Download or read book From SAS to Blood Diamond Wars written by Fred Marafono and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alcibiades is one of the most famous (or infamous) characters of Classical Greece. A young Athenian aristocrat, he came to prominence during the Peloponnesian War (429-404 BC) between Sparta and Athens. Flamboyant, charismatic (and wealthy), this close associate of Socrates persuaded the Athenians to attempt to stand up to the Spartans on land as part of an alliance he was instrumental in bringing together. Although this led to defeat at the Battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, his prestige remained high. He was also a prime mover in Athens' next big strategic gambit, the Sicilian Expedition of 415 BC, for which he was elected as one of the leaders. Shortly after arrival in Sicily, however, he was recalled to face charges of sacrilege allegedly committed during his pre-expedition reveling. Jumping ship on the return journey, he defected to the Spartans.Alcibiades soon ingratiated himself with the Spartans, encouraging them to aid the Sicilians (ultimately resulting in the utter destruction of the Athenian expedition) and to keep year-round pressure on the Athenians. He then seems to have overstepped the bounds of hospitality by sleeping with the Spartan queen and was soon on the run again. He then played a devious and dangerous game of shifting loyalties between Sparta, Athens and Persia. He had a hand in engineering the overthrow of democracy at Athens in favor of an oligarchy, which allowed him to return from exile, though he then opposed the increasingly-extreme excesses of that regime. For a time he looked to have restored Athens' fortunes in the war, but went into exile again after being held responsible for the defeat of one of his subordinates in a naval battle. This time he took refuge with the Persians, but as they were now allied to the Spartans, the cuckolded King Agis of Sparta was able to arrange his assassination by Persian agents.There has been no full length biography of this colorful and important character for twenty years. Professor Rhodes brings the authority of an internationally recognized expert in the field, ensuring that this will be a truly significant addition to the literature on Classical Greece.

Download or read book Blood Diamonds written by Greg Campbell and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First discovered in 1930, the diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the rings and necklaces of brides and spouses the world over. Blood Diamonds is the gripping tale of how the diamond smuggling works, how the rebel war has effectively destroyed Sierra Leone and its people, and how the policies of the diamond industry - institutionalized in the 1880s by the De Beers cartel - have allowed it to happen. Award-winning journalist Greg Campbell traces the deadly trail of these diamonds, many of which are brought to the world market by fanatical enemies. These repercussions of diamond smuggling are felt far beyond the borders of the poor and war-ridden country of Sierra Leone, and the consequences of overlooking this African tragedy are both shockingly deadly and unquestionably global. Updated with a new epilogue.

Download or read book My Friend the Mercenary written by James Brabazon and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Intensely vivid story of war and the peculiar breed of warriors who fight in 21st-century Africa . . . and tribute to an extraordinary comrade-at-arms.” —Kirkus Reviews In February 2002, British journalist James Brabazon set out to travel with guerrilla forces into Liberia to show the world what was happening in that war-torn country. To protect him, he hired Nick du Toit, a former South African Defence Force soldier who had fought in conflicts across Africa for over three decades. What follows is an incredible behind-the-scenes account of the Liberian rebels—known as the LURD—as they attempt to seize control of the country from government troops led by President Charles Taylor. In this gripping narrative, James Brabazon paints a brilliant portrait of the chaos that tore West Africa apart: nations run by warlords and kleptocrats, rebels fighting to displace them, ordinary people caught in the crossfire—and everywhere adventurers and mercenaries operating in war’s dark shadows. It is a brutally honest book about what it takes to be a journalist, survivor, and friend in this morally corrosive crucible. “A classic story of intrigue, greed, and violence in one of the most dysfunctional countries in the world. It is a gripping story that I couldn’t read fast enough.” —Sebastian Junger, New York Times–bestselling author

Download or read book The Mercenaries Thunderkill written by P. W. Storm and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The client is the CIA, as a beautiful, seductive Company agent enlists the help of Mad Dog and his men. The assignment is Uzbekistan, where an America-hating warlord plans to assassinate the country's newly elected, U.S.-supported president. But the mercenaries don't know that they're flying straight into the nightmare of a state-sponsored double-cross. And it'll all hit the fan in an ancient walled city where a famous action director and a headline-grabbing Hollywood couple are filming a big screen epic. But this time the bullets and the blood are going to be real, and the death and destruction won't stop when someone yells, "Cut!"

