Nhs Application Essay

I am interested in running for the position of Secretary of the National Honor Society so that I can assist the President and Vice President in making our school a better place. We, as members of this prestigious group, have the duty to involve Saucon Valley as a whole in order to do community service for the benefit of all. As Secretary, I plan to amp up the school spirit here at Saucon so that every individual student feels included and motivated to better our school and our community.For example, the blood drive that NHS hosts every year can become a schoolwide effort with a little more enthusiasm. In previous years, many underclassmen ignore the blood drive completely because of their age and thus, their inability to donate blood. But if we were to make the event more â€Å"fun† as a whole, we could encourage students to get the word out to their parents, neighbors, or friends to get involved and donate their blood to those who need it.And by â€Å"fun†, I imply dec orations throughout the school, exaggerated morning announcements, offers of food, anything that will get the student body excited to share their blood! On a more serious note, aside from the blood drawing, I would like to say that I greatly represent the four pillars of NHS: Character, scholarship, service, and leadership. I always maintain a positive attitude, even when faced with frustrating tasks.I strive to better myself through education as well, taking my classes seriously and valuing my grades. I also attempt to help others as well as our Community, providing service wherever it is needed. And lastly, I know how to take control of a situation with stern kindness, leading with an efficient and thoughtful mindset. I firmly believe that these abilities qualify me for the position of Secretary. Thank you!

A Commentary on Plath’s The Surgeon at 2am

Fraught with the stress of depression combined with the pain of a recent miscarriage, Plath was preoccupied with the concept of hospitalisation when writing ‘The Surgeon at 2am'. Taking on the persona of a male surgeon, the controlling role to her more passive role as patient, she explores the concept as the surgeon as master and alludes to a higher power in explaining the apparent magic and complexity of the human body. The title of this poem introduces us to its major subject matter, as is typical of Plath's poetry. The first two lines of the first stanza appear subjective and clinical, introducing us to the idea of the surgeon being a man of science. The line ‘hygienic as heaven' also alludes to death, a commonplace occurrence in any hospital. This is followed through by the reference to the death of the microbes. This also gives an air of control to the poem and allows the reader to understand the controlling role of the surgeon as he performs his work. This stanza also introduces the idea of the surgeon operating as a higher power behind the scenes; ‘a snowfield, frozen and peaceful' explains that he is all alone in his work and that, with the patient being under anaesthetic, he has total control. The metaphor ‘a lump of Chinese white' for the mask of the patient dehumanises him somewhat; the surgeon is left with a body to play with as opposed to a human being. This idea is furthered with the line ‘The soul is another light. : the surgeon deals exclusively with the material and, by the humanisation caused by the mask, hygiene and silence, does not come into contact with the ethereal or profound. As such, this causes contradiction with the previous theme of his higher power, and calls into question the role in which he truly plays within his field of the human body. Is he higher power or merely Santa's proverbial little helper? This first stanza seems, most importantly, to introduce the message that, though the sur geon may be able to perfect the body, he is incapable of coming across the soul. The second stanza further bathetically reduces the surgeon to a craftsman: more specifically a gardener, doing God's dirty work in a human garden. Plath compares organs to ‘tubers and fruit' and their blood to ‘jammy substances', while veins are ‘a mat of roots'. The unnamed ‘assistants' seem to be undergardeners while the narrator does the finest pruning and operating. Although, evidently, the surgeon is familiar with the body, from the line ‘Stenches and colours assail me', he exalts in the beauty of the body and the flawlessness of the organs that he must trim and clip. The last three lines of the stanza complete the sentiment of dirty work as opposed to higher interference. The surgeon is acutely aware of his own incompetence (‘I am so small') and, when faced with the perfection and complexity of the human body, finds his own actions to be clumsy and boorish: ‘I worm and hack' The body with which the surgeon occupies himself becomes not simply a task to be completed, but rather an all-consuming landscape. In the second stanza we are introduced to the garden, perhaps a reference to Eden, while in the third, the surgeon notes sunsets and hot springs. These metaphors also demonstrate the dehumanisation of the body on which he operates. The idea of an all-consuming task also comes through in the line ‘I am up to my elbows in it': this gives the blood and body a more active role and gives almost the impression of it taking control of the surgeon, particularly in the line ‘Still it seeps me up'. The surgeon appears almost reluctant to ‘seal off' the mass of veins and leave the garden, perhaps insinuating that he feels more comfortable in his ‘garden' than in the real world, where people are not merely bodies under a mask of ‘white clay. In the second part of the stanza, the surgeon rhapsodises about the skill of the Romans, showing his respect for logic and discipline. Proclaiming the body to be a ‘Roman thing', he places it on the same pedestal as ‘Aqueducts' and ‘the Baths of Caracella', extolling its capacity for sensible routine (for example, in the pumping of the heart), while, cur iously, paying little attention to its capacity for human emotion. We may perhaps infer from this that Plath felt dehumanised by her surgeons when hospitalised. The enigmatic last line ‘It has shut its mouth on the stone pill of repose' refers perhaps to the body being in an anaesthetised state. The surgeon appears to find this more noble than the real unreposed people he might encounter outside of the theatre. This anaesthetised body, ‘statue'-like, is wheeled off in the fourth stanza, while the surgeon sits back and veritably rubs his hands together with glee. His operating leaves him with the trimmings of the body, perhaps unwanted cuttings and prunings of the aforementioned garden. After the high praise of the Roman body, the ‘set of teeth [†¦ to rattle in a bottle and take home' seem somewhat desacrelised, indicating that the surgeon considers his work to be in removing the bad to leave only the flawless, hence leaving him only with the unnecessary and crude. This furthers our understanding of the surgeon as a man of science who sees things in black and white terms; he deals merely with the necessary and unnecessa ry. Cannibalism is generally seen as high taboo in most societies, and the phrase ‘a pathological salami' seems intent on making the reader wince. This also shows the surgeon's disregard for everything not involved in his making of perfection. The phrase ‘they will swim in vinegar like saints' relics' seems also somewhat tongue in cheek, as the surgeon embraces science over religion. By comparing a salami to relics, he demonstrates the importance he considers them to have. By preferring a body to a person and condemning both religion and the soul, we are left with the impression that the surgeon is indeed a highly clinical and somewhat cold individual. The last line, ‘[†¦ ] clean, pink plastic limb' seems totally without feeling, as the surgeon's job is done and the ‘patient' is finished, as far as he is concerned. The last stanza of the poem reintroduces the underappreciated soul, as the surgeon walks alone through the wards in the middle of the night. By using the words ‘a new soul', we are given the idea that the surgeon has saved them and hence given them a fresh shot at life. Perhaps through the pain that induced surgery, they have undergone a sort of purgatory and hence their soul has been cleansed. Morphia makes reference both to morphine, as in the drug, and Morpheus, the Roman god of sleep and dreams, yet another reference to the Roman age. The surgeon seems puzzled by the after-effects of surgery; that under the ‘gauze sarcophagi' lie individuals, floating on a morphine high. The ‘dawn drafts' which Plath refers to further allow the reader to understand that the patients are, under the effect of morphine, floating inches from the ceiling. Making reference once again to an ancient society, the ‘gauze sarcophagi' give the impression that the patients are, in their present state, neither dead or alive, in this ward where even the ‘night lights' reminds the surgeon of human gore. The poem finishes much as it started, with the surgeon, having played the role of gardener, Historian and scientist, resuming his role of control as a higher being. ‘I am the sun' indicates that the surgeon is the life-giving force in the hospital, most important for the continuation of the patients' lives. This too may refer to deities in ancient societies such as the Aztecs. The last line further cements everything we believe about the surgeon: safe in his position of power and control, he is happy only when the people around him are being bodies, in a ‘shuttered' state, and acknowledging listlessly the power and magic of his work.

Only One Way to Stop a Bully Essay

Bullying has become a major issue in the past 5 years. This is something we hear of way too often whether it is at school, work, or even on the news. Bullying is not your typical kid who steals a student’s lunch money either; there are several cases worldwide that have ended in suicide for some. When it comes down to the severity of suicide or even physical harm that is when it’s no longer just a simple slap on the wrist, but rather a closer, deeper look into what we can start doing to change this and fast. In There’s Only One Way to Stop a Bully, an essay written by Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom they speak about this issue in depth. Sandstrom and Engel speak of specific ways we as a community and faculty at schools should incorporate lessons on how to deal, recognize, and solve bullying in everyday life. The authors also speak of a new law that has been passed in order to address and stop bullying. They support this claim by providing us with examples. One example is telling us of ideas that teachers have put to the test to defeat this issue, such as a teacher enforcing a rule that students could not exclude anyone from their play and the positive impact this brought. Sandstrom and Engel also support this by telling us of a school in Norway that has put much emphasis on this issue and by doing so, have succeeded in lowering the bullying rate. Although the authors brought valid points, there are a few key factors missing from this essay. One being that when Sandstrom and Engel introduced this new law that was passed to target bullying, they did not go into enough detail as far as the specifics of this law. What are the consequences of this law? It states that the most serious cases of bullying should be reported to law officials but at what degree do they consider bullying serious? I found myself asking these questions when reading the essay. This particular law was such a big part of the essay; I felt that more emphasis was needed. Another weakness I found in this essay was that I did not feel like it was so much an argumentative piece of writing but rather an essay informing me of instances and facts. In argumentative writing I always find myself stopping to relate, or to agree/disagree with the author on the topic. Although the authors made great points, while reading this I did not once stop to react to what the author was supposed to be â€Å"arguing†. There were many things that I enjoyed about this essay and brought me a positive outlook on this topic. The author used a lot of examples making it easy to read and make sense of the main claim. For instance, the author spoke of the success this law has made possible by speaking of Norway, a school who has really recognized this issue and applied it to their curriculum. The author also noted a teacher in particular who has enforced a specific rule in helping eliminate bullying. Rather than speaking of instances in a plain matter the author used specific examples and listed persons in particular bringing the realness of the matter to life.

Public Administration Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Public Administration - Case Study Example study aimed at answering what are the contributions that leaders need to make in public organizations to motivate their workforce (Wright et al., 2012). The specific purpose of the study was to identify the methods through which leaders following transformational leadership style can use internal and external motivational factors to increase their employee’s focus and attention towards the mission of the organization. In order to conduct this study data was collected through a survey in which the respondents included different senior level managers in the public organization and the total size of those who were surveyed was more than 50,000 senior level managers (Wright et al., 2012). The survey was supplied with the help of the internet and the survey was posted on the website of the study. Out of those individuals who responded to the survey a total of 1,538 were considered as valid for the study (Wright et al., 2012). The majority of the respondents were male and they belonged to the White race and they had attained higher level education. The study was conducted with the help of a statistical tool called correlation and regression and the validity of the responses was analyzed through the statistical tool of Cronbach Alpha (Wright et al., 2012). With the help of the study the researchers identified that leaders who practice transformational leadership style can help in elevating worker’s motivation towards providing public services (Wright et al., 2012). The researchers even identified that this form of leadership provided employees with clearly and well defined goals. The third main finding of the study was that worker’s motivation towards providing public services and clearly defined roles are two important factors that attract employees towards the mission of the organization (Wright et al., 2012). Furthermore the researchers identified that leaders in public organizations that provide their followers with a vision, led by setting an example,

Criminal Procedure Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal Procedure Assignment - Essay Example Effectively, the decision overruled the previous distinction in Chadwick-Sanders that held such a search of containers in automobiles required a warrant even if there was probable cause for the search. In U.S.A vs. Chadwick 433 U.S. 1 (1977), it was held that in the absence of exigency, searching double-locked luggage inside an automobile is not justified and violates the Fourth Amendment rights. Here, it was explained that luggage may be movable just like the automobile but is not subjected to lesser privacy expectations associated with the automobile. Therefore, the police cannot search personal effects that they confiscate during an arrest if they do not have a warrant to perform the search. In U.S.A vs. Johnson 457 U.S. 537 (1982), the defendant claimed that his written and oral confessions were the results of an unlawful arrest that could not be supported by probable cause. However, it was held that the warrantless arrest of Johnson in his home did not violate his Fourth Amendme nt rights because there was probable cause for the arrest and the confessions admitted as evidence. However, this decision was later overruled after Payton v New York 445 U.S. 573 was decided and it was ruled the respondent’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated. The similarity in the three cases is the issue of warrantless search and presenting the evidence found to the court during prosecution. However, basing on the different facts f the cases, different verdicts were made. Both U.S.A. vs. Acevedo and U.S.A. vs. Johnson held that the police did not require warrants to search the automobile and home respectively. The reasoning is that they had probable cause to believe there was evidence in the automobile and home that would link the suspects to crime. More specifically in U.S.A. vs. Acevedo, the most relevant holding was that the police could search the entire automobile and any closed containers in it.

Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts Essay - 5

Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts - Essay Example The study of these components forms the basis of OB. This can be done by taking a systemic approach and treating the organization as a complex unit. Organizational culture  is a concept in the field of  Organizational studies  and  management  which describes the  attitudes, experiences, beliefs and  values  of an  organization. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with  stakeholders  outside the organization. As outlined in the OB introduction, these are the principles that dictate the conduct of the individual in the organizational setup and hence it is important to observe the culture of an organization to decide on the favorable or unfavorable environment towards the employees. Diversity relates to the composition of the workforce in an organization according to ethnic, gender, race and other divisions. In the current context where transnational companies have a significant presence around the world, the concept of Diversity in the workplace has assumed importance. According to the law, every organization is supposed to be an equal opportunity employer that means that it cannot discriminate on the basis of race, gender or personal proclivities when hiring applicants. Organizational communication, broadly speaking, is: people working together to achieve individual or collective goals. Any organization is like a complex system in which individuals are guided by a shared vision and hence use communication to achieve their goals and in the process achieve the organizational goals as well. There cannot be a system where the communication channels are clogged or there is lack of communication at different levels and between levels of the hierarchy. The structure of most organizations is such that it allows for communication to be top-down. What is needed is a structure that allows for bottom up

Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Criminal law - Essay Example an existing legal rule; in this context, actions which are not characterized by the law as crimes cannot be punished, c) the offender need to have the ability of critical thinking – in the sense that an imputation of guilt can take place; for people who do not have aesthesis, i.e. those who lack of objectivism cannot be punished for an action which is characterized by the law as offence; however, it is possible that the guardians of these persons are considered as having the responsibility for the actions of the offenders, d) the intention of the offender to commit the crime is also a necessary requirement for the existence of crime as a punitive behaviour.3 At the next level, the following clarifications need to be made: crime has both an active and a passive form; it can be expressed through a specific activity or it can refer to the failure of taking the measures required for the avoidance of an offence. Furthermore, a problem may exists when an offence involves in more than one countries which have evaluated the specific action differently: the law of one of these countries characterizes the action as crime while the law of the other country states that the specific action does not meet the requirements of a crime; usually, the law of the country where the specific action took place is applied; so, no conflict of law is developed. Moreover, it is possible that an action does not constitute a crime at the time point of its development but it is later characterized as a crime – with a new legal rule. This problem is usually addressed by the limitation of retrospective laws – usually laws of such type are avoided in the a rea of criminal law. In accordance with the issues discussed above, criminal actions can be committed by individuals – persons; organizations of various types can be considered as legal entities in regard to a series of activities but they cannot be held liable for criminal offences – however, it is still possible for crimes to be

The level of deficit spending by the federal government Personal Statement

The level of deficit spending by the federal government - Personal Statement Example I think the government should cut its spending for this to be achieved in a manner that everyone will be satisfied. In respecct of raising taxes, the wealthy have come out strongly in opposition. They argue that they already are overtaxed. According to Porter (12), it is true that the high income earners in the States pay a lot of tax. They are said to be account for the biggest share of the tax burden. It is noted that the deficit in the federal government has been an extraordinarily contentious issue in the political scene over the last few years. It is stated that the current deficit stands at about $15 trillion dollars. It is expected that if every thing holds constant; the figure will rise significantly in the next couple of years (Jeffrey par 2). Some politicians and economists argue that the national income levels are not on the dangerous levels yet. They say that the government should increase its expenses in order to avoid another downturn. The current deficit is said to be a result of high spending on soldiers, grants to support the public schools, road construction, infrastructural projects, and Medicare for seniors (Hubpages par 4). Another factor that has also brought about the deficit relates to government revenue as previously indicated. Revenue is the amount of money collected by the government. They are generally gotten from tax, custom duties, and sale of government property among other sources (Porter 12). For the government to be able to reduce the deficit, it should first be able to reduce the amount of money that it spends on government-sponsored programs or increase the amount of money it takes from tax. Jeffrey (par 2) suggests that, not only does the government raise more revenue when it raises tax paid by the rich Americans but it could achieve this without slowing down economic growth of the country. Porter (12) states that

Johnson International Corporation Research Paper

Johnson International Corporation - Research Paper Example The net revenue of the company in the last year was $200 million and the net Income was $10 million. The company mainly generates its business from military and DoD related logistics services. Apart from its branch offices, the company has recently developed an online platform for itself. According to the CEO of Johnson International Corporation (JIC), the intention of the company is to become more competitive and offer superior services to the customers. Hence in order to fulfil this obligation, the top leads of the company have suggested an overall reengineering review of all aspects of the organization. This can be carried out with the help of a system approach. Although the company has earned high profits in the last couple of years, more capital is required to carry out the engineering review and implement information technology in their operational system. In order to reduce operation cost the company has reduced the IT budget to 10 % and travel & training budgets to 10 % for t he last 2 years. Nonetheless, Johnson International Corporation (JIC) did not laid off any off their staff members. This project will now elaborate on the possible ways by which the company can provide improved customer services and also become more competitive in the market place. Based on the discussion, the study will develop some alternative solutions and from that the most viable one will be selected. The purpose of the study is to uncover the problems faced by the company. In addition the purpose of the study is also to provide a number of alternative solutions to fix that issue. Finally, the aim of the project is to provide recommendations to the company, regarding how they can improve their performance. Systems thinking can be defined as a process of understanding how things pertaining to systems interacts and influences each other on a whole. The examples of systems thinking are ecosystem where elements such as water, air,

Law Assignments Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law Assignments - Research Paper Example This form of contract falls under the idea of Statute of Fraud as one of the parties has failed to complete assigned task on the basis of the agreement. Parol Evidence Doctrine: The Parol Evidence policy is a rule under contract law which binds/ restricts the court from admitting evidences from the parties involved in the contract, prior to the conduct of oral or written agreements. It is worth mentioning that determination of parol evidence is dependent on the basis of the final look of agreement that is done mutually by both the parties (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). Example: X and Y have mutually agreed to start a firm with equal capital and the share of profit was to be done equally. But on the day of sharing, it was found that though both the parties had invested equal amount of capital, but the profit was not distributed equally. This form of contract generally falls under the guidance of parol evidence doctrine. The contract can fall under the collateral contra ct as both the parties can be benefited. QUESTION 2 An assignment contract is a form of contract which provides an authority to give or transfer its rights to another/third party. It is generally viewed to be a transfer of a party’s benefit to a third party in terms of fully issuing authority rather than including the name of the party in a contract (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). Example of Assignment Contract: Suppose Sam has entered into contract with James to clean his lawn and all the waste from his backyard for US$ 300. It was seen that Sam later assigns the benefit arising from the contract (i.e. US$ 300) to Daniel, though his name was not mentioned in the contract. In this example, Sam is the assignor, Daniel is the assignee and James is the delegator. A delegation contract is a form of contract where the delegator has a right to transfer or transmit his duty to a delegate. Example of assignment contract: Suppose Rose had assign her right to Mary to col lect $US 1000 from one of her customer for the purchased made by the customer. In this case, Rose is the delegator, Mary is the delegate and the customer is the obligee. A third-party beneficiary mode of contract is regarded as a contract wherein a person who is neither a promisee nor a promisor is benefited by the performance of the contract. Example of assignment contract: Suppose Smith has applied for insurance with a company and has mentioned Mrs. Smith names as the nominee or the person whom the company would be liable to pay the amount after his death. In this scenario, the company is the promisor (as it promises to pay Mrs. Smith the required amount on her husband’s death), Mr. Smith is the promise and Mrs. Smith is the third party (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers and Langvardt 1-1250). QUESTION 3 Jude had entered into a contract with Edward to sell a bicycle which would have electrical braking and a light that would occur while cycling the paddles. Later, it was found that the specification of the electrical lighting method in the bicycle was not working resulting in default of 25% of the total amount mentioned in the contract. Edward also sued Jude for breach of contract as the specification was not complied with the requirements. In this similar concern, it can be stated that if the party sues for breach of contract and the defense of failure of conditions is asserted, certain theories are available that the plaintiff could assert resulting the court to

Japanese Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Japanese Technology - Essay Example This accounts to above $130 billion. A further indication of what Japan is capable of producing is the fact that it is the country that has received most Nobel prizes in Asia. These are facts evidence in the book, â€Å"Culture and Technology in Modern Japan† by Inkster Ian and Satofuka Fumihiko, as will be analyzed in this paper. It is also important to note that Japan is the one country in the entire globe that has prime international conglomerates such as Canon, Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Hitachi, Fujitsi, Toshiba, Epson, and NEC. Other great companies from Japan include Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Mazda. Japan’s innovative nature can also be found in such fields as Robotics, Chemicals, Metals, Semi conductors, and Optics. The amazing ability of Japan can be emphasized by the fact that it owns more than half of the world industrial robots. Moreover, six of the largest automotives of the world manufacturers have a Japanese origin. A world research on technology has also held that Japan has the most developed rail transport in the world. Madlev train is the fastest train in train in the entire globe with a speed of 581 kilometers per hour. This has for long, remained unbeaten. Needless to say, Japan rules the world space. The Exploration Agency and Aerospace are the reasons and foundations for Japan’s space related development and research. This has led to excellence in rocket development making its contribution to technology within the space commendable. The fact that Japan depends entirely on imported fuel; its priority has been centered on nuclear energy. It is the third chief world’s nuclear power. Currently, the country has 55 nuclear reactors, which provide 35% of the country’s electricity. The only energy that has proved hard to be produced in Japan is wind energy. This does not mean that Japan does not have the technology and

