To communists, religion is an opiate where Christians are lulled to accept their oppressed fate and never raise arms against oppressors. To Muslim extremists, however, religion is not an opiate but a high-inducing drug that spiritually arms one to wage jihad on the infidels. In Unholy Allied Mountains, Ding, a Filipino American journalist, in a story quest on the Philippine insurgency, is confronted by ghosts of his past in the midst of an unholy alliance between the Communist New People's Army (NPA) and Muslims in their quest to defeat lackeys of American imperialists in the Cordillera Mountains in Northern Luzon, Philippines.

A classic book on the history of the USA's involvement with Afghanistan

Occupied Iran in World War II became the most important supply route to Russia and source of fuel to the Allies. Having pledged to meet Iran’s “minimum needs”, the Allies commandeered the means of transport, seized food and fuel, severely restricted imports, forced Iran to print money, brought Polish refugees from Russia, and initially did little to contain the chaos and insecurity. The resulting famine and typhus epidemic of 1942-43 had claimed 4 million lives amounting to a quarter of the population. This was in addition to the 8-10 million lost in the Great Famine of 1917-19. Iran’s 1944 population was the same as 1900, a perfect case of a Malthusian Catastrophe. Having previously described the World War I famine, and using US diplomatic, military, and intelligence records, as well as primary British sources, Majd completes the task by also telling the story of the World War II Iranian famine.

This study explores the nature of the insurgency in Afghanistan, the key challenges and successes of the U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign, and the capabilities necessary to wage effective counterinsurgency operations. By examining the key lessons from all insurgencies since World War II, it finds that most policymakers repeatedly underestimate the importance of indigenous actors to counterinsurgency efforts. The U.S. should focus its resources on helping improve the capacity of the indigenous government and indigenous security forces to wage counterinsurgency. It has not always done this well. The U.S. military-along with U.S. civilian agencies and other coalition partners-is more likely to be successful in counterinsurgency warfare the more capable and legitimate the indigenous security forces (especially the police), the better the governance capacity of the local state, and the less external support that insurgents receive.

INFORMATIVE, INSIGHTFUL, ENLIGHTENING TIME, Our Greatest Ally and Enemy provides tremendous insight and perspective. God owns time and sets it in motion for His purpose; how we manage it is our responsibility. It is often said, “Our greatest commodity is time.” If this is true, we must exercise discretion and wisdom regarding how we use it. Time cannot be recreated or recycled, and we cannot get it back or bottle it to use later. Whether we realize it or not, every detail of our lives is housed in time; therefore, we must understand the value of numbering our days. Using time as an ally to serve the Lord, discover ourselves, enjoy our relationships, and reach out to help others will provide the peace we need about how we live during our stay on Earth. As our enemy, time points to the decline we experience each day because we can measure the beginning, progression, and now, the end. Everything that we find comfort in and enjoy will eventually conclude. Considering the dwindling of time, what should be our aim as the followers of Christ? Maybe it’s worth considering that we all have a course to finish. Each of us has been specifically and purposefully given a work to complete in our lifetime. How we use and manage the time we’ve been afforded is significant to how well we do in this life and the degree to which we are rewarded in the next.

Describes the Soviet-Afghan War from the eyes of the Afghans who fought it.