Xenophobia the History of Immigration Progress in the U.S free essay sample

Xenophobia: The History of Immigration Progress in the U. S Containing some of the most economically and culturally vibrant urban centers in the world, the United States remains the economic and the cultural hub of the world. However, along with nation’s prosperous achievements in such fields, the United States has been struggling with variety of problems caused among its diverse groups of population. Indeed, since â€Å"colonizing† this land in the early 1500s, the United State seems to have had a problem with just about every race/sex/religion/nation possible for one reason or another.Oftentimes this lack of understanding escalates into weird laws, unfair labor practices, cultural polarization, and eventually lots of people being shot by lots of other people. The United States citizenry has a long and fairly intense history of collective distrust for people society doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to understand, and often the target for collective distrust has included immigrants throughout the history. We will write a custom essay sample on Xenophobia: the History of Immigration Progress in the U.S or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Take Los Angeles for example, which has the largest concentration of immigrants in North America.More than 224 languages are spoken in the city, and over 50% of the population is foreign-born (Moore 13). Immigrants include motivated factory workers as well as entrepreneurs and professionals. Add to their presence native-born Americans, and it is easy to see why America is a place where dreams are often realized. Despite the fact that so many experts agree that the productivity and hard work of immigrants improves the U. S. economy, the immigration issue has been grossly misrepresented by the media and certain politicians.With increasing awareness of how to deal with illegal immigrants, the issue has moved to the center. It is not only an economic issue. It is a cultural and social issue with which Americans have wrestled for a very long time. Xenophobia is a term meaning dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or those who are different from oneself, especially foreign people. The xenophobic movement was certainly â€Å"ethnocentric,† as it set up a standard for judging all comers to the United States with its own understanding of American culture.Xenophobia is such a complex term that it is often closely related to concepts like prejudice, discrimination, racism, and nativism (Knobel 7). Indeed, this trend of hate seems to still exist today. There are endless debates on illegal or undocumented immigrants living in the United States, and both sides seem to have a strong base for their arguments. In fact, they also have long history behind their arguments. John F. Kennedy once said in 1958, â€Å"Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible.With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience† (Kennedy 9). However, his plan has never been adopted. Even before John F. Kennedy’s time, America suffered from immigration issues. Xenophobia was exhibited towards Irish immigrants who suffered as they tried to adapt to the new society. But the immigrant matter became much more serious after 1863 when the Central Pacific railroad hired Chinese laborers, and the Union Pacific hired Irish laborers to construct the first transcontinental railroad.Then other ethnic groups started to immigrate to the United States. From 1910 to1920, 2 million Italians arrived. Every time a new ethnic group was introduced to the society, xenophobia was exhibited towards them by the original members of the society. The target has changed from Italians to Jews, Japanese, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, and Middle Easterners, but the phenomenon was similar with each category of people. For instance, one New York Times article shows how the society slowly accepts new arrivals.With the largest wave of immigration since the turn of the century raising New York Citys foreign-born population to 28 percent, a poll done in 1993 found that most residents said there were too many immigrants in town and added that while most are law-abiding, they had ma de the city a worse place to live (McFadden). The article that was written to discuss the findings of the poll shows how xenophobia works. Oftentimes there are no good reasons to support xenophobia. Rather it is simply a hateful feeling towards those who are different from insiders. Xenophobia is not only found in America’s local communities.It also exists in America’s courts as well. The influence of xenophobia on juries may affect adjudication in the federal as well as state systems (Moore 7). Sadly, the cultural prejudice has been affecting the nation’s institutions within and without. In one historic example, a District of Delaware court stirred up concerns over xenophobia, prejudicing the jury when attorneys for an American company suggested that if the patent holder won the lawsuit, Motorola, which employs American workers, would have to stop making cellular phones, and all of these jobs would be lost to the Japanese (Moore 8).In one way or another, whether it is direct or indirect, the existence of xenophobia in the courts is clear and obvious. Although changing attitudes toward immigrants is bringing positive changes to the courts, there are many more decisions that need to be made fairly and correctly on immigrants in the United States. Most recently, the movement towards giving the millions of undocumented migrant workers who live here and contribute to the country economically, culturally, and socially the opportunity to become legal residents of the United States is growing stronger.Of course, there are strong opponents who disagree with such movement tow ards legalizing the undocumented migrant workers. Yet, there is no verdict on whether or not undocumented migrant workers should earn their legal status in the United States. Regardless of judging which is right or wrong, it is necessary for either side and for all people to realize that xenophobia must be taken out of the argument in order to stay balanced and be fair. Hopefully, after 500 years of repeating this ‘hate’ cycle, American society is getting better at understanding each other’s needs.

Assureâ€I Mean, Ensureâ€Good Writing

Assure- I Mean, Ensure- Good Writing Assure- I Mean, Ensure- Good Writing Assure- I Mean, Ensure- Good Writing By Mark Nichol Once upon a time, professional and amateur writers alike could count on books and publications to help guide them in writing clearly, coherently, and concisely. They knew that when they opened a book, a magazine, or a newspaper, they could generally be assured that they would find carefully crafted prose that adhered to principles of proper grammar, syntax, and usage and would not only enhance comprehension of the content but also serve as a model for their own effective writing. Unfortunately, that assurance has long since ceased to exist across the board. Over the last quarter-century, socioeconomic forces have eviscerated the editorial infrastructure in the publishing world. Into the late twentieth century, at least most book publishers were assiduous in making sure not only that fiction and nonfiction narratives were well constructed but also that attention was paid to the mechanics of sentence structure. In the periodical world, veteran magazine and newspaper editors passed their skills in telling stories (and finessing them down to the detail of using just the right punctuation for the job with each keystroke) to younger editorial staff members, preserving a tradition of editorial excellence even for niche magazines and small-town papers. Not every publication adhered to such high standards, of course, and objectivity was not always maintained (or sought), but readers usually could count, at least, on being exposed to good, clean writing. Those standards have now eroded, thanks in large part to budget cuts in editorial departments and a deterioration in the informal newsroom mentor-protà ©gà © tradition, in addition to a growing indifference in our society to excellent writing. Some publications keep the bar high, but the general readership is exposed to much mediocre writing in print and online media alike, and sloppy prose from one writer infects other writers like a virus, passing on clichà ©s, errors, and poor habits. One recent example stood out for me- perhaps a persnickety detail, but symptomatic of an erosion of precision in usage that encourages lazy writing. In a local metropolitan newspaper, an editorial about the crisis of homelessness misused assured not once, not twice, but thrice: 1. The city needs to evaluate and track people in homeless programs to assure that they are put in the most suitable settings. 2. San Francisco needs to work together with Oakland and San Jose, which are experiencing their own struggles with homelessness, to assure that they are not merely shifting the burden to one another. 3. It would be a colossal waste of money to make the necessary investments in supportive housing and other services without a commensurate commitment to assure that the people who are offered this array of assistance are no longer afforded the option to flout the law with impunity. Careful writers know that assurance does not occur in isolation; it is given. (One would say, for example, â€Å"I assured them that they are not merely shifting the burden to one another.†) The proper word for this context is ensure. (Insure, meanwhile, is best confined to matters of indemnity.) In popular usage, these words are used interchangeably, and historically, they have not always been employed distinctly even by more erudite writers, but preserving such distinctions helps us maintain a rich, diverse language. I’m all for relaxed, flexible usage in in appropriate contexts, but maintaining a firewall between ensure, insure, and assure, or between eager and anxious or between enormity and enormousness, or any such fraternal twins or triplets, helps writers produce and readers consume high-quality prose. If so many book and periodical (and online) publishers have abandoned their traditional role as standard-bearers for good writing, where does the developing writer (read: every writer) go for guidance? Some publishers still strive to deliver well-written content, and many corporate and organizational websites are impressively edited, but ultimately, the careful writer will consult writing guides such as this site and the many excellent writing manuals available in print and sometimes online. (Search for â€Å"book reviews† on DailyWritingTips.com for recommendations- or cautions.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Avoid Beginning a Sentence with â€Å"With†7 Tips for Writing a Film ReviewAffect vs. Effect

