36 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Edited and translated for the first time, No Use of Force is Batmönkh’s own account of his attempt to balance what was best for his country against the pressures generated by Gorbachev’s reforms in Moscow and the collapse of the Soviet empire. It offers a rare glimpse into the perspective of the leadership of a Soviet satellite state in the closing days of the Cold War. Michael Allen Lake is the son of retired Foreign Service Officer Joseph E. Lake. He was born in Taiwan and raised in Nigeria, Bulgaria, and Northern Virginia. He worked for one year at U.S. Embassy Ulaanbaatar when his father was the first resident ambassador to Mongolia. Berlin: A Spy’s Guide to Its Cold War History in Story and Image James Stejskal, Double Dagger Books, 2025, $29.99/paperback, e-book available, 172 pages. Divided, occupied, and deeply contested, post-WWII Berlin became home to the world’s most elite intelligence operatives. American, Soviet, British, French, and East and West German services turned the city into a vast chessboard of espionage, deception, and covert operations. In Berlin, former Green Beret and intelligence officer James Stejskal delivers a gripping, photo-rich guide to the key players, locations, missions, and betrayals that defined Cold War Berlin. Part travelogue, part historical dossier, this book is your gateway to understanding how the Cold War was fought—and why Berlin remains the most spy-saturated city on earth. James Stejskal is a military historian and author of 13 books. He served in the U.S. Army and in the CIA. He has been married to Ambassador (ret.) Wanda Nesbitt since 1997; the couple lived and served in Zaire, Rwanda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, and Namibia. Son Tay 1970: The Operation Ivory Coast POW Rescue Mission Justin W. Williamson, Osprey Publishing, 2024, $23.00/paperback, e-book available, 80 pages. Son Tay 1970 details the planning, preparation, execution, and aftermath of the heroic attempt by U.S. Special Forces to rescue 61 American POWs held in Son Tay, Vietnam, just 23 miles from Hanoi, in November 1970. The raid involved dozens of U.S. Army and Air Force aircraft and helicopters. To draw North Vietnamese attention away from the mission, the U.S. Navy conducted the largest air operation of the war. In the ensuing battle, U.S. raiders engaged in close combat with North Vietnamese and Chinese forces, while aircraft provided close air support, bridge demolition, air defenses, and enemy ground forces. The mission was widely hailed as an overwhelming success except for one problem: The POWs were not there. Justin Williamson has been in the Foreign Service for 18 years and has served in Mexico, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Spain, and Fiji. POLICY & ISSUES Ukraine: Putin’s War for Russia’s “Near Abroad” John J. Maresca with Ida Manton, ibidem Press, 2024, $23.00/ paperback, e-book available, 210 pages. During a 28-year Foreign Service career, John Maresca served in numerous high-level positions across Europe and played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War following the collapse of the USSR. In Ukraine, he and Ida Manton offer a firsthand account of the long set of negotiations that culminated in Paris in 1990. They recount the past situation in the region, explaining how it led to today’s war in Ukraine. John Maresca joined the Foreign Service in 1966. He served as chief of staff for two secretaries general of NATO and began negotiating with the USSR in Helsinki in 1972. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from 1989 to 1992. After serving as U.S. special envoy to the newly independent states, he became a roving American conflict mediator, seeking to resolve local conflicts in Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh, and regions of former Yugoslavia before retiring in 1994. Ida Manton is a scholar and lecturer in international relations and diplomacy, with a focus on negotiations and conflict resolution. She has coordinated OSCE’s oral history project, through which negotiators share their recollections of how milestone agreements were created.
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