Twentieth Century Conflicts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Twentieth Century Conflicts - Essay Example The individual level of analysis in war includes a basic idea of how human traits cause many of the social outcomes in historical instances, including war and peace. There are variations of this idea as listed in a paper written by Wade L. Huntley, Ph.D. titled Causes of War and Paths to Peace written in May of 2004. Those variations include: basic human nature, varying features of human nature and both perception and misperception. His considerations behind this would include that in factoring basic human nature, people are basically aggressive, loving, greedy and fearful and so forth. People would be of all sorts of types, some aggressive, others peaceful, greedy or generous. Perception and misperception can result as bad decisions are made, especially in times of stress, which continually exemplifies the limits of human understanding of more than just human nature. Now, the question is, why does this series of considerations explain how war can manage coming about According to the text written by Wade L. Huntley, Ph.D. titled Causes of War and Paths to Peace written in May of 2004 that would include such potential motivations as self interest, which would lead to dilemmas in security, the equivalent of fear, protection requirement as a result and then intimidation as a result of those protections. Uncertainty breeds doubt and thus creates misperception and misinterpretation of actions. Wars or conflicts that would figure into this particular style of analysis would include, the Kurds, Bosnia, and Afghanistan in the grand scheme of war analysis because it would be individual conflicts of interest and security involved. The state level of war analysis includes a basic idea that the key factor is not necessarily based on human factors, but governmental ones in organization and such. The constraints that are created as a result of the basic infrastructure of the country can become a root cause of war. There are two variations to this idea. One is the state's nature; because each state wants certain things just because they would happen to be states and things like security and unity or nationalism would be inclusive within that. Also, included within this perspective is, like individuals, every state would be different. There would be differences that include purposeful, ideological and structural differences to consider. Much like the man vs. man consideration, this would be, in order revolutionary vs. status quo, capitalism vs. communism and democracy vs. totalitarianism. So, how can we understand such things, well we examine one of the wars on a state level. This would be, in essence, the Vietnam C onflict in which half the country believed strongly in democratic process and the other half would believe strongly in the communist construct. The same could be said for the Korean War. Understanding the underlying reasons would hardly gain knowledge as to how the individual level of war interpretations would inevitably cause war. Nor, would this actually explain the impetus of war in the fact that uncertainty of the human condition exists. In the State level of war, you have states that control the military, so what happens within a state or affects that state, can affect the military. No matter how good the people are within that state, it hardly would imply that the governing body for that state would be the same. Regardless

The Killers Essay Example for Free

The Killers Essay Hemingway is a great figure of the  « lost generation  », like Fitzgerald, S. Anderson, G. Stein, S. Lewis†¦ F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote â€Å"all gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken† to describe the feeling the young intellectuals had in this years. The writers of the â€Å"lost generation† added their own feelings of loss and failure to the previous tradition of realism. The short story The killers by Hemingway is representative of this realism and those feelings of loss and failure, because it seems that Summit (the town where the action takes place) and its inhabitants are part of a sterile and destructive world without any god or powers above. How and why is this short story representative of this â€Å"lost generation† ? I)Realism : †¢The setting the atmosphere : the setting seems to be a commonplace : comparison with Ed. Hoppers’s painting Nighthawks, representing a similar place a very common lunch counter, in an American town, Summit artificial atmosphere with â€Å"streetlight†, â€Å"arc light† in the street ; the colours seem to be absent of the scene : this is a sort of black white scene, with the darkness of the night and the artificial white light, the â€Å"black overcoat† and â€Å"the face was small and white†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦) the town seems to be a dead town, with a great impression of loneliness †¢The mundanity: everything is prosaic : for instance, the menu :  « a roast pork tenderloin with applesauce and mashed potatoes  » or  « ham and eggs, bacon and eggs, liver rand bacon, or a steak† the language is contaminated by this mundanity, it reflects the disenchantment of the world †¢The time : -the time is passing minute after minute without real action : â€Å" it’s five o’clock †, â€Å" it was a quarter past six †, â€Å" it was twenty past six †, â€Å"at six