Jacques Family Case study Essay Example for Free

Jacques Family Case study Essay Domestic violence has several mitigating approaches, and the health care approach has proved to be fruitful. By gathering feedback from victims of domestic violence in a health care setting, has helped to create awareness as well as demystify the phenomenon eventually helping to create more accurate intervention strategies (Enos et al, 2004.p 4). It has also been noted from studies that children who grow up in homes where they experience domestic violence are likely to be perpetrators of the same in their adult life (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 6). The co-occurrence of child abuse and intimate partner violence is an issue that needs to be professionally addressed. The impact on domestic violence on children cannot be explained by one theory. Assumptions about the Jacques family There is a co-occurrence of child abuse and intimate partner violence in the Jacques family. This is seen when Jacques physically abuses Samuel when the boy tries to help his mother from the father’s attack. Jacques verbally abuses Samuel, as seen in the case study. The husband, Jean Jacques is an unstable man, with an inclination towards violence. This is likely to be a medical condition. Jean has a manipulative attitude and domineering towards his family. Marie suffers from depression as a result of the continued violence and a feeling of having wasted her life by not pursuing the nursing course. Marie has had a troubled childhood and early adulthood as is stated in the case study. Her father physically abused her. Samuel’s father actually abused her sexually as evidenced by her feelings to go for an abortion. Marie is basically a responsible and intelligent woman. Marie has not contributed to the violence in the family in any way. The family has lost close ties with their paternal relatives/extended family. The children feel a sense of insecurity towards their father and suffer from various behavioral/ attitudinal disorders (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 7). Data, facts, information, and observations about this family Jean Jacques is an unstable man, with an inclination towards violence is evidenced by the fact that when Samuel tries to intervene to save his mother Jean violently throws the boy across the room and ignores the cries of the little children Valerie and Miranda. The fact that jean used a baseball bat to batter his wife proves he has an inclination towards violence as well as being of relatively unstable mind. He does not need to use a base ball bat. The injuries sustained, and the feelings of depression by Marie demonstrate the extent of the violence. Marie has grown to fear her husband and fearing he will come home from jail to kill her demonstrates this. Jean would hit Marie for no reason, yell at the kids and use abusive language towards Sammy who is not his son. He has an alcoholic problem. He even abandons his family and goes away. Has trouble sleeping and claims he hears strange voices. He feels scared of himself. His violent outbursts cause his family to be denied the services of homeless shelters. A social worker had to intervene for the family to get admission to a domestic violence shelter. Jean has a manipulative attitude and domineering towards his family. This is seen when he discouraged Marie from pursuing her dream in nursing. Jean discouraged his wife from visiting her family as well as discouraging her family to visit her. He domineered over her denying her the right and freedom of association by becoming possessive and consequently Marie had no friends. Marie suffers from depression. She has lost motivation to be productive. She has no motivation to seek employment, perform her household chores, and provide quality parenting to her children. Marie has had a troubled childhood and early adulthood. She was physically abused by her father. The father of her first child Samuel sexually abused her at age 19 years. She was vulnerable and hence fell for Jean who promised her a better life and security. Marie is basically a responsible and intelligent woman. She expresses desire to be supportive of her husband as a duty. She desires to pursue nursing to support her family.   Marie has attempted to restore their relationship. She suspects that jean is having a drug problem. This is found to be true when the family comes back from Bahamas. She took Jean back after one year when Jean supposedly went back to his medication and started applying for jobs. Marie graduated from high school with straight A’s. The family has lost close ties with their paternal relatives/extended family. There is no mention in the case study of Jeans relatives and the Child Protective Services Caseworker could not trace any relatives. The children feel insecure about their father. Samuel tries to save his mother from the violent attack while Joshua calls the police.   Samuel does not feel attached to Jean anymore. Jean is not essentially a bad man. In their initial years in marriage Jean was a responsible man and took care of Sammy as his own child. Though he is violent towards his wife he apologizes for the violence. He agrees to seek psychiatric advice upon Marie’s request. Jean makes his family more comfortable when he gets employed. He agrees to let Marie take the children to Bahamas. Concerning the children Samuel is 13 years old and feels like he no longer belongs to this family. He is constantly teased by the siblings as well as Jean for being black. He suffers from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disorder. He is academically average and manages to get C’s and D’s. He is getting into more problems at school including fights and poor academic performance. Molests younger children at school and is physically and verbally aggressive to his younger siblings. He copies Jean’s behavior in that he has physically attacked his mother. He is unfriendly. His accomplishments in karate programs demonstrate his inclination towards violence. Joshua is 11years old, he is obese and reserved. He is academically average and manages to get B’s and C’s. He has one friend Joe, and wishes his friend’s family were his family. He sees Joe’s family as normal people and this means that he sees his family as abnormal. He feels that his father would have killed his mother had he not called in the police. He is having trauma and yet he cares for his father. He is at risk of failing as a result of traumatic experiences. Has personality problems, he refuses to bathe. He loves solitude. He is a responsible child, helpful in the house and loves school. Valerie is 9 years old. She is quiet and withdrawn child. She is kind and eager to please. She is above average and bright. She manages straight A’s. She is well liked by peers and teachers, though she does not socialize with her friends outside school. She is a responsible child and takes care of her younger siblings. She is friendly to Joshua but antagonistic towards Samuel. Miranda is 6 years old, she is a friendly but withdrawn child and does not perform well at school. She seems to be disturbed and disconnected from her immediate surroundings. Has nightmares that proves she is disturbed. Matthew is 4 years old. He does not seem to be doing well at school, he is very active physically with an inclination towards violence. He is basically uncooperative. Interpretation the information about this family  From the observations about the children in the Jacques family it is important to note that they all demonstrate varying degrees of emotional and psychological deficits. This has been found to be the case from studies conducted on children who have been exposed to domestic violence (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 6). The children in this family are unable to socialize with their peers as this is demonstrated by their unfriendliness and disability to keep friends. Children are likely to view themselves as the cause of the violence and feel held captive by their inability to stop the violence. This may most likely cause the child to internalize, and this situation is made worse by their inability to acquire social skills (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 7). Conclusions about this family The Jacques family needs medical interventions. From the observation in the case study it demonstrates Jacques has a medical condition and having exposed his entire family to the violence the whole family needs the relevant medical intervention for each age bracket. Studies have shown there does not exist a single intervention strategy that fits all cases (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 15). Treatment for this family Given that Marie has on several attempts tried to restore their relationship with Jacque it would be appropriate to engage the services of both the Domestic Violence programs (DV) and the Child Protective Services (CPS) more seriously. The CPS’s approach focuses on protecting the children while at the same time propagate the preservation of the family unit while the DV facilitates the safety of the victim. There are several joint programs between DV and CPS that would be helpful in this case (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 16). Empirical Studies Case 1; In handling Domestic violence related problems it is important to understand that factors such as age of the child, its gender, and the time that has passed since the last exposure to violence, the child’s attachment to the friendly parent and other important individuals and social supports in its life are the determining factors that influence the impact of the violence on the child (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 19). Case 2; The mistreat of children and violence against females are con-current. About 500,000 may be found by police during arrests for domestic violence. An overlap of between 30%-60% exists between violence against women and violence against children in the same families (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 20). Case 3; If safety and other pertinent interventions are not available the impact of the exposure to domestic violence and child abuse can spill over into the child’s adolescence. Young people who have been exposed to domestic violence at home are likely to replicate the violence (National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence, 2002. p 20). References Enos V, P., Linden, J, A., Tieszen, L., Bernstein, J. Brown, J. (2004) An Intervention To Improve Documentation Of Intimate Partner Violence In Medical Records. U.S Department of justice. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/207146.pdf Kelleher, K., Gardner, W., Coben, J., Barth, R., Edleson, J. Hazen, A., (2002). Co-Occuring Intimate Partner Violence and Maltreatment; Local Policies/Practices and Relationships to Child Placement, Family Services and Residence. U.S Department of justice. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http;//www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/213503.pdf National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence. (2002). Children Exposed To Intimate Partner Violence. Retrieved February 23, 2009 from http://new.vawnet.org/Assoc_Files_VAWnet/NRC_Children.pdf

