SoundCloud Afghan Interview Begins MINUTE 40:00

Douglass Wissing Homepage

@douglaswissing

The Hill:  "Afghanistan:  Un-Winable War"

The Hill:  The Afghan MOAB

Former Tunisian PM launches political partyFormer Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, who led a technocratic government in 2014, launched a new political party on Wednesday amid rising discontent over the country’s economy. Jomaa described the Tunisian Alliance as a non-ideological, merit-based party that offers an alternative for voters frustrated by Tunisia’s political transition since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s ouster during the Arab Spring uprising. A number of technocrats and former ministers have joined Jomaa’s party, which is expected to face its first test in local elections at the end of the year.

Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring by Andrew Lownie PART 1 of 2

Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of "The Cambridge Spies"―Maclean, Philby, Blunt―brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers.

In this first full biography, Andrew Lownie shows us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years.

Through interviews with more than a hundred people who knew Burgess personally, many of whom have never spoken about him before, and the discovery of hitherto secret files, Stalin's Englishman brilliantly unravels the many lives of Guy Burgess in all their intriguing, chilling, colorful, tragi-comic wonder

https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Englishman-Burgess-Cold-Cambridge/dp/1250100992/ref=la_B001HPC122_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490753275&sr=1-1

Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of "The Cambridge Spies"―Maclean, Philby, Blunt―brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers.

In this first full biography, Andrew Lownie shows us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years.

Through interviews with more than a hundred people who knew Burgess personally, many of whom have never spoken about him before, and the discovery of hitherto secret files, Stalin's Englishman brilliantly unravels the many lives of Guy Burgess in all their intriguing, chilling, colorful, tragi-comic wonder.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Englishman-Burgess-Cold-Cambridge/dp/1250100992/ref=la_B001HPC122_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490753275&sr=1-1

"The Decisive War of Democracies." Gregory Copley, Defense & Foreign Affairs.

The conflict between different views of democracy has threatened the Westphalian nation-state concept, and the Westphalianists are responding, with history on their side.

Analysis. By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs. Democra-cy, in many forms, became the dominant form of political legitimacy in the 20th Century. It also became, by the early 21st Century, just a word to cloak political ambition and the institutionalization of power structures.

There is now little accord as to what actually constitutes “democracy”, or how it has evolved conceptually. We have reached a point, as strategic thinker Dr Assad Homay-oun notes, where “democracy” — whatever it is — is not working, but dictatorship is un-acceptable. And yet “democracy”, as a word, has increasingly become a semi-religious touchstone to which all must pay obeisance. It is a sacred cow to be valued, because it has become the essential image to legitimate power.

But “democracy”, as Plato saw it, and as it became practiced in the early 21st Century, grows merely into the legitimization of mob rule. Little wonder that it became the catch-cry of urban élites in the 20th Century as it was in the Hellenic city-states 2,500 years before. It now stands solely for the periodic voting power just of human concentrations, and pays scant heed to the broader rôle of geography in the viability of the nation-state. And by its periodic, prescheduled granting of “mandates” of power, it became less nu-anced; less responsive to the societies which were supposedly in command of the pro-cess of democracy.1
​
“Democracy” became more about human desires — “rights” — than about the human imperative for sovereign control over the resources of survival in perpetuity: food, water, and other resources. These are determined by the harmonization of geography with the life it sustains...."

How To Counter Political Islam 
From Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Hoover Institution: “It is refreshing and heartening that President Trump acknowledges the need for an ideological campaign against “radical Islam.” This deserves to be called a paradigm shift. President Bush often referred to a “war on terror,” but terror is a tactic that can be used for a variety of ideological objectives. President Obama stated that he was opposed to “violent extremism” and even organized an international summit around this subject. Yet at times he made it seem as if he worried more about “Islamophobia” than about radical Islam. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 2012, Obama declared: “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”” ​

Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World by Adrian Goldsworthy. PART 2 of 6

Why this book?

Peace is always a rare and precious thing and this makes the “Roman Peace” all the more remarkable, and I wanted to understand how it came about. I wanted also to understand what the Roman Empire meant to the people who lived in it. What was it like for the other peoples in the ancient world who found themselves living next to the Roman Empire, or were incorporated into it, whether by force or choice? It is simplistic to demonize empires—just as it once was to celebrate them uncritically—and there is a danger of turning conquered peoples into passive and virtuous victims of imperialist aggression. The truth is more complicated, and looking at Roman power from the viewpoint of Romans and outsiders provides many relevant insights to our own world.

But wasn’t "Pax Romana" the peace imposed by the victors, whose conceit was that they were bringing civilization to barbarians?

The Romans fought a lot of wars, and never granted other peoples equal status. Other kingdoms and states were either allies or real or potential enemies. Peace made Rome and its allies safe. Only once they were well on their way to establishing a large and permanent empire did the Romans begin to talk of a duty to bring peace, order, and the rule of law to a wider world. This was not achieved solely or even primarily by force. People wanted to be Roman. Peace became a reality, even if imperfect.

Praise for Caesar:

"This book makes and insightfully explains the leap from Caesar the soldier and general to Caesar the statesman and nation builder. It's better than any book I've ever read on him, and more incisive."—Wall Street Journal
"An authoritative and exciting portrait not only of Caesar but of the complex society in which he lived."—Steven Coates, New York Times Book Review

About the Author
​
Adrian Goldsworthy is the author of numerous acclaimed books, including biographies of Julius Caesar and Augustus. He lectures widely and consults on historical documentaries for the History Channel, National Geographic, and the BBC. He lives in the UK.

