Cold Skies

From the award-winning and #1 bestselling author of Sufferance and Indians on Vacation When a body is found in an airport rental car, Thumps DreadfulWater learns that the deceased was developing a revolutionary technology. The technology is new, but could it be so valuable that someone would kill for it? Thumps DreadfulWater has finally found some peace and quiet. His past as a California cop now far behind him, he’s living out his retirement as a fine-arts photographer in the small town of Chinook. His health isn’t great, and he could use a new stove, but as long as he’s got his cat and a halfway decent plate of eggs, life is good. All of that changes when a body turns up on the eve of a major water conference and the understaffed sheriff’s department turns to Thumps for help. Thumps wants none of it, but even he is intrigued when he learns that the deceased was developing a new technology that could revolutionize water and oil drilling . . . and that could also lose some very powerful people a lot of money. As strangers begin to pour into Chinook for the conference, Thumps finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into a conflict between secretive players who will not hesitate to kill to get what they want.

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, international relations across the globe were dominated by the Cold War. From 1949 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, US and Soviet strategic forces were deployed across the Arctic Ocean in North America and Northern Russia, while the best-equipped armed forces that the world had ever seen faced each other directly across the 'Iron Curtain' in Europe. In Cold War Skies examines the air power of the major powers both at a strategic and at a tactical level throughout the 40 years of the Cold War. In this fascinating book, acclaimed historian Michael Napier looks at each decade of the war in turn, examining the deployment of strategic offensive and defensive forces in North America and Northern Russia as well as the situation in Europe. He details the strategic forces and land-based tactical aircraft used by the air forces of the USA, USSR, NATO, Warsaw Pact countries and the European non-aligned nations. He also describes the aircraft types in the context of the units that operated them and the roles in which they were used. The text is supported by a wide range of first-hand accounts of operational flying during the Cold War, as well as numerous high-quality images.

The emotional and deeply spiritual conclusion to Book 1. This is an epic Christian love story to rival that of Romeo and Juliet. A mountain man (Shane McQuaid) found the love of his life (Becky) in a Ute village and with the grace and blessing of God, marries her. This second book begins where book 1 left off as they leave the Indian village that has been Beckys home for many years. The newlyweds set out on a dangerous journey to a cabin on the slopes of Buffalo Peaks. Shane hasnt seen his folks for over two years and they think he is dead. He wants to stop by the ranch and see them on the way to Buffalo Peaks. The threat continues as evil men seek to own the horse Shane rides and will do anything to possess this magical mare. They succeed in kidnapping Becky and are on their way to Denver where they will turn her over to the head of The Syndicate, Lou Blonger. He will trade her for the horse or sell her into slavery; whichever will make him the most money. He would also kill Shane, take the horse and keep Becky if that is an option. He is the personification of evil. The setting for this magnificent story is central Colorado in the latter half of the 1800s before law and order was established and before the railroads brought politicians, bankers, businessmen, lawyers and hoards of people that will eventually be the beginning of the end of the American West. Along the way there are other exciting tributaries to the main plot such as an unimaginable flash flood, tales of survival, death, western justice, supernatural healing, humor, hot springs, other mountain men, a rancher who has no use for politicians or lawyers, fur trappers, bandits, preachers, a dog with near human qualities, cruelty, loneliness, unmitigated happiness and more. There is even an improbable chess game. This book was written by a devout Christian for other Christian believers but will be an unforgettable read for anyone who likes to see good triumph over evil. This book will bring tears to your eyes; it will make your heart sing! This love story is painted against the backdrop of the awesome grandeur that is the Rocky Mountains. The author describes in great detail the feeling of standing on top of a 14,000-foot mountain to look down on eagles in flight. There is so much more to this book than can be described on one page. If you want a book you will cherish and be proud to give to a friend; pick this one up and read it. You will enjoy reading it more than once. It would make a movie the likes of which only comes along once in a lifetime.

This book recounts and analyzes the history of one of the best-kept diplomatic and security secrets of the last half-century—the Open Skies Treaty: a treaty that allows the U.S., the Russian Federation, and over 30 other signatories to fly unarmed reconnaissance aircraft over one another's territory. First proposed by President Eisenhower in 1955, shelved by succeeding administrations, re-launched by President George H. W. Bush in 1989, and finally ratified in 2002, the Treaty has been one of the most important security instruments of the 21st century—with over 1,000 flights logged to date providing confidence for the governments, intelligence communities, and militaries of former and potential adversaries. Written by a professor and former diplomat who was deeply involved in the negotiations of the Open Skies Treaty from 1989 to 1995, this book is a meticulous work of political history that explores how Open Skies affected, and was affected by, the extraordinary times of its negotiation—during which the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union collapsed. But it is also a potential blueprint for future applications of the Open Skies concept by providing insights into the role that cooperative aerial monitoring can play in helping to transform other difficult relationships around the world. As such it will serve as a negotiation handbook for diplomats, bureaucrats, and politicians and as a case-study textbook for IR students and students of diplomacy.

After the end of the Second World War, Bulgaria fell in total dependency upon the Soviet Union as a direct result of the 1944 Yalta agreement on the 'spheres of influence' division of Europe. The Bulgarian Air Force was radically reformed in the Soviet style and rapidly re-equipped with huge numbers of front-line aircraft.The strengthening of the Bulgarian air arm became a high priority as the Cold War in the Balkans gathered speed, and small incidents near the southern and western borders of the country began to occur with increasing frequency. The extensive 'Sovietisation' of the Bulgarian air arm led to the eventual change of its official title in late 1949, becoming identical to its Soviet counterpart, the Voennovazdushni Sily (VVS), featuring a structure identical to that of a Soviet front-line air army.In April 1951, the Bulgarian Air Force entered the jet era with the delivery of the first batch of Yak-23 fighters, followed not after long by the MiG-15.The hot period of the Cold War in the early and mid-1950s saw frequent night overflights by US aircraft ferrying CIA teams to be delivered by parachute to Bulgarian territory, and often to Romania and the southern parts of the Soviet Union.This tense situation required a constant high alert state, but the Bulgarian jet fighters and anti-aircraft artillery proved largely unsuccessful in countering the night intrusions. They were more successful, however, in countering the flights of high-altitude balloons with photo reconnaissance equipment launched by the US intelligence in an effort to gather information on the countries behind the Iron Curtain.The only occasion of a foreign aircraft being shot down was El Al Flight 402, a Super Constellation on a regular passenger flight between London to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Istanbul. The ill-fated airliner, known as one of the greatest victims of the Cold War tensions, nervousness and distrust, was attacked by Bulgarian MiG-15 fighters on 27 June 1955 after it erroneously strayed off course into Bulgarian territory, killing all 58 people onboard.The formation of the Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact Treaty Organisation on May 14, 1956 heralded the beginning of a new era in the VVS' development. As one of the most enthusiastic Warsaw Pact members, Bulgaria was readily supplied with huge numbers of combat jets, anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missile systems and early warning radars in an effort to boost up the pact's southern flank defence.