Us Involvement in the Vietnam War

Us Involvement in the Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1965-1973) was a conflict fought in South Vietnam between the government forces, aided by the United States, and the guerrilla forces, backed by the predominantly communist North Vietnam. The conflict escalated from a Vietnamese civil war into an international conflict in which the United States played a dominant role. Despite peace agreements of 1973 between the two factions, the conflict did not end! In fact, peace only emerged when North Vietnams successful offensive in 1975 resulted in South Vietnams collapse and the subsequent unification of Vietnam under the Communist government in the North. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The Vietnam War (1965-1973) was one of the longest wars the United States was ever engaged in. It is distinctive as it gave rise to the largest and the most successful antiwar movement in the United States history. In fact, the war in Vietnam can be described as a war that was fought on two fronts: a war in Vietnam: being waged with tanks, guns and bullets, and a war in the United States: fought through demonstrations on the streets and college campuses across the US. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed) Along with the Civil Rights campaigns of the 1960s, the antiwar movement was one of the most divisive forces in twentieth-century U.S. history. It attracted members from college campuses, middle-class suburbs, labour unions and government institutions. The movement gained national prominence in 1965, peaked in 1968, and remained potent through the conflict. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The American movement against the Vietnam War was the most triumphant antiwar movement in U.S. history. During the Johnson administration, it helped constrain the war and was a major factor in the administrations policy reversal in 1968. During the Nixon years, it hastened U.S. troop withdrawals, fed the deterioration in U.S. troop morale and discipline, and promoted legislation that severed U.S. funding for the war. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The discussion of the Vietnamese antiwar movement is extremely relevant today. This was the first time in history that the military might of the United States was successfully blocked, that too by the guerrilla movement of a virtually unarmed section of the Vietnamese people. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) This triumph of the human spirit is a significant chapter in history. It made the American people question the almost dogmatic anti-communist focus of the American government. This movement went beyond ideology, encompassing nationalist fervour and ingraining in the American people a national fear of whether every war they participated in would spiral into another Vietnam. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) CHAPTER ONE A ZEALOUS FORCE TO RECKON WITH : THE IRATE AMERICAN PUBLIC In 1965, a majority of Americans supported U.S. policies in Vietnam; by the fall of 1967, only 35 percent did so. For the first time, more people thought U.S. intervention in Vietnam had been a mistake than did not. They questioned how the U.S. could be fighting for the freedom of the Vietnamese people if it had to indiscriminately bomb, burn, and imprison the Vietnamese people themselves for fear that any one of them could be an enemy? The Vietnam war protests, or Anti-war movement, initiated by the American college students, was instrumental in questioning the policies surrounding Americas involvement in Vietnams bloody affairs. The countrys youth, the ones dying in the line fire, began demanding answers to Americas high profile presence in Vietnam. They wanted to know what they were fighting for. Through it all, the bombings continued and more and more of Americas young GIs came home in body bags. Aspects Leading to Anti War Protests Why did the Americans react adversely to the senseless War? During the four years following passage of the Tonkin Gulf resolution (Aug., 1964), which authorized U.S. military action in Southeast Asia, the American air war intensified and troop levels climbed to over 500,000. Opposition to the war grew as television and press coverage graphically showed the suffering of both civilians and conscripts. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Extensive media coverage brought the violent and bloody guerrilla war home each night to every American living room. People realised that the glowing reviews of the war effort their government had been releasing were sanitised and far from the truth. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Americans wanted to know why peace talks were organized and continually failed. Alongwith, they objected to the military draft policy. North Vietnams bloody TET Offensive of 1968 and the resultant horrendous casualties the Americans suffered eroded the situation in America even further. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy also sparked racial tension and unrest. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The length of the war, the high number of U.S. casualties, and the exposure of U.S. involvement in war crimes such as the massacre at My Lai helped to turn many in the United States against the war. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) One of the most controversial aspects of the of the U.S. military effort in South East Asia was the wide-spread use of herbicides between 1961 and 1971. They were used to defoliate large parts of the countryside. These chemicals continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Early in the American military effort it was decided that, since PAVN/NLF were hiding their activities under triple-canopy jungle, a useful first step might be to defoliate certain areas. This was known as Operation Ranch Hand. Corporations like Dow Chemical and Monsanto were given the task of developing herbicides for this purpose. When the Americans realized this, they were disgusted. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Richard Nixons number one campaign promise to Americans was that hed end the war with Vietnamization, or systematic troop withdrawals. Yet the American presence in Vietnam remained high and casualties mounted, as did the cost of running the war effort. Taxpayers were paying 25 billion dollars per year to finance a conflict no one believed in anymore. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Nixons plan to attack communist supply locations in Cambodia in 1970 failed and set off another round of protests. The Kent State student protest in May of 1970 turned deadly when National Guardsman fired into crowds, killing 4 students and injuring dozens more. Students all across the country became enraged and over the next few days campuses all over the US came to a virtual standstill. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) As the year drew to a close Nixons plans to end the Vietnam war had not been realized. American citizens were not impressed. However, after Kent State Anti-war activism seemed to wane. Yet the people still demanded to know why their country was involved in a war where a resolution seemed impossible. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) 1971 also saw the Mylai massacre come to light, an atrocity committed by American soldiers that shocked the world and gained huge media attention. Another round of peace talks were organized on the heels of this controversy but again all attempts to end the fighting in Vietnam failed. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) When the New York Times published the first installment of the Pentagon Papers on 13 June 1971, Americans became aware of the true nature of the war. Stories of drug trafficking, political assassinations, and indiscriminate bombings led many to believe that military and intelligence services had lost all accountability. The top-secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailed a long series of public deceptions. The Supreme Court ruled that its publication was legal. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Bombings raids on North Vietnam were re-escalated in the spring of 1972, after peace talks headed by Henry Kissinger once again collapsed. The cities of Hanoi and Haiphong were subjected to night raids by American B-52 bombers that was unprecedented and that left the world in shock. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Antiwar sentiment, previously tainted with an air of anti-Americanism, became instead a normal reaction against zealous excess. Dissent dominated America; the antiwar cause had become institutionalized. By January 1973, when Nixon announced the effective end of U.S. involvement, he did so in response to a mandate unequaled in modern times. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Peace talks resumed in Paris and by the end of January, 1973, a pact had been signed by the United States, South and North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. By March, all American troops were pulled out of the country and systematic release of prisoners of war on both sides was initiated. Yet by the time the Watergate scandal came to light, and ruined Nixons presidency at the close of 1974, Communist forces had overrun Saigon. Within a few short months most of Indochina fell into Communist hands. The Anti-war movements mantra of what are we fighting for seemed eerily prophetic. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) U.S. casualties in Vietnam during the era of direct U.S. involvement (1961-72) were more than 50,000 dead; South Vietnamese dead were estimated at more than 400,000, and Viet Cong and North Vietnamese at over 900,000. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The U.S. war against Vietnam was over, although the destruction continued. Large parts of Cambodia were devastated, populations were dislocated, and famine and war brought on by the U.S. war against Vietnam led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands there, and the Vietnamese had to cope with thousands of injured, with destroyed industrial facilities, and with burned and poisoned land. But the war was over, and the anti-war movement was over(Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) A Series of Protests: The Anti War Movement Once the draft was introduced, young people on college and university campuses all around America began to organise protests against the war. Teach-ins and student organizations like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) held rallies and marches, the first of which happened in Washington in April of 1965. Over the next 2 years the anti-war movement snow balled. Activists, celebrities and musicians like Abbie Hoffmann, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Fonda, Jefferson Airplane, and countless others took up the Anti-war cause and waved Anti-war banners. Their speeches and their music reflected the anger and hopelessness that Americans felt over the Vietnam war. Even the GIs stationed overseas began supporting the Anti-war movement in whatever capacity they could, from wearing peace symbols to refusing to obey orders. As the American public realized the intensity of its involvement in the Vietnam War, civil unrest fomented. 100,000 Anti-war protesters gathered in New York and thousands more in San Francisco. There were urban riots in Detroit. Johnsons support fell drastically on all fronts. Anti-war rallies, speeches, demonstrations and concerts continued being organized all over the country. There was a backlash against all that was military. Soldiers returning home from the war were no longer regarded as heroes but as baby killers. Young men sought to evade the draft by being conscientous objectors or leaving for Canada. The Woodstock concert brought 500,000 together from across North America in a non-violent protest against the war. The most famous campus protest of the early 1960s was the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at University of California, Berkeley. In 1965, demonstrations in New York City attracted 25,000 marchers; within two years similar demonstrations drew several hundred thousand participants in Washington, D.C., London, and other European capitals. Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, though acts of civil disobedience-intended to provoke arrest-were common. Much of the impetus for the antiwar protests came from college students. Objections to the military draft led some protesters to burn their draft cards and to refuse to obey induction notices. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) In October, 1967, a large anti-war demonstration was held on the steps of the Pentagon. Some protesters were heard to chant, Hey, hey, LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson)! How many kids did you kill today? One reason for the increase in the opposition to the Vietnam War was larger draft. By 1967 the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) invoked the language of revolution in its denunciations of the war in Vietnam as an inevitable consequence of American imperialism. There was also a more moderate opposition to the war from clergy, elected politicians, and people such as Dr. Benjamin Spock. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Perhaps the most significant development of the period between 1965 and 1968 was the emergence of Civil Rights leaders as active proponents of peace in Vietnam. In a January 1967 article written for the Chicago Defender, Martin Luther King, Jr. openly expressed support for the antiwar movement on moral grounds. Reverend King expanded on his views in April at the Riverside Church in New York, asserting that the war was draining much-needed resources from domestic programs. He also voiced concern about the percentage of African American casualties in relation to the total population. Kings statements rallied African American activists to the antiwar cause and established a new dimension to the moral objections of the movement. The peaceful phase of the antiwar movement had reached maturity as the entire nation was now aware that the foundations of administration foreign policy were being widely questioned. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The antiwar movement became both more powerful and, at the same time, less cohesive between 1969 and 1973. Most Americans pragmatically opposed escalating the U.S. role in Vietnam, believing the economic cost too high; in November of 1969 a second march on Washington drew an estimated 500,000 participants. The invasion of Cambodia sparked nationwide U.S. protests. On 4th May, 1970, four students were killed by the National Guard at Kent State University during a protest in Ohio, which provoked public outrage in the United States. The reaction to the incident by the Nixon administration was seen as callous and indifferent, providing additional impetus for the anti-war movement. Nixon was taken to Camp David for his own safety. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) Waning Support From Within the Government As the Anti War movements ideals spread beyond college campuses, doubts about the wisdom of war escalation also began to appear within the Johnson administration itself. As early as the summer of 1965, Undersecretary of State George Ball counseled President Johnson against further military involvement in Vietnam. In 1967, Johnson fired Defense Secretary McNamara after the secretary expressed concern about the moral justifications for war. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) After the news of My Lai massacre became public in February 1970, new groups-Nobel science laureates, State Department officers, the American Civil Liberties Union-all openly called for withdrawal. Congress began threatening the Nixon administration with challenges to presidential authority. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) As the number of troops in Vietnam increased, the financial burden of the war grew. One of the rarely mentioned consequences of the war were the budget cuts to President Johnsons Great Society programs. As defense spending and inflation grew, Johnson was forced to raise taxes. The Republicans, however, refused to vote for the increases, unless a $6 billion cut was made to the administrations social programs. The Vietnam War claimed more than just victims overseas at home it claimed reforms aimed at lifting millions of people out of poverty. (Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed) The Americans were no longer going to accept the ongoing nature of American involvement in the Vietnam War. The entire nation was questioning the administrations foundation of foreign policy. The Anti-War Counter Culture Alongside the antiwar protest movement, a counter culture arose that most Americans disapproved of. The clean-cut, well-dressed SDS members were being subordinated as movement leaders. Their replacements deservedly gained less public respect, were tagged with the label hippie, and faced much mainstream opposition from middle-class Americans uncomfortable with the youth culture of the period-long hair, casual drug use, promiscuity. Words like counter culture, establishment, non-violence, pacification, draft-dodger, free love, Kent State, and Woodstock were added to the American vocabulary. It was the beginning of the hippie generation, the sexual revolution and the drug culture. Protest music, typified by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, contributed to the gulf between young and old. A Cultural and political protest had become inextricably intertwined within the movements vanguard. The new leaders became increasingly strident, greeting returning soldiers with jeers and taunts, spitting on tro ops in airports and on public streets. unique situation arose in which most Americans supported the cause but opposed the leaders, methods, and culture of protest. CHAPTER TWO CONTAINING THE COMMUNIST EXPANSION:THE AMERICAN POLICY OBSESSION The Domino theory is the notion that if one country embraces Communism, other nations in the region will probably follow. This can be likened to dominoes falling in a line. This absurd argument simply assumed nations to be dominos in a row, to be knocked down or picked up by the worlds two largest powers: US and the Soviet Union. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007) The Domino Theory The cornerstone of U.S. policy was the Domino Theory. The theory argued that if South Vietnam fell to communist forces, then all of South East Asia would follow suit. This theory was popularized by President Dwight Eisenhowers administration. A section of individuals believed that if communism spread unchecked, it would follow them home by first reaching Hawaii and then emerging in the West Coast of the United States. They were thus of the opinion that it was prudent to contain communism in Asia itself. Thus, the Domino Theory provided a powerful impetus for the American involvement in southern Vietnam. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007) Policy of Containment In a bid to stop this communist expansion, the United States pursued a policy of containment.  [1]  This policy of containment was first suggested by George F. Kennan in the 1947 X article, published anonymously in Foreign Affairs. It remained the U.S. policy for the next quarter of a century. (Columbia Encyclopedia,2007) The policy of Containment adopted the approach of not fighting an all out war with the communist Soviet Union. Rather, it propounded confining communism and the Soviet Union to their existing boundaries. This doctrine led directly to the Vietnam war. Containment was based on several arguments: (Chomsky,2003) That the Soviet Union was always expansionistthe Soviet Union, driven by its dogmatic faith in communism was determined to impose its absolute authority on the worlds nations. Containment was necessary for maintaining the worldwide balance of power between the US and the Soviet Union. (Chomsky, 2003)   2. That any newly established communist governments would inevitably be part of Soviet empire. The Doctrine of Containment believed that there could be no such thing as a nonaligned nation. No nation could be neutral: it must either align itself with the Soviet block or the democratic American block. (Chomsky,2003) 3. That communist and Soviet expansion must be limited. The Doctrine of Containment advocated that a conventional war should be avoided. However, the US should pledge itself to stopping the formation of any new communist governments and preventing existing communist governments from growing. (Chomsky, 2003)   4. Most importantly, it was based on a belief in the special mission and destiny of America. Kennedys advisor McGeorge Bundy believed that the United States was the locomotive at the helm of mankind, and the remaining world was dependent on this mighty nation. They seemed to believe that it was their destiny to protect the world from the evils of communism. (Chomsky,2003) Thus, we can conclude that the American policy makers believed in a simplistic American vs. Communism stand. The general premise of Containment was that every communist government, the world over, was an implement of Moscow and it was the duty of the American government to safeguard the nations of the world from communism. (Chomsky,2003) Was the Soviet Threat A Realistic Assessment? The threat of an expanding communism was indeed a realistic assessment. The Soviet Union had certainly acted in an expansionist way in the recent past. More worryingly, the Soviet Union was officially committed to the worldwide spread of communism. A newly acquired nuclear capability and a vast army positioned the Soviet Union as a perilous potential enemy of the United States. In fact, in 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev, while debating with Richard Nixon in Moscow, threatened we will bury you!. It would indeed have been wrong, as also foolish, to underestimate the force of the Soviet Union as an enemy. (Chomsky,2003) Subsequently, however, the Domino theory was disprovedcommunist governments in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China do not act collectively. After a period of great turmoil, most have abandoned communism. Vietnam, surprisingly, is now enthusiastically pro-capitalist, and an inviting place of investment for the United States of America. (Chomsky,2003)   Americans will, sometimes citing a dozen reasons, argue that we could have won if. Example: Ronald Reagan frequently asserted that the US would have won if the government had made a wholesale commitment instead of a limited war.  (Chomsky,2003) However, one could argue, won what? Can a victory be defined as one that leaves the nation with a devastated landscape, millions of dead civilians and a crippled economy? A victory, by means of which, the US would have ruled repressively over a country whose citizens despised it? It would certainly have been a hollow victory. (Chomsky, 2003) A Misguided Attempt The Vietnam War was misguided from its inception. A large number of major architects of the Containment policy George Kennan, McGeorge Bundy, Robert MacNamara have unequivocally acknowledged they were mistaken about the Vietnam War. They admit that Containment was a flawed policy. It was flawed due to its indifference to the history of Southeast Asia. The American obsession with Communism led them deeper and deeper into a tragedy. They believed in Americas mission, and in the undisputable superiority of Americas endeavours. They were erroneous, and consequently, so was the war! (Chomsky,2003) CHAPTER THREE PARALLELS OF IRAQ WITH THE VIETNAM WAR The Iraq war has evoked memories of the Vietnam war, the most significant political experience of an entire American generation. American involvement in both the wars was inspired to contain the expansion of a principle that it rejected: one was expansion of communism and the other is expansion of Islam radicalism. Vietnam was an event that emerged in the backdrop of the Cold War, a combination of geopolitical and ideological conflict with the expansion of communism. Iraq is part of an ideological struggle between radical Islam and the rest of the world in which the jihadists reject the established order, challenge the structure of the international system based on the nation state. (Kissinger,2007) 1. Was the US unilateral withdrawal from Vietnam an option in 1969 when Nixon took office? In Vietnam, unilateral withdrawal was not practically feasible. To dispatch over half a million troops, from Vietnam to the US, would have been a logistical nightmare, even under peacetime conditions. But in Vietnam, the US troops were countering over 600,000 armed North Vietnamese Communist forces on the ground, who were being bolstered by guerrilla forces. If the US troops even hinted at withdrawal, these troops may well have been joined by a large section of the 700,000 strong South Vietnamese army as they may have felt betrayed by their allies and tried to work their way back into the good graces of the Communists. The U.S. forces tried to withdraw, they would have become hostages and the ordinary Vietnamese people victims. (Kissinger,2007) A diplomatic alternative did not exist. Nixon correctly summed up the choices before him when he rejected unilateral withdrawal: Shall we leave Vietnam in a way that by our own actions consciously turns the country over to the Communists? Or shall we leave in a way that gives the South Vietnamese a reasonable choice to survive as a free people? When negotiations stalemated, the Nixon administration moved to implement what could be done unilaterally without undermining the political structure of South Vietnam. Between 1969 and 1972, it withdrew 515,000 American troops, ended American ground combat in 1971 and reduced American casualties by nearly 90 percent. (Kissinger,2007) In the same vein, unilateral withdrawal is not practically feasible even in Iraq. Whenever gradual withdrawal from Iraq is implemented, it should be done in a way that it prevents a takeover by radical Islam in Iraq. Given that a democratic government has been installed, after much struggle, the US should try to do everything possible to ensure its continuance. The following issues should be kept in mind before implementing a graduated withdrawal: In Iraq, the military forces of the adversary are less powerful than they were in Vietnam, but the international political framework is more complex. This fragile situation should be handled with caution. Before withdrawal, a political settlement has to be distilled from the partially conflicting, partially overlapping views of the Iraqi parties, Iraqs neighbors and other affected states. It should be based on a shared conviction that the cauldron of Iraq would otherwise overflow and engulf all surrounding countries and then spread internationally. 2. Did the American domestic debate and American publics protest movement doom the effort in Vietnam? During the Vietnam war, a point was reached when the domestic debate over American involvement in the War, became so bitter as to preclude rational discussion of hard choices. For a decade and a half, successive administrations of both political parties perceived the survival of South Vietnam as a significant national interest. Starting with the Johnson administration, they were opposed by a protest movement. This impasse doomed the American effort in Vietnam! The American public should learn to contain their outrage so that it does not lead to an impasse or due consideration to available choices as and when the time is right. The American public must not repeat the massive show of angst over Iraq.(Kissenger,2007). It is creditable that American officials have gone to great lengths to make sure the American people understand that the American military cannot possibly be defeated in Iraq (PINR,2003). The strategy of Vietnamese and Iraqi guerrillas was/is to sap the political will of the U.S. public. Is their political will being sapped? The attacks launched against U.S. forces in Iraq are not the type required or intended to defeat the United States militarily. But the fact is that Washington is not operating in a military vacuum. The strength of the U.S. military means little when faced with an increasingly skeptical U.S. public who has the potential to force Washington to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq. In addition, while Washington cannot be overwhelmed by sheer force, there is no evidence that the guerrilla fighters in Iraq can be defeated that way either. In Vietnam, Washington faced a similar predicament. There was an increasingly organized and brash guerrilla force preventing the U.S. from bringing stability to South Vietnam. Due to the massive technology gap, Vietnamese guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army stood little chance of defeating the U.S. militarily. Just the same, however, Washington stood little chance of defeating the Vietnamese guerrilla movement militarily. The effective guerrilla tactics of the North Vietnamese Army were a military strategy aimed at sapping the political will from the U.S. public. This was well known at the time and was often articulated in the speeches of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Always aware of U.S. public opinion, North and South Vietnamese military and guerrilla leaders worked to undermine Washington. When they launched the massive Tet Offensive in over 100 different cities of South Vietnam on January 31, 1968 successfully storming and occupying the U.S. Embassy in Saigon the attack was orchestrated shortly after U.S. military leaders and politicians claimed that the war in Vietnam was almost over. The strategy of Vietnamese resistance fighters was successful, and it looks as if resistance fighters in Iraq are following a similar one; Iraqi guerrillas are most likely aware that they will not be able to crush the U.S. military occupation in Iraq. They do know, however, that if they continue to kill and maim U.S. soldiers, it will only be a matter of time until the American public demands a return of U.S. troops and applies political pressure to the Bush administration. General Abizaid admitted as much, recently warning, The goal of the enemy is not to defeat us militarily. The goal of the enemy is to break the will of the United States of America, to make us leave. It is evident that the Iraqi guerrillas have been somewhat successful in this goal. According to a CBS News poll released on November 13, 2006 only 50 percent of the American public now believe that removing Saddam Hussein was worth the loss of American lives and other costs of attacking Iraq. If the losses of U.S. troops continue to mount, this number can be expected to drop further. Therefore, the strategy of anti-U.S. guerrillas in Iraq will be to launch high profile attacks on U.S. and also coalition troops. Yet, at the same time, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released a report, titled appraisal of situation, written by the CIA station chief in Baghdad, which contradicted Abizaids Whether or not Washington is able to bring stability to Iraq before the U.S. public becomes disenchanted with U.S. objectives there, largely depends on the size and capacity of the guerrilla movement. (Kissinger,2007) Furthermore, the CIA report concluded that more and more ordinary Iraqis were siding with the insurgency due to their disillusionment with the U.S. occupation and because of the instability plaguing the country since the fall of Saddam Husseins hold on power. These assessments indicate that the U.S. occupation in Iraq is becoming increasingly precarious, and it is not yet clear how the U.S. public will respond to deadlier and bolder attacks launched on U.S. forces. (Kissinger,2007) Lessons for the Americans to Apply to the Conflict in Iraq Two lessons emerge from the American experience in Vietnam. A strategic design cannot be achieved on a fixed, arbitrary deadline; it must reflect conditions on the ground. But, at the same time, it must also not test the endura

