Australia has forgotten what keeps it safe. So argues Michael Wesley in this sharp and compelling essay about our place in the world.Southeast Asia is the key to our national security and prosperity. If China dominates the region, as it plans to, Australia will be very vulnerable. So why are we following an American strategy that isolates and alienates us from our neighbours?Wesley argues that the focus on AUKUS and sticking with Trump is a dangerous distraction. Whereas th...

In 2003 Australia conceived, financed and led a Pacific-wide intervention into Solomon Islands to prevent the collapse of that state. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was to remain there for fourteen years, costing over $2 billion and involving thousands of soldiers, police and public servants from Australia and across the Pacific. It was remarkably successful in an age of disastrous interventions. And yet, by the time it was withdrawn, RAMSI had largely vanished ...

For the first time in history, Australia will be uncomfortably close to the designs and demarches of competing great powers. In the years ahead, we will no longer be too small to make a difference. In his book, Wesley points to the key economic and political issues that we need to be considering right now, as a western country geographically and economically tied to Asia, and urgently calls for a renewed public engagement and debate.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is emerging as a vital lynch-pin in China's efforts to establish a maritime and continental zone of influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific interrogates to what extent BRI represents an achievable vision of a China-centric order in Asia and explores its major security implications for the region. The contributions to this volume provide up-to-date analysis of the effect of BRI...

When God Changes A Church is more than a how to book or a blueprint. It is a book of dreams, visions, blessings, travesties, and courage. Above all, it is about one church with an unfathomable faith in a God who always shows up at Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Whenever God changes a church, He begins with the leader. He changes him from the inside out. The role of pastor is pivotal to any real redemptive work that God will ultimately do in the life of a p...

Like a strand of mutating DNA, a deadly conspiracy winds its way through the Alpha Quadrant, even as it stretches across several years of Starfleet history. This special omnibus volume contains the entire bestselling saga-by some of Star Trek's most popular authors:Book One: InfectionJohn Gregory BetancourtDeanna Troi's life is endangered by a mysterious plague that threatens to spread throughout the Federation and beyond!Book Two: VectorsDean Wesley Smit...

In this latest volume of Fiction River, editor Dean Wesley Smith pulls together an eclectic but cohesive group of stories filled with difficult decisions. From a man who must question the line between justice and vengeance to a teenage fixer fighting hypocrisy to a post-apocalyptic survivor’s mission to deliver one last message, each of these stories demonstrates extremely hard choices—and some very real consequences.“The Fiction River series is a wonderful mind-expanding read…”

Life in Burbank during the '60s and '70s was an unparalleled experience. From biking Lucky Busters trail to enjoying movies at the Cornell Theater and shopping at The Akron, Burbankers' choices of entertainment seemed endless. Relive fond memories of dining out at Genio's, the Dip or Santoro's. Recall visits to the Golden Mall before heading home to watch Dark Shadows on television. While some of the local icons may have changed, the spirit has remained the same--and it's waiting to be red...

The Dr. Michael W. Wesley, Sr. Story, Unsung Hero is a story of an extraordinary individual who uses each day to challenge limitations, inspire change, and illuminate the path forward for thousands. He is a pastor, an educator, an influencer who used the incredible power of vision to see what others couldn't see beyond walls. In the process, he was able to break through barriers and build one of the largest churches in Birmingham, Alabama, also revitalized a community. In a city, that had ...

Webster defines "obsession" as an "a persistent disturbing abnormal preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling."Obsessions sometimes include a hobby or collection that has gotten out of hand. Other times an obsession can drive a person to invent something new, cure a disease or attempt to right a great wrong. And at other times, obsessing can send a person down a dark and disturbing path.Obsessions can be healthy; can be born out of love and t...

Moral injury has developed in earnest since 2009 within psychology and military studies, especially through work with veterans of the U.S. military’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A major part of this work is the attempt to identify means of healing, recovery, and repair for those morally injured by their experiences in combat (or similar situations). What this volume does is to provide insight into the identification of moral injury, the development of the notion, attempts to work with th...

International security is an ambiguous concept – it has many meanings to many people. Without an idea of how the world works, or how security is defined and achieved, it is impossible to create effective policies to provide security. This textbook clarifies the concept of security, the debates around it, how it is defined, and how it is pursued. Tracking scholarly approaches within security studies against empirical developments in international affairs, historical and contemporary securit...