Download or read book Blood Diamonds written by Jon Land and published by Forge Books. This book was released on 2008-04-29 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West African country of Sierra Leone has long been known as a diamond-rich area. With civil war ripping the heart out of the country, all aspects of life there are unstable. Worst of all, guerrilla rebels, in their lust for the resource-rich land, have sunk to depravity and terrorism to evict people from the country. It's into this maelstrom of political and emotional turmoil that Ben and Danielle must go. The leader of the rebels, a fanatical and charismatic woman known only as the Dragon, is not content with ravaging her own country. She plans a final coup that will perfect her power and topple Western governments-unless Ben and Danielle can stop her in time. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Blood Diamonds of the Lost Bazaar written by Rickey Pittman and published by The Wild Rose Press Inc. This book was released on 2022-10-26 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blood Diamonds of the Lost Bazaar takes readers into two very different worlds—from the Lost Bazaar Art Gallery in small-town North Louisiana into Sierra Leone and its dark, violent and sad world of Blood Diamonds and boy soldiers. Caitlin, a beautiful and talented artist, ends a stormy relationship with her musician boyfriend Hunter and journeys to Sierra Leone. Von Vermeer, a wealthy, charming diamond merchant pursues her, and though attracted to him at first, Caitlin is horrified to discover that he is actually a corrupt, deranged diamond smuggler whose crazed obsession threatens her safety. Caitlin returns to Louisiana with Tejan, her adopted son, and rebuilds her relationship with Hunter, hoping to experience the joy of a loving family and redemptive love. But Vermeer follows her to Louisiana, bringing with him the violence she thought she had escaped, threatening her newly found happiness.

Download or read book The Mercenaries Mad Dogs and Englishmen written by P. W. Storm and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael "Mad Dog" Hertzog lived for soldiering—but he wasn't willing to die following the orders of bureaucrats and incompetents. Now he and his private army of warriors-for-hire are doing war Dog's way. Hertzog's right hand man has vanished . . . along with $30 million of Mad Dog's money. The evidence says a trusted British merc has gone rogue, but there may be a different, more virulent form of treachery at work here. There are answers waiting aboard a train racing east from Moscow, carrying Russian gangsters, stolen Siberian diamonds, a shadow team of Iranian agents . . . and a pair of nuclear warheads. Suddenly the stakes have gotten perilously high for Mad Dog, his team, and the world . . . as time ticks rapidly away on a terrifying plot to bathe the Middle East in nuclear fire.

Download or read book The Sancy Blood Diamond written by Susan Ronald and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-05-02 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating six-hundred-year history of one of the world's most coveted gems and the royal feuds, intrigues, and betrayals it engendered The Sancy Diamond first came to Europe from India in the fourteenth century, and until 1661 it was the largest white diamond-and the most concentrated and secure form of wealth-in all of Christendom. Alternately believed to impart invincibility to its wearer and to bring ruin to any who owned it, the Sancy cast a seemingly mystical spell over everyone from the king of Portugal to Henry III of France to England's Elizabeth I to Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Maria Luisa of Spain. The riveting account of one of the most hotly pursued gems in history, The Sancy Blood Diamond follows its six-century journey from the diamond mines of Golconda to where it now modestly resides at the Louvre, among the remnants of the French crown jewels. In a colorful, fast-paced narrative, historian Susan Ronald describes the often violent passions the Sancy engendered among many of the giants of European history. She also describes the pivotal roles it played on the chessboard of European geopolitics, and how it was used to raise armies, settle national debts, and enhance its owners' power and prestige. Working from primary sources, Ronald solves, once and for all, the mystery of the Sancy's disappearances in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and she explores the legend of the Sancy curse, which arose after the violent deaths of Burgundy's Charles the Bold, England's Charles I, France's Louis XVI, and other ill-fated owners.

