Benefits of Mentoring Programs in Schools Research Paper

Benefits of Mentoring Programs in Schools - Research Paper Example This has an overall effect of simplifying the staff’s duty of establishing and monitoring relationships among children in elementary schools (Rose 1). Moreover, mentoring programs in the elementary schools allows mentors to advocate on the children’s behalf since they understand them (Rhodes 1). Mentoring programs influence the status of the children by deriving an understanding on the mentee and enhancing social standing (Rhodes 1). These programs also foster academic focus by presenting academic issues to the forefront and offer a natural context for mentors to address school and learning issues (Rhodes 2). Moreover, most mentors in the mentoring programs in the elementary schools cannot volunteer their services outside the school context. As such, these programs attract mentors who cannot offer their services in community-based programs hence maximizing this exclusive potential (Rhodes 2). Such mentors are minority volunteers who have considerable knowledge and skills on mentorship. This benefits the children and the administration of the elementary schools since they benefit from this potential. Furthermore, it is clear that sourcing and screening mentors for school-based programs is much easier than sourcing mentors for community-based programs (Rhodes 2). As such, the se programs allow for the spreading of mentorship wealth in elementary schools. The mentoring programs in the elementary schools are equally flexible since they accommodate cross-gender matches (Rhodes 2). Indeed, these programs have more mentors coming from all genders where both males and females render their services to children. Indeed, these programs reach more children than the community-based programs thus helping children who cannot access community-based mentorship program, which depicts their ability to reach higher-risk children and families (Rhodes 2). At the same time, mentoring programs in the elementary schools attract more

Confucian Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Confucian Ethics - Essay Example Confucius, the founder of Confucianism believed on a golden rule based on the belief that people should do unto others, what they would like to be done unto them His ethical code was based on humanity, love, and morality. Rather than being based on religious beliefs, Confucianism is based on a system of social and ethical principles. In East Asia, Confucianism touches on all aspects of life (Slote and De Vos 5). These include the family, education, society, and government. Although Confucianism has most of the times been grouped together with other religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Judaism, it is not a systemised religion. According to Slote and De Vos, â€Å"a viable way of life for so many and for so long, Confucianism has sometimes been viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion† (5). ... Confucius stressed that despite the fact that strict observation of traditional rituals is important, a devoted spirit and a sincere heart are even more important. He found no value in performing rituals, while a person was inhuman or lacked humanness. According to him, taking a keen look at person’s actions, motives, and preferences, then his or her real character is revealed and cannot be concealed. Confucian ethics revolve around associations among human beings. The philosophy mainly â€Å"revolves around family relationships, especially around the relationships between parents and children, between elder and younger brothers, and between husband and wife† (Yao 32-33). The Confucian belief is based on the grounds that fulfilment or responsibilities in these relationships should be done with a complete and genuine heart. However, despite revolving around the family, the Confucian moral philosophy is not restrained within the family, but also the society. Emphasis is p laced on the family because it is the foundation of peace around the world and order in the society. According to Yao (33), the Confucian â€Å"logic is that the family is the basic unit of the human community and that harmonious family relationships will inevitably lead to a harmonious society and a peaceful state†. The virtues of leaders within their families are very vital and determine how they rule organisations and a nation, since the basis of their actions, motives, and preferences is found within their family units. This consequently has an effect on a whole nation. A ruler who has intense love and devotion for his relatives, parents, friends, wife, and children is humane to the common people in the society and treats them with honour and consideration. Such kinds of rulers are

Referring to both pharmaceutical Essay Example for Free