fifty-five†, â€Å"the hands of the clock marked seven o’clock and then five inutes past seven† -the rhythm of the story could be comparated with the rhythm of blues music : it is very slow, without any real action, filled by a pointless conversation †¢ The violence in the contact between the characters : -violence is omnipresent, subjacent even in the dialogs between the characters:â€Å"what the hell do you put it on the card for†, â€Å"oh, to hell with the clock†, â€Å"you’re a pretty bright boy, aren’t you ? † and then â€Å"well, you’re not†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ -the cook and Nick are tied up : â€Å"I got them tied up like a couple of girl friends in the convent†, the â€Å"killers† use arms â€Å"Al [.. with the muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun resting on the ledge†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ II)An everyday tragedy : †¢An imposed behaviour : -every action is imposed by a sort of automatic reflex, for instance Ole Andreson is always on the run â€Å"I’m through with all that running around†, the inhabitants of the city â€Å"all come here and eat the big dinner† everyday, Ole Andreson â€Å"comes here to eat every night [†¦] at six o’clock†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ -the characters are locked in the routine †¢The passivity of the characters : the characters are all passive : they do not react when the killers come in the restaurant, they accept to be tied up without any form of rebellion, at the end of the story, the cook says â€Å"I don’t even listen to it† when Nick is telling George about his visit to Ole, George says â€Å"you better not think about it†, Nick wants to â€Å"get out of this town† -Ole stay lying on his bed looking at the wall while he is sure to be killed, he does not react and just says â€Å"after a while I’ll make up my mind to go out†, when going out means to be killed The characters are failures : -the killers are described only by there garments : â€Å"a derby hat and a black overcoat buttoned across the chest†, â€Å"they were dressed like twins†, â€Å"both wear overcoats too tight for them†, they are â€Å"about the same size†; it is as f all their nature could be locked in their appearance -Al is described with only two features : â€Å"his face was small and white and he had tight lips†, max is not described -They are seen as a â€Å"vaudeville team†, a sort of comic pair (like laurel Hardy for instance), which is far away from the representation of killers, they are too much real that they seem unreal -Ole, who was a boxer, is now seen as â€Å" an awfully nice man†, â€Å"he’s just as gentle† says Mrs Bell : all the characters seems to be failures III)Adversity of the world : The loneliness : the town, Summit, is a sort of symbol of loneliness despair the death is omnipres ent, even in a subjacent form : for the killers, the death of a man is just a simple action (detachment) : â€Å"what are you going to kill him for, then ? † and the answer â€Å"we’re killing him for a friend. Just to oblige a friend†, â€Å"he never even seen us† for ole, life seems to be worse than death : he has no passion, he keeps looking the wall when Nick says he is going to be killed by two men (total failure to act) The characters seem to be interchangeable : -as seen before, the characters seem to be interchangeable : they are devoid of personality, there is a play on resemblance / dissemblance (the 2 killers look alike even if they are different) -Ole does not look at Nick, but is always looking to the wall (it is as if Nick as lost his humanity for Ole) -Mrs Bell is confused with Mrs Hirsch†¦ †¢A refuge in the language ? in that story, it seems that language is only used as a refuge for the characters : they speak only to fill the time passing by (inanity of conversation), to forget the loneliness of the place.. -when Al says â€Å"shut up ! you talk to goddam much†, Max answers â€Å"well, I got to keep bright boy amused† or â€Å"we have to keep amused, haven’t we ? † : it is as if language was used only to fill a gap -the words are used two or three times : for instance, â€Å"well, good night†, â€Å"I guess† or â€Å"it’s a hell of a thing† and â€Å"it’s an awful thing† (it is like a dialog of the deaf) A disenchanted world : the story stop short : there is no suspense, the killers have told George they were about to kill Ole, but they do not the title â€Å"the killers† announced a story of gangsters, of killers, but there is finally no murder, therefore the end of the story is quite â€Å"flat† It is as if nothing could move the characters (Ole resolved to death, immutability of the characters†¦) Summit and its inhabitants seem to be a sterile and destructive world deserted by God, accomplishing a destiny without any form of rebellion Conclusion : The short story The killers is quite representative of the writing of the â€Å"lost generation†; here, it seems that human beings have been abandoned by God, in an hostile world, where action is doomed to failure. Men are resolved to death, since they cannot do anything to change life. Ole Anderson, destined to death, keeps lying on his bed, unable of any action, saying â€Å"there ain’t anything to do†, and will surrender to his enemies : it is as if life were worse than death for him. Hemingway uses the realism to show how much life is insipid and bland for those men, and describes the â€Å"everyday tragedy† they live in and the adversity of the world.

