{"product_id":"we-want-to-negotiate-the-secret-world-of-kidnapping-hostages-and-ransom-9780999745427","title":"We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom","description":"\u003cb\u003eA gripping exploration of the ethical, legal, and strategic considerations of a bedeviling question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStarting in late 2012, Westerners working in Syria--journalists and aid workers--began disappearing without a trace. A year later the world learned they had been taken hostage by the Islamic State. Throughout 2014, all the Europeans came home, first the Spanish, then the French, then an Italian, a German, and a Dane. In August 2014, the Islamic State began executing the Americans--including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, followed by the British hostages. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoel Simon, who in nearly two decades at the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked on dozens of hostages cases, delves into the heated hostage policy debate. The Europeans paid millions of dollars to a terrorist group to free their hostages. The US and the UK refused to do so, arguing that any ransom would be used to fuel terrorism and would make the crime more attractive, increasing the risk to their citizens. \u003ci\u003eWe Want to Negotiate\u003c\/i\u003e is an exploration of the ethical, legal, and strategic considerations of a bedeviling question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSimon, Joel:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eJoel Simon\u003c\/b\u003e is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to \u003ci\u003eSlate, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. His book \u003ci\u003eThe New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e was published by Columbia University Press in 2014. A graduate of Amherst College and Stanford University, he lives in New York City.","brand":"Columbia Global Reports","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50461826220306,"sku":"9780999745427","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2a6603cb-ae4b-46ee-90c0-f13197fe1425.jpg?v=1730080213","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/we-want-to-negotiate-the-secret-world-of-kidnapping-hostages-and-ransom-9780999745427","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}