Referring to both pharmaceutical Essay Referring to both pharmaceutical and tobacco companies, explain how transnational corporations can influence the health of people in countries at different stages of development (15) Both pharmaceutical and tobacco companies can be transnational corporations and some wield enormous international power and influence covering over one hundred countries with billions of pounds worth of profit; in 2009, GlaxoSmithKline had a net income of approximately. 6 billion! Some corporations have, for example, used their profits to help fight widespread diseases in less economically developed countries (LEDCs), such as GlaxoSmithKlines help in the fight against Lymphatic Filariasis in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some have set up health programmes in more economically developed countries (MEDCs) to reduce common health problems in these areas, such as different types of cancer. However, some corporations only supply people with the means to deteriorate their health, such as some tobacco companies like British American Tobacco, especially in LEDCs, but both pharmaceutical tobacco companies play an important role in the health of the worlds people. A pharmaceutical company is a company, which develops, produces and markets drugs licenced for use as medications, so obviously these companies play a huge role in the health of people worldwide as they provide medication against diseases that would harm health. In LEDCs, medicines can be very expensive and in some countries in the world, in sub-Saharan Africa for example, peoples incomes may be so minuscule that they may not even be able to afford food let alone medicine. Pharmaceutical companies make two types of drug: branded and generic. Branded drugs are three to thirty times more expensive than generic drugs and so in LEDCs they are out of the majoritys reach, but they are patented and their chemical composition cannot be copied for twenty years; this means that should another company wish to reproduce the specific drug so it can be made available at a cheaper price for the market in LEDCs, it is not possible due to the patent. Therefore this has negatively affected peoples health in LEDCs, as the majority of deaths from disease in LEDCs (excluding HIV/AIDS) are curable with modern-day medication but it is how the medication is sold by pharmaceutical companies that prevents medication getting to these countries. Cheaper drugs to combat these common diseases cannot be produced as some pharmaceutical companies patented their branded drugs to increase their profits and eliminate competition from rival pharmaceutical companies. Although pharmaceutical companies may be harming the health of populations in LEDCs by patenting their drugs for twenty years, many of their drugs are manufactured in factories that are located within LEDCs as they are often far cheaper than producing drugs in MEDCs as wage regulations are much stricter and land is much more expensive. Pharmaceutical companies want to manufacture as much product as they can to maximise profit and so, for example, Bayer HealthCare, whose headquarters is in Germany, manufacture drugs in Morocco, Indonesia, Columbia, Guatemala and El Salvador all of which are LEDCs. The fact that vast quantities of drugs are produced in these countries means that the pharmaceutical companies will need a large, low-skilled workforce to do menial jobs in the factory. In comparison to salaries in MEDCs, the workers in LEDCs are paid far less, but it is much more than many people would have been able to earn before their jobs in the factories, as many of these LEDCs rely heavily on agriculture which is often a very low-paid form of employment. With this higher salary, people may be able to afford healthcare and the more expensive branded drugs that they are helping to manufacture. Some workers healthcare may even be partly paid for by their employer, therefore helping better the health of the population in LEDCs. Pharmaceutical companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer HealthCare, are thought to have a social and moral responsibility to help in the fight against diseases if they find a cure for them during their drug research and development. Diseases such as Malaria, Yellow Fever, Tuberculosis and African Sleeping Sickness are all curable with drugs produced by pharmaceutical companies. However, these companies are in a widely capitalist industry that wants to maximise profits wherever possible and providing free medical care for people in LEDCs is often not done, but GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer HealthCare have started a revolution in this field by showing that by using only a small fraction of their vast profits they can help improve the health of millions of people worldwide. GlaxoSmithKline, for example, discovered albendazole in 1972 and was found to be effective against roundworms and tapeworms which caused Lymphatic Filariasis (LF), a disease that causes permanent disability and currently 120 million people are infected with the disease in Asia, Africa and South America. Since 2008, GlaxoSmithKline donated over 1. 