Small and Medium Enterprises Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Small and Medium Enterprises - Essay Example OECD (2009) in one its recent reports states that SMEs happen to be key generators of employment and income while driving the innovation and growth potential. In the OCED area half of the labour force has been employed by the SMEs only. Figures of UK employment indicate that out of 4.7 million business establishments in UK 99.3 percent were small firms with about 50 employees, while only 0.6 percent firms were there with 50-249 employees. With globalisation, the management of SMEs have now started giving more thought towards the viability of the venture in the long-term before making strategic decisions for acquiring different types of resources. The global financial crisis has also impacted the functioning of this sector quite adversely, because they do not have the desired backup of resources, which is available to the larger enterprises. While on the one hand many multinational enterprises have started leveraging the economies of operation in different regions or countries the SME s are bound to look for ways to contain the damage within the limited areas of their operation. While it is believed that even under normal circumstances, SMEs require specific policies and programmes for their survival and growth, under the global financial crisis, it appears all the more crucial that they are in a position to find out a friendly government. While on the one hand the government wishes to have more investment from abroad, thus facilitating the MNCs entry into the country, on the other the safeguard of SMEs interests happens to be a major political issue in the country. Definition Though SMEs exist in good numbers everywhere around the globe, but there is no uniformity on the definition of SME because of practical considerations. Each country has different classifications of SMEs. Some countries define SMEs based on the number of employees, while others depend on the value of the assets. In general, the lower employment limit for a small enterprise is between five to ten workers and the upper limit is between 50 to 100 workers. Similarly the upper limit for a medium enterprise is usually set between 100 and 250 employees. However, it is difficult to adopt one definition of SMEs in all the countries, because the state of the SMEs also depends on the size of the markets or the economy in which they are operating. For example, a firm with 50 employees in the USA would be considered smaller (relative to the size of the U.S. economy) than a firm of this size in Bolivia. In UK, sections 382 and 465 of the Companies Act 2006 define SME based on the turnover and numbe r of employees1. A company with a turnover of not more than 3.26 million and not more than 50 employees is considered a small company and a company with turnover of not more than 25.9 million, with not more than 250 employees is termed as medium sized company. Importance of SMEs Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in a nation's economy. They are resources for innovation and they provide a wide base of employment. In addition, SMEs are the most essential sector for a healthy dynamic market economy. Chew

Research in Motion Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In Motion - Research Paper Example This enhances timely reception and delivery of messages which improve efficiency in business processes. Using this approach, the company introduced the Blackberry as its core product which had a good market reception upon introduction (McQueen, 2010). Despite initial surges in profits, RIM’s products have not remained competitive because of increasing competition from other companies offering better communication platforms and gadgets. Email and SMS have been outdated with introduction of better and more sophisticated communication devices. Samsung Electronics has its Galaxy line of products that allow for direct, video conferencing which enables two people to communicate, via a network, from two different locations. This decline in revenue started in 2011 has made it adopt some survival tactics to remain competitive by reducing operational costs. The company, initially lauded as a high recruiter, shed off 2000 workers in one instance in 2011 thereby drastically reducing its human resource capabilities. Layoffs do not give a company a good image as there are many employees who initiate criminal litigations to demand for their right to stay at their places of service. RIM has organized its employees in teams; this is delegating overall tasks to groups of workers who identify management issues and address them. According to McQueen (2010), one thing lacking in RIM is application of a harmonious working relationship, with effective communication channels among existing employees. This is to improve this teamwork only shown in writing, in the organization’s website. It has had numerous conflicts; a worker wrote a letter to the board of directors in June, 2011 accusing the CEO of having lost direction of the company. The following are human resource initiatives the company should incorporate to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive telecommunications market: The company

Assignment 12(775) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assignment 12(775) - Essay Example pproach employed in selecting a school for the research where he also describes how they consulted the proposal as well as informing the school community (Bello, 2006). During the negotiation and consultations, he had a special focus on matters they had more attention on. He then concludes with distribution of written materials hence closing the negotiations coinciding with this phase. He then comes up with an appraisal of this process and makes up questions that will ease the growth not only on the initial phase but also the following studies (Bello, 2006). However, each piece of research has different conditions surrounding it so these conditions are what determine the way a research will occur. A research project started by the author and his lecturer in March 2000 by having a collaborative action research project running in a school in order to establish the influence it had on teachers’ professional development. Despite the problems bound to experience, they had to make this collaboration happen by taking advantage of the knowledge and time they had to obtain an advantage by working in collaboration (Bello, 2006). With participants in this research having different points of view, it can lead to acquisition of more knowledge as well as useful skills when commencing other studies, whether separately or in collaboration. In picking a school for their research they followed the criteria same as Stake’s criteria, which focused on schools that offer many opportunities in enquiring new knowledge. For instance, the school they picked located in Spain because teachers valued teamwork, family participation was encouraged, and it depended on local administration for management (Bello, 2006). Reflecting these processes will come in handy as it helps us understand how the action research is important in enhancing learning, making up collaborating cultures within institutions, as well as reducing the gap between theory and practice (Bello, 2006). It promoted