Society and Beauty Essay -- Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

Two very qualified women go to a business office for a job interview. The job entails a lot of contact with people. Both women are upbeat and perky and have almost identical experience in the field; the only major difference between the two women is the way they look. One woman is tall and slim with an attractive face. The other is a heavy-set "Plain Jane." The attractive woman got the job. Unfortunately, in society today looks are very important. It is a fact that people who are good looking have an easier time excelling in their careers and in life in general than people who are not. This is a sad and very shallow fact that shows society has really not come that far since the days of Martin Luther King, Jr. Society has moved from discriminating because of color; but what is on the outside is still what really counts to many people. She knew what she had to do before it was too late, and she rose up with difficulty and walked across the thick carpet to the bathroom, and flicked of the light... She left the water running out of habit, though this time it wasn't necessary since no one was around to hear the sounds from the bathroom. When she had finished the glass of water she lifted the lid of the toilet and knelt down before it, her face within the bowl. She pushed down of the back of her tongue in the exact right spot, and the brownish liquid gushed out of her (Chernin 30). This journal entry, written by a young woman in college, is about a typical day during her battle with an eating disorder. We live in a society where a woman can never be to thin ... ...23 May, 2000. <http://www.anred.com/defs.html> "Eating Disorder Definitions." Definitions According to Hazel. Hazel's Eating Disorder Support Center. 22 May, 2000. <http://members.aol.com/hazel16042/define.html> Epstein, Rachel. The Encyclopedia of Health: Eating Habits and Disorders. Chelsea House Publishers. New York. 1990. Jones Jr., Frank Allen. "Anorexia Nervosa." Microsoft Encarta: 1997 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Microsoft, 1996. Moorey, James. Living With Anorexia and Bulimia. University Press. New York. 1991. Nardo, Don. Overview Series: Eating Disorders. Lucent Books, Inc. San Diego. 1991. Pipher, Mary. Hunger Pains: The Modern Woman's Tragic Quest for Thinness. Ballantine Books. New York. 1995. Sonder, Ben. Eating Disorders: When Food Turns Against You. Franklin Watts. New York. 1993.