4 billion albendazole treatments to 48 LEDCs. Their aim is to donate as much albendazole as required to treat the 1 billion people in 83 countries at risk from LF. They also joined the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF) in 2000 as a founding member and work together with governments as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to eliminate LF. This is just one example of the work that pharmaceutical companies have done in LEDCs to improve the health of the inhabitants by providing free medication at the cost of a small proportion of their multi-billion pound annual profit. Pharmaceutical companies have had a large presence in LEDCs in recent history and so have many tobacco companies, traced back to trade and colonial links in the latter part of the millennium. Tobacco companies feel much less of an obligation to help eradicate disease than pharmaceutical companies do and for that reason few tobacco companies have invested, at the expense of their profit, in health schemes to aid the disease-stricken in LEDCs. They are much more interested in securing a long-term community of consumers demanding their product. British American Tobacco (BAT) in Africa is a prime example of this capitalist, profit-driven attitude in LEDCs. In Malawi, BAT advocated the sale of single cigarette sticks, which were very popular with children as they were so cheap; a single cigarette costs one fifth of the price of a single biscuit, which at least has some nutritional value. BAT used a single-stick campaign to try and encourage as many young people as possible to start smoking as they knew that once they had tried a few they would eventually become addicted to their product, which is wondrous news for their profit, as their body tells them that they need a cigarette and so they buy more of their product and for this reason, 80 000 to 100 000 children start smoking worldwide every day. Advertising to children in this way ensured that BAT maintained a constant group of consumers to replace the smokers that either, more likely, died from smoking-related diseases or stopped smoking. Smoking causes many types of cancer, such as lung, throat, kidney and liver cancers, and emphysema is also a common problem and every eight seconds someone dies from tobacco use. Although, like pharmaceutical companies, they provide employment for local people, they are often only few tobacco plant farmers and are paid very little and do not receive the healthcare that pharmaceutical companies provide. So, in LEDCs tobacco companies are having a very bad effect as they cause many life-threatening diseases and their advertising campaigns show little sign of wanting to help eradicate the problem. As well as having a presence in LEDCs, pharmaceutical and tobacco corporations have presence in MEDCs as well. Pharmaceutical corporations headquarters are often based in MEDCs, such as the headquarters of Bayer HealthCare in Germany and GlaxoSmithKline in the UK. They often do most of their research and development in MEDCs, as they have easier access to highly-developed facilities and laboratories to conduct experiments. Much like in LEDCs, pharmaceutical companies provide employment in MEDCs, but this is often much more skilled work in research and lab work and is highly paid unlike in LEDCs where are less strict wage restrictions. The majority of people in MEDCs have a high income in comparison with those in LEDCs and so can therefore afford the branded drugs that pharmaceutical companies produce and cleverly market. The sale of these branded drugs in MEDCs to consumers is where most profits of pharmaceutical companies are made. They are not inaccessible as they were in MEDCs and for that reason the health of the population in MEDCs is often much better and the generic drugs provided to health services in MEDCs are often quite cheap and are easily accessible reducing the level of disease in MEDCs. Even though branded drugs might make cheaper, generic copies of these drugs impossible, because of peoples higher disposable income, people can afford the branded drugs and are willing to pay extra money for the knowledge that is produced by a genuine pharmaceutical company and not a supermarket spin-off. Much like the social and moral responsibility pharmaceutical companies felt in LEDCs, they are also feel obligated to do something about the common diseases in MEDCs as well, despite the lower level of disease. A huge health problem in MEDCs are STIs and STDs among youths and costs healthcare services lots of money to treat these diseases. In the UK in 2008 there were 123,018 new diagnoses of chlamydia in clinics: a record number. Additionally from 1999 to 2008 there were 11 times the number of primary and secondary diagnoses of syphilis. The Bayer HealthCare pharmaceutical company started a family planning initiative in 1961 and now has had family-planning clinics in 130 countries for 50 years. They also created World Contraception Day, which is a day every year to accentuate the importance of contraception. On this day there are fund-raising events, radio talk shows, competitions and events in nightclubs and discos. Tobacco companies are also present in MEDCs as would be expected and have a large market. Currently around 20% of adults in the USA are smokers and there are large markets in many countries. Many of the same health effects as in LEDCs are found in smokers in MEDCs, such as cancer and emphysema, although treatment of these diseases may be better in MEDCs it still costs the health services many millions of pounds to treat these diseases, which could be classified as diseases of affluence as they are brought upon yourself. In the UK smoking costs. 13. 