Understanding The Russian Sphere Of Influence Politics Essay

Understanding The Russian Sphere Of Influence Politics Essay The aim of this chapter is to bring out the elements behind Russias quest to maintain a sphere of influence around itself. In doing this, one should not just look at present Russian politics and recent attempts by Russia to restore its former sphere of influence. One has to look briefly into the history of Russia from the time of the Tsars and during the Communist regime. The Tsars had always desired to create a sphere of influence which would act as a belt of protection for Russia. One has to look at Russias geography to understand this key element in Russian foreign policymaking throughout the centuries. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia lost various regions which were the ex-Soviet Republics. Since then, Russia has retreated progressively. NATO expanded eastward in Europe since 1994 causing Russia to be suspicious and resentful. After the September 11 attacks, the USA established military bases in Central Asian countries to support its military operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and initially Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his support, though he would resent long-term American military presence in what Russia perceives its sphere of influence. In the Far East, Russia faces a rapidly rising China as a potential superpower. So, it is understandable that Russian foreign policymakers have to counterbalance all these factors. Russia is not just a European power but also an Asian power. All these factors contribute to the multivector characteristic in Russian foreign policymaking. One must not forget that Russia also has its economic interests i n the Central Asian region and not just military and political interests. The setting-up of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) show how Russia is trying to adapt to its loss of empire. One must not forget that the collapse of the Soviet Union took place twenty years ago and that Russia is still going through what is called its imperial syndrome. This chapter has the aim of demonstrating the change and continuity in Russian foreign policy through its history to the present day. 2.1 The Tsarist roots When Russia began to expand as an empire, the Tsars always had the intention to use to newly conquered lands as belts of protection around Russia. This can be traced back to the time of Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great. He started by what historian call the collecting of the Russian lands which was followed by wars with Poland in the West (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 18). Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, conquered lands from the Tatars and Russia reached the Caspian Sea (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 19). In 1613, Mikhail Romanov was elected Tsar, hence starting the 304-year Romanov dynasty. Under his reign and his sons reign, Russia fought eight wars with Poland and it retook Kiev, which had the capital city of the first Russian state, the Kievan Rus (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 19). So, in this time frame, one can see Muscovy expanding its territory and sphere of influence. The ascension of Peter I, known as Peter the Great and his subsequent reign (1689-1725) had a lasting effect on Russian foreign policy. He is known for his secularization and modernization of the Russian Empire along European lines (Hosking, pg 76). He too focused on expanding Russian territory and had one of his first successes when he captured the fort of Azov from the Turks, thus giving Russia access to the Black Sea (Hosking, pg 76). He then proceeded to war with Sweden and the victories he attained there such as the capture of the river Neva in 1703, Narva and Dorpat in 1704, gave Russia access to the Baltic (Freeze, pg 114). The Treaty of Nystad with Sweden in 1721 crowned Russias achievements in the Baltic and Sweden lost its place as a European great power to Russia (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). With these conquests, Peter the Great brought Russia closer to Europe as he had always desired and Russian foreign policy took a new dimension from then on. In 1689, there was the Nerchinsk Treaty between the Russian Empire and China where the two powers agreed to divide their spheres of influence which led to China keeping Mongolia under its dominion and Russia keeping land north of the Amur river (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). After the death of Peter the Great, there was the Kyakhta where Russia and China agreed to set up formal diplomatic relations and paved the way for trade between the two powers (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). Under Catherine the Great, Russia continued to expand its territory and this is seen in the partitions of Poland which brought Belarus (White Russia), Lithuania and Western Ukraine under the Russian realm (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). Russias military forays southwards resulted in two wars with Turkey and these culminated in the treaties of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774) and the Treaty of Jassy (1792) which gave Russia control of the north Black sea coastline from Azov to Odessa (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 20). After the victory against Napoleon in 1815 and the Congress, Russias Tsar Alexander I was able to demonstrate Russian power to Europe (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21) and Russia added Finland and lands in the south and Central Asia to its dominion. Nicholas Is reign (1825-1855) saw Russia turning its attention on the Ottoman Empire which was referred to as the sick man of Europe and this is seen in the Russian ambition to take Constantinople and get naval access to the Mediterranean Sea and the base at Sevastopol (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21). However, one can see the role of ideology behind Russias expansionism such using the protection of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire to justify its wars with Turkey, which one of them resulted in the independence of Greece (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 21). In the second half of the 19th century, Russia began looking eastwards again and started to violate the Treaty of Nerchinsk by penetrating deeper into Chinas territory. In 1860, Vladivostok was founded and in 1860, the two powers signed the Treaty of Peking where Russias new gains in the Amur region (legalized since 1858) were consolidated and China and Russia agreed on the new border along the Ussuri river (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). In Central Asia, Russia took Tashkent in Uzbekistan in 1865 and Merv in Turkmenistan in 1884 (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). To reassure Britain that it was not going to pursue its conquests south to India, Russia signed an agreement with Britain that it was going to limit itself to northern borders of Afghanistan (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 24). One must not exclude the ideology of Pan-Slavism from Russian foreign policymaking during the time of the Tsars which had considered Moscow as the Third Rome and the Tsar as the protector of all Orthodox Christians (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 25). This led to tensions with the Ottoman Empire resulting in a war in 1878. In the early twentieth century, Russia had tension with Japan over territories in the Far East and this culminated in a Russo-Japanese war in 1904-1905, which to Russias humiliation, Japan won (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 27). So, Russias ambitions in the Far East were limited to the northern part of Manchuria, the northern half of Sakhalin island and had to accept Koreas incorporation in the Japanese sphere of influence (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 27). What was the motivation behind the Tsars aim of expanding their realm? Robert H. Donaldson and Joseph L. Nogee give a variety of reasons. The geography of Eurasia may be one of the explanations for Tsarist Russia to acquire all those land to create a protective barrier around itself. Russia also wanted ice-free harbours which led to its ambitions to take harbours in the Black Sea and the Baltic as well as Pusan in modern South Korea culminating in the war with Japan in 1904-1905 (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 29). The autocratic ideology of the Tsarist system is also listed as a reason. The Tsars expressed their autocratic character by pushing for conquering of new lands and military expeditions (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 30). Even Henry Kissinger, in his book, Diplomacy, agrees with the view that Tsarist autocracy led Russia to behave in that way in the international relations of the time (Kissinger, pg 140) 2.2 Continuity under the USSR The continuity with the Tsars thinking was most clear under Joseph Stalins rule. In August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed an agreement known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where they agreed to share Eastern Europe between their spheres of influence. Through the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Russia regained those lands such as Eastern Poland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (Kenez, pg 135). The motivation to expand Russias territory could not be clearer. In October1944, there was the Percentage Agreement between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to divide spheres of influences of their states in Eastern Europe (Dunbabin, pg 87). The element of continuity with the Tsars thinking of expansionism is clear. After the Second World War, the USSR did not make it a secret that it wanted to keep Eastern Europe under its orbit as well as export its Communist ideology throughout the world. The USSR was using the banner of Communism and proletarian internationalism to spread its influence around the globe. The West responded by the enactment of the Truman Doctrine which had the intention of containment (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 220). In June 1947, the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan was launched in order to help Europe recover and stem the tide of Communism (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 222). This was part of the containment policy. On the 4th of April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was set up to challenge Soviet hegemony (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 223-224). The Soviet response was to create the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, COMECON in 1949 to create sociaist planned economies in Eastern Europe (Best, Hanh imaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 219). In 1948, the USSR expelled Yugoslavia of Jozip Broz Tito because Tito did not want to have Stalin dictating to him how to govern the country (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 219). In May 1955, the USSR set up the Warsaw Pact as a response to NATO as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said we wanted to make an impression on the West (Dunbabin, pg 221). In 1956, Hungary under Imre Nagy rebelled because it did not want to remain under Soviet domination and left the Warsaw and the Soviets response was to send tanks to crush the uprising (McCauley, pg 340). In 1968, Czechoslavakia, under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek, attempted to create socialism with a human face, unlike the rigid Soviet communism which is known as the Prague Spring. