Intensifying geopolitical rivalries, rising defence spending and the proliferation of the latest military technology across Asia suggest that the region is set for a prolonged period of strategic contestation. None of the three competing visions for the future of Asian order – a US-led ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’, a Chinese-centred order, or the ASEAN-inspired ‘Indo-Pacific Outlook’ – is likely to prevail in the short to medium term. In the absence of a new framework, the risk of open conflict is heightened, and along with it the need for effective mechanisms to maintain peace and stability. As Asia’s leaders seek to rebuild their economies and societies in the wake of COVID-19, they would do well to reflect upon the lessons offered by the pandemic and their applicability in the strategic realm. The societies that have navigated the crisis most effectively have been able to do so by putting in place stringent protective measures. Crisis-management and -avoidance mechanisms – and even, in the longer term, wider arms control – can be seen as the strategic equivalent of such measures, and as such they should be pursued with urgency in Asia to reduce the risks of an even greater calamity.

The rise or resurgence of revisionist, repressive and authoritarian powers threatens the Western, US-led international order upon which Germany’s post-war security and prosperity were founded. With Washington increasingly focused on China’s rise in Asia, Europe must be able to defend itself against Russia, and will depend upon German military capabilities to do so. Years of neglect and structural underfunding, however, have hollowed out Germany’s armed forces. Much of the political leadership in Berlin has not yet adjusted to new realities or appreciated the urgency with which it needs to do so. Bastian Giegerich and Maximilian Terhalle argue that Germany’s current strategic culture is inadequate. It informs a security policy that fails to meet contemporary strategic challenges, thereby endangering Berlin’s European allies, the Western order and Germany itself. They contend that: Germany should embrace its historic responsibility to defend Western liberal values and the Western order that upholds them. Rather than rejecting the use of military force, Germany should wed its commitment to liberal values to an understanding of the role of power – including military power – in international affairs. The authors show why Germany should seek to foster a strategic culture that would be compatible with those of other leading Western nations and allow Germans to perceive the world through a strategic lens. In doing so, they also outline possible elements of a new security policy.

This unique memoir tells firsthand the stories of six dramatic public court cases, and shows how lawyers, sometimes fighting to make new precedent, and impartial judges who hear their arguments, are our best protection against inappropriate governmental actions. These are adventure stories, involving ordinary people attempting to protect themselves from actions by strangers or a public official that threaten to upend their lives: A male cadet soon to be commissioned learns that newly-coed West Point intends to expel him for “walking with” a female cadet. The family of the victims of three horrifying murders committed on an American military base seek justice after the government states it will not prosecute the probable murderer. Parents of a newborn baby with life-threatening medical conditions are sued by political zealots for custody of their child and the right to make her medical decisions. Other adventures involve the author, then 34, going to Washington to ask a sharply divided Supreme Court to invalidate his county’s 300-year -old charter in the first local reapportionment case in the nation; an emotional court confrontation between the White and Black populations of a local suburban community over zoning policies that it and most other American suburbs followed for many years; and New York’s high court missing an opportunity to prevent the 2007-2008 world financial crisis. These cases affected the lives of many, and became part of a long tradition of Constitutional law gradually changing to meet new conditions. The book is a clarion call to restore the courts’ impartility.

The major aim of Cyberspace and the State is to provide conceptual orientation on the new strategic environment of the Information Age. It seeks to restore the equilibrium of policy-makers which has been disturbed by recent cyber scares, as well as to bring clarity to academic debate on the subject particularly in the fields of politics and international relations, war and strategic studies. Its main chapters explore the impact of cyberspace upon the most central aspects of statehood and the state systempower, sovereignty, war, and dominion. It is concerned equally with practice as with theory and may be read in that sense as having two halves.

101 Zen Stories is a captivating collection of ancient tales and koans that offer profound insights into the essence of Zen Buddhism. Compiled by Nyogen Senzaki, these short stories and dialogues between masters and disciples illuminate the core principles of Zen, inviting readers to challenge their preconceived notions and awaken to the true nature of reality. Through paradoxical and often humorous narratives, this book guides readers on a journey of self-discovery, encouraging them to embrace the present moment and find enlightenment in the ordinary.

Examines the difficulty the US Armed Forces face in shifting their focus from preparing for regular wars, in which combat is separated from civil society, to irregular wars, in which combat is integrated with civil society. This book is useful for students of the US Armed Forces, politics, strategic studies and military history.

Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters. The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work. A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love. The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.