Example:  India
Many political parties faring as poorly as the Indian National Congress in a bellwether state election would ditch key leaders, if they did not go of their own accord. Not so Rahul Gandhi, scion of India's most famous political dynasty, who remains in charge after his attempts to connect with voters in the country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh ended in failure. - Reuters

Amazon Excerpt:  Philosophy professor Christina Sommers has exposed a disturbing development: how a group of zealots, claiming to speak for all women, are promoting a dangerous new agenda that threatens our most cherished ideals and sets women against men in all spheres of life. In case after case, Sommers shows how these extremists have propped up their arguments with highly questionable but well-funded research, presenting inflammatory and often inaccurate information and stifling any semblance of free and open scrutiny. Trumpeted as orthodoxy, the resulting "findings" on everything from rape to domestic abuse to economic bias to the supposed crisis in girls' self-esteem perpetuate a view of women as victims of the "patriarchy". Moreover, these arguments and the supposed facts on which they are based have had enormous influence beyond the academy, where they have shaken the foundations of our educational, scientific, and legal institutions and have fostered resentment and alienation in our private lives. Despite its current dominance, Sommers maintains, such a breed of feminism is at odds with the real aspirations and values of most American women and undermines the cause of true equality. Who Stole Feminism? is a call to arms that will enrage or inspire, but cannot be ignored.

Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back by Janice P. Nimura. PART 1 of 2.

“This is feminism for Japanese women in its infancy, and Janice P. Nimura enhances the reality of the entire experience with this superb historical nonfiction account.” (Historical Novel Society)

“At a reform-minded moment, Japan dispatched five young girls to be educated in America. Patiently, vividly, Janice P. Nimura reconstructs their Alice in Wonderland adventure. A beautifully crafted narrative, subtle, polished, and poised.” (Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Cleopatra)

“A riveting story of three remarkable girls, caught in the maelstrom of one of the strangest culture clashes in modern history, Daughters of the Samurai is history writing at its finest and required reading for anyone interested in Japan.” (Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being)
“Nimura brings the girls and their late nineteenth-century exploits to life in a narrative that feels like an international variation on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, so very appealing and delightful.” 

Janice P. Nimura is a book critic, independent scholar, and the American daughter-in-law of a Japanese family. She lives in New York City.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Daughters-Samurai-Journey-East-West-ebook/dp/B00NUB4H4G/ref=la_B00O74HGDE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489276605&sr=1-1

In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Immaculée Ilibagiza is a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that took the lives of nearly one million Tutsis. Men, women and children, including her entire family except for one of her brothers, were massacred at the hands of Hutu marauders. Immaculée found shelter at a pastor's home, where she and seven other women hid from the deadly rebel mob in a 3-by-4-foot bathroom for 91 days. During those 91 days of unimaginable suffering, Immaculée found her faith, taught herself English, and most incredibly, committed herself to a life of peace, hope and forgiveness, even for those who had murdered her family.

After the Genocide finally ended, Immaculée found work at the United Nations, emigrating from Rwanda to the United States in 1998. She has gone on the receive five honorary doctoral degrees, write seven books about her faith and her life journey, and is the recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace.

Immaculée's first book, Left to Tell; Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust (Hay House) was released in March of 2006. Left to Tell quickly became a New York Times Best Seller. To date, it has been translated into seventeen languages and has sold nearly two million copies. Immaculée's story has also been made into a documentary entitled The Diary of Immaculée.

Left to Tell has received a Christopher Award "affirming the highest values of human spirit," and was chosen as Outreach Magazine's selection for "Best Outreach Testimony/Biography Resource of 2007." Left to Tell has been adopted into the curriculum of dozens of high schools and universities, including Villanova University, which selected it for their "One Book Program," making Left to Tell mandatory reading for its 6,000 students. Immaculée has written six additional books in recent years - Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide, Our Lady of Kibeho, If Only We Had Listened, Visit from Heaven, and The Boy Who Met Jesus, and The Rosary: The Prayer that Saved my Life.

She has appeared on 60 Minutes, The CBS Early Show, CNN, EWTN, CBS Evening News, The Aljazeera Network and in The New York Times, USA Today, Newsday, and many other domestic and international media outlets. She was recently featured in Michael Collopy's Architects of Peace project, which has honored legendary people like Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Today, Immaculée is regarded as one of world's leading speakers on faith, hope and forgiveness. She has shared this universal message with world leaders, school children, multinational corporations, churches, and at events and conferences around the world, including a recent presentation to over 200,000 people in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Left-Tell-Discovering-Rwandan-Holocaust/dp/1401944329/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489349426&sr=1-1

Xi is the New Mao. @gordongchang @mcgregorrichard

The 'core leader' status, that had been earlier been approved by the ruling Communist Party, puts 63-year-old Xi at par with party founder Mao Zedong, his successor and reformist leader Deng Xiaoping and elevates him to a higher status above others in the Communist Party of China's (CPC) collective leadership system.

China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang pledged further conformity to the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the 'core', state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

National lawmakers should unite more closely "around the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core," to develop the system of the people's congress and realise the dream of national rejuvenation, Zhang, the chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said while delivering a work report of the NPC Standing Committee.

The endorsement of Xi as the core "reflects the will of all members of the Party, all members of the armed forces and all the people of China," Zhang told the nearly 3,000 NPC deputies gathered at the Great Hall of the People.
​
http://www.news18.com/news/world/chinas-parliament-approves-xi-jinpings-core-leader-status-1357714.html
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2075785/chinese-tv-drama-censored-after-showing-scene-listing-xi-jinping