The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a British research institute in the area of international affairs. Since 1997 its headquarters have been Arundel House in England; the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked IISS as the tenth-best think tank worldwide and the second-best Defense and National Security think tank globally, while Transparify ranked it third-largest UK think tank by expenditure, but gave it its lowest rating,'deceptive', on funding transparency. The current Director-General and Chief Executive is John Chipman; the Chairman of the Council is a former Director. Sir Michael Howard, the British military historian, is President Emeritus. Sir Michael founded the institute together with the British Labour M. P. Denis Healey and journalist Alastair Buchan; the IISS describes itself as a: primary source of accurate, objective information on international strategic issues for politicians and diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business, the military, defence commentators, journalists and the informed public.

The Institute owes no allegiance to any political or other organisation. The Institute claims 2,500 individual members and 450 corporate and institutional members from more than 100 countries. Based in London, the IISS is both a private company limited by guarantee in UK law and a registered charity, it has branches in Washington, D. C. and in Singapore, with charitable status in each jurisdiction, in Manama, Bahrain. The Institute's work is built on the activities of its 11 research programmes. Dozens of experts and consulting experts contribute to the institute's studies. Research includes work under seven thematic programmes: Armed Conflict. There are four active regional security programmes: Asia-Pacific. Notable former employees include HR McMaster, United States National Security Advisor, diplomat Rose Gottemoeller Deputy Secretary General of NATO. Orwell Prize-winning academic and journalist Anatol Lieven worked at the Institute, as did James Steinberg, former US Deputy Secretary of State.

The institute has worked with governments, defence ministries and global organisations including NATO and the European Union. The IISS publishes an annual assessment of nations' military capabilities. Since 2017 it has published Military Balance+, an online database on the same subject. Other publications include the Armed Conflict Database. Since its inception the Institute has published the Adelphi series of books, covering topical strategic issues. Recent editions have covered subjects such as Chinese cyber power, conflict in Ukraine, negotiating with armed groups and the Iraq War. In 2011 the Institute published the FARC files—documents captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that shed light on the movement's inner workings, it publishes one-off briefing papers and dossiers. Since 2002 the Institute has hosted the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a conference on Asia–Pacific security issues featuring heads of state, defense ministers and security experts from the region and around the world.

In 2017 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "The Shangri-La Dialogue has grown to become one of the world's great strategic gatherings." The 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index ranked the Shangri-La Dialogue as the best Think tank conference worldwide. The annual IISS Manama Dialogue, held in the Kingdom of Bahrain, sees global heads of state and high-ranking ministers discuss defense and political issues related to the Middle East. In 2015 Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi described the dialogue as a "major regional event focusing on regional security issues and everything that impacts upon them". In recent years the Institute has hosted smaller conferences including the Bahrain Bay Forum and NATO transformation seminar, holds debates and panel discussions at its offices around the world. Founded in 1958, with its original focus nuclear deterrence and arms control, the IISS has strong establishment links, with former US and British government officials among its members; the institute claims that it "was hugely influential in setting the intellectual structures for managing the Cold War."

Raymond L. Garthoff wrote in 2004: In 1959 the ISS issued a pamphlet on the "military balance" between the Soviet Union and NATO, it was replete with errors, having been put together from published sources of varying quality. I called this to the attention of Alastair Buchan, the director of the institute, quite disturbed. A new version was issued in November 1960, much more correct and accurate, though still not up to the latest intelligence. Again, I called this to Buchan's attention, he undertook to check out with British authorities what became annual issuances; the second issue appeared under the title "The Communist Bloc and the Free World: The Military Balance 1960". In 2016, The Guardian reported that IISS "has been accused of jeopardising its independence after leaked documents showed it has secretly received £25m from the Bahraini royal family", noting that leaked "documents reveal that IISS and Bahrain's rulers agreed to keep the latter'

Charles Forelle is an American journalist who covers business for The Wall Street Journal. He graduated from Phillips Academy, from Yale University in 2002, he was managing editor of the Yale Daily News, he interned at The Miami Herald. He is married and lived in Boston, worked in Brussels, he now works in London for the Journal, where he covers financial markets, working alongside David Enrich. The work of Forelle and four other WSJ staff members earned The Wall Street Journal the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service; the award described the series as a "creative and comprehensive probe into backdated stock options for business executives that triggered investigations, the ouster of top officials and widespread change in corporate America". The lead articles in the series submitted for the prize were published March 18, 2006. 2007 Michael Kelly Award finalist 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, The Wall Street Journal 2007 Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers Philip Meyer Award for Precision Journalism 2006 George Polk Award for business reporting National Headliner Award for business news coverage Gilbert and Ursula Farfel Prize for Investigative Journalism Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting SABEW Business Journalist of the Year.