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was alarmed by this since he feared it could spread and create a domino effect and the USSR would lose its sphere of influence in East-Central Europe. The USSR tried to exert pressure on Dubcek (Dunbabin, pg 568) but when it saw that it was not enough, it launched a military invasion on 20th August 1968 to crush the Prague Spring and remove Dubcek from power (Dunbabin, pg 569). This showed that the Sov iet Union feared that different interpretations of Marxism among its satellites would lead to collapse of Communism and lose its strategic sphere of influence. Due to the upheavals that took place, the Brezhnev leadership came up with the Brezhnev Doctrine which claimed that it was the sole right of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact to take action against socialist countries which deviated from Soviet Communism (Best, Hanhimaki, Maiolo, Schulze, pg 274). The message the USSR sent to the rest of the world was that it will not tolerate any changes to the political-economic system it had created in East Europe, its sphere of influence. This was because it felt highly threatened by those changes. The West gave its response in the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 where it accepted the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe but the USSR agreed to accept the human rights basket, which would have serious consequences for the USSR in the 1980s (Dunbabin, pg 571). 2.3 Post-Communist Russia and Sphere of Influence Thinking in Current Russian Foreign Policy At the collapse of the Soviet Union, many former Soviet Republics which were also part of the Tsarist Empire became independent. Russia had lost those lands which had provided a belt of protection for Russia for centuries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991and up to the late 1990s, the newly constituted Russia began to use the term near abroad for its former Soviet republics (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 163). In this part, the setting up of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Russias participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and their usefulness to Russia in maintaining its sphere of influence will be analyzed. This part aims to put under focus Russias aims and aspirations behind the setup of these organisations. The interests Russia has in keeping Central Asian states, Ukraine, Belarus and other ex-Soviet states will be analyzed. Russia has and still claims that it uses multilateralism to achieve its aims of maintaining its sphere of influence and checking other powers such as China in the East. To analyze this in more detail, the focus will be on Russias behavior both in the institutions it is part of and leads and its behavior towards the smaller ex-Soviet republics. Russias activities in the CSTO and SCO will also be analyzed as well as its successes and failures in preserving its sphere of influence. 2.3.1 What are Russias interests and motivations, and how does it view itself and the countries surrounding it? The best way to start the subject is to look into Russias interests. Historically, the ex-Soviet republics were part of the USSR and before the October Revolution of 1917. It is not restricted to this reason though. Russia has economic interests as well as competing new powers for influence. This is most felt in the Central Asian region. For Russian political analyst Dmitri Trenin, this is sphere of interest rather than sphere of influence, as he points out in his article in The Washington Quarterly. Trenin outlines three types of interests that Russia has the ex-Soviet states. The first includes the military and security reasons, secondly, Russias economic interests and thirdly, the cultural aspect. Regarding Russias security and military interests, Trenin mentions the CSTO as a way for Russia to maintain its influence and dominance in most of the ex-Soviet republics and also to combat Islamic extremist movements (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Trenin goes on to refer to t he fact Russia would like the CSTO to on the same level with NATO and that this would create the new European security architecture thus leading to the legitimization of the primacy of Russia in its former Imperial and Soviet subjects (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Trenin maintains that Russias intention is halt US and NATO encroachment in its perceived zone of responsibility and he refers to the August 2008 war with Georgia. By taking a heavy-handed attitude towards Georgia, Trenin suggests, Russia was sending a clear message to NATO that it would accept anymore intrusion in the ex-Soviet space (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). So, the real reason behind the war was Mikhail Saakashvilis explicit intention to get NATO membership for Georgia. Russia also thinks that the USA is using democracy encouragement in order to draw the ex-Soviet states away from Russias influence (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). The second reason, the economic interests of Russia, also cannot be ignored. Russia has millions of foreign workers who come from the CIS member states, a factor which gives Russia an upper hand in dealing with its neighbours (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Another important economic factor is energy. The ex-Soviet states around the Caspian Sea are rich in energy resources and Russian energy companies such as Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas corporation, would like to be the ones that have control over these resources especially oil and natural gas (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). Russia has also worked towards economic integration in Eurasia and this is seen in the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and Russia has made no secret of its wish to have a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus (The Washington Quarterly, October 2009). So Russia also uses economic means to preserve its influence and its interests. In the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, Russia has forked out billions in funds to help the economies of the former Soviet Republics to recover (The Washington Quarterly). Thirdly, there is the cultural aspect. Dmitri Trenin makes a reference towards the presence of millions of Russian inhabitants in post-Soviet countries and how the Kremlin tries to use the case of Russian minorities for its political advantage. This has been listed as one of the objectives of Russian foreign policy in the Russian Foreign Policy Concept of 2008 signed by President Dmitri Medvedev (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, 12th July 2008). This objective of Russia protecting ethnic Russians in the neighboring countries has also one been one of the first objectives of Vladimir Putin since he first came to power as Russian President in 2000, as outlined by Ingmar Oldberg in his article for the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2010). Russia has been taking advantage of its cultural predominance to use the Russian minoriti es in the neighboring countries to preserve its influence and has used many methods to try to achieve its objective such as the media, issuing of passports and backing pro-Russian political parties in these states (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2010). One has to appreciate the fact that Russian culture, especially the language is a very strong factor. 2.3.2 Organisations which Russia uses as part of its objective of preserving its sphere of influence In this section, the focus is on organisations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The aim of this part of the chapter is to give a short history of each of these organisations and more importantly, Russias role in them and what Russia hopes to achieve by being active in these organisations. Is Russia using these organisations as a new way to portray itself as upholding the principles of multilateralism while at the same times keeping the post-Soviet republics under its influence? Does Russia behave as an equal partner or is it the dominant member due to its military strength? The best way to answer these questions is to analyse these organisations and Russias role in them. 2.3.2.1 Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was born out of the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed, 15 newly independent states emerged. Russia wanted to use the CIS in order for it to be able to maintain its influence in the newly independent states (Nogee and Donaldson, pg 165). It wanted to create The Baltic states kept away from joining and Georgia left the organisation after its August 2008 war with Russia. Ukraine, which in the early 1990s was under the leadership of Leonid Kravchuk did not want much integration in the CIS in order to preserve Ukraines independence (Donaldson and Nogee, pg 166). As a sign of continuity with the Tsarist and Soviet foreign policy thinking, Russia placed huge importance to the CIS as way of protecting itself with friendly countries, and this was mentioned in the 1993 Russian Foreign Policy Concept (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). With the establishment of the CIS, Russia was aiming for a common econ omic space, a common market, co-ordinated customs policies, cooperation in the environmental protection, developing communication and transport systems and combating organized crime (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). Much of these ambitions aims were not achieved and in 2005, President Vladimir Putin himself complained that the CIS did not achieve what Russia envisioned a decade earlier (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 154). Stina Torjesen, in a contribution to the book The Multilateral Dimension of Russian Foreign Policy, lists some reasons why Russia did not achieve as much as it hoped for in the 1990s regarding the CIS and CIS integration. Torjesen mentions reasons such as that coordination was not executed well, that when it came to implementing policies, Russia was either slow or didnt implement them at all, causing the other partners to be irritated, Russia in the 1990s was going through economic hardship which led to difficulty in implementing proposals and that Russias behavio r was