Download or read book The Heart of the Matter written by Ian Smillie and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How diamonds have been the cause of widespread death, misery, & destruction for almost a decade in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Through the 1990s, Sierra Leone's rebel war became a tragedy of major humanitarian, political & historic proportions, but the story goes back 60 years, to the discovery of the diamonds. The diamond mining sector has become influenced by organized crime & by the smuggling not just of diamonds, but of guns & drugs, & by vast sums of money in search of a laundry. No peace agree. would be sustainable until the problems of mining & selling diamonds had been addressed, both inside Sierra Leone & internationally. Tables.

Download or read book The Diamond Hunters written by Wilbur Smith and published by Bonnier Publishing Fiction Ltd.. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An action-packed thriller of family, business and betrayal - perfect for fans of Succession - by global sensation Wilbur Smith. 'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times 'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror Some people will never have enough . . . Johnny Lance was taken in by the Van Der Byls when he was an orphaned boy, and his life has been dedicated to making his adoptive father proud. But his efforts have been in vain, his father loathes him and, in his dying breath, makes one final demand of his biological son, the jealous and vengeful Benedict: to destroy his half-brother. When Johnny is tricked by Benedict into losing his entire fortune to the Van Der Byls company, he becomes a laughingstock. Benedict's sister, the smart and beautiful Tracey, loves Johnny and buys him a concession in the diamond rich seabeds of the South-West African Coast. But the obsessive Benedict has been shaped at his father's hand and will do anything to finish what he started. Even if it means destroying everything . . .

Download or read book Mercenaries written by Al J. Venter and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “in-depth [and] well-researched” look at soldiers-for-hire and their role in modern warfare around the globe—includes photos (Portland Book Review). Mercenaries have been a part of warfare for centuries, and in today’s world, these hired guns are an attractive alternative for Western governments reluctant to put their militaries at risk for obscure causes that would otherwise be difficult to explain to their electorates. This book provides a revealing look at modern merc actions in the Middle East and Africa. From brushfire wars in the Congo to outright genocides in Biafra, highly skilled mercenaries were called upon to fight for order—and also for a living. Whether facing fanatics in Somalia or revolutionaries in Rhodesia, staving off cannibals in Sierra Leone or assisting a civil war in Angola, the mercs put their lives on the line for a cause. Many mercenaries freelanced, but under talented freebooting leaders, some groups became crack outfits. South Africa’s Executive Outcomes became a legend in its own time; a quasi-military itself, it dispatched fighters throughout the continent. Like an ad hoc Foreign Legion, fighters came from countries around the world to participate in the combats. In the United States, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine organized repeated expeditions from Laos to Peru. In Afghanistan, the renowned helicopter gunship pilot known as Nellis lent his skills after almost singlehandedly defeating gruesome insurgencies in Africa. Now, foreign correspondent Al Venter, who was actively involved in the direction and production of segments of the Discovery Channel series Mercenaries, provides both background about this unique class of warriors and a fascinating look at their methods and actions.

Download or read book The Post Conflict Environment written by Daniel Bertrand Monk and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In case studies focusing on contemporary crises spanning Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, the scholars in this volume examine the dominant prescriptive practices of late neoliberal post-conflict interventions—such as statebuilding, peacebuilding, transitional justice, refugee management, reconstruction, and redevelopment—and contend that the post-conflict environment is in fact created and sustained by this international technocratic paradigm of peacebuilding. Key international stakeholders—from activists to politicians, humanitarian agencies to financial institutions—characterize disparate sites as “weak,” “fragile,” or “failed” states and, as a result, prescribe peacebuilding techniques that paradoxically disable effective management of post-conflict spaces while perpetuating neoliberal political and economic conditions. Treating all efforts to represent post-conflict environments as problematic, the goal becomes understanding the underlying connection between post-conflict conditions and the actions and interventions of peacebuilding technocracies.