The Bob Consdidine award for Best newspaper or news service interpretation of international affairs

Sargent is a surname, it has been used as a given name. It is of early medieval English and Old French origin, first used in the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain, is a name for a servant; the name derives from the Middle English, Old French "sergent", from the Latin "serviens", present participle of "servire", to serve. The name or word formed several specific meanings. For example, a technical term for a tenant by military service below the rank of a knight, as the name for any of administrative and legal officials in different districts. Today, the surname has many variant spellings ranging from Sargant and Seargeant to Sergant and Sergeaunt. Notable people with the name include: Alvin Sargent, American screenwriter Carl Sargent, British author of role-playing games Dick Sargent, American actor known for his role in Bewitched Edward Sargent, American Architect Frances Sargent Osgood, American poet Henry Sargent, American painter and soldier Herb Sargent, American television writer and producer John Singer Sargent, portrait artist Joseph Sargent, American film director Judith Sargent Murray, American women's rights advocate, playwright and letter writer Kenny Sargent, American musician and disc jockey Lia Sargent, American voice actress Malcolm Sargent, British conductor and composer Margaret Holland Sargent, American portrait artist Martin Sargent, American television personality Pamela Sargent, American science fiction writer Robert F. Sargent, American war photographer Aaron A. Sargent American journalist, lawyer and diplomat Eddie Sargent, Canadian politician Francis W. Sargent, American politician John Sargent, British Member of Parliament for West Looe and Midhurst John Sargent, British Member of Parliament for Seaford and Queenborough John Sargent, Canadian merchant and politician John Sargent, American politician Trevor Sargent, Irish politician Winthrop Sargent, American politician Anneila Sargent, Scottish–American astronomer Bernice Weldon Sargent, Canadian physicist Charles Sprague Sargent, American botanist Roger Sargent, chemical engineer Thomas J. Sargent, American economist Wallace L. W. Sargent, British-American astronomer Winifred Sargent, English mathematician John Sargent, Loyalist officer during the American Revolutionary War John Neptune Sargent, commander of British troops in China, Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements Paul Dudley Sargent and soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War Ruppert L. Sargent, American soldier April Sargent, American figure skater Bill Sargent, American football coach Danyelle Sargent, American sports television reporter Gary Sargent, Native American Hockey Player George Sargent, English golfer James Sargent, American Hockey Player Mark Sargent, Australian rugby league footballer Mitchell Sargent, Australian rugby league footballer Murray Sargent, Australian cricketer Alonzo Sargent, American locomotive engineer Ben Sargent, American editorial cartoonist C. B. R. Sargent, British educator and clergyman Charlie Sargent, British criminal Daniel Wycliffe Sargent, British explorer David Sargent, American lawyer and academic Dwight E. Sargent, American journalist Frank P. Sargent, American trade union functionary George Sargent, Australian businessman Henry Winthrop Sargent, American landscape gardener Irene Sargent, American art historian John G. Sargent, American lawyer and U.

S. Attorney General John Turner Sargent, American publisher Lucius Manlius Sargent, American author and temperance advocate Lydia Sargent, American feminist Sir Orme Sargent, British diplomat and civil servant Shirley Sargent, American local historian John Sargent, alter ego of the DC Comics character Sargon the Sorcerer c. 1941His grandson David Sargent inherited this alter ego. Sargent Kahanamoku, Native Hawaiian aquatic athlete Robert Sargent Shriver, American politician and activist Sargant Sergeant Sergius

Matthew Henry McCloskey Jr. was a Philadelphia businessman and Democratic fundraiser who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1962 to 1964. McCloskey was born in West Virginia, moved to Philadelphia with his family when he was two years old. At the age of 15 he started working in construction. Buildings by the McCloskey Construction Company include the Rayburn House Office Building and District of Columbia Stadium. McCloskey was an active Democrat and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948. In 1955, he became Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, a role he held until 1961, he is credited with inventing $100-a-plate fundraising dinners. In 1962, McCloskey was appointed ambassador to Ireland by President Kennedy. After confirmation by the Senate, he presented his credentials to Irish leaders on July 19, 1962, had the official title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. In early 1964, it was reported that McCloskey would resign his Ireland post in order to assist with fundraising for that year's presidential election.