Types And Uses Of Fertilizers

Types And Uses Of Fertilizers Fertilizers are substances that supply plant nutrients or amend soil fertility. They are the most effective means of increasing crop production and of improving the quality of food and fodder. Fertilizers are used in order to supplement the natural nutrient supply in the soil, especially to correct the (yield-limiting) minimum factor. Fertilizers are soil amendments applied to promote plant growth; the main nutrients present in fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (the macronutrients) and other nutrients (micronutrients) are added in smaller amounts. Fertilizers are usually directly applied to soil, and also sprayed on leaves (foliar feeding). Organic fertilizers or and some mined inorganic fertilizers have been used for many centuries, whereas chemically synthesized inorganic fertilizers were only widely developed during the industrial revolution. Increased understanding and use of fertilizers were important parts of the pre-industrial British Agricultural Revolution and the industrial green revolution of the 20th century. Inorganic fertilizer use has also significantly supported global population growth it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of artificial nitrogen fertilizer use. Fig 1 Fertilizers typically provide, in varying proportions: The three primary macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). The three secondary macronutrients: calcium (Ca), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg). and the micronutrients or trace minerals: boron (B), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo) and selenium (Se). The macronutrients are consumed in larger quantities and are present in plant tissue in quantities from 0.2% to 4.0% (on a dry matter weight basis). There are some examples of it:- Fig 2 Fig 3 Different Types of Fertilizers Fertilizers are chemical compounds applied to promote plentiful plant and fruit growth. Fertilizers are applied through soil for uptake by plant roots, or by applying liquid fertilizer directly to plant leaves. They typical fertilizer provides proportions of the three major plant nutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The secondary plant nutrients such as calcium, sulfur, and magnesium are also contained in fertilizers. Fertilizers can be placed into categories of organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers. Organic Fertilizers Naturally occurring fertilizers include: Manure Worm castings Peat moss Seaweed Sewage Guano Organic fertilizers are used to enrich soil through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere by bacterial nodules on plant roots, as well as phosphorus content of soils. Processed organic materials from natural sources include compost, blood meal powdered blood, and bone (crushed ground bones) meal from organic meat production facilities, and seaweed extracts. There is more diversity with organic fertilizers, so choosing the right one is not always easy. In general organic fertilizers cannot cause plant burns, get into ground water, affect surrounding growth, and do not need as strict of watering schedules. Organic fertilizer sources:- Animals Animals:- Sourced urea , are suitable for application organic agriculture, while pure synthetic forms of urea are not. The common thread that can be seen through these examples is that organic agriculture attempts to define itself through minimal processing (in contrast to the man-made Haber process), as well as being naturally occurring or via natural biological processes such as composting. Sewage sludge use in organic agricultural operations in the U.S. has been extremely limited and rare due to USDA prohibition of the practice (due to toxic metal accumulation, among other factors). The USDA now requires 3rd-party certification of high-nitrogen liquid organic fertilizers sold in the U.S. Plant:- Cover crops are also grown to enrich soil as a green manure through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere; as well as phosphorus (through nutrient mobilization) content of soils. Mineral:- Naturally mined powdered limestone, mined rock phosphate and sodium nitrate, are inorganic (in a chemical sense), are energetically intensive to harvest, and yet are approved for usage in organic agriculture in minimal amounts. Benefits of Organic Material By nature organic fertilizers provide increased physical and biological storage mechanisms to soils, reducing risks of over fertilization. Organic fertilizers nutrient content, solubility, and nutrient release rates are typically much lower than inorganic fertilizers. Over fertilization of a vital nutrient can be as detrimental as under fertilization to a plant. Fertilizer burn can occur when too much fertilizer is applied resulting in the drying out of roots along with damage and even death to plants. All organic fertilizers are classified as slow release fertilizers. Studies have found that organic fertilizers: Release 25% to 60% of nitrogen as inorganic. Controlled release fertilizers had a relatively constant rate of release. Soluble fertilizer released most of its nitrogen content at the first leaching. Inorganic Fertilizers: Naturally occurring inorganic fertilizers include sodium nitrate, mined rock phosphate and lime stone which is used to raise pH and calcium sources. Macronutrients and Micronutrients Fertilizers can be divided into macronutrients and micronutrients based on their concentration levels in dry plant matter. There are six macronutrients; nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (3 main primary elements), calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Macronutrient Fertilizers:- Synthesized materials are also called artificial, and may also be called straight were a product contains the three primary elements of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Fertilizers are named according to the content of the three elements in the fertilizer. If the main ingredient in the fertilizer is nitrogen, then the fertilizer will be described as a nitrogen fertilizer. But regardless of the name of the fertilizer they are labeled according to the amounts of each of these primary elements, by their weight. The amount of nitrogen will encourage growth of stems and leaves by promoting protein and chlorophyll. More Flowers, bigger fruits, and healthier roots will result from added phosphorus, and it will also help plants resist certain diseases. Potassium thickens stems and leaves by fostering protein development, meaning the vegetables would prefer a different potassium ratio than flowers or fruit plants would. Benefits of inorganic fertilizers Synthetic fertilizers are commonly used to treat fields used for growing maize, followed by barley, sorghum, rapeseed, soy and sunflower. One study has shown that application of nitrogen fertilizer on off-season cover crops can increase the biomass (and subsequent green manure value) of these crops, while having a beneficial effect on soil nitrogen levels for the main crop planted during the summer season. Nutrients in soil develop in symbiosis, which can be thrown out of balance with high concentrations of fertilizers. The interconnectedness and complexity of this soil food web means any appraisal of soil function must necessarily take into account interactions with the living communities that exist within the soil. Stability of the system is reduced by the use of nitrogen-containing inorganic and organic fertilizers, which cause soil acidification. Problem with inorganic fertilizers Trace mineral depletion:- Many inorganic fertilizers may not replace trace mineral elements in the soil which become gradually depleted by crops. This depletion has been linked to studies which have shown a marked fall (up to 75%) in the quantities of such minerals present in fruit and vegetables. In Western Australia deficiencies of zinc, copper, manganese, iron and molybdenum were identified as limiting the growth of broad-acre crops and pastures in the 1940s and 1950s. Soils in Western Australia are very old, highly weathered and deficient in many of the major nutrients and trace elements. Since this time these trace elements are routinely added to inorganic fertilizers used in agriculture in this state. Over fertilization:- Over-fertilization of a vital nutrient can be as detrimental as under fertilization. Fertilizer burn can occur when too much fertilizer is applied, resulting in a drying out of the roots and damage or even death of the plant. Burning of plants High energy consumption:- The production of synthetic ammonia currently consumes about 5% of global natural gas consumption, which is somewhat fewer than 2% of world energy productions. Natural gas is overwhelmingly used for the production of ammonia, but other energy sources, together with a hydrogen source, can be used for the production of nitrogen compounds suitable for fertilizers. The cost of natural gas makes up about 90% of the cost of producing ammonia. The increase in price of natural gases over the past decade, along with other factors such as increasing demand, has contributed to an increase in fertilizer price. Long-Term Sustainability:- Inorganic fertilizers are now produced in ways which theoretically cannot be continued indefinitely. Potassium and phosphorus come from mines (or saline lakes such as the Dead Sea) and such resources are limited. More effective fertilizer utilization practices may, however, decrease present usage from mines. Improved knowledge of crop production practices can potentially decrease fertilizer usage of P and K without reducing the critical need to improve and increase crop yields. Atmospheric (unfixed) nitrogen is effectively unlimited (forming over 70% of the atmospheric gases), but this is not in a form useful to plants. To make nitrogen accessible to plants requires nitrogen fixation (conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to a plant-accessible form). Artificial nitrogen fertilizers are typically synthesized using fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal, which are limited resources. In lieu of converting natural gas to syngas for use in the Haber process, it is also possible to convert renewable biomass to syngas (or wood gas) to supply the necessary energy for the process, though the amount of land and resources (ironically often including fertilizer) necessary for such a project may be prohibitive (see Energy conservation in the United States). Applications of fertilizer There are so many fields where fertilizer is used in high proportion. Agriculture is the one of field among them. There is some region where fertilizer is used:- Broadcast:- Broadcasting consists of uniformly distributing dry or liquid materials over the soil surface, usually before sowing. The fertilizer maybe incorporated into the soil mechanically, or left on the surface to be washed in by rainfall or irrigation. Incorporation into the AP horizon can be by harrow (2-3 cm depth), a cultivator (4-6 cm depth) or by plough (incorporation to plough depth). Broadcasting is the simplest and cheapest method and is best suited for high-speed operations and heavy application rates, especially before planting. Side or top dressing:- Fertilizer is side or top-dressed when it is applied after the crop has emerged, and/or when the dose is split for two or more applications. Split applications can be beneficial in some cases, especially for annual crops with a long growing period. Split application of KCl is also recommended for crops growing on low CEC soils, where K can be lost by leaching K following high rainfall or excess irrigation. Soybean responded significantly up to 50 kg K ha-1 when applied half at planting and half at flower initiation, or applying one third at planting, one third at flower initiation and one third at pod development. Splitting the K application is also used in orchards and for other perennial crops, especially for alfalfa and grasses. In trials in a Commercial field of Lucerne, the largest yields, up to 3.15 t ha-1 in 26 days, were on plots treated with 948 kg K ha-1 as KCl in 3 applications. In areas of Cl deficient soils, top-dressed applications of KCl for autumn sown small grains ma y be more effective than preplant applications because of the potential for Cl leaching from the root zone due to rainfall. Foliar application: Foliar application involves the use of KCl in solution. It results in fast K absorption and utilization and has the advantage of quickly correcting deficiencies diagnosed by observation or foliar analysis. Other advantages are low application rates, and uniform distribution of fertilizer. However, foliar fertilization is supplementary to and cannot replace the basal fertilization. Foliar application should be done during periods of low temperature and relatively high humidity, such in the early morning or late evening. Otherwise the salts may cause leaf burning and necrosis especially when applied in concentrations above those recommended. Because of its osmotic action, KCl applied on leaves is not well tolerated by plants and so is not usually used for foliar application. Nevertheless, it can be beneficial in some cases. Rice:- A foliar application of 10 kg KCl m-3 to rice at panicle initiation, boot leaf and 50% flowering stages, both in the monsoon and winter seasons, significantly increased seed yield and improved quality (seed germination and 100-seed weight). Splitting a total of 95 kg ha-1 of KCl to rice, a third at sowing in soil, a third as a foliar spray at flag leaf stage and a third as foliar spray at grain development, gave larger yields than a soil application all at sowing .A foliar spray applying 3.9 kg K ha-1 (as 10 kg KCl m-3) three times at one week intervals from full head of rice cv. Environmental effects of fertilizer use Water Eutrophication:- The nitrogen-rich compounds found in fertilizer run-off is the primary cause of a serious depletion of oxygen in many parts of the ocean, especially in coastal zones; the resulting lack of dissolved oxygen is greatly reducing the ability of these areas to sustain oceanic fauna.Visually, water may become cloudy and discolored (green, yellow, brown, or red). About half of all the lakes in the United States are now eutrophic, while the number of oceanic dead zones near inhabited coastlines are increasing. As of 2006, the application of nitrogen fertilizer is being increasingly controlled in Britain and the United States. If Eutrophication can be reversed, it may take decades before the accumulated nitrates in groundwater can be broken down by natural processes. High application rates of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers in order to maximize crop yields, combined with the high solubilitys of these fertilizers leads to increased runoff into surface water as well as leaching into groundwater. The use of ammonium nitrate in inorganic fertilizers is particularly damaging, as plants absorb ammonium ions preferentially over nitrate ions, while excess nitrate ions which are not absorbed dissolve (by rain or irrigation) into runoff or groundwater. Fig 10 Soil acidification: Nitrogen-containing inorganic and organic fertilizers can cause soil acidification when added. This may lead to decreases in nutrient availability which may be offset by liming. Heavy metal accumulation:- The concentration of up to 100 mg/kg of cadmium in phosphate minerals (for example, minerals from Nauru and the Christmas islands)increases the contamination of soil with cadmium, for example in New Zealand. Uranium is another example of a contaminant often found in phosphate fertilizers (at levels from 7 to 100 pCi/g). Eventually these heavy metals can build up to unacceptable levels and build up in vegetable produce. (See cadmium poisoning) Average annual intake of uranium by adults is estimated to be about 0.5 mg (500 ÃŽÂ ¼g) from ingestion of food and water and 0.6 ÃŽÂ ¼g from breathing air. Steel industry wastes, recycled into fertilizers for their high levels of zinc (essential to plant growth), wastes can include the following toxic metals: lead arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and nickel. The most common toxic elements in this type of fertilizer are mercury, lead, and arsenic. Concerns have been raised concerning fish meal mercury content by at least one source in Spain. Also, highly radioactive Polonium-210 contained in phosphate fertilizers is absorbed by the roots of plants and stored in its tissues; tobacco derived from plants fertilized by rock phosphates contains Polonium-210 which emits alpha radiation estimated to cause about 11,700 lung cancer deaths each year worldwide. For these reasons, it is recommended that nutrient budgeting, through careful observation and monitoring of crops, take place to mitigate the effects of excess fertilizer application. Atmospheric effects:- Methane emissions from crop fields (notably rice paddy fields) are increased by the application of ammonium-based fertilizers; these emissions contribute greatly to global climate change as methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Through the increasing use of nitrogen fertilizer, which is added at a rate of 1 billion tons per year presently to the already existing amount of reactive nitrogen, nitrous oxide (N2O) has become the third most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane. It has a global warming potential 296 times larger than an equal mass of carbon dioxide and it also contributes to stratospheric ozone depletion. Storage and application of some nitrogen fertilizers in some weather or soil conditions can cause emissions of the potent greenhouse gas-nitrous oxide. Ammonia gas (NH3) may be emitted following application of inorganic fertilizers and/or manures and slurries. The use of fertilizers on a global scale emits significant quantities of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Emissions come about through the use of: animal manures and urea, which release methane, nitrous oxide, ammonia, and carbon dioxide in varying quantities depending on their form (solid or liquid) and management (collection, storage, spreading) fertilizers that use nitric acid or ammonium bicarbonate, the production and application of which results in emissions of nitrogen oxides, nitrous oxide, ammonia and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. By changing processes and procedures, it is possible to mitigate some, but not all, of these effects on anthropogenic climate change.