still zero-sum instead of being a multilateral partner (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 155). Russia still sought to be the dominating party and sought primacy over other partners. So Russia deserves part of the blame for the failure to achieve the earlier objectives behind the creation of the CIS. Lilia Shevtsova, in her book Lonely Power, believes that Russia does not treat its neighbours as equals and cares about its primacy (Shevtsova, pg 90). Shevtsova makes a reference to a speech by President Dmitry Medvedev at the Council of Foreign Relations where the Russian President stated that Russia had a sphere of privileged interests (Shevtsova, pg 89). There were attempts by some post-Soviet republics to try to lessen their dependence on Russia and this is seen in organisations they set up such as GU(U)AM (Mankoff, pg 247). This consisted of Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan (which left the organisation), Azerbaijan and Moldova. GUAM as organisation was first set up in October 1997 (Tsygankov, pg 126). Uzbekistan left the organisation in May 2005 (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 173). After the summit in Kiev on 23rd May 2006, GUAM had a new name: Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM (Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM). The August 2008 war with Georgia also spoke volumes about Russias efforts to preserve its sphere of influence. Moreover in May 2009, Russia sent in extra 1,800 troops into Abkhazia and South Ossetia which inflamed suspicions in the West that Russia was up to its tricks again, that pursuing its domination of its neighbours as well as punishing Georgia for the pro-Western path it had taken (The Jamestown Foundation, 6th May 2009). After all, President Medvedev had made no secret of Russia wanting to be responsible for what he described as Russias privileged sphere of influence (The New York Times, 31st August 2008). US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama did not agree with Dmitry Medvedevs position (OpenDemocracy, 20th April 2009). Russias cutting of the gas supply due to a crisis with Ukraine was interpreted as Russia using its energy resources to punish those countries which took positions against Russia such as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, claims which Russia denied and Russia counter-attacked by claiming it was a quarrel over payments (Valdai Club, 13th January 2009). Lately, Russia has had problems over gas with Belaruss President Alexander Lukashenko but analysts claim that Russia uses its position of energy supplier to bend its neighbours to its will. This was the case with Belarus in June 2010 since Russia had been very irritated with Lukashenkos lack of recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and retaliated by banning milk from Belarus (The Economist, 24th June 2010). 2.3.2.2 Collective Security Treaty Organisation The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is the military organisation Russia uses in order to maintain its influence in the post-Soviet states. One has to remember that out of all the former Soviet states, Russia is the most militarily and economically powerful and these factors do give it primacy in the CSTO. From the beginning, Russia intended that the CSTO will be used to create protection and security for Russia by having an organisation which included the former Soviet states (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 182). Before the CSTO was established in 2002, there was an agreement, the Collective Security Treaty (CST), signed in May 1992 at Tashkent by Russia, Armenia and the former Central Asian Soviet republics but Turkmenistan remained out (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). After the fall of the USSR, Russia and the former Soviet states began discussing how to have a single military space under the CIS (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). So the CST, and later the CSTO, was to work under the CIS. The objective of a creating one military structure was not achieved because each state chose to have its national army but the CST helped to bring the new states armies to cooperate when a threat emerged (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). Throughout the 1990s, there were discussions on what type of military organisation the CST members national armies were going to set up (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183). The discussions were between whether there should be a decision-making structure similar to the one of NATO, which the majority of CST members wanted, or having a hierarchical structure, as Russia and Uzbekistan wanted (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 183-184). In the end a mixture of both was chosen. One can remark that the fact that Russia wanted a hierarchical structure tells much about what its role in the CST was going to be. It sought to be the leader and not an equal with the other partners. By the mid-1990s, the CST had been successful in dealing with many challenges and Russia, through its military advantage, played a central role in helping Central Asian states to safeguard their borders and training their armies (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 184). But there was still no proper organisation of a supranational nature and this was seen in the civil war in Tajikistan in 1992, when the CST members did not work together and Russia and Uzbekistan helped the Tajik government (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 184). In 1993, peacekeeping troops from CST and CIS states Russia, Kazak hstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan did come to Tajikistan aid, but Russia was the dominant partner and its actions, such as supporting militarily the Tajik government of the day, were not multilateral (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In this incident, one can see Russia acting as the dominant partner and this is something which the other states took note of. So Russia had some part of the blame for the failure to develop a fully-fledged multilateral military organisation. Its actions contradicted its objective of collective action. The maintenance of its sphere of influence was what mattered most. However, in the late 1990s, there was military cooperation between the CST members which was led by Russia such as military exercises in 1999 and 2000 (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In October 2000, the CST members proceeded to cooperate on the issue of terrorism and this culminated in an agreement in Bishkek between Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to create an anti-terrorist center where they could share intelligence on terrorists (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). On May 25th 2001, cooperation increased and this led to the creation of the Rapid Deployment Forces to deal with security in the region (Eurasianet, 25th May 2001). This increase in cooperation led to the creation of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in May 2002 with Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia being the members (Wilson Rowe and Torjesen, pg 185). In October 2002, the Charter of the CSTO was signed and it came into effect from the 18th September 2003 (CSTO Official Website). In 2003, Russia began to improve on the already existing facilities at the airbase at Kant in Kyrgyzstan, and in 2006 added more personnel at the base (Mankoff, pg 268). After the 2005 Tulip revolution, the USA had to pay $200,000,000 yearly to keep its airbase at Manas while Russia did not have pay any rent, though it did provide military hardware to Kyrgyzstan (Mankoff, pg 268). In August 2008, after the war with Georgia, Russia asked the CSTO members to recognize South Ossetia (The Times, 30th August 2008) after China and four Central Asian countries had refused to recognize South Ossetia. This is another proof of how Russia wants to use the CSTO to be on par with NATO and trying to stop NATO from encroaching in its neighbourhood. In 2009, the Kyrgyz government announced to the USA that it was going to close down Manas airbase and this was soon after Russia promised more than $2 billion in aid to Kyrgyzstan on condition that the Kyrgyz government tells the US to leave the Manas Airbase (San Francisco Chronicle, 22nd February 2009). The Russia aim to keep Kyrgyzstan under its sphere of influence could not be clearer. On February 4th 2009, at a CSTO summit in Moscow, Russia and the other member states set up the Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) and it must be pointed out that Russia was once again the dominant player because it had the greater military power and it provided all the weapons, as Aleksei Malashenko from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Moscow) argued (Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 4th February 2009). This shows again how Russia uses the CSTO for its central objective of maintaining its sphere of influence. It claims that the CSTO is there to fight terrorism but Russia uses the war on terrorism to make the CSTO one of its foreign policy tools. In fact, one can see this when in the same summit, Uzbekistan demanded special concessions for itself as a condition to join the CSTO (RIA Novosti, 4th February 2009). In May 2010, Belarus decided to contribute over 2,000 personnel to the CRRF after its ratification of the Moscow agreement (RIA Novosti, 26th May 2010). Si nce then, the CRRF members have practiced military exercises in October 2010 (RIA Novosti, 22nd October 2010). However, there were some disappointments and the latest one has been during the political upheaval in Kyrgyzstan when President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown. Russia did not send peacekeeping troops as Medvedev said that Russia and the CSTO would not participate in Kyrgyzstans domestic unrest (Global Post, 15th June 2010). Russia caused disappointment by its behavior because it showed a lack of consistency and did not act with its CSTO partners to send a peacekeeping mission to Kyrgyzstan. This shows that Russia uses organisations such as the CSTO to give an image that it is working multilaterally with its partners, but in reality it does the opposite. 2.3.2.3 Using economic means to protect interests and maintain sphere of influence The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Russia does not only create military organisations to preserve its sphere of influence, but it also uses economic means. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has tried hard to create customs union and foster economic integration in the CIS and recently it seems to have had some successes. Russia wants to follow the example of European integration and apply it to the CIS. The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) is Russias tool to achieve this objective. Some of the objectives behind creating the CIS were to create a common economic space and a common market and deepening cooperat