Shortly thereafter, his construction firm was named in a lawsuit alleging defective work during construction of a hospital in Boston, in an FBI investigation into the awarding of contracts for District of Columbia Stadium work. His resignation as ambassador became official on June 7, 1964. McCloskey and his wife had six children, including Thomas McCloskey who succeeded his father in running the construction company. McCloskey died in Philadelphia in April 1973. "Back Meeting with the US Ambassador to Ireland, Matthew H. McCloskey, 12:30PM". JFK Library. July 13, 1962. Retrieved April 19, 2017. "Matthew McCloskey, 80, Dies. The New York Times. April 27, 1973. Retrieved April 19, 2017. Matthew McCloskey at Find a Grave

Randall Jarrell jə-REL was an American poet, literary critic, children's author and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate of the United States. Among other honors, Jarrell was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for the years 1947–48. Jarrell was a native of Tennessee, he attended Hume-Fogg High School where he "practiced tennis, starred in some school plays, began his career as a critic with satirical essays in a school magazine." He received his B. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1935. While at Vanderbilt, he edited the student humor magazine The Masquerader, was captain of the tennis team, made Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude, he studied there under Robert Penn Warren. Although all of these Vanderbilt teachers were involved with the conservative Southern Agrarian movement, Jarrell did not become an Agrarian himself. According to Stephanie Burt, "Jarrell—a devotee of Marx and Auden— embraced his teachers' literary stances while rejecting their politics."

He completed his master's degree in English at Vanderbilt in 1937, beginning his thesis on A. E. Housman; when Ransom left Vanderbilt for Kenyon College in Ohio that same year, a number of his loyal students, including Jarrell, followed him to Kenyon. Jarrell taught English at Kenyon for two years, coached tennis, served as the resident faculty member in an undergraduate dormitory that housed future writers Robie Macauley, Peter Taylor, poet Robert Lowell. Lowell and Jarrell remained good peers until Jarrell's death. According to Lowell biographer Paul Mariani, "Jarrell was the first person of own generation genuinely held in awe" due to Jarrell's brilliance and confidence at the age of 23. Jarrell went on to teach at the University of Texas at Austin from 1939 to 1942, where he began to publish criticism and where he met his first wife, Mackie Langham. In 1942 he left the university to join the United States Army Air Forces. According to his obituary, he " as a flying cadet, he became a celestial navigation tower operator, a job title he considered the most poetic in the Air Force."

His early poetry, in particular The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, would principally concern his wartime experiences in the Air Force. The Jarrell obituary goes on to state that "after being discharged from the service he joined the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N. Y. for a year. During his time in New York, he served as the temporary book review editor for The Nation magazine." However, Jarrell was uncomfortable living in the city and "claimed to hate New York's crowds, high cost of living, status-conscious sociability, lack of greenery.". He soon left the city for the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina where, as an associate professor of English, he taught modern poetry and "imaginative writing." Jarrell divorced his first wife and married Mary von Schrader, a young woman whom he met at a summer writer's conference in Colorado, in 1952. They first lived together while Jarrell was teaching for a term at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; the couple settled back in Greensboro with Mary's daughters from her previous marriage.

The couple moved temporarily to Washington D. C. in 1956 when Jarrell served as the consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress for two years, returning to Greensboro and the University of North Carolina after his term ended. Towards the end of his life, in 1963, Stephanie Burt notes: "Randall's behavior began to change. Approaching his fiftieth birthday, he seems to have worried about his advancing age... After President Kennedy was shot, Randall spent days in front of the television weeping. Sad to the point of inertia, Randall sought help from a Cincinnati psychiatrist, who prescribed Elavil." The drug made him manic and in 1965, he was hospitalized and taken off Elavil. At this point, he was no longer manic. Burt states that in April The New York Times published a "viciously condescending" review by Joseph Bennett of Jarrell's most recent book of poems, The Lost World, which said "his work is dated. Soon afterwards, Jarrell returned to the hospital. After leaving the hospital, he stayed at home that summer under his wife's care and returned to teaching at the University of North Carolina that fall.

Near dusk on October 14, 1965, while walking along U. S. highway 15-501 near Chapel Hill, N. C. where he had gone seeking medical treatment, Jarrell was killed. In trying to determine the cause of death, " Mary, the police, the coroner, the state of North Carolina judged his death accidental, a verdict made credible by his apparent improvements in health...and the odd, sidelong manner of the collision. Because Jarrell had been treated for mental illness and a previous suicide attempt, some of the people closest to him were not convinced that his death was accidental and suspected that he might have taken his own life. In a

