms. The contributors explore the geopolitical implications of the structural transformation process in the MENA region and beyond, which has unleashed destabilizing forces and multifaceted conflicts, with the involvement of many local, regional and global actors. They also look at how some of the regional actors have reacted to the risks and security challenges produced by the wave of instability and conflicts, and conducted their foreign policy in this volatile period of fluid alliances. Other contributors explore the roles and perspectives of major extra-regional actors, delving deeper into how they have adjusted their policies towards the emergence of a new order and reshuffling of alignments. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of politics, international relations, and political geography. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

Numerous books on the topic of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been published hitherto. Yet, no one has written about the fire and atomic bombings in the context of the U.S. justification of the crime of indiscriminate bombings and its relationship to Japan¿s political exploitation of the atomic bombing to cover up Hirohitös war responsibility. Further, no one has analyzed the fundamental contradiction in Japan¿s peace constitution between the concealment of Hirohitös war crimes and the responsibility of the U.S. Readers will learn how Japanese and U.S. official war memories were crafted to justify their respective wartime performances, exposing the flaws and failing of present-day democracy in Japan and the U.S. This book also explores how Japanese people could potentially create a truly powerful cultural memory of war, utilizing various forms of artwork including Japan¿s traditional performing art, Noh. It should appeal to many readers¿historians (both modern American and Japanese history specialists), constitutional scholars, students, peace and anti-nuclear activists, intellectuals as well as general readers.¿Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka presents here his life work on the grand subjects of Japanese war responsibility, the US-Japan relationship, US and Japanese war crimes and the emperor system. Matching meticulous archival research with personal and political advocacy, he concludes by calling upon Japanese and American civil society to confront the present-day Japanese state and inter-state system as a fundamentally flawed, seven-decade long design of obfuscation, concealment, and manipulation. It is also, he argues, increasingly precarious. Tanakäs radical, wide-ranging thesis deserves to be read.¿¿Gavan McCormack, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University¿This fascinating book caps decades of careful thinking about why nominally democratic Japan seems so undemocratic and so trapped in self-destructive foreign policies today. The author zeros in on postwar Japanese and American government collaborations to explain this phenomenon, including joint evasion of responsibility for bombing civilians during World War II, when, ironically, they themselves were bitter enemies. This is a genuinely thought-provoking contribution with many arresting observations based on little-known research about such topics as the emperor¿s place in the postwar Japanese political system, the 1945 surrender decision, Japan¿s history of empire, and the politics of nuclear weapons in postwar Japan.¿¿Laura Hein, the Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of History, Northwestern University, USA

Terrorism usually is a consquence of geopolitical decisions. Therefore, this book chooses a historical approach: it shows the most important terrorist attacks and their contexts. After all, terrorism is ultimately not a string of disconnected events; rather follows a line of development that this book seeks to trace in a chronicle.

From a pioneering perspective, the book contributes to the state-of-the-art contemporary Geopolitics by bringing together Amazonia and Antarctica in a single interdisciplinary volume. Three key issues are 1) the interconnectedness between these vital regions, 2) non-linearity, because they may lead to unpredictable effects on the Earth system, and; 3) emergence, which means the varied interactions between Amazonia and Antarctica may lead to unique results.

Europa kann sich nicht darauf verlassen, dass die Weltgemeinschaft den Klimawandel aufhält. Wir müssen unser Schicksal selbst in die Hand nehmen und in Maßnahmen zur vorausschauenden Anpassung an die unvermeidliche Erwärmung der Erde investieren. Das Buch skizziert Elemente einer realistischen und klugen Klimapolitik.

Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has reshaped history. In the decades after the collapse of Soviet communism, the West convinced itself that liberal democracy would henceforth be the dominant, ultimately unique, system of governance. An outburst of Western triumphalism proclaimed a US-led unipolar world entitled to 'impose democracy' on countries that failed to recognise the new order. Politicians foretold the universalisation of Western values as the final, enduring form of human society, a hubris that shaped how the West would treat Russia for the next two decades. But history wasn't over. Subsequent events proved it is unwise to make predictions, especially about the future. In February 2022, Vladimir Putin took great delight in proving it. Putin is a paradox. In the early years of his presidency, he appeared to commit himself to friendship with the West, suggesting that Russia could join the European Union or even NATO. He said he supported free-market democracy and civil rights. But the Putin of those years is unrecognisable today. The Putin of the 2020s is an autocratic nationalist, dedicated to repression at home and anti-Western militarism abroad. So, what happened? Was he lying when he proclaimed his support for freedom, democracy and friendship with the West? Or, was he sincere? Did he change his views at some stage between then and now? And if that is the case, what happened to change him?Putin and the Return of History examines these questions in the context of Russia's thousand-year past, tracing the forces and the myths that have shaped Putin's politics of aggression: the enduring terror of encirclement by outsiders, the subjugation of the individual to the cause of the state, the collectivist values that allow the sacrifice of human lives in battle, the willingness to lie and deceive, the co-opting of religion and the belief in Great Russia's mission to change the world.

The Pacific Islands confront unique problems of governance in this era of globalisation. The modern, democratic state often fits awkwardly with traditional ways of doing politics in that part of the world. Just as often, politicians in the Pacific exploit tradition or invent it to serve modern political purposes.

Kristin Surak offers the first on-the-ground investigation of the global market in citizenship for the rich. She tracks the countries that sell citizenship, the elites who buy it, and the intermediaries who make the market, revealing how citizenship by investment became a popular option that now accounts for over 50,000 naturalizations annually.

Drawing on confidential sources in Mossad, Israel's equivalent to our CIA, Bob and Evyatar, reporters for The Jerusalem Post, tell the remarkable story behind the most stunning development in the Middle East in recent years: the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. They show how Israel used sabotage, assassination, cyberwar -- and diplomacy -- to forge a new Middle East, uniting Israel with Sunni Arab nations in a determined, and so far successful, effort to delay Iran's development of a nuclear weapon.

Over the last two decades, China has emerged as one of the most powerful state actors in the post-Cold War international system. This book provides a multifaceted and spatially oriented analysis of how China's re-emergence as a global power impacts the dominance of the United States as well as domestic state and non-state actors in various world-regions, including the Asia-Pacific, Africa, South America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and the Arctic. Chapters reflect on how and under which conditions competition (and cooperation) between the United States and China vary across these regions and what such variations mean for the prospects of war and peace, universal human dignity and global cooperation.

"In America's New Map: Restoring Global Leadership in an Era of Climate Change and Demographic Collapse, Thomas P.M. Barnett, bestselling author of The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century and acclaimed geo-strategist, offers seven throughlines to frame and redefine the ambitions and posture of these United States, setting our Union on a bold-but-entirely-familiar national trajectory"--

The incredible story of a breathtaking rescue in the frenzied final hours of the US evacuation of Afghanistan - and how a brave Afghan mother and a compassionate American officer engineered a daring escape. When the US began its withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Afghan army instantly collapsed, Homeira Qaderi was marked for death at the hands of the Taliban. A celebrated author, academic, and champion for women's liberation, Homeira had achieved celebrity in her home country by winning custody of her son in a contentious divorce, a rarity in Afghanistan's patriarchal society. Despite her fierce determination to stay in her homeland, it finally became clear to Homeira that escaping was the only way she and her family would survive. However, like so many, she was mired in the chaos that ensued at Kabul Airport, struggling to get on a plane with her eight-year-old son, Siawash, along with her parents and the rest of their family.  Meanwhile, a young US foreign service officer, Sam Aronson, who had volunteered to help rescue the more than 100,000 Americans and their Afghan helpers stranded in Kabul, learned that the CIA had established a secret entrance into Kabul Airport two miles away from the desperate crowds crushing toward the gates. He started bringing families directly through, and on the very last day of the evacuation, Sam was contacted by Homeira's literary agent, who persuaded him to help Homeira get out.  The story that follows is unbelievable but true. Zuckoff's firsthand accounts come exclusively and directly from Homeira, Aronson, and Homeira's literary agent. The Secret Gate is beyond riveting, and will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Tracing the entire history of American foreign policy, Dying by the Sword focuses on how the US came to prioritize the use of military tools over other tools of statecraft, including diplomacy and economic policy. It demonstrates that since the end of the Cold War, the US has dramatically increased its use of force abroad despite fewer international threats. The US's hyper-militaristic foreign policy, which the authors term "kinetic diplomacy", threatens to undermine not just America's leadership role, its credibility, and its domestic policy priorities, but more broadly international peace and security.

'Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen' Kai BirdBest-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . . In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe. As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.

300人委員会」のロイヤル・ダッチ・シェルが、現在世界で操業している石油会社の中で最も古く、最も大きな会社の一つであることは間違いないだろう。2005年の売上高は3,067億3,000万ドルでした。オランダの故ユリアナ女王、ヴィクター・ロスチャイルド卿、アフリカのナシ王子 アーネスト・オッペンハイマー卿、ロンドンのサミュエル家、ウィンザー家がロイヤル ダッチ シェルの大株主である。ジュリアナの死後、その株はオレンジ家（オランダ）に渡った。石油産業の歴史的な説明は、すべての国、特に帝国主義のイギリスが欲しがるイラクの土地と石油の「外交」（嘘、偽りの約束、脅迫、二重取引、政治的圧力、いじめ、不当な盗み）の紆余曲折を通して、私たちを導いてくれます。先進国で石油を持たないイギリスは、一世紀近くもイラクとイランの内政に干渉し、果たされない約束に基づき、ビロードの手袋に隠された鉄拳の脅威のもとで、次々と誘惑し、おだて、譲歩を引き出してきたのです。イラクとイランで豊富な原油が発見され、米国と両国との対立状態が95年前から続いている。

世界の出来事を理解するためには、20世紀に起こった数々の悲劇的で爆発的な出来事が、決して単独で起こったのではなく、確立されたパターンに従って計画されていたことを認識することが必要である。これらの大事件の企画者、制作者は誰なのか。このような暴力的で革命的な動乱を起こすのは、そのほとんどがこの世界にはびこる秘密結社に属しており、それはいつの時代も同じである。ほとんどの場合、これらの秘密結社はオカルトやイニシエーションに基づくものだが、秘密政府を構成する他の秘密結社と同様に、300人委員会によってコントロールされているのである。現代社会から悪魔崇拝や悪魔、魔術が消えたと思い込んでいる不届き者は、誤った情報である。今日、オカルトに基づく秘密結社やルシフェリアニズム、黒魔術、ブードゥー教などが盛んに行われており、当初考えられていたよりもはるかに広く浸透しているようである。私たちの中にある秘密結社、その指導者の多くはキリスト教徒を装っているが、これらの組織とその指導者に対する私たちの寛容な態度が、国内外における問題の原因である。すべてのトラブル、すべての革命、すべての戦争は、必然的にいくつかの秘密結社のいずれか、またはその組み合わせに起因するものである。

アメリカ人の大半は、麻薬が蔓延していることを知っているが、「暗闇の支配者たち、高い所にいる邪悪な者たち、彼らの行為は邪悪であるため光よりも暗闇を好む者たち」によってこの社会にもたらされたことを認識している人はごく少数にすぎない。本書は、彼らがどのような人物で、どのように世界最大かつ最も収益性の高いビジネスを運営しているのか、彼らが何を成し遂げ、その対策はどれほど有効なのかについて書かれています。麻薬取引は、売人がマフィアに支配されているような、単なる路上取引だと思ってはいけない。しかし、この呪われた貿易の真の推進者は、この世界の「エリート」、つまり「王室」、ヨーロッパの「貴族」、アメリカ、イギリス、カナダの「最高の」家族の回廊にいるのである。この取引は権力の最上層部にまで及び、根絶されたわけではなく、ある程度抑制されているに過ぎない。米国農務省や世界中の麻薬取締機関が、十分な水圧のないホースで森林火災を消そうとしている。なぜ、そんなことが可能なのか？その答えは、麻薬取引を根絶することができないからである。なぜなら、その役員、闇の支配者、高位の悪人たちは、最小限の投資資本で巨額の利益を上げ、生産コストがほとんどかからず、事実上無料の製品である、世界で最も有利なビジネスを彼らから奪うことを許さないからである。