CVS stops selling tobacco products Essay

Reason, declared Kant, is the source and ultimate basis for morality. Morality wholly rests in pure, innate reason and not in intuition, conscience, law, or utility. The standard of morality, therefore, is inherent in the human mind; it is definable only in terms of the mind; and it is derived from one’s innerself by direct perception (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). According to Kant, in order to be moral, one has to be rational. â€Å"The right use of reason is directed to moral ends† (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2009). A person has to think rationally, he or she does not have think only about self-interest. As a result of that, there is no place for such thing as Ethical Egoism. People should be treated with dignity and respect. Kant presumes that human beings are rational and can utilize reason (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2009). Kant called the supreme ethical principles the Categorical Imperative. This principle is necessary element of human reason and foundation upon which rest all moral judgments (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). Kant’s method has three parts of testing, which are used for identification whether or not an action is moral. No matter in what kind of situation a person can be, a rational individual performs an action because he or she has a moral obligation and duty. Application of Kantian Ethical Analysis The categorical Imperative is not a principle of action itself; instead, it ethically lays down the form a moral maxim must take. Thus, said Kant, reason indicates that a moral action must have a certain form. The ethics â€Å"test† is a formal test (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). Literally, a person has to indicate whether his/her actions would be successful or would be considered as a self-destruction. In this case, the test will determine that situation with the company such CVS will be most likely successful. One of the main reasons that the company is doing this, is to show the public and competitors that it really cares about the health and well-being of its customers and the nation. By taking out all tobacco products from all CVS stores in the United States, the administration of the company who have main input in the way how the firm works, would really benefit. In general public might be surprised that CVS are going to aim on people’s health. In this kind of situatio n many things will change and increase in the business, things as trust and confidence would be maintained. So, action passes the  first test. The second test states that every person should be treated with dignity, respect and as a valuable and worthwhile entity (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2009).This test involves by itself shareholders, employee, employer, consumers, and society as well. In this case some people have different point of view, some of them firmly believe that they have the right to buy any products they like or to do whatever they chose to do. There is an argument, which explains that it might be unethical for the company like CVS to make people uncomfortable for purchasing tobacco products. CVS does not show any respect for smokers. They feel themselves not welcomed. According to Kantian theory CVS should need to make sure that their clients feel comfortable and welcome in the drugstores, no matter what kind of products are sold. CVS has to analyze and think about customers themselves, not only about profits, even though that basically, the idea of having business is for income purpose. To conform with the Kantian views, the company like CVS which is one of the largest drugstore chains in the United States, should pay more attention for its prosperity, rather than a little aspect of the firm to have some profits. Kant assumes that people cannot take advantage of another person. Additionally, it also explains that people cannot act and do anything without full comprehension and permission of the person. An individual needs someone’s logical, intellectual, complete agreement for this to happen. In this situation, people can think differently. Some of them can support CVS for the idea of removing tobacco products from pharmacy place, because it is ethical and some of them firmly argue with this statement. Even though that the people deeply understand that the products they were purchasing have the risks for their health and very harmful for their organisms. According to this information, the second test will definitely fail. The third test is the agent-receiver test which asks whether a rational person would accept the action or rule regardless of whether he or she was the agent or the receiver of the action (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2009). So, the main cost of this change would be a major loss in income. But people can lose their jobs, the managers and executives will feel decrease in salaries. Many employees may be in danger of losing a job. Moreover, the prices of shares of stocks will decrease, then shareholders  could be in danger of losing earnings. These are all the possible ways of banning all packs of cigarettes from CVS stores. Nevertheless, analytics of the company predicts that the benefits that CVS would get of trust and confidence would be worth the danger of losing profit. By stop selling tobacco products and removing all sweets from the drugstores as well, the firm would have to reassess how and in what kind of ways it can have its income. It will be very difficult to survive for the company, especially in the beginning of this change. It has a worse outcome than just minor loss in sales. The company would have a very negative