The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra Essay -- Euripides

The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra       In Euripides' 'Electra', there are a number of parts, speaking and non-speaking, that reveal the redeeming features of the otherwise pitiful characters. This essay will consider the roles of Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, the Peasant and Aegisthus (whose actions are only reported to us).    It is arguable that the characters are not redeemable due simply to the plot of the play: a son returns, kills his father's unworthy successor, his mother (with the aid of his sister) and was sent away at the end of the play by divine judgement. His sister assisted him in the matricide and is sent away also. However, it is unrealistic for all the characters of a tragedy not to have any good qualities. The nature of tragedy, according to Aristotle, is to invoke pity ('kitharsis'), cleansing the soul - this can not be invoked if the characters are bad people, since we will feel no pity. Aristotle described Euripides as "the most tragic of the poets..." so it is likely for the playwright to conform to Aristotle's' rules for tragedy. Bad happenings ('hamartia') are required to happen to good people, who may not be entirely noble but are still respectably good. For example, in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus scorns the prophecies of Apollo but he is a noble King, who feels compassion for his people and his destined blow was only the result of his uninformed actions.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Orestes is the avenging son of Agamemnon, returned to his homeland. We would expect this man to be the tragic hero of the play but he does not conform to the specifications. He is not a powerful character and is constantly in need of guidance, acting simply as a loaded cannon ("What do you suggest?"). When ... ...er in the play's duration, with a history of murder that seems disconnected from this person as we see her. Finally, Aegisthus, though amiable to his guests, has an undeniable history of murder and the people are happy to see him go. If he does have redeemable qualities, they are few.    Works Cited Euripides. Electra. Trans. Philip Vellacott. Medea and Other Plays. Baltimore: Penguin Classics, 1963. 105-152, 201-204. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Clifton Fadiman. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Perseus Encyclopedia. Revised 1999. Tufts University. www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia?entry=Euripides>. Powell, Barry. Classical Myth. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001. March, Jennifer.   "Euripides the Mysogynist?"   Euripides, Women, and Sexuality.   Ed. Anton Powell.   New York: Routledge, 1990.

A Brief Timeline of Black Civil Rights in America Essay -- African-Amer

A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The struggle for equality has been a battle fought for hundreds of years. Documents such as The Declaration of Independence, dating back to 1776, state that all men are created equal, and among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Surely we know that in fact all men were not seen as equal because issues such as slavery and white superiority existed as well as discrimination issues that still exist to some extent today. C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1865, The 13th Amendment was established which abolished slavery, but did not grant blacks equality. D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Government was still extremely biased when meeting to make Amendments. They were quoted as saying â€Å"We hold this to be a government of white people†¦to benefit white people†¦and no Africans can be a U.S. citizen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  E.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment, issues such as Black Codes and the struggles of the Freedmens Bureau were definitely pres...

