"'Western leaders should be aware that when they shake hands with Putin, they shake hands with a murderer.'--Leonid Martyniuk. In Russia, the twenty-first century belongs to Vladimir Putin. His political dominance has lasted two presidential terms, an appointment to prime minister, and a controversial election to a third presidential term. And like the violent tsars and Soviet revolutionaries who came before him, he maintains his grip on power through...

Fouad Ajami offers a detailed historical perspective on the current rebellion in Syria. Focusing on the similarities and differences in skills between former dictator Hafez al-Assad and his successor son, Bashar, Ajami explains how an irresistible force clashed with an immovable object: the regime versus people who conquered fear to challenge a despot of unspeakable cruelty.

"On condition that their stories be kept secret until after their deaths, two key paramilitary leaders on opposite sides of Northern Ireland's troubles spilled the bloody secrets of their long and violent war"--Publisher description.

"The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran was one of the seminal events of our time. It inaugurated more than thirty years of war in the Middle East and fostered an Islamic radicalism that shapes foreign policy in the United States and Europe to this day. Drawing on his lifetime of engagement with Iran, James Buchan explains the history that gave rise to the Revolution, in which Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters displaced the Shah with little difficulty....

"Less than twenty-four months after the hope-filled Arab uprising, the popular movement had morphed into a dystopia of resurgent dictators, failed states, and civil wars. Egypt's epochal transition to democracy ended in a violent military coup. Yemen and Libya collapsed into civil war, while Bahrain erupted in smothering sectarian repression. Syria proved the greatest victim of all, ripped apart by internationally fueled insurgencies and an externally...

Patriocracy: a voice of reason in the age of polarization. Patriocracy is a non-partisan examination of Washington dysfunction. Alan Simpson, Bob Schieffer, Eleanor Clift, Pat Buchanan, Senator Mark Warner and Senator Kent Conrad are just a few of the notable Washington personalities who offer their valuable perspectives. Patriocracy drills down and illustrates the forces that drive a wedge into the middle ground of America and the solutions required...

"In January of 2011, President Bashar al-Assad officially declared Syrian society stable and the government immune to revolt. In the months that followed, and as regimes fell in Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of ordinary Syrians took to the streets calling for an end to Assad's regime. Many have been killed by the bullets of the president's army. In Revolt in Syria, Stephen Starr delves deep into the lives of those affected by the Syrian state over...