effect from this and many people would not have a benefit as well. In this case, customers and employees would lose. Because of CVS stops selling cigarettes, as we mentioned above, many people will lose their potential jobs, therefore , the third test certainly will not pass. Only if the company will help their employees by giving them recommendation letters and providing with rà ©sumà ©/interview training, the third test might be considered as passed. But as long as, the action of CVS is going to be presented in October of this year. We still do not know whether they will help their employer or not. So, at this moment of time, this action is considered as not passed. Moral Conclusion Pursuant to Kantian Ethical Model An action is morally right if it has a certain form, and morally wrong if it does not have that form. The Form, the Categorical Imperative, is the first, supreme, fundamental principle in ethics. It is the form a moral action must have; it provides the ultimate standard by which one test can test action, rules, beliefs, and standards to determine if they are moral (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). Based on Kant’s ethics, the action of CVS pharmacy about removing tobacco products from the stores can be considered moral, only if it passes the Categorical Imperative tests. Some type of questions must be considered such as, is this action only benefiting the company or others as well? How would CVS feel if others performed this action? If the firm rationalized its actions, they would be moral. First of all, if everyone takes the same action that took CVS, the world will become healthy. We will not see any more death as a result of tobacco products. CVS has always functioned very well with good ratings in customers service and with high earnings. Even with a ban of tobacco in October, the company is still  one of the leading pharmacies in the country. Nevertheless, this new plan may not make everyone in society happy. Some people, most likely smokers think that this ban is unfair and unethical, but managers and executives thought that it was the right step for the healthy future and for the business. As a result of this decision, the company will gain trust from its consumers, which will result in a more successful firm. In other words, smokers will not be treated equally with other people with respect and dignity, therefore the second test will fail. Overall, if CVS will take care of people who probably will lose their jobs, the third test can be considered as passed. Despite the problems with Kantian ethics, Kant’s very important accomplishment was to underscore, and to appreciate, people as free, rational, moral beings, with individuals rights and self-im posed duties to respect others (Cavico & Mujtaba, 2013). In conclusion, CVS’s incredible decision involves long term perspective and sacrifices. The administration of the company has a solid strategy of how to operate the company and all of the stores. With a great plan on operations, they are able to have a successful business. As long as, it is such a large company, these changes will be beneficial, even with some people against the stores, unless there is another major change to products in the near future.

Polavaram Dam Project

Polavaram Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project which has been accorded national project status by the central government. This dam across the Godavari River is under construction. It is located in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh state of India. PURPOSE National River-Linking Project, which works under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, was designed to overcome the deficit in water in the country. As a part of this plan, surplus water from the Himalayanrivers is to be transferred to the peninsular rivers of India.This exercise, with a combined network of 30 river-links and a total length of 14,900 kilometres (9,300 mi) at an estimated cost of US$120 billion (in 1999), would be the largest ever infrastructure project in the world. In this project's case, the Godavari Riverbasin is considered as a surplus one, while theKrishna River basin is considered to be a deficit one. As of 2008, 644 tmcft of underutilised water from Godavari River flowed into th e Bay of Bengal.Based on the estimated water requirements in 2025, the Study recommended that sizeable surplus water was to be transferred from the Godavari River basin to the Krishna River basin. In July 1941, the first conceptual proposal for the project came from the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Later Diwan Bahadur L. Venkata Krishna Iyer, then chief engineer in the Presidency's irrigation department, made the first survey of the project site and made a definitive proposal for a reservoir at Polavaram.Sri Iyer not only visioned cultivation of 350,000 acres (140,000 ha) over two crop seasons through this project, but also planned for a 40 megawatt hydroelectric plant within the project. The entire project was estimated to cost about 65 million (US$990,000). The old final designs of Polavaram dam was planned at full reservoir level (FRL) 208 ft MSL with 836 tmcft gross storage capacity and 150 MW hydroelectric plant. By 1946–47, the estimated cost rose to 1. 29 billion.It wa s christened as Ramapada Sagar Project since the backwaters of the reservoir would touch the Lord Rama temple at Bhadrachalam. In the old finalised project design by Dr. K. L. Rao, the right bank canal of Polavaram project was extended to south of Krishna River to serve irrigation needs in old Guntur district by envisaging aqueduct across the Krishna River. The project presently under construction is scaled down to FRL 150 ft MSL. The project cost estimate in 2004 stood at ?86. 