Download or read book Resource Wars written by Michael Klare and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2002 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Klare argues that wars in the near future will be fought over the control of dwindling natural resources like oil and water.

Download or read book How de Body written by Teun Voeten and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1998, acclaimed photojournalist Teun Voeten headed to Sierra Leone for what he thought would be a standard assignment on the child soldiers there. But the cease-fire ended just as he arrived, and the clash between the military junta and the West African peace-keeping troops forced him to hide in the bush from rebels who were intent on killing him. How de Body? ("how are you?" in Sierra Leone's Creole English) is a dramatic account of the conflict that has been raging in the country for nearly a decade-and how Voeten nearly became a casualty of it. Accessible and conversational, it's a look into the dangerous diamond trade that fuels the conflict, the legacy of war practices such as forced amputations, the tragic use of child soldiers, and more. The book is also a tribute to the people who never make the headlines: Eddy Smith, a BBC correspondent who eventually helps Voeten escape; Alfred Kanu, a school principal who risks his life to keep his students and teachers going amidst the bullets and raids; and Padre Victor, who runs a safe haven for ex-child soldiers; among others. Featuring Voeten's stunning black-and-white photos from his multiple trips to the conflict area, How de Body? is a crucial testament to a relatively unknown tragedy.

Download or read book An Introduction to Global Studies written by Patricia J. Campbell and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-13 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking an interdisciplinary approach, An Introduction to Global Studies presents readers with a solid introduction to the complex, interconnected forces and issues confronting today's globalized world. Introduces readers to major theories, key terms, concepts, and notable theorists Equips readers with the basic knowledge and conceptual tools necessary for thinking critically about the complex issues facing the global community Includes a variety of supplemental features to facilitate learning and enhance readers' understanding of the material

Download or read book The Dark of the Sun written by Wilbur Smith and published by Bonnier Publishing Fiction Ltd.. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An action-packed thriller by global sensation, Wilbur Smith. 'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times 'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror The highest prize comes at the highest price... Captain Bruce Curry has a simple enough mission: to lead his mercenary soldiers to rescue a town cut off by rebel fighting in the Belgian Congo. But events quickly take a turn for the worse as it becomes clear that the town's diamond supplies are the real focus of the mission. And where there is treasure, danger always seems to follow. It isn't long before Curry finds something even more valuable than diamonds in the town. Something he'll do anything to protect. And soon he discovers that his most deadly enemies might be those closest to him . . .

Download or read book Cinema and Unconventional Warfare in the Twentieth Century written by Paul B. Rich and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-23 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cinematic representations of unconventional warfare have received sporadic attention to date. However, this pattern has now begun to change with the rise of insurgency and counter-insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the growing importance of jihadist terrorism in the wake of 9/11. This ground-breaking study provides a much-needed examination of global unconventional warfare in 20th-century filmmaking, with case studies from the United States, Britain, Ireland, France, Italy and Israel. Paul B. Rich examines Hollywood's treatment of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in the United States; British post-colonial insurgencies in Malaya and Kenya and British special operations in the Second World War; the Irish conflict before and during the Troubles; French filmmaking and the reluctance to deal with the bitter war in Algeria in the 1950s; Italian neorealism and its impact on films dealing with urban insurgency by Roberto Rossellini, Nanni Loy and Gillo Pontecorvo, and Israel and the upsurge of Palestinian terrorism. Whilst only a small number of films on these conflicts have been able to rise above stereotyping insurgents and terrorists - in some cases due to a pattern of screen orientalism - Cinema and Unconventional Warfare in the Twentieth Century stresses the positive political gains to be derived from humanizing terrorists and terrorists movements, especially in the context of modern jihadist terrorism. This is essential reading for academics, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates interested in 20th-century military history, politics and international relations, and film studies.