74 billion to the government overall! Cigarettes contain many carcinogens and these will obviously adversely harm health of smokers, but although advertising of cigarettes is banned in many MEDCs the already implemented addiction to cigarettes does not need advertising to continue. Fewer people start smoking in MEDCs than LEDCs as advertising is banned and fewer children start smoking as they are well aware of the health effects smoking has as many MEDCs make it compulsory to learn about the effects it has to reduce the cost to the government. Much like with pharmaceutical companies, tobacco companies provide employment in MEDCs, but it is mostly administrative work in offices as production occurs mainly in LEDCs where there are favourable growing conditions for the tobacco plant. Due to MEDCs laws, tobacco companies must provide some level of healthcare and so in that instance they help better the health of their employees, but again they do little to help with international health problems as they are more concerned with their profit. In conclusion, both tobacco and pharmaceutical companies have great influence on the health of people in countries at different stages of development, whether they be an MEDC or an LEDC. Producing drugs and medicines and health aid provided by pharmaceutical companies are probably the largest positive influences either of these types of companies have on the health of populations. Pharmaceutical companies are generally positively influencing the health of people in countries at different stages of development, but in different ways either by providing aid or employment or through the capitalist nature of the industry they are in. Whereas tobacco companies are trying to maintain a large consumer pool for their product, whilst adversely affecting peoples health due to the carcinogenic nature of tobacco and cigarette products and are therefore negatively influencing the health of people in almost exactly the same way in countries of all stages of development. As tobacco companies have less social and moral responsibility they are not motivated to help in the fight against widespread diseases, like the pharmaceutical companies are.

The Afghanistan War With The Soviet Union History Essay

The Afghanistan War With The Soviet Union History Essay The Afghan War changed the Soviets leaderships policies of using armed forces to impose political decisions, and additionally it is important to understand the culture and geography in order to better understand the victory of Afghanistan. Preceding the attack on Afghanistan in late 1970s the Soviets had previous success with invasions. Their strong successful power was shown in Ukraine (1945-1951), East Germany (1953), Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia in (1968). The Soviets invasion in Afghanistan was a repeat of 1968 and also similar to the Vietnam US War. The Soviets main idea to invade Afghanistan, encountered several problems which kept them in Afghanistan for over nine years, predating both the coup of 1973 and the April revolution also known as Saur revolution; seizing power from Daoud. This revolution occurred in 1978 after the death of the Parcham which was a name given of one of the factions of PDPA. The PDPA (communist peoples Democratic party of Afghanistan), was divided into two factions in 1967; the Khalq and the Parchem. The PDPA was under the Khalq faction, who wanted to include womens right, although strong Islamic believers did not agree, and the Parcham was a move toward socialism. The PDPA assisted Daoud to take power over Sahir Zhah, setting off the coup. Soviet were supporting Parcham because they believed that Afghans werent developed enough to undergo communism. The PDPA eventually collapsed and Nur Mohammad Taraki, Babrak Karmal, and Hafizullah Amin overthrew the regime of Daoud, and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). April 1973, Minister Daoud took power over his cousin who was the king and became President of Afghanistan. Little did he know that six years later in April 1979, he would be overthrown by a communist groups engineered by army and air forced officers who had studied the Soviet Union (Grau, W. L 2004, p.136) .Although, in 1973 Daoud Khan came to a violent end, there was an enormous military attack in Kabul and with the help of Afghan military they killed Daoud and family members. It all began following this military coup, which the communist peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan were heading. During his rule Daoud eliminated all communists from the cabinet and began legislation to ban communist parties in Afghanistan. In December 1979, Muslim guerrillas emerged resisting to follow the coup, leading to Soviet troops moving into Afghanistan setting off an international crisis (Grau, W.L. 2004, p.134). The Soviets were invited into Afghanistan to help fight the rebels who were so power ful and resisting this regime of communism, officially installed April 27 1978. The coup led pro Soviet Armed forces in, who installed a Marxist government under the leadership of Noor Mohammed Taraki. Rebels in Afghanistan were resisting this new Marxist government who were anti religion. Marxism was mainly a dispute between socialism and capitalism. In 1979 Amin, who later became Prime Minister, assassinated President Taraki. The Prime Minister, Hazifullah Amin, tried to take out Muslim traditions, but the country as a whole had strong Muslim beliefs making this a lot harder to sweep aside. Amin was also a leader of a government who rejected religious beliefs and arrested thousands of Muslims. This caused thousands of Muslims to join the Mujahideen a guerrilla force on a holy mission for Allah (Hughes, G. 2008, p.336) who wanted to overthrow those who supported Amin. The Mujahideen were great opponents to this, accounting for