Extended Essay

Assessment of the causes of the Kengir uprising in the Steplag complex in the year of 1954 By Saidkhon Turaev An Extended Essay Submitted as a Candidate for the International Baccaureate Diploma Subject: History Supervisor: Mr. Alex Ross Tashkent International School IBO World School 3076 Session: May 2011 October 5, 2010 Word Count: 3,831 Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii INTRODUCTION 1 FIRST REASON: DEATH OF STALIN 3 SECOND REASON: REGIME OF THE CAMP 5 THIRD REASON: UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP 7 FOURTH REASON: INTRO OF THE LARGE GROUP OF CRIMINALS 9 CONCLUSION 10 APPENDIX 1 WORK CITED 12 [i] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Tashkent International School: IBO World School 3076 Tashkent Uzbekistan Author: Title: Supervisor: Session: Turaev, Saidkhon (003076-017) Assessment of the causes of the Kengir uprising in the Steplag complex in the year of 1954 Mr. Alex Ross May 2011 Abstract While studying the Soviet history, very few people learn about the uprisin gs that had happened in Gulags after Stalin? s death. One of the key gulag uprisings which happened in 1954 was the Kengir uprising which took place in Steplag camp located in Jezkazgan region in Kazakhstan.Unlike any other gulag uprisings the Kengir uprising marked the end of the Soviet gulags. However in the modern day world, very little is known about this uprising and about the factors which have caused it. General agreement seems to be around the several ideas like: the death of Stalin, the regime of the camp, the Ukrainian leadership and the introduction of the group of criminals into the camps. So therefore it is important for a historian to assess all these factors and determine which of them caused the Kengir uprising.It was very hard to find any sufficient primary sources to this event, due to the fact that the most Gulag archives are still classified. So therefore the research was focused on circumstantial evidence. The investigation includes works of Alexander Solzhenits yn â€Å"The Gulag Archipelago† and many secondary sources, written by the western historians. Although Solzhenitsyn wasn? t there when the uprising happened, he remains one of famous sources who dedicated entire chapter for this uprising. The investigation found that three factors: the death of Stalin, the Ukrainian leadership and the regime of the camp were the main causes for the uprising.Those three factors were interlinked within each other and only together they were responsible for causing the Kengir uprising. [Word Count 256] [ii] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Introduction The Kengir Uprising of 1954 was one of the important events in Soviet history. It was the rebellion organized by the large group of prisoners in the Steplag camp in the city of the Jezkazgan in 16th of May till 26th of June. The uprising continued for forty days until it was brutally crushed by the Soviet tanks. Very little is known today about this uprising and about the reasons which could? e caused it. There are different historical positions on what could? ve been the reason for the uprising. The Steplag camp was one of the labor complexes of the Karaganda gulag or s imply Karlag. Karlag was founded in 1931 in the city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and it served the USSR for about thirty years as a labor complex. The NKVD and the MVD use to send people of different nationalities to this gulag. Many Nazi camp prisoners, who were â€Å"liberated† by the Soviet Union after World War II, were also sent to the Karlag.Among those prisoners there were some fearsome nationalistic groups like the Ukrainians, who hated and didn? t trust in the Soviet system like other USSR satellite states. It was estimated that there were about 800,000 inmates in Karaganda gulag, 20,000 of which were located in the Steplag camp during the Kengir uprising. 1 It was truly remarkable how small group of prisoners was ready to stand against the whole country without the fear of being killed. Ne vertheless their attempts to achieve any fairness were easily suppressed by the government after 40 days, which once again emphasizes that the Soviet government couldn? deal with those kinds of situations without using the force. But the key thing in the uprising was that it lasted for such a long time, whereas in Stalin? s era, there wouldn? t be any hesitations in killing every single rebel in the camp. It was clear that the new authority didn? t want to go the path which led to the terror, which in turn can be argued, was their main weakness. One might agree that the Soviet Union couldn? t exist without gulags. Therefore, by having doubts in their actions the Soviet authority took the first step towards its own annihilation.Thus one can consider that the Kengir uprising symbolizes the thaw from Stalinization to something different. It is very hard for people who research about this uprising to find adequate primary source, due to the fact that Soviet Union was a secretive totalit arian state which was very careful at hiding information from public 1 Astana Calling p. 3 [1] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 eyes. So the only choice is to rely on circumstantial evidence, provided by authors like Alexander Solzhenitsyn â€Å"The Gulag Archipelago,† and then make implications on what has happened.Solzhenitsyn to this day remains one of the famous sources, who dedicated entire chapter, â€Å"Forty Days of Kengir,† to the uprising in Steplag. Besides â€Å"The Gulag Archipelago† there are also a lot of secondary sources such as Anne Applebaum? s book â€Å"Gulag, a history† or Steven Barnes review of the uprising â€Å"In a Manner Befitting Soviet Citizens. † All of these explain western historian point of view on the events which happened before and after the Kengir uprising. This essay is concerned with determining what were the most important factors in causing the Kengir uprising.The possible factors that may have contribut ed to the uprising were the following: the death of Stalin, Ukrainian nationalist leadership, the regime of the camp, and the introduction of criminal prisoners. Some say that the real problems were caused by Ukrainians, because most of them belonged to the nationalist groups who opposed the Soviet political regime and wanted the separation of Ukraine from the USSR. Most of the Ukrainian nationalists were sent to the Gulags as the political enemies of the USSR. In contrast other historians claim that the criminals were the main reason for the uprising in Kengir.Criminals were the group of inmates who were always in conflict with the polit ical prisoners in Steplag. During the outbreaks of the Kengir uprising criminals were sent into the camps to calm down the politicals, but instead both groups joined efforts to fight the authorities. However others claim that the death of Stalin overweights all of the arguments above. Stalin? s death was remarkable moment in history, because it imp licated that the terror was over and that the political prisoners would finally be free. It of course raised expectations in the hearts of many gulag prisoners.Perhaps those aroused expectations were the main reason behind the uprising in Steplag. On the other hand some blame must lie with the regime of the camp, which also played a key role in creating the uprising in Steplag. During Stalin? s reign the regime was very strict. Guards were ordered to kill anyone who attempts to run or tried to organize a revolt. So it is important for one to access the reasons behind the uprising in order to see why certain things could? ve caused everything to change. [2] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 First Reason: Death of StalinOn 5th of March 1953 Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died of the brain stroke. To many gulag prisoners, particularly to political prisoners, his death meant that the tyranny and terror was finally over. The author of the book â€Å"Letters of the Camp Doctor† and the former gulag prisoner Vadim Aleksandrovich has commented about the situation: â€Å"Majority of the prisoners understood of what the man was made of. They understood that he was tyrant, that he controlled a great country and that the fate of each prisoner was somehow related to the fate of Stalin. 2 It seems that this source is based on opinion, so therefore might contain bias. However it can be useful to a historian in terms providing some idea on what was the general feeling among the prisoners towards Stalin. Despite the fact that many prisoners awaited his death, most of them remained cautious about the situation, mainly because they? re afraid of earning a second sentence. However in Steplag, prisoners weren? t afraid of showing their happiness – they were making wild cries of celebration3as Applebaum comments, which imply that they waited for some changes to come.One of the Steplag prisoners Yuri Grunin even stated â€Å"the blessing times would soon come,† 4which once again gives a historian an idea of how the prisoners felt during that time. One can argue that the death of Stalin didn? t accomplish the hopes of the prisoners towards the reforms that they expected from the authorities. This is clearly reflected on the releases, which were issued by his right hand man and the chief of KGB Lavrenty Beria. Beria was known to be a man who created most hated policies in gulag systems5. But nevertheless by 28th of March 1953 1. million prisoners were released, 400,000 cases were closed and new Gulag projects were abandoned. 6 One can see the situation as promising for many gulag prisoners, but it only looks good on the surface. These prisoners, who were released, only included group of petty criminals and some women with children and none of the politicals. As a result of that many political prisoners were becoming increasingly angry with the situation. 2 Aleksandrovich â€Å"Letters of the Camp doctor† p. 28 Applebaum â€Å"Gulag a History† p. 477 4 Yuri Grunin as cited in Dmitri Bikov’s article â€Å"Prisoners wanted love† 5Solzhenitsyn â€Å"The Gulag Archipelago† vol. 2 p 204 6 Krutsyk â€Å"The Chronicles of Communist Inquisition† 3 [3] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 In Steplag as Applebaum comments, certain groups of prisoners formed underground organizations by the time the amnesty was proclaimed, which imply that they were planning something. 7However there is a problem with a source provided by Applebaum, which is that she wasn? t there at the time when all of that happened and therefore some of her arguments might be unreliable, due to limited supporting primary sources.Nevertheless there is still an argument that – if the hopes of the prisoners weren? t accomplished then why did the uprising happen only in 1954, a year later after Stalin? s death? Well there could be a lot of answers to this question. Perhaps the circumstances were different, or maybe t hese underground organizations just needed time to put their plan into action. From the points addressed above one can say that for the uprising to happen it needed something more, than just an event like death of Stalin. In other words not every gulag in Soviet Union had an uprising after Stalin? death. So this might imply that something was different in the Steplag. For instance as Applebaum commented there were some underground organizations in Steplag before the uprising, which imply that there were highly organized group of individuals who perhaps planned out everything before acting. But then again the uprising couldn? t be just a spontaneous upheaval without any cause, it needed a spark. Perhaps the circumstances in Steplag were somehow different in 1954 than they were in 1953 and that could? ve served as a spark for the uprising.In order to investigate any further one might look at the other factors like the regime of the camp, Ukrainian leadership and intro of the group of criminals to see whether they have something in common with the arguments presented above. 7 Applebaum p. 495 [4] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Second Reason: Regime of the camp The camp regime in the gulags from 1930 – 1953 was really determined by the three factors: the sentence which prisoners received, the relationship of camp authorities to the prisoners and the attitude of guards towards the inmates.Political prisoners were treated most brutally compared to other prisoners. Especially after 1948 when a group of special camps were introduced that had a very strict regime based on katorga (hard labor), which was created during the war. In his famous book â€Å"Gulag Archipelago† Solzhenitsyn describes the work conditions of (inmates under katorga regime): â€Å"During the work they were surrounded by soldiers with dogs, they were hit, and were beaten by guns†¦It was easy to spot exhausted and to differentiate them from other prisoners. They’re lost and barely walked. 8 This source which Solzhenitsyn provides to the historians might be reliable do to the fact that Solzhenitsyn himself was a , and one can argue that Solzhenitsyn knew what it was like to be that type of prisoner and therefore there is a less chance of bias in this quote. Furthermore from this evidence we can say that the political prisoners had a reason to be angry at the regime and if they had a reason they? re most likely to protest against it. In Steplag there were huge numbers of political prisoners, especially c ounterrevolutionaries, 9which implied that the camp had a very strict regime.In addition authorities never really cared about health conditions of the prisoners. There were moments when inmates had to eat the spoiled food, because the camp executives didn? t really monitor the condition of the food. 10This type of attitude might? ve led to the buildup of the misery among prisoners. But if everything was that bad, why didn? t the prisoners rebel earlier, why they waited until 1954? Was it death of Stalin which gave the prisoners the idea of the terror being over and that the freedom should be given to each of them?Highly unlikely, because even when Stalin died the prisoners were in risk of being shot if they somehow threatened the Soviet system and it should? ve taken prisoners a real courage to cause this massive uprising. So it must? ve been something different, but before exploring argument further one must look at the relationship between prisoners and camp authorities before 1953. 8 Solzhenitsyn â€Å"The Gulag Archipelago† vol. 3 p. 8 â€Å"The Document of the Kengir Uprising of 1954† see the table 2 at the appendix 10 â€Å"Gulag Many Days Many Lives† Report to Temporary Chief of Karlag Administration Nikiforov 9 5] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Prisoners of Steplag really thought that they? re being unfairly treated by the camp authorities. The extract from Soviet magazine Putevka, based o n MVD reports, explores some of the unhappy comments of a prisoner towards the fact that camp executives really didn? t care about the prisoners? complaints: â€Å"Write, for what?! We were writing – and never got a reply. Boxes were set, so we didn’t annoy them†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 11 This source analyses the response of the prisoners towards the camp authorities in 1936.Although it can give a historian an idea of what was the general feeling among prisoners towards the camp authorities, it is a bit strange that this kind of information was published, especially in the Soviet Union where the authorities were really careful at hiding information. So therefore it must have some purpose, most likely the propaganda purpose, so therefore it might contain some sort of bias. By using this source one can think to himself that the carelessness of the camp authority was one of the reasons for the tension to build up.And he will be right to think so, because what was bad about the camp authorities was that they didn? t really consider the fact that prisoners were getting angrier over time and that soon they would eventually rise up. Now one might look at the situation in the Steplag after the death of Stalin and fall of Beria. Solzhenitsyn explains that after fall of Beria the guards weren? t receiving salary bonuses for their service as before. 12They had to really prove that their work is worthy of the bonuses, so as a result many of the guards started shooting innocent prisoners and then claimed that inmates tried to run away.One of the infamous killings was the shooting of the Christian in spring of 1954, which resulted massive unrest among the prisoners. The name of the Christian, according to Solzhenitsyn, was Alexander Sisoviev and after his murder many prisoners felt sorry for him because he was serving in Steplag for almost ten years and hardly broke any law to get killed. 13 Later during the uprising one of the prisoners? demands to the authority would be to â€Å"punish the guards who killed the Christian†14 which again emphasizes how strongly were the inmates affected by this murder. 