Global Power

Weak, corrupt, and politically unstable, the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are dismissed as isolated and irrelevant to the outside world. But are they? This hard-hitting book argues that Central Asia is in reality a globalization leader with more extensive involvement in economics, politics, and security dynamics beyond its borders than any other world region. Yet Central Asia's international activities are mostly hidden from view, with disturbing implications for world security.

According to security elites, revolutions in information, transport, and weapons technologies have shrunk the world, leaving the United States and its allies more vulnerable than ever. As a result, they practice responses driven by fear: theories of falling dominoes, hysteria in place of sober debate, and an embrace of preemptive war. Patrick Porter challenges these ideas. In The Global Village Myth, he disputes globalism's claims and the outcomes that so often waste blood and treasure.

Most global citizens are well aware of the explosive growth of the Chinese economy. Indeed, China has famously become the "workshop of the world." Yet, while China watchers have shed much light on the country's internal dynamics - China's politics, its vast social changes, and its economic development - few have focused on how this increasingly powerful nation has become more active and assertive throughout the world.

The history of the United States is to a large extent a history of armed conflict. The nation was first forged in war, a tough fight for independence against one of the world’s largest empires, and that fight would resume less than a generation later with the War of 1812. Then there were constant low-level conflicts with Native Americans as the nation expanded westwards, and occasionally the country engaged in full-scale war against the Sioux, Comanche, and Apache. The country also fought the Mexican-American War, starting in 1846, and the bloody Civil War starting in 1861.

Carthage was one of the great ancient civilizations, and at its peak, the wealthy Carthaginian empire dominated the Mediterranean against the likes of Greece and Rome, with commercial enterprises and influence stretching from Spain to Turkey. In fact, at several points in history it had a very real chance of replacing the fledgling Roman Empire or the failing Greek poleis (city-states) altogether as master of the Mediterranean.

Spoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca—its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "rise of English" has many obvious benefits, but very real downsides as well. In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business.

In an age where persuasion is key and influence could be the difference between success and obscurity, Ronald Gill uncovers the greatest strokes of human psychology and leadership in his groundbreaking new book, "17 Rules of Influence and Power." Gill pulls a curtain on the fragile dance of human interactions, revealing the subtle nuances and potent strategies that impact our perceptions, decisions, and relationships.

This historic mission of this remarkable but little-known organization, the US National Intelligence Council (NIC), now 40 years old, is strategic intelligence assessment in service of senior American foreign policymakers. Its signature inside products, National Intelligence Estimates, are now accompanied by the NIC's every-four-years Global Trends. Unclassified, Global Trends has become a noted NIC brand, its release awaited by officials, academics, and private sector managers around the world.

Have you always wondered about Reiki but never been sure where to begin learning more? Do you want to discover a healing technique that can bring major benefits to yourself and those around you? You’ve come to the right place. Reiki for Beginners is your one-stop shop to everything Reiki. From self-Reiki techniques to becoming a practitioner yourself, this book will help you learn the basics and understand how to take your journey to the next level.

As a new administration focuses on raising American energy production, O'Sullivan's Windfall describes how new energy realities have profoundly affected the world of international relations and security. New technologies led to oversupplied oil markets and an emerging natural gas glut. This did more than drive down prices. It changed the structure of markets and altered the way many countries wield power and influence.

The counterterrorism policies following September 11, 2001, brought the definition and legitimacy of torture to the forefront of political, military, and public debates. This timely volume explores the question of torture through multiple lenses by situating it within systems of belief, social networks of power, and ideological worldviews.

David Korten argues that global corporate consolidation of power is but one manifestation of what he calls "Empire", the organization of society by hierarchies of dominance that have held sway for the past 5,000 years. Empire has always resulted in misery for the many and fortune for the few. Now it threatens the very future of humanity. The Great Turning traces the ancient roots of Empire and charts its long evolution from monarchies to the transnational institutions of the global economy.

Whether you come from Cape Verde or Chinatown, Little Italy or Lalibela, you are not so much the product of the environment from which you came, but the narrative that you give yourself. By choosing your story rather than it choosing you, you determine who you are. Borderless Voice will inspire you to find not only your story, but your inner voice, one unconfined by geography, family background, race, or anything else.

In this book, discover what becomes possible when you act from unified love and power in service to purpose and the more-than-human world. Let yourself be drawn into a story of stories—woven together into a rich tapestry with threads from the author’s personal journey—along with gems from many teachers and wisdom traditions gleaned along the way. This audio book provides you with a path to collectively manifest what is needed now, addressing the interconnectedness of everything on the levels of self, other, and all.

This book is the first of its kind to examine the role of great powers in the international politics of climate change. It develops a novel analytical framework for studying environmental power in international relations, what counts as a great power in the environmental field, and what their special environmental responsibilities are. In doing so, the book connects International Relations (IR) debates on power inequality, great powers and great power management, with global environmental politics (GEP) scholarship.

The way to maximize your time and live each day at peak performance, loving those around you and sustaining deep tranquility? It all comes back to attitude: the state of constant gratitude. Yes, every cosmic moment and event led up to your existence. Learn to love this time on Earth: the deepest shade of blue will fade before the light of thankfulness.

The tilt (tilt): 1. The shift in business and economic power from countries of the north to the fast-developing markets and economies of the south - not only China, India and Brazil, but also the Middle East and parts of Africa. 2. The result of unstoppable forces, including the volatile global financial system, digitization, the rise of state capitalism and a new global middle class that is both youthful and urban- forces by which industries and economies rapidly emerge and change the global playing field.

At first, what happened on the Mekong River on October 5, 2011 seemed like a simple matter of rough frontier justice. A detachment of Thai military commandos reported that they had confronted a band of drug runners smuggling methamphetamines out of the Golden Triangle, the famously lawless borderlands between Burma, Laos, and Thailand. A gunfight ensued, the smugglers fled, and the commandos seized two barges and a haul of nearly a million pills.

During my research and writing, I was fortunate to discover managers in a variety of businesses who actually understand and practice the awesome power of dignifying and respecting the people who depend on the businesses for their livelihoods and on whom the businesses depend on for their existence - the perfect win-win. In addition, the profiled managers are totally convinced that dignity is the root cause of their firms' profitability and sustainability. I think you'll enjoy meeting them and profit from their insights.

John A. Thompson takes a long view of America's dramatic rise as a world power, from the late 19th century into the post-World War II era. He shows how American leaders from Wilson to Truman developed an ever more capacious understanding of the national interest, and why by the 1940s most Americans came to support the price tag, in blood and treasure, attached to strenuous efforts to shape the world. The beliefs and emotions that led them to do so reflected distinctive aspects of U.S. culture, not least the strength of ties to Europe.