seventy-five percent of Afghanistans populations and th e second most powerful military power there was absolutely no way they were going to allow religion to be swept away over communism. This outrageous attack took place on Christmas Eve as Soviets were well aware that Western governments were not prepared to attack. Soviets seized the salang tunnels, key airfield, key government and communications sites in Kabul They occupied the main cities and expected it to all finish right then and there. The overall suffering that the Soviets caused on Afghanistans during the War was more than Germany on the Russians in World War II. Furthermore they killed Amin bringing into power Babrak Karmal as president. It quickly became evident by mid 1980 that the Afghans were incapable of defeating the Mujahideen, and supporting a communist party in Kabul. Building socialism was illusory. This touched upon the Russians, who were now in Afghanistan claiming they were invited and that they were there to support the Amin government. The Soviets ideology took a lot longer than planned. Ideally the Soviets planned to send in the Red Army to take over or at least change political and economical domination (Hughes, G. 2008, p.333). Their concept for military occupation of Afghanistan was based on stabilizing the country by garrisoning the main routes, major cities, airbases and logistic sites. Providing logistic, air, artillery and intelligent support to Afghan forces; accepting minimal Soviet casualties; and strengthening Afghan forces (Grau, L.W.2008,p.3), so once the resistance was defeated, the Soviet Army could be withdrawn Quickly within months Afghans armed themselves ready to attack the personal and the entire population in Kabul were chanting God is great, emphasizing their strong Muslim beliefs. In 1980, President Reagan administration supplied Afghan rebels with stinger surface- to-air-missiles, which substantially reduced the effectiveness of Soviet airpower in the war (Kalinovsky, A. 2008, p.384). These missiles were being launched up to take down helicopters, and they were mounted up on the shoulders of the soldiers. In 1986 Karmal resigned and Mohammed Najibullah took power. The Afghan War fought under four general leaders who went through the process of leadership throughout the invasion in Afghanistan coming to realise that they were unable to defeat the Afghans; Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov and Gorbachev. Brezhnev, who was in power in 1970 and was an important political figure for the Soviet Union, until his death in 1982, was the one lead communism to Afghanistan. Prior to 1970 there was the Brezhnev doctrine which stated When forces that are hostile to sociali sm try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries. The doctrine was also to justify the soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, Furthermore to put an end to democratic liberalization. Many treaties were signed, although they were so broad that they even used these principles to justify their military intervention in Afghanistan in 1979. Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 and neither him nor his people in the government, were party to the decision to invade Afghanistan in 1979 (Kalinovsky, A. 2008, p.388). These decisions were taken into account before with the general leader Leonid Brezhnev, who was in favor of limiting interventions only to maintain independent but openly pro Soviet Afghanistan. Brezhnev was not taking orders from Moscow and that is when they took him out of power and put their own candidate in power, and used an adverse intervention to aid the DRA, to fight against the Mujahideen as a cover and the Mujahideens then began a Holy War. The Mujahideens with time were becoming more equipped with modern weapons. They were becoming smarter as to how to fight the Soviets and didnt leave it easy for them. Receiving new and more powerful weapons they adapted to Soviets strategies; learning how to shoot down helicopters. Gorbachev since October 1985 started pressing Karmal to change party policy and abandon communism and form a government in which included elements of the opposition (Kalinovsky, A. 2008, p.384). Although, two years later in 1987 the situation finally became clear to Moscow that it was more serious than they had thought. Soviet leaders were becoming aware that their plans for saving the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan government, was insufficient (Kalinovsky, A. 2008, p.384). This became one of Gorbachev worries, and that was how the Soviet Union would be looked at in the Third World if the DRA regime was to collapse. They were failing to defeat the Mujahideen, and couldnt believe the power Afghanistan had overcome. In Hungary and Czechoslovakia they had it a lot easier. The Soviets had been trying to influence Afghanistan ideologically and economically and they were not ready to be destroyed. Gorbachev needed to make it clear that they were serious about their withdrawal. He point ed out that the USSR wanted to be neutral in Afghanistan and did not need to maintain military bases. He knew at this point that withdrawing troops within twelve months would be feasible (Hughes, G. 2008, p.333). Soviets leaders tried to find many ways to withdraw from Afghanistan without undermining Soviet status. Gorbachev was willing to sacrifice his long standing