The Warlord's Alarm


Book Description

While traveling to an important feast in ancient China, Chuan and his friend Jing Jing devise a water "alarm" clock to make sure their party reaches the emperor's palace before rival warlords. Includes a brief history of water clocks and instructions for making one.




Warlords


Book Description

Warlords are individuals who control small territories within weak states, using a combination of force and patronage. In this book, Kimberly Marten shows why and how warlords undermine state sovereignty. Unlike the feudal lords of a previous era, warlords today are not state-builders. Instead they collude with cost-conscious, corrupt, or frightened state officials to flout and undermine state capacity. They thrive on illegality, relying on private militias for support, and often provoke violent resentment from those who are cut out of their networks. Some act as middlemen for competing states, helping to hollow out their own states from within. Countries ranging from the United States to Russia have repeatedly chosen to ally with warlords, but Marten argues that to do so is a dangerous proposition. Drawing on interviews, documents, local press reports, and in-depth historical analysis, Marten examines warlordism in the Pakistani tribal areas during the twentieth century, in post-Soviet Georgia and the Russian republic of Chechnya, and among Sunni militias in the U.S.-supported Anbar Awakening and Sons of Iraq programs. In each case state leaders (some domestic and others foreign) created, tolerated, actively supported, undermined, or overthrew warlords and their militias. Marten draws lessons from these experiences to generate new arguments about the relationship between states, sovereignty, "local power brokers," and stability and security in the modern world.




Warlords


Book Description

Warlords are individuals who control small territories within weak states, using a combination of force and patronage. In this book, Kimberly Marten shows why and how warlords undermine state sovereignty. Unlike the feudal lords of a previous era, warlords today are not state-builders. Instead they collude with cost-conscious, corrupt, or frightened state officials to flout and undermine state capacity. They thrive on illegality, relying on private militias for support, and often provoke violent resentment from those who are cut out of their networks. Some act as middlemen for competing states, helping to hollow out their own states from within. Countries ranging from the United States to Russia have repeatedly chosen to ally with warlords, but Marten argues that to do so is a dangerous proposition. Drawing on interviews, documents, local press reports, and in-depth historical analysis, Marten examines warlordism in the Pakistani tribal areas during the twentieth century, in post-Soviet Georgia and the Russian republic of Chechnya, and among Sunni militias in the U.S.-supported Anbar Awakening and Sons of Iraq programs. In each case state leaders (some domestic and others foreign) created, tolerated, actively supported, undermined, or overthrew warlords and their militias. Marten draws lessons from these experiences to generate new arguments about the relationship between states, sovereignty, "local power brokers," and stability and security in the modern world.




Warlords, Inc.


Book Description

Combining path-breaking research and analysis from leading political scientists, advisors to heads of state, and award-winning academics, Warlords, Inc. pulls back the curtain on the secretive world of drug cartels and violent insurgencies, revealing their inner workings and implications for a world driven by unrelenting change and growing political uncertainty. These essays show how, as the complexities of modern geopolitical pressures mount, the world's elaborate but fragile political systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to breakdown and deliberate disruption. The authors demonstrate that as infrastructures such as IT networks, global supply chains, and financial markets become increasingly volatile, the stability of entire populations hangs in the balance. Warlords, Inc. traces the evolution of forces that are reshaping the future of the geopolitical landscape: Mexican drug cartels, revolts in the Middle East and Africa, military conflicts in Eastern Europe, the growth of slums and street gangs in India, and the proliferation of cyber-attacks and drone warfare. The contributors demonstrate how the underworld of the global economy thrives, how it disrupts and maintains power, and why, looking toward the future, we should all be paying attention. CONTENTS 1. Of Warlords and Rodeos: What Happens When Nothing Works? 2. Social and Economic Collapse: Lessons from History and Complexity 3. Innovation, Deviation and Development: Warlords and Proto-State Provision 4. Sovereignty, Criminal Insurgency, & Drug Cartels: The Rise of a Post-State Society 5. From Patronage Politics to Predatory States:Crime and Governance in Africa 6. Warlord Governance: Transition Towards, or Coexistence with, the State? 7. 5GW: Into the Heart of Darkness 8. Weaponizing Capitalism: The Naxals of India 9. Mexico's Criminal Organizations: Weakness in Their Complexity, Strength in Their Evolution 10. The Politics of a Post-Climate-Change World: Pyongyang, Puntland, or Portland? 11. Bringing the End of War to the Global Badlands 12. The White Hats: A Multitude of Citizens 13. Beyond Survival: A Short Course in Pioneering Responses to Present (and Future) Crises