21 billion. In 1980, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh T.Anjaiah laid the foundation stone for the project. However the project stayed idle until 2004 when the Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy-led government came to power. In 2004, the Government of Andhra Pradesh sanctioned 13. 2 billion (US$200 million) for the project. Soon after, tenders were issued for the commensurate worth of services for the right canal of the project. For the left canal, another 13. 53 billion were sanctioned by the state government. The dam could not be taken up for construction during the last century on techno economical grounds.The proposed dam site at Polavaram is located where the river emerges from the last range of the Eastern Ghatsinto plains covered with deep alluvial sandy strata. At Polavaram, the river width is about 1500 m. In view of large depth of excavation which is more than 30 m deep, to reach hard rock at this dam site, the dam project was not found economical to take up. However a lucrative alternate site is feasible located in upstream of Polavaram site where the river passes through deep gorges of Papi hill range. The width of river is about 300 m only in the rocky gorge stretch.Thirty years back, this alternative was found technologically challenging task to connect the reservoir with the irrigation canals via tunnels across the ghat area. Also costly underground hydro electric station is mandated compared to river bed based hydro electric station. When the project was actually taken up in th e year 2004, the old finalised designs at Polavaram site are adopted without re-examining the latest cost of upstream alternate site in view of state of the art construction technology of tunnels and underground hydro electric station.The progress up to the year 2012 in construction of dam structures and the hydro electric station is almost nil. The alternate site located in the gorge stretch is still worth of re-examination to reduce the ever increasing cost of Polavaran dam. The spillway and non-overflow dam are founded onKhondalite bed rock in Polavaram Project. Khondalites, which are feldspar-rich, often contain soft graphite, hard garnet, etc. in addition to other minerals. Khondalites are highly weathered and hence unsuitable at dam site.As of 2004, the proposed project would hold 75. 2 tmcftthereby enabling irrigation of an additional 232,000 acre in Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari,Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh. [7] The project w ould constitute an earth-cum-rock fill dam of 2,310 metres (7,580 ft) length, spillway of 907 metres (2,976 ft) with 44 vents to enable discharge of 3,600,000 cu ft/s (100,000 m3/s) of water. To its left, 12water turbines, each having 80 megawatt capacity, were to be installed.The right canal connecting to Krishna River in the upstream of Prakasam Barrage (173 kilometres (107 mi) long) discharges 17,500 cu ft/s (500 m3/s) at head works and left canal (182 kilometres (113 mi) long) discharges 17,500 cu ft/s (500 m3/s) of water. [7] The proposed project would displace 276 villages and 44,574 families spread across three districts of Andhra Pradesh. Tribals constitute 50% of such a displaced population. [13] Human rights activists came out against the project because of these reasons.In addition, one activist pointed out that this interlinking of the rivers will harm the interests of the Telangana and Rayalaseemaregions of the state. [14] Environmental activist Medha Patkar said that t he project not only will displace several thousands of families, it will also submerge severalarchaeological sites, coal deposits, a wildlife sanctuaryand several hectares of farm land. [15] Sixty-four years after the initial conception of the project, the Government of Andhra Pradesh secured the environmental clearance from the central agency in 2005.This clearance was obtained after the state government prepared a ?4,500 crore forest management plan and rehabilitation and resettlement proposal covering 59,756 hectares that were being lost under the project. In addition, ?40,000 was to be allotted for each dwelling to be constructed for the displaced as against ?25,000 provided by other states. [16] Despite this clearance, the project faced political roadblocks. The Communist Party of India (M) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi were troubled with the issue of submerging agricultural lands and the detriment to Telangana, respectively. [17][18]Meanwhile, work on the project began in Apri l 2006 and was expected to be completed by February 2007. [19]After 30% work of excavation work on the canals and 15% of the spillway works had been completed, the work was halted in May 2006 to seek clearance from the Ministry of Forests and Environment. [20] The neighbouring state of Orissa also expressed its concern on the submerging of its land and decided to study this together with the officials from Andhra Pradesh. [21] In response, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy clarified that neither Orissa nor Chattisgarh would be affected by the construction.The problem continued until 2010, when Chief Minister of Orissa Naveen Patnaik remained steadfast in his demand for compensation and rehabilitation of tribals of his state who would be displaced due to the submerging of their land. Orissa and Chattisgarh have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Project which submerges large areas of its state and allege that Andhra Pradesh of going ahead wi th the project without the necessary permissions from CWC and Environment Ministry. The states also allege that public hearing in the effected areas for not held.