position as a leader to stop the supply and arms to the Afghans. The USSR also insisted that by occupying Afghanistan, Moscow would secure advantages over Pakistan and Iran. Moscow coerced Afghan into signing papers under the UN auspice that April 14 1988 the Soviet army would withdraw. During this time Pakistan and Iran were providing aid to the Mujahideen, and other place like the US, China, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and United Arab Emirates began funnelling military and humanitarian aid through Pakistan. It was Pakistans best interest to support the Mujahideen who would never accept the Soviets presence (G rau, 2004). The war in Afghanistan left the country with many political, economic and ecological problems. More than 1 million Afghans died in the war and 5 million became refugees in neighbouring countries. In addition, 15,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and 37,000 wounded. Economic production was drastically curtailed, and much of the land lay to waste (Hughes, G. 2008, p. 342). The CIA provided Muslims between 1986 and 1988 with approximately 1,000 of the missiles. After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 in a humiliating defeat, the Afghan government continued to suffer attacks from the Mujahideen who were never going to accept the idea of bringing in Soviet troops to throw away their religion. The Afghan government received funding and arms from the Soviet Union until it collapsed in 1991(Grau, W.L. 2004, p.134). Furthermore once the Russians withdrew the US government demanded the return of the weapons, although the response they received by the leader of the I slamic party at the time Yunis Khalis was We will not return the stingers, we need them the most (Prados, J. 2002, p.471). There was then a long process from the US to get back their missiles and they were buying them back for twice the amount, although in 2001 they still believe that 100 to 200 stingers are in the hands of Afghans. Today the Afghanistan War with the Soviet Union has been studied to prove that it led to a major rise of Islam. The following section which elaborates on concerns society has about contribution to Afghanistan and furthermore it will also look at how the US views Islam in todays society. The invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Red army in 1979-1989 consisted of the US supporting the Mujahideen once again but here against communism. This is where Khalid mentions in his article, how Bin Laden was fighting against Soviet Invaders; US supporting and training Bin Laden. But it had also been an argument that the Muslims were a threat to Western Christendom long before they became a problem (Khalid, A. 2007, p. 128). Furthermore it raised the question of necessary enemy. Osama Bin Laden was working against the Soviet invaders, during the invasion in Afghanistan and when the Talibans came to power. Bin Laden was originally receiving training from the CIA, who later handed him over to the Is lamic fighters. In an article by Oleinik, he views the Afghan war from different perspectives, not only a geopolitical one and military issues, but he observes that there was an important economic factor with regards to the oil and gas industry. The Soviet Union had an interest in exploitation of gas in Northern Afghanistan (Oleinik, A. 2008, p. 289). Afghanistan is a very important country connecting Pakistan and India with rich oil and gas. Another problem was the Soviets realizing the Taliban controlled most of the country. Despite the economic factors, the Soviets were engaged in many reforms in Afghanistan, they assisted in training, and in building the police, army, the government and educational systems. The Soviets contributed to a large role in Afghanistan. They created an Afghan syndrome (Prados, J 2002, p. 469), and for them in was a turning point in 1986 when the US supplied air-missiles. Afghanistan declaring victory will remain in history. Most political and economic issues have been ignored for many years, but recently after the attack in New York in September 2001, there are numerous rumors saying that the US created Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is an Islamic group which was founded in the time of the invasion in Afghanistan 1988 and late 1989. They are formed mainly of Sunni Muslims, and a stateless army in which the majority consider them to be a terrorist organization. Despite the fact of false beliefs which indicate the US and allies created Al-Qaeda, there is absolutely no evidence to prove this, although it is typically ironic how the US does view Islam in todays society. The US since the 1980s always backed up the Afghan Mujahideen, however in the late 1990s America strove to overthrow Taliban Regime, which mostly belonged to Majahideen. The US had always followed a sort of double standard relationships with Islam, although terrorist attacks have openly presented an opportunity for Washington to attempt to constrain the emerging international system as a whole, to focus it on the issue of anti-terrorism (Yazdani, E. 2008, p. 44). The main issue that has affected the US global policy is the terrorist attack on 9/11. It first began with President Bush who tried to identify a fight, although it was quickly focused against the Muslim and Non Muslim world. This point ended up stating that America considered being