In February 1979, China launched a full scale attack on Vietnam bringing to the surface the deep tension between the two socialist neighbours. The importance of the resultant war is often overlooked. Millions of people throughout the region were affected, and the frictions that remain in the wake of the war threaten the prospects for peace not only in Southeast Asia, but also the whole Asia-Pacific region as well. This is a full scale examination of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War - the events that led to it, the Cold War aftermath, and the implications for the region and beyond.
When West leaves his bedroom window open, little did he know his scent was luring the most ancient of species. It was a scent that the reptile had searched for its whole life. Through this window came Ral, the tiny leader and oracle of the Dragons of Asgard. This was a dragon clan that had gone unnoticed on Earth for thousands of years, awaiting the one called Zod, who was predicted to rise up and fight for the Dragons of Asgard, freeing them from their enemies grasps forever. Ral reveals to West that his clan of dragons will soon die out, because the Golden One, a massive golden dragon that awoke from its thousand year sleep, has begun to hunt them down, devouring their flesh and quenching its thirst with their blood to gain the tiny dragons unique powers. Ral speaks of a ship that was sent, but never arrived, which was to rescue the tiny dragon clan. When West and Michelle hear about a UFO crash that many eyewitnesses had seen over the city of Needles, California, they quickly put two and two together. West and his two friends decide that the only way to save the tiny dragons is to get their ship back and send them home. Believing the UFO to have been taken to a secret military base nearby, West borrows his fathers classic 68 Corvette and they go on a road trip to Area S4, 13.5 miles southwest of Area 51. This sci-fi/fantasy novel is based on a true UFO crash that took place on May 14, 2008 in Needles, California and can be read in a supplement at the end of this book.
Bad girls, big dragons! An eclectic band of female adventures must come together to save the world from the primal dragons. DRAGON APOCALYPSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, gathers all four novels of the critically acclaimed series by James Maxey, author of the bestselling BITTERWOOD series. It also includes the novella GREATSHADOW: ORIGINS, the story that provided the inspiration for the novels.
Dying isn’t an option. I’ve survived a kidnapping and now I’m on the run from the Knights of the Dragon who want my gift. I’m Abigail Owens and I can sense gemstones. There’s nothing a dragon loves more than treasure. But when I find a beautiful stone at a tiny shop in Moscow, I have no idea it’s a drakon tear, or that I’ve just put myself in the middle of a war between the Knights and a Drakon. I guess I’m just lucky like that. The only person I trust even a little is Vasili Zima, which is weird since I’m not sure if he wants to kill me or protect me. I’m drawn to him in a way I hadn’t thought possible, and he feels the same way, or he wouldn’t be risking his life to help me. He’s wanted by the bad guys just as much as I am, and staying with me, well, there’s a hundred percent chance I’m about to get us both killed. But I will not be going down without a fight. The Blood of the Drakon series is best enjoyed in order Reading Order: Book #1: Drakon’s Promise Book #2: Drakon’s Prey Book #3: Drakon's Plunder Book #4: Drakon's Past Book #5: Drakon Unchained Book #6: Drakon’s Tear Book #7: Drakon's Knight
Some will be shocked to find out that the United States and Ho Chi Minh, our nemesis for much of the Vietnam War, were once allies. Indeed, during the last year of World War II, American spies in Indochina found themselves working closely with Ho Chi Minh and other anti-colonial factions-compelled by circumstances to fight together against the Japanese. Dixee Bartholomew-Feis reveals how this relationship emerged and operated and how it impacted Vietnam's struggle for independence. The men of General William Donovan's newly-formed Office of Strategic Services closely collaborated with communist groups in both Europe and Asia against the Axis enemies. In Vietnam, this meant that OSS officers worked with Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh, whose ultimate aim was to rid the region of all imperialist powers, not just the Japanese. Ho, for his part, did whatever he could to encourage the OSS's negative view of the French, who were desperate to regain their colony. Revealing details not previously known about their covert operations, Bartholomew-Feis chronicles the exploits of these allies as they developed their network of informants, sabotaged the Japanese occupation's infrastructure, conducted guerrilla operations, and searched for downed American fliers and Allied POWs. Although the OSS did not bring Ho Chi Minh to power, Bartholomew-Feis shows that its apparent support for the Viet Minh played a significant symbolic role in helping them fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Japan's surrender. Her study also hints that, had America continued to champion the anti-colonials and their quest for independence, rather than caving in to the French, we might have been spared our long and very lethal war in Vietnam. Based partly on interviews with surviving OSS agents who served in Vietnam, Bartholomew-Feis's engaging narrative and compelling insights speak to the yearnings of an oppressed people-and remind us that history does indeed make strange bedfellows.
This book is among the few to develop in detail the proposition that international law on the subject of interstate force is better derived from practice than from treaties. Mark Weisburd assembles here a broad body of evidence to support practice-based rules of law on the subject of force. Analyses of a particular use of force by a state against another state generally begin with the language of the Charter of the United Nations. This approach is seriously flawed, argues Weisburd. States do not, in fact, behave as the Charter requires. If the legal rule regulating the use of force is the rule of the Charter, then law is nearly irrelevant to the interstate use of force. However, treaties like the Charter are not the only source of public international law. Customary law, too, is binding on states. If state behavior can be shown to conform generally to what amount to tacit rules on the use of force, and if states generally enforce such rules against other states, then the resulting pattern of practice strongly supports the argument that the use of force is affected by law at a very practical level. This work aims to demonstrate that such patterns exist and to explain their content. Weisburd discusses over one hundred interstate conflicts that took place from 1945 through 1991. He focuses on the behavior of the states using force and on the reaction of third parties to the use of force. He concentrates upon state practice rather than upon treaty law and does not assume a priori that any particular policy goal can be attributed to the international legal system, proceeding instead on the assumption that the system's goals can be determined only by examining the workings of the system.
There was righteousness in the heaven and earth, and it was all in the shape of a hodgepodge. The bottom part was a river, while the top part was a sun. In the human world, one could live freely.With a righteous heart, there was no difference between a region, a gender, or a status.His name was Nan Feng, and he had crawled out from the pile of dead to be reborn.Uninhibited, but not losing the truth, with action to open up a different path for themselves, with the ability to walk out of a colorful life.The story began with the Redbud Token ...Book Collection: Redbud Order (195782611)
Thoroughly revised to include 25 conflicts not covered in the previous edition, as well as expanded and updated information on previous coverage, this illustrated reference presents descriptions and analyses of more than 170 significant post-World War II conflicts around the globe. Organized by region for ease of access, "Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II, Second Edition" provides clear, in-depth explanations of events not covered in such detail in any other reference source. Including more than 180 detailed maps and 150 photos, the set highlights the conflicts that dominate today's headlines and the events that changed the course of late twentieth-century history.
