During the Asia-Pacific War; the Japanese military forced hundreds of thousands of women across Asia into "comfort stations" where they were repeatedly raped and tortured. Japanese imperial forces claimed they recruited women to join these stations in order to prevent the mass rape of local women and the spread of venereal disease among soldiers. In reality; these women were kidnapped and coerced into sexual slavery. Comfort stations institutionalized rape; and these "comfort women" were subjected to atrocities that have only recently become the subject of international debate.Chinese Comfort Women: Testimonies from Imperial Japan's Sex Slaves features the personal narratives of twelve women forced into sexual slavery when the Japanese military occupied their hometowns. Beginning with their prewar lives and continuing through their enslavement to their postwar struggles for justice; these interviews reveal that the prolonged suffering of the comfort station survivors was not contained to wartime atrocities but was rather a lifelong condition resulting from various social; political; and cultural factors. In addition; their stories bring to light several previously hidden aspects of the comfort women system: the ransoms the occupation army forced the victims' families to pay; the various types of improvised comfort stations set up by small military units throughout the battle zones and occupied regions; and the sheer scope of the military sexual slavery-much larger than previously assumed. The personal narratives of these survivors combined with the testimonies of witnesses; investigative reports; and local histories also reveal a correlation between the proliferation of the comfort stations and the progression of Japan's military offensive.The first English-language account of its kind; Chinese Comfort Women exposes the full extent of the injustices suffered by these women and the conditions that caused them.
#711595 in Books Thomas Rid 2013-09-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 5.90 x 1.00 x 8.60l; 1.04 #File Name: 0199330638218 pagesCyber War Will Not Take Place
Review
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful. Not a book for the serious bookshelfBy LeRoy LuginbillThis book gives me hope. I will follow the example; do a lot of research on a topic with which I have no experience; publish it; and hopefully make enough money to pay off my wife’s Sears card. The interest rate is killing me!Dr. Rid’s book provides many interesting stories about computer attacks and provides a slant on them that supports his thesis that a Cyber 9/11 will not happen. He also writes for pages and pages about topics unrelated to Cyber and though his command of the English language is impressive; more correctly; magniloquent; those pages still do not relate to Cyber.Why does everybody have to pick on the U.S. Air Force? It’s because we mock what we don’t understand. A lack of understanding and misguided assertions are common themes for this book. Dr. Rid cites over 200 sources in this 174 page thesis making me wonder if he had any original thought based on his experience; so I did a little research. Dr. Rid is a Professor who teaches wartime studies though I could not find evidence of him ever serving his country. I could also find no information on his Cyber or even IT background (yes; there is a difference); making it clear that he lacks the credentials to write on this topic.Dr. Rid asserts that Cyber is non-lethal; therefore Cyber war will not take place. His assertion can be discredited with three letters: UAV. Here we have a flying computer with weapons that is flown through the Internet. I would say that UAVs are most certainly lethal and they are flown from thousands of miles away through Cyberspace. Yes; the U.S. Air Force was right: Cyberspace is actually a fifth domain.I retired from the U.S. Air Force and also the U.S. Civil Service; working in Cybersecurity for the past eleven years; and IT for sixteen years before that; so I found this book to be doubly offensive. This book is certainly not one that should be taught in schools even if only for Dr. Rid’s lack of credentials on the subject of Cyber. He did a lot of research and found books and articles freely available on the Internet; but only those that supported his assertion. In one case; he could not find a definition for “weapon†that supported his thesis so he made one up! How cheesy is that?Dr. Rid is highly educated in wartime studies but he avoided any tie that would discredit his assertion. In his book he talks about how the Israeli’s used cyber to neutralize a Syrian radar site so they could safely fly past and bomb a nuclear reactor construction site. He states that this cyber intrusion helped the physical battle but because it was not lethal then it was not cyber warfare. The objective of war is not to kill people; it is to achieve a goal. In this case the goal was to bomb a construction site and the Israeli’s did it without the loss of life – bonus; and goal achieved! Dr. Rid should know this tenet of warfare.My notes in the columns of the book say many times that Dr. Rid is stuck in the physical world and needs to open his mind. He cites people from centuries ago and falsely relates their thoughts to the cyber world. He even talked about Adam and Eve…really? To prepare for and win a Cyber war we need people who can think beyond the past and the physical and into the virtual; studying the “what ifâ€. Dr. Rid is not one of those people. I will put the pages of this book to good use and level my uneven dining table – they are both equally annoying.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Don't waste your time.By MikeA bunch of news clippings supporting a theory that doesn't mean anything. I strongly suggest you find a different book if you are interested in cyber.1 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Indispensable for Strategist and Security Practitioner AlikeBy The Desert FlyDr. Rid's book is a breath - nay; a desperate gasp - of fresh air in an overwhelming sea of blather from self-professed experts who all too often lack expertise in warfare and strategy; information security; or both.I hold a master's degree in Strategy; and have worked in information ("cyber") security for a number of years. I first heard Dr. Rid interviewed for King's College London's War Studies Podcast; had been eager to read his book; and finally invested the time to do. I was not disappointed. His arguments are many and varied; but from my perspective they boiled down to two main concepts. First: the definitions of war and warfare defined by Carl von Clausewitz are still the best framework for understanding either concept; and because "cyberwar"/information security lacks a number of key commonalities with either; the resulting martial language used to discuss the security of information technology is imprecise and counter-productive. Second: "cyber security" is more productively considered through the conceptual frameworks of sabotage; espionage; and subversion than through the conceptual frameworks of war and warfare in which it is commonly discussed.At no point does Dr. Rid argue against the dangers posed by vulnerabilities in international data networks - in fact; his case studies and observations make precisely the opposite case. However; he very adeptly disassembles the common martial rhetoric used to discuss the topic; and provides cogent arguments; observations; and case studies to wrap it all up. The book will be more accessible to those who are familiar with either military topics; information security; or both; but Dr. Rid does a reasonably good job of staying out of the realm of technobabble in order to make the book comprehensible to most readers.If there's one flaw to Dr. Rid's argument; it may be a lack of imagination: it's dangerous to presume what technology will or won't be able to do in ten; fifteen; twenty; fifty years. However; even this criticism is muted by his careful discussion of what is or isn't likely to happen; rather than what will absolutely happen; and his skepticism is still more credible than many of the alarmist predictions from others. Given the continuing debate over the attribution of the recent Sony hack; Dr. Rid's book (and particularly its penultimate chapter) seem prescient.For anyone interested in the future of warfare; or in information security; Dr. Rid's book is a must-read.