supporters of terrorism. This therefore created possible links between the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and some groups of the Islamic world in Central Asia made these parts a US security priority (Yazdani, E. 2008, p. 47). Bush at this time proclaimed that the evidence they had gathered was pointed towards an affiliate terrorist organization, and that the leader was Osama Bin Laden. He also linked other organizations in other countries including the Egyptians Islamic Jihad and more. The US seems to be fighting against authoritarian governments of some Islamic nations, and in other ways the US shows that they are supporting cruel and dishonest monarchies (Yazdani, E. 2008, p. 40). In other words the re is a lot of controversy regarding the invasion in Afghanistan and the US creating Al-Qaeda. Main argument was that they trained Bin Laden for these attacks and there has not been any substantial evidence despite the links they have previously made. The Afghanistan War till today is seen as an event in time where the Soviet leaderships policies of using armed forces were taken into account while invading. The Soviets did not use any armed forces to attack or tragically destroy a country like the Atomic Bomb dropped in 1945 by the Americans. Although the Soviets at the time were incapable of defeating the Mujahideen for example and they were in possession of serious armed forces, the Afghan War made them consider their political powers. The Soviets were considered throughout history to be the most powerful army having the Red Army in power, and they defeating the German Nazis which was a huge defeat. When Gorbachev made his final decision to withdraw, he did know however that it was important to keep authority and power, because his own people and the outside world. He explains how difficult, long and painful this process was and he wanted to refrain from public embarrassment. The Mujahideen brought upon the Soviets tough opponen ts, which they knew they were unable to defeat, although they did not want to underestimate their powers. The Afghan War left Afghanistan with a tragedy they will not forget. Furthermore in todays society the Afghanistan War has left many with doubts of this war creating Al-Qaeda and terrorism, and the US being the main focus, causing the attack in New York on September 11, 2001. Today many believed that within the next twenty years or so the US will become seriously involved with a guerilla War. The US remains in Afghanistan, creating a larger risk of setting off a crisis. The Afghan War furthermore demonstrated that regardless of any lessons in past history, there is no army however sophisticated, well trained, material rich, numerically overwhelming and ruthless can succeed on a battle field if not psychologically fit and motivated for the fight (Grau, L.W. 2008, p.10). The Soviets greatly determined this statement, and the Afghans proved it right. Winning a war consists of moral qualities, strong faith, stubborn determination, individualism and unending patience (Grau, L.W.2008, p. 10). Word Count: 3290

mr :: essays research papers

My Grade 11 co-op placement was Sherwood Hunt Law Office. There are two Lawyers there, an office manager, and two law clerks. I usually spent most of my time with the law clerks and began to learn a lot from them right from the beginning. Jim Hunt, the lawyer who was present the most at the law office was whom I had to time to have nice, insightful conversations with about Law, School, and life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I always thought of how hard it was going to be in university and law school. I got to talk to Jim to see just how hard he had to work in school to make him as successful as he is now. He told me about when he was going for his MBA, he had twelve exams near Christmas, and if that wasn’t hard enough, if he got lower than a B on any of them, he was out of the course. These were just a few of the challenges Mr. Hunt had to face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My usual day involved answering the phones, making some photo copies, and doing odd jobs, like opening or closing files, and writing or revising a letter or document of some sort.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being at this placement I learned many things. To begin with, I learned some of the challenges I’m going to have to face in school, and how hard I’m going to have to work. I was talking to Mr. Hunt about my current courses and I mentioned that I was worried that my strengths in Math and Physics would not be useful in the law workplace. Fortunately, Mr. Hunt reassured me that they are plenty useful in the law environment, and in fact, Jim got a 99 in University Physics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I also learned specific skills at this work place. Things that will help me out as I become a lawyer, such as, how to write an affidavit, open and close files (although this may change at different law offices) and read a statement of claim or search through files to find one specific point. Also, I learned about serving a defendant / plaintiff in a law suit. This can be a very time consuming process, (or a very simple one) and there is usually someone that is paid to do this. In one case in the law office, they had to hire a Private Investigator to find a person to be â€Å"served†.