Does modern technology make life more convenient Essay

Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler? Technology today has definitely made life easier and better. As we look at the technologies, what is modern technology? Technology is part of life and it has greatly improved as time is passing; Scientists are continually working in order to develop useful products, in which facilitate our lives. Even though some people say that technology has lessened our lives’ quality, I think that it has made the world our life more convenient. Technology provides to us a faster ways of locomotion, better knowledge, communication, health issues and solution for environment issues. The computer is one important feature from technology, which is very used by people in order to increase their knowledge. Books are no longer the main way to improve the understanding of a specific matter. Universities are acquiring more and more computers to facilitate the student’s life, and to provide faste r information. Students are using a lot more the Internet, which gives to them the right information without the need of going to a library. For example, a person needs to do a research about a matter, and then instead of going to the library, this person could gather good and diverse information using the Internet. Consequently, heshe would finish hisher research faster than doing it in the library by hand. Technology is helping teachers and students to better understand the content of their subjects, and allows them to develop the teaching and studying methods in order to get more benefits; the role of technology in schools and universities has turned from a simple (computer class or IT class) into a multipurpose learning tool that can change the way we demonstrate concepts, assign projects, and assess programsThus, technology, which created the computer, has definitely helped the universities and the students to get a better knowledge.Nowadays, ways of locomotion such as car, motorcycle, train, and airplane, has facilitated our lives. Centuries ago, the main way to travel a long distance was the ship, or the horse. Today, the airplane is the most useful way to make fast travels, which gives to us more time. For example, comparing with the ship which usually crosses the Atlantic Ocean in one o r two weeks, the airplane can easily cross it in about 10 hours, and is still the safest way to travel in the world. The car and train also have become a very good way to travel, which can bring us closer to our family  and to our work. Because of this, these comfortable automobiles and airplanes have been essential to people’s lives.When we talk about communication, the television, the telephone, and the Internet come into our mind. Their uses are essential to the society, and it has become much easier to communicate by telephone than by mail. Centuries ago, the mail was the main way to communication between people, and it was really slow because it mostly had to be shipped. Therefore, the use of the mail is no longer being used, and the telephone and Internet have taken place of the mail. People can pay bills by the Internet in a safe way and phone familiars instantly. In other words, these ways of communications are a lot faster than it was centuries ago, and it has made our world a better place to live. Take the innovation of e-book for instance. Although quite a few people like to tou ch real papers, they cannot deny every year the industry of book-publishing has consumed a large amount of woods. And many scientists have proposed that one of solutions to green-house issue is preventing forests from decreasing. So, the advent of e-book makes modern people change their traditional reading habit: it allows people to turn virtual pages by tapping the screen and enables to read several books on an electronic device without carrying heavy weights. Obviously, publishers are more likely to present books or magazines through e-book instead of real papers. Due to less needs of printing books, woods can be saved for our future generations. As we know, many technological innovations have been used on researching mental or physical diseases. For example, pregnant women must do many checks during their three trimesters. Doctors use ultrasound facility to check baby’s situation and attain useful information to decide if there is any disease, such as Down’s syndrome. Consequently, if there were no technology assisting doctors to check patients’ bodies, people may struggle with unknown health problems. In conclusion, the reasons above are why I strongly agree that technology has made our life more convenient. The computer, the automobile, the telephone, other machineries for health care and those which can become our solution for environmental problems have surely been essential to us and I think that the world has so many things yet to be developed in order to help the society and make it good place to live. References: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/DA8177ED1A80D332 CA257BF0001B08EE/$File/ocpahfsv5.pdfhttp://www.searo.who.int/publications/journals/seajph/media/2012/seajph_v1n2/whoseajphv1i2p125.pdf?ua=1http://www.essayforum.com/writing-3/technology-modern-life-advantageous-57712/http://www.essayforum.com/writing-3/impact-technology-modern-life-critique-thx-2139/http://www.essayforum.com/writing-3/blessed-modern-tools-technology-7303/