The Warlord's Puppeteers


Book Description

While traveling back to their warlord's palace in ancient China, Chuan and the artist to whom he is apprenticed join a troupe of puppeteers and Chuan learns about puppet proportions. Includes instructions for making a simple sock puppet.




Swimming with Warlords


Book Description

The veteran journalist and author of In the Hot Zone and The Things They Cannot Say explores the impact of more than a decade of war on Afghanistan, from the American invasion after 9/11 to today, and offers insights into its future and the possible consequences for the U.S. Kevin Sites made his first trip to Afghanistan in October 2001, staying 100 days to cover the U.S. invasion for NBC News. On his fifth trip to the country in June 2013, Sites retraced that first odyssey, contemplating the significant events of his original trip to explore what, if anything, has changed. He interviewed warlords, ex-Taliban fighters, politicians, women cops and dentists, farmers, drug addicts, international aid workers, diplomats, and military personnel. In Swimming with Warlords, Sites examines Afghanistan today through the prism of those two parallel journeys, exploring that nation’s past and considering its future in light of the drawdown of U.S. troops. As he tells the stories of the people he met—how they have been affected by this conflict that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives—Sites provides a fresh perspective on Afghanistan and America’s role there. Swimming with Warlords contains 30 black-and-white photos throughout.




Warlords of Dust


Book Description

He thought wizards and dragons were the deadliest threat he could face. He was wrong. Like any good mercenary, Riyun Molliro never quits a contract. But his agreement to locate a powerful executive’s daughter presents unexpected challenges, starting with being transported into a pocket dimension created for games. Now he finds himself standing against even more unimaginable enemies—giant robots and powerful creatures awakened from slumber deep underground. But it’s the humans of this wasteland who pose the greatest danger. All Riyun can do is rely on his training and determination to keep him alive. And as time runs out in his search for the young woman, the choices become tougher. No rescue, no money, sure—but the dead can’t spend their payday. Get your copy of the third installment in this action-packed series, and follow the Warlords of Dust.




The Wizard and the Warlord


Book Description

After first being abducted by a grim warlord and then trapped in a war between elves, Sigurd feels his only hope is to somehow discover what powerful magic is contained in the box left to him by his grandmother.




The Warlords of Nin


Book Description

Join Quentin ten years after the events of In The Hall Of The Dragon King, as his duty to the king of Askelon and his love for his home in Dekra are put to the ultimate test. Nin the Immortal eyes Askelon as a new expansion of his kingdom, and as Quentin learns more about the ominous Wolf Star prophecy it becomes clear that the end could be very near. As the newly crowned Dragon King, Quentin must find the courage to rise to the challenge and defend his lands. It has been ten years since Quentin helped Eskevar, the Dragon King, battle the monstrous sorcerer Nimrood.? Since that time, there has been peace in the land of Mensandor.? But everything is changing. An urgent message summons Quentin to Castle Askelon.? The king, who is dying, wishes to name the brave young man his successor.? But first, he sends him on a perilous mission. What Quentin and?his friend Toli, the Jher horseman, discover is not for the cowardly.? The brightening Wolf Star is an omen of impending evil that might herald the beginning of the end of mankind on earth.? It signifies Nin, a fearsome giant of a man who hopes to add Mensandor to his growing empire.? Along with his merciless warlords, they are the fulfillment of a nightmarish prophecy. Can Quentin rise above and bring forth a new age of peace and prosperity? Or will the fate of Askelon fall to Nin. In The Warlords of Nin, readers will find: Christian allegory and themes A sweeping Arthurian styled epic fantasy about hope, faith, and courage Crossover appeal for young adult and adult readers In?The Warlords of Nin, the second book in The Dragon King Trilogy, Stephen R. Lawhead continues the mythical saga that began with?In the Hall of the Dragon King.