Cheetah :: essays research papers

Cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose to do my television project on the cheetah which I saw on the Discovery Channel. Although I knew some interesting characteristics on the cheetah, I did happen to discover some facts I did not know. Those of which are written in the rest of the paper along with some facts I thought were pretty cool.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cheetah is an endangered species and has been for quit some time. This is mainly due to poachers who hunt and kill this animal for it’s illustrious fur of different colors. It’s coat is very coarse and a goldish color including some round black spots for camouflage. It has â€Å"tear strips† running from it’s eyes to it’s nose. The next part was surprising to me in that the cheetah is only 44-53 inches long. On the TV they always seem bigger somehow. And the tail is about 26-33 inches long! Their average weight is 86-143 pounds, surprisingly light for such a powerful animal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s low weight, it seems, is what allows it have it’s high top speed of sixty miles per hour. It is regarded as one the fastest hunters in the world and of course, the fastest land animal in existence. I also found that it’s habitat is in the grassy plains of Africa. This is definitely a great place for it to hide based on it’s coat color. It is because of this combination of tall grass and camouflage coat which allows the cheetah to stalk and catch it’s prey. These usually consist of gazelles, wild boar, or pretty much any animal it can handle. However, the regular range for it’s food is about 88 pounds. The cheetah then drags the meat to it’s â€Å"home†, away from prying animals, and feasts on it immediately.

Google vs. Yahoo

Many people around the world use search engines everyday to find information quickly. However, not many people realize that each search engine is different from each other. Every search engine is unique because they will all produce different links when a word or phrase is searched for. This means that some search engines will be better than others. Two main search engines are Yahoo and Google. Although Yahoo and Google both perform the same task, Google is a better search engine because it has a simple layout and provides links that are more relevant to the item that is being searched for.Google has a simple homepage that is about 90% white with a search bar in the center below its logo. Yahoo's homepage has a variety of items on it such as moving images and attention-grabbing headlines. This argument may seem like it is in favor of Yahoo, but in reality Yahoo's flashy homepage can distract people for a long time. People that go to Yahoo can waste their time reading about topics tha t have nothing to do with what they originally wanted to search for while people who go to Google aren't distracted by their almost blank layout.Google and Yahoo both provide links with information about the topic that is searched for but Google's links have information that are more related to the topic. Surveys have been done where the most popular search engines (including Google and Yahoo) were tested to see which one gave them the best information about the topic that was searched for. The end result was that 94 out of the 100 people that did the testing agreed that Google was the best search engine because its results were the most relevant.Most of Yahoo's results displayed pages with irrelevant information after the first three or four results. When Google was used, the information that the testers wanted was found in the first or second link. They all said that they didn't have to even go on to the second page because the first page of links was more than enough for them. Go ogle's search engine has been tested and proven to be superior to Yahoo. Although the Internet may seem like a very common thing, many people are still getting introduced to it and its many functions.These types of people will not be used to something such as a search engine so it is important to keep the search engine simple and easy to use. While it is true that Yahoo's homepage can give people an idea about all the things that the Internet can do for them, it may be hard to navigate to something such as the search bar amidst the cluttered bundles of information. I think that we should keep search engines simple so that it will be easy for people new to the Internet to utilize it.