Adjective Lesson Plan: Teaching with PPP Essay

It is important that advanced students’ vocabulary continuously progresses. This teaching plan explains how to teach new adjectives. Date: 14 July 2013 Class Level: Level 7 – Advanced Students Length of Lesson:1 hour 5 minutes Lesson Type & Subject:Vocabulary: adjectives. Materials Needed: Pictures of weather, realia (abnormally large fruit/object, flower) and worksheet. Lesson Objective: Students will learn about new adjectives and incorporate them. Descriptions of verbs will be verbal and non-verbal (writing). Assumptions:Students have a good understanding of adjectives and how to order them in a sentence. But students repetitively describe nouns with the same adjectives (describing something as â€Å"amazing† or â€Å"beautiful† frequently, without being aware of other adjectives like spectacular and gorgeous). Anticipated Problems & Solutions: Problem:Committing new adjectives to memory. Solution:Adjective drill – incorporating different nouns to describe. Problem:Students are struggling with sentence structure. Solution:Explain where the adjective is placed in a sentence. Give examples; SS repeat. Problem:Pronunciation of words. Solution:Pronunciation drill. Strategy 1: Interaction Patterns: T>S & S>T Timing: 20 minutes. Purpose of Procedure: To interest students; pre-teach new adjectives. Connect adjectives with nouns. Describe pictures and objects for a clearer meaning. Practice new vocabulary with guidance of the teacher. Presentation: * Introduce the topic in an interesting fashion and illustrate how students can apply it in their lives. Advanced adjectives that can be discussed: â€Å"stunning†, â€Å"gorgeous†, â€Å"spectacular†, â€Å"huge† and â€Å"immense†. * Hand out objects like flowers, an abnormally large fruit etc. * Cover the new adjectives, compare them with similar adjectives that they already know. * Teach necessary grammar and structures required to describe nouns. â€Å"The adjective is said before the noun.† * Elicit the names of the objects and model the use of adjectives, describing these objects. â€Å"This is a large apple.† â€Å"This is a gorgeous flower†. Students repeat and agree or disagree. * Introduce pictures of other objects like the weather. Elicit what the picture is depicting e.g. â€Å"sunset† or â€Å"rainstorm†. Model some basic sentences using the new adjectives, so that the meaning is clear. â€Å"What a stunning sunset!† â€Å"It is a spectacular rainbow.† â€Å"The immense cloud is covering the sky†. Ss repeat. Strategy 2: Interaction Patterns: T>S & S>T & S>S Timing: 25 minutes. Purpose of Procedure: Confirm new vocabulary through practice; identify written vocabulary. * In pairs, SS complete a fill-in-the-blanks (with options) exercise. The exercise is a conversation, with blank spaces that students need to fill in, requiring the language that was learnt in class. They will have a list of adjectives that they can use. E.g. â€Å"She has a _______ smile.†. * Students compare answers by answering them out loud: â€Å"The first answer is stunning.† * Game: Two teams are created. Each team is given a noun, and each team gets five minutes to write a list of sentences with adjectives describing that noun. The lists are compared when the time is up. The team with the most adjectives wins. Strategy 3: Interaction Patterns: T>S & S>S Timing:20 min. Purpose of Procedure: Students produce vocabulary independently and advanced adjectives are reinforced. Production: 1. Students see photos of famous sights – the Egyptian pyramids, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower etc. Elicit where these sights are found and why they were built – teacher assists students if they have never seen or heard about a site before. 2. Students choose their favourite sites. They shortly discuss why they like that particular site, using advanced adjectives to describe what they look like.

To what extent was Britain a democracy by 1900 essays

To what extent was Britain a democracy by 1900 essays To What Extent was Britain a Democracy by 1900? In order to answer the question: to what extent was Britain a democracy by 1900, we have to first define what a democracy actually is. Features of democracy are: when all adults are able to vote for the party of their choice without fear of corruption, when there is a secret ballot which ensured fair elections, when all parts of the country are represented equally, when each person in different classes of society are allowed their own representatives and when there are a variety of parties which follow differing ideals. In looking at each of these aspects of democracy we can decide whether or not Britain was a true democracy in 1900. In 1850, only 4% of the entire population of Britain could vote to control who sat in The House of Lords. These were mainly people who owned their own homes or land. This meant that only the upper classes were getting to choose who was representing the country in important matters. The existence of corruption also complicated matters further as people knew that despite the fact that they were voting for the leader of their choice, there were still people being paid to vote for the party bribing them. This also lead to the overrepresentation of small areas of Britain and the South of England. There were also restrictions on people who could successfully become an MP and since MPs were not being paid large amounts there were few people who wanted to leave their reasonable paid jobs to become MPs. Also the only parties which were available at the time were the Whigs and the Tories who only represented the middle and upper classes which casts doubt on the fact that Britain was on the path to democracy. There were changes to the franchise however between 1850 and 1900 which did indeed lead towards democracy. The percentage of men who could vote increased from 33% to 66%, a massive jump. After 1884, every single adult male was ...

Verlan - French Slang àlenvers

Verlan - French Slang lenvers Verlan is a form of French slang that consists of playing around with syllables, kind of along the same lines as pig Latin. Unlike pig Latin, however, verlan is actively spoken in France. Many verlan words have become so commonplace that they are used in everyday French. To verlan a word, simply separate it into syllables, reverse them, and put the word back together. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the verlaned word often undergoes some spelling adjustments. Unnecessary letters are dropped, while other letters are added to make pronunciation logical. There are no real rules for this; its just something to be aware of. Note that not every word can or should be verlaned; verlan is used essentially to emphasize or hide the meaning of the main word(s) in a sentence. How It Works Lets start with the word lenvers, which means the reverse. Separate lenvers into its two syllables len and vers. Invert them, put them together into a single word, and then adjust the spelling: lenvers... len vers... vers len... verslen... verslen... verlen... verlan Thus, you can see that verlan is lenvers pronounced lenvers (reverse pronounced in reverse). Lets try another example: pourri... pou rri... rri pou... rripou... ripou Most single-syllable words are just pronounced backwards. fou oufcool (from English) looc Take It a Step Further The above examples are pretty simple, but verlan gets more complicated when it comes to the e muet, which is a very important sound in verlan. Words that end in e muet (like femme) and words which end in a pronounced consonant and which usually have an e muet sound tacked onto the end (like flic, which is usually pronounced flique) retain the sound of the e muet when they are verlaned. In addition, when the syllables are reversed, the resulting final vowel sound is sometimes dropped. flic... fli keu... keu fli... keufli... keuffemme... fa meu... meu fa... meufa... meufarabe... a ra beu... beu ra a... beura... beur Verlan was invented as a secret language, a way for people (notably youths, drug users, and criminals) to communicate freely in front of authority figures (parents, police). Because much of verlan has become incorporated into French, verlan continues to evolve - sometimes words are re-verlaned. Beur, commonly heard in the 1980s, has been reversed again to reub. Keuf has been re-verlaned to feuk, with a bonus - it now resembles a vulgar word in English. Here are some common verlan terms that you should be able to recognize. Remember that verlan is a form of slang, so you probably shouldnt use it when talking to someone you  vouvoie. balpeau  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  peau de ballemeaning: nothing, zip barjot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  jobardmeaning: crazy, insane un  beur  (now  reub)  Ã‚  Ã‚  un  Arabemeaning: Arab blà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cablà ©meaning: trendy, in un  brelica  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  calibremeaning: revolver une  cecla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  classemeaning: class cà ©fran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  franà §aismeaning: French chanmà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  mà ©chantmeaning: mean, nasty chà ©bran  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  branchà ©meaning: cool, plugged in chelou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  louchemeaning: shady, dubious une  cinepi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  piscinemeaning: pool une  deban  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bandemeaning: group, band un  skeud  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  disquemeaning: record, album fais  ià ¨che  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of fais  chiermeaning: its boring, annoying un  fà ©ca  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  cafà ©meaning: cafà © à ªtre au  fumpar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre au  parfummeaning: to be in the know une  gnolba  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bagnolemeaning: car, junker geudin  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  dinguemeaning: crazy jourbon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bonjourmeaning: hello un  kebla  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  Black  (from English)meaning: black person kà ©blo  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bloquà ©meaning: blocked, caught un  keuf  (now  feuk)  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  flicmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) un  keum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy, dude laisse  bà ©ton  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of laisse  tombermeaning: forget it, drop it un  là ©pou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pouletmeaning: police officer (equivalent to cop, copper, pig) looc  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  cool  (from English)meaning: cool une  meuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  femmemeaning: woman, wife ouf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  foumeaning: crazy pà ©cho  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  chopermeaning: to steal, nick; to get caught une  pà ©clot  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  clopemeaning: cigarette le  pera  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  rapmeaning: rap (music) un  quà ¨m  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  mecmeaning: guy une  raquebar  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  baraquemeaning: house relou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  lourdmeaning: heavy les  rempa  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of les  parentsmeaning: parents un  reuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  frà ¨remeaning: brother une  reum  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  mà ¨remeaning: mother un  reup  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  pà ¨remeaning: father une  reus  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  sÅ“urmeaning: sister ripou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  pourrimeaning: rotten, corrupt la  siquemu  / la  sicmu  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  musiquemeaning: music un  sub  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  busmeaning: bus à ªtre dans le  tarcol  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of à ªtre dans le  coltarmeaning: to be exhausted une  teibou  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  bouteillemeaning: bottle une  teuf  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  fà ªtemeaning: party tirape  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  partirmeaning: to leave tisor  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  sortirmeaning: to go out une  tof  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  photomeaning: photograph la  tourv  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of la  voituremeaning: car le  tromà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of le  mà ©tromeaning: subway zarbi  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  bizarremeaning: strange un  zarfal  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of un  falzarmeaning: pants, trousers une  zesgon  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of une  gonzessemeaning: girl, chick zyva  Ã‚  Ã‚  verlan of  vas-ymeaning: go