11 Gulag Many Days Many Live† Except from Putevka Solzhenitsyn vol. 3 p. 262 13 Ibid p. 263 14 â€Å"The Document of the Kengir Uprising of 1954† telegram # 044 to the MVD chief Kruglov 12 [6] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 This situation with a Christian might? ve underlined that the prisoners were no longer safe in the camps and that they had to act. But then again these whole innocent killings might? ve been just a spark for all of the misery in the past. For an uprising to be successful it needed a strong leadership. In the Kengir uprising such leadership was taken by the Ukrainians.Third Reason: Ukrainian Leadership The Ukrainians started to arrive to the Steplag after World War II. Unlike the other prisoners these people were really organized and the most important thing was that they didn? t trust the Soviet Union. Ev en the camp authorities have exclaimed this point, by saying that the â€Å"bourgeois ideology† 15has made Ukrainians hostile to the Soviet system. In Steplag particularly there were large numbers of them and they were all mixed with other political prisoners, which was an obvious mistake of the camp authorities, because Ukrainians could expose their viewpoints and ideas to ther prisoners. Because of this everything began to change in the Steplag. Before the arrival of the Ukrainians the camps were filled with prisoners who sni tched on each other. Because of those snitches some of the prisoners were either killed or taken to the prison of the strict regime. Basically snitches were the eyes and ears of the camp administration. When Ukrainians arrived they chose a radical policy in dealing with snitches, by executing them. It was like a new law among prisoners â€Å"Die tonight if you don? t have a pure soul† 16Solzhenitsyn explains.The most remarkable thing about those executions is that the camp authority couldn? t stop them, because they lost all of their informants. Each prisoner knew that if they ever going to snitch again, they? re going to be slashed. But on the other hand Ukrainians didn? t take serious actions against the camp authorities, until 1954. Was it a death of Stalin then, which triggered the uprising? Well it certainly might? ve had the contribution to it, but without the Ukrainians the uprising would? ve never occurred. This change which was occurring in the Gulag camps in some weird way caused the prisoners mindset to change.The killings of the snitches were one of the first examples of freedom movement, as expressed by Solzhenitsyn. However there is another argument that the 15 16 Barnes â€Å"In a Manner Befitting Soviet citizens† p. 824 Solzhenitsyn vol. 3 p. 213 [7] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Ukrainians were really opportunists. Whenever the situation fitted them they acted and one can aga in refer back to the killings of the snitches, when Ukrainians basically started killing the informers because they represented a threat to them.Perhaps the death of Stalin was also an opportunity for the Ukrainians in which they thought that this was the time. After the death of Stalin many political prisoners were hoping that they would be released and really it was reflected on the banners which were made during the uprising: â€Å"Long live the Soviet Constitution,† 17or the most famous exclamation made by the Russian Red Army officer and so called the leader of the uprising Kapiton Kuznetsov â€Å"Our salvation lies on loyalty, we must talk to Moscow representatives in a manner befitting Soviet citizens. 18 Ukrainians on the other side never bought into this idea, because during the uprising many of them were in charge of commissions which were responsible for the arming and defending the camp, which in turn implies that they were getting ready for the open conflict. And again after the uprising was crushed by Soviets the Ukrainians were the ones who suffered the most as Barnes explains, even though officially the rebellion was led by the Russian Red Army veterans. 9One of the Ukrainian prisoners who left the camp during the uprising spoke to his fellow Ukrainian prisoners: â€Å"Dear countrymen, they see us westerners as the main authors of the strike? s continuation. † 20So according to the prisoner the Ukrainians were treated badly by the Russians because there was a presence of dominance of one nation over the other, however the other reason could be that the Russians realized that the Ukrainians represented a threat to the political regime of the Soviet Union and in order to calm them down they put pressure on them. 17 Barnes p. 24 Ibid p. 823 19 Ibid p. 837 20 Ibid p. 827 18 [8] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Fourth Reason: Intro of a Large Group of Criminals Criminals were most fearsome group of people in the gulag system, because they were aggr essive, many of them have killed and harassed other people before they? re caught and mostly because they? re unpredictable. Lev Razgon the gulag prisoner describes criminal prisoners: â€Å"They were, in a word, racketeers, gangsters, and members of small mafia†¦ they brazenly cleaned out the new transports, taking all of the best clothes from newcomers. 21There were a lot of tensions between political prisoners and criminals in Steplag. Political prisoners detested criminals for their unlawful actions and in any case tried to avoid them. Criminals most often didn? t do any work at all. If they needed money they stole them from political prisoners by threatening them. Applebaum explains that political prisoners were afraid of criminals because most of them were armed with knives and other sharp objects. 22But everything changed when two groups were separated in the late 1940„s due to constant tensions between them.During the outbreaks of the uprising in the Steplag camp , the criminals were shipped by the camp authorities to calm down the political prisoners, because the authorities thought that politicals were still afraid of the criminals. One can again link this to the idea that the camp authorities really had horrible ways in dealing with conflict situations. Solzhenitsyn supports this idea by stating: â€Å"Here it is the unpredictable nature of the human emotions and social movements.Injecting in Kengir lagpunkt No 3 the mammoth dose of tested ptomaine, bosses obtained not a pacified camp, but the biggest mutiny in the history of the Gulag Archipelago! †23 This source could be reliable to a historian, because although Solzhenitsyn wasn? t there at that time when the event happened, he analyses the situation as a historian and provides the reader with his reasoning. The criminals and the politicals for the first time ever joined their efforts to accomplish mutual aims, which again suggest that the atmosphere in Steplag has changed due t o the fact that Stalin died.Conversely one can agree that the criminals didn? t really impacted the uprising much. Yes, they? ve joined efforts with the politicals 21 Lev Razgon as cited in Applebaum’s â€Å"Gulag a history† p. 281 Applebaum p. 282 23 Solzhenitsyn vol. 3 p. 266 22 [9] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 and certainly increase their numbers, but one can again argue that the uprising would? ve been caused anyways even without the criminals? presence. Conclusion The introduction of the criminals to the camps didn? t really make any difference, because the uprising was already in progress when they arrived.So in the end, the Kengir uprising was the combination of three factors which included: the death of Stalin, the regime of the camp and the leadership of the Ukrainians. All three factors were interlinked and followed consecutive order. At first the uprising needed a cause of some sort, which was brought by the idea that Stalin died and the expected hope s weren? t accomplished. When Stalin died majority of the prisoner population in Steplag hoped for some changes to come, this could be reflected on how they openly celebrated his death in March 1953. But then with Beria? amnesties their expectations and hopes failed and when that happened, based on investigation, they lost all of their patience. Secondly it needed the angry group of people who would agitate their views to the prisoner population about their long term misery and then during the uprising these people would target the prisoners to act. The Ukrainians were those sorts of people. It is only when they arrived the radical changes begun in Steplag, for instance the slashing of the snitches. And one must remember that during the uprising the Ukrainians were the only nes who were preparing for the open conflict which imply that they never really trusted the USSR. And finally it needed some sort of a spark, which was caused by the incompetence of the guards. In 1954 when guard s started shooting at the prisoners just to receive salary bonuses, they made a mistake of shooting the Christian Alexander Sisoviev who was favored among the prisoners. That of course underlined that the prisoners were no longer safe from the authorities, so therefore the only choice for them was to act.Kengir uprising of 1954 marked itself as a remarkable moment in history, not only because it lasted considerable amount of time, but because it marked the end of the Soviet gulags. This in turn can be argued to be the end of the Soviet Union, because this uprising proved that the system couldn? t exist without violence. Only by using violence the government could maintain control. [10] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 A ppendix Table 1: The Nationality of Prisoners (Translated) : According to Nationality 1. (Russians) 2. (Ukrainians) 3. (Byelorussians) 4. (Azerbaijanis) 5. (Georgians) 6. (Armenians) 7. (Turkmens) 8. (Uzbeks) 9. (Tajiks) 10. (Kazakhs) 11. (Kyrgyz) 12. (Lithuanians) 13. (Latvians) 14. (Estonians) 15. (Tatars) 16. (Bashkir) 17. (Udmurt) 2661 9596 878 108 132 154 76 204 54 291 50 2690 1074 873 127 9 20 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. (Chechens) (Ingush) (Jews) (Moldavians) ? (Finnish) (Germans) (Poles) (Romanians) (Iranians) (Afghanis) (Mongols) (Chinese) (Japanese) (Koreans) (Greeks) (Turkish) (Others) 124 56 174 208 16 359 379 24 18 8 2 55 30 52 21 8 167 Table 2: Sentence of the prisoners (Translated) Sentence 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Traitors to Motherland Spying Terrorists Trozkyist Wrecking Counterrevolutionary saboteurs Sabotage Anti-Soviet Conspirators Anti-Soviet agitation 14785 1202 772 57 79 57 192 1140 755 10. Rebels 11. Combined Criminal charges 1, 3, 5 12. Combined Criminal charges 1 & 3 13. War Crime 14. Gambling 5. Mugging 16. Job and economic crimes 1421 130 36 10 8 24 19 A r eport of special department of MVD in Steplag camp about the prisoners ’ n ationality and sentence – b y the c hief of the department and the colonel Savchenko a s cited in h ttp://g – to – g. com/index. php? version=rus&module=56&page=16 . [11] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 W orks Cited P rimary Sources A leksandrovich, Vadim. L etters of the Camp Doctor . Moscow: , 1996. S olzhenit syn, Alexander. G ulag Archipelago . vol. 2 . Moscow: , 1991. Print. S olzhenitsyn, Alexander. G ulag Archipelago . vol. 3 .Moscow: , 1991. Print. G ulag Many Days, Many Lives † E xcerpt from Putevka. † 1 933. Web. 7 Aug 2010. < http://gulaghistory. org /items/show/776>. G ulag Many Days, Many Lives † R eport to Temporary Chief of Karlag Administration N ikiforov. † 1 939. Web. 7 Aug 2010. < http://gulaghistory. org/items/show/766>. S econdary Sources A pplebaum, Anne. G ulag a history . 1st ed. United States of A merica: Anchor Books, a d ivision o f Random House, Inc. 2 003. Print. † Astana Calling. † Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 12 January 2 010. Web. 7 Aug 2010.B arnes, Steven. † In a Manner Befitting Soviet Citizens†: An Uprising i n the Post – Stalin Gulag . 4. U nited States of America: The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, 2 005. 823 – 850. P rint . Bikov, Dmitri. † The Prisoners Wanted Love. † Web. 23 Aug 2010. . â€Å"Documents of Kengir Uprising of 1954. † G-to-G Geologist to Geologist. G-toG. Web. 10 Sep 2010. . K rutsyk, Roman, Yurii S hapovall, and Oleh K ravchenko. â€Å"Chronicles of the Com munistic I nquisition. â€Å". W eb. 7 Aug 2010. < http://memorial. kiev. ua/expo/eng/1953. html >. [12] Saidkhon Turaev 003076 – 017 Extended Essay For other articles on the Extended Essay on Intense Cogitation, please see our helpful articles on  The Extended Essay Outline  and  Sample sources for an Extended Essay – The American Civil War. Please also check out my  extended essay exemplar  about the American Civil War. As I’m sure you all know, the Extended Essay is a 4000 word essay that is a requirement for the International Baccalaureate Diploma. You can write it in a wide variety of topics and subjects, as long as you have an Extended Essay supervisor (usually a teacher) guiding you along.Most schools encourage students to complete an outline, at the very least, for the Extended Essay at the end of IB1 to prevent students from procrastinating too much in IB2. For some people, the outline can be quite challenging; what if you just want to start writing the essay? What do I include in it? I had similar questions whilst I was writing mine, so I shall divulge some things I discovered for you to think ab out. Generally, it is a good idea to do extensive research  prior  to writing the outline.Presumably by this point you will have already found a subject, topic and a supervisor; if not, ensure that you have all three before continuing. Make notes whilst you are writing so you can pick out common themes and ideas, which will help you immensely when you start writing the thesis. Don’t forget to write the sources down! For example, I started reading about the American Civil War because I saw a documentary on naval warfare. After doing some research, I found something that really interested me — the Battle of Hampton Roads.With this in mind, I proceeded to narrow this down to: VALUE OF THE CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD  Virginia  IN THE BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS, MARCH 8-9, 1862 Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect! Just get your ideas down first–let   editing take care of the problems. Once you have that, try to think of a question that concerns most of the material you have read and digested so far. Is there a problem or question that keeps on coming up in your mind when you are studying this topic? What are some common academic arguments about this topic? Try to shape that into a research question.After that, formulate a thesis which attempts to answer this question. It’s hard to understand, so I’ll show you an example from my outline here: Research Question:  To this day, the question of who won is still debated. One method for analysis would be to study the battle through one ship to determine the extent of the ship’s usefulness to its home country; if the ship was costly and ineffective in battle, it would likely not be the victor. In this battle, a study of the  Virginia  in this battle would be most beneficial since she was present for both days of the battle.Thus, the following research question emerges: how useful was the ironcladVirginia  to the Confederacy in the Battle of Hampton Roads? Thesis statement:  To examine the question, this essay will use both primary and secondary sources to explore the Virginia’s impact on industry and economics, and strategic and tactical ramifications of the battle for the Confederacy, including the Virginia’s vulnerabilities and her psychological effect on civilians and combatants. Although the Virginia was a remarkable ship, this essay will prove that the Virginia was of limited use to the Confederate war effort.This wasn’t my final research question or thesis statement, but it gave me enough of a focus to write a first draft. In essence, your task here is to find a central question to your essay, and choose a view point that you think the evidence supports. After that, you are probably ready to write a rough outline of the structure of your Extended Essay — how will you structure the knowledge you’ve learned through research into a persuasive argument? How will you make this relevant to your thesis? W hat evidence will you use?At this stage, it’s probably easiest to just write jot notes of your major arguments and some minor supporting points as it is just an outline, not a draft. It doesn’t have to be very detailed, as illustrated by mine: * Introduce Confederate naval situation and reason for ironclad construction * Introduce Battle of Hampton Roads * Research question * Thesis statement * Plan of attack (see thesis statement paragraph) * Confederate industrial situation * Confederate iron ore shortages * Issues with processing iron ore into iron plating Problems with transporting the finished product to Norfolk * Therefore, transforming the USS  Merrimack  into the ironclad CSS  Virginiawas extremely costly in terms of resources and stressed Confederate industry, which was limited at best * Battle of Hampton Roads * Military events on March 8 * Military events on March 9 * Sum up the battle * Explore weaknesses * Explore other ramifications of the battle (i e. Delay of McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign) * Psychological effect on civilians and government officials * In essence, the military value of the  Virginia  was marginal at best.She was extremely flawed, and marginally seaworthy. The Battle of Hampton Roads was a draw since she did not make a significant breakthrough, and thus all the effort and resources that the Confederacy spent on her was all for naught. She was more useful as a psychological weapon, but even that could not prevent superior Union industry and resources from overrunning the Confederacy both on land and sea. * Conclusion * The  Virginia  was the Confederacy’s V-1 and V-2.Although she was technologically advanced for her time, she did not win the important Battle of Hampton Roads, nor did she have any significant long-term effect on the war. * In essence, she was of little use to the Confederacy. Once you have these major components in your essay outline, you’re probably ready to submit it to your supervisor. Keep a copy for yourself so you can still use it as a road map when you start writing your essay draft! As mentioned above, it might also be a good idea to include the sources you’ve used so far so you don’t forget about it in your final copy! Any questions? Leave a comment!