Believer is an American technical thrash metal band from the late 1980s and early 1990s, that plays a hybrid of thrash and progressive metal. Believer is known for its innovative use of symphonic elements in thrash metal, featuring some of the earliest examples of symphonic metal, their lyrics deal with topics of philosophy and social issues. The two primary members of the band are vocalist/bassist/guitarist Kurt Bachman and drummer Joey Daub, who were joined by several others after their 1989 debut album, Extraction from Mortality; the band was jointly signed to Roadrunner Records, the Christian label R. E. X. Music. According to Allmusic, several mainstream magazines praised the second album Sanity Obscure, they toured Europe with Bolt Thrower the following year. Believer disbanded in 1994. On November 18, 2008, Blabbermouth.net announced Believer's signing with Metal Blade Records. The fourth album titled Gabriel was released on March 17, 2009. An unmastered version of the song "Medwton" premiered on Bam Margera's Radio Bam show on November 17, with the singles "Focused Lethality" and "Stoned" released later.

The album features musicians Rocky Gray of Living Sacrifice and Deron Miller of CKY performing guest guitar solos and Howard Jones contributing guest vocals. Believer was formed in Colebrook, Pennsylvania in 1986 by drummer Joey Daub and vocalist-guitarist Kurt Bachman; the band was joined by David Baddorf. They began playing melodic metal and released the cassette The Return in 1987. Believer changed its style to thrash metal, as the band said: ”We realized that we could write thrash better than we could write anything else”. In high school, the band leader Kurt Bachman met Scott Laird, studying his first year as a music instructor; when Believer was recording the title track for its first studio album, the band asked Laird to compose an orchestral intro for the song. In 1989, Believer was signed to R. E. X. Records which published Believer's first album, Extraction from Mortality; the album was distributed to Christian bookstores but gained popularity for Believer who soon became recognized as one of Christian metal's leading groups.

The song "Not Even One" appeared on Roadrunner Records' compilation At Death's Door in 1990, composed of death metal bands. Writer Jeff Wagner noted that Believer's thrash-leaning sound was intense enough to hang amidst the heavier, more brutal and decidedly non-Christian metal bands on the compilation. With the appearance, Believer entered the general metal scene and was subsequently signed by Roadrunner. In 1990, Howe Kraft was replaced by Wyatt Robertson, Believer recorded its second album titled Sanity Obscure, more technical than its predecessor. Believer continued its co-working with Scott Laird, incorporated more symphonic elements on the song ”Dies Irae.” Scott Laird's sister Julianne Laird Hoge was featured as a soprano on the song. Sanity Obscure features an anti-pollution song titled ”Nonpoint” and an anti-drug song called ”Stop the Madness”, released as a single with the U2 cover ”Like a Song.” Sanity Obscure was first released by R. E. X. Records to Christian market and a year by Roadrunner Records to wider audience.

The album became more popular than Believer's first album, after the release Believer toured with the English deathgrind band Bolt Thrower and the Canadian thrash metal band Sacrifice. Joined by bands Cynic and Pestilence on the label's roster, Roadrunner Records pushed a progressive metal/thrash campaign with the three bands called "The Breed Beyond". Wyatt Robertson and David Baddorf left Believer. Jim Winters joined as bassist and played some guitar parts during the recording sessions. In 1993, Believer released its most technical and ambitious album titled Dimensions. Kurt Bachman had been a guitar player in an industrial metal group called Under Midnight, which influenced some industrial sound effects on Dimensions; the lyrics deal with the philosophical paradoxes and the ponderings of Sigmund Freud, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Ludwig Feuerbach and Jean-Paul Sartre about the existence of God; the symphonic metal suite, ”Trilogy of Knowledge”, divided into three chapters and an intro, is a 20 minute+ epic written around the biblical story of the life of Christ and the knowledge of good and evil.

”Trilogy of Knowledge” once again featured the orchestral compositions of Scott Laird and soprano vocals by Julianne Laird Hoge. During the Dimensions tour, Scott laird played viola. After Dimensions the band went on a hiatus. In 1994, Believer agreed to mutually disband. After disbanding, Bachman went to get his degree, Daub became a Semi-Professional BMX biker, who endorses in Deluxx Bikes, while Winters joined acts such as Starkweather and Earth Crisis. During the following years both Bachman and Daub worked in sound production at their Trauma Studios in Pennsylvania for groups such as Turmoil and Living Sacrifice. Bachman continued in his medical studies, while Daub kept working in the music industry. In the 1990s, Daub began playing drums in a female-fronted progressive metal band called Fountain of Tears. In 2005, Joey Daub informed on his website joeydaub.com that he had begun writing new Believer material with Bachman. This announcement was reported most notably through Blabbermouth.net, which called Believer a "much missed late 80s and early 90s technical thrash metal band."

In an interview, Bachman explained. Daub was working on mixing Fountain of Tears' new album and