Tuesdays with Morrie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tuesdays with Morrie - Essay Example Morrie Schwartz was the best professor Mitch could ever ask for. He supplemented Mr. Albom with the knowledge and advices in life that will surely help the young one in his future. Their relationship was more of a father and a son than a teacher and a student. When Mitch Albom graduated, Professor Morrie was more than proud of his achievement and he was very happy to see him graduate. During his graduation, Professor Morrie Schwartz embraced Mitch Albom as he was even crying because he was so happy. He only had one wish from his beloved student and that is to keep in touch with even after leaving the school. Mitch Albom promised to do so but he never kept his project. Only after Mr. Albom came across his old professor in one of the television shows that he remembered he was not able to keep his promise and he missed to see Professor Morrie for a long time. When he had the guts to see his professor, he drove to where he lives and after 16 long years, he saw his professor again, now se riously ill with ALS. Professor Morrie was already deteriorating and he was almost too late to see his professor. Despite the long years of waiting for his student, Professor Schwartz was still very happy to see Mr. Albom. The two reunited and Mitch now seeks for his advice again regarding his life, his job and his family life. The professor was very eager to see his student listens again to him. Mitch Albom's life was not perfect and his relationship with his wife is greatly affected by his work. Meeting up with Prof. Morrie Schwartz every Tuesdays, Mitch Albom now became more aware of he missed out chasing the life he thought was what’s best for him and his wife. He now finds himself wondering if he is really happy with what he has and what he had become. He needed more time with his professor to enlighten him and answer his questions about life but he now has little time left with his professor. If only he chose to keep his promise and kept in touch with his professor, he might be happier with his life. He may have chosen a different path with his life. But nevertheless, he had the chance to makeup with the time lost with his dear professor. This is one lesson that we need to consider in our life. We must not take for the granted the important people in our lives. Although they will be there to help us and love us, we must also reciprocate everything and let them feel our love. There will be a lot of opportunities that will come for us as we live, it is very important that we will not take others for granted as we embrace these opportunities. According to Professor Morrie Schwarz, it is very important that we "Love each other or die." (p.163) Make the most of your life In the book, not only did Mr. Albom ditch his promise with Professor Morrie, he also keeps on failing his wife by not keeping his promise to her. Although he knew his wife will stick and wait for him every time he leaves for his job, he still barely spends time with her to check on her or make-up for his absence. His wife only asked for them to have a baby. And yet, for years they have been married, they still don’t have a baby. Time flies so fast and there is a great possibility that his wife will not become pregnant anymore. What will happen if this will be the case? We don’

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - Essay Example While in college, they found that the inefficiencies of the existing infrastructure led to great difficulties in being compatible with the numerous mail clients in operation and served to go from there. They took their idea with them when left the campus and Cisco Systems was born. Cisco grew rapidly and to cater to the company and product information distribution, launched an official website in 1991. It had a 50% share of the networking market and struggled to keep up with the calls it was receiving. By 1993, Cisco boasted a growth of an astounding 270%, but its IT department was sorely lacking to cope with a half billion-dollar company growing by 50% each year. The initial budget was for funding IT was 0.75% of sales and this was inadequate. CIO Pete Slovik and Senior Executive, Doug Allred, brought a revolutionary concept that entailed that the IT spending was linked to the business units that in turn necessitated close alignment to the company goals. Cisco's internal network would play a strategic role in providing the connectivity needed for the business units to build applications creatively. This new concept signified that a major upgrade to the existing infrastructure was needed if Cisco managers were to meet the customer satisfaction goals. Because it was a major decision that would cost millions, cash-strapped Cisco will find it quite complex. In 1994, Cisco's systems broke down unable to cope and Cisco was forced to close down for two days. There were other several minor troubles on the way. The Solution The board went ahead and approved the proposal for a $15 million Oracle ERP system. This would entail a 2.5 percent of the 1993 revenues, thrice the IT budget of the previous year. The total cost of completing the ERP was $100million. It is not an overstatement to say that the Oracle ERP system became the backbone of the Cisco E-Business. It unified all of the Unix Servers and became a source of centralized information. (Complete case study details available from website ). Why ERP Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system that integrates a number of the back office functions of planning, manufacture, distribution, accounting and human resources etc. into a single system ERP is a method of serving each individualized department with minimal redundancies and hence has several customized software applications integrated by a single interface. Being vast and comprehensive, an ERP implementation can cost millions of dollars to create, and may take several years to complete. The advantages of the ERP system when properly implemented are tremendous. The integration of information of the departments allows easy sharing of information. Typical Benefits would include reductions in inventory, material costs, and labor and overhead costs, as well as improvements in customer service and sales, improved customer service and sales and improved accounting controls. It can speed up the manufacturing process by automating processes and workflow, and as a result, it reduces the need to carry large inventories. If implemented properly it will provide the company a major advantage in the competitive market. Contributing Factors to Successful